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Post by ChrisLAdams on Oct 23, 2018 11:27:48 GMT -5
I've enjoyed seeing all of these various editions of The Ship of Ishtar, and have many of them. The 'White' Avons, the 'Black' Avons, the 'Oval' Avons, etc. The Paizo paperback Duece mentioned is one I've long had in my sights but yet to obtain a copy of. This old 1949 Memorial edition is also one I've long wished to add, finding it to be one of the most attractive editions out there. It's not the latest, and might not be the greatest, although I've read the claim: Borden Publishing Company, [1949]. Octavo, five full-page black and white illustrations by Virgil Finlay, cloth. The Memorial Edition.
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Post by deuce on Oct 25, 2018 1:49:29 GMT -5
I've enjoyed seeing all of these various editions of The Ship of Ishtar, and have many of them. The 'White' Avons, the 'Black' Avons, the 'Oval' Avons, etc. The Paizo paperback Duece mentioned is one I've long had in my sights but yet to obtain a copy of. This old 1949 Memorial edition is also one I've long wished to add, finding it to be one of the most attractive editions out there. It's not the latest, and might not be the greatest, although I've read the claim: Borden Publishing Company, [1949]. Octavo, five full-page black and white illustrations by Virgil Finlay, cloth. The Memorial Edition.
Hey Chris! The Borden Memorial edition text is the one Paizo used. However, Finlay did not just do illos for that publication of "Ishtar". He did all-new illos for the Famous Fantastic Mysteries publication as well. All of those illos, from both versions, are in the Paizo edition. That's why I push the Paizo book so hard. The best text and the best illos. Of course, the Borden edition is awesome in its own right, but I imagine it costs at least 3x as much. Here's what Paizo publisher, Erik Mona, had to say back in 2009: "We will be going with the [Borden] Memorial Edition, as it is thought to be the author's preferred text. It definitely has the bit about the shell shock cut from the Avon edition. I also have the 'Famous Fantastic Mysteries' version of this book, but I've not yet done a textual analysis and comparison to the three or four other versions I do have.
I can say this: The Memorial Edition is superior to the Avon edition in almost all ways, it's about a third again as long, and I'm confident it's the right one for the Planet Stories edition."The Paizo edition is still in print and can be bought here: paizo.com/products/btpy85jx?The-Ship-of-Ishtar
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Oct 25, 2018 7:44:55 GMT -5
Hey Chris! The Borden Memorial edition text is the one Paizo used. However, Finlay did not just do illos for that publication of "Ishtar". He did all-new illos for the Famous Fantastic Mysteries publication as well. All of those illos, from both versions, are in the Paizo edition. That's why I push the Paizo book so hard. The best text and the best illos. Of course, the Borden edition is awesome in its own right, but I imagine it costs at least 3x as much.. Agreed, the Paizo is definitely the version to have if one must have only one! And thanks for making me aware of it. It was your glowing praise of it that brought it to my attention. I've got that link bookmarked, and only awaiting the moment congress at home passes the expenditure bill so I can pull the trigger on this. My very own Dejah has <ahem> put the squeeze on my habit. As to the price <of the Borden>, it might not be as high as you think. Below are a couple of examples I'v saved for posterity. Naturally, you'll have some 'flyers' -- some whackjob in LA is asking $350 for a copy. But Graham Holroyd has a DJ for $8.50, while right below his is an ex-lib <minus DJ> (I'm def not above these) is available for $11.50. I think one could obtain an acceptable copy without going broke. Here are some other examples (again, for posterity) plus the Paizo. I feel these (the Borden vs the Paizo) are actually in different leagues. The Borden was an homage at the time, and an attempt to correct the expurgated earlier texts, if I've got this right. The Paizo, similarly, corrects the text, while simultaneously goes an extra mile to combine all the artwork from both the published books as well as the magazines. The Borden is a hardback, while the Paizo is a softcover, might also be pointed out. That all said, IMO, a Merritt collector needs one of each! I have only a couple Merritt hardbacks in my collection, and really want this Borden. But the textual purist in me also wants this Paizo! I just hope Santy is good to me this year. I've tried to be good. <Edit - neglected to include the Abe Books search link, used for these results>
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Oct 25, 2018 13:00:56 GMT -5
The Metal Monster!I admit, I need to perform a re-read of this classic Merritt novel -- it's been years. I recall it being . . . odd, to say the least. However, it's under-discussed in this thread. Figuring it had suffered the same fate as most all of Merritt's other productions, as Lovecraft referred to AM's novels, I looked into it and found a good treatise on The Metal Monster at Skulls In The Stars. I rather enjoyed this quote from Lovecraft to James F. Morton on The Metal Monster from the site: I should note, the Eddy he is referring to here is C. M. Eddy Jr. -- famous for his collaboration with H. P. Lovecraft on Eddy's infamous The Loved Dead, a yarn about a guy who loves the dead -- in the Biblical sense. As an aside, Wiki states about Eddy: Can you freaking imagine, sitting in C. M. Eddy's living room, with Lovecraft reading aloud The Lurker at the Threshold to you? I can just hear Muriel telling Howard Phillips, "I like that better than Cliff's trash about shagging dead guys!" The Metal Monster was first serialized August 7 through September 25, 1920 in Argosy All-Story Weekly and is AKA The Metal Emperor ( November 1927-July 1928 Science and Invention). The story is a lost-race novel set in the Himalayas, and, in the original text version, features the redoubtable Dr. Goodwin of Merritt's The Moon Pool fame, causing some to consider The Metal Monster a sequel of sorts, although the tales are otherwise unconnected, insofar as I can tell. In the abridged version, The Metal Emperor, Goodwin was replaced with the character of Louis Thorton. In the longer versions, it is Goodwin who narrates his discovery of a metal shape-shifter of extreme other-worldliness. According to the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, the "text <was> restored to <the> 1920 version <in> 2002". This is in reference to the Hippocampus Press paperback edition. Although magazine and paperback editions abound, oddly, in hardcover, one can find scarcely anything in the offing for this title. There is a 1973 Hyperion Press edition from June 1, 1973 that is purportedly a hard cover; it is very plain Jane in appearance. If anyone knows of other editions in hardcover, it would be interesting to hear of these.
(Photo credit Wikipedia) Argosy All-Story Weekly, for August 7, 1920 First appearance of The Metal Monster.
(Photo credit - The Fiction Mag Index) Science and Invention v15 #6, October 1927 Contains Part 1 of 11 of the abridged version, known as The Metal Emperor.
For more cool cover art, check out Tellers of Weird Tales page on Merritt's The Metal Monster! The edition to readAt present, the Hippocampus Press offering, which " restores the original and most elegant version" of The Metal Monster, is, price-wise, right in there with the Paizo offering of The Ship of Ishtar. As with Deuce's recommendation for the Paizo edition, the Hippocapus Press is the go-to edition as far as text is concerned. The 2002 Hippocampus edition "restores close to 10,000 words of text Merritt cut from the original", according to their site. It should be noted that the Project Gutenberg edition is abridged, following, as it does, an earlier edition.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Nov 12, 2018 12:24:31 GMT -5
The Story Behind the StoryFor the completest, or simply those who enjoy adding an oddity to their book shelf from a favorite author, this publication might be of interest. This one has been on my 'one of these days' list for a while, I guess because I fall into both of those categories. Enter The Story Behind the Story by [A.]braham Merritt. This interesting piece, published in 1942, collects eighteen letters/essays written by the editor, A. Merritt, on articles published in The American Weekly " either because of the novelty of the material or the obstacles overcome in obtaining it." The hardcover was printed without dust jacket, and consists of 188 pages, including a nice portrait of Merritt, and a forward by editor Mortimer Berkowitz. It consists of bluish-purple colored boards, gilt letting and decorations and blue end papers, per some book seller descriptions. It was privately printed and bound by Cuneo Eastern Press. One source states there were three editions; however, I haven't found evidence of other than a First Edition. It's possible that this is in reference to 'states', rather than editions, meaning subtle changes were incorporated during printing, resulting in 3 states of the First Edition. The purpose of the publication was possibly the promotion of The American Weekly. This would be a very affordable piece to add to your collection. On Abe, copies range as low as $6. I saw a copy signed by Merritt for $150. Some items of note are:Murder Under the Northern Lights - a story about some Inuit of the Belcher Islands in Hudson's Bay who thought the second coming of Christ was upon them and killed each other How We Found Circe - this was reprinted in Weird Tales for Winter 1973 (pictured below with leering Lucifer)
For larger images, check out the Story Behind the Story album on Imagur.
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Post by deuce on Nov 18, 2018 8:30:31 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jan 6, 2019 21:25:03 GMT -5
Nice little blog post on Abe's connections with the Fortean scene: www.joshuablubuhs.com/blog/abraham-merritt-as-a-forteanThe most interesting thing for me is the mention of a photo of Merritt in Life magazine circa 1936. From the decription, I've never seen it. A (semi) "lost" photo of Merritt out there? Do any of you Merritt fans feel like data-mining that one?
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Post by deuce on Jan 8, 2019 11:25:21 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jan 9, 2019 1:57:12 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jan 19, 2019 16:16:12 GMT -5
"I'll return The Ship of Ishtar early next week. Needless to say I enjoyed the rare and original fantasy of this tale, and have kept it longer than I should otherwise, for the sake of re-reading certain passages that were highly poetic and imaginative. Merritt has an authentic magic, as well as an inexhaustible imagination." -- Clark Ashton Smith to Lester Anderson June 4, 1932
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Post by deuce on Jan 20, 2019 13:17:13 GMT -5
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jan 20, 2019 21:45:03 GMT -5
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Post by Von K on Jan 24, 2019 3:55:19 GMT -5
Those are two great Merritt articles Deuce and Chris, and some awesome covers on display.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jan 24, 2019 8:57:28 GMT -5
Those are two great Merritt articles Deuce and Chris, and some awesome covers on display. Thanks, Von! I had fun with the photography. I really enjoy looking at photos of others' book collections, but rarely showcase my own. I was happy to share my love of collecting Merritt's work with the community. Those group photos were time consuming to create. I did't photograph them arranged like that - I photographed each book individually. Then I imported each image into my photoshop app, tweaked as necessary, deleted the background and then arranged them however I felt would look cool. One day I need to do a similar project with Howard and ERB and HPL etc.
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Post by Von K on Jan 26, 2019 15:15:26 GMT -5
Those are two great Merritt articles Deuce and Chris, and some awesome covers on display. Thanks, Von! I had fun with the photography. I really enjoy looking at photos of others' book collections, but rarely showcase my own. I was happy to share my love of collecting Merritt's work with the community. Those group photos were time consuming to create. I did't photograph them arranged like that - I photographed each book individually. Then I imported each image into my photoshop app, tweaked as necessary, deleted the background and then arranged them however I felt would look cool. One day I need to do a similar project with Howard and ERB and HPL etc. With awesome covers like that it might be time to make a digital inventory of your collection?
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