RedFury

Nice! Have you read it yet? I'm actually in the middle of reading Marginalia right now, and I have to say it's slow going. It's aptly named and therefore I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but somehow I was expecting more. There is a LOT of material in this collection, but it consists of the leftovers that didn't fit in the first two collections. Still, it is a good sampling of Lovecraft's revision and ghost-writing work, essays, juvenilia, and story fragments. I haven't yet read the tributes and appreciations by friends and followers, and I hope those will be good.

The Eye and the Finger by Donald Wandrei Arkham House, 1944 1,617 copies The Eye and the Finger was the 5th book published by Arkham House and collected 18 stories and 3 poems by co-founder Donald Wandrei. The variety of sources for the stories is quite interesting: 5 from Weird Tales 5 from Astounding 3 from Esquire 2 from Minnesota Quarterly (a literary magazine from the University of Minnesota. 3 listed as being from MQ, but 1 is a mistake) 2 from Argosy 1 from Thrilling Wonder Stories 2 other pieces not listed had been previously published by Robert H. Barlow in his 1937 fanzine Leaves. 1 of the pieces attributed to Minnesota Quarterly was actually published in the 1927 fanzine The Recluse by W. Paul Cook. The cover illustration is by Donald Wandrei's brother, Howard Wandrei. This is Donald Wandrei's personal copy from his library, inscribed by him: Donald Wandrei Service Co 259th Inf Camp Shelly, Miss 28 July 1944 According to Wikipedia: "Wandrei served almost four years with the U.S. Army in World War II, and as a technical sergeant, Third Battalion, 259th Infantry, 65th Division, a unit of General Patton's famous Third Army, took part in the final drive across Germany into Austria – the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns." Here is a photo of Sgt. Wandrei in uniform in 1943 (from Marginalia) This is a fairly scarce Arkham due to its small print run and the fact that it was out-of-print by 1946 and never reprinted. Also, the dust-jacket notoriously fades from its original green to grey. They copy is a really nice example of a mostly un-faded dust-jacket. The three titles on the back cover were the next three published by AH, all in 1944.

And Ebay has 7 copies between $4500 and $7500, which is about the right range for a mid-grade copy.

Very cool, Tim. I don't know anything about these. Is there a list anywhere of what they published?

I find the Sixty Years of Arkham House very useful, and refer to it almost weekly. It's complete up to about 2000, so there's not much missing.

I have a couple of Weird Tales in the original subscription mailers. What I did was take the pulp out of the mailer and put it in a mylite 2 with full back board, as usual, and then slip the mailer on the other side of the full back board. That way they're together in the mylite, but not touching.

You have to start a thread like this one with the book that started it all, The Outsider and Others by H.P. Lovecraft. After Lovecraft's death in March 1937, his friends and fellow writers August Derleth and Donald Wandrei grew concerned that Lovecraft's stories would be forgotten unless they were published in book form. They tried to convince several publishers, without success, and eventually decided to publish the book themselves. Arkham House was born. Arkham House's first volume, The Outsider and Others, was a sort of "best of" omnibus of Lovecraft's work, containing 36 stories and one essay. The importance of this volume cannot be understated as it was the beginning of specialty publishing of fantastic fiction. The Outsider and Others Arkham House, 1939 1,268 copies

A thread for all those specialty publishers who put the best of the pulps in hardcover. The publishers kept classic pulp stories alive long after most copies of the disposable pulps had been lost. Publishers like: Arkham House Gnome Press Fantasy Press Shasta Publishers Fantasy Publishing (FPCI) Prime Press and more!

Yes, but not just for Arkham House. I would include all the specialty publishers that presented pulp stories in hardcover. Publishers like Shasta, Fantasy Press, Gnome Press, Fantasy Publishing (FPCI), Prime Press, etc. I've been toying with the idea for a while now. I was going to call it "Pulps Between Boards: Arkham House and Other Specialty Publishers".

Submarine Stories, Nov 1929 (#2)

This is not a Weird Tales, obviously, but it is important to the history of Weird Tales. It's the first issue of Detective Tales, the older, sister publication to Weird Tales. Rural Publishing released this in Oct 1922, and the following year expanded the line to include Weird Tales (Apr 1923). This is a super-rare pulp and I've been looking for a copy for about 5 years. Detective Tales, Oct 1922 (#1)

It's a good show and I've gone the past 5 years. But unfortunately I'll be skipping it this year due to COVID.

Railroad Stories, Jun 1933

Black Book Detective, Oct 1934

Secret Agent X, Oct 1936

The Witch's Tales, Nov 1936

Congrats, it's a great issue! Reasons I love it: 1st published story by C.L. Moore! 1st appearance of C.L. Moore's best character, Northwest Smith, who may have been an inspiration for Han Solo and Indiana Jones! The "N.W." written on your cover is probably noting that. Moore's Northwest Smith story, Shambleau, is awesome! Even though it was her first story, I'm pretty sure it remains her most popular and most anthologized story. Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne set story, The Holiness of Azédarac, is awesome too! Very nice Brundage cover. No text on the cover for stories and authors. Looks great on the black background. Note: I've heard rumors that the model for the cover was Brundage's daughter, but that can't be true. She didn't have a daughter (she did have a son).

Public Enemy, May 1936 (#5)

Public Enemy, Feb 1936 (#2)

At first glance, Public Enemy appears to be part of the Detective/G-Men genre of the 30s, and while it is, it's also a hero book. Lynn Vickers, Agent G-77, spent each issue tracking down Public Enemy No. 1. The series only lasted 6 issues, which surprises me given the romantic popularity of the FBI's fight against gangsters at that time. Public Enemy, Dec 1935 (#1) The first issue is the first appearance of G-77, and has an amazing Norman Saunders cover.

I love those patriotic WWI covers, and this one's amazing.

Yes indeed! She's the best.

Secret Agent X, Oct 1936

Secret Agent X, Feb 1936

Recent finds Operator #5, Nov 1935 and Mar 1936