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A Pictorial History of Horror Stories: 200 Years of Illustrations from the Pulp Magazines
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Gothic Chapbooks and Shilling Shockers
3. Penny Blood and Penny Dreadfuls
4. Victorian Sensational Fiction
5. The Pulp Explosion
6. The Legendary 'Weird Tales'
7. The Masters of Horror
8. A Dying Traditon?
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Gothic Chapbooks and Shilling Shockers
3. Penny Blood and Penny Dreadfuls
4. Victorian Sensational Fiction
5. The Pulp Explosion
6. The Legendary 'Weird Tales'
7. The Masters of Horror
8. A Dying Traditon?
Acknowledgements
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
6 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Peter Haining
331 books99 followersPeter Alexander Haining was an English journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk. Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of New English Library.
Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.
In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).
He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.
Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies. He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies. In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero (1973), which was optioned for filming.
In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800, was tried in December 1801, and was hanged in January 1802. However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong 10 July 1782 in "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802. Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non-fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983), and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmes (1991) and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond. Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea (2003), The Mystery of Rommel's Gold (2004), Where The Eagle Landed (2004), The Chianti Raiders (2005) and The Banzai Hunters (2007).
He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 11, 2025
Peter Haining was a was an avid fan of horror and you can see it in how he put together this book. His book features horror illustrations from penny dreadfulls to the horror pulps like Weird Tales. These magazines had some great illustrators like Virgil Finlay and some good but lesser known artists. You can find many of these illustrators and the pulp fiction on the Internet Archive. Peter Haining chose to feature some of the best of the best artwork in this great book for horror fiction fans.
February 14, 2021
An overview of pulp horror illustrations from the penny dreadfuls of the Victorian era to the magazines of the 1960's and 70's. Page space is mostly devoted to reproductions of the fantastic illustrations. The text, while somewhat brief, is informative and interesting. A really awesome book to read and flip through!
April 2, 2018
A useful basic run-through by the prolific Peter Haining of the history of popular horror illustration from the Gothic era through to around 1970.
The favourites are in there - Finlay, Bok, Dolgov and many others - with the best material artistically coming from the immediate post-war era before the pulps collapsed in the early 1950s.
September 15, 2023
This is more or less a compilation of horror art from old horror novels, pulp fiction publications and comics with some background history to go along with it. This was pretty cool but I read this on an ebook reader and it certainly would be cooler to look at in a big in hand coffee table style book.
October 4, 2013
Starting with the Penny Dreadful's of the Victorian Era and stopping with the last of Horror magazines in the 1950's this book showcase's the artists that enhanced the readers enjoyment of the stories.
The writers mention are a rogue's gallery of horror, Lovecraft, Bloch, Wellman, Seabury Quinn(the most published writer in the history of Weird Tales)and Ray Bradbury. The artists, sadly to say, are mostly forgotten part of the Pulp era. So reading this book is a small tribute to them.
The writers mention are a rogue's gallery of horror, Lovecraft, Bloch, Wellman, Seabury Quinn(the most published writer in the history of Weird Tales)and Ray Bradbury. The artists, sadly to say, are mostly forgotten part of the Pulp era. So reading this book is a small tribute to them.
May 22, 2023
The author did a brilliant job here giving an overview on how horror developed over the years. Pulp magazines, chapbooks, shilling shockers, penny dreadfuls, penny bloods (from Varney to Sweeney Todd), Victorian sensational fiction, the pulps explosion, Weird Tales. So many excerpts from famous publications and covers. At the end we have a detailed presentation of the masters of horror, i.e. Lovecraft, Howard, Bloch and Bradbury. This periodical gives you a very detailed impression where horror comes from. Highly recommended!
May 3, 2019
An excellent pictorial book of Pulp Magazines. Good to see my favourite author included, H P Lovecraft.
April 19, 2020
Anyone interested in the great pulps should read this. Collecting the wonderful art from bygone days.
February 28, 2016
This is a very interesting book, even though the exact title is a little deceptive. Although the book has eight chapters, the first four deal with publications that came well before actual pulp magazines. This part deals with things published as early as the very early 1800's, then proceeds through the various types of publications, arriving at chapter five with the actual pulp magazines.
This is not a bad thing, though, as it is always good to know where something has come from, it's history, and this provides a type of history of things leading up to pulp magazines that I have not seen anywhere else at all.
>The book is filled with black-and-white illustrations from the stories, and has some black-and-white cover reproductions along with a few color covers of pulp magazines.
This is not a bad thing, though, as it is always good to know where something has come from, it's history, and this provides a type of history of things leading up to pulp magazines that I have not seen anywhere else at all.
>The book is filled with black-and-white illustrations from the stories, and has some black-and-white cover reproductions along with a few color covers of pulp magazines.
June 10, 2016
I've read this book many times. I don't own it but I borrow it from the local library a couple of times a year, and have done so for years. I'm not a huge horror buff, but I do enjoy interesting illustrations. This book has many really good illustrations. I also like books with a historical perspective, and since that is what this book is about...If you find this sort of thing interesting, or if you have an interest in graphics in older books and magazines, this certainly is a book that should be a welcome addition to your lib ray. There ere a couple of pictures in this book I would love to have as as pictures for my wall.
January 6, 2015
My edition is slightly different, called The Art Of Horror Stories, but it appears to be essentially the same book. Lavishly illustrated, and the art is of course the selling feature of the book, but also annotated lovingly by Mr. Haining. Informative and enjoyable and highly recommended to anyone who loves to look at great illustration.
September 30, 2016
Having book perusers serves as the prelude pictures with details about each illustration. Much more like Space Bestiary from GURPS, with its various artist perception of exo-monsters and a much longer description where I envisioned Groot as World Tree! This wonderful chronology is a mesmerizing work to anybody interested in the pulp aspect of literature's history.
July 3, 2013
An astounding collection of vintage illustrations that appears to be very comprehensive. At least up until 1976. A little much to take all in one sitting, but fun to flip through occasionally. Like a weird, gruesome coffee table book. Display pairing suggestion: old copies of 'Avon Fantasy Reader'.
April 21, 2010
It's essentially a picture book but it's a really, cool picture book!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews