Gerry de la Ree
Gerry de la Ree (1924-1993) was a science fiction and fantasy fanzine publisher.
Gerry de la Ree began publishing fanzines in Westwood, New Jersey, U.S.A. in the early 1940s. His first zine was Sun Spots. 29 issues of this publication appeared, starting in February 1940, and running until September 1947. It was followed by The Scientifiction Scout in August 1940 (Gerry replaced Allen Moss as editor for issues #3 through #7), After Ten Years: A Tribute to Stanley G. Weinbaum in 1945, and Space Flight...When? in 1946. Concurrent with Sun Spots he also published Beowulf, which became well known for "the Beowulf Poll" featuring polls of fans, the results of which appeared in both titles. In 1948 he published Loki with co-editor Genevieve K. Stephens. Two issues appeared, one in Spring 1948 and the next in Summer 1948.
Gerry also did a bit of writing for the comics during these years: He had one story published in the first issue of Minuteman Comics (1941), and co-authored two Captain America stories in 1942.
Gerry de la Ree began the 1970s by publishing the fanzine Clark Ashton Smith - Artist in 1973, devoted to the art of Clark Ashton Smith. He then turned his hand to running a small independent press publishing limited edition books by H. P. Lovecraft and Poe, as well as books devoted to art. He published several books featuring art work by artists who contributed to fanzines and prozines. One of the first was the book devoted to the art of Hannes Bok. In 1973 he published Grotesques and Fantastiques by Clark Ashton Smith, and in 1974 he released "Klarkash-ton and Monstro Ligriv", with previously unpublished poems by Clark Ashton Smith and art by Virgil Finlay, including correspondence between the two artists. And in 1975 he released Clark Ashton Smith - Poet, containing 21 poems by Smith and a 1915 photograph of Smith and his parents. In 1977 he released Edd Cartier: The Known and the Unknown. He also released books with the art of Stephen Fabian, Virgil Finlay, and other fantasy and sf artists.
Gerry de la Ree was also an art collector who specialized in SF and fantasy work, particularly the cover art from pulp magazines of the 1930s through the 1980s.
By 1974, he had also gathered one of the largest collections of science fiction literature in the world; at that time, the two-story, forty by twenty foot library at his Saddle River, New Jersey home held more than 35,000 books and magazines. (For a description of his collection, see "Gerry de la Ree: King of the Collectors" by Victor Dricks in the first issue of Aurora [March 1974]).
He was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 1994.
Zines
- After Ten Years: A Tribute to Stanley G. Weinbaum
- Beowulf
- Clark Ashton Smith - Artist
- Clark Ashton Smith - Poet
- The Fire-Fiend and the Raven (1973)
- Loki (with Genevieve K. Stephens)
- The Miscast Barbarian (with L. Sprague de Camp)
- The Scientifiction Scout
- Space Flight...When?
- Sun Spots (with Rod Gaetz and Roy Plotkin)
Contributions
- Fandom Unlimited
- The Fantasite
- Fantasy Newsletter
- Fantasy Post
- HPL
- Locus
- Luna Monthly
- Parsection
- Peon
- Quandry
- The Scientifictionist
- Spaceways
- Sphere
- Vampire
- Vega
- The Vulcan
- Wavelength
- Xenophile
- Le Zombie
Books
- Selected Fragments (1945) (poetry collection) (edited by William S. Sykora)
- A Hannes Bok Sketchbook ed. Gerry de la Ree, limited edition of 107, 1976
- Art of the Fantastic, ed. Gerry de la Ree, 1978
- Beauty and the Beasts: The Art of Hannes Bok, forward by Ray Bradbury, 1978
- Bok - A Tribute to the Late Fantasy Artists, Hannes Bok, on the 60th Anniversary of His Birth and 10th Anniversary of His Death by Gerry de la Ree limited edition of 500, 1974
- The Books of Virgil Finlay, 7 Books, ed. Gerry de la Ree, Flare/Avon, 1975 - 1981
- Grotesques and Fantastiques by Clark Ashton Smith, limited edition of 600, Saddle River Press, 1973
- Fantasy Collector's Annual, limited edition of 500; Saddle River, 1974
- The Occult Lovecraft, by H. P. Lovecraft; limited edition of 990, Saddle River, 1975
