Autograph Hound Saturday and the always reliable Brian Leno pulls something from his legendary trove for us to ponder. A novel from Jane Gaskell’s The Atlan Saga, sent to the Atlantis buff and LASFS regular Henry M. Eichner — young Ray Bradbury dubbed him “the Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang” and delighted in arguing with him. I don’t know, but the dedication to “Atlantisisfs” may well indicate the book wasn’t for Eichner’s use alone, but something for him to pass around among other interested Los Angeles fans.
On August 26, 2026 Brian reported:
This is just something I dug up today. The signature is on some sort of paper glued in.
I’ve never read Gaskell but I know her autograph is fairly rare. She is still alive, but I think she’s become a bit of a recluse. I can’t find any signature of hers for sale on eBay or ABE.
Also dug the receipt up this morning. Obviously very important, the paper shows that my signed copy of The City belonged to the Atlantis scholar Henry M. Eichner and the book was sent to him personally by “Jane.” A very cool piece of ephemera.
I don’t have a copy of Eichner’s posthumous Atlantis book — Atlantean Chronicles (1971) — but I’ll probably pick one up (God knows it’s cheap enough). Stick it beside Gaskell’s inscribed novel.
