German writer, composer, and painter ErnstTheodor Amadeus Hoffman was born in Konigsberg, Prussia in 1776. After beginning a career in the law, Hoffman turned to music, working as a conductor, music director, and critic, and later composing a ballet, an opera, and other works. He established himself as a writer with the four-volume story collection Phatasiestucke in Callier Manier (Fantasy Stories in the Manner of Callot), which was published in 1814-1815. Even though he published several novels and story collections, including Nachtstucke (Hoffman's Strange Stories, 1817) and Die Serapionsbruder (The Serapion Brethren, 1819-1821), Hoffman continued to support himself as a legal official in… Berlin. This struggle between artistry and bureaucracy is played out in many of his works. Hoffman died of progressive paralysis in 1822.
Everett F. Bleiler was born April 30, 1920 in Massachusetts. He received an anthropology degree from Harvard University in 1942 and a degree in the history of culture from the University of Chicago. He started working at Dover Publications in 1955, eventually becoming executive vice president in 1967, and left the company in 1977. After leaving Dover, he worked at Charles Scribner's Sons until 1986. He edited or co-edited numerous works including the annual Best Science Fiction Stories series, the Year's Best Science Fiction Novels series, and several anthologies. His nonfiction work includes The Checklist of Fantastic Literature, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, Supernatural Fiction… Writers: Fantasy and Horror, Science Fiction: The Early Years, and Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years. He received several awards including the 1978 World Fantasy Award (Special, Professional), the 1984 SFRA Pilgrim Award, the 1988 World Fantasy Life Achievement Award, the 1994 First Fandom Award, and the 2004 International Horror Guild Living Legend Award. He died on June 13, 2010 at the age of 90.