Next Saturday It Will Be Halloween,

like no other,

the virus that is stalking the world like a giant stalking thing is scary enough, but here is a look at one magazine that took the scary dairy genre from its humble beginnings, with only 51 issues in existence, Der Orchideengarten, was an Austrian magazine printed between the years of 1919 and 1921, predating the American fantasy-horror magazine Weird Tales, which is still in circulation after nearly a century,

the magazine although short lived had many influential authors that defined the early 20th century, such as Edgar Allen Poe, H.G. Wells, and Dickens, above two of the covers,

from here just a few of the illustrations,

Heinrich Kleys was a regular contributor, whose work was avidly collected by Walt Disney, take a look at some early Disney productions, particularly Fantasia, and you’ll find Kley’s unmistakable influence, 

also of great influence to many contributors was of course the Great War, many dark memories from that war can be seen in the illustrations,

as it happens you can buy reprints with English translations here, or there is a digital versions here, and in case I forget to say it next Saturday, Happy Halloween!