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Xaltotun

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Posts posted by Xaltotun

    Two-Gun Bob's Saloon - The Pulps of Robert E. Howard

    in Pulp Magazines

    Posted

    On 8/19/2022 at 1:55 AM, RedFury said:

    After about 10 years of looking, I finally found an item signed by Robert E. Howard!  It's a letter written February 15, 1936 to Emil Petaja, who was then only 20 and still years away from establishing himself as a pulp writer.  

    It's an interesting letter that mentions Howard's mother's illness, "Witch's Bercuse", an early poem written by Petaja that was published in Marvel Tales in 1935, Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright, Howard's agent and fellow Weird Tales author Otis Adelbert Kline, Duane Rimel's linotype silhouette of Howard, and finally Lovecraft's last tale, The Haunter of the Dark. 

     

     

    Ah, obviously! I was wondering who bought that. Congratulations!

    I don't know if you knew this, but this is one of the letters we knew existed but no one I know had seen. Send me a high res scan when you get the chance! (Which makes me think *I* have something to send you. I'll do that this weekend).

    I estimate there are about 60 to 80 Howard signatures out there in the private market. That's not a lot, so double congrats!

     

    All Story Tarzan first appearance

    in Pulp Magazines

    Posted

    On 4/15/2022 at 4:09 PM, Sarg said:

    It's always dumbfounding to me to consider the ratio of print runs to surviving copies. 

    Say, for example, the print run of Action #1 was 200,00-300,000. And the character became instantly famous, appearing in movies within a few years of publication date. Yet, despite this, only roughly 100-150 copies survived that print run. 2000 to 1 ratio. At least 199,800 copies were destroyed, most within the first few months of publication.

    All-Story Tarzan would be a similar print run, but probably even fewer surviving copies. This is perhaps more surprising, since there was no "aftermarket" for comic books for decades, yet presumably some used book stores would carry pulps. 

     

    One element to factor in, I think, is that comics were aimed at very young kids, who would by nature be very careless about them and of course throw them away when getting older. The survival ratio of pulps would be higher. Just a hunch, no data to back this up.

    Paintings and Line Work- Show Off Your Original Pulp Art

    in Pulp Magazines

    Posted

    On 3/13/2022 at 4:46 AM, Pulpvault said:

    There will be several rare Clark Ashton Smith items in the Saturday night auction (May 7, 2022) at this year's Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention (May 6-8, 2022 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois). In addition to rare books -- many signed by CAS -- and correspondence from him, is this piece of original art. We'll be posting photos of the auction material sometime in April.

    sn0104.jpg

    Oh, I remember when I found this in Glenn Lord's collection!

    Pulps Between Boards: Arkham House and Other Specialty Publishers

    in Pulp Magazines

    Posted

    On 1/29/2022 at 9:24 PM, Book Guy said:

    What follows are some of my CAS things. I'm in the SF Bay Area and Smith lived for most of his life in the Sierras about 100 miles east of here. He also spent time in San Francisco and Pacific Grove near Monterey. In other words, it's easier to find signed and unique items in this area and he was a big focus for me back in the day, so I bought whatever I could afford. Humble-bragging here-I probably have about half a dozen more signed items, but they are too difficult to get to at the moment. Also a piece of original art that I'll post when I get time.

    The sculpture below and the books inscribed to 'Ji-Eich' belonged to George Haas (Hass?) an East Bay Sci-Fi fan and Bigfoot Investigator again way back in the day. He sold these to people I worked with who knew him well and I bought them from them. CAS was a sculptor of whimsical and Lovecraftian focus as well as a writer and painter. He used rocks picked up on his hikes around the Sierras as well as sometimes sculpting in some sort of clay which was then fired. There is a Book of his sculpture out there. I think I have it, but couldn't put my hands on it. There might be two books.

    Note the backwards 'K' and the 'A on the bottom. That is how he usually signed them.

     

     

     

     

     

    I used to own a book (a booklet rather), edited by Don Herron in 1976 about George Haas. Forget the title, but it contained a lot of photos of CAS sculptures. It was published in a limited edition, I think by the "Dawn Heron Press" or somesuch. Maybe you could find additional info in there.

    Pulps Between Boards: Arkham House and Other Specialty Publishers

    in Pulp Magazines

    Posted

    On 2/10/2022 at 12:09 AM, detective35 said:

    Patrice,

     

    Thanks for the background on the book.  I did see the book on eBay and I was aware that it was Glenn Lord's book, and the only copy in existence with a dust jacket.

    I have to admit, until 2oo6 I had no idea what the book was.  Turns out I heard that a collector (Ed Gobbett) had come across a dozen very high grade white paged Shadow pulps from 1932-33 (mainly 1932).  Through a friend I was told that he would not sell the Shadows, but would trade for a WT #1. 

    A week later I was told that the changed his mind and now the only way he would trade the Shadow was for a copy of the "The Gent from Bear Creek".  I had no idea what that was, but in talking with John Gunnison, Doug Ellis, and Frank Robinson, I soon heard the entire background story on the book in detail.  At that time there were only 7 known copies, plus yours with the DJ.

    Well the next day I received a phone call from Frank Robinson saying that I wouldn't believe it, but Leonard Shoup from Ontario, Canada, just listed a copy of "The Gent from Bear Creek" on ABE Books.  After a quick phone call, I bought the book and proceeded to trade it to collector Ed Gobbett for the Shadow pulps (I think the article on that copy and the trade was written up in an issue of "The Cimmerian" in 2006).

    After that, I was very aware of that book and its significance.

    Included a write up in "The Cimmerian" is an article about the estimated number of copies of "The Gent from Bear Creek" as of 2006.

    I am thrilled to see that you came up with the book after it was listed on eBay.

    Congratulations on a 1 of a kind Holy Grail.

    Dwight Fuhro 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Sorry for the long time in ackowledging your message Dwight, but I was gone from the boards for quite some time.

    I was of course aware of the article in the Cimmerian. I worked quite a bit with Danny Street on the history of the Gents, but he was the one that discovered so much about it. At the time, little was known about the copies that were institutionally held. Here they are:

    01. The British Library (London, England)

    02. The National Library (Edinburgh, Scotland)

    03. The Bodleian Library (Oxford, England)

    04. Trinity College Library (Dublin, Ireland)

    05. Cambridge University Library (Cambrige, England)

    06. Howard house copy (Cross Plains, TX) [found in South Africa, bought by Leo Grin, and subsequently donated to the Howard House museum.]

    07. Ranger Junior College Library (Ranger, TX) [originally belonged to Howard’s father.]

    The 11 others are privately held, most of them in ratty condition.

    Only 4 or 5 copies were discovered in the past 20 years, meaning that we have probably reached the limit, or close to it, of surviving copies.

    Anyway, that story of A Gent and the Shadow pulps always was a favorite of mine. Collectors with a passion, and miracles happening!

    Patrice