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Acolyte, v. 2, issue 3, whole no. 7, Summer 1944
Page 30
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The Outsider and Others five years ago, they had no way of knowing whether so risky a venture as a memorial volume of the pulp stories of an almost unknown weirdest might not mean simply throwing money down the drain; yet they spared no expense or effort in producing a fine, tasteful volume whose very jacket-blurbs were models of discriminating criticism and information. For a while it did seem as if most of the 1200 copies would only gather dust in the storeroom, as has many a similar edition-of-love in the history of publishing, but again its sponsors gambled that the literary worth of Lovecraft's fiction would create by word-of-mouth a constant though slow demand for the book, and proceeded with the publication of other collections of weird tales as fast as they could afford them. Now at last their faith is being justified by the steady sale of all their volumes, and they are in a position to go ahead on a greatly accelerated scale with a spate of books such as to make any fan's mouth water. When you remember that these stories from Weird Tales, which we know as classics in their field, would never even be considered by the regular publishing houses because of their uninhibited fantasy and lowly origin, and realise that their publication in book form would be far too expensive a project for any ordinary fantasy enthusiast, you begin to see what a fortuitous boon Arkham House is to all of us. Right now, when wartime wages give most of us a little more money than usual, seems an excellent time to back up Arkham House's publishing program to the limit with some hard cash to assure ourselves of getting these splendid volumes immediately upon publication. They won't lie around forever waiting to be picked up, you know, as many a dilatory fan has discovered in the case of the first Lovecraft and Smith books; and the longer you put off ordering your copies, the more likely you are to wait too long. There is no need, certainly, to persuade you of the worth of the Arkham House Fantasy Library, but an occasional reminder of the time element involved may perhaps be pardoned. It is of great interest to note that in the case of Lovecraft the pioneering work of Arkham House has finally borne fruit in recognition by other publishers and anthologists. Last month Random House released the finest anthology of weird stories that has yet to come to my notice in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by Herbert A. Wise and Phyllis Fraser--a 1080-page, 52-story collection of what comes as close to being the best stories by the best authors as can reasonably be hoped for in view of legitimately divergent tastes in the field. The two concluding stories are Lovecraft's The Rats In The Walls and The Dunwich Horror, which unquestionably rank among his finest work; and a brief editorial introduction gives an admirable description of the nature of HPL's fiction. This book was followed only a couple of weeks later by a small, twenty-five cent, "pocket-book" collection of Lovecraft stories put out by Bartholomew House under the title of The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories of the Supernatural, and containing, besides the title story: The Festival, He, The Outsider, and The Whisperer in Darkness. With the possible exception of He, none of these stories could possibly be classed as anything but first-rate, and the wide circulation that the book should be given in drug stores and like places throughout the country will do a great deal to spread recognition and appreciation for Lovecraft's work. Thus we see that the ripples from the first stone that Arkham House threw upon the waters of contemporary letters five years ago have not been without effect. Who can tell what their ultimate results may be? I don't think it is too far-fetched to suspect that we may be assisting the birth of a small but significant new branch of modern literature. -- 30 --
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The Outsider and Others five years ago, they had no way of knowing whether so risky a venture as a memorial volume of the pulp stories of an almost unknown weirdest might not mean simply throwing money down the drain; yet they spared no expense or effort in producing a fine, tasteful volume whose very jacket-blurbs were models of discriminating criticism and information. For a while it did seem as if most of the 1200 copies would only gather dust in the storeroom, as has many a similar edition-of-love in the history of publishing, but again its sponsors gambled that the literary worth of Lovecraft's fiction would create by word-of-mouth a constant though slow demand for the book, and proceeded with the publication of other collections of weird tales as fast as they could afford them. Now at last their faith is being justified by the steady sale of all their volumes, and they are in a position to go ahead on a greatly accelerated scale with a spate of books such as to make any fan's mouth water. When you remember that these stories from Weird Tales, which we know as classics in their field, would never even be considered by the regular publishing houses because of their uninhibited fantasy and lowly origin, and realise that their publication in book form would be far too expensive a project for any ordinary fantasy enthusiast, you begin to see what a fortuitous boon Arkham House is to all of us. Right now, when wartime wages give most of us a little more money than usual, seems an excellent time to back up Arkham House's publishing program to the limit with some hard cash to assure ourselves of getting these splendid volumes immediately upon publication. They won't lie around forever waiting to be picked up, you know, as many a dilatory fan has discovered in the case of the first Lovecraft and Smith books; and the longer you put off ordering your copies, the more likely you are to wait too long. There is no need, certainly, to persuade you of the worth of the Arkham House Fantasy Library, but an occasional reminder of the time element involved may perhaps be pardoned. It is of great interest to note that in the case of Lovecraft the pioneering work of Arkham House has finally borne fruit in recognition by other publishers and anthologists. Last month Random House released the finest anthology of weird stories that has yet to come to my notice in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by Herbert A. Wise and Phyllis Fraser--a 1080-page, 52-story collection of what comes as close to being the best stories by the best authors as can reasonably be hoped for in view of legitimately divergent tastes in the field. The two concluding stories are Lovecraft's The Rats In The Walls and The Dunwich Horror, which unquestionably rank among his finest work; and a brief editorial introduction gives an admirable description of the nature of HPL's fiction. This book was followed only a couple of weeks later by a small, twenty-five cent, "pocket-book" collection of Lovecraft stories put out by Bartholomew House under the title of The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories of the Supernatural, and containing, besides the title story: The Festival, He, The Outsider, and The Whisperer in Darkness. With the possible exception of He, none of these stories could possibly be classed as anything but first-rate, and the wide circulation that the book should be given in drug stores and like places throughout the country will do a great deal to spread recognition and appreciation for Lovecraft's work. Thus we see that the ripples from the first stone that Arkham House threw upon the waters of contemporary letters five years ago have not been without effect. Who can tell what their ultimate results may be? I don't think it is too far-fetched to suspect that we may be assisting the birth of a small but significant new branch of modern literature. -- 30 --
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