Seabury Quinn
Encyclopedia
Seabury Grandin Quinn was an American pulp magazine
author
, most famous for his stories of the occult detective
Jules de Grandin
, published in Weird Tales
.
In 1910, he graduated from the law school of the National University and admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. He served in World War I; after his Army service he became editor of a group of trade papers in New York, where he taught medical jurisprudence and wrote technical articles and pulp magazine fiction.
His first published work was "The Law of the Movies", in The Motion Picture Magazine, December 1917. (His story "Painted Gold" may have been written earlier.) "Demons of the Night" was published in Detective Story Magazine on March 19, 1918, followed by "Was She Mad?" on March 25, 1918. He published "The Stone Image" in 1919. He introduced Jules de Grandin as a character in 1925, and continued writing stories about him until 1951.
In 1937 he returned to Washington to represent a chain of trade journals, and there subsequently became a government lawyer for the duration of World War II. He alternated between law and journalism all his life. He published over five hundred short stories.
His first book, Roads
(a surprising new origin for Santa Claus
, drawn from the original Christian legends), was published by Arkham House
in 1948.
Ten of the Jules de Grandin stories were collected in The Phantom Fighter (Mycroft & Moran) (an imprint of Arkham House), 1966. A broader selection of the stories, including the novel The Devil's Bride, was issued in a six-volume Popular Library
paperback
edition in 1967-77. A three-volume omnibus reportedly including all the de Grandin stories was issued by a specialty publisher in 2002.
His writing was secondary to his career as a lawyer specializing in mortuary jurisprudence. He taught this subject at mortuary schools for many years, and for some 15 years was the editor of Casket & Sunnyside, a leading trade journal. His Jerome Burke stories are still published in the Dodge embalming
magazine.
Of his professional work only two slim books were published. The first is the infamous A Syllabus of Mortuary Jurisprudence, published in book form in 1933 by Clement Williams of Kansas City, Kansas. Foreword by C. A. Renouard of the Renouard School of Embalming, and Clement Williams of The Clement Williams School of Embalming. This was distilled from a lecture he gave in 1914. The text was extant as early as least 1924 / 1925, being serialized in Casket and Sunnyside. Quinn became editor of the Casket and Sunnyside in December 1925.
The Second was: An Encyclopedic Law Glossary For Funeral Directors and Embalmers. The Williams Institute of Mortuary Science, Kansas City 1940. Introduction by SQ, dated January 1940. This had a series of definitions of terms that had puzzled his students.
Besides contributed to the then De-Ce-Co Magazine, later the Dodge Magazine, for the Dodge Chemical Co, of Cambridge, Mass., articles were published in The American Funeral Director, and other trade journals.
His Jerome Burke material, not necessarily in sequence, is available in This I Remember: Memoirs of a Funeral Director, and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, with a foreword by Arnold Dodge.
Quinn was a contemporary of Robert E. Howard
, H. P. Lovecraft
and Clark Ashton Smith
.
A recent collection of stories by Quinn is Night Creatures, (2003) edited by Peter Ruber and Joseph Wrzos for Ash-Tree Press.
The latest collection of his stories is: Demons of the Night, Published by Black Dog Books
, of Normal, Illinois. Edited by Gene Christie, it contains his early stories, including two of the Major Sturdevant and his Washington Nights' Entertainment series, subtitled Stories of the Secret Service, as well as two more featuring Professor Forrester, another amateur detector of crimes. It also contains one of the most complete bibliographies yet published.
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, most famous for his stories of the occult detective
Occult detective
Occult detective stories combine the tropes of the detective story with those of supernatural horror fiction. Unlike the traditional detective the occult detective is employed in cases involving ghosts, curses, and other supernatural elements...
Jules de Grandin
Jules de Grandin
Jules de Grandin is a fictional occult detective created by Seabury Quinn for Weird Tales. Assisted by Dr. Trowbridge , de Grandin fought ghosts, werewolves, satanists in over ninety stories between 1925 and 1951. Jules de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge lived in Harrisonville, New Jersey...
, published in Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
.
Biography
He was born and lived in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
In 1910, he graduated from the law school of the National University and admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. He served in World War I; after his Army service he became editor of a group of trade papers in New York, where he taught medical jurisprudence and wrote technical articles and pulp magazine fiction.
His first published work was "The Law of the Movies", in The Motion Picture Magazine, December 1917. (His story "Painted Gold" may have been written earlier.) "Demons of the Night" was published in Detective Story Magazine on March 19, 1918, followed by "Was She Mad?" on March 25, 1918. He published "The Stone Image" in 1919. He introduced Jules de Grandin as a character in 1925, and continued writing stories about him until 1951.
In 1937 he returned to Washington to represent a chain of trade journals, and there subsequently became a government lawyer for the duration of World War II. He alternated between law and journalism all his life. He published over five hundred short stories.
His first book, Roads
Roads (novel)
Roads is a short novel by author Seabury Quinn. It was published by Arkham House in 1948 in an edition of 2,137 copies. It was Arkham House's first illustrated book and the author's first hardcover....
(a surprising new origin for Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, drawn from the original Christian legends), was published by Arkham House
Arkham House
Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...
in 1948.
Ten of the Jules de Grandin stories were collected in The Phantom Fighter (Mycroft & Moran) (an imprint of Arkham House), 1966. A broader selection of the stories, including the novel The Devil's Bride, was issued in a six-volume Popular Library
Popular Library
Popular Library was a New York paperback book company established in 1942 by Leo Margulies and Ned Pines, who at the time was a major pulp magazine, newspapers and magazine publishers...
paperback
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
edition in 1967-77. A three-volume omnibus reportedly including all the de Grandin stories was issued by a specialty publisher in 2002.
His writing was secondary to his career as a lawyer specializing in mortuary jurisprudence. He taught this subject at mortuary schools for many years, and for some 15 years was the editor of Casket & Sunnyside, a leading trade journal. His Jerome Burke stories are still published in the Dodge embalming
Embalming
Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
magazine.
Of his professional work only two slim books were published. The first is the infamous A Syllabus of Mortuary Jurisprudence, published in book form in 1933 by Clement Williams of Kansas City, Kansas. Foreword by C. A. Renouard of the Renouard School of Embalming, and Clement Williams of The Clement Williams School of Embalming. This was distilled from a lecture he gave in 1914. The text was extant as early as least 1924 / 1925, being serialized in Casket and Sunnyside. Quinn became editor of the Casket and Sunnyside in December 1925.
The Second was: An Encyclopedic Law Glossary For Funeral Directors and Embalmers. The Williams Institute of Mortuary Science, Kansas City 1940. Introduction by SQ, dated January 1940. This had a series of definitions of terms that had puzzled his students.
Besides contributed to the then De-Ce-Co Magazine, later the Dodge Magazine, for the Dodge Chemical Co, of Cambridge, Mass., articles were published in The American Funeral Director, and other trade journals.
His Jerome Burke material, not necessarily in sequence, is available in This I Remember: Memoirs of a Funeral Director, and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, with a foreword by Arnold Dodge.
Quinn was a contemporary of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
and Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
.
A recent collection of stories by Quinn is Night Creatures, (2003) edited by Peter Ruber and Joseph Wrzos for Ash-Tree Press.
The latest collection of his stories is: Demons of the Night, Published by Black Dog Books
Black Dog Books (US)
Black Dog Books located in Normal, Illinois, is one of the finest independent press operations in North America. Founded by publisher Tom Roberts to keep an outlet for adventure fiction alive, they have expanded to publish fiction in the adventure, mystery, science fiction, and horror genres.-...
, of Normal, Illinois. Edited by Gene Christie, it contains his early stories, including two of the Major Sturdevant and his Washington Nights' Entertainment series, subtitled Stories of the Secret Service, as well as two more featuring Professor Forrester, another amateur detector of crimes. It also contains one of the most complete bibliographies yet published.