An interesting, if short-lived pulp (and earlier) reprint digest from the 1970s is Forgotten Fantasy.
Edited by Douglas Menville and Robert Reginald and published by Nectar Press, five issues were published in 1970 and ’71.
As far as I can tell, this is the only thing Nectar ever published. The editors would soon start the Forgotten Fantasy Library series at Newcastle Publishing Co. that actually used the same Forgotten Fantasy logo from the digest. While the digest ran (mainly) short stories, the Library published novels in trade paperback form.
The editors took inspiration from the old Munsey pulps Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Fantastic Novels, which reprinted fantastical works that were no longer in print either from the early pulps or later from books then out of print.
In their digest, they reprinted works by F. Marion Crawford, Lord Dunsany, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Voltaire, H.G. Wells, Nathaniel Hawthorne, E. Nesbit, Algernon Blackwood, Tudor Jenks, Arthur Conan Doyle, and William Morris, and poems by Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Goethe, and Richard Le Gallienne.
They also serialized longer works. In the first four issues there was “The Goddess of Atvatabar” by William R. Bradshaw, a classic early hollow earth novel from 1892. It tells of a voyage to the interior world and of meeting its ruler, the Goddess, who falls in love with one of the American members of the expedition, which leads to revolution against the present rulers. The original illustrations were included. “Hartmann the Anarchist” by E. Douglas Fawcett started to be serialized in the fifth issue, with plans to finish in the sixth, which never saw print. Fawcett was the older brother of explorer Col. Percy Fawcett. Published in 1892, when the author was 17, it takes its inspiration from Jules Verne in its tale of Hartmann who has built a flying machine similar to Robur, and intends an aerial attack of London. It has only recently been reprinted since its first appearance, thanks to various POD publishers.
Regular non-fiction features were Menville’s “Excavations,” which served as an editorial, and “Calibrations,” which were short book reviews and started with the second issue.
No. 1 (October 1970) in addition to the “Goddess,” which was the cover feature, there was a novelette by Conan Doyle, “The Parasite,” about a psychic vampire. From F. Marion Crawford is “The Dead Smile,” and a poem by Beddoes, “The Phantom Wooer.”
No. 2 (December 1971) has a trio of stories in addition to the second part of “Goddess.” The cover feature is Lord Dunsany’s “When the Gods Slept.” We also get Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s “The Shadows on the Wall,” and Voltaire’s “Memnon; or, Human Wisdom.” Voltaire’s tale is a short one of a man who sets out to become wise. Freeman is an early American author of “ghost stories.”
No. 3 (January 1971) has stories by H.G. Wells, “The Valley of Spiders,” which was the cover feature, along with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” and E. Nesbit’s “Man-Size in Marble.”
No. 4 (April 1971) wraps up “Goddess,” and has a novelette from William Morris, “The Hollow Land,” the cover feature for this issue.
No. 5 (June 1971) kicks off the reprint of “Hartmann,” its cover feature. Short stories include “Smith: An Episode in a Lodging House” by Algernon Blackwood, and “A Lost Opportunity” by Tudor Jenks. Blackwood’s tale is one of his several horror works. Jenks is a little harder to describe. It’s too bad we never got a further issue in this series.
You can find copies of the original magazines for reasonable amount, and Borgo Press (now part of Wildside Press) reprinted them a few years back, so those can also be found. My set are Borgo reprints, and they are nice, except for the fact that they did not reprint the cover artwork on Nos. 2, 4 and 5, and those issues are a little smaller then the rest.
