
Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. -

The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022



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Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973-

Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024-

Willeford
The Book-
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Tag Archives: Arkham House
Rediscovered: John D. Haefele on the History of Arkham House
Our resident expert in everything Arkham returns to review a new (if repurposed) book on the fabled press. John D. Haefele certainly burst fully-formed on the scene with his A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos, but he’s done a ton … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, George Vanderburgh, Jim Turner, John D. Haefele, Peter Ruber, Robert Weinberg, S.T. Joshi
Rediscovered: Arcane Arkham Arch-Collectors Corner No. 2
I don’t know how many obscure tidbits of Arkham House collecting lore Paul Dobish is privy to, but I’ll bet it’s more than you or me or the average joe walking down the street. The average joe might dream of … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, John D. Haefele, Paul Dobish, Richard Jefts, Shorty Dunwichs, Stan McNail
Frisco Beat: Anniversary 101 for Stan McNail
As it turned out, the first installment of my short-lived review column for Lit, a literary supplement for The San Francisco Bay Guardian, hit print in May 1995 — timing that allowed me to wrap up the piece with a … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, Bay Guardian, Book Collecting, Dirk Mosig, Galley Sail Review, Greyhound, Jack Spicer, Lawrence Hart, Paul Dobish, Something Breathing, Stan McNail, Steve Eng, The Activists
Rediscovered: The Morgman on The Augman, and Others
As any long time reader, surfer or dipper into The Mean Streets may have noticed, I’m not great on anniversaries — yeah, I hop on the annual birth and death days for Hammett, and usually remember Robert E. Howard’s birthday. … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Dwight Frye, John D. Haefele, Morgan Holmes, S.T. Joshi
Rediscovered: Who Knows Solar Pons?
Who knows Pons? Well, John D. Haefele for one. Haefele just put up a post on the Allied Authors blog in which he ruminates in re: August Derleth’s Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street. He gets into all manner of esoterica, … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Lure of Arkham House Ephemerae
The last few days have been devoted to the glory and the grandeur — and the morass — of that old hobby, collecting Arkham House ephemera items. Paul Dobish, the book dealer who helped with some dope for my article … Continue reading
Rediscovered: John D. Haefele on the Prowl
With the raw bulk of his book on Lovecraft turned in and awaiting editing, our pal John D. Haefele already is poking around on his next book, August Derleth of Arkham House, meanwhile feeding tidbits of his research out to … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Cinderella stamps, Colin Wilson, Crypt of Cthulhu, John D. Haefele, Joyce Carol Oates, Lovecraft
Rediscovered: The Lost Arkham Imprint
I forgot to mention that John D. Haefele wrapped up his three-part series on August Derleth and the Little Review. The third part is kind of the good one — the closer — since it deals with Derleth’s own little … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Hawk & Whipoorwill, John D. Haefele, Stan McNail
Rediscovered: Further Pontine Ephemera
Remember that cache of Arkham House ephemera I landed the other week, anchored by a TLS by August Derleth on a Solar Pons greeting card he had had printed up? I thought just having the little signed note by Derleth … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Solar Pons
Dove back into one of my favorite hobbies recently, when I landed a ten item trove of Arkham House ephemera. Ordered them mostly blind, though I had the sense that an item I needed might possibly be in the lot. … Continue reading





