Robert Howard's 'A Witch shall be born' original manuscript.

Today, Heritage Auctions had some pretty amazing news. Next week they will be selling off an original manuscript by Robert E. Howard, author of 'Conan the Barbarian' and 'Solomon Kane'. The current bid stands at $12,500 at this moment. Still, didn't want you to miss out on a peek at these glorious original pages, handtyped by the master himself! I encourage you to click on the images and watch them in larger size.

Robert E. Howard's short Conan the Barbarian story 'A Witch shall be born' was Published in December 1934 in the famous pulp magazine 'Weird Tales' (Vol. 24, issue 6), it is one of Howard's most remarkable Conan stories. The original manuscript is 40 pages and 15 of those have been used by the author to type another story on the backside, a western short  titled 'Knife River Prodigal', published in the July 1937 issue of 'Cowboy Stories'.

The manuscript is accompanied by a rough draft of the correspondance between Lovecraft associate Robert H. Barlow (the previous owner of the manuscript) and Robert E. Howard's father, in which the author (Barlow) expresses his condolences for his son's untimely death (Robert E. Howard died on June 11, 1936 after he had tragically shot himself).

Below: A one-page handwritten copy (in Barlow's hand) of a letter sent from Howard to Barlow, transmitting ownership of this very manuscript from the former to the latter and a photocopy of Howard's original typed letter signed to Barlow. The sale also includes photocopies of two other typed letters signed sent from Howard to Barlow and a photocopy of a letter from Glenn Lord identifying the western story as "Knife River Prodigal. 

The auction will take place on April 10. You can find more information here. For a more detailed look at the life and work of Robert E. Howard,check my article here or visit the REHfoundation. Below: The covers of 'Weird Tales' December 1934 and 'Cowboy Stories' Vol. 32, issue 1 of July 1937.