Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. He has been called “part of the pulp magazine history … one of the foremost contributors of original and imaginative art work for the most memorable science fiction and fantasy publications of our time.” While he worked in a range of media, from gouache to oils, Finlay specialized in, and became famous for, detailed pen-and-ink drawings accomplished with abundant stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard techniques. Despite the very labor-intensive and time-consuming nature of his specialty, Finlay created more than 2600 works of graphic art in his 35-year career.
Virgil Finlay, Weird Tales 53-11, back cover.Virgil Finlay, unknown source. Looks like a Weird Tales illustration.Virgil Finlay, More Lives Then One by Seabury Quinn. Weird Tales 38-12.Virgil Finlay, A Thunder of Trumpets by Robert E. Howard and Frank Thurston Torbett, Weird Tales 38-09.This illo was selected for the 2019 Virgil Finlay calendar. Virgil Finlay, The Fifth Candle by Cyril Mand (George R. Hahn and Richard Levin), Weird Tales 39-01, p.55. Caption: “He decided that the best protection against the Old Man would be to fight him with his own weapon—the occult.” It was reprinted in Weird Tales 52-05, p.57 but the caption was changed to “…doom to his faithless sons!”Virgil Finlay, Unknown source, looks like a Weird Tales illustration.Virgil Finlay, Satan’s Palimpsest (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 37-09. Caption: “Adonis, that pale lovely boy.”Virgil Finlay, The Metal Chamber by Duane W. Rimel, Weird Tales 39-03, p.7.Virgil Finlay, Thing of Darkness by G.G. Pendarves, Weird Tales 53-11, p.84.Virgil Finlay, A Corner for Lucia by August Derleth, Weird Tales 53-05, p.47.Virgil Finlay, An Offering to the Moon by Clark Ashton Smith, Weird Tales 53-09, p.54.Virgil Finlay, Giants of Anarchy by Eando Binder, Weird Tales 39-06/07, p.17.Virgil Finlay, The Sitter in the Mound by Bruce Bryan, Weird Tales 39-06/07, p.40.Virgil Finlay, I Can’t Wear White by Suzanne Pickett, Weird Tales 53-01. Caption: Mists rose from the lake…some in human, others in goblin-like forms.Virgil Finlay, An Offering to the Moon by Clark Ashton Smith, Weird Tales 53-09, p.54.Virgil Finlay, Giants of Anarchy by Eando Binder, Weird Tales 39-06/07, p.5.Virgil Finlay, Change of Heart by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 84-Fall, p.35. This is re-use of an illo that first appeared in an astrology magazine.Virgil Finlay, The Poppy Pearl by Frank Owen, Weird Tales 37-02, p.195.Virgil Finlay, The Headless Miller of Kobold’s Keep by G. Garnet, Weird Tales 37-01, 79.Virgil Finlay, The Isle of the Sleeper, Edmond Hamilton, Weird Tales 38-05.Virgil Finlay, The Strangling Hands by M.G. Moretti, Weird Tales 38-02, p.195.Virgil Finlay, Children of the Bat (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 37-01. Caption: He beat his head against the cross and arched his body forward. All the time La Murcialaga stood there statue-still, with her bat wings spread out.Virgil Finlay, The Lost Door by Dorothy Quick, Weird Tales 36-10. Caption: “My curse upon you, Black George,” she cried.Virgil Finlay, Lost Paradise (Northwest Smith), C.L. Moore, Weird Tales 36-07.Virgil Finlay, Toean Matjan by Vennette Herron, Weird Tales 38-01, p.71.Virgil Finlay, The Creeper in the Crypt by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 37-07, P.105. Caption: There was something creeping across the cellar floor.Virgil Finlay, The House in the Valley (right side) by August Derleth, Weird Tales 53-07, p.13.Virgil Finlay, The House in the Valley (left side) by August Derleth, Weird Tales 53-07, p.12.Virgil Finlay, The House Where Time Stood Still by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 39-03, p.39.Virgil Finlay, Raider of the Spaceways by Henry Kuttner, Weird Tales 37-07, P.49. Caption: Abruptly the Raider’s ship flashed away, came darting down on them.Virgil Finlay, The House Where Time Stood Still by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 39-03, p.39.Virgil Finlay, The Secret of Sebek by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 37-11. Caption: Moving, the squamous horror of the head looked like a close-up.Virgil Finlay, The Dark Star by G.G. Pendarves, Weird Tales 37-03. Caption: To escape him, she flung herself off the cliff path.Virgil Finlay, From the Beginning by Eando Binder, Weird Tales 38-06.Virgil Finlay, Living Buddhess (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 37-11. Caption: Atop the perfect cream-white body was another face, an old face, a wicked face, a face with Mongoloid features.Virgil Finlay, Weird Tales edited by Leo Margulies, 1964.Virgil Finlay, The Guardian of the Book by Henry Hasse, Weird Tales 37-03. Caption: My mind reeled out against the booming monody of the stars.Virgil Finlay, The Black Stone Statue by Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Weird Tales 37-12. Caption: The droning voice ringing in his ears issued from this nightmare creature.Virgil Finlay, The Mandarin’s Ear by Frank Owen, Weird Tales 37-08. Caption: Her body was like warm white velvet.Virgil Finlay, The Woman at Loon Point by August Derleth and Mark Schorer, Weird Tales 36-12. Caption: A man, doomed to assume the shape of a savage wolf.Virgil Finlay, The Elixir of Death by Eando Binder, Weird Tales 37-03. Blurb: The Story of an unscrupulous alchemist whose sins brought down upon him a weird and terrible doom.Virgil Finlay, Suicide Chapel (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 38-06.Virgil Finlay, Song of Death by A.W. Calder, Weird Tales 38-06.Virgil Finlay, Jail-Break by Paul Ernst, Weird Tales 37-07, p.19.Virgil Finlay, Out of the Sun by Granville S. Hoss, Weird Tales 36-12. Caption: The sun, peopled by beings like her, must be a lovely place.Virgil Finlay, The House of Living Music by Edmond Hamilton, Weird Tales, January, 38-01. Caption: “It was like hearing all the flowers of earth instead of seeing them.” This looks like Basil Rathbone who most famously played Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson and the Sheriff of Nottingham against Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood.Virgil Finlay, The Talkie Dolls by Donald F. Vieweg, Weird Tales 53-03, p.22. Caption: …magic words were not needed; everything had been taken care of.Virgil Finlay, Fling the Dust Aside by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 51-11, p.51.Virgil Finlay, “Sexton, Sexton, in the Wall” by August Derleth, Weird Tales 53-01. Caption: Once again the red rabbit lurched forward, a perceptible inch or even less. (That thing is obviously not a rabbit. Did they publish the wrong illustration?)Virgil Finlay, Bride of the Lightning by Edmond Hamilton, Weird Tales 39-01, p.61.Virgil Finlay, Death Is an Elephant by Nathan Hindin, Weird Tales 39-02, p.7.Virgil Finlay, The Phantom Island by Arlton Eadie, Weird Tales 39-05, p.115.Virgil Finlay, Apprentice Magician by E. Hoffman Price, Weird Tales 39-08, p.15.Virgil Finlay, Spotted Satan by Otis Adelbert Kline & E. Hoffman Price, Weird Tales 40-01, p.7.Virgil Finlay, The Dark Isle by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 39-05, p.23.Virgil Finlay, Comrades of Time by Edmond Hamilton, Weird Tales 39-03, P.103. Blurb: A thrill-tale of our world a million years from now, and of the aged Wise One who craved the boon of death.Virgil Finlay, The House Where Time Stood Still by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 39-03, P.47. This portrait was used for all the Jules de Grandin stories in Weird Tales. When Quinn first saw it, he said that Finlay must have read his mind. It looks exactly the way he pictured de Grandin while writing the stories.Virgil Finlay, The House Where Time Stood Still by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 39-03, P.49. This portrait was used for all the Jules de Grandin stories in Weird Tales. When Quinn first saw it, he said that Finlay must have read his mind. It looks exactly the way he pictured Trowbridge while writing the stories.Virgil Finlay, The White Rat by Earl Pierce, Jr., and Bruce Bryan, Weird Tales 38-9.Virgil Finlay, Frozen Beauty (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 38-02.Virgil Finlay, As ‘Twas Told to Me by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 38-09.Virgil Finlay, Symphony of the Damned by John R. Speer, Weird Tales 37-04. Caption: Tomorrow madness will reign supreme.Virgil Finlay, The Red Swimmer by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 39-034, p.83.Virgil Finlay, Fessenden’s World by Edmond Hamilton, Weird Tales 37-04. Caption: Cities were destroyed by flashed of fire in that war.Virgil Finlay, The Grinning Ghoul by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 36-06.Virgil Finlay, The Red God Laughed by Thorp McCluskey, Weird Tales 39-04. Caption: It was obvious to him now that these dead were of the species which had built the city.Virgil Finlay, The Temple Dancer by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 38-04.Virgil Finlay, The Diary of Alonzo Typer by William Lunley, Weird Tales 38-02. Caption: Of the meaning of that monster and of those hieroglyphs, I had no clue.Virgil Finlay, The Temple Dancer by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 38-04.Virgil Finlay, Forest of Evil by John Murray Reynolds, Weird Tales 38-04.Virgil Finlay, Pigeons from Hell by Robert E. Howard, Weird Tales 38-05. Caption: It was the windowless chamber I saw in my dream, with the three bodies hanging there.Virgil Finlay, Slave of the Flames by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 38-06.Virgil Finlay, The Last Archer by Earl Peirce, Jr., Weird Tales 37-03. Blurb: One of the strangest stories ever written – a tale that begins in the time of Richard the Lion-Hearted and the Crusades and ends in our own day.Virgil Finlay, The Eyes of the Mummy by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 38-04.Virgil Finlay, While Zombies Walked by Thorp McClusky, Weird Tales 39-09. p.5.Virgil Finlay, Mystery of the Missing Magnate by Ralph Milne Farley, Weird Tales 39-10, p.55. ISFdb credits this to Finlay but there is no signature. It must have gotten cut off.Virgil Finlay, Spawn of the Maelstrom by August W. Derleth and Mark Schorer, Weird Tales 39-09, p.84.Virgil Finlay, Return to Earth by Willis Knapp Jones, Weird Tales 37-06.Virgil Finlay, The Room of Shadows by Arthur J. Burks, Weird Tales 36-05. Caption: “Together again, as all of us will be down the centuries to come.”Virgil Finlay Roads by Seabury Quinn, Weird TalesVirgil Finlay, Jail-Break by Paul Ernst, Weird Tales 37-07, p.19.Virgil Finlay, The Man in Black by Paul Ernst, Weird Tales 36-11. Caption: All had Seen the man in black go but none had seen him come out.Virgil Finlay, Hellsgarde (Jirel of Joiry) by C.L. Moore, Weird Tales 39-04, p.37. Caption: While the wild challenge still echoed on her lips, a ravenous mouth came storming down to silence hers.Virgil Finlay, Mannikins of Horror by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 39-12, P.71. Caption: “Be the greatest sculptor in the world, be the greatest surgeon, be a creator!”Virgil Finlay, The Mannikin by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 37-04. Caption: That little monster had climbed a trifle higher.Virgil Finlay, Toean Matjan, Vennette Herron, Weird Tales 38-01, p.71.Virgil Finlay, The Crawling Horror by Thorp McClusky, Weird Tales 36-11. Caption: It reared up, as a fountain might gush up. It put forth arms, developed breasts.Virgil Finlay, Flames of Vengeance (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 37-12.IMO this is better than my b&w version. Virgil Finlay, Flames of Vengeance (Jules de Grandin) by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 37-12.Virgil Finlay, The Plaid by Abrach, Weird Tales 52-07, P. 64.Virgil Finlay, The Opener of the Way by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 36-10. Caption: Even as he gazed, the whole face was twisting into a sudden ghastly life.Virgil Finlay, The Ho-Ho-Kam Horror by Bruce Bryan, Weird Tales 37-09. Caption: It was a serpent, and a colossal one.Virgil Finlay, The Death of Ilalotha by Clark Ashton Smith, Weird Tales 37-09.Virgil Finlay, The Metal Chamber by Duane W. Rimel, Weird Tales 39-03, p.7.Virgil Finlay, Necromancy in Naat (Zothique) by Clark Ashton Smith, Weird Tales 36-07, P.3. Caption: The man altered not in his chair, but his eyes still widened, slowly, with a horrible glaring.Virgil Finlay, Son of Satan by Arlton Eadie, Weird Tales 36-04. Caption: He looked carefully to the priming in the pan.Virgil Finlay, Fortune’s Fools by Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales 38-07, P.15. Caption: Against the blackness of the entranceway the woman showed in aureate silhouette.Virgil Finlay, Druidic Doom by Robert Bloch, Weird Tales 36-04. Caption: The bleat of the faun and the shrill scream of the centaur were heard in the land.Virgil Finlay, The Supreme Witch by Appleby Terrill, Weird Tales 53-03, p.87.Virgil Finlay, The Night Road by August Derleth Weird Tales 52-05. Caption: It just seemed to come out of the night—that road.Virgil Finlay, In the World’s Dusk by Edmond Hamilton, Weird Tales 36-03. Caption: The brain of Galos Gann had triumphed over time and place.Virgil Finlay, Dread Summons by Paul Ernst, Weird Tales 37-11. Caption: The door moved a little against his hand, moved slightly, eerily.Virgil Finlay, Worlds of Weird edited by Leo Margulies 1965.Virgil Finlay, Clicking Red Heels by Paul Ernst, Weird Tales 37-06. Caption: His fingers hooked over the branch and his foot left the clutch.Virgil Finlay, The Thing on the Doorstep by H.P. Lovecraft, Weird Tales 37-01. Caption: The pit of the shoggotha! Down the six thousand steps…abomination of abominations.Virgil Finlay, Mandrake by Adam Hull Shirk, Weird Tales 53-05, first published in 1923.Virgil Finlay, The Woman in Room 607 by Thorp McClusky, Weird Tales 37-01. Caption: It was a column of fog, yet it lived and had mass and weight. Blurb: A strange, weird story about a woman who clung too closely to life—a tale about the morbid horror that flowed out from under the door of that room in the Hotel Northrup.Virgil Finlay, The Face in the Wind by Carl Jacobi, Weird Tales 36-04. Caption: He pushed the hammer to full cock, and leaped back to the window. Pen and ink on board. 7.75 x 7.75 in.Virgil Finlay, The Haunter of the Dark by HPL, Weird Tales 36-12. Caption: He had come to the deserted edifice in search of a newspaper sensation.Virgil Finlay, The Homicidal Diary by Earl Peirce, Jr. Weird Tales 37-10. Caption: “Then I heard him in the hallway and on the stairs.”Virgil Finlay, Lords of the Ice by David H. Keller, Weird Tales 39-12, P.30-31.Virgil Finlay, Lords of the Ice by David H. Keller, Weird_Tales 39-12, p.30.Virgil Finlay, Lords of the Ice by David H. Keller, Weird_Tales 39-12, p.31.Virgil Finlay, The Horror in the Burying-Ground by Hazel Heald, Weird Tales 37-05. Caption: “Then there was that awful ‘comin’ again some day,” in a death-like squawk.
