Original Drawing for L. Sprague de Camp's The Hungry Hercynian, Published in Universe Science Fiction (December 1953)

1953. Ephemera. Fine. This original pen-and-ink drawing appeared as a tailpiece on page 29 of the December 1953 issue of Universe Science Fiction illustrating a story in de Camp's Pusadian series. It is signed on the mat by Le Sprague.

The image is a rare example of male nudity in science fiction pulps. In this case, a naked man, drawn from the back, lunges toward a vision of a woman. In this drawing, Stevens used a scratchboard technique, painting ink onto a piece of cardstock and then scratching the surface to reveal white paper below. The image is 7-1/4 by 5-1/4 inches on a slightly larger piece of paper. The illustration appeared in Universe Science Fiction without a caption.

The image is mounted to a piece of mat board with a wax-paper overlay. The image is captioned in pencil with various production notes in the lower margin.

Stevens (1884-1960) took up illustrating pulp magazines during the Second World War, when he was a couple of decades older than most beginning artists. He retired in the 1950s, after just over a decade working as a pulp illustrator. A fine drawing on cardstock. The image is not signed by Stevens, as usual. L. Sprague de Camp signed the mat (pulp illustrations signed by the SF authors are uncommon).