Weird Tales: The Unique Magazine

Weird Tales began in March 1923 as "The Unique Magazine," and for ten years it kept that subtitle. The last issue labeled as "The Unique Magazine" came out in March 1933.

The second issue of Weird Tales, from April 1923, had a red border around the cover illustration. The border turned white, then black, in subsequent issues. By January 1924, the border was gone.

The red border came back in August 1925. There was one blue border and four black borders after that. Otherwise, borders remained red until the February/March or April/May issue of 1931, depending on how you look at it. After that, the main title logo was enclosed in a red box at the top of the cover design, this until May 1933.

So at the ten-year mark, the subtitle "The Unique Magazine" and the red border or box on the cover disappeared. Also in May 1933, a new main title logo, designed by J. Allen St. John, made its debut. It is that logo that we now associate with Weird Tales in all of its forms. After May 1933, the cover designs for the magazine were simpler and cleaner. They had a more modern look instead of an older, Victorian or prewar appearance.

There were two exceptions to all of this. As we have seen, the May issues were the place where Weird Tales usually celebrated its anniversaries. I have found two throwback covers. Both came out during the anniversary month of May. The first was in May 1936. That one had the old subtitle, "The Unique Magazine," and a red border. The second was in May 1937. That one was subtitled "The Unique Magazine," but there wasn't any border at all.

Irving Glassman's letter in the March 1953 issue of Weird Tales appears to have been the last time there was mention of an anniversary during the first run of the magazine, 1923-1954. In September 1953, Weird Tales switched from the old pulp format to being digest-sized. It must have seemed to readers that their favorite magazine was on its last leg. Again and again, it had been reduced, first in the number of pages in each issue, then in the number of issues per year, finally in its dimensions. In September 1954, it disappeared altogether. The last two covers were by Virgil Finlay. Both were reprints. (The last original cover was W.H. Silvey's cover of May 1954.) However, the word "unique" returned for one last showing. On the cover of the last issue of the magazine, September 1954, is a blurb: "Unique Fiction."

Weird Tales, the last issue, September 1954, with cover art by Virgil Finlay. This image had originally appeared on the cover of the August issue of 1939. It has the same basic color scheme--orange and black--as the first issue of the magazine, published exactly thirty-one and a half years before, in March 1923.

Original text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley