1934 March Fantasy Fan

Description and condition: This is Volume 3 #1 from March 1934 of the classic fanzine published by Julius Schwartz. Contains material by Schwartz, Forrest J Ackerman, Ray Palmer & others. The front cover is somewhat worn around the edges & along the spine, the rear cover is detached & chipped around the edges.

1934 Fantasy Fan #16

This is issue #16 from December 1934 of the classic fanzine published by Charles D. Hornig. It contains one of Robert Bloch’s earliest pieces, THE LAUGHTER OF A GHOUL, as well as material by H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith & Duane Rimel.

The Fantasy Fan of August 1934

The seller states: An original vintage August 1934, Vol. 1 #12 issue of the early science fiction, digest-sized fanzine, “The Fantasy Fan” edited by Charles D. Hornig. Inspired by the professional fantastic themed magazines of the era (“Amazing Stories”, “Astounding” and “Weird Tales”) this 16 page issue features current news by Julius Schwartz (later of DC comics fame) and Mortimer Weisinger and Part 11 of “Supernatural Horror in Literature” by the great H.P. Lovecraft making it a rarity for H.P. Lovecraft collectors. The magazine is complete but because of the fragile nature of the browning pulp paper there are several chips out, none of which effect the text of the articles.

January 1934 Fantasy Fan

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An original vintage January 1934, Vol. 2 #5 issue of the early science fiction digest-sized fanzine, “Fantasy Magazine” which was edited by Conrad H. Ruppert, Julius Schwartz (later of DC Comics fame), Raymond Palmer, Mortimer Weisinger and Forrest J Ackerman who would go on to later edit “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine. This issue contains Part 1 of “The Vortex World” by Raymond Palmer, “An Experiment with Time”, a short story by Forry Ackerman and Francis Flagg (creator of Buck Rogers), Edmond Hamilton on himself, reviews by Schwartz of the Universal James Whale classic, “The Invisible Man” and by Ackerman on an unproduced Paramount sf film of the future to be titled “Frigidaired for the Future”. Magazine contains 36 pages, slick paper cover and back cover with pulp paper interior pages and is in overall good/very good condition with back cover chipped and detached. An early sf magazine for collectors of “Amazing Stories” and “Weird Tales”.

October 1934 Fantasy Fan

These are getting prettys rare these days.
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The seller (jwhitebooks) states: The OCTOBER 1934 issue (Dedicated to H. P. LOVECRAFT) of the fanzine THE FANTASY FAN, Volume 2 Number 2 (Whole Number 14), featuring:
Our Readers Say (H. P. LOVECRAFT, Richard F. SEAFIGHT, Robert NELSON, Fred John WALSEN, Duane W. RIMEL, Bob TUCKER, R. H. BARLOW, H. KOENIG, J. Sam SMART, F. Lee BALDWIN)
Within the Circle (by F. Lee BALDWIN)
Supernatural Horror in Literature (part 13, by H. P. LOVECRAFT)
The Favorite Weird Stories of H. P. LOVECRAFT (courtesy of H. KOENIG)
Weird Whisperings (by SCHWARTZ and WEISINGER)
Fungi From Yuggoth (I. The Book; II. Pursuit, by H. P. LOVECRAFT – these verses have never before been published)
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (by H. P. LOVECRAFT)
Editor, Charles D. HORNIG (137 West Grand Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey)
A NEAR FINE-FINE copy, slight darkening around the edges. Digest-sized.

Rare Post Card to Charles Hornig (1934)

{My best reading of this is ... Greetings! Saw the new FF at Barlows & want to congratulate you on ? ? issue. After a 7-week ? inside the De Land, I am amongst my favorite antiquarian ?. Staying in St. Augustine a week, ?? amidst atmosphere by the carload. North again ?? by the middle of July. Anyone else want to hazard a reading? -CP}


The seller states: Holographic Postcard by H.P. LOVECRAFT to Charles D. Hornig (Editor The Fantasy Fan), Postmarked June 23, 1934 from Saint Augustine, Florida (Lovecraft was visiting with R.H. Barlow), Signed "HPL"


H.P. LOVECRAFT LETTERS & POSTCARDS: Truly a magnificent H.P. Lovecraft item. For those that know the Old Gent, they understand what a great epistler he was. In fact, one would find it difficult to find someone of any note that wrote as many letters as Lovecraft. Experts believe that he wrote over 100,000 letters during his lifetime, many of great length (a 50,000 word, one-hundred page letter was not out of the ordinary). It is also surmised that fewer than 10,000 of the letters still survive. Of those, a majority are held in Brown University's H.P. Lovecraft collection. In fact, their aggressive acquisitions program for Lovecraft's letters and postcards was (and is) so intense, that few remain in the hands of collectors. Some believe that less than two hundred letters and postcards are in still left in private hands, of these, few rarely show up for sale. Considering that writing (postcards and letters) was Lovecraft's favorite form of communication, and that each communication is a thoughtful tome in and of itself, an actual letter or postcard can be considered the cornerstone of a Lovecraft collection. We here at Arkham Books now offer to the public, that very cornerstone. Since letters typically run into the thousands ($4000.00 and up is quite common), a postcard is a more affordable way to own a piece of Lovecraftian history. In the last three years on Ebay and at various Rare Books Shows we have sold two letters and a handful of postcards, and they go quick (moreover, because of Brown University's voracious acquisition program, they are getting much harder to find -- a worn out cliche, but oh so true!) The last postcard we sold (to weird tale author E. Hoffman Price) for $1350.00 just several weeks back at World Horror Con.


ADDRESSED TO: This postcard was written to Fantasy Fan Editor Charles D. Hornig. Hornig started The Fantasy Fan when he was just 17 years of age, in September of 1933. Two of Lovecraft's sotires were first published in the fanzine: "The Other Gods" (the third issue, November 1933) and "From Beyond" (in the tenth issue, June 1934). Moreover, and most significant, is the fanzine/magazine began a serialization of Lovecraft's essay on "Supernatural Horror in Literature," incorporating corrections and slight revisions to the text that appeared in The Recluse. Lovecraft maintained a fairly regular correspondence with Hornig, offering support, ideas, and corrections. Lovecraft's suggestions are frequently taken up with mechanical details concerning literary business, showing Lovecraft as conscientious and sometimes obsessive. Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, in his book "H.P. Lovecraft A Life", wrote this about The Fantasy Fan: "This is, canonically, the first 'fan' magazine in the domain of weird/fantastic fiction, and it inaugurated a very rich, complex, and somehwat unruly tradition--still flourishing today--of fan activity in this realm."


THIS POSTCARD: This postcard is postmarked June 23, 1934. It is postmarked from Saint Augustine, Florida at 7:00 pm (or so it appears, it is 7: something, the postmark is not dark enough to see on the time). Postmark is from Florida, where Lovecraft was staying with R.H. Barlow (Weird Tale author, the two collaborated on several stories, and Barlow as literary executor of Lovecraft's estate). The postcard features the "Old City Gates in St. Augustine, Fla" built in 1743 (most likely to the delight of the old gent from Providence, as he enjoyed architecture of the 18th Century. One paragraph features approximately 55 words (VERY short--shortest HPL postcard I have ever seen--great for Lovecraft on a Budget). The content is unpublished.


CONTENTS INCLUDE: Lovecraft comments that he just received the current issue of Fantasy Fan while "at Barlow's, and ... congratulate you ..." He briefly mentions staying in St. Augustine and that he will be going North again in the middle of July. Signed "HPL".


RARITY, VALUE, & GUARANTEE: Truly a gem. With this, we offer a lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity. Lovecraft postcards are become more and more rare, and soon, they just won't show up. In the 1970s Holographic Lovecraft items were seemingly everywhere. In the 1980s, as scholarly interest in Lovecraft increased his letters and postcards started getting bought up and disappearing off the secondary market. In the 1990s, Brown University started an agressive acquisition program to acquire all of Lovecraft's hand-written manuscripts, letters, postcards, and so forth. Thus in the new millenium, there is very little of this holographic material by the old gent from Providence. In the last five years we here at Arkham Books have searched diligently the Internet, Book Catalogs, and Auctions, and the man's epistles are just downright rare! We sold numerous postcards, starting in the $600.00 to $800.00 range some five years ago, to $950.00 three years ago, and now around $1000.00 to $1500.00 today depending on content and the recipient. Letters today, typically run $4000.00 (for a one-pager) and up (saw a nice two-page letter to Robert Bloch with great content listed at $6000.00 and a six and a half page letter for $15,000.00). Late last year on Ebay I saw a clipped H.P. Lovecraft signature (clipped from the return address portion of an envelope, and was just "H.P. Lovecraft") sell for $1500.00!! Simply put, his stuff is getting very rare and appreciating at a substantial cilp. Recently, we were lucky enough here at Arkham Books to acquire a few postcards to Charles D. Hornig, and will be offering them on Ebay. This particular card is a true rarity, as it is the shortest HPL card I have ever seen. As such, it is priced lower and offers Lovecraft on a budget. I've priced it lower to give folks an option of obtaining an HPL signature at a lower price (all of the other Hornig postcards we will be offering run 150 words and up, and are priced in the $1200.00 to $1400.00 range -- check our Ebay store for other signed HPL items). Good luck.

Fantasy Fan February 1935

The seller states: THE FANTASY FAN February, 1935, Vol 2, No. 6 edited by Charles D. Hornig This, the February 1935 number, is the last issue of THE FANTASY FAN... "we have learned that there are not enough lovers of weird fiction who are interested enough in the subject to pay for a fan magazine." Thus, the greatest fantasy fanzine met its fate! This legendary paper ran to eighteen issues, and every issue featured works by not only HPL or Robert E. Howard, or Clark Ashton Smith, abut also other famous weird tales writers of the time. Seventeen out of the eighteen issues contained an installment of H. P. Lovecraft's - "Supernatural Horror in Literature" and this issue contains part 9 of "Annals of the Jinns" by Robert H. Barlow (most of these pieces were edited or rewritten by HPL before publication. A brief article on Adolph de Castro by F. Lee Baldwin highlights the author's upcoming books (most rewritten also by HPL!). A small chip missing from the right-hand corn of the paper is evident in the scan, else a very very good copy which was never folded for mailing. There were only about sixty copies of each issue printed! (No wonder they couldn't make any money!).

Fantasy Fan: June 1934

Seller States: Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- June 1934 (issue #10)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is a bit chipped around the edges (see picture), but otherwise in nice shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, this issue of The Fantasy Fan features H.P. Lovecraft's story FROM BEYOND, as well as a chapter of Lovecraft's epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about The Apex of Gothic Romance. This issue also contains PROSE PASTELS III, The Muse of Hyperborea by Clark Ashton Smith.

In case you can't read the text (try clicking on image) here is what Smith says ... {Glad my article on M. R. James was approved by so many readers. Later on, I hope to do some brief articles on other masters of the macabre and fantastic. Clark Ashton Smith.}

Fantasy Fan: October 1934

Seller States: Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- October 1934 (issue #14)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is in great shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, this is a special ALL H.P. LOVECRAFT ISSUE of The Fantasy Fan. This issue features BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP by Lovecraft, as well as Lovecraft's FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH and a chapter of Lovecraft's epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about Spectral Literature on the Continent.

Fantasy Fan: September 1934

Seller States: Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- September 1934 (issue #13)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is in great shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, The Fantasy Fan featured the original publication of H.P. LOVECRAFT'S epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about European supernatural horror stories such as The Phantom Ship, Zanoni and Wuthering Heights. This issue also contains PROSE PASTELS IV, The Lotus and the Moon by Clark Ashton Smith, and more.

Fantasy Fan: December 1934

Seller states that this is an Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- December 1934 (issue #16)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is in great shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, The Fantasy Fan featured the original publication of H.P. LOVECRAFT'S epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about Edgar Allan Poe. This issue also contains an early fan story by author Robert Bloch (Psycho), "The Laughter of as Ghoul," and PROSE PASTELS V, The Passing of Aphrodite by Clark Ashton Smith, and more.

(You should be able to click on image and open it larger in a new window - CP)