How Bradbury Met His Wife
Rue Morgue No. 1
Publication: New York: Creative Age Press, 1946. First Edition.
Notes: A significant copy of this anthology with one of Ray Bradbury's first book appearances, his story "The Watchers."
xii, 403, [1] pages.
Edition + Condition: First edition, first printing (with no additional printings noted on the copyright page). A very good copy, pages tanning, as usual, in a very good dust jacket with a scratch on the front panel and minor wear at the spine ends. Publisher's printed card laid in.
This copy is inscribed twice by Bradbury to Herb Yellin, who published several Bradbury books as Lord John Press. On the title page Bradbury wrote, "For Herb! With special love. Ray Bradbury 6/27/92." Bradbury's second inscription, on the front free endpaper, reads, "This book brought me & Maggie McClure together in April 1946 & I married her a year and a half later! Ray Bradbury. 6/27/92."
The second inscription refers to when Bradbury met his future wife at Fowler's bookstore in Los Angeles. McClure thought Bradbury looked sketchy, so she kept a close eye on him. He protested that he was a writer and showed her a book that had one of his stories in it. The book was either August Derleth's anthology Who Knocks? (Derleth would publish Bradbury's first book the next year) or Rue Morgue No. 1. The biography Becoming Ray Bradbury sides with Who Knocks?, which is incorrectly described as an Arkham House publication. Bradbury Uncensored says it was Best American Short Stories for 1946, which is clearly wrong since that book wouldn't be published until the end of 1946. When he inscribed this book in 1992, Bradbury voted for Rue Morgue.
In any case, it's a terrific inscription.
Item No: #366327
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