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DONALD M. GRANT 1994 signed letter about censoring Robert E. Howard in 1968!

$ 132

Availability: 100 in stock
  • Restocking Fee: No
  • Item must be returned within: 30 Days
  • All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
  • Condition: Used
  • Refund will be given as: Money Back
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Return shipping will be paid by: Seller

    Description

    DONALD M. GRANT (1927-2009)
    vintage original 1994 signed letter
    about censoring Robert E. Howard in 1968! 8 1/2 x 11, two single-sided pages, dated April 29, 1994 and signed by Donald M. Grant. I sent Donald Grant a copy of the article by Steve Trout described below and this is the letter Grant sent in reply, trying to explain why he made more than 100 changes in the original 1968 edition he published of RED SHADOWS without telling anyone what he had done. He was so late in explaining this that when he wrote back to me he sent a copy of his letter to Glenn Lord (who was then in charge of the Robert E. Howard properties). I published this Donald Grant letter in my fanzine SWORD & FANTASY #1 in 2005. Both pages of the letter are shown above.
    The story behind this letter is the article
    "The Expurgated Solomon Kane" by Steve Trout which is a 12 page article which reveals that when Donald M. Grant published the book RED SHADOWS he made more than 100 changes in the text to censor what he thought modern readers might find offensive (mostly racial references). But the book was not identified as abridged and the text remained censored for many years until Grant's censorship was exposed and the text was restored by returning to the versions published in WEIRD TALES. Steve's article examines the text in the original edition of RED SHADOWS and goes story by story to examine the changes compared what the original Howard text should be.
    Steve's article first appeared in the Robert E. Howard apa (REHUPA) and then was reprinted by me in the book THE FANTASTIC WORLDS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD (a copy of that book with Steve's article will be included with this original vintage letter).
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