Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Barlow's Set of Dragonfly 'zines (1935 & 1936)


From the seller: THE DRAGON-FLY COMPLETE! - October, 1935, May, 1936
Edited & published by C. W. (Tryout) Smith
//
Robert Hayward Barlow was one of the innermost members of HPL's circle of friends, and was the sole beneficiary of all of Lovecraft's books & papers after his death. There has been much speculation as to why HPL endowed this great gift upon the very young Robert Barlow (was he all of nineteen?). Perhaps Lovecraft saw the young version of himself in the brilliant but shy, awkward, bookish young man. Barlow had an active and excited hungry mind and even when he first met HPL at age seventeen he had a mature & keen intellect: publisher, collector, bibliophile, printer, bookbinder, fictioneer, poet, photographer, and later anthropologist (whew!). Barlow printed these only two issues of "The Dragon-Fly" in 1935 & 36. Oddly enough there is no Lovecraft material in either issue, although there are contributions by August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith. // Issue #1 is in fine condition except that pages 15 & 18 have been printed over the top of each other; you can read them each by turning the issue upside down. It also includes Barlow's own errata sheet. // Issue #2 has some chipping at extended covers but the interior paper is fine. // String-ties are present. // Obtaining the complete pairing of these exceptional booklets is rare!

3 comments:

Magister said...

To correct the seller's information: When Barlow met Lovecraft for the first time he was 16 (1934); they started corresponding in 1931 when Barlow was a mere 13.

Chris Perridas said...

Thanks for the correction!

It appears (per O Fortunate Floridian) sometime before 25 June 1931 and that letter was forwarded to HPL via Weird Tales.

OCONNOR,CD said...

I am proud to say that these two Barlow "Dragonfly" 'zines now rest as well in my private collection. My name is Charles D. O'Connor III and I am 26 living in Virginia.

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