John Brian Francis "Jack" Gaughan, pronounced like 'gone' (September 24, 1930 – July 21, 1985) was an American science fiction artist and illustrator who won the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

several times. Working primarily with

Donald A. Wollheim Donald Allen Wollheim (October 1, 1914 – November 2, 1990) was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearso ...

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first scienc ...

, and DAW Books from 1971, his simple linear style brought to life images of such works as

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name ...

's ''

Witch World Witch World is a speculative fiction project of American writer Andre Norton, inaugurated by her 1963 novel '' Witch World'' and continuing more than four decades. Beginning in the mid-1980s, when she was about 75 years old, Norton recruited othe ...

'' novels and

E. E. Smith Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965), publishing as E. E. Smith, Ph.D. and later as E. E. "Doc" Smith, was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the '' ...

's ''

Lensmen The ''Lensman'' series is a series of science fiction novels by American author E. E. "Doc" Smith. It was a runner-up for the 1966 Hugo award for Best All-Time Series, losing to the ''Foundation'' series by Isaac Asimov. Plot The series begi ...

'' and ''Skylark'' novels (for which he did two related sets of

Pyramid Books Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...

covers). His broad visual vocabulary enabled him to render the objects, spaceships and scenes in whatever was presented to him as they were described in the books and stories he illustrated. That was especially an accomplishment as many of these authors drew on their knowledge of esoteric subjects for their imagery. This ability made him very popular among people with an engineering background. During most of

Ejler Jakobsson Ejler Jakobsson (December 6, 1911 – October 5, 1984) was a Finnish-born science fiction editor. Jakobsson moved to the United States in 1926 and began a career as an author in the 1930s. He married Edith Kane (1915–1997) in 1935. He worked ...

's tenure as editor of ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'' from 1969 to 1974, Gaughan did all the illustration and much of the design that went on in the magazine. In addition, many of the books he did for Ace featured hand-lettered titled pages, frontispieces, or maps with Gaughan's distinctive calligraphy. One example is its 1966 edition of

Alan Garner Alan Garner (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. Much of his work is rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native count ...

's ''

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author Alan Garner. Garner began work on the novel, his literary debut, in 1957, after he moved into the late medieval house, Toad Hall, in Blackden ...

''. (Ace replaced the Gaughan cover illustration in its second printing, 1978.)

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...

's 1967 anthology, '' The Fantastic Swordsmen'', included a Gaughan map before each of the eight collected stories. His maps also grace the Ace first editions of some ''Witch World'' novels – including the 1963 first edition of the first one – and Mark S. Geston's '' Lords of the Starship'' (title page and map). Gaughan illustrated the covers and hand-lettered title pages for the unauthorized first paperback edition of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'', which Ace released in 1965. Beside his professional work, he was a frequent contributor to SF fan magazines. In his heyday he was often nominated for

s for best professional artist and best fan artist. In 1967, he won both awards in the same year. ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'' ran a column by him for a while. In his memory, the

New England Science Fiction Association The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to ''do'' things in addition to socializing". NESFA is currently registered as a non-p ...

presents the annual

Jack Gaughan Award The Jack Gaughan Award for Best Emerging Artist is an American award honoring the memory of illustrator Jack Gaughan. Because the latter felt it was important to encourage and recognize new blood in the field, the New England Science Fiction Associa ...

for best emerging science fiction illustrator. Gaughan was posthumously inducted by the

Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized ...

in 2015.

References

External links

A piece of fan writing by Gaughan for the fanzine ''Alphecca''

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061113145912/http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/oop-lotr.html His work for the unauthorized Ace Books paperback volumes of ''The Lord of the Rings''
A gallery of Gaughan's illustrations for Fred Saberhagen's "Berserker" science fiction series
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaughan, Jack 1930 births 1985 deaths American illustrators Analog Science Fiction and Fact people Hugo Award-winning artists Science fiction artists Science fiction fans Tolkien artists