Douglas Menville Collection
Menville (1935- ) is a respected author and science fiction editor who has published fourteen books. Menville was the Editor of Forgotten Fantasy magazine during its short run (1970-1971), and later he penned an episode entitled “The World Ship” for the animated science-fiction series Space Sentinels (1977). He went on to publish A Historical and Critical Survey of the Science Fiction Film (1975), Futurevisions: The New Golden Age of the Science Fiction Film (1985, with R. Reginald and Mary Burgess), and The Work of Ross Rocklynne: An Annotated Bibliography & Guide (1989). With his frequent collaborator R. Reginald, he also edited sci-fi and fantasy anthologies including Ancestral Voices: An Anthology of Early Science Fiction (1975), Dreamers of Dreams: An Anthology of Fantasy (1978), and Worlds of Never: Three Fantastic Novels (1978).
Included in the collection are the following:
Dave Wilson on the Planets. Self-published story by Menville when he was 11 years old in 1944. 32 pp. Bound with metal fasteners in stiff black wraps with handwritten label. Handwritten text by Menville in pencil and containing 64 illustrations by the author (usually two per page), almost all colored in crayon. With an additional two-page story called “Rocket Rescue.” A delightful story by pre-teen Menville who was clearly influenced by comics and pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories and Astounding Stories, and certainly foreshadowing what was to become a long career devoted to science fiction.
Complete copyedited manuscript for Forgotten Fantasy Volume 1 Number 4, with Menville’s notes, markup, and initials throughout. 40 typescript pages, plus annotated photocopies of previously published stories that would appear in this issue, including “The Hollow Land” by William Morris and the serial of William R. Bradshaw’s The Goddess of Atvatabar. Also included is the published magazine. A nice peek into the editorial process.
Id-Bits: A Psychophantasmagoria. [1962]. 28 pp. Photomechanically reproduced and bound in stiff covers with handwritten label. A wild manuscript with the author’s illustrations.
Star Cop (written by Menville and Alyce Tulips). An Outline for an unproduced Original Teleplay. 1978. 10 pp. typed. Bound in stiff wraps with typed paper label titles. First Draft. LAPD Officer John Lion and his encounter in the desert with a silver UFO and aliens. Proposes a two-hour movie with a series spinoff that embraces elements from science-fiction and police action drama.
Three unproduced television treatments/presentations written by Menville: 1) Midnightmare! 1964. 5 pp. typed. A treatment for a half-hour horror series. Bound in stiff wraps with paper labels and typed titles. With Menville’s West Hollywood address label inside front cover. 2) The Clock Strikes 12. 1964. 13 pp. typed, with illustrated title page. Proposes a television series that is a stronger brew of “blood-chilling horror.” With Menville’s West Hollywood address label inside front cover. 3) Fright! [c. 1965]. 20 pp. typed. Stapled wraps. Proposes a thirty-minute series of the supernatural that must have a special host—Salvador Dali, “two steps removed…from being a madman himself.”
Two [unproduced?] scripts for technical industry productions. 1) Total Programming. 1967. “Final Script.” [iv] 71 pp. With Menville’s name penciled on paper label. A training film for a new system of programming “to provide instruction in the mechanics of requirement identification” for Air Force Civil Engineers, to be filmed at Norton Air Force Base in California. 2) Organizing. 1973. 43 pp. A short training film on management, delegation, and procurement.
A typed single-page illustrated invitation to celebrate Menville’s 38th birthday (1973) in Burbank, CA, noting that he has finished his book. SIGNED by Menville and his partner.
Broadside advertisement [1970] announcing the First Issue of Forgotten Fantasy, “A new magazine featuring long lost classics of science fiction and fantasy." 8.5” x 11” photomechanically reproduced. Menville edited the magazine from 1970-1971.
An excellent collection that shows the imaginative young sci-fi fan from Louisiana in the 1940s develop into a respected sci-fi editor, author, and Hollywood script writer through the 1970s. Item #753
Price: $850.00