Thu 6 Dec 2007
Paperback Cover #10: MANLY W. WELLMAN & WADE WELLMAN: Sherlock Holmes’s War of the Worlds.
Posted by Steve under Covers , Personal Notes[4] Comments
Cover art by F. Accanero. A quick search on Google brings up a handful of other paperbacks he did the cover art for, mostly as Franco Accanero, but once again, no website.
WARNER paperback original; 1st printing, September 1975.
From the back cover:
of the Worlds …
so terrifying, it rocked the world
when H. G. Wells reported in 1897
— and again, in 1938, when Orson Welles
broadcast it.
But there was far more to the story than was ever told. Two of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger, played pivotal roles in the historic happenings. Here are the facts, never before revealed, of the confrontation: two of the most remarkable intellects the Earth ever produced pitted against beings intelligent enough to conquer space. Read now —
an invasion was coming.
how they survived the occupation of London
how they captured an alien invader
how they deduced the origin of the invaders
the reason for the landings — and the fatal flaw
in the plan for conquest.
[A PERSONAL NOTE] The cover’s really only OK. Leaving off the Holmesian pipe and cap, it’s a fairly generic sci-fi cover and to my mind, not particularly eye-catching.
There is a reason why I’m posting it here, and you can believe the story or not, as you wish, but it is true.
I don’t always remember where or when I bought a particular book I have in my collection, but sometimes I do, and I’m sure it’s the same way with you. And I certainly do in this case, and here’s why.
My daughter Sarah and her husband Mark had been living in Illinois for only a year, no more than two, as I recall — Charleston, in fact, if you’d like to look them up — and to entice me to visit, besides of course the obvious, Sarah mentioned that there was going to be a library sale somewhere in St. Louis where, it was said, they were going to be offering a million books. (I may have the number wrong. Maybe it was only half a million.)
So of course I went. I saw the sights in Charleston (other than Sarah’s school, it didn’t take long) and in Champaign-Urbana, where Mark works (that took a little longer), and we checked out all of the bookstores anywhere in between.
Came Saturday, we all got up early and drove the couple of hours over to St. Louis. There were lots of books, but the sale was rather disappointing. Maybe if I didn’t have to mail back anything I found, I would have bought more, but I don’t think I spent over $60 or $70. This is for paperbacks at 50 cents each, so it was a sizable amount, but I didn’t buy nearly as many books as I’d expected. (I’ve spent as much as $200 at some sales.)
Anyway, this book by the Wellmans (father and son — in fact, Wade Wellman is actually Manly Wade Wellman, Jr.) was one of the books. So I know exactly where I bought this book and how much I paid for it.
Well, here now comes the part that you’re not going to believe, and I wouldn’t either, except I was there. I opened the book up to glance through it, to see if it was worth keeping — the condition’s not entirely the best, as you can see — and inside was a bookplate.
My head spun for a moment, I collected my thoughts and looked again. If I could carry a tune, I suppose I could have heard the theme for the Twilight Zone. The book was not mine — I hadn’t paid for it — and it never had been. I’d never seen it before in my life.
I solemnly swear that the above story and final statement is true.
Signed on this date, December 6th, 2007.
Steve Lewis
December 6th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Steve, This is obviously a tear in an alternate universe where another version of you bought the book and owned it. Somehow this book got into our universe and … I think you better destroy the book. What if while handling it you are pulled into the alternate universe and meet the other Steve Lewis? Two Steve Lewis’s, both collecting masses of books. I think that would cause the end of the universe!
December 6th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Walker
You’re really starting to spook me out now!
— Steve
November 16th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
I absolutely believe it. Books will find their way to whomever they want to belong, either to new owners or old owners. Here’s a blog I wrote about Dig Allen and something similar occurred to
http://bookscribbles.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-dug-dig-allen.html
November 16th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Another great story. Thanks for the link, Ralph!