Guide to the Carcosa Press Records, 1972-1991


John Hay Library, Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2013

Collection Overview

Title: Carcosa Press records
Date range: 1972-1991
Creator: Carcosa (Firm)
Extent: 9.67 Linear feet
Abstract: The Carcosa Press records include edited manuscripts, camera-ready copy, bluelines and layouts for the four titles published by the press, along with organizational correspondence, contracts, order books, bank statements and tax returns. The material dates from 1972 to 1991.
Language of materials: English
Repository: John Hay Library, Special Collections
Collection number: Ms.2003.001

Scope & content

The Carcosa Press records are arranged in three series.

Series 1. Correspondence, contains two subseries: Wagner and General. The Wagner subseries comprises approximately 2750 items directed to Wagner as author, collector, family member, fan, friend, and editor. General correspondence is an alphabetically arranged collection of letters to Karl Wagner from authors, artists, printers and other correspondents related to Carcosa Press.

Series 2. Financial, is one folder of Carcosa Press tax returns from 1973-1988.

Series 3. Production Materials, comprises proofs and related publication material for the four books produced by Carcosa: Manly Wade Wellman's Lonely Vigils (1981), and Worse Things Waiting (1973); E. Hoffmann Price's Far Lands Other Days (1975); Hugh B. Cave's Murgunstrumm and Others (1977).

Access Points

Subject Names Subject Topics Document Types Subject Topics

Arrangement

The Carcosa Press records are organized in three series:

  • 1. Correspondence, 1972-1991
  • 2. Financial, 1973-1988
  • 3. Production Materials, 1973-1981

Historical note

Carcosa was a specialty publishing firm formed by David Drake, Karl Edward Wagner, and Jim Groce who were concerned that Arkham House would cease publication after the death of its founder, August Derleth. Carcosa was founded in North Carolina in 1973 and put out four collections of pulp horror stories, all edited by Wagner. A fifth collection was planned, Death Stalks the Night, by Hugh B. Cave; Lee Brown Coye was working on illustrating it when he suffered a crippling stroke in 1977 and eventually died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published by Fedogan & Bremer. Carcosa also had plans to issue volumes by Leigh Brackett, H. Warner Munn and Jack Williamson; however, none of the projected volumes appeared. The Carcosa colophon depicts the silhouette of a towered city in front of three moons.

(From Wikipedia's entry for Carcosa, fictional city of the Ambrose Bierce story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (1891))

Access & Use

Access to the collection: There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials: Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation: Carcosa Press records, Ms.2003.001, Brown University Library.
Contact information: John Hay Library, Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: These materials were purchased by Brown University in the early 1990s.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Brown University Library staff
Encoding: This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013-01-24T16:25-0500
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Sponsor: Processing funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Additional Information

Related material:
  • Karl Edward Wagner papers, Ms.2002.002, Brown University Library
  • Manly Wade Wellman papers, Ms.2007.029, Brown University Library

Inventory


Series 1. Correspondence, 1972-1991

Subseries 1. Wagner correspondence

Container Description Date
Box 1 Allen, Paul C. (Fantasy Newsletter)
Box 1 Amos, Ken (Nightshade Press; also as owner of Odyssey Bookshop)
Box 1 Bacon, Jonathan (Stygian Isle Press; Fantasy Crossroads)
Box 1 Barger, Robert P. (The Silver Belt)
Box 1 Berglund, Edward P.
Box 1 Black, William (Bill) (Paragon Publications)
Box 1 Bloch, Robert
Box 1 Burk, James K.
Box 1 Cabos, Llewellyn, (Lew)
Box 1 Campbell, Ramsey
Box 1 Capella, Ray (Raul)
Box 1 Carr, Nick (pulps: collector: articles)
Box 1 Carsons, Dave
Box 1 Cave, Hugh B.
Box 1 Cendella, Robert (Yes Art Posters)
Box 1 Clark, Vernon
Box 1 Clingan, Chet (SPWAO)
Box 1 Colebom, Peter (British Fantasy Society; Editor: BFS Newsletter)
Box 1 Collins, Robert A.
Box 1 Conan Properties, Inc
Box 1 Coronet Books
Box 1 Corroboree Press
Box 1 Cova, Francesco (Kadath)
Box 1 Coye, Lee Brown
Box 2 Crawford, William (Bill) (Fantasy Publishing Co.; Witchcraft and Sorcery)
Box 2 Dalby, Richard
Box 2 Daniels, Les
Box 2 de Camp, L. Sprague
Box 2 E. J. Carnell Literary Agency
Box 2 Eggeling, John
Box 2 Elliot, Jeffrey (interviewer)
Box 2 Etchison, Dennis
Box 2 Everts, R. Alain
Box 2 Fawcett, Richard (Fantasy Macabre)
Box 2 Fenner, Arnold M. (REH: Lone Star Fictioneer)
Box 2 Finlay, Norman
Box 2 Fletcher, Jo (cf. Steve Jones)
Box 2 Frierson, Meade (HPL: A Magazine of Tribute to H. P. Lovecraft)
Box 2 Ganley, Paul
Box 2 Grant, Charles
Box 2 Harvey, Jon (British Fantasy Society)
Box 2 Hardin, Nils (Tony) (Xenophile)
Box 2 Hay, George
Box 2 Herron, Don
Box 2 Hewitt, Tim (The Tanelorn Chronicles)
Box 2 Hiles, Carl (Paul) (Editor: BFS Newsletter; cf. Paul Nash)
Box 2 Hodden and Stoughton Paperbacks
Box 2 Hopkins, William
Box 2 Hoppenstand, Gary (The Rune Press; Midnight Sun Publications; Midnight Sun; Sign of the Salamander)
Box 2 Horror Show and Horrorstruck (David B. Silva and Paul Olsen)
Box 2 Jones, Robert
Box 2 Jones, Stephen
Box 3 Leet, Don
Box 3 Leiber, Fritz
Box 3 Lord, Glenn
Box 3 Lumley, Brian
Box 3 Mansell, Mark
Box 3 May, Jeffrey (Kosmic City Kapers)
Box 3 Mayer, John
Box 3 McCauley, Kirby
Box 3 McFerran, Dave (Vadhagh)
Box 3 McMillan, Dennis
Box 3 Miller, Chuck
Box 3 Minter, Richard H.
Box 3 Mosig, Dirk (Miskatonic Literary Circle)
Box 3 Munn, Harold Warner
Box 3 Musk, Simon R.
Box 3 Nash, Lemuel
Box 3 Nash, Paul
Box 3 Nolan, William F
Box 3 Offutt, Andrew J.
Box 3 Olie, Koen
Box 3 Page, Jerry
Box 3 Pany, Michel
Box 3 Pardoe, Rosemary
Box 3 Parsons, David (Fantome)
Box 3 Peltz, C. N.
Box 3 Pitts, Jim
Box 3 Powell Publications (legal documents re: bankrupcy)
Box 4 Price, Robert M. (Call of Cthulhu)
Box 4 Pugmire, W. H.
Box 4 Relling, Bill
Box 4 Roark, Byron (REH: Lone Star Fictioneer; Palantir)
Box 4 Roldo:
Box 4 Ryan, Alan
Box 4 St. Andre, Ken
Box 4 Salmonson, Jessica
Box 4 Saunders, Charles R.
Box 4 Schiff, Stuart David
Box 4 Schow, David
Box 4 Schweitzer, Darrell
Box 4 Scithers, George H. (Owlswick)
Box 4 Sparks, Robert W. (Chicago Fantasy Newsletter)
Box 4 Squires, John D.
Box 4 Stackpole, Michael
Box 4 Stewart, John
Box 4 Subiaga, Bob
Box 4 Sullivan, Jack (Promised Land Productions)
Box 4 Sutton, David (Fantasy Tales)
Box 5 Underwood, Tim
Box 5 Wandrei, Donald (mass mailing re: Arkham House)
Box 5 Weinberg, Robert
Box 5 Wellman, Manly Wade
Box 5 Whitcomb, Bill
Box 5 Williamson, J. N.
Box 5 Williamson, Jack
Box 5 Wilson, S. Clay
Box 5 Weekly Express
Box 5 Charles L. Grant (World Fantasy Awards)
Box 5 World Fantasy Conventions

Subseries 2. General correspondence

Container Description Date
Box 5 American Fantasy Magazine to Bacher, George W.
Box 5 Bagnall, Leslie M. to Bishop, Mike
Box 5 Black, Nelson W. to Burton, Alan
Box 5 Caldwell, Clyde to Chattacon Sight
Box 5 Cheap Street to Cole, Adrian
Box 5 Collins, Paul to Cook, Kevin
Box 5 Conklin, Bruce to Curtis, Keith
Box 5 Dagon to Deep South Convention
Box 5 Del Ray, Lester to Duveau, Mark
Box 5 Easley, Jeff to Erwine, Dan
Box 5 F. and S. J. Book Co. to Frost, Gregory
Box 5 Galileo to Goldsmith, Howard
Box 5 Gottfried, Chett to Gwinn, Beth
Box 5 Hadji, R.S. to Herrick, Darryl
Box 6 Hill, Lauson to Hurst, J.S.
Box 6 Indick, Ben P. to Jones, Jim
Box 6 Keefe, Bob to Kittredge, Mary
Box 6 Klein to Kurzman, Dave
Box 6 Lamb, Hugh to Lavoie, Bob
Box 6 Leiter, Justin to Lyons, Kevin A.
Box 6 McAllister, Bruce to McHardy, Vincent
Box 6 McIntosh, Jeff to Melville, John
Box 6 Melvin, Charles to Miesel, Sandra
Box 6 Miller, Dick to Moore
Box 6 Morrison, Michael to Nicoll, Gregory
Box 6 Nolane, Chichard to Owston, Charles E.
Box 6 PBM Universal to Pettus, David
Box 6 Plant, Bud to Raney, Ken
Box 6 Rankin, Thomas to Ryder, Donald S.
Box 6 Skandinavich (SFSF) to Schifino, J.R.
Box 6 Science Fiction Writers of America to Smith, Andrew D.
Box 6 Smith, David C. to Suriano, Gregory R.
Box 6 Tappin, Dougles C. to Tremayne, Peter
Box 6 Triebling, Friedrich to Utter, Virgil
Box 6 Visual Wonders Studios to Wellman, Wade
Box 6 Wiater, Stanley to Wryos, Joseph
Box 6 Valcour and Kreuger, Inc. to Zychowicz, James
Box 6 Miscellaneous Correspondences to no last names

Address Directory
Box 9

Series 2. Financial, 1973-1988

Container Description Date
Box 7 Tax returns
1973-1988
Box 9 Order Book
Box 9 Canceled checks
1973-1980
Box 9 Tellers receipts, checking account deposit slips
1974-1983

Series 3. Production materials, 1973-1981

Subseries 1. Far Lands Other Days--E. Hoffmann Price

Container Description Date
Box 7 Bluelines for Far Lands Other Days
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Far Lands Other Days pages i-107
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Far Lands Other Days pages 108-273
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Far Lands Other Days pages 274-436
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Far Lands Other Days pages 437-590
Box 8, Folder 197 Layout of dust jacket of Far Lands Other Days
Box 8, Folder 200 Mechanicals for dust jacket of Far Lands Other Days
Box 8, Folder 204 Mechanicals for text of Far Lands Other Days
Box 9 Texts for Far Lands Other Days

Subseries 2. Lonely Vigils--Manly Wade Wellman

Container Description Date
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Lonely Vigils pages ii-185
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Lonely Vigils pages 186-378

Subseries 3. Murgunstrumm and Others--Hugh B. Cave

Container Description Date
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Murgunstrumm and Others pages i-173
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Murgunstrumm and Others pages 174-332
Box 7 Camera-ready pages of Murgunstrumm and Others pages 333-476
Box 7 Setting manuscript of Murgunstrumm and Others pages i-207
Box 7 Setting manuscript of Murgunstrumm and Others pages i-208
Box 8, Folder 198 Layout of dust jacket, and advertisement, of Murgunstrumm and Others
Box 8, Folder 202 Mechanicals for dust jacket of Murgunstrumm and Others
Box 8, Folder 203 Mechanicals for text of Murgunstrumm and Others
Box 9 Murgunstrumm and Others: Xerox for Alterations

Subseries 4. Worse Things Waiting--Manly Wade Wellman

Container Description Date
Box 8, Folder 196 Camera-ready pages of Worse Things Waiting
Box 8, Folder 199 Mechanicals for dust jacket of Worse Things Waiting
Box 8, Folder 201 Mechanicals for text of Worse Things Waiting
Box 9 Texts for Worse things Waiting

"Mirror of Ko-Hung"--E. Hoffman Price (sent to Wayne Warfield)
Box 9