In the recent post about The Due to the Death Series which John D. Haefele and I wrestled with, when we were wrapping up Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years, I quoted Haefele as saying that The Due to’s were “ugly.”
Now Haefele has “a few things to add”:
“Did I really say ‘ugly’?
“I probably meant ‘too many examples of almost the same item’ — the most unattractive items in our otherwise beautifully illustrated book.
“So plain and inconsequential. . . .
“In fact, they would probably deter rather than entice collectors. . . .
“Yeah. I guess ‘ugly’ works.”
And a landmark moment in the history of Eph Book came recently, when in his sales catalog L. W. Currey began using it as a source, even citing info therefrom — as in the inscription by Donald Wandrei to Dennis Rickard.
Incidentally, that bit of info about the inscription to Dennis got lost for over twenty years. It appeared in my original draft for an article on collecting the ephemera for Firsts: The Book Collectors Magazine. But it was one of several bits that got cut in editorial.
I forgot about it.
When I was assembling content for Death Lit, I found my text. Whoa! The quote was one of the things I made sure to move over into Eph Book. Great quote.
And allow me to help Currey a bit with his sales description. The person Wandrei signed the on-the-block Arkham stock list (Item 130) to is one of the Hughesdon family. Lived immediately next door to Don Wandrei. When he died Wandrei left everything to the Hughesdons — the legendary library, the house, the works.
Pretty good association copy.
