Books published by Arkham House (founded 1939) have long
been collectible. In the first half of the 1970s, the small British publisher
Neville Spearman Limited reissued a number of Arkham titles in hardcover, in
their British first editions. Neville Spearman as a publisher was founded in
1955 by Neville Armstrong (1914-2008), who ran the firm until 1985, when he
sold it. Neville Spearman published between five and six hundred books,
many of which were very eclectic in subject matter. I have listed the twelve
Arkham reprints below, chronologically (noting the geographical movements of
the publisher at that time), and below that, alphabetically by author (which notes
the one title which went into a second Neville Spearman printing). The Neville
Spearman reprints aren’t nearly as rare as the Arkham House originals, but at
least they allow readers to access those titles at more reasonable prices. Neville Spearman published a number of other titles of interest to readers of supernatural literature, including James Dickie's anthology The Uncanny (1971), and the George Hay-edited spoof, The Necronomicon (1978).
Chronologically
[Neville Spearman based in London]
1971
September. Clark
Ashton Smith, Lost Worlds
Clark Ashton Smith. Out of Space and
Time
1972
September. Clark Ashton Smith, Abominations of Yondo
Clark Ashton Smith, Genius Loci
1973
[Neville Spearman
moved to Jersey, Channel Islands]
1974
April. Robert Bloch, The Opener of the Way
Rober E.
Howard, Skull-Face and Others
Henry S. Whitehead,
Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales
August. August Derleth, The Mask of Cthulhu
August
Derleth, The Trail of Cthulhu
December. Carl Jacobi, Revelations in Black
David H. Keller,
Tales from Underwood
1975
April. Fritz Leiber, Night’s Black Agents
 |
| Cover art by David L. Fletcher |
1976
[Neville Spearman moved (partially) to Sudbury, Suffolk]
Alphabetically by author:
Bloch, Robert. The Opener
of the Way (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [April] 1974) Arkham, 1945
Derleth, August. The
Trail of Cthulhu (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [August] 1974) Arkham, 1962
----. The Mask of
Cthulhu (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [August] 1974) Arkham, 1958
Howard, Robert E. Skull-Face
and Others (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [April] 1974) Arkham, 1946
2nd
printing 1975
Jacobi, Carl. Revelations
in Black (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [December] 1974) Arkham, 1947
Keller, David H. Tales
from Underwood (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [December] 1974) Arkham, 1952
Leiber, Fritz. Night's Black
Agents (Jersey: Neville Spearman, [April] 1975) Arkham, 1947
Smith, Clark Ashton. The
Abominations of Yondo (London: Neville Spearman, [September]
1972) Arkham, 1960
----. Genius Loci and
Other Tales (London: Neville Spearman, [September] 1972) Arkham, 1948
----. Lost Worlds
(London: Neville Spearman, [September] 1971) Arkham, 1944
----. Out of Space and
Time (London: Neville Spearman, [September] 1971) Arkham, 1942
[Two other Smith reprints were announced but not published by Neville Spearman, comprising Tales of Science and Sorcery (1964) and Other Dimensions (1970)]
Whitehead, Henry S. Jumbee
and Other Uncanny Tales (Jersey: Neville Spearman,
[April]
1974) Arkham, 1944
This is a very useful checklist, thank you. I wonder whether some, if not most, of the Spearman editions were actually printed in smaller quantities than the Arkham editions!
ReplyDeleteGood point about the print-runs!
DeleteI found Skull Face and the Jacobi offering here in the US for next to nothing at second hand shops.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, I recently bought the Spearman "Jumbee"--from John Eggeling--because I had a jacketless Arkham of West Indies Night, wanted the companion volume, and didn't want to pay Arkham prices.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd how certain Arkham titles are actually quite cheap. Marjorie Bowen's Kecksies, for example, which I recently found for £5.
ReplyDeleteMany of the AH titles were published in larger quantities than you would see from a mainstream USA publisher.
ReplyDeleteThe trick with AH titles is to find the early ones in fine/fine condition.
*sigh* I had one of the CAS titles (can't remember which), none of the Derleths (because I had them in paperback) & the Bloch, REH, Jacobi, Whitehead & Keller releases. Must've included them with my modest Arkham collection (22 then-in-print titles) when I sold it to help finance my move to Phoenix from SW Arkansas for grad school back in the summer of '81. Well, except for the REH. Somehow, that one went missing along the way & never turned up.
ReplyDelete