The "Not at Night" Centenary

In October 1925, the first of a new series of weird stories appeared in the form of a volume edited by Christine Campbell Thomson entitled Not at Night (London: Selwyn & Blount). It contained fifteen stories, mostly by authors unknown then and unknown today (the exceptions being Frank Belknap Long and Greye La Spina). All of the stories were originally printed in Weird Tales magazine in the U.S., in issues dating from November 1924 through September 1925. 

Not at Night was unusually successful, and it had six printings in its first year, and more subsequently.  Also, it inspired a further ten volumes in the series (not just from Weird Tales, but using many sources), and a final "Not at Night" Omnibus in 1937, which presented the editor's selection from previous volumes. The omnibus also included a short introduction (dated February 1936) by Thomson in which she described the origin of the first volume.

The idea had been conceived on the top of a bus (they were open-decked buses in those days) just as it pulled away from its Oxford Circus stop about six o'clock one evening, I was on that bus with the Director of Selwyn & Blount, Ltd. He was, I remember, lamenting, like every other publisher, that he wanted something new and couldn't find it . . . and something popular. I believe that he claims the bright moment when Not at Night took birth, but I think it was a case of two minds on the same thought at the same moment--at any rate, I know that I am responsible for the title of the Series!

The price of the projected book was a matter of fierce argument. Finally we agreed upon two shillings in the belief that Not at Night would be the kind of book that a man would buy at a railway-bookstall, throwing down a single coin and running for his train. We wanted, above all, to produce books that would be within the reach of a very large number of people . . . 

The jacket for the first volume (and for many of the later ones), was designed by that clever advertising agent, Betty Prentis, who was then working as a freelance artist under her trade name of Eliza Pyke. It was "Eliza", with her sense of dramatic colour, who contributed not a little towards a "brighter bookstalls" movement!

Publication-day dawned and we held our hands in trepidation. Were we backing a wrong horse? Within a week we knew that we were on the right one. Not at Night was launched and we daringly planned a second and a third to follow in the ensuing years. For originally this was a one-book scheme. The popularity of the Series never waned, and it became a matter of price to make each subsequent volume equal the quality of the previous one; for--in our modest opinion--it was impossible to surpass it! 

And thus the first multi-volumed series of weird stories came about. It even sparked a short revival of three Not at Night volumes in paperback in the early 1960s.   

 

Gruesome Cargoes: Horror fiction 1925-1937

Thanks to the internet, we can now share what we have managed to preserve of the unique art that adorned the dust wrappers of the 1920's - 1930's horror and supernatural books. In most cases these covers are but rarely seen, as dust wrappers from that period, gracing books that were not even considered decent literature or collectible, are much rarer than one would think.

There are some excellent sites doing their best in preserving, documenting and generously sharing the art of these dust wrappers. There is, for instance, the section on rare books on Robert Weinberg's site with a choice selection, there is the excellent supernatural fiction database of Tartarus Press, and there is the art gallery on Jessica Amanda Salmonson's website Violet Books.

Today I stumbled upon the blog Grueseome Cargoes that is an absolute must if like me, you want to actually see what those covers look like and immerse yourself in that unique flavour of that particular era (yes, I like to watch the Hercule Poirot tv adaptations as they so graceously permit me to savour something of the style and social conventions of that pre-world war II period). And since in my case many books that I have collected over the years lack these spellbinding dust wrappers, it is a feast for the eyes and quite an aha-erlebnis.

Gruesome Cargoes is meant, as its mission statement reads, and I quote, to be a "celebration of Christine Campbell Thomson’s Not At Night Anthologies (1925 – 1936)... Gruesome Cargoes is also a celebration of Charles Lloyd Birkin’s Creeps series (1932 -1936)... similar obsessions to the above but with added unhealthy cannibalism and leprosy fixations."

Recommended! Now we can only dream of the day where we can actually buy or print, through the net, these covers in full colour high resolutions, to restore those books that we have that lack their jackets. It is already common practice, so let's hope that some enterprising collector starts such an undertaking one of these days... or should I say, nights?