RedFury

I read my original, just was careful with it, no problem at all. It's a well-made book.

Cool! They all look like nice copies, too.

Worse Things Waiting (Carcosa, 1973) by Manly Wade Wellman is one of my favorite weird fiction collections. It contains some of Wellman's best stories from Weird Tales, Strange Tales, Unknown, and others, and is an absolute joy to read. Wellman won the 1975 World Fantasy Award for "Best Single Author Collection" for Worse Things Waiting, and last year I was fortunate to add that award to my collection. Recently I was able to track down the original cover art for the book by Lee Brown Coye, and it arrived yesterday. I'm really happy to be able to pair it with the award.

I love The Shadow over Innsmouth. Maybe it's the unusual, for Lovecraft, chase and action scenes. I have those sequel books from F&B, but I've only read a couple of stories so far. Need to dig in!

Yes, when it was a serious signature, it was always "H.P. Lovecraft". But informally he would sign his eldritch name "Ech Pi El" to friends like Clark Ashton Smith, who was "Klarkash-ton". Or other times he's sign "Grandpa" or "Grandpa Theobald". He had nicknames for all his friends, and he would refer to them by those nicknames in letters to others. One common thing he would do is Latinize their names...Frank Belknap Long became "Belknapius". Or he would make a pun of their name...Donald Wandrei became "Melmoth the Wandrei", and pun on Melmoth the Wanderer. He liked to joke around quite a bit.

Here's a book from Lovecraft's personal library, with his name and address written inside the front cover in his own hand. The book is The Works of Virgil, and is mentioned in his letters.

Detective Action Stories was a title that never stuck. It ran from 1930-32, then was revived in 1936 for another 9 issues before folding for good in 1937. Right before the end are some covers by Charles De Feo, including this three issue set from Apr-May, Jun-Jul, and Aug-Sep 1937. I love these!

Happy 113th, Jack!

Wow, now that is rare and cool! Thanks for sharing!

Absolutely amazing, Patrice. Is it known how Derleth first acquired it? A gift from Dr. Howard? Or perhaps his London agent for Arkham House, Ken Chapman, found a copy and sent it over?

We all started somewhere. Some of us just have a few years head start, is all. Keep up the good posts and enthusiasm!

Lewis Theobald is actually H.P. Lovecraft, I think, right?

That's amazing. What a great picture of CAS. He's even got his beret on.

Yes, my photo is the same as #52 on that site. What's interesting is that the reproduced photo, which is so well known, is much darker than the original, and has become an iconic image of HPL with his eyes totally in shadow, giving him an eerie or creepy, or even skull-like appearance. But you can see that the original print is only slightly shaded around his eyes, and you can still see his eyes clearly. I think this was a case of a poor reproduction accidentally creating a classic image.

The Curse of Yig is a good story. Regarding the authorship, Lovecraft claimed in various letters: "I came damn close to writing the whole thing" "all of the writing & most of the plot are mine" "is well-nigh a piece of original composition on my part...All the plot & motivation in the present tale are my own—I invented the snake-god, the curse, the prologue & epilogue, the point about the identity of the corpse, & the monstrously suggestive aftermath. To all intents & purposes it’s my story." "this story is about 75% mine"

Thanks! Yes, a recent acquisition, and new cornerstone of the collection.

I figured we could use a Lovecraft thread. Here's a real rarity, an original photo of Lovecraft signed by himself. The inscription reads: To Samuel E. Loveman, Esquire with the complements & esteem of H.P. Lovecraft July 1931 Samuel Loveman was a poet and critic from Cleveland who Lovecraft became close friends with. Later, when Loveman, who was Jewish, learned the extent of Lovecraft's anti-semitism, he burned all his letters. Somehow this photo escaped the flames. The photo was taken on July 11, 1931 in Brooklyn, NY. It's part of a series of photos of HPL and Frank Belknap Long taken that day by their friend Wilfred Blanch Talman.

Wow, lovely condition and a very scarce book. And a nice Earle Bergey cover, as well.

A great selection of early Howard Fights! I've been collecting them too, but have only managed six so far. Tough to find.

It's pretty amazing you found those in the wild. Congrats!

That's amazing, Dwight!

Sidney Riesenberg

Wow, wow, wow! What an amazing addition to the collection, Patrice!

Oriental Stories and Magic Carpet are two of my favorite series for both covers and contents. I wish they had continued longer!

Everybody's Magazine June, 1917 The Messiah of the Cylinder by Victor Rousseau Illustrations by Joseph Clement Coll I'm really happy to have this one in this week. This classic early science-fiction story was serialized in the June-September 1917 issues of Everybody's Magazine, and then published immediately in hardcover in October 1917.