Another Vintage Illustration: Recapture

More of an interesting filler, but intriguing. From a January 1946 Weird Tales.

William Easton Loutitt: Lovecraftiana

This cache went in 4 bids at $22.49.




1968 "A Bibliographic Catalog of the Largest Collection Ever Offered For Sale of the Works of Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft" by Roy A. Squires.

H.P. Lovecraft article neatly taken from "The Esquire", January 1946: "The Ten-Cent Ivory Tower" by John Wilstach.

January, 1966 "Herald Review", featuring "H.P. Lovecraft: Genius of the Macabre" by Laurence Goldstein.

April, 1947 "Saturday Review of Literature". H.P. Lovecraft is mentioned in the article "The Phoenix Nest".

All of these items were previously a part of William Easton Loutitt's private library. Loutitt was a noted collector and the official archivist for the John Hay Library at Brown University from the 1950's through the 70's. A loose Loutitt's private library book plate can be found within the manilla envelope containing the article from "The Esquire".

All ephemera has been stored in protective manila envelopes, which are also labeled for convience.

William Easton Loutitt cache of Lovecraftiana

Chrispy was unaware of these items. They were fleetingly published, and only a researcher at the time would have seized and stored them. 19 bids to $99.90. Wow. Chrispy lost this auction. :/

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LOT of Four Scarce H.P. LOVECRAFT Ephemera - No Reserve!!!

November 30, 1946 issue of "Publishers' Weekly" (Volume 150, No. 22). H.P. Lovecraft is mentioned in the article "News from the Rare Book Sellers" by Jacob Blanck.

December 22, 1945 issue of "Publishers' Weekly" (Volume 148, No. 25). Once again, H.P. Lovecraft is mentioned in the article "News from the Rare Book Sellers" by Jacob Blanck.

Catalogue No. 78 of Philip C. Duschnes' "Books". Within this catalogue, one will find a listing (No. 511) for "The Necronomicon" by Abdul Alhazred. Included with this catalogue are clippings of two newspaper articles from the 1940's examining the significance of Duschnes' listing of "The Necronomicon". Referring to the appearance of "The Necronomicon" in the catalogue, one article states: "Now that is enormously interesting because, so far as I am aware, everyone who has written about Lovecraft has assumed 'The Necromomicon' to be an ancient book of demonology which existed only in Lovecraft's mind." The second article states that "Lovecraft's editor, August Derleth, at once airmailed: 'This is an absolute FRAUD. HPL invented the Necronomicon himself, and he also invented the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred." This article then quotes a letter from Philip C. Duschnes himself: "Of course the whole thing is a hoax and the give-away is the fact that I mentioned a copy in the Universtity of Arkham, Mass., both the university and the town being non-existent in the State of Massachusetts. You asked why I did it and I do not know other than that I was tired of cataloguing real books for many years and I thought I would make up one for the fun of it." This hoax by Duschnes made his Catalogue No. 78 a collector's item in itself!! The page (and the opposite page) featuring listing No. 511 in the catalogue have faint yellow transfer marks from the two newspaper clippings, which were stored between the pages for many years (text is unaffected).

Full newspaper page featuring an article from "The Providence Sunday Journal" on August 22, 1948. Article is titled "Howard Phillips Lovecraft as His Wife Remembers Him" by Sonia H. Davis (The former Mrs. H.P. Lovecraft. Published here for the first time, the "Woman Who Knew Him Best Tells of Their Strange Marriage and Difficult Years". Features a picture of both Lovecraft and Davis. Also included with this newspaper page in a small envelope, is an additional small clipping of a newspaper article referencing Lovecraft.

All of these items were previously a part of William Easton Loutitt's private library.

Loutitt was a noted collector and the official archivist for the John Hay Library at Brown University from the 1950's through the 70's. Loutitt's private library book plate can be found on the inside rear cover of the two issues of "Publishers' Weekly".

All ephemera have been stored in protective manila envelopes, which are also labeled for convience.

Lovecraft in 1946 Fantasy Commentator

This contains the article on HPL: George Wetzel - Some Thoughts On The Lovecraft Pattern

Lovecraft Appears - In the Mystery Magazines (1946)

Classic Image (1946)


Ebay Listing

While Chrispy has no real proof, one suspects the hand of Derleth. About this time Lovecraft stories begin popping up in strange places - and many, many places. Not quite ten years after HPL's death, Derleth appeared to 'own' Lovecraft stories and fed them rapidly to reprint magazines who seemed eager to have them. (Search the blog records for the many placements, or check your bibliographies).
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The ebay listing 'zine looks spectacularly different from the classic image on The Fiction Mags Index.

It was difficult to find a listing of which HPL story might be considered a 'mystery'. However the mystery (heh, pardon the obvious pun, but I couldn't resist) was solved with the table of contents below:
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Rex Stout Mystery Magazine [# 3, February 1946] (Avon Book Company, 25¢, 166pp, digest); Details taken from dealer’s catalogue on ABEBooks.
· They Can Only Hang You Once [Sam Spade] · Dashiell Hammett · ss Colliers Nov 19 ’32
· The Calico Dog [“The Case of the Calico Dog”; Susan Dare] · Mignon G. Eberhart · nv The Delineator Sep ’34
· The Locked Room [Dr. Gideon Fell] · John Dickson Carr · ss The Strand Jul ’40
· A Matter of Taste [Lord Peter Wimsey] · Dorothy L. Sayers · ss, 1928
· The Rats in the Walls · H. P. Lovecraft · ss Weird Tales Mar ’24
· Boston Blackie’s Mary [Boston Blackie] · Jack Boyle · nv Redbook, 1917
· The Man Upstairs · William Irish · ss Mystery Book Magazine Aug ’45
· The Vanishing Lady · Alexander Woollcott · ss (r)
· The Butler [Chief Insp. William Dawson] · Bennett Copplestone · na (r)

Rare Strange Tales (Cool Air) Surfaces

STRANGE TALES (#2) (1946) UTOPIAN PUBLISHERS / LONDON ETC.
The seller states: Smaller digest size. Two staple spine. British publication. No numer or date is given although research reveals the above. Evidently this is an even more RARE American overprint as 25 c can be seen of the 9 d. This book is in fantastic shape with no real wear. Slightly turned up front cover at right edge but no fold or color break and I only mention because there is nothing else to say about it. colors are quite bold! The only defect is the light water stain which can be seen in the images. Only the cover and first page (back and front) are affected. Barely visible on front cover. Pages are light cream in color and in fantastic, flexible shape. Fanzines are usually extremely fragile, this one is not at all. No folds, no creasing no tears. GREAT authors too! LOVECRAFT, ASHTON SMITH, BLOCH AND MORE..With some nice illustrations. 68 pages which include both covers. ($49.99 to start)

Extremely Rare 1946 Lovecraft 1st Spanish Book

Carlos Abraham has been kind wnough to show our blog readers this antiquarian treasure. Carlos is a scholar and researcher trying to track down the earliest Robert E Howard and H P Lovecraft books translated into Spanish. A noble endeavor and we wish him well. If you have any help, I think the best way to contact him right now is to go to the antiquarian thread on the Horror Mall and post.

He has many Conan Spanish covers already posted at the antiquarian thread (which is over a 1,000 posts strong with hundreds and hundreds of antiquarian images, stories, and anecdotes.)

http://www.horror-mall.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=70&st=1040&gopid=25875&#entry25875





Carlos tell us: This is the cover of the (so far as I know) the first translation of Lovecraft in book form: "El que acecha en el umbral" (The Lurker at the Threshold"). Buenos Aires, Editorial Molino, 1946, 223 pages.

Lovecraft's Legacy: 1946

Seller states: Avon Ghost Reader (Avon Books 1946). This is a very early paperback anthology of fantasy and horror stories from Avon Books, numbered 90 on the spine. It is 258 pages long.

This book is in very good condition. The back cover is stained (tape ghost?) in a thin strip along the left edge. It is a bit wrinkled along the edge as well. Otherwise there is some minor edge wear. The book is tightly bound and square.

Contents
The Dunwich Horror, H. P. Lovecraft
The Panelled Room, August Derleth
The Fireplace, Henry S. Whitehead
The Haunted Doll’s House, M. R. James
The Squaw, Bram Stoker
Wingless Victory, H. F. Heard
Through the Dragon Glass, A. Merritt
Naked Lady, Mindret Lord
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Bottle Party, John Collier
By the Waters of Babylon, Stephen Vincent Benet
The Salamander, William B. Seabrook

1946 Adolphe de Castro Letter (Barnard)

1947 LETTER TO ADOLPHE DE CASTRO FROM WRITER AND PRESIDENT OF THE MANUSCRIPT CLUB MELVILLE CLEMENS BARNARD WHO ALSO USES THE NAME BEN ARID WHICH HE USED TO SIGN THIS LETTER.IN THIS LETTER HE WRITES ABOUT THE NEW BOOK "MODERN WRITERS".

1946 Adolphe de Castro Letter

IN THIS 1946 LETTER TO WRITER ADOLPHE DE CASTRO HARRY WRITES TO ASK ADOLPHE TO WRITE W.R. HEARST,HIS BOSS IN SAN SIMEON,CA.,ABOUT A CERTAIN MATTER.

E Hoffman Price Letter (1946) to Adolphe de Castro

Seller States: 1946 LETTER SIGNED WITH INITIALS EHP FROM PULP FICTION WRITER E HOFFMAN PRICE TO WRITER ADOLPHE DE CASTRO. IN THIS LETTER HE WRITES ABOUT PROJECTS PAST AND PRESENT. AT THE END OF THE LETTER HE WRITE ABOUT HITLER READING ONE OF HIS STORIES WITH A JEWISH HERO IN IT AND DIES IN A "FROTHING FURY".

(Final sell price: $77.00. Starting bid was $9.99 !!)

Lovecraft Legacy: 1946

ATRES ARTES, Vol. 1 #3 (Final Issue) '46, various publishers and editors, six extremely interesting special issues devoted to H.P. Lovecraft.

The cover shows a vampire bat night gaunt !

So here we have at the dawn of VJ day, more Lovecraft amateur interest.