…it’s only that his metabolism has gotten more selective.
Tony Hendra, Spinal Tap manager Iain Faith in This Is Spinal Tap, dead at age 79.
(Hat tip: Dwight.)
He’s Not Dead…
March 5th, 2021Library Addition: Lettered Edition of George R. R. Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
March 4th, 2021Subterranean Press had one of their PC sales, where Publisher Copies of limited and lettered editions of their books (most long out of print) are offered up for sale during a brief window of time. I ended up buying a ridiculous amount of limited and lettered editions. I’ll be listing them here over the next week or so. Here’s the first:
Martin, George R. R. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Subterranean Press, 2016. First signed limited edition hardback, a Fine PC copy of 52 leatherbound lettered copies signed by Martin and illustrator Gary Gianni, in a Fine traycase, sans dust jacket, as issued. An elaborate production, with full color fold-out frontispiece artwork and inserted card-stock separator, and a high quality embossed leather binding. Long out of print from the publisher. (In fact, I’m not even sure they ever offered the lettered edition in their email newsletter.) Bought for $600, a substantial discount from the original $750 offering price.
Library Addition: Ward Moore’s Breathe the Air Again
March 3rd, 2021If these seems like a rerun to you it’s because I bought another copy two years ago. However, this copy has a dust jacket:
Moore, Ward. Breathe the Air Again. Harper & Brothers, 1942. First edition hardback (stated), a Near Fine copy with dust staining at top and bottom page blocks and slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine, price-clipped dust jacket with price stamp of “2.95” next to clip, slight grubbiness (most noticeable to back rear cover), plus shallow closed tears at head and heel; despite that, it’s a bright, vibrant example of a dust jacket for which I can find no other scan on the Internet. Interestingly, this copy has a different binding, and even appears to be a different trim size, than my other copy. I now believe my earlier copy is not only a library rebind, but one for which the page blocks were trimmed as part of the rebinding process. Reportedly a Picaresque mainstream novel of labor organizing. Bought off an Internet dealer for $265.50.
Current copy on the left, older copy on the right
Library Addition: Signed, Limited Edition of Larry Niven’s The Magic Goes Away
March 2nd, 2021Larry Niven falls into a sort of weird valley in my collecting history. I read a great deal of Niven in my youth and liked his work, but thought for novels he was better when he collaborated with Jerry Pournelle. By the time I started collecting first editions in the mid-1980s, his print runs had gotten pretty big, and I was more focused on collecting cyberpunk authors. Later, I started going back collecting writers from the Golden Age through the New Wave, Heinlein, Kuttner, Moore, Vance, Zelazny, Dick, etc. While I collected some of the Niven highpoints (such as the Gollancz Ringworld) and other works as targets of opportunity, I never made a particular effort to collect hardback firsts of his early works. (I’ll need to add that to my revised Books Wanted list, currently in progress.) When I picked up Burning City and Burning Tower, I saw that it was set in The Magic Goes Away universe, which I haven’t read and didn’t own. (I did pick up a TPO first of related book More Magic! for something like $2 way back when.) I’d had the impression it was a TPO only, but in fact there was a 1/1000 signed, numbered hardback published by Ace (which was not typically known for doing such editions), so I picked up a copy of that.
Niven, Larry. The Magic Goes Away. Ace, 1978. First edition hardback, #243 of 1000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and hand numbered (it looks like by Niven himself) on the front free endpaper. Bought off the Internet for $38.25
Library Addition: Lettered Edition of Ray Bradbury’s The Dragon Who Ate His Tail
March 1st, 2021Another signed Ray Bradbury first, this one a lettered edition:
Bradbury, Ray. The Dragon Who Ate His Tail. Gauntlet Publications (they’re generally known as Gauntlet Press, but it says Gauntlet Publications on the copyright page), 2007. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 26 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy with pasted frontispiece in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. Miscellany of short stories, a radio play, a fascimile typescript, Bradbury doodle art, etc. Bought from an Austin book dealer for $120.
This lettered edition seems absent from most reference sources, including the ISFDB.
Shoegazer Sunday: Kuuhaku Marinus Covers Slowdive’s “Machine Gun”
February 28th, 2021I have no idea who Kuuhaku Marinus is, though he seems to reside in Mexico and his ideogram (空白磨理成) seems to translate as “Blank Grid.”
Here’s a pleasant cover of Slowdive’s “Machine Gun”:
Library Addition: Signed First of J. G. Ballard’s Millennium People
February 26th, 2021Picked up another signed Ballard first:
Library Addition: Signed Michael Dirda On Conan Doyle First
February 24th, 2021Did you know that Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michael Didra published a book on Arthur Conan Doyle? Neither did I until I saw a signed first available from The Mysterious Bookshop for cover price.
Dirda, Michael. On Conan Doyle. Princeton University Press, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with publisher’s information card laid in. Critical book on Arthur Conan Doyle, covering both Sherlock Holmes and his other works. Bought at a dealer discount.
Dirda is an astute literary critic who also covers science, and I’m passingly acquainted with him. (He’s also bought the occasional book from me.)
Library Additions: Two Lansdale Firsts
February 22nd, 2021A new book from Subterranean Press and a trade first I just never managed to pick up.
Shoegazer Sunday: Auburn Lull’s “CA1”
February 21st, 2021Been quite a while since I posted any Auburn Lull, so here’s a pretty, ambient piece called “CA1” off their Hiber EP: