Original Art Collected by Author Robert Weinberg

Robert Weinberg

Original Art Collection

Along with pulp magazines, Bob collects original art in the science fiction and fantasy field. He specializes in the period from 1926-1960 and has over 400 original black-and-white and color originals from this period. Bob has written extensively on the art and artists of this period of science fiction and is recognized world-wide as one of the authorities on early science fiction art. Bob is a huge fan of artist, Virgil Finlay, and owns nearly 100 Finlay originals. Other artists who Bob thinks are among the finest to ever work in the SF field include Frank R. Paul, Edd Cartier, Hannes Bok, Lawrence Sterne Stevens, Kelly Freas, and Ed Emsh. Bob is constantly buying, selling and trading original artwork as is always interested in hearing from anyone who has material from the golden age of science fiction illustrations.

TO OUTRUN DOOMSDAY - 1970 paperback cover painting by Kelly Freas	DEVIL RITTER - 1950 pulp illustration by Lawrence Sterne Stevens	VENUSIAN STRATEGY - 1940 pulp illustration by Hannes Bok
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THE CASE OF THE HAITIAN HORDE - 1949 newspaper serial illustration by Edd Cartier	DEATH IS AN ELEPHANT - 1939 Weird Tales illustration by Virgil Finlay	HALLO'WEEN IN THE SUBURBS BY H.P. LOVECRAFT - 1951 Weird Tales illustration by Virgil Finlay
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THE SHIP OF ISHTAR (Plate 1) - 1949 Hardcover by Virgil Finlay	THE SHIP OF ISHTAR (Plate 2) - 1949 Hardcover by Virgil Finlay	THE SHIP OF ISHTAR (Plate 3) - 1949 Hardcover by Virgil Finlay
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BURN WITCH BURN - 1942, by Virgil Finlay	RED DUST - 1949, by Virgil Finlay	BLACK BUTTERFLIES - 1949, by Virgil Finlay
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Another cute Hannes Bok original from Bob's collection.	A very small but extremely detailed Finlay original, this was one of the few pieces of art done by Finlay for PLANET STORIES magazine.	"Dian of the Lost Land" by Lawrence, first published as a cover for Famous Fantastic Mysteries.
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Noralla, the heroine of THE METAL MONSTER by A. Merritt. Cover art from the 1951 Avon paperback edition of this classic fantasy novel.	Tama, Princess of Mercury by Josh Kirby	"The Laughter of Toffee" by Harold McCauley
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Shadow Over Mars by Virgil Finlay.	The Swordsman of Mars (Avalon Books edition) by Ed Emsh	"Fate Magazine Cover" by Malcolm Smith
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A 1937 Weird Tales illustration by Virgil Finlay. Since pulp artists couldn't afford live models, they often used movie stars' faces for inspiration. Finlay was obviously inspired by Raymond Massey, and the original owner of this original was lucky enough to get Massey to autograph it!	One of a number of illos done by Finlay for "The Conquest of the Moon Pool." The detail of this picture is incredible considering it is a four inch square! by Virgil Finlay	A painting by one of England's top fantasy artists by Peter Jones
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"The Torch" by Lawrence Sterne Stevens	A sketch by Roy Krenkel	Cover painting for Fantastic Adventures, 1948 by Robert Gibson Jones
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Fantastic Adventures cover painting 1943 by Robert Gibson Jones	Virgil Finlay painting, unpublished, probably done for IF magazine.	Frank R. Paul, Amazing Stories back cover painting 1941.
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From Bob: "I was lucky enough to pick up the cover painting for the cover for my most popular novel, which was painted by Gerald Brom. I met Brom at Gen-Con years ago when we did a signing for White Wolf and admired the art he had on display at the time. When Stewart Wieck, the president of WW asked me who I thought would be the best artist for my trilogy, I immediately suggested Brom. The deal was made and Brom consulted with me on the basic concepts of the three covers for the novels and also faxed me sketches of the art as he worked on the pencil roughs. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to own this original which has appeared on many many thousands of paperbacks throughout the world."
Click on the image to see a larger version of it.

More Virgil Finlay
Virgil Finlay has always been one of my favorite artists. Finlay's black and white illos are without question the best interior pieces ever published in the fantasy and SF field. I'm proud to own many of his best interior art pieces.
I do also own some of his best color paintings. Along with the spaceman of unknown origin piece that is listed above, here are some of Finlay's finest color pieces.
Globe of Memories by Virgil Finlay
"Globe of Memories"
This was Finlay's first published painting. It
appeared on the cover of Weird Tales for February
1937, illustrating a Seabury Quinn story.

A Brave New World by Virgil Finlay
"A Brave New World"
A great piece from Famous Fantastic Mysteries
in 1942, illustrating the Ray Cummings novel of
the same name. This piece has been reprinted
several times and is another one of Finlay's finest. Swords and Sorcery by Virgil Finlay
"Swords and Sorcery"
The cover painting of a 1963
Pyramid paperback edited by L. Sprague de Camp,
this book was the first all swords-and-sorcery
anthology ever published!

The Metal Monster by Virgil Finlay
"The Metal Monster"
This is another Famous Fantastic Mysteries piece,
done to illustrate A. Merritt's classic science
fantasy novel, "The Metal Monster." Finlay was
famous for his work done bringing Merritt's exciting
stories to vivid life. The Sand Painters by Virgil Finlay
"The Sand Painters"
Late in his career, Finlay did a series of nearly twenty cover paintings for Fantastic Universe magazine. Some of these paintings were pretty minor works, but a number of them exhibited Finlay's superb imagination and talent with colors. One of the very best of these covers was "The Sand Painters."

Finlay was considered by many to be the finest pen and
ink artist to work in the SF field in the 20th century.
Here are some more reproductions of originals from Bob's collection.

Burn Witch Burn
by Virgil Finlay
The Blind Spot. One of the most popular fantasy novels written in the first half of the 20th century, by Hall and Flint, reprinted in the pages of Famous Fantastic Mysteries with art by Finlay.
The People of the Pit. Finlay illustrating A. Merritt's first short story, reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries. A personal favorite!

Click on any small artwork image to see a larger version of it.

The Citadel of Fear by Francis Stevens.
An interior from the Famous Fantastic
Mysteries reprint of this great novel
by Francis Stevens. A masterpiece of
cross-hatching!
The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft. From the Famous Fantastic Mysteries reprint of this great H.P. Lovecraft story. One of Finlay's finest.
The Hairy Ones Shall Dance. Another spectacular Finlay, illustrating the Manly Wade Wellman novel from Weird Tales.

Click on any small artwork image to see a larger version of it.

H.P.L. A Finlay masterpiece, reprinted numerous times since its first appearance in a fanzine in 1937. One of the most famous of all Finlay illustrations.
Kublai Khan. In 1937, Weird Tales began publishing short sections of poems with Finlay illustrating them. This one for Kublai Khan is one of the very best from the series. Check back for
more Virgil Finlay
work!

Click on any small artwork image to see a larger version of it.

"Daemon"

"Daemon" by Virgil Finlay, is an original illustration done entirely from his imagination, during the time he was in Hawaii during World War II (check out his signature at the bottom of the piece). This pen-and-ink masterpiece is one of his finest creations. I first saw the original 45 years ago in the collection of famous SF fan, Sam Moskowitz, who considered it perhaps the best fantasy piece Finlay ever did. C.L. Moore wrote a memorable story based on this illustration. I've dreamed of owning this piece ever since I started collecting original art, and I'm incredibly pleased that it's finally in my collection.
Daemon by Virgil Finlay

Lovecraft Illustrations

The Music of Erich Zann

The Music of Erich Zann - Art by Andrew Brosnatch. The original heading for
the first magazine publication of this H.P.Lovecraft horror story in Weird Tales
in 1925. I missed out on buying this original illustration the first time it was
on the market 35 years ago. I'm happy to own it now. Better late than never!

Pickman's Model

Pickman's Model - At by Hugh Rankin. From Weird Tales, October 1927,
the original art that illustrated this classic horror story by H.P. Lovecraft.
Needless to say, art from Weird Tales in the 1920's is scarce. Art illustrating
Lovecraft is even scarcer. It took me 35 years to track down this piece,
and I am thrilled to be able to add it to my collection.

Kelly Freas

Reviewing the art on this page as I prepared to update this site, I was surprised to note that I only had one painting by Kelly Freas posted. Freas has always been one of my favorite artists, and along with having been one of the most prolific artists in the SF and fantasy field, he was without question, one of the very best. Plus, Kelly was an extremely nice guy and was never too busy at a convention to talk about art or draw a doodle for an appreciative fan. Along with Ed Emsh and Richard Powers, he defined the science fiction field of the 1950's. And, his covers for DAW Books in the 1970s and 1980s were among the best artwork of the day. In the second half of the Twentieth Century, there was no more important artist than Kelly Freas. Here are some of my favorite pieces by this great artist from my collection:

Omnilingual
Omnilingual - A masterpiece of detail by Freas, illustrating the great story by H. Beam Piper. If the last Martian died a million years ago, how do you translate their written language?
Giants in the Earth
Giants in the Earth - Another great Freas painting from the 1950's. While Kelly did a number of great covers for Astounding SF in the 1950's, his best work was for the many lesser quality digest SF magazines published during those years. Freas' paintings for magazines like IF, Original SF, SF Quarterly, and several other SF publications of the era were spectacular. Kelly put wonderful detail into the faces of his people and among art collectors he was sometimes called "the master of wrinkles."

The Carnelian Cube
The Carnelian Cube - In the 1960's and early 1970's, Kelly did a number of paperback covers for Lancer Books. This was one of his best, done in his humorous style, for the classic fantasy novel by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.
The Lion Game
The Lion Game - Kelly painted numerous covers for DAW Books, the SF imprint established by Donald A. Wollheim. This cover, for "The Lion Game" by James Schmitz was one of his finest pieces. The story involves a ferocious alien beast that escapes in a space station and the hunt for the animal before it kills everyone on board. Making the task a little more challenging for the hunters, the beast has the ability to walk through walls. A wonderful story wonderfully illustrated!

The Wearwolf Principle
The Werewolf Principle - Another great Freas DAW covers, this one was done for Clifford Simak's "The Werewolf Principle." The novel deftly combines science fiction with a popular fantasy concept and Kelly did a terrific job in his cover painting of capturing the mood of this well written and very entertaining Simak novel.
The Dimensioneers
The Dimensioneers - One of Kelly's best DAW covers and for some reason, one of the most popular covers he ever painted. I've owned this for a fairly long time and numerous collectors have tried extremely hard to get it from me in trade. It's a wonderful combination of a very relaxed and laid-back young heroine, a rather stern lion, and a bunch of bad guys hunting the pair while riding on flying crocodiles. Obviously painted from life. It's a fun piece and one of my personal favorites of all of Kelly's work.

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More Virgil Finlay Virgil Finlay has always been one of my favorite artists. Finlay's black and white illos are without question the best interior pieces ever published in the fantasy and SF field. I'm proud to own many of his best interior art pieces. I do also own some of his best color paintings. Along with the spaceman of unknown origin piece that is listed above, here are some of Finlay's finest color pieces.	"Globe of Memories" This was Finlay's first published painting. It appeared on the cover of Weird Tales for February 1937, illustrating a Seabury Quinn story.
"A Brave New World" A great piece from Famous Fantastic Mysteries in 1942, illustrating the Ray Cummings novel of the same name. This piece has been reprinted several times and is another one of Finlay's finest.	"Swords and Sorcery" The cover painting of a 1963 Pyramid paperback edited by L. Sprague de Camp, this book was the first all swords-and-sorcery anthology ever published!
"The Metal Monster" This is another Famous Fantastic Mysteries piece, done to illustrate A. Merritt's classic science fantasy novel, "The Metal Monster." Finlay was famous for his work done bringing Merritt's exciting stories to vivid life.	"The Sand Painters" Late in his career, Finlay did a series of nearly twenty cover paintings for Fantastic Universe magazine. Some of these paintings were pretty minor works, but a number of them exhibited Finlay's superb imagination and talent with colors. One of the very best of these covers was "The Sand Painters."
Finlay was considered by many to be the finest pen and ink artist to work in the SF field in the 20th century. Here are some more reproductions of originals from Bob's collection.

Burn Witch Burn by Virgil Finlay	The Blind Spot. One of the most popular fantasy novels written in the first half of the 20th century, by Hall and Flint, reprinted in the pages of Famous Fantastic Mysteries with art by Finlay.	The People of the Pit. Finlay illustrating A. Merritt's first short story, reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries. A personal favorite!
Click on any small artwork image to see a larger version of it.
The Citadel of Fear by Francis Stevens. An interior from the Famous Fantastic Mysteries reprint of this great novel by Francis Stevens. A masterpiece of cross-hatching!	The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft. From the Famous Fantastic Mysteries reprint of this great H.P. Lovecraft story. One of Finlay's finest.	The Hairy Ones Shall Dance. Another spectacular Finlay, illustrating the Manly Wade Wellman novel from Weird Tales.
Click on any small artwork image to see a larger version of it.
H.P.L. A Finlay masterpiece, reprinted numerous times since its first appearance in a fanzine in 1937. One of the most famous of all Finlay illustrations.	Kublai Khan. In 1937, Weird Tales began publishing short sections of poems with Finlay illustrating them. This one for Kublai Khan is one of the very best from the series.	Check back for more Virgil Finlay work!
Click on any small artwork image to see a larger version of it.

Reviewing the art on this page as I prepared to update this site, I was surprised to note that I only had one painting by Kelly Freas posted. Freas has always been one of my favorite artists, and along with having been one of the most prolific artists in the SF and fantasy field, he was without question, one of the very best. Plus, Kelly was an extremely nice guy and was never too busy at a convention to talk about art or draw a doodle for an appreciative fan. Along with Ed Emsh and Richard Powers, he defined the science fiction field of the 1950's. And, his covers for DAW Books in the 1970s and 1980s were among the best artwork of the day. In the second half of the Twentieth Century, there was no more important artist than Kelly Freas. Here are some of my favorite pieces by this great artist from my collection:
Omnilingual - A masterpiece of detail by Freas, illustrating the great story by H. Beam Piper. If the last Martian died a million years ago, how do you translate their written language?	Giants in the Earth - Another great Freas painting from the 1950's. While Kelly did a number of great covers for Astounding SF in the 1950's, his best work was for the many lesser quality digest SF magazines published during those years. Freas' paintings for magazines like IF, Original SF, SF Quarterly, and several other SF publications of the era were spectacular. Kelly put wonderful detail into the faces of his people and among art collectors he was sometimes called "the master of wrinkles."
The Carnelian Cube - In the 1960's and early 1970's, Kelly did a number of paperback covers for Lancer Books. This was one of his best, done in his humorous style, for the classic fantasy novel by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.	The Lion Game - Kelly painted numerous covers for DAW Books, the SF imprint established by Donald A. Wollheim. This cover, for "The Lion Game" by James Schmitz was one of his finest pieces. The story involves a ferocious alien beast that escapes in a space station and the hunt for the animal before it kills everyone on board. Making the task a little more challenging for the hunters, the beast has the ability to walk through walls. A wonderful story wonderfully illustrated!
The Werewolf Principle - Another great Freas DAW covers, this one was done for Clifford Simak's "The Werewolf Principle." The novel deftly combines science fiction with a popular fantasy concept and Kelly did a terrific job in his cover painting of capturing the mood of this well written and very entertaining Simak novel.	The Dimensioneers - One of Kelly's best DAW covers and for some reason, one of the most popular covers he ever painted. I've owned this for a fairly long time and numerous collectors have tried extremely hard to get it from me in trade. It's a wonderful combination of a very relaxed and laid-back young heroine, a rather stern lion, and a bunch of bad guys hunting the pair while riding on flying crocodiles. Obviously painted from life. It's a fun piece and one of my personal favorites of all of Kelly's work.