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
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
Willeford
The Book
Tag Archives: Book Collecting
Rediscovered: And 50 Years Ago
Back in 1974 I had my first review published in issue 9 of the Harry Morris, Jr. zine Nyctalops, which will make it 50 Years Worth of selected essays and reviews when collected, crammed into two eBook LitCrit MegaPacks. Guessing, … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Arkham House, Book Collecting, Harry Morris, John D. Haefele, Nyctalops, Paul Dobish, Terry McVicker
Rediscovered: The Burnt Machens
Speaking of burnt books, the most notorious examples I personally saw in a bookstore, actually offered for sale, were several first edition Arthur Machen titles. Early stuff. Fin de siècle. Previous siècle. I remember a brief talk with my pal … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Frisco, Lit
Tagged Alan Warren, Arthur Machen, Book Collecting, McDonald's Bookstore, Peter Howard, Serendipity, Stephen King, Tenderloin, Vincent Starrett
Rediscovered: The Burnt Shadow
Speaking of The Shadow, the excellent new book The Shadowed Circle Compendium reminded me of a trip a few years ago, when I stopped in on Dennis McMillan during a period he lived in Gallup, New Mexico. Dennis had access … Continue reading
Rediscovered: A Look Behind the Ed Price Biblio
Doing some email with noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook, the topic of Ed Price’s collection of pulp era memoirs came up — in particular the bibliography of Price’s own pulp fictioneering that appears in the book. Since I … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Book Collecting, E. Hoffmann Price, John D. Haefele, Kevin Cook, PEAPS, Peter Ruber, Virgil Utter
Rediscovered: Zobeck Zips Up the Watts Auction
Terry Zobeck kept an eye on the huge auction of books from the library of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. He even tossed in a bid himself, getting in on the action. With prices paid and the gavel now quiet, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, News
Tagged "The Hunter", Black Mask, Book Collecting, Charlie Watts, Dime Detective, Hammond Innes, Raymond Chandler, Rolling Stones, Terry Zobeck
Rediscovered: For the Q&A
Toward the Q&A following the screening of The Woman Chaser with Patrick Warburton in the role of Richard Hudson, I poked around in my book Willeford for any tidbits of info on the novel — a Paperback Original released by … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News, Willeford
Tagged Alamo Drafthouse, Book Collecting, Patrick Warburton, The Woman Chaser
Rediscovered: Derleth’s Last Book — Well, In His Lifetime
John D. Haefele — author of Lovecraft: The Great Tales, A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos, etc. — just popped up an article further investigating how many — or how few — copies may exist of the last of many, … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Lin Carter (or Not Lin Carter) Annotates Klarkash-Ton
Got a note from Kristopher Curling along with several pics asking if his recent purchase of The Dark Chateau, published by Arkham House in 1951, contains holograph annotations by Lin Carter. He knows the book comes from Carter’s collection, and … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Arkham House, Book Collecting, Clark Ashton Smith, Kristopher Curling, Lin Carter, Robert Weinberg
