Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
You may remember my piece on Hephaestus Books, the “publisher” who automatically packages up free digital content (like Wikipedia articles) and slaps them together as a Print on Demand book with a deceptive title available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Well it appears that a company called Webster’s Digital Service is doing the same thing. Here’s a volume on Octavia Butler that appears to be put together the same way, though the title doesn’t look quite as misleading as those Hephaestus Books used. The first line of the description reads “Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.”
The “author,” one “Elizabeth Dummel,” appears to be quite the busy bee, being listed as the author of no less than 907 books on Amazon, including this one on Jo Walton. I wonder if she know about it. I suspect not. I’ll send her email after I post this.
I wonder just how many other content scrapers are assembling such books?
Like Hephaestus Books, these books are complete ripoffs, but not technically illegal. As always, let the buyer beware.
Tags:Books, Hephaestus Books, Print-on-Demand, Webster's Digital Services, Wikipedia
Posted in Books | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
Time for another roundup of what additions I’ve made to my library of science fiction first editions. This is what I’ve picked up in the last six months. All are Fine/Fine hardback first editions unless otherwise noted.
Baker, Kage. The Best of Kage Baker. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Baxter, Stephen. Last and First Contacts. Newcon Press, 2012. One of 150 signed, numbered copies.
Beagle, Peter S. The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and other odd acquaintances. Tachyon Publications, 1997. First edition hardback, one of 100 signed, numbered copies (and only 126 hardbacks total).
Bear, Elizabeth. ad eternum. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition hardback, one of 250 signed, numbered copies with the chapbook Underground.
Bear, Greg. Hull Zero Three. Orbit, 2010.
Bishop, Michael. The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 250 signed, numbered copies.
Black, Pansy E. The Valley of the Great Ray. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning. More information on the Stellar Science Fiction series books here.
Bloch, Robert. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition thus, collecting all Bloch’s Jack the Ripper-related material.
Bourne, Frank/Long, Amelia Reynolds. The Thought Stealer (Bourne) and The Mechanical Man (Long). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Brackett, Leigh. Shannach: The Last Farewell to Mars. Haffner Press, 2012.
Bradbury, Ray. Witness and Celebration. Lord John Press, 2000. First edition hardback, Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Signed by Bradbury.
Bradley, Jack. The Torch of Ra. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Brown, Chris, and Eduardo Jimenez Mayo, editors. Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic. Small Beer Press, 2012. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, inscribed to me by Brown and contributors Bernardo Fernandez and Pepe Rojo. More information here.
Cadigan, Pat. Synners. Bantam Books, 1991. First edition uncorrected proof, mass market paperback trim size, of a paperback first edition, a Fine copy, signed by Cadigan. Bought for $5 from Half Price Books.
Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Crown Publishers, 2011.
Colladay, Morrison. When the Moon Fell. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Clute, John. Canary Fever. Beccon Publications, 2009. First edition hardback, one of only 40 (!) hardback copies signed by Clute, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction.
Dick, Phillip K. The Complete Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 2: Adjustment Team. Subterranean Press, 2011.
Dick, Philip K. Counter Clock World. White Lion, 1977. First hardback edition, an Ex-Library copy, otherwise VG/VG. Complete details here.
Duncan. Andy. The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories. PS Publishing, 2012. Fine in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Ellison, Harlan. Angry Candy. Houghton Mifflin, 1988.
Eberle, Merab/Mitchell, Milton. The Thought Translator (Eberle) and The Creation (Mitchell). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Farmer, Philip Jose (and Christopher Paul Carey). Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 250 signed, numbered copies.
Farrar, Clyde/Sharp, D.D.The Life Vapor (Farrar) and Thirty Miles Down. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, slight staining to top back corner near spine, and initials to very bottom of cover.
Gaiman, Neil. Rhyme Maidens. Biting Dog Press, 2012. Folio edition of first edition broadsheet. Details here.
Gaiman, Neil. Rhyme Maidens. Biting Dog Press, 2012. First edition broadsheet. Trade edition (though still signed by Gaiman).
Higginson, H. W. The Elixir. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
(Howard, Robert E.) de Camp, L. Sprague and George Scithers, editors. The Conan Swordbook. Mirage Press, 1969. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine -dust jacket, with a few pinpricks of wear.
Hughes, Matthew. The Yellow Cabochon. PS Publishing, 2012. One of only 100 signed copies.
Hughes, Matthew. The Yellow Cabochon. PS Publishing, 2012. Trade edition.
Kennedy, Leigh. Wind Angels. PS Publishing, 2011. First edition hardback in decorated boards, Fine, sans dj, as issued.
Kuttner, Henry. Man Drowning. Harper & Brothers, 1952. Near Fine copy with slight spine creasing at top and bottom in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight edgewear at head and heel, one phantom crease on top front pane, and short, thin indention line on rear cover.
Kuttner, Henry. Thunder in the Void. Haffner Press, 2012.
Lansdale, Joe R. Act of Love. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 200 signed, numbered slipcased copies. First edition hardback thus, with a new novelette, “A Bone Dead Sadness,” and interview with Lansdale not included in any previous edition.
Lansdale, Joe R. Act of Love. Subterranean Press, 2012. Trade edition.
Lansdale, Joe R. and John l. Lansdale. Shadows West. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 500 signed, numbered copies.
Lee, Tanith. Electric Forest. DAW, 1979. Paperback original, a Fine- copy with edgewear.
Lindholm, Megan, and Robin Hobb. The Inheritance & Other Stories. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 1,000 numbered copies signed by “both” authors (actually, Robin Hobb is just Megan Lindholm’s pseudonym).
Lorraine, Lilith. The Brain of the Planet. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, and a few stray black marks to cover.
Lovercraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi and Marc A. Michaud). Uncollected Prose and Poetry. Necronomicon Press, 1978. First edition side-stapled chapbook, a Near Fine- copy with uneven darkening along spine and top far edge.
Michelmore, Reg. An Adventure in Venus. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Moon, Elizabeth. Phases. Baen, 1997. Paperback original, a Fine- copy with just a touch of wear.
Powers, Tim. The Bible Repairman and Other Stories. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 500 signed, numbered copies.
Reed, Robert. Eater-of-Bone and other novellas. PS Publishing, 2002. First edition hardback, Fine in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Reynolds, Alastair. Blue Remembered Earth. Gollancz, 2012.
Sarath, Patrice. Gordath Wood. Ace, 2008. Paperback original, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of wear to points.
Scalzi, John. 24 Frames Into the Future. NESFA Press, 2012. One of 150 signed, numbered, slipcased copies. Non-fiction.
Scalzi, John. 24 Frames Into the Future. NESFA Press, 2012. Trade edition. Non-fiction.
Schroeder, Karl. Lady of Mazes. Tor, 2005.
Shepard, Lucius. The Dragon Griaule. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Silverberg, Robert. The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume Six: Multiples 1983-1987. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Sterling, Bruce. High-Tech Gothic. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Stone, Leslie F. When the Sun Went Out. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Straub, Peter. The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Stross, Charles. Palimpsest. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Thompson, Jim. The Killer Inside Me. Orion, 2006. Trade paperback reprint, a Fine- copy.
Vance, Jack. Dream Castles. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Vance, Jack. The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII, Big Planet (AKA Showboat World). Underwood Miller, 1983. First hardback edition, one of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The longer title is Vance’s original title, and appears only on the book cover and title page of this edition (but not the dust jacket), and on volume 19 of the Vance Integral Edition.
Wagner, Karl Edward. Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner Volume One. Centipede Press, 2012. One of 500 hardback copies.
Wagner, Karl Edward. A Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner Volume Two. Centipede Press, 2012. One of 500 hardback copies.
Wellman, Manly Wade. The Invading Asteroid. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1932. First edition chapbook original, a Near Fine copy with usual page browning.
Wellman, Manly Wade. Napoleon of the West: The Aaron Burr Conspiracy. Washburn, 1970. A Fine- copy with slight crimping at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with spine fading and a trace of soiling to rear cover.
Willis, Connie. All About Emily. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 400 signed, numbered copies bound in leather.
Yu, Charles. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. Pantheon, 2010.
Related topics:
A description of my own library of science fiction first editions (a couple of years out of date; I need to update this)
My Books Wanted List
Lame Excuse Books, my own side SF/F/H book business, where a discerning collector may find several first editions of potential interest.
Other book related posts
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Horror, Jack Vance, Joe R. Lansdale, John Scalzi, Karl Edward Wagner, Manly Wade Wellman, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 20th, 2012
I picked up an interesting lot in a recent Heritage auction: 12 of the 18 volumes in the Stellar Publishing Corporation Science Fiction Series. SF pioneer Hugo Gernsback formed Stellar Publishing Corporation in 1929, and I’m given to understand that many volumes were available for sale for decades in the back of various science fiction magazines.
Alas, there seems to be a dearth of information about Stellar Publishing itself out on the Internet. Fortunately, I have the very first science fiction bibliography ever published, Science Fiction Bibliography, VOL 1, NO 1 (and only), published by the “Science Fiction Syndicate” right here in Austin, Texas in 1935. Let’s see what it has to say about the series:
The titles and authors of these eighteen booklets are too well known to enumerate.
Well, thanks a lot, long-dead dumbasses!
All of these (except the Manly Wade Wellman volume) can only be considered VG (at best) because the previous owner punched a set of small binding holes near the spine, presumably to store them all in one binder. Still, I only paid $38 for the entire set.
All of these have browned pages due to the paper used, but the scanner slightly exaggerates the shading variation. List numbers are the number each volume comes in the series.
- Michelmore, Reg. An Adventure in Venus. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Stone, Leslie F. When the Sun Went Out. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Lorraine, Lilith. The Brain of the Planet. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, and a few stray black marks to cover.
- Colladay, Morrison. When the Moon Fell. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Bourne, Frank/Long, Amelia Reynolds. The Thought Stealer (Bourne) and The Mechanical Man (Long). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Bradley, Jack. The Torch of Ra. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Eberle, Merab/Mitchell, Milton. The Thought Translator (Eberle) and The Creation (Mitchell). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Higginson, H. W. The Elixir. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Black, Pansy E. The Valley of the Great Ray. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
- Farrar, Clyde/Sharp, D.D. The Life Vapor (Farrar) and Thirty Miles Down. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, slight staining to top back corner near spine, and initials to very bottom of cover.
- Wellman, Manly Wade. The Invading Asteroid. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1932. First edition chapbook original, a Near Fine copy with usual page browning (and unlike the above, no side hole punching).
Generally, the Wellman is (along with Clark Ashton Smith’s The Immortals of Mercury and Jack Williamson and Dr. Miles J. Breuer’s The Girl From Mars, neither of which I’ve picked up yet) considered among the more desirable titles in the series. But the Lorraine and Bourne/Long titles are also getting somewhat hard to find as well.
Tags:Book Collecting, Books, chapbooks, First Edition, Hugo Gernsback, Manly Wade Wellman, pics, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, pics, Science Fiction | 4 Comments »
Thursday, June 7th, 2012
I’m in the process of acquiring a complete collection of Philip K. Dick’s first editions in hardback, including those books first published as paperback originals. Some of these are fairly hard to find, among them the UK White Lion edition of Counter Clock World. It came out in 1977, preceding the Gregg Press hardback by two years. I finally found an acceptable Ex-Library copy I could afford, thanks to a private seller who contacted me about after seeing it on my books wanted list.
Dick, Philip K. Counter Clock World. White Lion, 1977. First hardback edition, an Ex-Library copy with remnants of pocket removal on inside front cover, FFE excised, and small stamps on title and copyright pages, otherwise VG, with signatures slightly shaken, 1/4″ cloth wear-through on rear board edge at heel and general wear, in a VG dust jacket with extremely shallow chipping at head and heel, wrinkling to bottom edge of front flap, and haze rubbing to black back panel, but otherwise intact and not price-clipped. Currey, p. 156. Not in Levack, which is the only omission I’ve found in PKD.
Non Ex-Library copies tend to list around two grand.
That leaves three UK Dick hardback firsts I still need:
Philip K. Dick’s A Handful of Darkness (Rich & Cowan, 1st state in blue boards stamped in silver, in first state dj (no mention of World of Chance))
Philip K. Dick’s The World Jones Made (Sidgwick & Jackson)
Philip K. Dick’s World of Chance (Rich and Cowan)
Tags:Books, First Edition, Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, June 6th, 2012
I’m seeing reports that science fiction legend Ray Bradbury has passed away at 91.
Bradbury was one of the few unquestioned giants of the field. Personally, if I hadn’t read The Illustrated Man at an early age, I may never have become a science fiction writer. I corresponded with him a tiny bit, and once I got a phone call from him (in response to a letter) talking about meeting in person at the Anaheim Worldcon in 2006. Alas, my flight flew out before his one appearance at the convention, so I never got a chance to meet him face-to-face.
Rest in Peace.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Obituary, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 3rd, 2012
Don Webb once said that “If you are obsessed with a writer, you own more in print about him than the total number of words in print by him.” In which case I guess I’m obsessed by H. P. Lovecraft (who is also who Don was talking about). However, while I do like Lovecraft, it’s really only because I’m obsessed about books in general, part of which is obtaining reference books about authors I like. Is it my fault there are just so many books on Lovecraft out there? I don’t have all of them, but I do have a goodly number.
For In-print items, I’ve provided links to either the Lame Excuse Books page for things I have in stock, or Amazon links for those I don’t.
Here’s a long view of everything that would fit laid out on a single tabletop:
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Bell, Joseph. Les Bibliotheques Volumes 1-8. Soft Books, 1984-1987. Eight side-stapled A4-sized chapbooks, featuring a miscellaneous selection of Lovecraft material (including fiction, poems, letters, etc. from Lovecraft), the bulk of which is taken up by a chronology of his publications.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Migliore, Andrew, and John Strysik. The Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft. Night Shade Press, 2010. First printing trade paperback original of this enlarged and updated edition. Normally sits among my film reference works.
Next comes a few Arkham House-related books I’m including here. (I already covered S. T. Joshi’s Sixty Years of Arkham House during my first reference book roundup.)
Jaffery, Sheldon. Horrors and Unpleasantries: A Bibliographical History and Collectors Price Guide to Arkham House. Popular Press, 1982. First edition hardback. Largely superseded by Joshi’s Sixty Years, it still has information not replicated there, including how the secret reprint edition of August Derleth’s own Someone in the Dark came to pass.
Nielsen, Leon. Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide. McFarland & Company, 2004. Trade paperback original. Goes a little farther than Joshi. Mostly superfluous if you have Joshi and Jaffrey, but useful if you don’t.
Derleth, August. Thirty Years of Arkham House: 1939-1969. Arkham House, 1970. First edition hardback. The official history up to that date. (I do not own a copy of Derleth’s Arkham House: The First 20 Years; it’s pretty pricey for a superseded paperback reference work, and insanely pricey for one of the 80 hardback copies…)
Finally, we get to the actual Lovecraft section, which starts off with several titles by HPL himself:
Lovecraft, H. P. Supernatural Horror in Literature. Ben Abramson, 1945. First separate edition, hardback (Currey A), sans dust jacket, as issued. His famous essay.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz) Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters. Ohio University Press, 2000. Hardback first edition. What the title says: chronological autobiographical information culled from Lovecraft’s voluminous correspondence.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi) Collected Essay Volume 1: Amateur Journalism. Hippocampus Press, 2004. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi) Collected Essay Volume 2: Literary Criticism. Hippocampus Press, 2004. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi) Collected Essay Volume 3: Science. Hippocampus Press, 2005. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi) Collected Essay Volume 4: Travel. Hippocampus Press, 2005. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi) Collected Essay Volume 5: Philosophy, Autobiography & Miscellany. Hippocampus Press, 2006. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei) Selected Letters I. Arkham House, 1965. Hardback first edition. Many later Lovecratt scholars have criticized the way the letters in these and subsequent volumes have been edited.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei) Selected Letters II. Arkham House, 1968. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei) Selected Letters IIII. Arkham House, 1971. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by August Derleth and James Turner) Selected Letters IV. Arkham House, 1976. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by August Derleth and James Turner) Selected Letters V. Arkham House, 1976. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. and Donald Wandrei (edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz) Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei. Night Shade Books, 2002. Hardback first edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz) Letters from New York. Night Shade Books, 2005. Hardback first edition.
Howard, Robert E. and H. P. Lovecraft. A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Hippocampus Press, 2009. First edition hardbacks, two volumes. Shelved in my Robert E. Howard section.
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by L. Sprague de Camp) To Quebec and the Stars. Donald M. Grant, 1976. Hardback first edition. (Out of order in the pictures because it’s oversized and shelved one shelf down from where it should be.)
Next comes books about Lovecraft by other authors.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. H. P. Lovecraft and Lovecraft Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography. Kent State University Press, 1981. Hardback first edition, sans dust jacket, as issued. If you haven’t figured out already by the number of times his name has already appeared on this list, Joshi is the Lovecraft obsessive that puts all the other Lovecraft obsessives in the shade. I have several criticisms of his Sixty Years of Arkham House, and disagree with significant bits and pieces of his critical approach to Lovecraft’s. But when comes to excessive knowledge of Lovecraft’s life and work, he has no equal, and this bibliography is ridiculously comprehensive up through the period covered. There were 14 Lovecraft books (including some chapbooks, pamphlets, etc.) printed before The Outsider and Others, each of which is either insanely expensive or simply not available anywhere at any price.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. I Am Providence: the Life and Times of H P Lovecraft. Hippocampus Press, 2010. First edition hardback, two volumes. Back in 1996, Necronomicon Press published Joshi’s H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, a definitive biography which was about 700 pages long, with very small margins, in a hardback edition of 250 copies which went out of print before just about anyone knew about it. (You can still get the trade paperback edition.) Well, guess what? Joshi had to leave out about 150,000 words of material for space constraints. That, plus everything he’s learned since 1996, is packed into these two volumse. (I see some people online are asking $550 for this set. I have sets available for $95, which is half-off cover price. [Sorry, sold out. – LP])
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. and David E. Schultz. An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 2001. Hardback first edition, in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Includes things both in Lovecraft’s fiction and his life.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) de Camp, L. Sprague Lovecraft: A Life. Doubleday, 1975. Hardback first edition, inscribed by de Camp, remainder speckling at heel, otherwise Fine in a Fine dust jacket. Considered the standard biography before Joshi went to work; not so much anymore.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Long, Frank Belknap. Howard Philips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side Arkham House, 1975. Hardback first edition. Biography of Lovecraft by a close friend and fellow writer.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Cannon, Peter, editor. Lovecraft Remembered. Arkham House, 1998. Hardback first edition with review slip laid in. Collection of remembrances of both Lovecraft and his writing by numerous contemporaries, much of it original published in very obscure journals or small-run pamphlets.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Carter, Lin. Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos. Starmont House/Borgo Press, [1992]. First hardback edition, Fine in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Cannon, Peter. H. P. Lovecraft. Twayne, 1989. Hardback first edition (a reasonably clean ex-library copy). Part of the Twayn’s United States Authors Series.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism. Ohio University Press, 1980. Hardback first edition. Variety of essays on Lovecraft’s work.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Mark Owings and Irving Binkin, catalogers. A Catalog of Lovecraftiana: The Grill Binkin Collection. Mirage Press, 1975. Hardback first edition, Fine sans dust jacket, as issued. Catalog of perhaps the most extensive Lovecraft collection ever in existence.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) St. Armand, Barton Levi. The Roots of Horror in the Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. Dragon Press, 1977. Hardback first edition, Fine sans dust jacket, as issued. Critical work.
And a few works on the Cthulhu Mythos more generally:
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Jarocha-Ernst, Chris. A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography and Concordance. Armitage House, 1999. First edition trade paperback original.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Harms, Daniel. Encyclopedia Cthulhuiana. Chaosium, 1994. Trade paperback original.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Harms, Daniel. The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia. Elder Signs Press, 2008. First edition hardback, one of 200 signed, numbered copies. “Updated and Expanded Third Edition,” and the first hardback edition.
And here are some chapbook that you can’t tell what they are from the spine. I pick up those Necronomicon Press chapbooks when I find them cheap, but usually not otherwise.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) St. Armand, Barton Levi. H. P. Lovecraft: New England Decadent. Silver Scarab Press, 1979. Perfect-bound chapbook.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Barlow, R. H. On Lovecraft and Life. Necronomicon Press, 1992. First edition chapbook.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Cook, W. Paul. In Memoriam: Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Necronomicon Press, 1991. Chapbook, second edition.
Lovecraft, H. P. A History of the Necronomicon. Necronomicon Press, 1992. Chapbook, sixth printing.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Barrass, Glynn. A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography & Checklist: Second Edition. Blackgoat Books, 1996. An extremely barebones checklist (title, publisher, and whether it was issued in hardback). Probably the last thing you would reach for, but it does have a few obscure listings.
Lovecraft, H. P. and Anthony Raven. The Occult Lovecraft. Gerry de la Ree, 1975. First edition chapbook.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) H. P. Lovecraft: A Symposium. The Los Angeles Science Fiction Society/The Riverside Quarterly, [1964]. First edition chapbook, with Errata sheet laid in.
Related Posts
Lawrence Person’s Library of Science Fiction First Editions
Lawrence Person’s Reference Books Part 1
Lawrence Person’s Reference Books Part 2
Lawrence Person’s Reference Books Part 3
Tags:Arkham House, August Derleth, Books, Cthulhu, David E. Schultz, Donald Wandrei, First Edition, H. P. Lovecraft, Hippocampus Press, James Turner, L. Sprague de Camp, Peter Cannon, Professional Library, reference works, S. T. Joshi
Posted in Books, Horror, pics, Science Fiction | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
I recently got in the Folio edition of Neil Gaiman’s Rhyme Maidens broadsheet just published by Biting Dog Press. It’s unbelievably huge; in fact, it’s slightly taller than the Centipede Press A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H. P. L. book. There were only fifty of them made. This is about the point where it stops being a book and starts being a fetish object.
Here’s a shot of the folio slipcase sitting next to the Subterranean Press edition of M is for Magic (which I still have copies of available for sale) for the sake of size comparison.
And here it is spread open:
It looks slightly blurry because it was shipped with tissue paper across both panels to protect it. It’s the same poem, in different colors and with a different illustration, on each page.
This edition sold out from the publisher.
I’m going to have one copy of Folio edition for my next Lame Excuse Books catalog, along with one copy of the regular broadsheet.
Tags:Books, broadsheet, Fantasy, First Edition, Limited Editions, Neil Gaiman
Posted in Books, Fantasy | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 13th, 2012
I wanted to do a brief follow-up on Wednesday’s Heritage Books Auction. Results were all over the map.
First, books I have trending data for:
The Asbestos-bound copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 went for a hefty $13,750.00, up considerably from a lesser copy in the Jerry Weist auction last year.
By contrast, the signed copy of Philip K. Dick’s Confessions of a Crap Artist went for $1,000, down over 80% from a slightly better copy in the Weist auction.
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others went for $2,250.00, down from the $3,883.75 paid for a slightly worse copy.
Books I don’t have trending data for:
The signed, limited first edition of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World went for $3,750.
The first Stephen King book he ever signed, an incribed ARC of Carrie, went for $11,250. (The Stephen King collector’s market, after some declines among “regular” signed/limited editions over the past few years, seems to be alive and well.)
A first edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with a signed letter from Stoker laid in went for $5,625.
But the most schizophrenic result from the auction was two early signed Thomas Pynchons going for hefty sums, but two later signed copies failed to sell at all:
The Crying of Lot 49 went for $8,750.
Gravity’s Rainbow went for $16,250.
Slow Learner failed to sell. It can be yours as an after-auction buy for a mere $3,125.
An ARC of a later edition of V failed to sell and can be yours as an after-auction buy for $2,500.
You would think there would be enough hardcore Pynchon collectors for those two to sell, especially the Slow Learner.
And a beat-up Shakespeare and Company true first edition (in wrappers) of James Joyce’s Ulysses went for $35,000.
As for the non-fiction first editions:
Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations went for $80,500.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection went for $83,500.
A beautifully bound subscriber’s edition of T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom went for $62,500.
Tags:book auction, Books, H. P. Lovecraft, Heritage Auctions, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Thomas Pynchon
Posted in Books, Horror, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 8th, 2012
Heritage Auction is having another of their big book Auctions April 11.
There are a few notable SF/F/H works listed:
Another Asbestos-bound copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Another signed copy of Philip K. Dick’s Confessions of a Crap Artist.
A copy of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others with perhaps the nicest dust jacket (an original, not the de la Ree facsimile) I’ve ever seen offered for sale.
The signed, limited first edition of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
The first Stephen King book he ever signed, an incribed ARC of Carrie.
A first edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with a signed letter from Stoker laid in.
There’s also some signed Thomas Pynchon, which almost never comes on the market, including:
The Crying of Lot 49
Gravity’s Rainbow
Slow Learner
An ARC of a later edition of V
Plus the notoriously fragile Shakespeare and Company true first edition (in wrappers) of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
But the main strength of the auction is in non-fiction, including first editions of:
Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
A beautifully bound subscriber’s edition of T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Not to mention several Isaac Newton first editions, plus a whole lot of important economic and military first editions.
Tags:book auction, Books, Fantasy, First Edition, H. P. Lovecraft, Heritage Auctions, Horror, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, Stephen King, T. E. Lawrence
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
Tags:Ansible, David Langford, Fantasy, fanzine, Horror, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
