Letter to Howard De Vore

9 June 1967

Hal Salive Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection, University of Otago Library Special Collections

Unpublished

Salive regarded his reading of SF as one of the most important activities of his life. According to family reports, when courting his second wife, and visiting her parents, he would stress the importance of SF by pointedly sitting ‘reading’ right in front of them so they knew from the outset who they were getting as a son-in-law. One person he contacted in this early period was Howard De Vore (1925-2005), a Michigan-based SF collector, dealer, and expert of pulp magazines. The letter asking for a pricelist and giving preference to pre-1949 Astounding led DeVore to invite Salive to visit – ‘half an hour from Ann Arbor’ – and of course, buy. At the 1967 prices Salive must have had a field day!