A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, October 1950 — page 92: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Portrait of ABRAHAM MERRIE A GLIMPSE OF A. MERRITT VER since the initial creation of A. Merritt’s FANTASY, now over nine months ago, many of our readers have suggested that we publish a picture of the Lord of fantasy. Mr. Finlay very graciously consented to copy one of the many photos of Merritt that he had in his personal collection, While presenting you with this picture, we thought it a good time to insert a few more facts about A. Merritt to fall out partially the thumb-nail sketch we did for you in our introductory tssue. A. Merritt was born of Quaker parents in Beverly, New Jersey in January of 1884. Shortly thereafter the whole Mer- ritt family moved to Philadelphia. Among A. Merritt’s illustrious ancestors was James Fenimore Cooper whose “Last of the Mohicans” has thrilled children for over one hundred years. Perhaps a bit of Mr. Merritt’s literary talents were in- herited from his celebrated forefather. From an early age A, Merritt showed a very active mind, having studied law and become a newspaper reporter for “The Philadelphia Inquirer” by the age of eighteen. He took a year off to hunt treasure in Yucatan. In 1912 he joined The American Week- ly. But it was not until 1917, when Mr. Merritt was thirty-three years old, that his first literary piece, “Through the Dragon Glass” appeared. To date very few of Merritt’s stories have been changed. “The Moon Pool” and its sequel “Conquest of the Moon Pool” were rewritten and combined into one story for publication in book form. This version should not be confused with the magazine version which has the stories as two separate entities. Much against A. Merritt’s wishes the ending to “Dwell- ers in the Mirage” was changed to a happy one for its first publication. Later, however, the original tragic ending was restored. Merritt also has one movie to his credit. “Burn, Witch, Burn” was made into a film entitled, “The Devil Doll” staring Lionel Barrymore. Did any of you fans ever see it? | , —The Editor 91 DOO S (C© =