Edwin Baird (; June 28, 1886 in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

BAIRD, Edwin
in ''

Who's Who in America Marquis Who's Who, also known as A.N. Marquis Company ( or ), is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in A ...

'' (1926 edition); p. 204; via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

– September 27, 1954) was the first editor of ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printe ...

'', the pioneering

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

that specialized in

horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

, as well as ''Detective Tales'', later re-titled ''Real Detective Tales''. Argosy 191504

Career

Baird, hired by ''Weird Tales'' publisher J. C. Henneberger, put out the magazine's premiere issue, dated March 1923. Over the course of the next year, Baird published some of the magazine's most famous writers, including

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an influential American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories and poetry, and an artist. He achieved early recognition in California (largely through the enthusiasm ...

, and

Seabury Quinn Seabury Grandin Quinn (also known as Jerome Burke; January 1, 1889 – December 24, 1969) was an American government lawyer, journalist, and pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published ...

. Baird—in marked contrast to his successor—accepted everything that Lovecraft submitted to the magazine, including "

The Hound "The Hound" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in September 1922 and published in the February 1924 issue of ''Weird Tales''. It contains the first mention of Lovecraft's fictional text the '' Necronomicon.'' Plot The story opens with ...

", "

Arthur Jermyn "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" (also known as "The White Ape" and simply "Arthur Jermyn") is a short story in the horror fiction genre, written by American author H. P. Lovecraft in 1920. The themes of the story are tai ...

", "

The Statement of Randolph Carter "The Statement of Randolph Carter" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in December 1919, it was first published in ''The Vagrant'', May 1920. It tells of a traumatic event in the life of Randolph Carter, a student of t ...

", " The Cats of Ulthar", "

Dagon Dagon or Dagan (; ) was a god worshipped in ancient Syria, across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many attestations of his cult come from cities such as Mari and Emar as well. In settl ...

", "

The Picture in the House "The Picture in the House" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft. It was written on December 12, 1920, and first published in the July issue of ''The National Amateur''

", "

The Rats in the Walls "The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in ''Weird Tales'', March 1924. Plot In 1923, an American named Delapore, the last descendant of the De la P ...

", "

Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos (; Ancient Greek: , 'sleep'), also spelled Hypnus, is the personification of sleep. The Roman equivalent is Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was t ...

" and "

Imprisoned with the Pharaohs "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" (called "Under the Pyramids" in draft form, also published as "Entombed with the Pharaohs") is a short story written by American fantasy fiction, fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in collaboration with Harry Houdini ...

". 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." Under Baird's editorship, ''Weird Tales'' lost a considerable amount of money—estimated at $51,000. After the April 1924 issue, Henneberger fired him and offered his job to Lovecraft. When Lovecraft declined, the publisher made

Farnsworth Wright Farnsworth Wright (July 29, 1888 – June 12, 1940) was the editor of the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' during the magazine's heyday, editing 179 issues from November 1924 to March 1940. Jack Williamson called Wright "the first great fantasy ...

, until then Baird's assistant, the editor of ''Weird Tales'', a position he held until 1940. Baird remained as editor of another of Henneberger's titles, ''Detective Tales''. In this post, he rejected Lovecraft's "

The Shunned House "The Shunned House" is a horror fiction novelette by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written on October 16–19, 1924. It was first published in the October 1937 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Inspiration The Shunned House of the title is base ...

" in July 1925.Joshi and Schultz, p. 14. ''Detective Tales'' was sold off, and Baird remained editor when it retitled as ''Real Detective Tales''.

Notes

References

* Lin Carter, ''Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos''. * S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Edwin American magazine editors Horror fiction 1886 births 1957 deaths Weird Tales editors American male non-fiction writers Writers from Chattanooga, Tennessee