Just occassionally I dig into stuff which I get genuinely excited about. This is one of those times. I first came across Astounding Science Fiction [aka Anolog] magazine way back in the early days of the UK web when browsing for 'Moon Prospector'! WOTAN is similarly a fan and blogged previously about it. My interest in the magazine was re-kindled this summer of SWORD when I recently acquired a copy of the magazine, which was clearly a 'British' edition [more on my own copy in a later blog]. This got me thinking. Was there a 'British' cover of the US 1966 Lensman 'Moon Prospector' edition [below]?
Sadly not, as I discovered, as there were only a limited run of these 'British' covers from the 1930's to the early 1960's. I began to look into them and so begins a tale. I already knew about the 'Moon Crawler' cover from similar 'googlings' with WOTAN way back, but I what didn't know is that this one of the US editions re-printed in the UK with a 'British' cover. Both can be seen below [US right, 1962; British left, 1963]. As we've discussed before, this image was most likely an influence on the SWORD Moon Crawler art in the 1969 Annual [below] and the fact that a British version would have been available to Century 21 artists make's this even more plausible [did the Crawler appear in TV21?].
In 1963 another beautiful 'SWORDesque' cover appeared on a US edition, that of a Dyna Soar [below] but for some reason this did not re-appear with a British cover in what was to become the final year of these British editions. You can read the cover story "The Trouble with Tel Star" by John Berryman online!
But possibley the best SWORD -ish connection came much earlier in the 'British' run when the magazine was still called Astounding Science Fiction. The year was 1945 with a startling cover story called 'Killdozer', which bears a remarkable resemblance to the SWORD Moon Ranger box art! The British edition appears below [left] next to the earlier 1944 US original with the 1967 box for comparison.
I was fascinated to read on a wonderful site called 'Jaunting the Aether' that like SWORD box artists, the artists who painted the British edition covers are also unknown unlike the US cover artists, who were all well-known painters. For example, the 'Moon Prospector' was by Frank Kelly Freas, the 'Moon Crawler' by John Schoenherr and 'Killdozer' by William Timmins. I contacted the author of the 'Jaunting the Aether' site, Dave Wood, to find out more. Sadly I recieved the following response:
"Paul, thanks for your kind words...! Sadly, Dave died a few years ago, and I maintain the Astounding page in his memory. I don't think anyone would object if you used some of the images, but please credit them to Dave, mention their origin, and include a link to the Jaunting page.Best regards, Bill Burns".
As such I dedicate this article to Dave Wood, whose inquisitive mind and creativity made it possible. A kindred spirit on a great quest for sure, someone I would have like to have known. The 'Moon Crawler' and 'Killdozer' US/British pairings shown above are both from Dave's site. Check it out for many many more!
The US artists are well-documented on the net and this is probably the best site, ASF Covers. To conclude, is it possible that the British versions of ASF/ Analog, like Look and Learn, were known to the Century 21 box artists {whose identity is still a mystery]? I give the final word to the late Dave Wood who faced the same conundrum, when reseaching British ASF "..neither I, nor any of my "helpers" have been able to get even a sniff of who the British copyists were."
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