Investigating Jibbitz

The hiatus for the past couple of weeks was caused by my travelling to Florida, and doing essentially nothing, except eating and sleeping, and much of the stuff you simply don’t want to read about.

I bought some neat Apple accessories for my iPOD Classic and so it now has a choice of skins, and I can play it on the car radio and recharge it at the same time. I have loaded countless CD on the thing — it’s 120GB and about 95% empty. I also downloaded a couple of CBC’s poscasts, but haven’t got around to listening to them yet. I am resisting the urge to dowload MP4 movies, because I want to investigate how to creat MP4 movies from my countless DVD’s that I have on hand.

I sorted through the eight boxes of covers from the August Derleth collection, that I assembled before leaving from two large banker’s files: there were some extraordinary finds there to itemize a few:

1. A tied cover from Baraboo dated 1939 which has one of the Derleth SAC Prairie cinderellas on it beside the postage stamp. It is delightful to finally see, and proves that at least one of the 20,000 that Derleth distributed survived the sands of time. Can anybody out there in cyberspace identify a second legitmate use?

2. A set of time dated currency from 50th Anniverary of The Barnum and Bailey Circus, Baraboo dating from 1933. there is a 5 cent, 10cent, 25 cent, 25 cent, 50cent and $100 bill. Each coupon is numbered. They are in an envelope in mint condition. I have never seen this item before; likely used as a promotion for the local merchants, redeamable up to Nov 1933 at the Chamber of Commerce. I suspect the set is worthless now — or extremely valuable to a collector. In any case they are not for sale. Would like some more information on them — if available.

3. A soldier’s letter from the Civil War. Not stamped or cancelled but posted Free Mail. The rear of the cover is missing and may have been stamped or cancelled.

4. A pre 1840 stampless cover from Germany.

5. a Return to sender item, still in its original envelope which is a catalogue that Derleth sent out in 1943 entitled “Arham House Books”. The enclosure is in mint condition, although the staples are rusted, and I suspect it has a large value as an Arkham House Ephemera item. The envelope matches the phamphlet, and is defaced by multiple markings resulting in it being returned.

6. A second Return to sender item that Derleth saved which contains another Arham Phamphlet of later date. I don’t have it in front of me now, but it is franked with a 1 cent precanel. This is one of few uses of this rate that I have identified in the pile, but I suspect this was a 3rf class for bulk mailing of the period.

7. Countless envelopes opened by the censors from soldiers abroad to overseas mail from customers abroad during the war. They make an interesting collection in themselves.

8. Many first day covers using Derleth and Arkham and M&M envelopes. There are many duplicates here, and I will try and assemble some for Windy City, and you can ask to see them there. The four main envelopes are: 1) book editor of Madison State Times; 2) member of the School Board 3) Stanton and Lee 4) Arkham House.

9. a nice pile of early US postal stationary both envelopes and postcards which reuire sorting with a catalogue. This is not one of my specialties

10. A large pile of early US mail featuring a plethora of early Sauk City postmarks on both front and back. Some postcards were backstamped Sauk City as well. I suspect this practice was discontinued by decree at some point. But it certainly enchances these psot cards!

11. Finally a great selection of envelopes from Barlow, Lovecraft (some with notes on the back), Bradbury (from Ireland), Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Lord Dunsany, Dwig (with art work on the front cover) and many others to list fails my memory.

I am now occupied with creating a couple of jibbitz* for my CROCs (shoes). I stopped off at the Outlet Mall in St. Augustine on the way down, and got some wild colors, as well as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, as well as a pair of Packers jibbitz (that’s the big G!) I would like to do a jibbitz for The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box and for Arkham House. Will stop in again on my way north to pick up a pair of White CROCS.

* jibbitz: Now if you are not “au fait” with the word, it is jewelry that youth place on their CROCS shoes with various levels of significance. Ask your children or your grandchildren if you are of a certain age. If you have no young people to consult — use google.com

Now back to the projects: War Christmas; Walt Whitman’s Canada; 100 Sherlock Holmes Crossword Puzzles; Under the Darkling Sky; The Compleat Adventures of the Suicide Squad; The Electronic Rohmer Review (e-RR) ; Star of Dreams by H. Bedford-Jones; Chang and RAfferty; and Philip Strange.

DAY BY DAY by Betty Case (November 28, 1939)

Day by Day

HISTORIANS and future generations won’t know whether to call this the Year of the Two Thanksgivings or the Year of the Great Wind at Sauk City. In September August Derleth, like the Third Little Pig, built himself a house of stone. Then he did a Jekyl-and-Hyde, threw a long shaggy black coat over his smooth, pink, well-filled skin and huffed and puffed until he put the Big Bad Wolf to shame. Because the BBW couldn’t budge the stone house no matter HOW hard HE blew . . . but August blew the cornerstone of HIS stone house all the way from Sauk City to Madison, where it landed ker-plunk in the pages of the “other newspaper.” Last month he huffed and he puffed and he puffed and he huffed until he blew HIMSELF into the pages of Time magazine as a “Horn Tooter” of experience and ability. This month he has done it differently. This month Mr. Derleth saved what breath he had left and hoarded it and coddled it and warmed it with his own benign presence until it expanded and increased and dilated and spread and produced the most magnificently inflated ego on record.No helium gas for Mr. Derleth! I should say not! His own special brand is so far superior that there’re rumors of the government taking it over as a subsidiary.

(We will pause one moment now for Ego Identification, which is necessary to the rest of the story:

Mr. Derleth is a young man who lives in Sauk City and writes pieces. He is now engaged in writing several novels which he says are the history of his part of the state, and which he calls “Sac Prairie Saga”. Sinclair Lewis once said Wisconsin people should watch him, but he forgot to say Hold on to your hats and skirts, meantime, Ladies and Gentlemen! We will now return you to Station WIND)

THIS month, as I said, Mr. Derleth did it differently. This month he had 20,000 stamps, the same size as a postage stamp, printed, each with his own picture on it. Above the picture it says: SAC PRAIRIE SAGA . . . and below it it says,with simple eloquence: AUGUST DERLETH These stamps Mr. Derleth is affixing to letters which he sends out and he has given sheets of them to Sauk City merchants with the request that they affix them to whatever mail they happen to be sending out during the holidays. Just like the Tuberculosis seals, you know.

AND all this, mind you, right after I’d sworn a swear to continue ignoring all blasts from that direction. But you can’t ignore a guy like that any more than you could ignore Toto the World’s Funniest Clown if he insisted upon performing in your front yard. And who WANTS to ignore him? August may write novels which take two reviews in the same newspaper to do them justice, but ya gotta excuse a fella even THAT when he furnishes this dreary old world such fresh and regular belly-laughs as he does. Anyway, other men have blasted their way to fame when other means failed, so why not August?

With Wisdom and Diplomacy

During a long conversation recently with Bob Weinberg in his living room surrounded by original Pulp art on the wall, when we were discussing the “Forthcoming Arkham House List,” I noted that of course, all this would have to be done with a large dollop of of diplomacy and wisdom. Bob immediately retorted with a glimmer in his eye, somewhat malevolently humorous in nature; “That’s a good motto! Which do you want to be ‘Diplomacy’ or ‘Wisdom’ and then chuckled with that same touch of humo(u)r in his voice. I thought about it for perhaps a second or two and said “Diplomacy.”

Now that’s not entirely truthful, but it is a goal to aspire to! I have been described by my friends — and by people who cannot yet be called friends — as “Like a bull in a China Shop” or “Peck’s Bad Boy,” but hopefully with Wisdom (Bob) my well meaning actions can be interpreted as “diplomatic.”

And so the Motto is “With Wisdom and Diplomacy” and the order is significant because ‘W’ follows ‘V’ in the alphabet. I suppose the alternative would also be acceptable in Latin! It only remains to translate it into Latin, French, German and Spanish.

Latin because it is the official language of the Necronomicon; French because it is the second official language in Canada; Spanish because it is the second unofficial language in the US of A; and German because there are a lot of Arkham collectors there.

Latin: Sapientiant Astutiantque or alternatively Astutiant Sapientiantque

French: Avec Sagesse et Diplomatie

German: Mit Weisheit und Diplomatie

Polish: Z Ma*broscia* i Diplomaca*

Swedish: Med visdom och diplomati

Dutch: Met Wijsheid en Diplomatie

Suggestions welcome in no particular order for Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, Danish, Russian, Yiddish and of course Swahili.

A first glance at Derleth’s covers

I emptied the contents of two boxes onto the table in the bookhouse yesterday, and started to wade through it. There certainly was no order, and there is a plethora of Arham and Derleth material to wade through to tell the story of Derleth and his publishing house and his interest in philately simultaneously. This will have to wait for another post, and I plan to assemble the material into a couple of volumes and donate it back to The August Derleth Society for their archives. But I would like to tell you 10 items here now which tell significant parts of the story. The correspondence that these envelopes contained is undoubtedly part of the archives at The State Historical Society in Madison.

1. A 1914 postcard addressed to Zona Gale from Ada recommending a John Evans of Waupaca because he was a “strong, reliable suffragist.” Derleth published Still Small Voice, a Biography of Zona Gale after her death. This card was likely in the Zona Gale archive that Deerleth used to write the biography after her death.

2. A registered envelope dated April 12, 1940 bearing a nicely cancelled set of Famous Americans addressed to August Derleth in pen, with a return address in pen from “Donald Wandrei, 1152 Portland Avenue, St. Paul, Minn.” This letter undoubtedly contained money, perhaps Wandrei share of the pot for founding Arkham House or at least a significant portion of it.

3. A printed return envelope dated October 28, 1941, to Derleth with a stamped return address “Wings/A Quarterly of Verse/Mill Valley, Calif.” this is likely a payment for a poem or two that appeared in this quarterly either before or after the date on the envelope.

4. A plain no. 8 envelope dated October 10, 1941 typed to August Derleth with the letterhead “Herman Herst, Jr./ 116 Nassau Street, New York, N.Y.” this early letter undoubtedly contained correspondence and or stamps. Herst later wrote for Stamp Collector Magazine. And this can be the basis for an article that Ken Grant plans to write for The American Philatelist. There are at least two of these envelopes and one of them will end up in Ken’s collection.

5. A printed return envelope dated October 27, 1941, to Derleth with a type written return address “Poetry Caravan & Silhouettes, Route 1, Box 55, Lakeland, Florida” this is likely a payment for a poem or two that appeared in this journal either before or after the date on the envelope.

6. A no. 8 envelope type written to Derleth and dated “US Army Postal Service Jan 3, 1945″ from “T/4 Malcolm M. Ferguson / ASN 31135599 / 828th Convalescent Center/ APO 511 / c/o Postmaster, New York, NY.” There is also “passed by Army Examiner 04705 marking” This is undoubtedly a personal leeter from a wounded acquaintance who is still alive, and I think I saw his name on the ADS membership list.

7. A First Day Cover for the Pony Express Stamp dated Jul 19, 1960, with an additional circular marking “Founders, Sacramento, Calif. St. Joseph, Mo.” It is a no. 8 with a letterhead along the long side “August Derleth/—/Literary Editor: The Capital Times, Sauk City, Wisconsin.” Now I know Derleth served as editor from 1948 until the 1960’s sometime, and I know that he had an unpleasant disagreement with the paper’s owner because of editorial censorship, but perhaps he was dismissed for using Capital Times stationary for Philatelic purposes?

8. A First Day Cover for the Garibaldi stamp in the Champion of Liberty series dated Nov 2, 1960. It is a no. 8 envelope with the logo of “Arkham House, Arkham House: Publishers, Sauk City Wisconsin.” Perhaps he started to use his own envelopes for FDCs when his Editorship of the Capital Times was completed? It contains a cut card for TEAM RECORD CARD for The Woman’s International Bowling Congress. I suspect this was merely waste filler, as I know of no relationship with a Lady Bowling Team, but I would like somebody to prove me wrong!

9. A folded oversize manilla envelope with some nice blocks and singles of the US Flags series, namely France, Belgium and Greece dated Nov 17, 1943. It has a printed slanted return address in the upper left “from/A. Derleth/Sauk City/Wisconsin” and an additional address label from Arkham House, with a type written address to “Miss Marcia Masters/c/o August Derelth, Sauk City, Wisconsin” It undoubtedly contained a manuscript or a book. Perhaps it was a proof of a book from the printer that the two of them were working on at the time?

10. A registered over-sized manilla envelope from the US Philatelic Agency and back dated “May 15th, 1944.” It has a lightly cancelled plate block of the “Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.” It undoubtedly contained postage stamps. The fact that it has a perforated address to label typewritten to August Derelth and a number 78757 would indicate to me that Derleth was on their mailing list, and perhaps had a standing order for such postage to use on his regular correspondence. It also indicates that he did not solely rely on the local post Master for supplies. He visited the local Postmaster every business day with his morel basket and sandals in the summer, and always stopped to talk with Hugo at the Harness shop.

Now perhaps that’s too much information, for the interested philatelist they will simply have to wait to read about it in Ken’s article in The American Philatelist — if they accept it for publication. Or alternatively the stamp collector can visit Sauk City and view the collection in the basement of the Sauk City Library in The August Derleth Room where the archives reside — after they get there.

I originally planned to scan and include illustrations of these covers, but I now reckon the verbal description will suffice, and perhaps titillate the philatelist’s passion for more, and I can assure there is more in that mound of paper on my desk which will be boxed up now to make room for applying dustjackets.

Now what would be my wish list of things that I might hope to find. Covers from correspondence with Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Robert Howard, Seabury Quinn and perhaps Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Perhaps the first generation of Sherlockians such as Edgar Smith, Vincent Starrett,  and Christopher Morley as well as second generation  for example Julian Wolf, Michael Harrison, Luther Norris and Peter Ruber.

Best not to speculate, but rather to take pleasure in and document the finds. This could develop into a slide show, in fact the more I think about it, it will!

For Arkham House Compleatists Only!

During my last visit to Sauk City, I visited the Arkham House warehouse beside Place of Hawks on a couple of occasions. This building is very unassuming, but it contains a wonderful selection of books that are still in print. All of the titles arrive in boxes from the printer, in various quantities per box. In times past Augie used to receive his books in boxes too, but usually the boxes contained individually wrapped 5-packs, 6-packs, 8-packs or 10-packs depending on the size and thickness of the individual volumes. Many times unless the outer box was marked the individual packs are unmarked, and would have to be opened in order to identify the contents. Well! on at least one occasion a 5-pack received an additional label to identify it. I illustrate it below — The Folsom Flint and other Curious Tales by David H. Keller (1969). Has anyone made a study of these labels? I suspect much of the information would be lost in the sands of time and consumption. We all know that Arkham House ephemera is very desirable and collectible — advertising circulars, brochures and the like are very costly to acquire, unless you are the prescient collector who purchased books originally from the source in Sauk City. But did you but them 5 and 10 at a time? Well obviously dealers did over the years, but did they save these packet labels? I don’t think so — but I would love to be proved wrong! There a great story behind Derleth and Keller but that will have to wait for a future blog report.