The family of a late SF bookseller finally finished getting getting his stock online, so I checked out their newly christened website to see what was there, and immediately snapped up two books I thought were under-priced:
Archive for the ‘Science Fiction’ Category
Library Additions: Signed Heinlein, Tiger! Tiger!
Friday, December 14th, 2018Library Addition: Signed, Limited Edition of Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union
Wednesday, December 12th, 2018Saw references to this (which might have preceded the trade edition) online, and finally found a copy cheap.
Chabon, Michael. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. HarperCollins, 2007. First edition hardback, one of 1,000 copies signed by Chabon in a wooden slipcase, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap (I think it’s the publisher’s, which is why I haven’t removed it). Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. Supplements a trade copy of the novel inscribed to me by Chabon right after he won the Nebula for it. Original list price was $150. Bought off eBay for $50.
Forgive the crappy scan, since it’s still in the shrinkwrap…
Library Additions: Two Signed Books
Tuesday, December 11th, 2018The only thing these two have in common as that I bought them 50% off the listed price at Half Price Books during their coupon sale.
Library Additions: Three Subterranean Press Firsts
Tuesday, December 4th, 2018Three books from the same Subterranean Press order that came in:
Please note that all three of these will be available in the Lame Excuse Books catalog I’m emailing out this week. Drop me a line if you want a copy.
Library Addition: Book Signed By Cordwainer Smith
Monday, November 19th, 2018Like the Fletcher Pratt book I bought a few months back, here’s a difficult signature I found cheap:
(Smith, Cordwainer) MacNair, Harley Farnsworth. The Real Conflict Between China and Japan. University of Chicago Press, 1938. First edition hardback, a Very Good copy with spine and page blocks slightly grubby, lacking a dust jacket (possibly as issued). Formerly Paul M. A. Linebarger’s copy, with his signature, “Duke” and “1938” written at the top of the front free endpaper. Linebarger is most famous for writing science fiction under the pen name Cordwainer Smith (as well as Carmichael Smith and Felix C. Forrest). He was also a renowned Sinologist whose father was one of the chief advisors for Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat-Sen (indeed, I also own a copy of Linebarger’s non-fiction work The Political Doctrine of Sun Yat-Sen, as well as his book Psychological Warfare, which was used for many years as a text at West Point). Books signed by him are uncommon. Bought off eBay for $45.
Library Addition: Two Signed Michael Swanwick Chapbooks
Thursday, November 15th, 2018Two more signed Swanwick chapbooks:
I will have copies of both of these available for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in preparation.
Netflix Reveals MST3K Turkey Day “Gauntlet”
Monday, November 12th, 2018The cat is now officially out of the bag:
Quick thoughts:
- Going to be an awfully wet season.
- Since the Joel era already did Cave Dwellers, does that make ATOR the first movie they’re riffed twice? Edited to add: People on Facebook are telling me that Cave Dwellers is actually the second Ator movie, not the first.
- Jonah should go on Conan, promise to show a clip from them riffing Atlantic Rim…and then it be a clip of them riffing the wheelchair falling scene from Mac and Me…
Library Addition: First Hardback Edition of James Blish’s A Case of Conscience
Thursday, October 25th, 2018Sometimes you take a chance that pays off:
Blish, James. A Case of Conscience. Faber and Faber Limited, 1959. First hardback edition (“First published mcmlix” on copyright page, as per Currey), a Very Good copy with spine lean and dust soiling along top, in a Very Good dust jacket with a 1″ closed tear along top front and moderate dust soiling to white rear cover, and slight rubbing and wear at points. All in all, better condition than I expected from a description of “Good”. Hugo winner for Best Novel. The first volume in the After Such Knowledge thematic trilogy. Currey (1979), page 40. Pringle, SF 100 26. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 36. Locke, Science Fiction First Editions, pages 19-20. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, 3-21 (referencing the Ballantine PBO). Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, pages 303-307. Bought for £60.63 from an online UK book dealer know more for quantity than quality, which is why it was a risk, but just slightly better copies list for over a grand. Supplements a copy of the Walker first U.S. hardback edition.
This is the last “difficult” Hugo winner in hardback for the period I collect (through 2014), which means I only lack Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, first editions of which are hardly difficult to come by.
Library Addition: Signed R.A. Lafferty Chapbook
Monday, October 22nd, 2018I picked up a signed R.A. Lafferty chapbook, one of the Drumm chapbooks I already had, but in unsigned form:
Lafferty, R.A. It’s Down the Slippery Cellar Stairs. Chris Drumm, 1984. First edition chapbook original, #76 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Drumm Booklet No. 14. Non-fiction collection. Bought off eBay for $23.95. Obviously I should have bought all these signed Lafferty chapbooks from Drumm back when they were $5 each, but I wasn’t collecting him then…
Library Addition: Philip Jose Farmer’s The Purple Book Inscribed to Robert Adams
Thursday, October 18th, 2018I picked up another Philip Jose Farmer paperback original associational copy:
Farmer, Philip Jose. The Purple Book. Tor, 1982. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy that, while tight and square, shows numerous small spots of rubbing across the front and rear cover as well as slight age-darkening to pages. Inscribed to fellow SF/F author Robert Adams of Horseclans fame: “To Bob Adams/From/Philip Jose/Farmer.” Thematic collection, containing “The Oögenesis of Bird City,” “Riders of the Purple Wage,” “Spiders of the Purple Mage,” “The Making of Revelation, Part I”, and “The Long Wet Purple Dream of Rip van Winkle.” Bought for $10 off eBay.
Another Farmer PBO inscribed to an SF author in my library can be found here.