Astounding Stories

February 1934

Hal Salive Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection, University of Otago Library Special Collections. Every effort has been made to trace copyright ownership and to obtain permission for reproduction. If you believe you are the copyright owner of an item on this site, and we have not requested your permission, please contact us at special.collections@otago.ac.nz

New York: Street and Smith Publications

Howard Vachel Brown (1878-1945) was one of the ‘Big Four’ SF illustrators of the 1930s which included Leo Morey, Frank R. Paul, and Hans Wessolowski (‘Wesso’). Born in Kentucky, Brown studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1906 moved to New York City, working as a teacher and freelance illustrator. He was the sole cover artist for Astounding Stories from October 1933 until the end of 1936. When John Campbell became editor of Astounding in 1937, Brown was ousted as Campbell wanted to pursue a different artistic direction. Brown has been described as a ‘dramatic’ and ‘versatile’ artist and he specialised in BEMs – ‘Bug-eyed monsters’. Salive paid $119 (US) for this magazine which originally sold for 20 cents.