Although Weird Tales is known as "the magazine that never dies", it is not for lack of trying! The first incarnation, from Rural Publishing, never hit its stride and ran into financial problems after only thirteen issues. Matters improved in 1924 with the appointment of Farnsworth Wright as editor and, despite a financial crisis in 1931, the magazine flourished until 1938, when it was sold to William J. Delaney. Although it continued for another 16 years, it was only with marginal success (and of limited interest) until it folded in 1954.

During this period, there were also a variety of reprints overseas. The most interesting were in Canada. The first series (from June 1935 to July 1936) were simply abridged versions of the equivalent US editions. The second series (May 1942 to November 1951), however, both had all new artwork and had frequent reorganizations of stories, included some that appeared in Canadian issues earlier than the equivalent US printings, and others that were reprinted from Short Stories and did not appear in the US edition at all. This variation lasted until the January 1948 issue and thereafter the issues were identical to the US equivalents.