Bob Gibson
(1908 – January 8, 2001)
William Robert "Bob" Gibson was a Canadian fan and fanartist active in the 1940s and again in the 1980s. Originally from British Columbia, he served in the army during the Second World War and was stationed in the UK from about 1940 to 1944, attending the Bombcon gathering on September 20-21, 1941, and generally socialising with British fans and acting as a representative of the British Science-Fiction War Relief Society. He was a member of the British Fantasy Society and its advisory board. J. Michael Rosenblum said of Gibson in 1944, "during the three years he has been in Britain has been an integral part of Anglofandom."
Futurian War Digest 33 reported that:
Back home in Canada Bob was a "silent" fan, & accumulated a complete set of American fantasy magazines, besides a formidable assortment of fantastic stories excerpted from other magazines. Upon reaching Britain, however, a change was apparent – Bob was soon in communication with fans all over the island, & had crystallised into a bibliophile & book-collector of the first order in the fantasy field. An indication of his prowess in this latter direction is that during his stay here, he managed to amass somewhere in the region of 500 fantasy books - truly a commendable effort. He cooperated in the establishment of the British Fantasy Society & held the position of a member of the Advisory Board.
In an earlier issue Gibson had confirmed:
Began collecting promags in 1928, all stf in '31. Contacted my first fan in 1940 – Ted Carnell – indirectly, and first met him and others in 1941.
In 1944 he was posted to Sicily, "a blow to the swap route which we kept open for so long", according to Canadian Fandom 6. While there he was hospitalised with jaundice, although neither the posting nor the illness stopped him submitting to Futurian War Digest "a book review on the blank side of a sheet of Le Zombie." In hospital he met a man called Theodore Stephanides[1] who claimed to have published science fiction in America under a pen-name although neither he nor anybody else could recall what the pen-name was or the title of the story. He also ended up in the same unit as fellow Canadian fan Norman V. Lamb and they contrived to arrange book-hunting expeditions
He contributed artwork to Light, Futurian War Digest, Zenith and BFS Beyond as well as a story to the first issue of the latter.
He returned to Canada after the war and had largely gafiated by the early 1950s although he remained on the periphery of local fandom. Skyrack 23 (September 6, 1960) reported he was a "Surprise visitor at Globe [in London, UK] last Thursday ... over here looking up friends and relatives". He was however a GoH at ONOCon 1 in Calgary in 1985. In WCSFAzine 18, R. Graeme Cameron said that Gibson was producing fan art and attending conventions in Alberta during the 1980s.
Gibson died in 2001 and in August 2002 his son Andrew donated his father's collection of science fiction works – including 1,913 hard covers, 24,030 pocket books, and runs of 434 pulp magazine titles – to the University of Calgary Library.
Links
- Profile of Gibson in WCSFAzine 6 (February 2008) online at efanzines.com
- Bob Gibson Collection of Speculative Fiction at digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca
- On The Run Dept. [1942] (with Futurian War Digest)
____
- ↑ Perhaps this man (Wikipedia).
| Person | 1908—2001 |
| This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names. |