Found at various Half Price Books locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the Book Celler in Temple, and Recycled Books in Denton.
Anonymous. In the Future. Arno Press, 1974. First edition hardback thus, a reprint of a book originally published in 1867, a Fine- copy with slight bumps at points, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $7.99.
Not to be confused with the David Byrne piece of the same name:
Clarke, Arthur C. A Fall of Moondust. Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with the usual flaws, including stamps, pocket removal, tape to boards, etc, but with a much better than usual dust jacket, with a couple of short closed tears on flap edges, a small sticker ghost on spine, and slight protector discoloration to edges; call it a G/NF Ex-Lib copy. Currey, page 114. Replaces a less attractive Ex-Library copy. Bought for $20.
Erickson, Steve, Our Ecstatic Days. Simon & Schuster, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Bought at Recycled Books in Denton for $6.80.
Kuttner, Henry. The Best of Henry Kuttner. Nelson Doubleday (SFBC), 1975. First edition hardback (code “01 R” on page 335, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with trace of bumping at points in a Fine- dust jacket with slight edgewear and small fold to tip of bottom front flap. Introduction by ray Bradbury. Currey, page 291. Bought for $6 at the Book Cellar in Temple.
Martin, George R. R., editor. Wild Cards VI: Ace in the Hole. Bantam Books/SFBC, 1989. First hardback edition, the SFBC book club edition, preceded by the PBO, a Fine- copy with bumping at head, heel and top points, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight bumping at head, heel and top points, a couple of phantom creases across rear cover, and slight edgewear. Bought for $6 at the Book Cellar in Temple.
Matheson. Richard. Duel: Terror Stories By Richard Matheson. Tor, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine- with slight bend at heel copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a slight wrinkle at rear bottom. Supplements a trade paperback edition. Bought for $12.99.
Vance, Jack. The Space Pirate. Toby Press, 1953. First edition trade paperback original (no statement of printing, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with a bare trace of dust oiling age darkening to rear cover, plus the usual age darkening to pages; all but perfect, and far and away the nicest copy I’ve seen. Vance’s second novel. Hewett, A2. Cunningham, B.75.a. Currey, page 500. Supplements a signed but less attractive copy. Bought for $12 from Recycled Books in Denton.
It’s been a while since I did one of these, and more than seven years since I did a Beach House song, so here’s “Space Song,” featuring footage of a science fiction film I bet you’re familiar with.
Two more first editions from that private collector sale:
Clarke, Arthur C. Tales From The White Hart. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1970. First hardback edition (no statement of printing on copyright page, as per Currey), a Near Fine+ copy with what appears to be a 1″ slight sticker pull inside front cover and tarnishing to “o” in “from” gold metal colored lettering on spine, in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of edgewear at heel. A collection of “club stories,” sort of the English version of the American tall tale. Currey, page 115. Bought for $40.
Koontz, Dean R. Odd Thomas. Bantam Books, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and heel, slight haze rubbing to reflective surfaces, and one small spot of blind-side staining at heel. Another book Scott Cupp recommended. Bought for $7.20.
Some ten years ago I put up a books wanted list, and since then I’ve obtained a lot of things on it. Now here’s a greatly expanded list.
The vast majority of these are first edition first printings, mostly hardbacks, but I do have more PBOs listed this time around (especially for Michael Moorcock and Jack Vance). Hardback is the default, but other formats are listed where otherwise, as are a occasional first edition points for clarity or to jog my memory.
I don’t buy later printings, copies without dust jackets (when issued with same), copies with price-clipped dust jackets (unless all copies of the true first edition were released that way), copies with facsimile dust jackets, or overly crummy copies. Most of the books I buy are in Fine/Fine condition, but that relaxes a bit the older (and pricier) books become. I have picked up Ex-Library copies in dust jacket when the better copies of the true first can’t be found under a grand. I also only buy first state bindings and dust jackets, unless there’s no priority, or the true first state is insanely rare (such as with Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Dawn of Flame). I prefer signed copies to unsigned copies for most things, especially for dead writers (an ever-growing list). Trade editions of recent books from mainstream publishers are mainly here to jog my own memory when visiting bookstores.
I have a few books here under the writer’s pseudonym, so I can enter them under that name in various search fields.
Some of these are aspirational, as I doubt I’m going to find a first printing of The Hobbit I can afford, but you never know.
If you have nice copies of the below you’re willing to part with at an attractive price, feel free to drop me a line at lawrenceperson at gmail dot com.
Anonymous (actually Dorothy Scarborough)’s The Wind (Harper & Brothers, 1925)
Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Arthur Baker, 1979)
Richard Adams’ Watership Down (Rex Collins, 1972)
Robert Aickman’s Sub Rosa (Gollancz, 1968)
Brian Aldiss’ At the Caligula Hotel (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995) (trade paperback)
Brian Aldiss’ Greybeard (Harcourt Brace & World, 1964)
Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Spring (Cape, 1982)
Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Summer (Cape, 1983)
Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Winter (Atheneum, 1985)
Brian Aldiss’ Hothouse (Faber & Faber, 1962)
Brian Aldiss’ A Plutonian Monologue (Frogmore Press, 2002) (chapbook)
Brian Aldiss’ At a Bigger House (Avernus, 2002) (chapbook)
Brian Aldiss’ The Dark Sun Rises (Avernus, 2002) (chapbook)
Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword (Abelard-Schulman, 1954)
Poul Anderson’s The High Crusade (Doubleday, 1960)
Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity (Doubleday, 1955)
Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (Gnome Press, 1950)
Isaac Asimov’s Liar! (Cambridge University Press, 1977) (chapbook)
Steve Aylett’s Shamanspace (Codex, 2001) (TPO)
Steve Aylett’s Dummyland (Gollancz, 2002) (TPO)
Paul Bailey’s Deliver Me From Eva (Murray & Gee, 1946)
J. G. Ballard’s Crash (Cape, 1973)
J. G. Ballard’s The Day of Forever (Gollancz, 1986)
J. G. Ballard’s The Drowned World (Gollancz, 1962)
J. G. Ballard’s Kingdom Come (Fourth Estate, 2006)
J. G. Ballard’s Low Flying Aircraft (Cape, 1976)
J. G. Ballard’s Rushing to Paradise (Flamingo, 1994)
Bill Barclay’s Somewhere in the Night (Compact PBO, 1966)
Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart (Earthling Publications, 2007)
Clive Barker’s The Scarlet Gospels (St. Martin’s, 2015)
Peter S. Beagle’s Lila the Werewolf (Capra Press, 1974) (1/75 signed hardbacks)
Michael Bishop’s Windows & Mirrors (The Moravian Press, 1977) (poetry chapbook)
Jerome Bixby’s The Devil’s Scrapbooks (Brandon House, 1964) (PBO)
(Blackwood, Algernon) Mike Ashley’s Algernon Blackwood: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood, 1987)
William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (Harper & Row, 1971)
James P. Blaylock’s Doughnuts (ASAP, 1994) (1/26 triptych copies)
James P. Blaylock’s Home Before Dark (Subterranean, 2000) (1/26 signed, lettered hardback copies)
James Blish’s The Day After Judgment (Doubleday, 1971, code L47 on p. 166)
Robert Bloch’s Atoms and Evil (Robert Hale, 1976)
Robert Bloch’s Blood Runs Colds (Simon and Schuster, 1961)
Robert Bloch’s Chamber of Horrors (Award Books, 1966) (PBO)
Robert Bloch’s Cold Chills (Doubleday, 1977)
Robert Bloch’s The Dead Beat (Simon and Schuster, 1960)
Robert Bloch’s Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow (Award, 1971) (PBO)
Robert Bloch’s The Laughter of a Ghoul/Whatever A Young Ghoul Should Know (Necrominocon Press, 1977) (chapbook)
Robert Bloch’s Once Around the Bloch (Tor, 1993)
Robert Bloch’s The Opener of the Way (Arkham House, 1945)
Robert Bloch’s Pleasant Dreams – Nightmares (Arkham House, 1960)
Robert Bloch’s The Scarf (Dial Press, 1947)
Robert Bloch’s Sea-Kissed (Utopian Publications, 1945)(PBO)
Robert Bloch’s The Skull of the Marquis de Sade and other stories (Robert Hale, 1975)
Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury’s Bloch and Bradbury (Tower, 1969) (PBO)
Pierre Boulle’s Monkey Planet (Secker & Warburg, 1964)
Edward P. Bradbury’s Barbarians of Mars (Compact, 1965) (PBO)
Edward P. Bradbury’s Blades of Mars (Compact, 1965) (PBO)
Ray Bradbury’s About Norman Corwin (Santa Susana Press, 1979)(boxed art portfolio)
Ray Bradbury’s The Anthem Sprinters (Dial Press, 1963, hardback)
Ray Bradbury’s The April Witch (Creative Education, 1987) (hardback chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Beyond 1984: Remembrances of Things Future (Targ, 1979)
Ray Bradbury’s Christmas Greetings broadsides (all years except 1982, 1986, 1989, 1994, and 2008)
Ray Bradbury’s Christus Apollo: Cantata Celebrating the Eighth Day of Creation and the Promise of the Ninth (The Gold Stein Press, 1998) (1/50 signed hardback copies in traycase)
Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (Doubleday, 1957)
Ray Bradbury’s Dawn to Dusk (Gauntlet, 2011) (signed numbered or signed lettered edition)
Ray Bradbury’s The Day It Rained Forever. (Rupert Hart Davis, 1959) (Currey state A (navy blue binding))
Ray Bradbury’s The Day It Rained Forever: A Comedy in One Act (Samuel French, 1966) (play chapbook, 75¢ price)
Ray Bradbury’s A Device Out of Time (Dramatic Publishing, 1986)
Ray Bradbury’s The Engines Drive the Summer With Their Purr (Green Cat Press, 2001) (broadsheet)
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (Ballantine Books, 1953) (any Currey hardback state (B-E))
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaption (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009) (graphic novel)
Ray Bradbury’s Falling Upward (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1989) (play chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Farewell Summer (Morrow, 2006)
Ray Bradbury’s Farewell Summer (Subterranean, 2011) (lettered edition with extra book)
Ray Bradbury’s The Fog Horn (Creative Education, 1987) (hardback chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Fragments (Gauntlet, 2005)
Ray Bradbury’s Frost and Fire (DC Comics, 1985) (graphic novel)
Ray Bradbury’s From the Dust Returned (Morrow, 2001)
Ray Bradbury’s A Gathering of Authors & Their Admonitions (Castle Press, 1981) (broadsheet)
Ray Bradbury’s The God in Science Fiction (Santa Susana Press, 1978)(chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Golden Apples of the Sun (Doubleday, 1953)
Ray Bradbury’s Halloween (Shuttlebop Press, 1983)
Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree (Gauntlet Press, 2005) (1/52 lettered copies with metal case and popup tree)
Ray Bradbury’s Imagine (Lord John, 1981) (broadside, 1/100 signed)
Ray Bradbury’s I Live By The Invisible (Salmon Poetry, 2002) (TPO)
Ray Bradbury’s I Sing the Body Electric (Knopf, 1969)
Ray Bradbury’s Kaleidoscope (Dramatic Publishing, 1975)(play chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Last Good Kiss (Santa Susana Press, 1984) (art portfolio thing)
Ray Bradbury’s Long After Ecclesiastes (Gold Stein Press, 1985; miniature book)
Ray Bradbury’s The Love Affair (Lord John Press, 1982) (1/300 signed hardbacks)
Ray Bradbury’s Long After Midnight (Knopf, 1976)
Ray Bradbury’s The Machineries of Joy Simon and Schuster, 1964)
Ray Bradbury’s Madrigals for the Space Age (Associated Music Publishers, 1972) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Man Dead? Then God Slain (Santa Susana Press, 1977) (1 of 26 numbered hardback copies in slipcase)
Ray Bradbury’s Match to Flame (Gauntlet, 2006) (Wooden slipcase lettered edition)
Ray Bradbury’s A Medicine for Melancholy (Doubleday, 1959)
Ray Bradbury’s My Cat Has Swallowed a Bumblebee (Green Cat Press, 2003) (broadsheet)
Ray Bradbury’s 1984 Will Not Arrive: A Prediction for the Greening of Scripps (Grant Dahlstrom at The Castle Press, 1975) (chapbook text lecture)
Ray Bradbury’s No Man Is An Island (Brandeis University, 1952) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The October Country (Ballantine Books, 1955; first state with inverted logo on spine)
Ray Bradbury’s One More For The Road (Morrow, 2002)
Ray Bradbury’s One the Years Were Numerous and the Funerals Few (broadsheet, 2004)
Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian (Roy Squires, 1964) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian: A Fantasy in One Act (Samuel French, 1966) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Pillar of Fire and Other Plays (Bantam Books, 1975) (PBO)
Ray Bradbury’s The Poet Considers His Resources (Lord John Press, 1979) (broadside)
Ray Bradbury’s R is for Rocket (Doubleday, 1962)
Ray Bradbury’s Ray Bradbury Chronicles (Volumes 1, 3 and 5) (Byron Preiss/NBM) (signed hardback graphic novels)
Ray Bradbury’s Samurai/Kabuki (Hill House, 2006 hardback)
Ray Bradbury’s S is for Space (Doubleday, 1966)
Ray Bradbury’s Skeletons (Subterranean, 2008) (lettered edition)
Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (Simon and Schuster, 1962)
Ray Bradbury’s The Stars (Gold Stein Press, 1/95, 1993, miniature book)
Ray Bradbury’s Sun and Shadow (Quenian Press, 1957) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Switch on The Night (Pantheon, 1955)(first state, no mention of Random House on copyright page)
Ray Bradbury’s That Ghost, That Bride of Time (Roy A. Squires, 1976)
Ray Bradbury’s That Son of Richard III: A Birth Announcement (Roy A. Squires, 1974)
Ray Bradbury’s Tomorrow Midnight (Ballantine Books, 1966) (PBO, ¢50)
Ray Bradbury’s To The Chicago Abyss (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1988) (play chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Tonybee Convector (Knopf, 1988) (1/350 signed/numbered)
Ray Bradbury’s Twice 22 (Doubleday, 1966) (book club, code 47G on page 405)
Ray Bradbury’s The Trivial Pursuits Transporter (Hill House, 2006)
Ray Bradbury’s The Vintage Bradbury (Vintage Books, 1965)
Ray Bradbury’s Where Everything Ends (Subterranean Press, 2009) (1/26 lettered copies)
Ray Bradbury’s The Wish (Hill House, 2006)
Ray Bradbury’s The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone (?, 1985) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing (Capra Press/ Joshua Odell Editions, 1973 (1/250 signed, numbered copies)
Ray Bradbury editor’s The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Stories (Bantam Books, 1956) (PBO)
Ray Bradbury editor’s Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow (Bantam Books, 1953) (PBO, 35¢)
Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch’s Bloch and Bradbury (PBO, Tower, 1969, Tower 43-246, 60¢)
(Ray Bradbury) Steven Ageliss’ Conversations With Ray Bradbury (University Press of Mississippi, 2004, paperback)
(Ray Bradbury) Jonathan R. Eller & William F. Touponce’s Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction (Kent State University Press, 2004)
(Ray Bradbury) Joseph Mugnaini: Drawings & Graphics (Scarecrow Press, 1982)
(Ray Bradbury) Joseph Mugnaini: Ten Views of the Moon (Lynton Kistler, 1981) (art portfolio with 10 signed prints)
(Ray Bradbury) Sam Weller’s Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews (Stopsmiling Books/Melville House, 2010) (TPO)
(Ray Bradbury) William F. Nolan’s Ray Bradbury Review (Graham Press, 1988)
Ernest Bramah’s Kai Lung: Six (Non-Profit Press, 1974)
William S. Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1981)
William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch (Grove Press, 1959 (i.e., 1962))
William S. Burroughs’ The Soft Machine (Grove Press, 1966)
John W. Campbell’s Invaders from the infinite (Fantasy Press, 1961) (one of 300 (actually 112) signed, numbered copies)
John W. Campbell’s Islands of Space (Fantasy Press, 1956) (1/50-odd signed copies)
John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? (Shasta Publishers, 1952)
John Dickson Carr’s The Devil in Velvet (Harper & Brothers, 1951)
Angela Carter’s Heroes and Villains (Heinemann, 1969)
Edd Cartier’s The Known and the Unknown (De La Ree, 1977)
Michael Chabon’s Werewolves in Their Youth (Random House, 1999) (Number line ends with 2)
G. K. Chesterton’s Napoleon of Notting Hill (John Lane, 1904)
Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood Ends (Portentious Press HB, 1996)
Arthur C. Clarke’s Expedition to Earth (Ballantine Books, 1953)
Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sands of Mars (Sidgwick & jackson, 1951)
Arthur C. Clarke’s Tales From the White Heart (Ballantine Books, 1957)
Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (NAL, 1968)
James Clavell’s King Rat (Little Brown, 1962)
Hal Clement’s Cycle of Fire (Ballantine, 1957)
Colvin, James. The Deep Fix (Compact, 1966) (PBO)
Avram Davidson’s And Don’t Forget The One Red Rose (Dryad Press, 1986) (1/15 hardbacks)
L. Sprague De Camp’s Lest Darkness Fall (Henry Holt, 1941)
L. Sprague De Camp’s The Tritonian Ring (Twayne, 1953)
L. Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt’s The Castle of Iron (Fantasy Press, 1950)
L. Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt’s The Incomplete Enchanter (Henry Holt & Co., 1941)
Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren (Gregg Press, 1977)
Samuel R. Delany’s The Einstein Intersection (Ace, 1967) (PBO)
Samuel R. Delany’s The Fall of the Towers (Gregg Press, 1977)
Samuel R. Delany’s Out of the Dead City (Sphere, 1968) (PBO)
(Samuel R. Delany) George Edgar Slusser’s The Delany Intersection (Borgo Press, 1977) (chapbook)
(Samuel R. Delany) James Sallis, editor. Ash of Stars: On the Writings of Writing of Samuel R. Delany (University of Mississippi Press, 1996)
August Derleth’s The Trail of Cthulhu (Arkham House, 1962)
Philip K. Dick’s Dr. Bloodmoney (Gregg Press, 1977)
Philip K. Dick’s Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s (Library of America, 2008) (in dust jacket with green band)
Philip K. Dick’s Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s (Library of America, 2008) (without dust jacket, in slipcase)
Philip K. Dick’s VALIS and Later Novels (Library of America, 2009) (in dust jacket with pink band)
Philip K. Dick’s VALIS and Later Novels (Library of America, 2009 (without dust jacket, in slipcase)
Philip K. Dick’s Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (Doubleday, 1974) (no remainder spray)
Philip K. Dick’s The World Jones Made (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1968)
Gordon R. Dickson’s The Dragon and the George (Nelson Doubleday/SFBC, 1976) (book club hardback) (code G24 on page 243)
Thomas M. Disch’s Haikus of an Ampart (Coffee House Press, 1991) (chapbook)
Thomas M. Disch’s Orders of the Retina (Toothpaste Press, 1982) (1/100 signed, numbered hardbacks)
Thomas M. Disch’s Ringtime (Toothpaste Press, 1982, 1/100 signed, numbered hardbacks)
Thomas M. Disch’s Under Compulsion (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968)
Thomas M. Disch, Marilyn Hacker and Charles Platt’s Highway Sandwiches (chapbook, 1970)
Gardner Dozois’s Sunk beneath the Waves (Dragonstairs Press, 2013) (chapbook)
Gardner Dozois’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction Volumes 15, 23, 24, 27, 28 (St. Martin’s hardbacks)
Robert Eighteen-Bisang’s A Vampire Bibliography: Volume One, Literature (Transylvania Press, 1996)
E. R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros (Cape, 1922)
Harlan Ellison’s All the Sounds of Fear (Panther, 1973) (PBO)
Harlan Ellison’s Broken Glass (Avenue Victor Hugo, 1981) (broadside)
Harlan Ellison’s The Deadly Streets (Ace, 1958) (PBO)
Harlan Ellison’s Ellison Under Glass (Charnel House, 2019) (1/100 signed/numbered)
Harlan Ellison’s Gentlemen Junkie (Regency, 1961) (PBO, 50¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s The Glass Teat & The Other Glass Teat (Charnel House, 2014)
Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (Pyramid, 1967) (PBO, 60¢ on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Jokes Without Punchlines (White Wolf, 1995) (chapbook)
Harlan Ellison’s The Juvies (Ace, 1961) (PBO, 35¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s The Man With Nine Lives b/w A Touch of Infinity (Ace, 1960) (PBO, 35¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty (Lance Brown, 1993) (broadside, 1/100 copies)
Harlan Ellison’s Over the Edge (Belmont, 1970) (PBO, May 1970 on copyright page, 75¢ on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Night of Black Glass (1981) (broadside)
Harlan Ellison’s Rockabilly (Fawcett, 1961) (PBO, First Printed October 1961 on copyright page, 35¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Spider Kiss (Pyramid, 1975) (PBO, Pyramid Edition published July 1975 on copyright page, $1.25 on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s The Time of the Eye (Panther, 1974) (PBO, first published in Great Britain in 1974 on copyright page, 35p on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Web of the City (Pyramid, 1975) (PBO, New Pyramid edition: December 1975 on copyright page, price of $1.50 on cover)
Harlan Ellison (& Steranko)’s “Repent, Harlequin,” Said The Ticktock Man (art Portfolio w/6 prints) (Baronet, 1978)
Harlan Ellison’s Vic and Blood (Edgeworks Abbey, 2003)
(Harlan Ellison) Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe’s Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever (Ohio State University Press, 2002)
Philip Jose Farmer’s A Barnstormer in Oz (Phantasia Press S/L, 1982)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Blown or Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind (Essex House, 1968, PBO)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Flesh (Doubleday, 1968)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp Heroes (Meteor House, 2019)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Image of the Beast (Essex House, 1966, PBO)
Philip Jose Farmer’s The Unreasoning Mask (Putnam, 1981) (signed/limited edition)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Strange Relations (Gollancz, 1964)
Gans T. Field’s Romance in Black (Utopian Publications, 1946) (chapbook)
Virgil Finlay’s The Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1975)
Virgil Finlay’s The Third Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1979)
Virgil Finlay’s The Fourth Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1979)
Virgil Finlay’s The Fifth Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1979)
Virgil Finlay’s The Sixth Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1980)
Jack Finney’s Time and Again (Simon & Schuster, 1970) (1st stated, no book club mention on dj or embossed book club square on rear)
John Fowls’ The Magus (Cape, 1966)
Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon (Lippincott, 1959)
Jane Gaskell’s The Shiny Narrow Grin (Hodder & Stoughton, 1964)
Neil Gaiman’s The Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff (Borderlands, 2011)
William Golding’s The Inheritors (Faber & Faber, 1955)
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (Faber & Faber, 1954)
William Golding’s Pincher Martin (Faber & Faber, 1956)
Herbert Gorman’s The Place Called Dagon (Doran, 1927)
Charles L. Harness’s Flight Into Yesterday (Bouregy & Curl, 1953)
Roger Harris’ The LSD Dossier (Compact, 1966) (PBO)
Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room! (Doubleday, 1966)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Between Planets (Scribner’s, 1951) (First Printing A & seal, unclipped $2.50 dj)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Beyond This Horizon (Fantasy Press, 1948)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Putnam, 1985) (1/350 signed, numbered copies)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy (Scribner’s, 1957) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Door Into Summer (Doubleday, 1957)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold (Putnam, 1964)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky (Scribner’s, 1950)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Friday (Holt Reinhardt & Winston, 1982) (1/500 signed, numbered copies)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Glory Road (Putnam, 1963)(no statement of printing)
Robert A. Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil (Putnam, 1970)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice (Del Rey, 1984, 1/750 signed, numbered copies)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Menace From Earth (Gnome, 1959)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Methuselah’s Children (Gnome, 1st state binding (black boards), 1st state dj (“New York 3”)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky (Gollancz, 1963)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Red Planet (Scribner’s, 1949) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Rocket Ship Galileo (Scribner’s, 1947) (First Printing A & seal, unclipped $2.00 dj)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones (Scribner’s, 1952) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Space Cadet (Scribner’s, 1948) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Starman Jones (Scribner’s, 1953) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love (Putnam, 1973)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Time for the Stars (Scribner’s, 1956) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky (Scribner’s, 1955) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Universe (Dell, 1951) (PBO)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (Gnome, 1959)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Waldo & Magic Inc. (Doubleday, 1950)
Peter Held’s Take My Face (Mystery House, 1957)
Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983)
Joe Hill’s Basket Full of Heads (Hill House Comics/DC, 2020) (Hardback graphic novel)
Joe Hill’s Dying Is Easy (IDW, 2020) (Hardback graphic novel)
Joe Hill’s Plunge (Hill House Comics/DC, 2020) (Hardback graphic novel)
Joe Hill’s You Are Released (Lividian Publications, 2022) (chapbook)
Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker (Cape, 1980)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Boats of the ‘Glen Garrig’ (Chapman and Hall, 1907) (no statement of printing)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Calling of the Sea (Selwyn & Blount, 1920)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Ghost Pirates (Stanley Paul, 1909) (red cloth binding)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Haunted Pampero (Donald M. Grant, 1991, 1/500 signed copies)
William Hope Hodgson’s The House on the Borderland (Chapman and Hall, 1908)
William Hope Hodgson’s Men of Deep Waters (Eveleigh Nash, 1914)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land (Eveleigh Nash, 1911)
William Hope Hodgson’s Terror of the Seas (Donald M. Grant, 1996, with signed illustration sheet laid in)
William Hope Hodgson’s Voice of the Ocean (Selwyn & Blount, 1921)
(William Hope Hodgson) Ian Bell, editor William Hope Hodgson: Voyages And Visions (Bell, 1987 chapbook)
Nancy Holder’s Dead in the Water (Dell Abyss, 1994) (PBO)
Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood (Gollancz, 1984)
Gordon Honeycombe’s Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (Hutchison, 1969)
Geoffrey Household’s Dance of the Dwarfs (Michael Joseph, 1968)
Robert E. Howard’s Always Comes Evening (Arkham House, 1957)
Robert E. Howard’s “…and their memory was a bitter tree” (Black Bart, 2008) (1/500 signed slipcased)
Robert E. Howard’s Black Vulmea’s Vengence (Donald M. Grant, 1976)
Robert E. Howard’s Blades for France (George T. Hamilton, 1975) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s Bloodstar (Morning Star Press, 1976) (Graphic novel, one of 1,500 signed by artist Corban)
Robert E. Howard’s Echoes From an Iron Harp (Donald M. Grant, 1972)
Robert E. Howard’s Etchings in Ivory (Glenn Lord, 1968) (chapbook)(see Currey for points)
Robert E. Howard’s The Grey God Passes (Charles Miller, 1975) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Grim Land and Others (Stygian Isle Press, 1976, 1/1450)
Robert E. Howard’s A Gent From Bear Creek (Herbert Jenkins, 1937)
Robert E. Howard’s The Ghost Ocean (Gibbelins Gazatte Pubns, 1982, hardback)
Robert E. Howard’s The Grim Land and Others (Stygian isle Press, 1976) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Illustrated Gods of the North (Necronomicon Press, 1977) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Incredible Adventures of Dennis Dorgan (Fax Collector’s Edition, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s The Iron Man and other tales (Donald M. Grant, 1976)
Robert E. Howard’s Isle of Pirate’s Doom (George T. Hamilton, 1975)
Robert E. Howard’s The King’s Service (George T. Hamilton, 1975)
Robert E. Howard’s Kull (Donald M. Grant, 1985)
Robert E. Howard’s The Hyborian Age (Los Angeles-New York Cooperative Publications, 1938)
Robert E. Howard’s The Lost Valley of Iskander (FAX Collector’s Edition, 1974)
Robert E. Howard’s The Last Cat Book (Dodd Mead, 1984)
Robert E. Howard’s The Pride of Bear Creek (Grant, 1966)
Robert E. Howard’s Red Blades of Black Cathay (Grant, 1971)
Robert E. Howard’s Red Shadows (Grant, 1968)
Robert E. Howard’s Shadows of Dreams (Donald M. Grant, 1989)
Robert E. Howard’s The Shadow of the Beast (George T. Hamilton, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s Shadow of the Hun (George T.Hamilton, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s Singers in the Shadows (Donald M. Grant, 1970)
Robert E. Howard’s Son of the White Wolf (Fax Collector’s Edition, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s Spears of Clontarf (George T. Hamilton, 1978) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Sword of Shahrazar (FAX Collector’s Editions, 1976)
Robert E. Howard’s Tigers of the Sea (Donald M. Grant, 1974)
Robert E. Howard’s Two Against Tyre (Dennis McHaney, 1976) (chapbook)(1/600 numbered)
Robert E. Howard’s Valley of the Lost (Chuck E. Miller, 1975)
Robert E. Howard’s Writer of the Dark (Dark Carnival Press, 1986) (trade paperback)(1/500)
Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt and C.L. Moore’s The Challenge From Beyond (Weltschmertz Publications, 1954) (Mimeographed)
(Robert E. Howard) Glenn Lord’s The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert E. Howard
Jan Hudson’s Those Sexy Saucer People (Greenleaf Classics, 1966)
Shirley Jackson’s The Bad Children (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1958)
Shirley Jackson’s The Magic of Shirley Jackson (Farrar Straus, 1966)
Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (Doubleday, 1976) (Father Cody and not price-clipped on front flap)
Henry Kuttner’s The Valley of the Flame (Ace, 1964) (PBO)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Audifaxes (2019 chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s Alaric: The Day The World Ended (United Mythologies Press, 1994)
R. A. Lafferty’s Anamnesis (United Mythologies Press, 1992) (chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Best of R.A. Lafferty (Gollancz, 2019) (trade paperback)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Best of R.A. Lafferty (Tor, 2021) (hardback)
R. A. Lafferty’s Cranky Old Man From Tulsa (United Mythologies Press, 1990)
R. A. Lafferty’s How Many Miles to Babylon (United Mythologies Press, 1989)
R. A. Lafferty’s Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas (Aegypan, 2007) (hardback chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Six Fingers of Time (Aegypan, 2011) (hardback chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s Strange Skies (United Mythologies Press, 1988) (chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s Funnyfingers & Cabrito (Pendragon Press HB)
(R. A. Lafferty) Boomer Flats Gazette (Volumes 1-4)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Blood and Shadows (volumes 1-4) (DC Vertigo, 1996)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Blood Dance (Subterranean, 2000) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Bubba Ho-Tep (Hail To the King edition DVD with jacket packaging, 2007)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Conan and the Songs of the Dead (Dark Horse, 2007)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Crawling Sky (Antarctic Press, 2013) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Dead in the West (Crossroads Press, 1994) (signed/limited)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Dead in the West (Night Shade Books, 2005) (1/150 signed, limited copies)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive In Bus Tour (Subterranean, 2005) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Freezer Burn (Crossroads Press, 1999) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Freezer Burn (Crossroads Press, 1999) (Special Edition, 1 of 5 copies)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Good, the Bad and the Indifferent (Subterranean Press, 1997) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror (IDW, 2012) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s I Tell You It’s Love (SST Publications, 2014) (hardback graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo (DC Vertigo, 1994) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Lone Ranger & Tonto (Topps Comics, 1995) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Long Ones (Necro Publications, 1999) (lettered traycased edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Magic Wagon (Borderlands Press signed/limited hardback, 1991)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Nightrunners (Dark Harvest, 1987) (signed slipcased edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Nightrunners (Dark Harvest, 1987) (signed leatherbound “slipcrate” edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s On the Far Side with Dead Folks (Avalon, 2004) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Orbit 1 & 2 (Subterranean, 2000) (hardback)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Pigeons From Hell (Dark Horse, 2009) (graphic novel TPO)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Something Lumber This Way Comes (Subterranean, 1999) (1/13 lettered editions)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Steam Man (Dark Horse, 2016) (graphic novel TPO)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Tarzan and the Land That Time Forgot (TimeShifter/ECOF, 2018) (chapbook)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back (Pulphouse hardback)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Thicket (Earthling Publications, 2015) (1/250 signed/limited hardbacks)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Two-Bear Mambo (Cahill Press, 1995) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Waltz of Shadows (Subterranean, 1999) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale and Lewis Shiner’s Private Eye Action As You Like It (Crossroads Press, 1998) (1/26 lettered editions)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The X-Files: Case Files (IDW, 2018) (hardback graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Robert Bloch’s Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (IDW, 2010) (graphic novel)
Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife (Twayne, 1953) (no statement of printing)
Fritz Leiber’s Gather, Darkness (Pellegrini & Cudhay, 1950)
Fritz Leiber’s The Green Millennium (Abelard, 1953) (no statement of printing, no overprice)
Fritz Leiber’s Night Monsters (Gollancz, 1974)
Fritz Leiber’s Two Sought Adventure (Gnome Press, 1957)
Fritz Leiber’s The Secret Songs (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968)
Cornel Lengyel’s The Atom Clock (FPCI, 1951) (hardback or chapbook)
Doris Lessing’s Briefing for a Descent Into Hell (Cape, 1971)
C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet (John Lane The Bodley Head, 1938)
C. S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength (John Lane The Bodley Head, 1945)
David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus (Methuen, 1920) (Gilt-stamped spine, undated publisher’s catalog)
H. P. Lovecraft’s Essential Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth (Hippocampus Press, 2013) (two volumes)
H. P. Lovecraft’s Juvenilia 1895-1905 (Necronomicon Press, 1984) (chapbook)
H. P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others (Arkham House, 1939)
H. P. Lovecraft’s Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Arkham House, 1943)
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Donald R. Burleson’s Lovecraft: Disturbing the Universe (University of Kentucky Press, 1990)
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Peter Cannon’s The Chronology Out of Time (Necronomicon Press chapbook, 1986)
Mervyn Peake’s Titus Alone (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959)
H. Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (Garland HB, 1975)
H. Beam Piper’s (and Andre Norton’s) A Planet For Texans (and Star Born) (Ace, 1958) (PBO, 35¢)
H. Beam Piper’s Space Viking (Ace, 1962) (PBO, 40¢)
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth’s Gladiator-At-Law (Ballantine Books, 1955)
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth’s Presidential Year (Ballantine Books, 1956)
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth’s Search the Sky (Ballantine Books, 1954)
Terry Prachett’s The Colour of Magic (Colin Smythe, 1983)
Terry Prachett’s The Light Fantastic (Colin Smythe, 1986)
Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow (Viking, 1973) (First issue dj with ISBN lettered in white over red on rear panel, date code 0273 on lower front flap)
Ellery Queen’s And On the Eighth Day (Random House, 1964)
Ellery Queen’s The Fourth Side of the Triangle (Random House, 1965)
Ellery Queen’s The Player on The Other Side (Random House, 1963)
Back in November, I went out to Michael Moorcock’s house and bought five boxes of books from him. Some of those went out in December’s Lame Excuse Books catalog, and more were Moorcock first editions (naturally) that I’ll be cataloging a bit later. But here’s one of the most notable books by other authors I bought from him:
Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous With Rama. Gollancz, 1973. First edition hardback (no statement of printing, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with bumped top front corner, small inked “W” on front free endpaper, tiny doggear to top of first 12 pages, in a Near Fine dust jacket with bumped top front corner, 3/8″ closed tear to rear bottom DJ near heel, pinhead nick to bottom front fold edge with associated scratch, slight edegwear at head and heel, and a touch of rubbing. Hugo and Nebula winner for Best Novel. Currey, page 115. Anatomy of Wonder 4, *4-109. Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, pages 1759-1763 (“Rendezvous With Rama is one of those novels obviously destined to become instant classics.”). Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, page 106. One of Clarke’s most important novels. Replaces an Ex-Library first.
You may have noticed that I bought a lot of books last year. Since I’m getting ready to do another “this is what I bought recently” post, I thought I would do a recap of my most significant acquisitions in 2010. These may be significant for being important, valuable, cool, beautiful, hard to find, or some combination therefore. As usual, all of these are Fine/Fine copies unless otherwise listed. Ala George Locke’s Spectrum of Fantasy volumes, I’m listing where I got them and how much I paid, plus occasional notes on the books (with links if I’ve already described them before).
Bear, Greg. Sleepside Story. Cheap Street, 1988. One of 52 signed and numbered, traycased “publisher’s edition” copies, a fine copy in tray case, sans dust jacket. For full details see here. Bought for $175 from a notable SF book dealer having a 50% off sale.
Bradbury, Ray. Dark Carnival. Arkham House, 1946. First edition hardback, good only, with lettering on spine almost completely worn away, spine lean, general wear, and lacking the dust jacket. Bought from someone selling their late father’s collection (mostly, alas, book club editions) for $20.
Brunner, John. Stand on Zanzibar. Doubleday, 1968. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just the tiniest bit of wear. Replaces an ex-library copy. (I bought this online back in June for $199.99 and forgot to list it last time around.) Brunner’s undisputed masterpiece.
Dick, Philip K. Eye in the Sky. Gregg Press, 1979. First hardback edition. Fine-, with a tiny bit of crimping at head, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought from a notable SF dealer having 50% off sale. Replaced an Ex-library copy in my collection.
Dick, Philip K. Vulcan’s Hammer. Gregg Press, 1979. First hardback edition. Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Replaced an Ex-library copy in my collection.
Hill, Joe. Horns. PS Publishing, 2010. First UK and first limited edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by both the author and artist Vincent Chong in traycase with three extra chapters not in the trade edition, extra art not in any other edition, etc. a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and traycase. Notably thicker than the slipcased edition. Bought at a pre-publication dealer discount from the publisher.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Chatto & Windus, 1932. VG- only, lacking the dust jacket. Bought for $35 from a notable SF book dealer having a 50% off sale. I don’t usually buy books without dust jackets, but the price was right for this space-filling copy of this famous dystopia.
Lafferty, R. A. The Devil is Dead. Gregg Press, 1977. First hardback edition, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Found at Recycled Books in Denton for $36. Replaces a more worn copy in my library. For a while this wasn’t too hard to find, but recently copies have become scarce. In fact, it seems like a lot of the rarer Lafferty books have gotten scarce as of late. Looks like years of just about every SF writer talking up Lafferty have finally paid off…
Lovecraft, H.P. Collected Poems. Arkham House, 1963. VG/VG, with top inch of boards discolored and sun-fading to dj spine. Bought at auction for $75.
Oliver, Chad. The Wolf is My Brother. Herbert Jenkins, 1968. First UK and first hardback edition, a Near Fine copy in a Good+ only dust jacket, missing an irregular 3/4″ x 1/2″ chip at head, and shallow chipping and edgewear. I didn’t even know there was a hardback until I chanced across this copy (though it is in Currey). No other copy online as of this writing. Bought for $50 during a Half Price Books coupon sale.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker & Warburg, 1949. See here for full details. Arguably the most important novel of the 20th century. Bought from a notable SF book dealer for $500.
Powers, Tim. Deliver Us From Evil. Charnel House, 2010. One of 100 signed, numbered copies in slipcase with accompanying manuscript page. See here for full details. Bought at a pre-publication dealer discount from the publisher.
(Powers, Tim) Berlyne, John, editor. Powers: Secret Histories: A Bibliography. PS Publishing, 2009. One of 26 signed, lettered Deluxe copies in slipcase with two companion volumes, The Waters Deep, Deep, Deep and bound, photographic reproduction of the original hand-written manuscript for The Anubis Gates, not included with the trade or Slipcased editions. Slipcase and Anubis Gates volume very slightly bumped, otherwise Fine/Fine.
Temple, William F. 88 Gray’s Inn Road. Sansato Press (AKA Ferret Fantasy), 2000. Roman-a-clef that features a thinly-disguised Arthur C. Clarke (who provides the introduction) as a character, with Clarke’s signature plate affixed to the FFE, reportedly one of only 50 such copies. Found at Recycled Books in Denton, priced the same as the non-signed edition (I paid $32 for it). Replaced a non-signed copy in my collection.
Vance, Jack. Bird Isle/Take My Face. Underwood/Miller, 1988. One of 500 signed, numbered sets in slipcase. Found at Recycled Books in Denton for $160 for the set.
Vance, Jack. The Dark Side of the Moon. Underwood/Miller, 1986. One of 200 signed/numbered copies. One of the rarest Underwood/Miller Vance books. (Are they being snapped up by Pink Floyd fans?) Found at Recycled Books in Denton for $160. Replaced a trade copy in my library.
Wells, H. G. The World of William Clissold. Published by Ernest Benn (UK) 1926 in three volumes, one of 198 copies signed by Wells on the title page. For full details see here. Bought at the main Austin Half Price Books for $175, marked down from $350, during their coupon sale. Scott Cupp told me this copy formerly belonged to him, and that he obtained it at one of UT’s library sales.
H. G. Wells: The World of Williams Cissold, three volume set of the first edition, signed by Wells
The limitation page, with H. G. Wells' signature
Zelazny, Roger. Bridge of Ashes. Gregg Press, 1979. (Replaces my Ex-Library copy.) Found at Recycled Books in Denton for $40.
Zelazny, Roger. Hymn to the Sun: An Imitation. NA Publications, 1996. Poetry chapbook, a Near Fine- copy with some rubbing to price code on rear cover, spot on front cover, and black dot at heel. I missed this when it came out, and it’s been devilishly hard to find. Bought it off a dealer on Amazon, of all places, for abut $25. (99 times out of 100, Amazon is going to be higher than buying directly from a dealer on Bookfinder for collectible books.)
Zelazny, Roger. Nine Princes in Amber. Doubleday, 1970. An Ex-Library copy, but cleaner than the Ex-Library copy previously in my collection. Reportedly Doubleday ordered their warehouse to pulp all Zelazny’s books the same day this came in from the printer, so only review copies, pre-orders, and library copies escaped the pulper, which is why non-Ex-Library copies are exceedingly rare. The first Amber novel, and one of Zelazny’s best. Found at Recycled Books in Denton for $160.
Since I attended a family event in the Dallas Metroplex over the 1/15/10-1/17/10 weekend, I took the opportunity to do something I had long wanted to do: Visit Larry McMurtry’s Booked-Up book store (actually spread across four buildings) in Archer City.
The drive itself (a solid five hours) completely redefined my “ass end of nowhere” scale. It’s pretty far away from anything else, so only serious bibliophiles need apply.
As for the store itself, there’s a huge amount of stuff for a general book hunter to look for (especially in areas like pamphlets, foreign language books, Texana, literary criticism, and probably several others), but not a whole lot of SF/F/H. I found about $50 worth of stuff, most of it in the general fiction section.
Then I drove to Recycled Books in Denton, and bought $1,200+ worth of stuff (and that was after my dealer discount).
By contrast, I found very little of interest at the main Half Price Books just of 75 in Dallas; all they seemed to have were multiple copies of very common titles. (I did a lot better when they were in a smaller building just down the block, the one with the boat-shaped section in the middle of the store.) Maybe their non-fiction section is more worth browsing.
Below is the list of books I’m adding to my own library, including items from Recycled Books, Booked Up, and a three different Half Price Books. All of these are Fine/Fine first edition hardback copies, unless otherwise noted:
Ash, Brian. Who’s Who in Science Fiction. Elm Tree, 1976.
Beagle, Peter S. The Folk of the Air. Del Rey, 1986.
Bear, Greg. Beyond Heaven’s River. Dell, 1980. PBO. VG+. Also have the hardback.
Bear, Greg. Quantico. HarperCollins (UK), 2005.
Blaylock, James P. The Rainy Season. Ace, 1999.
Brunner, John. No Future in It. Gollancz, 1962.
Cherry, C. J. Voyager in Night. DAW, 1984. (Book club and only hardback.)
De Camp, L. Sprague. Solomon’s Stone. Avalon, 1957.
Emshwiller, Carol. Joy in Our Cause. Harper & Row, 1974.
Franzen, Charles. Cold Mountain. Fine/Fine save for name written inside. Pulitzer Prize winner that I’d been looking for for several years, and an example of why you look at 199 copies of an otherwise common book to see if each is a first edition, because that 200th copy just might be it…
Jackson, Shirley. Come Along With Me. Viking, 1968. Fine in a Near Fine- dj with price sticker on inner flap and very shallow (less than 1/32″) chipping at head and heel.
Koontz, Dean R. (as Leigh Nichols). Shadowfires. Avon, 1987. Book club and first hardback edition.
Kornbluth, C. M. Christmas Eve. Michael Joseph, 1956.
Lafferty, R. A. The Devil is Dead. Gregg Press, 1978. Replaces a more worn copy in my library.
Le Guin, Ursula. Rocannon’s World. Garland Press, 1975. First hardback edition, Fine, sans dj, as issued.
Lupoff, Pat & Dick. The Best of Xero. Tachyon Publications, 2004.
Malzberg, Barry. In the Stone House. Arkham House, 2000.
Moorcock, Michael. The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius. Alison & Busby, 1976.
Moorcock, Michael. The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius. HAARP, 1987. (Contents differ from the above.)
Morrow, James. The Wine of Violence. Holt, Reinhardt & Winston, 1984.
Standish, David. Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth’s Surface. De Capo, 2006.
Temple, WIlliam F. 88 Gray’s Inn Road. Sansato Press (AKA Ferret Fantasy), 2000. Roman-a-clef that features a thinly-disguised Arthur C. Clarke (who provides the introduction) as a character, with Clarke’s signature plate affixed to the FFE, reportedly one of only 50 such copies. Replaces the trade edition in my library.
Wilhelm, Kate. Juniper Time. Harper & Row, 1979.
Vance, Jack. Bird Isle/Take My Face. Underwood/Miller, 1988. One of 500 signed, numbered sets in slipcase.
Vance, Jack. The Dark Side of the Moon. Underwood/Miller, 1986. One of 200 signed/numbered copies. Replaces a trade copy I’ll sell via my next Lame Excuse For a Book Catalog (in preparation).
Waggoner, Diana. The Hills of Faraway A Guide to Fantasy. Atheneum, 1978.
Williamson, Jack. Wonder’s Child: My Life in Science Fiction. Bluejay, 1984.
Williamson, Jack (& E. C. Tubb). The Iron God (& Tomorrow). Gryphon Double Novel, 1999. TPO.
Zelazny, Roger. Bridge of Ashes. Gregg Press, 1979. (Replaces my Ex-Library copy.)
Zelazny, Roger. Nine Princes in Amber. Doubleday, 1970. An Ex-Library copy, but cleaner than the Ex-Library copy previously in my collection.
I also found a bunch more books that are going in this month’s Lame Excuse Books catalog.
So, if you’re going to be book shopping in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, by all means visit Recycled Books, which seems to be the best used bookstore in Texas. Visit Booked Up if you have the time to drive out that way, but the SF selection is fairly poor.
