The Checklist of Fantastic Literature, a Bibliography of Fantasy, Weird, & Science Fiction Books

THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

• • In bibliographic wodt, after ouo has accumulated ninetyfi'l"e per cent of the information he dcsires, he :finds the remaiuing five per cent almost impossible to obtain. No sooner has the bibliography appoared on the market thau somebody comes forth to announce that he or· she has a book not mentioned in it, and aftor a while these sometimes amount to quite a disreputable number. Nevertheless, it is not worth while to try to get all; you are likely to die while waiting to obtain the last two or three per cent. Better publish what you have and let the other fellow add to it." Henry R. Wagner

Bullion to Books

THE CHECKLIST OF F ANTASTle LITERATURE A Bibliography of Fantasy, Weird, and Science Fiction Books Published in the English Language

EVERETT F. BLEILER Editor With a Preface by Melvin Korshak

If I I

j

.1

SHASTA PUBLISHERS Chicago Illinois MCMXLVIII

First Edition

\ ,'/ I

I

\\\

\

. Copyright, 1948

All rights reserved. No portion 01 this boo7f may be reprinted withoUt permission 01 the publishers: Shasta Publishers, Chicago, Illinois. Printed tn the United States 01 America.

To

FREDERICK BENJAMIN SHROYER Booklorist and Bibliophile whose inspiration and encouragement made this volume possible

PREFACE '£he need for a bibliography of fantastic literature has been discussed for as long a time as readers, with their lasting olements of individualism, have discriminated in their choice of books. Yet, like psychology, the collecting of books with :L fantastic theme has had "a long history but a short past". 1·'or in that short past much confusion has arisen over just what books were to be considered fantastic. To read every book in the English language, and by process of elimination determine which titles are, and which are not, would take a hundred lifetimes. So:we must use that faculty Robert A. Heinlein once termed man's "time-binding" sense; unlike other animals man is privileged to draw upon the records and experiences of those who have preceded him. With an employment of this principle, and with a desire to include between the covers of one volume the accumulated knowledge of many men and many sources, The Checklist of Fantastic Literature was eompiled. The foremost purpose in making up this bibliography of fantastic books has been to be of assistance to four major groups of people: the fantasy reader and book collector, the librarian, the psychologist, and the research scholar. For the fantasy book collector, mainly through whose reading and cooperation the data for the Checklist were obtained, such a book is of primary importance: it gives the reader-collector a handy, centralized source of important infor· mation that will enable him to increase his collection. The chief interest in Checklist was recording, not reforming, the tastes and collections of fantasy book enthusiasts. The librarian will find this bibliography a help in classifying a hitherto neglected field of literature. Men have always found it useful to classify things, for by classifying they identify an object and it is no longer mysterious. Books are no exception. Recently, the psychologist has shown an interest in fantastic fiction. Psychoanalytical studies by Baynes, Jung, Jacobi, Layard, Ricklin and others have shown that falltasy may be as valuable as dreams for a projection of unconscious mental processes. For the scholar, Checklist can be more than a bibliography-it may be a guide to the opening of new areas of scholarship. A study such as this will aid the histori:j.n of popular literary vii

viii

THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

trends in study of the novel form, tracing as it does fantastic elements in fiction from the romances of chivalry and the Gothic novel to its present-day development. Fantasy situations have proven satisfactory in the past, for writers have found it useful to plot a story in unusual surroundings where the terms of existence and the laws of society could conveniently be made by the author. Notable examples are seen in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver'8 Travels (political satire) and in Auatole France's Penguin Island (social satire). And it is interesting to note the reacceptance of fantasy as a means of literary expression in recent years; some critics believe science fiction will, with the increasing public awareness of the physical world, supplant the detective story as It popular literary form. The literary historian, by a study of the types of books written in certain periods, can draw many conclusions on the life, mores, and thoughts of that period. An excellent illustl'ation (and one found in this book) is the large number of invasion·of-England-by·German-forces stories, written by British authors in the 1900-1910 period. Yet this is not surprising to the historian who l'ecalls the tremendous amount of international unrest and armament building during the sabre-rattling days before World War I. Finally, the folklorist of modern fiction will discover in fantastic literatul'e adequate material for study of the origin and spread of modern folk beliefs.

The preparation of this study was no simple task. While bibliographies do exist,l covering a multitude of subjects, very little bibliography of any thoroughness, incorporating a serious methodology, was to be found eovering the fantasy field. From the start the compilers knew that whatever useful bibliography did exist in some of the highly specialized fantasy fields (e. g. on the Gothic novel; o~ ghost and supernatural stories; on imaginary voyages) was, by the limitation of its subject matter, only a small segJl!.6Ilt of the entire field. The earliest of these studies to come to the attention of the editors was a bibliography of ghost and supernatural stories prepared by Miss Jean Hawkins, a librarian, in 1909.2 Miss Hawkins stated that her reason for compiling this listing was to aid herself, and other reference librarians, in assisting 1 For the purposes of comp~rison of format the bibliographies in other fields were useless. for little similarity exists in the physical makeup of one bibliography to another. 2 HAWKINS, JEAN Ghost Storlas and Talas of tha Suparnatural "Bulletin of Bibliography"; Boston, 1909: Vol 5. pp 142-145, 168-171

PREFACE

ix

library readers searching for ghost stories. About 400 titles were listed in a skilled, professional manner, covering weird books and short stories which had appeared in omnibus volumes. A brief summary was given for some of the entries. Unfortunately, the subject matter was limited to a single facet of fantastic writing. While .the effort was commendable for such an early date, it remains far from complete, neglecting and omitting items available even at that time. An excellent general listing of fantastic books of all categories was made by Julius Schwartz for Science Fiction Digest, an amateur fantasy collector's journal of unusual merit, in 1933.3 This had about 600 titles, selected from the collections of fantasy enthusiasts. Mr. Schwartz has to his credit the earliest serious attempt to cover the fantastic field. His listing contained science fiction, weird, and fantasy books. However, no bibliographical data were included; only the title and author's name appeared. Where known, the type of story was indicated by code. In spite of the brevity of the listing, it was for years the only centralized source of fantasy book titles. The most worthwhile listing prior to CheckZist has been the series of mimeographed sheets compiled by A. Langley Searles.4 For his scholarly attempt to survey books of the fantasy field, Dr. Searles cannot be complimented too highly. Regrettably, Dr. Searles began the task at a time when his libral'y research lacked the polished techniques it has since acquired. It is also iamentable that this bibliography has not progressed beyond the early letters of the alphabet. Finally, mention should be made of the listings of their personal libraries, prepared for limited distribution by Forrest J Ackerman of Los Angeles; Dr. M. Doreal of Sedalia, Colo· rado; and J. Michael Rosenblum of Leeds, England. Thus far, in surveying the history' of fantasy bibliography, evaluations have been made of reference sources of a magazine or pamphlet nature, usually privately printed and available only to the aficionado, the specialist fantasy book collector. There are, however, a number of important bibliographic studies in book form. These are generally known to the fantasy scholar and collector; most of them obtainable in any large university or public library. As a literary form the Gothic has occupied an important niche in the historical development of the novel, and most 3 SCHWARTZ. JULIUS Service Department "Science Fiction Digest"; [privately printed]; Brooklyn. 1933: Vol I No.5 thru Vol I No. II 4 SEARLES, A. LANGLEY A Bibliography of Fanta.stlc Fiction [pri~.tely printed]; New York 1944 et seq

THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

particularly the fantastic novel. High on the list of specialized, critical literature, if only by the authority of size and weIght, is Montague Summers' Gothic Bibliography.S This study is as thorough as any ever attempted, but the inclusion by Rev· erend Summers of all known Gothic novels, many without the elements of fear and terror, renders the work useless, by itself, for the purposes of the fantasy·specialist. Valuable supplementary references to Summel's' volume, with additional classified information in the field of the weird and supernatural, are the monographs of scholars such as Edith Birkhead,1; H. P. Lovecraft,7 and Dorothy Scarborough.S Less widely known is Philip Babcock Gove's Imagilnary Voyage in Prose Fi()tiol~.9 Using the subject as a thesis for his doctorate at Columbia University, Gove supplied a bibliography of unusual voyages, mostly in early fiction, noteworthy for its length. Still, it must be pointed out that not all of Gove's unusual voyages are fantastic, and thus the book's use is restricted. No discussion of eritical literature in the field would be complete without some Rccount of the recently published study of the development of science fiction in J. O. Bailey's Pilgrims Thr01lgh Spa.ce and Time.lo Never has a study of a fantastic form been more lavishly praised or completely damned than this work- especially by people unqualified to judge in either respect. Dr. Bailey's treatise, within the limits of what it sets out to accomplish, is undoubtedly the most thorough and far· reaching investigation of the development of science fiction that has ever been undertaken. Not only is the book documented with sound scholarship, but in the course of his survey the author has done a real service in bringing to publie attention many unusual and little-known titles. BaileY'8 work is both well-organized and informative; the conclusions he draws are, in the main, both logical and sound. Some objections are justified when they are baaed on the cursory treatment accorded to the form from 1914 to the

s

SUMMERS. MONTAGUE A Gothic Bibllo9raphy Fortune Press; London, [1941] Limited to an edition of 750 copies 6 BIRKHEAD, EDITH The Tale of Terror Constable; London, 1921 7 LOVEClIAFT, H. P. Supernatural Horror in literature Oen Abramson; New York, 1945. While it is true that Lovecraft's mono9raph originally appeared in 1927 in "The Recluse", and was subsequently reprinted in other amateur fantasy magazines. for the convenience of the reader the more

easily available book edition is given. S SCARBOROUGH, DOROTHY The Supernatural In Modern En9lish Fiction Putnam; New York, 1917 9 GOVE, PHILIP BABCOCK The Imaoalnary Voyaoae in Prose Fiction Columbia University Press; New York, 1941 1Q BAILEY, J. O. PII9rlms Through Space and TIme Argus Books; New vork, 19~7 "

PREFACE

xi

present-for in spite of the fact that Bailey clearly stated he meant to be thoroLlgh ollly up to 1914, the fact remains that the modern period he covers ill so hasty a fashion is of as great an importance as the eutire period before 1914. Again, some justifiable criticism is based on his choice of many inferior and second-rate examples to represent the field since 1914, and his exclusion of suc.h important contributors as Stanley Weinbaum and A. Merritt. Yet from the standpoint of bibliography alone, the some 200 book items of both fictional and critical nature listed by Dr. Bailey entitle this \\'orJ!: to a permanent place on the fantasy reference shelf.. It is easily Been how few were the sources of fantasy bibliography available to the editors. Other volumes that were available,ll while important as landmarks, are of limited value to the fantasy collector because they are specialized in their content matter, or else concel'll themselves primarily with literary criticism. The need for a vaAter and more comprehensive frame of reference that would survey and list, in one place, the entire knou;n field of fantastic literature--so considered by long-standing collectors of the genre--has never been realized until publication of the present volume.

Early in 1940 the first discussions for a definitive Checklist of Fantastic [,itero.ture were undertaken in Decatur, Indiana, at

the home of the noted bibliophile and collector, Frederick B. Shroyer. Participating in these discussions were T. E. Dikty, of Ft. Wayne, and Erle Korshak, of Chicago, noted fantasy enthusiasts. Plans were made to assemble data necessary for such a checklist and to prepare the manuscl'ipt of such a work for publication. During the months that followed, the initiators devoted themselves to their task. Letters were sent to the New York Times aud the Saturday Rev'iew of Literature announcing this project and inviting any iuterested scholars or collectors to ftontribute information and titles. Both letters were subsequently published and a large and encouraging number of responses received. The material supplied by these contributors, together with the large listings from the fantasy libraries of the three editors, resulted in the eompletion of a manuscl'ipt of sizeable proportions, and far larger than any other listing of fantasy-interest books ever prepared before. It was planned to publish this volume privately under the auspices of the 11 For a listin9 of such books as are of interest because of the bibliograp~v given for speCific fantasy authors see ANNOTATED LlSl OF CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL REFERENCE WORKS at the rear of this volume.

xii

THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

Moonstruck Press Association, a name whimsically suggested by Mr. Shroyer. This manuscript was in the final stage of pre-publication preparation when World War II began. Dikty entered the Armed Forces, and was shortly followed by Shroyer and Korshak. The manuscript and notes pertaining thereto were left in Ft. Wayne for safekeeping among Dikty's personal effects. With the end of the war the demobilized editors returned to complete their task, but found the manuscript was missing. During Dildy's military absence an over-zealous house cleaner had thrown it away. Likewise lost were the notes and names of those who aided in the original project. On top of this, Shroyer,. spark plug of the original project, had moved to the West Coast. Not to be deterred in the original aiDI, Dikty joined Korshak in Chicago. A work of more thorough bibliography was planned, far broader in design than the earlier project. It was decided to call this The Checklist of Fantastio Literature; for while it was to bo more than a mere checklisting of titles, the name would honor the earlier manuscript. Another letter was published in the Saturday Review of Literature asking for aid, and an extensive correspondence was entered iuto, to solicit again necessary information. Letters were written to all major fantasy collectors of the English-speaking world. To begin the new master index, Shroyer donated his personal card-file of 2000 fantasy book titles. It is important at t4is point to call attention to the role of Everett F. Bleiler in preparation of the present volume. When the new project was barely underway the members of Shasta Publishers asked Mr. Bleiler to assume the chief editorial functions for the book. This choice proved to be a happy one, fer his well-rounded background in fantasy reading and collecting, added to tho library techniques of a trained scholar, were invaluable. His influence can be seen not only in such obvious things as the way ho chose to pre~ent the data to assure ma.xin!.unl efficiency und easier reac:lirig but, far more subtly, in the enormous amount of research he did to insure the bibliographical accui'aey of overy entry. To accomplish this he spent lI1any months in libraries, poring throngh I'cference tomes and library catalogue eards-ree1l(~cking the official records ou every proposed title. In cases where doubts arose as to the inclusion of certain works, the ~.Olltents of which were open to question aud not available to the editors, he wrote to the authors themselves, or to their heirs,

PREFACE

xiii

to obtain a well qualified opJ..n.lon. Future bibliogTaphers will applaud Mr. Bleiler for including a large number of fantastic Gothic novels. To test the validity of some fifty doubtful or suspected Gothics he located and read them for this study; a labor that caused him a disproportionate amount. of mental anguish. His deductions and conclusions on the authorship of various Haggard parodies (see APPENDIX NOTES) are a real contribution to the field of scholarship. Whatever laurels and crith'al acclaim this volume earns will be due, in large measure, to Everett Bleiler's eilitorship and vision, Melvin Km'lIhak

Chi('ago, Illinois :!O October 1947

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to acknowledge our indebtedness to the many contributors who have aided us; and would assign such good fpatul'es as may be present in this bibliography to their uuselfish expenditure of time and energy on our behalf. We are especially grateful to the seven fantasy enthusiasts whose collections form the major portion of this volume: Douglas Harding, of Winnipeg, Canada; who gave us much information on weird fiction; Thyril Ladd, of Albany, New York; who enthusiastically shared his outstanding reading knowledge of fantasy; Norman V. Lamb, of Simcoe, Canada; whose listings of rare British fantasy were especially helpful; Mr. and Mrs. R. George Medhurst, of London, England; who freely gave no little time and effort, including trips to the British Museum to verify information for us; John C. Nitka, of Brooklyn, New York; who gave us much information on unusual American and British fantasies; Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Rosenblum, of Chapelto'\\'1l, Eugland; whose enormous collection of British fantasy, together with that of R. George Medhurst, forms a major portion of our British listings; Frederick B. Shroyer, of Los Angeles, California; whose outstanding fantasy collection furnished us with a starting point, and whose private pioneer listings furnished us with an admirable example. We would also like to thank Vincent Starrett of Chicago, noted author, bibliographer, and journalist, for patiently going over the manuscript for us and correcting many of our errors, supplying us with many off-trail titles, and making many helpful suggestions. Gratitude is also due ErIe Cox, •• The Chiel, " of Melbourne, Australia; noted author and critic, for information concerning his own work, and for the solution of one of fantasy's majoi' problems (~ee NOTE 5); August Derleth, of Sauk City, Wisconsin; well-known American author, editor, and publisher, the founder of Arkham House, for constructive criticism, practical advice, and information concerning his own work; Mrs. Jacqueline Lindsay, of Sussex, England; wife of the late David Lindsay, for information which enabled us to disentangle the hitherto confused David Lindsay's; Donald A. Wollheim, of New York, New York; editor and fantasy antholOgist, for xv

xvi

THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

advice, and much information on rare 19th century fantasy. We are indebted to the following persons for information on specific subjects: Forrest .J Ackerman, of Los Angeles, California; Director of Fantasy Foundation, for mnch infor· mation concerning present· day rarities and unusual fiction; Joseph Chase, of Chicago, TIlinois; for information on Talbot Mundy and Ganpat; Dr. J. Lloyd Eaton, of Onkl:mcl, California; for much stimulating and enlightening cl"iticism; Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, of Reading, Pennsylvania; of Fantasy Press, for information on modern American fantasy; Henry Hasse, of Hollywood, California; whose competent library research offered us an excellent precedent; W. Rohert Gibson, of Calgary, Canada; for listings of rare British fantasy; H. C. Koenig, of New York, New York; for information 011 the work of William Hope Hodgson; Dr. Joseph L. McNamnra, of Boston, Mussachu!letts; for invaluable background material on literary fantasy, for much helpful advice and criticism; M. J. Miller, of Lakewood, Ohio; for data on many rare anthologies; A. Reynolds Morse, of Cleveland, Ohio; for information on the work of Louis Tracy and M. P. Shiel; Dr. A. Langley Searles, of New York, New York; for the loan of .his mimeographed fantasy listings; Oswald Train, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; for information on E'urly American fantasies; John Wasso, Jr., of Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania; for rare and unusual American titles; Dr. M. B. Wolf, of Chicago, Illinois; for information on H. Rider Haggard. We are also indebted to the following people for much helpful information and assistance: Ben Abramson, of New York, New York; Frank L. Baer, of Washington, D. C.; Dr. J. O. Bailey, of Chapel Hill, North Carplina; Willis Boughton, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Alastair Cameron, of Deep River, Ontario; Ted Carnell, of London, England; Dr. John D. Clark, of New York, New York; David Cohen, of Sydney, Australia; Owen Davies, of Chieago, Illinois; Bernard Dikty, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Dr. M. Doreal, of Sedalia, Colorado; Joseph R. Dunlap, of Montclair, New Jersey; Major O. G. Estes, Jr., U.S.A.A.F. of Randolph Field, Texas; Maleolm Ferguson, of Sanbornville, New Hampshire; A. F. Germeshallsen, of Los Angeles, CaIifornia;G. W. Gibbs, of Kew Gardens, New York; Miss Rose Glazier, of Hollywood, California; Donald M. Grllnt, of Providence, Rhode Island; Miss Patricia Hager, of Centralia, Illinois; Russell J. Hodgkins, of Los Angeles, California; Dr. Andol' C. Klay, of Washington, D. C.; James KOl'shak, of Chicago, Illinois; Edward Lavery, of Rensselaer, New York; .Anthony Wayne Lazarus, of G"hicago, Illinois; Lt. Com. EaI"!

ACKNOWLEDGM ENTS

xvii

D. Leeth, U. S. N. R., of Honolulu, Hawaii; David A. MacInnes, of Memphis, Temiessee; Reid Michener, of Chicago, Illinois; Sam Moskowitz, of Newark, New Jersey; Eugene Nelson, of Detroit, Michigan; Marvyn C. Oakes, of Buffalo, New York; Samuel A. Peeples, of San Francisco, California; Jack Pl'iec, of Oakmont,. Pennsylvania; Miss Martha Read, of Urbnna, Illinois; Miss Louise R. Rossignol, of Washington, D. C.; .T. M. Simmons, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Robert J. Smith, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Russell Swanson, of Fort Myel's, Virginia; Richard A. Voegeli, of Chicago, Illinois; Mark WaIsted, of Baltimore, Maryland; Stephen Weber, of Weehanken, New Jersey; and Richard Zorn, of North Baltimore, Ohio. For art work, "'c would like to thank Hannes Bok, of Now York, New York; for a dust-wrapper that is less a labor for profit than a labor of love; Ralph Rayburn Phillips, of Portland, Oregon; for striking and unusual advertising art. We would also like to acknowledge our indebtness to the Libraries of the University of Chicago, where we performed most of our detailed checking. We are also very grateful for the liSe of the facilities of Widener Library of Harvard University; Newberry Library of Chicago; John Crerar Library of Chicago; and the Chicago Public Libl~ary. Gratitude is also due to the British Museum, whose fnciIities wel'e used by Mr. R. George Medhurst. We would also like to thank Mr. Kenneth Binnes, Librarian of the Commonwealth National Library, Canben:!, Australia, for information on AUHtralian fantasies. Gratitude is also due to the co-workers on this project, all of who contributed an invaluable amount of time and effort; without tlleir assistance and farsighted adviee mue.h of this project would hnve remained impossible. T.E. Dikty, of Chicago, Illinois and Fort Wayne, Indiana; E1'le Korsha.k, of Chicago, Illinois; Marl{ Reinsberg, of Chicago, Illinois.

Everett F. Bleiler

CONTENTS

Prefllce, by Melvin Korsh!!k

vii

Acknowledgments

xv

Editor's Introduction Key listing by Author

3 13 17

listing by· Title

297

Appendix Notes

435

Annotated list of Critical and Historic!!1 Reference Works

443

A Few Associational Items

451

Bibliographical Sources

455

THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION If anyone were to ask me what is meant by the term • • fantasy" in modern literature, I fear that I would bave to admit my ignorance. A year or so ago I would have had no difficulty answering, but the compiling and reading involved in tbe preparation of the Checkli8t hns forced me to .realize that fantasy may be almost all things to all men. I have often wished tbat tbe· subject of tbis book were something with an objective reality, such aR minerals 01' plants. Nevertheless, even though disagreement exists as to just what types of fiction ~hould legitimately he raIled fantasy, it is obvious that tbis volume must bave a definition of fantasy, otherwise its very title would be ridiculous. We tben had Qur choice of accepting one of two widely current definitions, which would inrIude most of the individual definitions, or evolving a new definition of our own to fit tbe material generally conceded to be fantastic. Our first task was to examine the two eurrent. definitions, a literary definition, and a popular (lefinition, and RPe just how well either or both was logically fitted to the material which might be arcepted as fantasy. In examining these possible definitions of fantasy we have used a. superficially complicated, bnt really vel'y simple, system of tlm'c variables: subject matter, treatment, and orientation, all three of wbich obviously are variables in the consb'uction of a story, Subject matter, in general, would include the motives coutained in the story, considered not in the light of previous or later explanations, bnt as they happen. J