''I Bequeath''."I, Forrest J. Ackerman, being of imaginative mind, bequeath to the Fantasy Foundation, upon my demise, my 1300 fantasy books (4 July 46). Hand Annotated by Ackerman with Additions.

Ackerman, Forrest J.

Published by Published for the Author, Hollywood, CA, 1946

About this Item

Hollywood, CA: [published for the author], [July 4, 1946]. See scans. First Edition. Hand Annotated by Ackerman with Additions. 23 leaves, including front cover, with single-spaced text mimeographed on recto side only. (4to) 11x8½, original printed tan paper staple-bound wrappers. One of 500 copies, mimeographed by C. Everett Evans, plus additional pencil notations and check marks throughout; these add a number of titles. These insertions have undergone forensic handwriting examination and have been authenticated as having been the hand of Ackerman. Forrest J. Ackerman, a significant American Sci-Fi editor, author, and collector, a reader of the SF magazines from their inception, has been an active member of SF FANDOM from his early teenage years, and ?as early as 1932 served as associate editor of The Time Traveller, the first FANZINE. For many decades thereafter he wrote stories and articles prolifically for fan journals - using his own name and a wide variety of elaborate pseudonyms, including Dr Acula, Jacques DeForest Erman, Alden Lorraine, Vespertina Torgosi, Hubert George Wells (cheekily), Weaver Wright and many others and becoming known in fan circles as Mr. Science Fiction; he won several awards for these activities, including a Hugo Award in 1953 for Number One Fan Personality. His first story was A Trip to Mars in 1929 for the San Francisco Chronicle, which won a prize for the best tale by a teenager; some of his more interesting work was assembled in Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J. Ackerman and Friends (1969). He collected SF books and memorabilia from the very first, publishing in I Bequeath (to the Fantasy Foundation) a bibliography of the first 1300 items, and eventually housing his 300,000-item library, which he called the Fantasy Foundation, in a 17-room house in Hollywood, the maintenance of which proved difficult to manage over the years. The library was further celebrated in Souvenir Book of Mr. Science Fiction's Fantasy Museum (1978). Disposals of collectible books have been made at times; and part of the library was auctioned in 1987, grossing over $550.000. Notorious for his punning and use of simplified words, [Ackerman] is credited with introducing the term SCI FI in 1954. He was [an] agent for a number of writers, notably A.E. van Vogt. Contains many books not found in the major Sci-Fi references, including: Bleiler, Locke, Reginald, Owings & Chalker, 333 or in Day. Rare. See scans. Lg7. Seller Inventory # 000733

Bibliographic Details

Title: ''I Bequeath''."I, Forrest J. Ackerman, ...

Publisher: Published for the Author, Hollywood, CA

Publication Date: 1946

Binding: staple-bound Wrappers

Condition: Good

Edition: First Edition