E Hoffman Price Letters

1.
Price, E. Hoffmann. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, not dated [circa 1977], to "Dear Amanda" [Jessica Amanda Salmonson]. 34-line letter, enclosing his "tribute and farewell to my good friend Edmond Hamilton" (not present) and discussing mutual interests and Hoffmann's work in progress. "I am batting away at FRIENDS OF YESTERYEAR: FICTIONEERS & OTHERS, and have sent 160 page sample to an agent... I trust and hope that you received my first draft of the essay on THE ORIENTAL FANTASY STORY. If you like it, let me know and I'll edit and clean up for final draft..." Fine. (#96256)

2.
Price, E[dgar] Hoffman. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, dated 2 January 1975, to "Dear Kirby" [McCauley], signed "Ed Price." On plain letter-size paper with his Redwood City, CA address typed at top. The single-spaced typing looks like that of an old Royal manual, clogged keys and all. Price apologizes for his lateness in answering McCauley's letter; explains he was visiting the ailing Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett Hamilton. When he got home he had to do some astrological forecasts to make a little money to pay for unexpected house and car repairs. Says he's not surprised at McCauley's downbeat estimation of the commercial prospects of his SILVER SERPENT, a novel set in the Tang dynasty of China (published as THE DEVIL WIVES OF LI-FONG in 1979). "... Don't knock yourself out. I'd like a sale, yes, but I do not need a sale. In 1932, I did need sales, and I made them, and survived as a professional. Today, I've made virtually no sales -- and, happily, I do not need to sell. Lucky, what?" Then he launches into an attack on a recent publishing offer. "One of the fan blob 'limited' illiterates … made me a ridiculous offer. I told him to shove it -- if his outfit couldn't dig up the $1000 advance I said I'd settle for…" Adds that he might go east for an autographing party for FAR LANDS, OTHER DAYS, Carcosa's omnibus anthology of his "fantasy and adventure yarns," with "art work for the comic fans, and other illiterates!" Price was part of that generation of pulp fiction writers whose roots go back to the 1920s. He was on friendly terms with most of the others in that generation, including Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Many of his works had Oriental settings. He stopped writing for the pulps in the 1950s but resumed writing in the 1970s. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Good content. Faint creases where folded for mailing, two tiny faint stains on blank verso, else fine. (#102663)

3.
Price, E[dgar] Hoffman. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS), with handwritten postscript in green ink vertically along left margin. 1 page, dated 21 August 1975, to "Dear Kirby" [McCauley], signed "E. H. P." On plain letter-size paper with his Redwood City, CA address rubber-stamped at top. The single-spaced typing looks like that of an old Royal manual, clogged keys and all. Price opens with news that Oswald Train has accepted "my Seabury Quinn sketch, introduction to ALIEN FLESH... He wondered whether I had any fantasy material." The remainder of the letter is largely devoted to Price's SILVER SERPENT, a fantasy novel set in the Tang dynasty, which McCauley was trying to sell. He discusses marketing and his sources for the novel: a libretto from the Pekin Opera Company; a Chinese novel translated by an associate of Price's; the performance of another Chinese opera, "White and Green," in San Francisco's Chinatown; and sundry bits of Chinese folklore. He compares his making a modern Western novel out of these raw materials to the process by which Bram Stoker made a modern novel out of bits of medieval vampire lore. The SILVER SERPENT was published as THE DEVIL WIVES OF LI-FONG (New York: Ballantine, 1979). Price was part of that generation of pulp fiction writers whose roots go back to the 1920s. He was on friendly terms with most of the others in that generation, including Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Many of his works had Oriental settings. He stopped writing for the pulps in the 1950s but resumed writing in the 1970s. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Good content. Faint creases where folded for mailing, fine. (#102664)

4.
Price, E[dgar] Hoffman. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, dated 21 March 1977, to "Dear Kirby" [McCauley], signed "E. H. P." On plain letter-size paper with his Redwood City, CA address rubber-stamped at top. The single-spaced typing looks like that of an old Royal manual, clogged keys and all. Price announces that he has just signed a contract with the Scott Meredith Literary Agency for FRIENDS OF YESTERYEAR, his reminiscence of the pulp fiction days, then devotes the remainder of the letter to the sale of SILVER SERPENT, his Tang Dynasty fantasy novel. He asks McCauley to take the manuscript "out of circulation as soon as possible" and return it to him unless "you have talked ether to Oswald Train, or Lester del Rey" (it would appear that Price is quitting McCauley). Price adds that, before Meredith mailed him the contract for FRIENDS, Lester del Rey asked to see SILVER SERPENT. This happened during a visit with Leigh Brackett Hamilton, whose husband Edmond Hamilton had recently died. Del Rey called, and, when Leigh put Price on the phone to talk with him, the subject of the SILVER SERPENT came up. Del Rey urged Price to submit the manuscript to him, despite Ballantine's earlier rejection of it. "Forget that bounce by Ballantine. I've got a new policy." (The book was, in fact, brought out by Del Rey/Ballantine in 1979 as THE DEVIL WIVES OF LI-FONG.) A interesting look at the informal way that book deals sometimes come about. Price was part of that generation of pulp fiction writers whose roots go back to the 1920s. He was on friendly terms with most of the others in that generation, including Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Many of his works had Oriental settings. He stopped writing for the pulps in the 1950s but resumed writing in the 1970s. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Good content. Faint crease where folded for mailing, several faint corner creases, fine. (#102665)