The last book (but not the last item) left over from 2019:
Hughes, Matthew. What the Wind Brings. Pulp Literature Press, 2019. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Slipstreamy historical novel of the Caribbean by the fantasy and science fiction writer. Bought for $40 plus shipping.
Still finishing cataloging books that came in last year after the big Moorcock buy:
Moore, C. L. Northwest of Earth. Gnome Press, 1954. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a trace of wear to bottom boards and slight bumping at head, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight edgewear along spine joins, at head and at front points, barest trace of dust soiling to white back cover, a few other traces of wear, and, if you look very closely, the spine is just barely sun-faded, much less than commonly found. All the Northwest Smith and Jirel of Jory stories not found in Shambleau and Others. Currey, page 378, Chalker/Owings (1991), page 201 (“These unique stories belong in every SF library”). Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 231. Bought off a fellow Biblio dealer for $75.
Still more books I bought from Michael Moorcock, including art books and non-Moorcock paperbacks I bought off him. I think he received all these as review copies.
Garnett, David, editor. New Worlds 2. VGSF, 1992. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Inscribed to me by Moorcock, who wrote the afterword.
Hardy, David A. Hardyware: The Art of David A. Hardy. Paper Tiger, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a few invisible scratches, etc., with review materials laid in. Science fiction art, of the planet and spaceship variety. (Not the Austin writer.)
Kilworth, Garry. House of Tribes. Bantam Press (UK), 1995. Uncorrected proof, trade paperback format, of the hardback first edition, a Fine- copy with a bump at heel in a Near Fine dust jacket which is slight taller than the proof, hence the bend at the top. Fantasy about mice. Also has a personalized review letter from Bantam laid in upon which Mike written “Mouse shit.”
Tuttle, Lisa. The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief. Jo Fletcher books, 2016. Uncorrected bound proof, trade paperback format, of the trade paperback first edition, a Fine- copy with edgewear. Jesperson and Lane book I.
Youll, Stephen. The Art of Stephen Youll: Paradox. Paper Tiger, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with bumping at head, heel and top front corner, with review materials laid in. Science fiction art, lots of which you would recognize.
I came across these interviews of Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy from Mystery Science Theater 3000. These were evidently an extra on Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders from Volume 5 of the Rhino boxed sets (and presumably on the Shout! Factory reissue). Talks about the early days of the show and some of the films too awful for them to riff.
Save the first book (not signed), all of these are books I bought off Mike back in November.
Moorcock, Michael (as Bill Barclay). Printer’s Devil. Compact, 1966. First edition paperback original, a Very Good- copy with spine creasing, rear cover bunching near spine, a nickel-sized blotch of discoloration, pages age-darkened, and slight curl and top front corner. The only book in this post I didn’t buy from Mike. Bought off eBay for £14.50 plus shipping. Tanelorn Archives, page 27. Currey, page 371.
Moorcock, Michael. The Revenge of the Rose. Grafton, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to me by Moorcock. Elric novel.
Moorcock, Michael. Sojan. Savoy Books, 1977. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with a bump at head, slight crease at top of back cover, and touches of edgewear, plus slight age-darkening of pages. Inscribed to me by Moorcock: “To Lawrence,/All very best/yours,/Michael Moorcock.” Includes a fantasy novel Moorcock published in his own Tarzan fanzine in his teens, plus very early Moorcock short stories (most of which have not appeared anywhere else), plus considerable additional material on Elric, Jerry Cornelius, etc. Tanelorn Archives, page 31. Currey, page 372.
Moorcock, Michael. The Vengeance of Rome. Jonathan Cape, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to me by Moorcock. Colonel Pyat novel.
Moorcock, Michael, editor. Before Armageddon. W.H. Allen, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket (though there is now a small hole on the title page where Mike’s fountain pen slipped). Inscribed to me by Moorcock. Reprint anthology of pre-World War I future war stories, including “The Battle of Dorking.” Tanelorn Archives, page 7. Currey, page 374.
Moorcock, Michael, and Langdon Jones, editors. The Nature of the Catastrophe. Hutchison, 1971. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a few small white spots on black cloth, and slight bumping at head, in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of blindside spotting (I also not that the laminated portion of the dust jacket appears slightly uniformly darkened throughout, save about 1/8″ at the far edge of each flap that’s not laminated, and that portion is bright, undarkened white; both copies I’ve seen so affected, leading me to believe that this is an artifact of the lamination process used by the publisher on the dust jacket, making it likely that all copies are so affected). Inscribed to me by Moorcock: “To Lawrence,/Avguard [?} the heart,/Mike Moorcock.” Anthology of Jerry Cornelius stories by Moorcock and divers hands, including Brian Aldiss, M. John Harrison, Norman Spinrad and James Sallis. Tanelorn Archives, page 25. Currey, page 375.
Here’s the first part of the Moorcock titles I bought from Mike back in November.
Moorcock, Michael. The Brothel in Rosenstrasse. New English Library, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight spine fading and slight wear at top points. Inscribed to me by Moorcocok. Von Bek novel.
Moorcock, Michael. Byzantium Endures. Secker & Warburg, 1981. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with bumps to top points in a Very Good+ price-clipped dust jacket with several delamination wrinkles across the spine. Inscribed to me by Moorcock. Colonel Pyat novel.
Moorcock, Michael. The City in the Autumn Stars. Grafton, 1986. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a tiny bump at head and top front corner blunted, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with several invisible scratches to rear cover, trace of wear at points, and 1/4″ closed tear at bottom rear fold join. Inscribed to me by Moorcock.
Moorcock, Michael. The Dragon In the Sword. Ace, 1986. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with two pinhead spots to bottom page blocks, slight bend at head, and slight blunting to bottom points, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with bumping to bottom front point and wrinkling at head and a trace of edgewear. Inscribed to me by Moorcock: “To Lawrence/All best —/Michael Moorcock.” Precedes the Grafton edition by a year.
Moorcock, Michael. Elric: La Saga. Editizione Oscar Draghiluglio, 2019. First edition hardback thus, an Italian omnibus edition of the first six Elric novels, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Inscribed to me by Moorcock: “To Lawrence/Prego!/Michael Moorcock.” A beautifully printed book, with decorated boards, full-color, full page plates by a variety of artists. A thrown-in by Mike, who had just received a big box of them. “See those behind you? Go ahead and take one if you want…”
Moorcock, Michael. Elric of Melniboné. Hutchison, 1972. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with a 3/8″ chip at heel/front join, shallow chipping at head and heel, and touches of edgewear. Inscribed to me by Moorcock. Tanelorn Archives, page 17.
Moorcock, Michael. King of the City. Scribners (UK), 2000. First edition hardback, a Near Fine- copy with bumps to top points and a cluster of small gray stains on pageblock edges, and slight bumping at heel, in a Near Fine dust jacket with bumping to top points, slight bumping at heel, and slight edge wrinkling along bottom flaps. Inscribed to me by Moorcock: “To Lawrence,/All the best—/Michael Moorcock.” Sequel to Mother London.
Moorcock, Michael. The Laughter of Carthage. Secker & Warburg, 1984. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head, in a Near Fine-, price-clipped dust jacket with two scratches to front cover and a long lamination wrinkle down the spine. Inscribed to me by Moorcock.
Moorcock, Michael. Legends From the End of Time. WH Allen, 1976. First UK edition hardback, a Fine- copy with top front point slightly blunted, in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and top front point. Inscribed to me by Moorcock. The U.S. true first looks like ass, while this edition has a groovy Rodney Matthews cover that looks a lot like Roger Dean. Tanelorn Archives, page 24.
Moorcock, Michael. Letters from Hollywood. HAARP, 1986. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with bumping at head and heel and blunting of points, in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping at heel and points, wrinkling along front join, trace of dampstaining to bottom rear flap, and touches of general wear. Inscribed twice by Moorcock: On front free endpaper: “To Howard —/The third of the/world’s finest cities —/Love/Mike/Aug 18th/NY.” On half-title page: “Michael Moorcock/To Lawrence.” Collection of letters to J.G. Ballard.
Moorcock, Michael. London Peculiar and Other nonfiction. PM Press, 2012. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread, inscribed to me by Moorcock.
Moorcock, Michael. The Mystery of the Texas Twister with Argosy January/February 2004. First edition trade paperback original, both fine copies in a Fine paper slipcase with advertising insert intact and inserted. Inscribed to me by Moorcock. Attempt to revive the venerable Argosy magazine, which evidently only lasted three issues. Upon receiving it, Mike said “I thought it was a Mentos ad!”
More books I bought from Michael Moorcock. These are the non-Moorcock hardbacks I bought off him (in addition to Rendezvous With Rama).
Brooke, Keith and Nick Gevers, editors. Infinity Plus One. PS Publishing, 2000. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 500 signed, numbered copies signed by the contributors (to which Moorcock has added “Michael Moorcock’s copy” to the limitation plate), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of wear at top points. Supplements another copy. Anthology series (partly original, partially reprints) that only had two volumes. Gevers would later take up co-editing duties for Postscripts.
Burroughs, William S. The Ticket That Exploded. Grove Press, 1967. First hardback edition (preceded by an Olympia Press paperback edition), a Very Good+ copy with bumping at head and heel, slight wear to boards at heel, and a race of dust soiling, in a Very Good- dust jacket with 1″ closed tear at top front, 1/8″ semiclosed tear at bottom front near point, slight bumping at points, slight dust soiling, and general wear (it had dark staining along the spine, but a damp cloth cleaned that up nicely); I suspect that the orange text on the dust jacket was originally red, but since it applies to the inner flap as well, and almost all the copies I see online are similarly affected, I’m assuming it’s more the chemical composition of the ink than sun-fading per se. Shoaf, Collecting William S. Burroughs in Print, 6a, which states that it has textual revisions from the Olympia Press edition.
Di Filippo, Paul. Joe’s Liver. Cambrian Publications, 2000. First edition hardback, of presentation copy of 300 signed/numbered hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author to the Moorcock’s: “To Michael/&/Linda —/America — It’s one/big laff/fest!” Replaces another copy.
Holdstock, Robert. Celtira. Simon & Schuster UK, 1998. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with Moorcock’s ownership bookplate affixed to the inside front cover.
Holt, Tom. Flying Dutch. Orbit, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Moore, Alan. Voice of the Fire. Top Shelf Productions, 2003. First hardback edition (preceded by a Gollancz TPO), #68 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of edgewear. It seems that the only difference between this and the trade edition (currently unrecorded in the ISFDB) is the full-color signature plate page.
Robinson, Kim Stanley. Remaking History. Tor, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to Moorcock: “for Michael Moorcock/with great admiration/from a raw/2μg rain trance./KS Robinson/1993.” At least I think that’s what the last line before his signature says. (At the 1992 Armadillocon, Stan told the story of driving through west Texas, dropping acid, and writing all his really deep thoughts down in a notebook, only to read it the next day and find such pearls of wisdom as “Bugs are weird.”)
Wilson, Colin. The Angry Years: The Rise and Fall of the Angry Young Men. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and a nailhead-sized nick near the heel. Non-fiction biography and criticism of the “angry young men” of literature in the 1950s and 60s. Laid in is a largely negative review of the book from Roger Lewis.
Wilson, Colin. Dreaming to Some Purpose. Century, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy, with uneven sunning to side and bottom page blocks, in a Fine dust jacket. Autobiography.
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.
Science fiction writer and editor Mike Resnick died this morning a little after midnight according to a post by his daughter Laura Resnick, due to an aggressive lymphoma that followed on the heels of major surgery.
Mike was a friend from way back in the pre-WWW days of the Delphi Wednesday Night Group in the late 1980s, where a bunch of science fiction people (Resnick, Pat Cadigan, Gardner Dozois, myself, Dwight and many others) hung out on a regular basis. I sold Mike one of my earliest stories, “Huddled Masses” for his Alternate Presidents anthology, as well as “Saul’s Diary” for Galaxy’s Edge, and Mike used “Crucifixion Variations” for World’s Science Fiction Story Collection II, my only story ever published in China.
He got involved with science fandom early in life and never left. Mike was one of the last of a dying breed of science fiction’s writing machines, someone who early-on mastered the ability to crank out a prodigious amount of wordage every day. The Kirinyaga stories in the 1980s, set an orbital African primativist tribal “utopia,” was where he really started to make his mark, and he became a regular Hugo and Nebula winner back when that meant something. He edited dozens of anthologies, frequently buying work by new writers, and eventually founding Galaxy’s Edge. He raised prize-winning collies and collected books on Africa. When the Social Justice Warrior mob came for him and Barry Malzberg for the usual stupid reasons he told them to go pound sand.
He was a jovial presence at conventions, and he will be missed.
This was the most expensive book I bought this year:
Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. Heinemann, 1962. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with interior pocket removed, rear inner flap previously taped to rear inside cover, with tape stains there and to rear free endpaper, in a Near Fine, first state (16s, flaps untrimmed) dust jacket, with tape stains to rear flap, with a crease across bottom of front flap and a few specks of dirt to front flap, otherwise a very well-protected example of the first state dust jacket; call it a Very Good/Near Fine Ex-Lib copy. Signed by Burgess. A keystone work, and basis of the Stanley Kubrick film. Signed firsts of famous books made into famous films are among the most desirable first editions across a wide range of collectors. This edition also includes the final chapter, where Alex “groweth up” and contemplates leaving behind his antisocial ways for marriage and a family, omitted from most subsequent editions. Pringle, SF 100 36. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 48. Locke, Science Fiction First Editions, page 22. Anatomy of Wonder 4, 3-4 1. Magill, Survey of Science Fiction, pages 396-401. Bought Cold Tonnage Books for £600, making it among the most expensive single volumes I’ve ever purchased, but I’ve never seen a signed copy in a first state dust jacket list for under a grand before.
