Mahlon Blaine (1894-1969)

This book jacket biography is not of the author of the book shown above but of its illustrator. The book is Black Majesty: The Life of Christophe, King of Haiti by John W. Vandercook (1902-1963), published in 1928 by Harper & Brothers. I have the fourteenth edition, this particular book having come from the collection of Margaret B. Nicholas of Bartlett and Marietta, Ohio.

The illustrator of Black Majesty was the enigmatic Mahlon Blaine. Born Mahlon Blain on June 16, 1894, in Albany, Oregon, Blaine was a commercial artist, costume designer, muralist, illustrator, and fine artist, possibly also a stage actor. He worked in Albany and Portland, Oregon, and in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He began his career as an illustrator in the 1920s. In the early 1960s, he illustrated a number of reprints of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950). On August 18, 1932, Blaine married Fern Bowman (dates unknown) in Los Angeles city or county, California, a fact missing from many biographical sketches of him. By 1942, when he filled out his World War II draft card, he did not list her as next of kin. I guess we can assume that their marriage had ended by then. Blaine is known to have exaggerated, if not to have fabricated the facts of his life. I'm not sure how much stock I would put in the book jacket bio shown here.

Like many artists, Mahlon Blaine struggled to pay the bills. He is supposed to have been impoverished late in life and to have died in obscurity. The end came in January 1969 in Los Angeles city or county.

There is an entry for Mahlon Blaine in the online Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, here. You can also read about him on the website Bill & Sue-On Hillman's ERBzine, here. Fortunately for fans of his work and for the art of fantasy in general, there are several recent books showing Blaine's artwork.

Text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Ellen Turngren (1885-1964)

Ellen May Turngren was born on May 6, 1885, in Montrose, Minnesota. She was a teacher, newspaper editor, private secretary, bookkeeper, and the author of three novels, Listen, My Heart (1956), Shadows into Mist (1958), and the book shown above, Hearts Are the Fields (1961). The first and last have cover illustrations by Vera Bock (1905-2006). Ellen Turngren's sister was Annette Turngren (1902-1980). She was also an author and wrote mysteries and other kinds of books for children and young people. Ellen Turngren died on July 11, 1964, and was buried at Kreidler Cemetery in her hometown. Her papers are in the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Original text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Mary Ellen Chase (1887-1973)

Mary Ellen Chase was born on February 28, 1887, in Blue Hill, Maine. As a ten-year-old, she met Maine author Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909), who proved an inspiration to her. She taught at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1926 to 1956. Mary Ellen Chase was the author of more than two dozen books, as well as short stories in Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Argosy All-Story Weekly, Collier's, McCall's, and even Detective Fiction Weekly. The book jacket biography above is from The Plum Tree, a slender book published in 1949. She died on July 28, 1973, in Northampton.

Original text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley