I recently picked up a copy of Roy V. Hunt: A Retrospective, a very nicely done volume from the First Fandom Experience group. This book focuses on this fan, artist, and illustrator that many may not be aware of.
Roy V. Hunt (1914-86) was mainly a science-fiction fan and an amateur artist. He started doing work for several fanzines, but he was able to do some pulp covers and even book covers, mainly for small presses like Fantasy Publishing Co. and Gorgon Books.
I first saw his work when I got a copy of ERB-dom #80 with his colorful cover of Edgar Rice Burroughs‘s War Chief character.
The book comes in at around 150 pages on glossy, heavy paper. We get a nice overview of his life and learn that he mainly worked as a curator and artist for the Colorado State Historical Museum in Denver. Thus, his art career was something he did on the side rather than his main career.
I get a bit of an “outsider” vibe to his artwork, which is not a bad thing. His later work is much more refined. Most of it is pen-and-ink, and I would have liked to have seen more color artwork, but he didn’t do much of that.
The heart of the book is chapters of his work for fanzines, the Work Projects Administration during the Depression, pulps, and books. He did both covers and interior artwork, and I think most of this work has been reprinted here. The last chapter focuses on the chapbooks and portfolios of heroes and villains, such as Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu, that he produced toward the end of his life.
An additional chapter goes into the technology of fan artwork, explaining what mimeograph, silk screening, offset lithography, and more are. I think many of us hear these terms without really understanding what they mean. And we get an index of his work as well.
This is a nicely done volume by the First Fandom Experience group, led by David Ritter. This group has also put out some other good books that I recommend people take a look at. I picked up another of their volumes recently and am looking at getting some of their other works.
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