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Tympany, v. 1, issue 13, September 1, 1947

Page 4

[title underlined] The Poor Man's Necronomicon

"PILGRIMS" THROUGH PRINT SHOP AND BINDERY

It WAS a matter of half my life ago that I first heard of [title underlined] Pilgrims Through Space and Time. At that time, back in about 1933, as I recall, when I was living in San Francisco and commuting to college (the University of California, at Berkeley) I first heard from a Professor J. O. Bailey of the University of North Carolina. Someone had referred him to me, or he had seen my name as one of the Directors of the Science Fiction League -- I forgot just what the surrounding circumstances were -- at any rate, he wanted to borrow considerable material from my collection for the purpose of perusing it and using excerpts, resumes, etc, for a book he was preparing on the History of Science Fiction. The boy who was eventually to draw the book's cover -- Ronald Clyne -- was probably about five years old then, and completely unknown to both of us.

So I sent Prof. Bailey the [underlined title] Amazings containing A. Hyatt Verrill's "Beyond the Pole" (it being the first stf story I ever read), and many Munseyarns such as "The Brain Blight" and "The Golden Blight" and "The People of the Golden Atom", etc. I sent him books, and at his request, I prepared an article on the fanmag scene from [title underlined] The Time Traveller to the publications then current. I may be mistaken, but I seem to have a vague recollection of having included scientifilms, too.
But the years flew by on the back of Pegasus, and the Bailey book did not materialize.

In the middle of 1942 Ben Abramson, then of Chicago, announced that he would publish [title underlined] Pilgrims Through Space and Time. The original price was $3. I was going to send for a copy, so I suggested to fans present in the LASFS clubroom at the time that if any of them were going to order the book too, they might as well give me their money and I'd send it along with mine and the books could all be delivered together at the clubroom. Four fans gave me their money, and I did not even bother to jot their names down, as I supposed the book would be out in a matter of months.

But I spent three and a half years in the army, and still the book was not published! One of its purchasers, Paule Freehafer, died before he ever saw his copy*. Perennial excuse was that the book was "at the blinders". Other book companies were born, published their products and went out of existence while we waited for the procrastinating [title underlined] Pilgrims. The book began to assume the mythical aspects of [title underlined] The Necronomicon. It was on the verge of appearing when Hiroshima got its face lifted so high it lost it. In view of the actualization of atomic power, Prof. Bailey felt it necessary to re-word the Preface and various portions of the book.

It is my opinion that the final appearance of [title underlined] PTSAT (no relation to Ptath) is a modern miracle, and a concretization of one of those
[line break]
* I have contributed it in his name to The Fantasy Foundation.

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[title underlined] The Poor Man's Necronomicon "PILGRIMS" THROUGH PRINT SHOP AND BINDERY It WAS a matter of half my life ago that I first heard of [title underlined] Pilgrims Through Space and Time. At that time, back in about 1933, as I recall, when I was living in San Francisco and commuting to college (the University of California, at Berkeley) I first heard from a Professor J. O. Bailey of the University of North Carolina. Someone had referred him to me, or he had seen my name as one of the Directors of the Science Fiction League -- I forgot just what the surrounding circumstances were -- at any rate, he wanted to borrow considerable material from my collection for the purpose of perusing it and using excerpts, resumes, etc, for a book he was preparing on the History of Science Fiction. The boy who was eventually to draw the book's cover -- Ronald Clyne -- was probably about five years old then, and completely unknown to both of us. So I sent Prof. Bailey the [underlined title] Amazings containing A. Hyatt Verrill's "Beyond the Pole" (it being the first stf story I ever read), and many Munseyarns such as "The Brain Blight" and "The Golden Blight" and "The People of the Golden Atom", etc. I sent him books, and at his request, I prepared an article on the fanmag scene from [title underlined] The Time Traveller to the publications then current. I may be mistaken, but I seem to have a vague recollection of having included scientifilms, too. But the years flew by on the back of Pegasus, and the Bailey book did not materialize. In the middle of 1942 Ben Abramson, then of Chicago, announced that he would publish [title underlined] Pilgrims Through Space and Time. The original price was $3. I was going to send for a copy, so I suggested to fans present in the LASFS clubroom at the time that if any of them were going to order the book too, they might as well give me their money and I'd send it along with mine and the books could all be delivered together at the clubroom. Four fans gave me their money, and I did not even bother to jot their names down, as I supposed the book would be out in a matter of months. But I spent three and a half years in the army, and still the book was not published! One of its purchasers, Paule Freehafer, died before he ever saw his copy*. Perennial excuse was that the book was "at the blinders". Other book companies were born, published their products and went out of existence while we waited for the procrastinating [title underlined] Pilgrims. The book began to assume the mythical aspects of [title underlined] The Necronomicon. It was on the verge of appearing when Hiroshima got its face lifted so high it lost it. In view of the actualization of atomic power, Prof. Bailey felt it necessary to re-word the Preface and various portions of the book. It is my opinion that the final appearance of [title underlined] PTSAT (no relation to Ptath) is a modern miracle, and a concretization of one of those [line break] * I have contributed it in his name to The Fantasy Foundation.