The noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook doesn’t want you to think that Brian Leno is the only guy who has so much stuff in his collection he doesn’t know what he has — hell, no!
Here’s Kevin with a report from the depths of his collection:
The post you put up about Brian Leno’s Adventure issue really resonated with me.
About six or seven years ago in an auction an item came up that I thought was really neat: Conrad Rupert’s Christmas 1938 printing of Roads by Seabury Quinn. The Weird Tales connection definitely convinced me that I should own a copy.
I ended up going back and forth with another bidder and before I knew it the price was in excess of $500.00, and then the thought struck me that I probably did not really need a copy — although it would have been nice to have one.
I stopped bidding.
Lo and behold, when I unpacked the boxes for my library after we moved to South Carolina in spring 2018, there was a copy of that first printing of Roads.
I have zero memory of how or when I bought it. From the box it was in, I had it prior to that auction.
We’ve covered the subsequent Arkham House edition of Roads on the blog before — Brian Leno now owns the copy that once belonged to Jack Palance.
After relocating from the New York City area and unboxing all his books and pulps to put them on display in a customized library, Kevin was sure he now could find everything. But no.
Kevin again:
You may recall my past comments that I have too much stuff and cannot always keep track of it. I just discovered that I own the check from Munsey to Austin Hall for his share of The Blind Spot that he co-authored with Homer Eon Flint. The novel was serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly in May 1921, meaning that its 100 year anniversary was a couple of months ago.
If I had seen it in time I would have sent it to you for the blog on the anniversary.
It would have been appropriate too because we already used a Homer Eon Flint check a few years ago.
What I do is place the check in an envelope and slip it into the bagged issue of the magazine where the story was first printed; it’s on top of the cover so I cannot miss seeing it.
Obviously, though, if my brain does not connect to the fact that I should be looking for the magazine, it does not turn up.
The sad point here is that there are probably other examples whose existence I am completely unaware of at this moment.
I cannot even recall buying the Hall check, although it was probably at a pulp convention auction.
T-o-o m-u-c-h s-t-u-f-f !
