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Acolyte, v. 4, issue 1, whole no. 13, Winter 1946

EDITORIALLY SPEAKIING F. T. LANEY
THE PERDUE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE.
Readers of The Acolyte who are interested in continuing this compilation are advised to subscribe to The Voice of the Imagi-Nation, Box 6475, Metro Station, Los Angeles 55. This feature has been taken over by VOM, and, says editor Forrest J Ackerman, will appear in every issue of The Voice until it is completed. Rates are 15Ȼ, 7/$1. We regret our inability to continue this feature, but reader reaction was definitely against it. In its stead, we hope to present material of the type previously popular with Acolyte readers. Thanks, coupled with apologies, to Elmer Perdue, the compiler of this project.
---ooOoo---
FOR SALE, ONLY $100.00!!
The quotations on the first HPL volume, The Outsider and Others, can no longer be considered as fantasy. They have become sheerly ridiculous. When one of our pet fan dealers, William Sykora (see page 21), offers this volume at $100.00 it is high time for a few cold facts on The Outsider. This volume first went on sale in late 1937 or early 1938. The first prepublication price was $3.50, shortly raised to $4.00. In the 14 to 18 months the volume was on sale prior to publication it was a drug on the market. It must have been, for it took from mid-1939 until mid-1943 to sell the rest of an edition which comprised only 1200 copies in toto. The price through all these 48 months was only $5.00. No one seemed particularly excited about buying the volume. Now, only two and a half years after the volume became out of print, someone wants twenty times the publication price, a figure which we hold to be inflationary and unwarranted. Ballyhoo, publicity, herd psychology and a substratum of indefensible greed--all these factors have combined to scoot the price up, for a while. In light of this fact that most of the stories in The Outsider can be had elsewhere: in a 49Ȼ anthology, in pocketbooks, and in various in-print weird collections; and in further view of this fact that HPL is not an author who can reasonably be expected ever to attract the attention of the mundane first edition buying public; it seems to us that $15.00 to $20.00 is all a copy of The Outsider can reasonably be worth. But we too are greedy and mercenary. If people so gullible as to plank down a whole century for this over-valued volume actually exist, we too want to get on the gravy train with our dear friends Unger and Sykora. The first sucker who sends us a certified check for $100.00 may have our Outsider. Don't all speak at once!
---ooOoo---
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE ACOLYTE?
The paragraph thus titled last issue was not, as come seemed to interpret it, an unsubtle appeal for backpatting and ego-boosting. The magazine seemed to be slipping badly, and we really wanted candid opinions as to what was wrong. Many suggestions came to us; some of them are being acted upon. Thanks to all who responded. Two points were stressed by so many people that they should be mentioned here. Nearly everyone dislikes the cunning little tubes we make of each issue. It is our belief that the magazines arrive in better condition when so shopped than if they were mailed flat in envelopes for the mailman to fold, wrinkle, and otherwise beat around. These tubes rigid, and magazines so shipped lose their curl in a few days. It should not be difficult to open the wrapper by slitting it with a razor blade. The other point was the dead sameness of page after page of black type. We believe that the initial letters and tailpieces making their bow in this issue will cure that complaint quite adequately. Hoffman did
-- 2 -- (continued on page 29)

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EDITORIALLY SPEAKIING F. T. LANEY THE PERDUE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE. Readers of The Acolyte who are interested in continuing this compilation are advised to subscribe to The Voice of the Imagi-Nation, Box 6475, Metro Station, Los Angeles 55. This feature has been taken over by VOM, and, says editor Forrest J Ackerman, will appear in every issue of The Voice until it is completed. Rates are 15Ȼ, 7/$1. We regret our inability to continue this feature, but reader reaction was definitely against it. In its stead, we hope to present material of the type previously popular with Acolyte readers. Thanks, coupled with apologies, to Elmer Perdue, the compiler of this project. ---ooOoo--- FOR SALE, ONLY $100.00!! The quotations on the first HPL volume, The Outsider and Others, can no longer be considered as fantasy. They have become sheerly ridiculous. When one of our pet fan dealers, William Sykora (see page 21), offers this volume at $100.00 it is high time for a few cold facts on The Outsider. This volume first went on sale in late 1937 or early 1938. The first prepublication price was $3.50, shortly raised to $4.00. In the 14 to 18 months the volume was on sale prior to publication it was a drug on the market. It must have been, for it took from mid-1939 until mid-1943 to sell the rest of an edition which comprised only 1200 copies in toto. The price through all these 48 months was only $5.00. No one seemed particularly excited about buying the volume. Now, only two and a half years after the volume became out of print, someone wants twenty times the publication price, a figure which we hold to be inflationary and unwarranted. Ballyhoo, publicity, herd psychology and a substratum of indefensible greed--all these factors have combined to scoot the price up, for a while. In light of this fact that most of the stories in The Outsider can be had elsewhere: in a 49Ȼ anthology, in pocketbooks, and in various in-print weird collections; and in further view of this fact that HPL is not an author who can reasonably be expected ever to attract the attention of the mundane first edition buying public; it seems to us that $15.00 to $20.00 is all a copy of The Outsider can reasonably be worth. But we too are greedy and mercenary. If people so gullible as to plank down a whole century for this over-valued volume actually exist, we too want to get on the gravy train with our dear friends Unger and Sykora. The first sucker who sends us a certified check for $100.00 may have our Outsider. Don't all speak at once! ---ooOoo--- WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE ACOLYTE? The paragraph thus titled last issue was not, as come seemed to interpret it, an unsubtle appeal for backpatting and ego-boosting. The magazine seemed to be slipping badly, and we really wanted candid opinions as to what was wrong. Many suggestions came to us; some of them are being acted upon. Thanks to all who responded. Two points were stressed by so many people that they should be mentioned here. Nearly everyone dislikes the cunning little tubes we make of each issue. It is our belief that the magazines arrive in better condition when so shopped than if they were mailed flat in envelopes for the mailman to fold, wrinkle, and otherwise beat around. These tubes rigid, and magazines so shipped lose their curl in a few days. It should not be difficult to open the wrapper by slitting it with a razor blade. The other point was the dead sameness of page after page of black type. We believe that the initial letters and tailpieces making their bow in this issue will cure that complaint quite adequately. Hoffman did -- 2 -- (continued on page 29)