Dear August: Letters, Robert E. Howard to August Derleth 1932-1936. This collection includes all the letters to August Derleth, except for a postcard REH sent to August Derleth.

In 2002, the then-owners of the rights to Robert E. Howard’s works decided to publish a series of three books in order to extend the U.S. copyrights of the unpublished material. Otherwise all this unpublished material would have been public domain in the U.S. after 12/31/2006.

Three books were published – A RHYME OF SALEM TOWN AND OTHER POEMS, DEAR HPL (Howard’s letters to Lovecraft), and DEAR AUGUST (Howard’s letters to August Derleth). 10 copies of each book were to be prepared by Glenn Lord, but fewer than 10 were eventually produced, maybe as few as 6 copies of each.

Contents

• [7] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I had intended answering…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. December (15?) 1932 (“Dear Mr. Derleth: / I had intended answering your letter…”) 2007)
• [9] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I read your recent letter with…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, December 29, 1932 (“Dear Mr. Derleth: / I read your recent letter with the greatest interest…”) 1991)
• [15] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I was much interested in your accounts…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, ca. January 1933 (“Dear Mr. Derleth: / I was much interested in your accounts…”) 1964)
• [21] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“After so long a time, I’m getting around…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, ca. February 1933 (“Dear Mr. Derleth: / After so long a time, I’m getting around…”) 1972)
• [23] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I should have told you…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Dear Mr. Derleth: / I should have told you that I meant…”) 1972)
• [27] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I quite agree with you regarding…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. March (23?) 1933 (“Dear August: / I quite agree with you regarding those super-critics…”) 2008)
• [31] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“As a starter, I must apologize…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. May 1933 (“Dear August: / As a starter, I must apologize for having taken…”) 2008)
• [35] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Please accept my belated thanks…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, July 3, 1933 (“Dear August: / Please accept my belated thanks for the picture…”) 2008)
• [39] • A Dungeon Opens • (1987) • poem by Robert E. Howard
• [39] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Yes, I certainly did enjoy…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. August 1933 (“Dear August: / Yes, I certainly did enjoy ‘Five Alone’…”) 2008)
• [41] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Thanks immensely for the opportunity of reading ‘Five Alone’…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, July 1933 (“Dear August: / Thanks immensely for the opportunity of reading…”) 1976)
• [43] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Thanks very much for the opportunity of reading ‘One Against the Dead’…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, ca. September 1933 (“Dear August: / Thanks very much for the opportunity of reading…”) 1972)
• [49] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“By all means use the hawk…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. October 1933 (“Dear August: / By all means use the hawk incident if you wish…”) 2008)
• [51] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Glad you liked the rhyme I sent you…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, September 4, 1933 (“Dear August: / Glad you liked the rhyme I sent you…”) 2008)
• [53] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I enjoyed reading your ‘Hawk on the Blue’…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, ca. November 1933 (“Dear August: / I enjoyed reading your…”) 1972)
• [55] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I think Scribners was nuts…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, ca. December 1933 (“Dear August: / I think Scribners was nuts to turn down…”) 1991)
• [55] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Hope you had a good Christmas…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. late December 1933 (“Dear August: / Hope you had a good Christmas…”) 2008)
• [57] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I note with sympathy your remarks…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. January 1934 (“Dear August: / I note with sympathy your remarks concerning…”) 2008)
• [59] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Pardon this belated letter…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. late March 1934 (“Dear August: / Pardon this belated letter. My health…”) 2008)
• [61] •  Letter to August Derleth, May 30, 1934 (“I have a feeling that I’ve been owing you a letter…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, May 30, 1934 (“Dear August: / I have a feeling that I’ve been owing you…”) 2008)
• [63] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“Having completed several weeks of…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. June 1934 (“Dear August: / Having completed several weeks of steady work…”) 2008)
• [65] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I haven’t yet gotten a copy…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. mid-October 1934 (“Dear August: / I haven’t yet gotten a copy of the…”) 2008)
• [67] •  Letter to August Derleth, December 11, 1934 (“I recently found your letter of October 18…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, December 11, 1934 (“Dear August: / I recently found your letter of October 18…”) 1972)
• [69] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I would have written you long ago…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. February 1935 (“Dear August: / I would have written you long ago, but…”) 2008)
• [71] •  Letter to August Derleth, no date (“I reckon you’ve wondered at times…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, ca. June 1935 (“Dear August: / I reckon you’ve wondered at times why the hell…”) 2008)
• [73] •  Letter to August Derleth, July 4, 1935 (“Thanks very much for the article…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, July 4, 1935 (“Dear August: / Thanks very much for the article…”) 1991)
• [77] •  Letter to August Derleth, November 1, 1935 (“I should have written you months ago…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, November 1, 1935 (“Dear August: / I should have written you months ago…”) 2008)
• [79] •  Letter to August Derleth, November 28, 1935 (“Thanks for the opportunity of reading…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, November 28, 1935 (“Dear August: / Thanks for the opportunity of reading ‘Hawks…”) 2008)
• [81] •  Letter to August Derleth, April 15, 1936 (“Just a hurried line to let you know…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of To August Derleth, April 15, 1936 (“Dear August: / Just a hurried line to let you know I haven’t…”) 2008)
• [85] •  Letter to August Derleth, May 9, 1936 (“I am indeed sorry to learn of the deaths…”) • [Letters to August Derleth] • essay by Robert E. Howard (variant of Letter to August Derleth, May 9, 1936 (“Dear August: / I am indeed sorry to learn of the deaths…”) 1976)
• [85] • Untitled poem (“You have built a world of paper and wood…”) • (1964) • poem by Robert E. Howard (variant of A Warning (“You have built a world of paper and wood … “))

Notes

Patrice Louinet’s edition of this was put on auction on eBay on September 26, 2022. It was sold on October 4 for $1030 together with A RHYME OF SALEM TOWN AND OTHER POEMS and DEAR HPL (Howard’s letters to Lovecraft).

Since publication, twenty years ago, only ONE copy of ONE of the three items ever changed hands: A Rhyme of Salem Town, which sold for $2,800 in 2006 on eBay.

This was published by Paradox Entertainment when they purchased Robert E. Howard Properties, Ltd. to preserve copyrights. Most of the contents had never been published before.

Edited by Glenn Lord. Facsimile copies of Howard typescripts. 6 copies produced, none sold. One copy in the Library of Congress. Pages not numbered. “First Book Edition” on title page. Letters do not have titles given. The first five letters are addressed to “Mr. Derleth”, thereafter they are addressed to “August”.