WRITING FICTION. Boston: The Writer, Inc. Publishers, [1946]. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v-x [xi-xii] [1-2] 3-201 [202-204: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], original burgundy cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold. First edition. A presentation copy with signed inscription by Derleth to J. Vernon Shea on the front free endpaper: "For J. Vernon Shea / Sincerely / August Derleth." Joseph Vernon Shea (1912-1981) was a correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft between 1931 and 1937. Shea wrote some fiction at this time and in the 1940s and 1950s published a few weird and SF stories, as well as several later Cthulhu mythos stories in Arkham House anthologies. His poignant memoir of Lovecraft, "H. P. Lovecraft: The House and the Shadows" was published in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, May 1966. Shea was a major correspondent of Derleth and some of the many letters written to him are in the Derleth papers at The Wisconsin Historical Society. According to Derleth, WRITING FICTION is "... a modest guide to certain types of fiction" intended as "an inquiry into some lesser-realized aspects of creative writing made out of one writer's experience" divided into four sections: "The Realistic Story," "The Romantic Story," " The Imaginative Story," and "Marginal Notes." Extensive and useful fiction reading lists. "The Imaginative Story," pp. 96-159, is a major early critique of fantastic fiction to place on the shelf next to H. P. Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature." Small nick to cloth at center of outer front joint and another at lower edge of spine panel, a very good copy in very good dust jacket with light wear at spine ends and corner tips. A fine association copy. (#156829).
Price: $350.00
No statement of printing.