In 1966
Pyramid Books released
Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror, a small paperback book containing black and white
"picture stories of supernatural horror" as selected by
Lee himself, featuring five fright classics:
Robert Bloch's "The Past Master", Rudyard Kipling's "The Mark of the Beast", Ambrose Bierce's "The Death of Halprin Frayser", "Wentworth's Day" by
H. P. Lovecraft and
August Derleth, and finally today's
THOIA Flash Forward pick,
Bram Stoker's long-lost first exploit of
Count Dracula "Dracula's Guest" (adapted by
E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrated by
Frank Bolle.) There's more after the story...
20 comments:
By all means,sir,continue...
hell, yes! more, please, sir. . .
Yep. Never have found a copy of this one. Must. See. More!
WOW THIS WAS GREAT! NEVER HEARD OF THIS BOOK, I GUESS IT IS RARE AND HARD TO FIND? I WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE TOO ESPECIALLY THE LOVECRAFT STORY!
Never heard of this one would love to get my hands on a copy .
More, please?
Killer. And more tales by the likes of Ambrose Bierce and Lovecraft done by Johnny Craig and Mort Drucker?? Hell Yes!
Great stuff! Definitely more. I need to track down this book, too.
Okay, everyone so far seems to enjoy this post--- good! I was hoping you would. Please know though that it's a tough book to scan, being a typically small (and old) paperback the spine is already weakening but I'll see what I can do about showcasing more tales from it soon.
A little more info on this collection per some of your comments:
Drucker only illustrated the cover.
Johnny Craig illustrates the Kipling story which I'll probably post sometime before the end of the month.
Russ Jones tackles the Lovecraft tale... look for that one in the near future as well.
Dracula's Guest artist Frank Bolle appears a second time in this collection illustrating the Ambrose Bierce tale.
And if you want a taste of Alden McWilliams stunning art from the Robert Bloch tale then head over to Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire, the images I used when I created Kate's banner for her a few years ago are from this story:
http://tenebrouskate.blogspot.com/
As mentioned, I'll get back to the Treasury of Terror soon, but next up at THOIA is another vampire Flash Forward post, and it's a doozy submitted by one of my favorite fellow comic book bloggers-- Mad Mykal! Don't miss it.
Very cool! It's stuff like this that keeps all of your rabid fans happy!
Great post of beautiful black and white art, Karswell! The ever dependable Bolle created a nice eerie atmosphere for this one. I thought I recognized this, then I figured it out -- It firsy appeared in the Lee collection, and then two years later appeared in EERIE (Warren), except on the splash page they pasted cousin Eerie's face over Dracula's (figure with arms spread)!
Keep on Creepin' on, Karswell!
>firsy appeared in the Lee collection, and then two years later appeared in EERIE
Thanks for this info Apoco, very useful... I was actually wondering if these stories were ever reprinted (if anyone knows of others please let us know.) It didn't even occur to me to check GCD on this book until you mentioned that and now that I just did there is indeed an entry for it, unfortunantly it just mentions that it exists and has a pic of the cover, with no other details about the contents. I already mentioned this stuff above, but here is a more precise breakdown again in case anyone wishes to update GCD or notify them with this information:
Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror (Pyramid Book / 1966)
2-Page Introduction by Christopher Lee
The Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling, adapter: Craig Tennis, artist: Johnny Craig (28 pages)
Wentworth's Day by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, adapter: Russ Jones, artist: Russ Jones (26 pages)
The Past Master by Robert Bloch, adapter: Craig Tennis, artist: Alden McWilliams (30 pages)
The Death of Halpin Frayser by Ambrose Bierce, adapter: Craig Tennis, artist: Frank Bolle (23 pages)
Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker, adapter: E. Nelson Bridwell, artist: Frank Bolle (22 pages)
And to tie this collection in with Chris Lee even more, there's a Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer ad on the last page!
Thanks again for the feedback, and if you're all as "rabid" as Mike says you are, then I'll keep feeding you the good stuff!
(reprinted in Warren Magazines)Besides Dracula's Guest, I recognize The Death Of Halpin Frayser, I have to look again because now I'm pretty sure they didn't run the full stories in Eerie, as these stories are 22 or 23 pages long, and Eerie stories were about 7-10 usually...I'll get back to you, Kars...
...or would the number of pages be cut in half because of the format...probably...whoops, now I'm rambling and thinking out loud...
>or would the number of pages be cut in half because of the format
Yes, I just press the book open in the scanner and scan the two pages together which counts them together as one, the paperback is formated so you have to read the artwork sideways.
I've not enlarged and read the panels yet (will do that Mon. or Tues.; it's currently too late in the p.m. Sunday), but on first seeing the scans: It's gorgeous. I *love* the black and white; it's an automatically perfect mood setter. And the title's bold crimson lettering an instant eye catcher.
As for Christopher Lee; bah. Peter Cushing FOREVER! :-D
this was great. Do continue!
As mentioned above here in the comments, this story was reprinted 2 years later in Eerie #16, so head over to Black and White and Red All Over to see what Warren did to the splash... seriously you don't wanna miss this!
http://blacknwhiteandredallover.blogspot.com/2010/01/post-23-draculas-guest.html
Thanks again Apoco!
Loved it. Please continue.
Dave
Excellent. :-)
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