I bought this many years ago at a flea market near Austin. It was casually described as a illustration related to "Something Wicked This Way Comes". It is mixed media, water color and maybe pencil and something else. Vibrant colors. On the back is a card with the name George Hughey with an address and phone number (old school, the prefix has letters in it!). The only George Hughey reference I could find is for an illustration credit from 1962 for the book "World of Wakara". I seem to remember that the seller told me this was from San Antonio. Does this illustration appear in any Ray Bradbury works, or is it just a nice rendering by a talented fan?

Thanks

swtwc.JPG (38 Kb, 58 downloads)

quote:

Originally posted by Chrome:
Does this illustration appear in any Ray Bradbury works, or is it just a nice rendering by a talented fan?

I don't know if it appears, but it is definately a very nice rendering!

Wait a minute. This is a painting from the front cover of a October Country paperback. Artist Joe Mugnaini did most of all of Ray's illustrations.
This looks not like...but exactly like the Bradbury paperback cover. A George Hughley is a recording artist. Can't locate a George Hughley that's a painter.

What does it mean, is there some nefariousness at work here?

I've always thought that is one of Joe's best paintings. I have that first edition paperback and Nard is correct, it is exact.

Just wanted to make a little correction Nard, it's Hughey - no "l".

Chrome:
Duh! You got that right. Now George Hughey without the 'l' is an artist. Maybe a connection there.

At best, a reproduction of Joe Mugnaini's work. However, since it's an exact copy, would need more info on this item. Does it look like a repro with paint applied? How large is the item? On what sort of material ... canvas, plastic, some sort of board, etc.?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:October_country.jpg
original

https://raybradburyboard.com/groupee_files/attachments/7...91074582%2Fswtwc.JPG
Chrome's

Aha! The 'wikipedia' version is recent publication. Chrome's is a version from a long while ago.

I'm not so sure. In Jerry Weist's book Ray Bradbury: An Illustrated Life (pp64-65) you can see that the Wikipedia one was used on the first hardcover edition of The October Country (Ballantine, 1955), and that Chrome's version was used on the first paperback edition (Ballantine, 1956).

Weist also shows two preliminary versions of the artwork by Mugnaini.

Now that I have seen the original cover I think this is something painted for fun by someone. They liked the Mugnaini cover and created their own version. I think this is pretty old judging by the card attached to the back. It appears to be a business card for George Hughey. The art is not signed in any way. It on paper mounted to crescent art board about 11" x 14" and I don't think it is painted on a repro. I can see pencil lines that were put down before the watercolor. It is not completely exact, a fair amount of detail was left out. Here is a bigger image so you can see the details, or lack thereof.

swtwc2.JPG (263 Kb, 27 downloads)

I'm trying to locate a better repro of the original paperback cover, but this is how it looked. (see download). Chrome: Whatever this is that you have, it's quite impressive nonetheless.

The_October_Country.jpg (239 Kb, 29 downloads)

Umm okay wow. That is exact isn't it? I hadn't seen that cover. What the heck do I have then? I did a side by side and there are a few minor differences, but still. Somebody did a good job of copying the original.

Thanks for all the information everyone!

I would guess that someone loved the Mugnaini cover so much that they commissioned an artist (this Hughey guy) to copy it.

There used to be someone on this board, jetJagger, who had some involvement with the Mugnaini estate. It's vaguely possible that he might have some ideas on whether this is likely to be a Mugnaini original. jetJagger only ever posted to one thread: here. I have his email address, however. If you'd care to email me, I can forward it to him. (You can get me at: rbboard@bradburymedia.co.uk )

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
There used to be someone on this board, jetJagger, who had some involvement with the Mugnaini estate.

I wonder if it's the same fellow who contacted me a few months ago about putting him in contact with GCJ. He said he was working on some project for the Mugnaini estate. Lives in Burbank, I think. Wish I could remember his name. It'll come to me.

It undoubtedly will. (Check your email, Doug!)