Author | Lightnews

Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 3d

Illustrated Police News (of Boston) Apr 5, 1884.

In the accompanying article, the tailor says some female clients care less about fit due to reluctance to be measured for fit by male cutters, but that "dressmakers can't handle the irons or cut the cloth according to the principles of tailoring."

Illustration from Illustrated Police News, April 5, 1884, titled “Beauty’s Breeches—An Establishment for Fitting Actresses and Others of the Gentle Sex to Men’s Clothes.” The scene shows a tailor’s fitting room where two women are being measured and dressed in men’s-style garments. On the left, a tailor takes measurements for a jacket for a woman. At the center, another woman stands confidently before a mirror wearing a tailored men’s suit, her hand on her hip as she admires her reflection. In the foreground, a seated woman in a bonnet observes the fitting.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 5d

L’Éclipse, #218. Dec 29, 1872

Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, French President Adolphe Thiers’s secretary and adviser, depicted as the government's right hand. Perhaps a jab at Saint-Hilaire's power despite his unofficial role.

André Gill is one of the most important caricaturists ever.

Front cover of L’Éclipse, issue no. 218 from December 29, 1872, featuring André Gill’s satirical caricature Le Bras Droit (“The Right Arm”). The illustration shows Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, President Adolphe Thiers’s devoted secretary and adviser, literally transformed into a giant hand at the end of an arm labeled “GOUVERNEMENT.” His head merges into the arm as he bends forward, using a quill to write on sheets of paper, symbolizing how he serves as thehand of the French government and the conduit of goverment power.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 6d

The Sunday Novel (1934-1949, name changed to Gold Seal Novel at some point) was a Sunday newspaper insert, akin to Sunday comics. Originated at the Philadelphia Inquirer, syndicated to a small number of other papers. Eight pages, illos throughout. Material seems to be heavily abridged.

Front cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Novel titled “Synthetic Gentleman” by Channing Pollock, published January 20, 1935. The illustration depicts a man in a fedora and trench coat cautiously moving through a rain-soaked landscape at night, his figure reflected in puddles. Behind him loom trees and a distant house under heavy storm clouds. The art uses a limited palette of deep blue and red-orange, framed by vertical stripes.

Front cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Novel titled “Casino” by George Norsworthy, published August 12, 1934. The illustration shows a woman with short dark hair and intense eyes wearing an orange dress, in front of a landscape of pale blue hills and domed white buildings, framed by silhouetted trees.

Front cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Novel titled “The Lady Dances” by Marge Stanley, published July 1, 1934. The illustration shows a poised, dark-haired woman in a red sleeveless top, high-waisted black shorts, and a flowing black-and-red shawl that drapes around her legs. She gazes to the side with a confident, stylish expression, one hand resting on her hip.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 6d

The Hotspur #671. Sep 17, 1949

An early example of a giant monster being awakened by post-WWII underwater nuclear testing, well before Godzilla or the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

Front cover of The Hotspur, No. 671, dated September 17, 1949, a British boys’ weekly story paper published by D.C. Thomson & Co. The headline story is titled “The Monster from the Deep.” The dynamic color illustration shows a gigantic sea creature rising violently from the ocean, towering above a cargo ship that pitches amid crashing waves. The monster is a hybrid of dragon and sea serpent, with green and gold scales, red underbelly, bat-like wings, a long neck, clawed limbs, and writhing tentacles sprouting from its sides. Its gaping mouth and yellow eyes convey menace as it looms over the imperiled ship. In the distance, rocky islands and a small fishing boat appear beneath a pale sky.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

I couldn't resist looking into it when I got this. There's a summary in the alt text, but the very short version is that what was ostensibly a disagreement over refreshments and entertainment at Bible study ended with a pastor being sentenced to an insane asylum.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

Oct 25, 1858 Harper's Weekly on the infamous Winans "cigar ship."

This is one of my favorite pieces of Civil War-era tech, and Ross Winans, along with Samuel Colt and a handful of others, is among the few pre-Edison American mad scientists whose work had an impact on 19c American science fiction.

An illustrated page from Harper’s Weekly (October 23, 1858) showing multiple views of the experimental Winans Steamship, a cigar-shaped iron vessel designed by Baltimore inventors Ross and George Winans. The main image at the top, captioned “The Winans Steamship After Being Launched (From a Photograph),” depicts the smooth, spindle-shaped hull floating near the shipyard, resembling a massive metallic cylinder with pointed ends and a narrow deck spine. Smaller engravings below show “Building the Winans Steamer,” with workers assembling the ship beside a wooden boathouse; “End View (From a Photograph),” displaying the circular cross-section of the hull; and “Longitudinal and Cross Sections,” a technical line drawing detailing the ship’s inner compartments, boilers, and propeller shafts. The accompanying article describes the vessel’s unique form and anticipated efficiency at sea.

Two large engravings from Harper’s Weekly illustrate the unusual Winans Steamship before and after launch. The upper image, “On the Ways Before the Launching (From a Photograph),” shows shipbuilders working beside the nearly completed, cigar-shaped vessel at a riverside yard with scaffolding and ladders in place, and a gabled wooden boathouse behind it. The lower engraving, “As She Will Appear at Sea,” envisions the ship in motion across rolling waves, its long spindle hull cutting through the water with twin smokestacks at center, emitting trails of black smoke. Together, the images capture both the engineering ambition and futuristic design of one of the 19th century’s most distinctive steamship experiments.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

Illustrated Police News #1514, Oct 26, 1895

Caption: You Shall Not Look at the Shameless Thing!
A young wife at Amityville, NY, shuts off her husband's view of a dashing Brooklyn bicyclist in tights.

(Cambridge Church Convulsion explained in alt.)

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

Boys of New York #944 Sep 16, 1893.
published by Frank Tousey

The White Wizard of the Bowery;
or, The Boy Slaves of New York: A Story of the Mysteries of Mesmerism
by Alexander Armstrong (a Tousey house pseudonym)

A good cover for the spooky season.

Front cover of The Boys of New York: A Paper for Young Americans, Vol. XIX, No. 944, dated September 16, 1893. The ornate masthead features elaborate typography. Below it, the lead serialized story is titled The White Wizard of the Bowery; or, The Boy Slaves of New York: A Story of the Mysteries of Mesmerism by Alexander Armstrong.

The large engraved illustration beneath the title depicts a dramatic occult scene. At the center, a young man in evening clothes kneels beside an unconscious woman lying within a pentagram, her body illuminated by torchlight. A robed and bearded man—depicted as a wizard or mesmerist—stands nearby holding an open book and pointing a wand tipped with a glowing star toward the woman. Four braziers at the corners of the scene emit heavy smoke, forming a mystical, ritualistic atmosphere. The caption beneath reads: “I see an old, old man. He stands over my prostrate form—he wears a gown of silk—he wears a curious cap upon his head—he reads from a book—he points with a brass wand from which shoots a fiery star— I see Will Spencer—he is kneeling beside me—with one hand he stirs the contents of the smoking dish.”

The text columns below begin the story.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

This reminds me... when I first saw your area of interest, I thought of this story. (NIU's copy, not mine) dimenovels.lib.niu.edu/islandora/ob...

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

Looks like Villanova has it here: digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:11...

Villanova Digital Library - Frank Leslie's Chimney Corner, v. II, no. 52, May 26, 1866, [Chicago edition, incomplete]. :: Digital Library@Villanova University

digital.library.villanova.edu

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

Illustration from The Stereoscope, an uncredited short from Chimney Corner Vol 2 #52, May 26, 1866

A man embarking on a long ocean voyage leaves his wife with a stereoscopic image she can look at to remind her he is alive and well. This goes horribly wrong. #phantomsfriday (story summary in alt)

John promises to marry Kate when he returns from one last voyage. She pleads with him not to go, haunted by a vague dread she cannot explain, a classic premonition of doom.

John jokes to reassure her, showing her a pair of stereoscope portraits recently taken of them both. He says she must look at his likeness whenever she misses him, and promises she will know he is safe “as long as the man in the stereoscope looks hearty and well.”

Kate keeps his stereoscopic photograph by her bedside. She looks through the device, trembling with fear until she sees his familiar smiling face. Each time, the sight comforts her; she takes it as a kind of supernatural assurance of his safety.

Time passes toward Kate's cousin Flora’s eagerly anticipated eighth birthday, for which a children’s party is being prepared. The party watches the colored slides — scenes of deserts, animals, and comic ghosts.

Meanwhile, the unnamed narrator has learned alarming news: It appears John's ship bound for California has exploded and burned at sea, with heavy loss of life.

Suddenly, Dobey announces in a joking tone that there are “rumors abroad this evening — rumors of a ship, name as yet only guessed at.” He does not realize the horror of what he’s saying. Then, as the next slide appears, the children cry out: a huge, ghastly, corpse-like face fills the screen — unmistakably John’s.

Kate gives one cry, then collapses, lifeless.

In the chaos that follows, the truth emerges. Dobey had, without thinking, used John’s stereoscopic photograph as one of his glass slides. The combination of light, color, and projection distorted the cheerful portrait into a ghostly image of death.

Then, in one final cruel twist, John himself arrives later that night. Alive and unharmed. He returns full of joy, only to find that Kate is dead.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 7d

New York Weekly, v40 #23, Apr 13, 1885
Seven Foot Sam, King of the Grizzlies by Reckless Ralph, one of Edward Zane Carroll Judson aka Ned Buntline's pseudonyms.

This is one of my favorite Story Paper series. But approx. 3,000 issues is a sobering collecting challenge.

Front page of Street and Smith’s New York Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 23, dated April 13, 1885. The masthead reads “A Journal of Useful Knowledge, Amusement, Romance, etc.” Below it, the main illustrated story is titled Seven-Foot Sam; or, The King of the Grizzlies by Reckless Ralph. The large wood engraving at center shows a dramatic wilderness scene: a towering frontiersman clad in buckskin and a fur cap, with a long beard and rifle slung across his back, grapples barehanded with a massive grizzly bear. The man’s left arm is raised in defense while his right drives a knife into the animal’s chest as the bear rears up to strike. The background shows craggy mountain cliffs and wild terrain. The illustration is captioned “Seven-Foot Sam.” The surrounding columns feature serialized text of the story, set in small, tightly packed type, typical of 19th-century illustrated fiction weeklies. The image conveys rugged frontier heroism and man-against-nature adventure—a staple of American popular fiction of the period.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 14d

You've got great taste in obscure stuff. Early 1950s Quality is underappreciated across the board.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 14d

The "Pepper's Ghost" illusion inspired one of the most infamous back-pages ads in American publishing history, and one that remained popular enough to appear for a century+. As a kid, I was always curious about what this was. #PhantomsFriday

Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · Jan 21

Lakeside Library, December 1878.

The earliest version I've seen of the infamous "Dancing Skeleton" ad that would appear in the back pages of comic books and magazines for a century. The "Prof. Pepper" reference makes it clear this was inspired by the "Pepper's Ghost" effect.

A small add in an 1878 issue of Lakeside Library. The illustration is of a dancing skeleton.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 14d

HA! Indeed.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 14d

National Police Gazette, v2 #14. Dec. 12, 1846.

The exploits of real-life bandit John A. Murrell inspired sensationalized accounts, myth, and fiction. This account claims that initiation into his "mystic clan" included an encounter with a spectral skeleton guarding his liar. #phantomsfriday

Front page of the National Police Gazette, Vol. 2, No. 14, published in New York on Saturday, December 12, 1846. The masthead title is printed in bold black letters across the top, with the price listed as “Four Cents a Number.” Below the masthead, the main illustration depicts a dramatic scene captioned “The Robbers’ Awful Oath.” A skeletal figure holding an arrow, rises from behind a coffin, confronting a terrified man recoiling in fear with arms raised. The image accompanies the feature article in the “Lives of the Felons” series, this installment titled “John A. Murrell, the Great Western Land Pirate.” The text columns below and beside the illustration recount Murrell’s life and crimes, describing the initiation rites and oaths of his robber gang in lurid detail.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 15d

Great cover!

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 17d

“‘The vampire bat!’ exclaimed Blount, echoing the words of the bo'wswain.”

The Bat of the Battery
Another Joe Phenix detective story by Albert W. Aiken.

Beadle’s New York Dime Library #419, Nov. 3, 1886

Front cover of Beadle’s New York Dime Library, Vol. XXXIII, No. 419, published November 3, 1886, by Beadle & Adams of New York. The featured story is The Bat of the Battery; or, Joe Phenix, King of Detectives by Albert W. Aiken. The engraving shows a dramatic nighttime waterfront scene under a full moon. In the foreground, a man in a wide-brimmed hat and long coat stands at the stern of a small rowboat, his arms raised as he confronts an approaching boat of armed pursuers. Another man fires a gun toward him, the muzzle flash bright against the dark water, while two additional figures row in pursuit. At the bottom left, the limp body of a woman lies in the bow of the first boat, illuminated faintly by moonlight. The text on the illustration reads “The Bat of the Battery” in large stylized letters. Below the image, the caption reads: “‘The vampire bat!’ exclaimed Blount, echoing the words of the bo'wswain.”

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 17d

The Black Cat #12, Sept 1896
Cover by Nelly Littlehale Umbstaetter

One of the most successful small-format literary magazines published in the wake of The Chap-Book, The Black Cat became known for "strange" fiction from the likes of O. Henry, Jack London, Henry Miller, Clark Ashton Smith, others.

Color cover of The Black Cat magazine, September 1896 issue, published by The Shortstory Publishing Co., Boston. The central illustration shows a black cat dressed in a plaid suit, cap, and red tie, cheerfully riding a yellow bicycle with red rims against a gold background. The cat is anthropomorphic, pedaling confidently with a paw on the handlebar and a mischievous smile. A red circular emblem marked “5 Cents” appears in the upper right corner within a white laurel wreath. To the right, the issue date and story titles are listed: “The Reapers” by Batterman Lindsay, “A Kindergarten Hold-Up” by Mabel Shippe Clarke, “The Guardian of Mystery Island” by Dr. Edmond Nolcini, “A Mental Mischance” by Thomas F. Anderson, and “The Barber of the Alpena” by J. Harwood. The publisher’s imprint reads: “The Shortstory Publishing Co., 144 High St., Boston, Mass.”

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 21d

What is probably the best pulp collection ever assembled is hitting the auction block beginning this winter.

Bleeding Cool @bleedingcool.com · 21d

Historic and high grade rarities from Dr. Richard Meli's legendary collection hit auction Dec. 4-6 in the debut Heritage Pulp Signature Auction. #pulps

Historic, high grade rarities from Dr. Richard Meli's legendary collection hit auction Dec. 4-6 in the debut Heritage Pulp Signature Auction.

dlvr.it

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 21d

Thank you! I have a lot of interest in the story paper/dime novel era of fiction in America, which in general is not as well understood as pulps and comics, and I would love to address that. I hope to have some books in my future.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 21d

Providence, 1827: Long before HPL, Providence was home to a weird fiction writer called "The Troglodyte". His work is alternate reality fiction.

Here, he sees the phantom of a figure from NYC's past, who triggers a vision of its future. Spoiler: it ends poorly. #phantomsfriday (summary in alt)

The Literary Cadet is an obscure, short-run newspaper (1826-1829) edited by Sylvester S. Southworth, and published by Samuel J. Smith and Jonathan C. Parmenter, with the help of their apprentice Samuel Adams (no close relation to the political Adams' families, it appears). Southworth often wrote a column called "Travels of a Troglodyte", which he signed as "The Troglodyte", it's sort of a Tale of the Mysterious Traveler as filtered through Weird Tales bit of alternate (and time traveling!) reality fiction.

In this installment, the Troglodyte has traveled from Providence to NYC and finds it a booming, noisy, bustling place. He begins to wonder if we can maintain this level of civilization, and as he does, the cacophony of the various activity surrounding him begins to evoke the chanting of some prior era.

Disoriented, he encounters a man named Anthony Van Corlaer -- a fictional trumpeter of the 1640s New Amsterdam colony which would ultimately become New York (sort of an earlier version of Paul Revere... he was to sound his trumpet to signal that the British were coming, and appeared in Washington Irving's History of New York). But he knows that Van Corlaer should be long dead.

As he ponders the meaning of this, Van Corlaer sounds his horn, and reality dissolves, replaced by some future or alternate vision of NYC. The city is in ruins, decayed, overgrown. "the mart of the New World has become the dwelling of wild beasts -- not a record of her greatness remains."

Just as he thinks to seek out manuscripts of this ruined place so he can record the "History of New York" himself, he's startled back to reality, disappointed that the vision has slipped away. In closing, he notes a parade of "malicious soldiers" on Broadway, accompanied by a bugler whose instrument bears a "villainous resemblance" to Van Corlaer's trumpet.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 22d

Yeah, he's the brother of well known Golden Age Archie comic book artist Bill Vigoda.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 23d

Not impossible, as this would have been around the end of the Ray Palmer-edited Amazing Stories era, made infamous by the "Shaver Mystery" hollow earth theory stuff. It all makes me curious what other stuff on the ayahuasca subject was out there in newsstand fiction within the time frame.

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Mark Seifert @markseifert.bleedingcool.com · 23d

This would probably lead to other interesting avenues of research, as the author says. My initial questions would be a) where did Gaddis pick up his grains of truth, and b) would Burroughs have put Amazing Stories (and Weird Tales) in the "True/He-Man magazine" category.

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