I was on the prowl for some more nifty Heinlein recently, and I picked up a cool 1953 copy of The Man Who Sold the Moon with the classic original Hubert Rogers cover art, plus a first edition Assignment in Eternity with a gorgeous Ric Binkley cover showing the domed lunar hideout of the villainous Mrs. Keithly of “Gulf.”

This has become one of my favorite Heinlein covers, and of course both of these are now posted in the Collections/Anthologies page of my Heinlein Cover Art galleries.

Enjoy!

Rafeeq

A bit belatedly, I realized that “Gulf” was not a stand-alone story when published in Astounding Science-Fiction in 1949, but instead was serialized across two issues.  I rectified that wee lack in my collection, therefore.  The cover, which is colorful and interesting, is by someone I confess I had never heard of, but the interiors for the Heinlein story still are by the familiar Hubert Rogers.  Almost as soon as the old pulp came in the mail, I scanned the appropriate parts, and they now are posted in the “Pulp Magazines” area of my voluminous Heinlein galleries.

Enjoy!

Rafeeq

I was working on a chapter about Heinlein yesterday, and I had need to cross-reference some familiar book-published versions against the original versions serialized in magazines in the 1940s and 1950s.  These happened to bear out a couple of suppositions I had had, but more important right now is that I discovered that I somehow had neglected to scan and post two nifty Hubert Rogers interiors for “ ‘If This Goes On—’ ” from the February 1940 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction.

This was quite an oversight indeed, but at last I have posted these Hubert Rogers illustrations to the “Pulp Magazines” page of my “Heinlein Cover Art” galleries.

Enjoy!

​Rafeeq

Yesterday the mail brought a nice old Beyond This Horizon I had ordered, an early Grosset & Dunlap reprint of the Fantasy Press edition with dark but evocative cover by someone named Donnell.

Beyond This Horizon first was published in April and May 1942 in Astounding Science-Fiction, of course, illustrated then by Hubert Rogers.  Those printings are shown on my “Pulp Magazines” page.  After the war it was published in book form by Fantasy Press, and then by Grosset & Dunlap.

The two-tone painting here shows a future of soft parkland and soaring skyscrapers with arched bridges of white concrete...with an hourglass superimposed, in the bottom of which a toddler plays at piling up sand.  The book itself is a bit light in weight, as if made of cheaper materials, and the dust jacket has some little chunks missing at the edges.  Still, for its age, that’s not too bad, and the piece really was a great find.

See it on on the “Earlier Adult Works” page of my Heinlein Cover Art galleries.

Enjoy!

Rafeeq

Yesterday I stopped in to Curious Books in East Lansing—it had been a whopping six weeks or so, right?  What could be the harm?

Well, I did see a few books of interest here and there, but I was actually thinking I would just hang loose and save my pennies for another day...until I saw the old Heinlein pulps, namely “Beyond This Horizon” from Astounding Science-Fiction, April 1942 and May 1942.  Only the first cover depicted Heinlein, while the second depicted an A.E. Van Vogt, but both, however, had pen-and-ink interiors by Hubert Rogers as well.

These lovely artifacts from a lifetime ago are hard for me to resist.  I did not resist, therefore.

And then as I was checking out, Ray Walsh, the proprietor, who apparently knows his marks just a tad too well, asked if I had seen this old library copy of the Scribner’s juvie Citizen of the Galaxy.  Deftly he conjured it from somewhere around his credit card machine, and yet, pointedly, before he had run my card...  ’Twas significantly cheaper than the non-library edition I already saw, but sort of still real money.  There was a 20% off sale, though, so oh, well.

I scanned all covers and, for those huge old pulps, interiors as well.  Citizen of the Galazy is now on my Scribner’s YA/Juveniles page, and the Astounding with “Beyond This Horizon” are on my Pulp Magazines page.

Enjoy!

Rafeeq

Yesterday I needed to go to Curious Books in East Lansing to pick up a couple stray Bradbury collections for a big text on Ray Bradbury I'll be putting together for next year—which perhaps should be another post in itself, come to think of it—when I figured that as long as I was in, I should check for any Heinlein of interest, too...

Upstairs I found a nice first-edition hardcover of Expanded Universe and a newer edition of Time Enough for Love with quite a decent cover illustration.  But then downstairs—ah, downstairs!—I found two beautiful old Heinlein pulps: “Waldo” from August 1942 and “Goldfish Bowl” from March 1942,  Both have lovely covers by Hubert Rogers, though only the one for “Waldo” (pictured here) depicts the Heinlein story, the other one depicting an A.E. Van Vogt.

I should comment that the Astounding each also have several interior line drawings of their Heinlein stories.  I haven't yet taken the plunge on those, though, as that will entail a significant amount of very finicky work with these almost three-quarter-century-old magazines.  But right now at least the books are their appropriate pages, and the magazine covers are on my “Pulp Magazines” page.

Enjoy!

​Rafeeq

Imagine my surprise a little while ago, when poking around Curious Books in East Lansing, suddenly to run across three nice old copies of the beautiful pulp Unknown containing early Heinlein stories: “Magic, Inc.,” “They,” and “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.”  Ah, what a find!

Unknown is a huge magazine, by the way, a bit bigger than a 9.5x11-inch sheet of paper, and they are richly illustrated—“They” has only one drawing, but it is absolutely perfect, while “Hoag” has a whopping 10 drawings!

I also picked up “Sky Lift”—cover pictured here—plus the first half of “Gulf” and yet another variation of the Darrell K. Sweet cover of The Star Beast.  I had passed on that extra Sweet on another couple of earlier trips, actually, but I finally caved, since this red-background version indeed is an interesting change from the green-background example I already had...

In any event, all now are scanned and thence posted in my Heinlein cover art galleries.

Enjoy!

Rafeeq

A while ago I picked up some more goodies at Curious Books: the May 1941 Astounding with “Universe,” plus a very nice first edition hardcover of Friday.  Also, in looking over some stuff, I belatedly realized that “ ‘—We Also Walk Dogs’,” under the Anson MacDonald pseudonym, is in the July 1941 issue, which I already had...  It was time, therefore, for some scanning, wasn’t it?  I did so, and now that pristine Friday is cataloged on the “Later Works” page, while the others are in “Pulp Magazines.”

Enjoy!

Rafeeq

Well, I went to Curious Books in East Lansing again, and I ended up picking up a few more nice old Heinlein pulps from 1941...  After scanning them—and not even yet getting to the interior art of “Methuselah’s Children,” come to think of it—I suddenly realized that I had a full fifty pics.  Rather than keep them in the “Early Works” page, therefore, I finally broke down and created a new page solely for them: “Pulp Magazines.”

I am so happy to have these in my collection, and I hope that you, too, you may enjoy their art posted here.

Rafeeq

Yesterday I stopped into Curious Books in East Lansing and picked up a couple Heinlein editions whose covers were new to me, including a British Number of the Beast with wonderfully splashy mid-80s art that has absolutely zero to do with the plot.

Most importantly, however, I happened to take a look at their pulps, which included some niiiiiiice stuff...

For example, imagine my surprise in prowling through the shelves of Astounding to find the August 1939 issue containing “Life-Line,” Heinlein’s first published story—wow!  I guess I never imagined I would hold one of these in my hands, but apparently they have not all been snapped up by collectors, and do still exist in shops here and there.  Well, not this one anymore, of course...

In any event, I also chanced to grab “Misfit,” “Requiem,”  “ ‘If This Goes On—’,” “The Roads Must Roll,” “Coventry,” and “Blowups Happen.”  For a Heinlein aficionado, these are some of the true holies.

I scanned each lovely cover, therefore, plus, with care, their nifty pen-and-ink interiors, too, and now all are in my Heinlein cover art galleries.

Enjoy!