In 2016, Robert Weinberg passed away. During his life he was an author, editor, publisher, collector, and book and art dealer.
I have posted about some of the important work he did in the pulp area with his fanzine Pulp, as well as his anthologies of Pulp Classics, Lost Fantasy, Weird Menace, and Incredible Adventures. He edited collections for other publishers, such as the dozen or so “Little 100” series of horror, science fiction, and such stories. He was also responsible for the six collections of Jules de Grandin stories.
I don’t know how well current pulp fans are aware of him, but Robert Weinberg paved the way for a lot of stuff going on in our field.
Thankfully, a recent tribute book came out: Weinberg Tales. While published by American Fantasy Press, you have to order it from Phyllis Weinberg. [UPDATE: you can now purchase it from Amazon.]
We get the various tributes and remembrances from those who knew him. The longest is a tribute by Doug Ellis.
But the bulk of the work is taken up by Weinberg’s “Collecting Fantasy Art.” This was a long series of articles published online that was planned to be collected in book form before Weinberg passed away. While I enjoy fantasy art, collecting it is beyond my means. But despite that, this is an interesting series because of the stories and information in it. There are several pieces included with the article. I just wish the cover artwork was reprinted in color!
This is one of those books that you can jump around and enjoy what you read. Myself, I would have liked to have learned more about his work on his pulp reprints in the ’70s. I am still curious to know what Weinberg planned for the second set of de Grandin reprints. I always hoped there was a list he put together, and it could be shared.
If you know something about Robert Weinberg and want to learn more, get this work. This is one of those books that I jumped at getting for fear of missing out and it not being available later on. My copy has a note from Phyllis Weinberg, as I assume all have, so this is one that will stay in my possession.
