The World's First Fantasy Magazine

Songs In The City sent me this link (which The Bibliophile Stalker also blogged about): The World's First Fantasy Magazine -- Der Orchideengarten. It preceded Weird Tales by about four years, according to the blog entry.

I told Songs In The City that I found the illustrations downright attractive but weird (or is that weird but attractive), to which he replied that they were: "weird and effing terrifying ;). They make me uneasy like I was a child uneasy: fearful of too many things I don't understand and don't really want to. ;)".

I understood what he meant right away. The illustrations seem to come straight from J.R.R. Tolkien's world of Faerie, which The Lord Of The Rings author described as an unsafe and dangerous place for mortals (see "Smith Of Wootton Major"). In my case, it's not easy to look away from the beautiful drawings, even if they unsettle and disturb me. And like Smith, it makes me want to visit Faerie and see the place for myself, but not without some sort of protection like he had.