Theagenes

Thanks for the tip. Do you know if any of the J. Allen St. John artwork will be for sale? I'm not sure, but wouldn't that be amazing to own one of those. I'll let you know when the catalog gets here.

Me too - I can't wait to see what's in there. I know about some of the REH stuff because John G. sent me some info and pics for my write-up, but with 17,000 listings who knows what's in there. Man I wish I was rich.

For those interested I did a little write-up on the upcoming Adventure House auction/sale of the Darrell Richardson collection for The Cimmerian. My focus was on the REH material, particularly the Gent from Bear Creek first, but there's some useful links for those who haven't preorder the catalogs yet. http://www.thecimmerian.com/?p=11051

BZ and BB, thanks for sharing your stories about getting into collecting. I love hearing about tis this stuff.

Just to add, the 1960's series was actually the second La Reina de la Costra Negra series and the third series to feature Conan. There was a short lived series in the late 1950's that CPG doesn't seem to be aware of. The issue Cimm posted is from the 50's series. I have done a bit of research on this and here is what I've been able to piece together. Cuentos de Abuelito ("Stories from Grandfather") was a series like Four Color that featured a different character or theme in each issue. The few that I've seen tended to be historical or religious subjects. At least two of these issues featured La Reina de la Costra. This is number 17 from 1952: This is number 34 from 1953: In the late 1950's the feature was given it's own title that lasted at least a dozen or so issues. The first issue is "Cuentos de Abuelito Presents La Reina de la Costra." The one that Cimm posted is number 11 in this series. These 1950's issues are extremely rare! The 1960's series is a little more common, but still very scarce. This series ran for about 60 issues, though the highest number I've actually seen is 53. The first six issues reprint the the late 50's series then new material begins after that. I've managed to acquire scans of most of the covers from this series, though some of them are only thumbnails. Note that in addition to Belit and Conan another main character in the series is named Yanga which appears to be a corruption/anagram of the character N'yaga from the original REH story.

Wow, that is cool. I hope you find the WoM issue - I'd love to see it. All I've ever seen is the thumbnail at ERBzine. I'm off for more adventure tomorrow - three weeks at Mammoth Cave. Hope I find some internets.

So I had a pretty adventurous few days last week. I was working near Cape Canaveral, mapping a old Sugar Mill, reburying some Native American remains, and helping the rangers pull half-frozen sea turtles out of the lagoon. So after a cold, wet, exhausting week we stopped at St. Augustine on the way back where I visted an antiquarian bookstore in the downtown historical district. They had a great selection of SF firsts and cool stuff. I was checking out some of the nice Grant REH volumes and was thinking about picking up a copy of Sowers of Thunder signed by Krenkel - but then I saw it! My first ERB McClurg first edition!

Let me second Scrooge on Haggard. I read KSM and She and enjoyed them both. As for Mundy, I also liked Tros a lot, but I may be biased because of my enjoyment of Roman history. I can see the appeal these stories would have had to the boys in the early 20th century for whom Caesar's Gallic Wars would have been required reading in school. Tros gives the other side of the story. Also easy to understand why it would appeal REH with his attraction to barabarians over the decadent civilized Romans. There is a an oversized paperback version of the complete series in print. Haven't had the chance to read Lamb yet.

Glad you guys are enjoying it. I plan on doing one on the digests pulps of the 50' and 60's as well as one on the fanzines, starting with the rare ones from when Howard was alive. It may be a while though because I'm going be in the field for much of the next two months.

Note his interest in Mundy's character Yasmini. That's a name that pops ups in various forms years later - Yasmina, Yasmela.

BZ, Here are a couple of the earliest of the REH letters from when he was 17.

Picking up a Catcer of Rye first at an estate sale? Amazing! The closest I can come to that - I once found a first of Fitzgerald's first book, The Beautiful and Damned at a used paperback store for $1.25. No jacket, but still a cool find.

Thanks guys. Glad to know somebody's reading.

I just got my set the other day and I'm reading Volume 1 right now. It's absolutely fascinating. The letters begin when he is only 17 years old, writing to his friends who were also burgeoning writers. It's amazing to their thoughts as they discover writers like Burroughs, Lamb, and Mundy for the first time. He and and his friends were selling each other books through the mail after they read them as well; it reminded me a lot of these boards actually. I guess I won't be reading those books any time soon. I received this e-mail from my library the other day. A request you have placed: Title: The collected letters of Robert E. Howard / Journal Title: Edition/Reels/Volume: TN: 79493 has been cancelled by Interlibrary Loan for the following reason: Lending Library Fee. Please authorize by entering noted amount [$23.00] in Maximum Authorized Loan Fee field and resubmit request. There is only one owning library, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. They charge a loan fee of $23.00. BZ, I rarely use the University library at West Chester since we have the internet but I might check to see if they have a deal with the University of the Sciences. One of the faculty was working on a book about REH with someone. Maybe they have a copy. Thanks for the info. I can probably scan a few pages if I can get my hands on a copy. bb That would be great. I'm especially curious about Howard's influences and his thoughts about writers like Burroughs. If you read any of the books, I'd love to know your thoughts about what is revealed. $23 lending fee? I've never heard of such a thing. Man, that defeats the whole purpose of a library. I'll scan some of the letters as soon as I get a chance.

I'm kind of fond of her.

My christmas present from my wife.

Great books Josh!

I just got my set the other day and I'm reading Volume 1 right now. It's absolutely fascinating. The letters begin when he is only 17 years old, writing to his friends who were also burgeoning writers. It's amazing to their thoughts as they discover writers like Burroughs, Lamb, and Mundy for the first time. He and and his friends were selling each other books through the mail after they read them as well; it reminded me a lot of these boards actually. The set is limited to 300 copies, so it may not last long. If anyone is interested, they can be purchased directly from the REH Foundation.

For those who might be interested, I just posted the third installment of my REH pulp collecting series: Link

Cool!

An interesting bit of trivia about August Derleth, one of the founders of Arkham House, was that he was a comic collector. In this 1966 letter (image saved from eBay listing) he claimed that he owned the largest collection of comics in the world. Wikipedia says: "Derleth's papers and comic book collection (valued at a considerable sum upon his death) were donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison." That's cool. I remember Bob B. posting a series of letters here from Derleth and some others discussing the early history of the comic strip. Very interesting stuff. He clearly had an interest in comics very early on. Here's a fun item that Rob Roehm from the REH Foundation sent me the other day;

Did you get it Jeff? Nope, outbid. That's been the story of my life lately.

Nice!

Those are some great pickups. You can never have too many nude-girl-in-a-glass-tube covers. Never heard of Agent Spook, but that's a cool painting!