It's always fascinating to see that professional horror and science-fiction personalities contributed widely to amateur publications in the early days of fandom. They were generally not afraid to add their expertise when asked by fanzine editors who had the huevos to track down a famous writer and ask (maybe beg) them to write an article or story for their 'zine.
In this particular case, the co-editors of THE ALCHEMIST (Vol. 1 No. 5, February 1940, Denver Colorado), Charles Ford Hanson, Lew Martin and Roy Hunt turned lead into gold.
Between covers by J. Allen St. John and Hannes Bok is a fanzine full of famous and soon to be dignitaries of the World of Imagination. Forrest J Ackerman provides a profile of WEIRD TALES cover artist Margaret Brundage, Ray Bradbury writes, "I Am Positively Not Robert Bloch!", Otis Adelbert Kline tells how he became a writer and a serial, "Rhythm of the Spheres" by A. Merritt, concludes. The lead article is a strange one by none other than Robert A.W. Lowndes, who would later become editor of the Health Knowledge line of horror/mystery/science-fiction titles, who writes about the legendary Black Mass. He uses the literary reference to Joris Karl Huysman's infamous novel of Decadence, "La Bas" (Down There) to add weight to the history of the nefarious rites.
Included is advertising for H.P. Lovecraft's "The Outsider and Others", his posthumous collection published as the first ever title by Arkham House in 1939.
Mimeographed and a little hard to read, THE ALCHEMIST nevertheless is a window into what was and what may never be again.
BONUS! Enhanced front and back covers.
The blessed glory of mimeograph. It's otherworldly appearance speaks of a time when idealism was more in vogue.
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