Pulps Between Boards: Arkham House and Other Specialty Publishers 4 4

[RedFury]

Very happy to add this amazing original cover art by Frank Utpatel to my collection.  It's for New Poetry Out of Wisconsin, edited by August Derleth and published in 1969 by Stanton & Lee, an Arkham House imprint.  Just a lovely bucolic Wisconsin landscape scene.

Edited February 20, 2022 by RedFury

[Blorgon scum]

I only have this fourth edition of the fantasy artwork of Virgil Finlay but I wish I had them all.  These were published by Gerry de la Ree.  This was an eight part series of fantasy artists in limited copies printed.  The colophon pictured is drawn by Stephen Fabian.

[Blorgon scum]

My most recent purchase of this book in "good" condition.  It is worn at the top of the boards but the DJ looks good.

[Blorgon scum]

Now to track down books 1 & 2.

[Iron Age]

There is also a FIFTH Book of Virgil Finlay I have 3-5 hope you can find 1 & 2

 

[Blorgon scum]

I have this one and another(that I will post tomorrow) of the fantasy illustrators series books from Gerry de la Ree.  No Virgil Finlay's books 1 & 2 yet.  Saw one copy of book 1 but didn't want to pay such a high price.

[Blorgon scum]

This one is really a fantastic collection of illustrators.

 

 

[Xaltotun]

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Xaltotun]

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.

[Xaltotun]

Speaking of the Jenkins Gent, I had fun a few years ago when I arranged to have 5 copies on display for a panel during Howard Days. We had of course kept that a secret!

[Book Guy]

On 4/10/2022 at 2:08 AM, Xaltotun said:

 

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.

I don't know of the Haas Book! I'll keep an eye out.

[Xaltotun]

On 4/10/2022 at 11:44 PM, Book Guy said:

I don't know of the Haas Book! I'll keep an eye out.

This is it:

https://www.biblio.com/book/echoes-vaults-yoh-vombis-compendium-life/d/1388281809

[Book Guy]

Too much! I'll keep an eye out for it though. Thanks.

[Blorgon scum]

A thin collection of poems(photos of typescript) with some artwork.

[Blorgon scum]

This is a non-fiction book with profiles of fantasy writers that covers such authors as Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft, Howard, William Morris and more.

[RedFury]

I recently bought a set of The Outsider and Beyond the Wall of Sleep that had been Robert Bloch's copies. Both contain Bloch's bookplates inside, one of which is signed.

This alone makes these very special books since Bloch was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft's, a fellow Weird Tales writer, and the star (as Robert Blake) of Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark", which appears in The Outsider. When Blake gives his address at the end of the story, it's Bloch's actual home in Milwaukee.

 

But what's really intriguing is the presence of another bookplate, H.P. Lovecraft's. I compared it to two other genuine examples I have in books Lovecraft owned, and they are identical in size, printing, and paper, so I believe it's a real Lovecraft bookplate.

 

I took a look at the letters of Lovecraft/Bloch looking for mention of this bookplate, and found it!

 

In just his second letter to Bloch, dated April 27 1933, Lovecraft said "I have chosen as the design for my bookplate a typical Old Providence doorway - as the enclosed specimen illustrates."

 

He initially forgot to enclose it, though, for in his third letter, dated May 9 1933, Lovecraft writes "The fine colonial doorway is much like my bookplate - which I herewith enclose, after forgetting to do so the last time."

 

So Robert Bloch received a real HPL bookplate from Lovecraft himself in 1933. I believe the bookplate in Bloch's copy of The Outsider is most likely that same bookplate. I can't prove it, of course, unless mention of placing the bookplate in the book appears somewhere in Bloch's writings. But I'm pretty sure it is, and I think it's amazing!

[Sarg]

On 7/21/2022 at 9:36 AM, RedFury said:

I recently bought a set of The Outsider and Beyond the Wall of Sleep that had been Robert Bloch's copies. Both contain Bloch's bookplates inside, one of which is signed.

This alone makes these very special books since Bloch was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft's, a fellow Weird Tales writer, and the star (as Robert Blake) of Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark", which appears in The Outsider. When Blake gives his address at the end of the story, it's Bloch's actual home in Milwaukee.

 

But what's really intriguing is the presence of another bookplate, H.P. Lovecraft's. I compared it to two other genuine examples I have in books Lovecraft owned, and they are identical in size, printing, and paper, so I believe it's a real Lovecraft bookplate.

 

I took a look at the letters of Lovecraft/Bloch looking for mention of this bookplate, and found it!

 

In just his second letter to Bloch, dated April 27 1933, Lovecraft said "I have chosen as the design for my bookplate a typical Old Providence doorway - as the enclosed specimen illustrates."

 

He initially forgot to enclose it, though, for in his third letter, dated May 9 1933, Lovecraft writes "The fine colonial doorway is much like my bookplate - which I herewith enclose, after forgetting to do so the last time."

 

So Robert Bloch received a real HPL bookplate from Lovecraft himself in 1933. I believe the bookplate in Bloch's copy of The Outsider is most likely that same bookplate. I can't prove it, of course, unless mention of placing the bookplate in the book appears somewhere in Bloch's writings. But I'm pretty sure it is, and I think it's amazing!

[Book Guy]

WOW! about the HPL Books. I can't say for certain, but the HPL bookplate looks like what I've seen. Given the provenance of the Books, I'd call it original.

WOW! again!

[Blorgon scum]

This Arkham House edition is a paperback of Clark Ashton Smith's notebook of story ideas.  A representation of it.

[Blorgon scum]

He was nice enough to write back to me.