1946 Sheridan House, New York
1946
See this “Rarest Copy of Showdown” link!
1946 Invincible, Sydney
1946 “First Australian Edition”
1949 Dell Books
1952 W. Foulsham, London
1960 Cardinal, New York
1961 Consul Books
1976 Buccaneer Books
1986 Amereon Ltd
— Tim
In the days before the internet I advertized in rare book periodicals for five years trying to find a hardcover of Showdown to no avail. One day, my then wife, Theresa, was doing a favor for someone on Whidbey Island, in Washington State, and was sitting in a charming little cafe having lunch with her friend. She noticed bookshelves at the side of the dining area, and like me, decided to scan the titles, just in case … And there it was!
She later told me she couldn’t believe her eyes! She took the book to the manager, and surpressing her excitment, asked if she could buy it? The manager said, well, normally, I wouldn’t sell anything off the shelves but how about paying whatever I paid for it marked in pencil inside the front cover? $4.00 – the book was wrapped up, and kept hidden from me for two months until Christmas.
You can imagine my face when I unwrapped it …
Yeah. Chills all over!
And it was autographed by EF, no less? Wow! I grew up in Laguna Beach, CA (and yes, EF consorted there whilst making Captain Blood). Buccaneer Books was a used book store I haunted. Still have many great finds from there including Good Night, Sweet Prince, inscribed 1946 by author Gene Fowler (mentioned by EF in Wicked Ways as member of Olympiads) – bonus John Barrymore imprinted Christmas card was inside the book. Good find, Tim!
Thank you, The Zaca! Grew up in Laguna Beach? – What a wondrous location! Read that Flynn and Barrymore both stayed at the Hotel Laguna, along with many other Golden Age stars of the silver screen. … It’s so gorgeous there, I’d be surprised if they hadn’t!
www.sevenroads.org…
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That is Awesome, David!!! Does your cover/edition look like any of the above?
No, the book didn’t have a jacket but I was exstactic to have it sans cover, anyway …
I knew you had a license to chill!
Some people seem to have started such a collection years ago. www.theerrolflynnblog.com… Wouldn’t it be useful to have the covers there, along with more detailed information about the place of publication as is given for some there already?
Personally I think it was an excellent idea of David to show his enthusiasm, emotions and excitement at the time being presented with that book on the blog yesterday as the “Boss” being a true and ardent EF fan. I also had my share of excitement discovering things about EF. Shows real spirit!
To coin a phrase: Thank you Penny Lane for your thoughts. Here’s my two cents worth:
I created this post, and numerous other posts, with the opportunity, hope and encouragement that others make whatever positive contributions they can. If you or anyone else have or can find the more detailed information you or they believe should be there, I strongly encourage you to include it. This is what I believe the Reply function is best used for.
So, I encourage you go find the information you think should be posted here, and post it here as a reply comment. Or, of course, you are welcome to create your own entirely new post, or post it elsewhere, even in the archives if you wish.
Perhaps you would like to reply to one of these posts, too, Penny Lane. The more detail you can add the better. My goal is to gather, amplify, examine and disseminate information on Errol’s unique life and remarkable adventures. Please join in, if you wish. Contribute!
Personally I find this kind of posts very confusing. You start with a body of pictures and then other people add some more in comments. It would, imho, be much more user-friendly to create, for example, a gallery, as some people did with the magazine and book covers, and then, I believe, everyone can add pictures there. Also, if you look at some categories, there is almost nothing in there. What are they there for then, I ask myself? If people look for information on Flynn, they probably go to the categories. That’s what I did when I first discovered the blog. I can’t seem to add any posts myself so all I can do is make suggestions here.
We are going to have duplicate posting topics or subjects visited by others who have something to add to what was already posted to the blog. If possible, you can publish your article under a second or even a third category. By default sellecting no category puts your posting onto the front page. If you think your post relates to another category, just add a check mark to that other category and the article will appear in both places.
If you are browsing the blog, you can always comment, and add new information to older posts, too. Some older posts have reached their comment limit.
A very nice collection. I am happy to add another one…a little rare…1946 from the U.K.
I hope the pic came through.
(Image added after this comment was published)
Thank you very much, Ada. … Looking forward to seeing it!
Thank you, Ada! That is Awesome!!!
This looks likes the cover for the copy Errol sent to his parents in May of 1946. By any chance, do you know the UK publisher?
Here are my two cents on ‘Showdown’ by Errol Flynn. It is a good, adventure novel. If Flynn concentrated on writing rather than film acting, he had the potential to became a great author. Ralph Schiller
Personally I was quite impressed with some impact-making newspaper articles Errol wrote. His writing skills were amazing and very much appealed to me.
Thanks to Tim for this wonderful and fascinating display of another side to Errol Flynn, the novelist!
Thank you very much, Ralph. He was a man of so many sensational and diverse talents and achievements.