Virgil Finlay art for the April-May 1965 Things To Come for the Science Fiction Book Club, advertising The 9th Annual of the Year’s Best SF edited by Judith Merril. #FinlayFriday
Virgil Finlay illustrating ‘The Bird of Time’ by Wallace West from Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1952. It was incorporated with three other stories into a fix-up novel by the same name and published by Gnome Press in 1959. #FinlayFriday
Virgil Finlay illustrating ‘And Not In Peace’ by A. Bertram Chandler writing as George Whitley from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1946. #FinlayFriday
As the 14th of February approaches, it seems a good time for Virgil Finlay’s illustrations for ‘The Lovers’ by Philip José Farmer, a novella published in the 8/1952 issue of 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 after rejections from 𝑨𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 and 𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒙𝒚. Later expanded, it received an honorable mention at the 1962 Hugo Awards for Best Novel. #FinlayFriday
Odd name for a superhero. Virgil Finlay cover painting of 'Minimum Man or Time to Be Gone' by Andrew Marvell from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, August 1947. #FinlayFriday
Virgil Finlay book jacket for this Andre Norton edited anthology from World Publishing Co., 1953. Plus a preliminary painting for same which was completely rethought. #FinlayFriday
Virgil Finlay illustrating “Call Him Demon” by “Keith Hammond” from the Fall, 1946 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Keith Hammond is one of the multitude of pseudonyms employed by the husband and wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. By the bottom signature we can assume it’s another illustration made during his time stationed in Hawaii during WWII. #FinlayFriday
Something special for this Halloween season Finlay Friday the 13th! In addition to his stunning artwork, Virgil also wrote the occasional poem. However, the only one published during his lifetime was in the final issue of the original run of Weird Tales, September 1954, with his own illustration. #FinlayFriday
Virgil Finlay illustration for the 1919 H.P. Lovecraft story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" for it's reprint appearance in the March, 1938 issue of Weird Tales. It was later inscribed and gifted to another giant, "To A. Merritt, a master of fantasy. From Virgil Finlay"
Virgil Finlay illustrating Fletcher Pratt's "The Conditioned Captain" from Startling Stories, May 1953. The original page ran vertically but I feel it looks better horizontally.
Virgil Finlay illustrating A. Merritt's classic novel "The Face in the Abyss" reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1940. See the #AltText for more.
Virgil Finlay served in the US Army during WWII and saw combat in the South West Pacific theater, but also created posters and illustrations for the Morale Services during his three years of service. This is one of those illustrations as it is signed, "Oahu, Hawaii 1945". His editor must have liked it because he commissioned Finlay’s friend and fine writer Catherine L. Moore to create a story based on it.
When Henry Kuttner (another fine writer) and Moore were married in 1940, Virgil was his Best Man. The resulting story, “Daemon”, was first published in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1946 which you can read here: