A weird but true tale which happened to me recently:

I am lying in bed, drinking my tea, and reading a copy of "Arts Unknown: The Life and Art of Lee Brown Coye", the Weird Tales artist ---a great book by the way, and one no Weird Tales or macabre fan should be without [see a writeup on it at http://www.bookflash.com/releases/100822.html]. (Coye, in fact, lived just a little bit north of my own hometown in New York State, an area which he captured in all its gray and decayed beauty.)

So anyhow ---I'm lying in bed reading this book, flat on my back, and sipping my tea. All morning, I have been resisting the urge to go to the local flea market, since they never have anything there worth buying. Suddenly, I look down to see a small wet spot spreading through the pages of the book; somehow, unbeknownst to me, some tea must have splashed the book, soaking through at least the first twenty or so pages.

Furious with myself, to say the least, I decide to put the accident out of my mind by finally going to the flea market, which I have avoided doing for months. At the flea market, however, beneath some cheap 1970's superhero comics selling for a dollar apiece....I find a 1938 copy of Weird Tales, with Brundage Cover art and several full page spreads of Virgil Finlay art!! I buy it, of course, and am so excited I buy all the comics, too.

Maybe it was Lee Brown Coye's ghost telling me to get out of the house. Thanks, "Lean Brown Cow"....




Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10 Aug 06 | 06:00PM by Gavin Callaghan.

Hey Gavin,

That Weird Tales score sounds like a real-life version of those fantasies I have of wandering into a dilapidated thrift store and finding a few mint copies of the first Arkhams that just happened to be donated, amidst all those Book Club Editions, romance novels, and raggedy bestsellers from 20 years ago.

I'm a big fan of Lee Brown Coye and was thrilled and astounded to see that a book was written about him. And such a good one, I agree. Now if somebody would just do a similar one for Hannes Bok, Virgil Finlay, and Ronald Clyne, I'd be a happy camper indeed. I have those Underwood-Miller Boks and Finlays, but it would be nice to have something more substantial about their lives.

Speaking of which, I wonder if anyone will do a biography of CAS? Anyone know of any plans in the offing?

I'm working on one, although it is taking a backseat for the moment to the Collected Fantasies. This is actually a good thing, since it requires me to take _very_ close looks at the individual stories, which is going to be quite useful when it comes time to write actual criticism of them. There are still some areas that need further investigation that we are gradually shedding new light upon.
Best,
Scott

>>"That Weird Tales score sounds like a real-life version of those fantasies I have of wandering into a dilapidated thrift store and finding a few mint copies of the first Arkhams that just happened to be donated, amidst all those Book Club Editions, romance novels, and raggedy bestsellers from 20 years ago."

I have the same fantasy! Except in mine, I find them at the yard sale of someone who has just passed away, and his relatives don't know what they are....

I had some interesting luck recently at a local antique store. I found the back cover and some other pieces of what looked to be a pulp magazine. Following them like a trail of breadcrumbs, I ended up crawling into a crawl-space behind a bureau. Inside, beneath some records, I found approximately six pulp magazines, three of which had Finlay art. Their condition is dicey, but as a low-income collector I'll take what I can get...

> I had some interesting luck recently at a local
> antique store. I found the back cover and some
> other pieces of what looked to be a pulp magazine.
> Following them like a trail of breadcrumbs, I
> ended up crawling into a crawl-space behind a
> bureau. Inside, beneath some records, I found
> approximately six pulp magazines, three of which
> had Finlay art. Their condition is dicey, but as
> a low-income collector I'll take what I can
> get...

Didn't someone find and buy a copy of Poe's Tamerlane for $3 or so in the 80's? Now that's a pretty good find! One hopes the seller didn't come aware of the amount it was later auctioned for.

Juha-Matti Rajala

My father's greatest find was a first edition of Melville's Moby Dick for 25 cents at a book sale in Endicott, New York. It was in absolutely mint condition, and sat on the bookshelf in our dining room for years.

Before my father resold it, he had it authenticated by a local antiquarian, who confirmed it as a first edition, and we sold it for approx. $13,000.00, which my father gave to my brother to start a bookstore out west (the bookstore later failed, unfortunately). We learned recently that the book has just been resold for approx. $90,000.00. ---Of course, when the Earth falls into the sun in 2 billion years or so, it'll be worthless, and all the skulls of all the collectors will be empty, their brains long since rotted-away (actually, I know of quite a few hollow-skulled collectors now).

My own worst moment as a book-buyer came in the mid-nineties at a booksale in Westchester, New York. I was examining a curious wood-paned book that was homemade. I later set it down. As the booksale began, a young man lifted the book and said, "Does anyone have any prior claim to this?" When I didn't answer, he said, "--Because it's a wooden book-cover designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and is worth approximately $400.00 dollars."

Well, I passed up a chance to buy the Arkham revamp of The Shunned House in the '60s when I was a teenager and Arkham obsessive. It was the W. Paul Cook unbound sheets from 1928 that Derleth had bound and offered in one of the Arkham circulars. Edition was something like 100. I seem to recall it was $17.50, which was way too expensive for my fantasy/horror budget at the time! Now it goes for $3000 and up, I believe.