Today’s Top Five New Arrivals at Miskatonic Books

Here are five rare items that just arrived at Miskatonic Books this week.

Just in time for your favorite genre collector!

Just click on any of the cover art for more information on the title and to reserve.

THE DOLL AND ONE OTHER by Algernon Blackwood (First Edition Hardcover)

 

The Doll and One Other is a collection of two fantasy and horror novelettes by author Algernon Blackwood. It was released in 1946 and was the first publication of either novelette. It was published by Arkham House in an edition of 3,490 copies.

The first novelette, “The Doll,” was adapted for an episode of the television show Night Gallery.

Contents:

The Doll and One Other contains the following tales:

•     “The Doll”
•     “The Trod”

This book is in near fine condition with some toning and mild rubbing due to age, in a very fine dust jacket. The D

SCREAM AT MIDNIGHT by Joseph Payne Brennan (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover)

Signed limited edition of only 250. A collection of nine stories.  Published in 1963

This is a rare tough to find classic.

Contents:

• The Horror at Chilton Castle
• The Midnight Bus
• The Vampire Bat
• The Seventh Incantation
• Killer Cat
• The Dump
• The Tenants
• The Man Who Feared Masks
• The Visitor in the Vault

Book is in near fine condition without dust jacket as issued. Book is signed on the front free endpaper.

 

THE WEREWOLF OF PONKERT by H. Warner Munn (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover)

Published in Providence, Rhode Island by The Grandon Company, 1958. Octavo,

Limited to 350 copies. Signed by Munn. The title story, first published in WEIRD TALES, July 1925, was inspired by and dedicated to H. P. Lovecraft. Also collected here is the sequel, “The Werewolf’s Daughter,” first published as a three-part serial in WEIRD TALES.

Contents:

• “The Werewolf of Ponkert”
• “The Werewolf’s Daughter”

Book is in near fine condition in a very good plus dust jacket. Jacket has some soiling and toning due to age else fine.

 

THE THRONE OF SATURN by S. Fowler Wright (First Edition Hardcover)

 

The Throne of Saturn is a collection of science fiction short stories by author S. Fowler Wright. It was released in 1949 and was the author’s first American book and his only collection published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 3,062 copies.

The Throne of Saturn contains these twelve stories, as well as a foreword:

•     “Justice”
•     “This Night”
•     “Brain”
•     “Appeal”
•     “Proof”
•     “P.N. 40″
•     “Automata”
•     “The Rat”
•     “Rule”
•     “Choice”
•     “The Temperature of Gehenna Sue”
•     “Original Sin”

Book is in near fine condition with light toning and mild rubbing else fine.

THE CLOCK STRIKES TWELVE by H. R. Wakefield (First Edition Hardcover)

 

The Clock Strikes Twelve is a collection of stories by author H. Russell Wakefield. It was released in 1946 and was the first collection of the author’s stories to be published by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of 4,040 copies.

The Clock Strikes Twelve contains the following tales:

•     “Why I Write Ghost Stories”
•     “Into Outer Darkness”
•     “The Alley”
•     “Jay Walkers”
•     “Ingredient X”
•     ““I Recognised the Voice””
•     “Farewell Performance”
•     “Not Quite Cricket”
•     “In Collaboration”
•     “A Stitch in Time”
•     “Lucky’s Grove”
•     “Red Feathers”
•     “Happy Ending?”
•     “The First Sheaf”
•     “Masrur”
•     “A Fishing Story”
•     “Used Car”
•     “Death of a Poacher”
•     “Knock! Knock! Who’s There?”

Book is in near fine condition with some light toning and mild rubbin else fine.

Pleasant Dreams – Nightmares!

First noticed and befriended by H. P. Lovecraft as a teenager, Robert Bloch quickly became a prolific writer. In those early days, fantasy novels were important but usually low volume sellers. Magazine articles were usually the bread and butter of supporting oneself as a writer, and Bloch proceeded to publish horror, scientifiction, crime fiction, and any other number of fantasy stories. Horror fiction tended to rank one of the lower forms of revenue for writers, but it was Bloch’s passion. Subtle humor was also Bloch’s trade mark frequently putting in odd punch lines, and over-the-top slap-stick in otherwise grim of serious fiction. A trademark character – Lefty Freep - was a frequent venting of this silly streak.

Bloch put quite a bit of time into radio work, and by 1943, “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” had been published, and was subsequently adapted for radio twice giving him a wider recognition. This was enough to get him noticed for a collection. In 1945, Bloch published his first two collections of short stories: “Sea Kissed,” a slim collection of tales with Henry Kuttner saw print only in Great Britain. It was Derleth who came through for Bloch with “The Opener of the Way,” published by Arkham House in the U.S. No doubt there was not much money made by anyone on this, but it circulated and gave some needed promotion for Bloch.

1947 saw the publication of Bloch’s first novel, “The Scarf,” an examination of the mind of a psychopath with a penchant for murdering women. The progressive plot caused the fictional protagonist to select models and then become compelled to murder them with a scarf.

Bloch continued to churn out copious stories for various publications, and for a number of media – radio and Hollywood. Then in 1959, he hit upon an enhanced crime drama about a real life event, “Psycho”. Thats story is likely well known by most readers. However, Hitchcock’s obsession with creating a masterpiece nearly crushed the man who wrote it, and Bloch became quite embittered in the fall out as his novel nearly vanished to be trumped by the movie.

However, Derleth reached out and together a new assemblage of critically acclaimed stories were printed in “Pleasant Dreams – Nightmares” (1960). [Pleasant Dreams: Nightmares, 1960, Octavo, $4.00 cover, by Arkham House - but seen later discounted to $3.59 (* Forgotten Fantasy: Issue #4, April 1971, Douglas Menville, Robert Reginald) Black cloth binding, gold lettering, with dust cover]. Note that the book could not have been published any earlier as it contained his “Hellbound Train” after its first publication in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1958. It was much later picked up by London: Whiting & Wheaton, 1967 as Pleasant Dreams and Nightmares. More on the Jove edition, below.

Almost immediately, Belmont Books took Derleth’s conglomerate and spun it into two cheap paperbacks, the first arriving in mass production in 1961 as “Nightmares”. The next year, the other half of the anthology was released by Belmont as More Nightmares. Hopefully Bloch couped revenue from the mass seller paperbacks, and got revenge as he rode the coattails of Hitchcock’s movie despite the director’s intents.

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich created their Jove paperbacks, and republished Pleasant Dreams with alterations in the early 1970′s.

The contents of the Arkham House edition of “Pleasant Dreams – Nightmares” are different from the contents of the Jove/HBJ edition.

Arkham House edition:
Sweets to the Sweet
The Dream-Makers
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
I Kiss Your Shadow
(A) Mr. Steinway
The Proper Spirit
(A) Catnip
The Cheaters
Hungarian Rhapsody
The Light-House
Sleeping Beauty (originally The Sleeping Redheads)
Sweet Sixteen (originally Spawn of the Dark One)
(A) That Hell-Bound Train
(A) Enoch
(A) The Hungry HouseJove/HBJ edition:
Sweets to the Sweet
The Dream-Makers
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
I Kiss Your Shadow
[Mr Steinway omitted]
The Proper Spirit
[Catnip omitted]
The Cheaters
Hungarian Rhapsody
The Light-House
(added for Jove) The Hungry House
Sleeping Beauty
Sweet Sixteen
[That Hellbound Train omitted]
[Enoch omitted]
[The Hungry House omitted]
(added for Jove) The Mandarin’s Canaries
(added for Jove)Return to the Sabbath
(added for Jove) One Way to Mars

Pick Your Favorite Arkham House Cover

Anybody who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of Arkham House books. It was the fiction that captured my interest but it is their cover art that keeps me infatuated with collecting their titles.

Nearly every Arkham House cover art is artistically interesting and often times downright creepy.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Take the poll below and let us know your favorite of the covers shown.

(Cover artist Virgil Finlay)

(Cover artist Lee Brown Coye)

(Cover artist Lee Brown Coye)

(Cover artist Richard Taylor)

(Cover artist Richard Taylor)

(Cover artist Richard Taylor)