The last few days Amazon has had Eph Book — alias Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years — at 5% off. Today I see they’ve cut it a notch more to 7% off, and it’s in the top tier of sales in the History & Criticism Fantasy category. Someone must have ordered a copy — maybe even at the 5% off rate.
And the companion tome, the eBook LitCrit MegaPack that goes by the title Death Litalso just surged. Death Lit has the full text of my article from Firsts: The Book Collectors Magazine in which I first tackled the ephemera. Gave my personal history about getting into the hobby.
Left the memoir-heavy piece out of Eph Book because I wanted to keep it lean and mean, to the point. That’s my policy for guides, and since it also serves as a pictorial history we needed to leave lots of room for the covers and other images.
Autograph Hound Saturday again, and the maniacal Autograph Hound Brian Leno has been digging around in his trove, reminding himself of what he’s got.
“The Intruder by Beaumont is interesting,” Brian says, “because the dust jacket is signed by William Shatner, who starred in the movie.”
Charles Beaumont’s novel came out in 1959 and he then did the screenplay for the 1962 film directed by Roger Corman. About segregation in the South, generally considered Corman’s most serious — read best — movie, and one of Shatner’s most powerful roles.
Still raw-edged. And if you prefer a lighter approach to viewing you could watch it just to see the appearances by that circle of writers who scripted The Twilight Zone. Beaumont is in it, and George Clayton Johnson. William F. Nolan plays a town thug.
Brian tells me, “I don’t remember if I ever saw the movie but now I’ll keep an eye out. It’s a first but the jacket is in rough shape. Who cares? It’s signed by Captain Kirk!”
I can assure Brian that if he’d seen it, he’d remember it.
And he also throws in “A Zane Grey signed check, obviously he’s not difficult to get but I thought I should have him.”
In the shot yesterday of (at least a small part of) The Leno Library I noticed the top row of books by or about Robert E. Howard, this month’s birthday boy — and next row down, on left, the Gnome Press editions of Conan.
That shelf also housed some Richard Matheson, Clark Ashton Smith’s Genius Loci, Seabury Quinn’s Roads, Leigh Brackett, Hammett’s Creeps by Night — on the bottom shelf I spotted some Fritz Leiber.
I couldn’t tell if an overall theme pervaded this hodgepodge of the fantastic, but suspected — since Brian is a known maniacal Autograph Hound — that maybe they were signed. No books signed by Robert E. Howard, of course, since he died by suicide before his first book hit print.
Here’s Brian to confirm my guesses, invoking the time-lost Shaver Mystery and the ever bubbling cauldron of the La Brea Tar Pits:
The Howard books for the most part aren’t signed — couple signed by artists Jeff Jones, Roy Krenkel.
Everything else is signed.
The book right to the left of the skull — my left, not the skull’s — is very common looking, but it’s one of my treasures: I Remember Lemuria, inscribed by Richard S. Shaver himself.
It’s extremely rare with the fragile dust jacket, but just to find a signed copy is a real job. Took me years of looking.
I’ve tried three or four times to read it but find it terrible. I wanted it for it’s rarity, which is the usual priority when I go after a signature.
And I’d like to tell you about my skull. Growing up I always felt a library needed a human skull to make it complete.
About forty-five years ago I saw that some company, near the La Brea Tar Pits, I believe, was selling museum quality reproductions. I ordered this one and it’s been one of my most cherished library items ever since.
Robert E. Howard was born 120 years ago today. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. Certainly you’ve heard mention of his character Conan — the Cimmerian, the barbarian, etc.
I know today’s date well, but began to get hints it was rolling around again a couple of days ago. My big eBook The Dark Barbarian That Towers Over All— first in an ongoing series of LitCrit MegaPacks — jumped up the Amazon lists from 115ish into the 20s, so someone bought a memorial copy. Still the largest — and best — roundup of litcrit on REH. No bragging. Just the facts.
But I was surprised to notice yesterday that the biographical Famous Someday exploded volcanically from the sales doldrums to chase on the heels of Towers. I like that little book, the interviews with Texans who knew Howard, exploring a trove of books that once belonged to Doctor Isaac Howard, REH’s father.
In one of those books Doc Howard doodled the remark that “Robert will be famous someday”.
Check out this notice from Todd Warren on Facebook that John D. Haefele just sent my way, as we keep loose track of what prices are being asked for Arkham House ephemera — you know, the items we cover in our most excellent pictorial history Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years 1937-1973.
A nice lot, for which $2000 is quite in keeping with what they’ve been going for lately. In the Eph Book Twenty Years of Writing is cited as Item 24, Twenty-Five Years is Item 49, and Thirty Years is Item 61.
Most Arkham collectors know about these three, but are unaware of Item 25 — Twenty Years with a variant cover.
And just think if the group included the 1941 chapbook in which Derleth celebrated Fifteen Years of Writing! Item 5 in our check list — primal ephemera as Arkham House came into existence — the real title is August Derleth: Biographical, Personal, Bibliographical. Another five years would pass before Derleth came up with a better designation to landmark his ongoing literary output.
I suspect Item 5 alone would add another thou into the equation. Actually, if you’ve got that one, I bet it would double this asking price.
The bio on the author J. Aubrey Tyson is from January 2019, only seven years ago — we report new news, old news. Hammett news.
Turns out the info comes from a blog — Lesser Known Writers — by our pal Doug Anderson. Covering the waterfront where Neglected Writers roam. I think Doug is right up there with the late Richard Dalby for this sort of thing.
The review by Hammett hit print June 23 1930 and the body was found October 16 — a little over three months later.
Will says, “Probably a coincidence….”
Yeah, probably. I’m sure the guy had other troubles to worry about — but man, that is one killer review.
The week ended with Jeopardy! invoking Hammett’s name yet again: S42E90. 1/9/26. A Champions Wildcard showdown.
Double Jeopardy round, $2000 slot in the category Adapted for High School:
Rian Johnson adapted what he called “the weirdly poetic style of Dashiell Hammett” for high school in this film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Guy buzzes in: “What is Brick?”
Correct.
The late Bill Arney really liked that spin on The Maltese Falcon, and was the first to tell me about it. I’ve tried watching it a couple of times. Does nothing for me. But try it yourself, on the recommendation of Bill the Hat.
Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour.
