Best collections of REH letters?

[garbanzo]

I've never been one to read about authors/artists/musicians, preferring to let their creations stand on their own. But yesterday I finished the Robert E. Howard chapter of Flame and Crimson, and now I'm really interested in learning more about Howard and his ideas.

That chapter, with its highlights about conversations between Howard and Lovecraft, gave so much insight into the birth of Conan that I think it will really change how I read his stories.

In Flame and Crimson, Murphy talks a lot about A Means to Freedom so I decided to order a set.

Are there any other REH letter collections worth exploring?

[linefacedscrivener]

Definitely!

There is The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard from the Robert E. Howard Foundation Press. They are somewhat hard to get right now, but there is a second, updated version that sounds like it is nearing completion and may prove to be more readily available once published. 

The upside to this is you get pure Howard in the raw with his writing, though some of it is really good prose, but the downside is--its a one-sided conversation. That is why I like A Means to Freedom and I think that was a great first choice. 

Outside of that, there are other Lovecraft letter collections in which Howard is discussed (his letters to Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, Robert Bloch, etc.), but the mentions of Howard are few and far between. 

After the letters, if you enjoy the experience, then doing a deep dive into writings of people around Howard would be the next step.

One Who Walked Alone, Novalyne Price Ellis (Donald M. Grant Publisher, 1986).

The Collected Letters of Dr. Isaac M. Howard edited by Rob Roehm (The REH Foundation Press, 2011).

School Days in the Post Oaks edited by Rob Roehm (The REH Foundation Press, 2011).

So Far the Poet & Other Writings by Tevis Clyde Smith, edited by Rusty Burke and Rob Roehm (The REH Foundation Press, 2010).

Lone Scout of Letters, by Herbert C. Klatt, edited by Rob Roehm (Roehm's Room Press, 2011). 

I hope that helps.

[linefacedscrivener]

I just thought of one more. Bobby Derie does good work and he recently published Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard and Others (Hippocampus Press, 2019).

While they are essays about Howard and his relationship with other Weird Tales authors, he quotes liberally from the letters, thus allowing a way to read many of the letters by others (Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Otis Adelbert Kline, etc.) without having to wade through all the letters not about Howard. It makes for a good read. 

[garbanzo]

Awesome, thanks for all the recommendations. I'll add them to my wish list.

Strange that the Collected Letters only captures one side of the conversation. That must make it hard to follow along with the conversations.

I'm also a CAS fan, so I'll probably check out his letters with Lovecraft as well one of these days...