Edwin Baird | |
---|---|
Born | June 28, 1886 |
Died | September 27, 1954 | (aged 68)
Occupation | Magazine editor |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Citizenship | United States |
Genres | Horror, pulp fiction |
Spouse | Mildred Ward [1] |
Edwin Baird ( /bɛərd/; June 28, 1886 in Chattanooga, Tennessee [1]– September 27, 1954) [2] was the first editor of Weird Tales, the pioneering pulp magazine that specialized in horror fiction, as well as Detective Tales, later re-titled Real Detective Tales.
Baird, hired by Weird Tales publisher J. C. Henneberger, put out the magazine's premiere issue, dated March 1923. [3] Over the course of the next year, Baird published some of the magazine's most famous writers, including H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Seabury Quinn. [4]
Baird—in marked contrast to his successor—accepted everything that Lovecraft submitted to the magazine, [5] including " The Hound", " Arthur Jermyn", " The Statement of Randolph Carter", " The Cats of Ulthar", " Dagon", " The Picture in the House", " The Rats in the Walls", " Hypnos" and " Imprisoned with the Pharaohs". [6] He did, however, insist that Lovecraft retype his first submissions using double spacing, causing the author to remark, "I am not certain whether or not I should bother." [7]
Under Baird's editorship, Weird Tales lost a considerable amount of money—estimated at $51,000. [8] After the April 1924 issue, Henneberger fired him and offered his job to Lovecraft. [9] When Lovecraft declined, the publisher made Farnsworth Wright, until then Baird's assistant, the editor of Weird Tales, a position he held until 1940. [10]
Baird remained as editor of another of Henneberger's titles, Detective Tales. In this post, he rejected Lovecraft's " The Shunned House" in July 1925. [11] Detective Tales was sold off, and Baird remained editor when it retitled as Real Detective Tales.