Introduction by Peer Ruber
Cover by Jean Pierre Cagnat
Set of story icons by Paul Churchill
Folio Hard Covers 2 Vol., 1100pp.
ISBN 1-55246-077-0 @ $200.00
A set of
eight paperbacks is forthcoming. Click to view
Flap Text
Over the four
decades that August Derleth wrote his detective stories featuring Solar Pons, he
evolved not as one of the many imitators of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary
Sherlock Holmes but an inspired creation in his own right. And, in the eyes of
noted historians and critics of detective and mystery literature, "the logical
successor to Sherlock Holmes."
The world of Solar Pons did not recreate London's gaslit,
fog-shrouded streets during the Victorian era, when Jack the Ripper ruthlessly
stalked his prey and Hansom cabs raced through the night. Solar Pons assumed the
mantle as the most famous private inquiry agent during the opening decades of
the 20th century, after Holmes had retired to his bee-keeping farm in Sussex,
two years after Sir Arthur announced he would write no more adventures.
This handsome 2-volume edition brings together for the first
time all 9 Solar Pons collections for the enjoyment of a new generation of
readers. Included are 75 short stories and 2 novels, August Derleth's essays
about Solar Pons, excerpts from the notebooks in which Dr. Lyndon Parker
recorded Solar Pons' greatest cases, and nearly 60 illustrations and 2 comic
strip adventures.
Peter Ruber provides a long introduction that explores the
creation and history of Solar Pons, why he vanished after several brief
appearances in pulp magazines in 1929 and 1930; his rediscovery by Ellery Queen
in the early 1940s, who urged Derleth to bring Pons back to life; how the sons
of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tried unsuccessfully in 1946 to suppress the first
Solar Pons collection; and the discovery of unpublished stories nearly a quarter
century after the author's death.
In a second essay, Ruber explores the strange circumstances
that surrounded the publication of the 1982 Arkham House Solar Pons omnibus,
which corrupted the original text in a way the author never intended. Sharp
criticism by collectors and historians before and after that omnibus was
published has led to a growing demand for a new and definitive edition — one
faithful to Derleth's original text.
Sit back, now, and enjoy such acknowledged classic tales as
"The Late Mr. Faversham," "The Purloined Periapt," "The Six Silver Spiders, "The
Mosaic Cylinders," "The Camberwell Beauty," "The Adventure of the Orient
Express," "The Unique Dickensians," and many others that rival some of Sir
Arthur's best Sherlock Holmes stories.
Wisconsin author August Derleth (1909-1971) achieved many distinguishing
landmarks during his lifetime. He was a prolific and well-respected writer of
regional and historical fiction, a poet of some renown, a writer of journal
books, biographies, histories, countless supernatural and mystery stories, a
popular lecturer and teacher at the University of Wisconsin, and a long-time
newspaper and magazine columnist. Arkham House, the publishing company he
founded in 1939, has become one of the leading specialty presses in the U.S.
devoted to horror and supernatural fiction, and recently celebrated its 60th
anniversary. Derleth wrote and edited 180 books; many books of his uncollected
and unpublished writings have been released over the last few years; more are in
development.
