Diabolical Fantasia - The Art of Der Orchideengarten 1919 (1)

Diabolical Fantasia: The Art of Der Orchideengarten Vol 1 / with text by Thomas Negovan / ISBN 9781947528017 / 80-page paperback, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, color printing, published by Century Guild

(If only I could have been publishing books in 2009 when I scored a set of these magazines...)

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Diabolical Fantasia thoroughly covers the entirety of the magnificent and macabre illustrations in issues #1-6 of Der Orchideengarten magazine from the year 1919.

The illustrations are captured from high-resolution scans made from a pristine collection in the Century Guild museum archive, and the accompanying text documents our extensive research to support the artworks and verify the artists whose names were not listed in the publication.

About Der Orchideengarten

Der Orchideengarten is a legendary German supernatural horror magazine, published from January 1919 until November 1921.

Founded four years before the iconic American magazine Weird Tales launched in March 1923, Der Orchideengarten is considered to be the first fantasy magazine.

Published after the First World War when German art was at its height of decadence and debauchery, the magazine included a wide selection of new and reprinted stories by both German-language and foreign writers ranging from suspense and terror to crime and the eerily-erotic.

While the literary content is historically significant, many of the stories have been reprinted in multiple places across the last century; we have focused our attention on what has gone undocumented: the incredible artworks that illustrated these stories.

The artworks range from peculiar medieval etchings to occult woodblocks to expressionist visions- all balancing the romantic and the gothic with hyper-elegant sophistication.