In February of 1935, Clark Ashton Smith submitted three stories to Weird Tales. Editor Farnsworth Wright accepted all but "The Black Abbot of Puthuum," until the tale was drastically cut and rewritten. When the story finally appeared in the March, 1936 issue, it was 1500 words shorter, a pivotal character was excised from the tale, and the ending was completely different. The rejected manuscript lay buried in the collection of H. P. Lovecraft's executor Robert H. Barlow, and only now, more than seventy years later, is the story published as the author originally conceived it. Complementing the text is a tipped-in illustration reproduced from the original Weird Tales artwork of Virgil Finlay. The artwork--long thought lost--was located in the collection of a friend of Clark Ashton Smith's and has not been seen since its first appearance.
The RAS Press was founded in 1961 by Roy A. Squires who produced beautiful booklets until 1987, when he printed his final book, his bibliography, The Private Press of Roy A. Squires. Under the guidance and expertise of Master Printer & designer Gerald Lange, Terence McVicker has revived the RAS Press in honor of that notable anniversary with its first publication in twenty years: The Black Abbot of Puthuum by Clark Ashton Smith. This digitally produced edition is limited to 250 numbered copies. The tipped-in reproduction of the illustration by Finlay was ink-jet printed by McVicker. The papers are Mohawk 50/10 Matte and Curtis Flannel. The cover was letter-pressed printed by Lange.
The book sells for $49.95, but pre-publication subscribers are invited to take advantage of a 20% discounted price of 39.95 (plus 8.25% sales tax for California residents).
The Black Abbot of Puthuum will debut at the 2007 World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Inquiries may be directed to Terence McVicker at mcrarebooks@earthlink.net.

The above is a verbatim transcription of the prospectus that Terry McVicker sent me as a PDF. As someone who knew Roy Squires and was a patron of his press, I appreciate what Terry is doing, both as a fan of Smith and as a friend of Roy. This is exacting work, they're only able to produce about ten copies a day, and Terry doesn't stand to make much (if any) money on this.
Terry is one of the best rare book dealers in the field, but he has always been fully supportive of my efforts. He has provided me with numerous rare letters and photographs, something which is not common among his fraternity.
This has my full and enthusiastic endorsement, and I am glad to see the Squires imprint revived for this purpose.

Scott

Any chance that this version of the tale will be the one included in the upcoming Night Shade Books edition (not sure which volume it would be)?

the pdf version of the announcement with its pretty fonts can now be found here:
prospectus

Terry is very generously allowing us to use this text for the Night Shade series. We haven't seen it yet, so we still have to compare it to the published version and figure out what CAS changed to make the sale and what he changed because he thought it would make the story better. It will be in volume five. This is definitely a collector's piece, but IMO a worthy one. He could just as easily have sold the ms to a collector and we wouldn't see it until the estate sale, as happened with Lovecraft's letters to Frank Belknap Long and the tms to "The Shunned House," long thought to have been destroyed by Samuel Loveman, but now known to have ended up in the hands of a Michigan collector who nobody except dealers knew of.
And Boyd, thank you for posting the neat banner.
Best,
Scott

Copies of the prospectus for The Black Abbot of Puthuum which shows the typefonts, the inking, and the quality of the printing is now ready for mailing. It is printed upon the paper that will be used for the edition. Gratis copies will be mailed to subscribers this week.

A hardcopy of the Prospectus is free to anyone who requests one.

I received my copy of the prospectus today, and what can I say? It is quite well done, and provides a fine look at the finished product. I particularly like how one can feel the impression each of the letters makes on the fine paper. Software like PageMaker has made it possible for amateur publishers to achieve a level of sophistication undreamed of twenty or thirty years ago, but it also makes us forget that printing is as much an art form as any other. The printing on display in the prospectus is as far advanced from what PageMaker can achieve as PageMaker is when compared to a manual typewriter on mimeograph stencils.

Best,
Scott

The more I read about this, the less sure I am that I can afford to miss it, even though finding the cash while trying to save up for WFC is difficult.

Curious about the Finlay illustration. I do not have the WT issue containing "The Black Abbott of Puthuum": was a Finlay illustration included? As has been mentioned previously, the illustration certainly has not reappeared in any of the likely places.

Jim

There is indeed a Finlay illustration. I suspect that it has not been reprinted because of Political Correctness: it depicts a menacing African-appearing male towering over a naked white chick. Also, the original drawing was given to CAS by Farnsworth Wright, and CAS gave it to Rah Hoffman. Unlike others of Finlay's drawings, this one does not appear to have used Hollywood stills as models.

Scott

Regarding WFC: save cash, share a room! Remember, I need a room mate. (Don't smoke, do snore.) Heck, we can even bring in a roll-away bed if needed!

Best,
Scott

So if one was interested in obtaining a copy of this book, would one have to contact its editor or publisher directly?

We have seen the darkness
Where charnel things decay,
Where atom moves with atom
In shining swift array,
Like ordered constellations
On some sidereal way.
--from Nyctalops

The latest news from Terence McVicker/RAS Press

Quote:

The first thirty copies of THE BLACK ABBOT will ship this week ... will have an additional fifty copies ready by the end of next week. 20% of the edition is already spoken for, and I have guaranteed fifty copies for World Fantasy at the end of October so please let your good readers know that the discount price holds only until Nov., 5th and that the book is selling well.

Quote:

Terence McVicker/RAS Press
Fellow Klarkash-tonophiles my sincerest apologies! I had meant to have "The Black Abbot" in the mails last Wednesday but the final details just took much more time than anticipated. All copies ordered to date were shipped yesterday - Saturday the 20th, via First Class Mail.

Mine arrived, it's a remarkable effort, I have much admiration for the publishers.

B.