I picked up two nice Gnome Press anthologies from a National Book Auction at quite a reasonable price.
Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Library Addition: Two Gnome Press Anthologies
Monday, February 8th, 2016Library Addition: First Edition of Samuel Butler’s Erewhon
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016I ignored a couple of my own collecting rules when picking this up, namely picking up a book from before my usual collecting period, and picking up a rebound copy. However, the book in question was important enough, and the price I paid cheap enough, that I don’t mind.
(Butler, Samuel). Erewhon or Over the Range. Trübner & Co., 1872. First edition hardback, a rebound copy in modern full leather (at least according to the auction description, but “modern” is a relative term; the new binding is worn enough that it appears to be at least 50 years old), original covers bound in rear of textblock, with heavy rubbing on joints and corners, hinges starting, minor scattered foxing on preliminary and terminal leaves, pages characteristically brittle, overall a Very Good rebind copy. Published anonymously, Erehwon (“nowhere” spelled backwards) is satire in the mode of Gullivers Travels, and one of the most important 19th century Utopian/Dystopian novels. Bleiler Checklist (1978), page 36. Bleiler Checklist (1948), page 68. Bleiler, SF: The Early Years, page 113. Reginald (Volume I), page 84. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, 1-19. Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature Volume Two, page 729. Bought for $75 (including buyer’s premium) from Heritage Auctions.
And here’s a picture of the original boards bound into the back:
Note that E. F. Bleiler in SF: The Early Years says there was a second, corrected state printed the same year as the first edition. I have been unable to find points that distinguish between the first and second state, and the original boards bound into my edition seems to match those first editions copies I’ve been able to locate online.
I believe this is now the oldest book in my library, replacing a first edition of Camille Flammarion’s Urania (1890). Next oldest would be my first editions of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow and H. G. Wells’ Select Conversations with An Uncle (Now Extinct), both 1895.
Library Addition: Orbit 9 Inscribed to Robert and Virginia Heinlein
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016This is somewhere halfway between a mere curiosity and a really interesting association copy:
Knight, Damon, editor (Leon Stover, Gene Wolfe, R. A. Lafferty, etc.). Orbit 9. Putnam, 1971. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a touch of edgewear at points in a Near Fine- dust jacket with slight edgewear and very slight darkening to white rear jacket. Inscribed by contributor Leon Stover: “For Robert & Virgina Heinlein/with thanks for/9 June 1984/Leon Stover.” Stover would not only later publish a critical book on Heinlein from Twayne, but was working on the official authorized biography of Heinlein before the latter’s death, a project cancelled after a falling out with Virginia Heinlein. Bought for $6.50 from Houston bookstore Kaboom Books.
Nice Texas Monthly Profile of Joe R. Lansdale
Monday, February 1st, 2016In case you missed it, there’s a swell profile of Joe R. Lansdale in the latest Texas Monthly. For a writer who’s always been on the cusp of fame, he’s done pretty darn well for himself. It helps that he’s good and prolific…
(Hat tip: Bill Crider.)
Library Addition: Jay Franklin’s The Rat Race
Monday, January 25th, 2016Picked up another FPCI volume:
Franklin, Jay (AKA John Franklin Carter). The Rat Race. Fantasy Publishing Co. Inc., 1950. First edition hardback, one of 1,200 hardback copies (per Chalker/Owings), a Fine- copy in the second state (gray boards, red titling, per Kemp) binding, with slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine+ second state (per Kemp) dust jacket that’s slightly misaligned (about 1/4″ more on rear than front flap), slight wear at extremities, and some indentations along rear spine gutter. Chalker/Owings, The Science-Fantasy Publishers (1991), page 171. Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 79. Bought for $19 (including dealer discount), plus a $5 show credit coupon, at the Austin Book and Paper Show.
I’m not actively targeting FPCI titles, per se, though I do pick them up as targets of opportunity. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the first state dust jacket offered for sale. I wonder what the story is behind the different jackets, but FPCI did a lot of odd things…
RIP: David Hartwell, 1941-2016
Thursday, January 21st, 2016I’ve been holding off on this until I received final word that David Hartwell had indeed died, but Kathryn Cramer has now confirmed his death. He was reported as being at death’s door following a serious brain injury (whether from an aneurysm first, then a fall down stairs, or vice versa) Tuesday, but only passed yesterday.
David was a friend, albeit one I only saw at science fiction conventions. He came to one of the pre-Armadillocon pizza lunches I used to throw, and we dined together at more than one Worldcon (where he usually picked up the bill, because That’s What Editors With Expense Accounts Do). I’ll miss his irreplaceable deep insights into the field.
There’s plenty of testament to what a fine editor David Hartwell is (Gene Wolfe said he was the best editor he ever worked with), and he won (and deserved) his Hugo for Best Editor. Chris Brown’s Tropic of Kansas was one of the last novels he bought for Tor before his untimely death.
His indefatigable work as Editor and Publisher of The New York Review of Science Fiction is well known, and he was very appreciative of what we were trying to do at Nova Express back in the day. He also ran Dragon Press and was editor of the Gregg Press science fiction line.
David was a great creator of science fiction institutions: He had a hand in creating not just NYRSF, but also the World Fantasy Convention, Sercon, the Philip K. Dick Award, etc. Anyone could have come up with those ideas, but it took David Hartwell to actually create them and make them stick.
David was also one of the field’s greatest science fiction first edition collectors, and we often talked about collecting first editions over dinner. He said the pride of his collection was the first American edition of Frankenstein (in two volumes), and he also owned a first of Symzonia. He also owned a bookstore in Westport, NY.
David was deeply involved in just about every facet of literary science fiction except writing fiction. He was, more than anyone else, Mr. Science Fiction, and his death is a terrible blow to the field.
Library Addition: Kuttner Times Three
Wednesday, January 13th, 2016Though much of Kuttner is coming back into print thanks to Haffner Press, the following item dates from a period when most (if not all) of it was out of print:
Kuttner, Henry. Kuttner Times Three. Virgil Utter, 1988. First edition chapbook original, one of 200 copies, a Fine- copy with a light crease at head and a thin line of fading along spine, with Erratum slip inserted before the introduction. Contains the stories “The Old Army Game,” “Bamboo Death” and “The Wolf of Aragon.” Bought off the Internet for $10.
Library Additions: July 1 through December 31, 2015
Thursday, January 7th, 2016Here’s a list of all the books I picked up between July 1 and December 31 of 2015.
Many of the paperback originals here were bought for approximately 25¢ each from Houston bookstore Twice Told Tale’s going out of business sale in November, where prices were $15 a paper grocery sack full of books.
For some reason, the last half year of book purchases has been heavy on Normans. Go figure…
(Dick, Philip K.) Wintz, Henry and David Hyde. Precious Artifacts: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography: United States of America and United Kingdom Editions 1955-2012. Wide Books, 2012. First edition hardback, #77 of 100 signed, hardback copies, a Fine- copy with slight delamination lift along top front spine join gutter, in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, with errata slip and related postcards laid in. Bought off eBay for $26.
Library Addition: Limited Hardback of Precious Artifacts PKD Bibliography
Thursday, December 24th, 2015Here’s a Philip K. Dick bibliography I tried to order copies of for Lame Excuse Books when it came out back in 2012, but the publisher didn’t want to deal wholesale.
(Dick, Philip K.) Wintz, Henry and David Hyde. Precious Artifacts: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography: United States of America and United Kingdom Editions 1955-2012. Wide Books, 2012. First edition hardback, #77 of 100 signed, hardback copies, a Fine- copy with slight delamination lift along top front spine join gutter, in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, with errata slip and related postcards laid in. Bought off eBay for $26.
This is not a review, since I haven’t read all of the book, but flipping through it, there’s been something to irritate me on almost every page:
That said, there’s still a lot of good information found nowhere else on various PKD editions, including thumbnail color pictures of editions (including one showing the different SFBC spine colors for The Man in the High Castle, covering the books published after Levack, etc. But organization is so poor that it makes it far more difficult to find anything than it should be…
Library Addition: Henry Kuttner’s Murder of a Wife
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015Picked up a not-particularly-common Henry Kuttner hardback:
Kuttner, Henry. Murder of a Wife. Garland, 1983. First hardback edition (originally a PBO by Permabooks in 1958), a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel, sans dust jacket, as issued. Number 26 of Garland’s 50 Classics of Crime Fiction: 1950—1975 series. I’m not sure what the print run was, but if they were anything like Garland’s 50 Classics of Science Fiction runs, it was probably quite small. Hubin, Crime Fiction, 1749—1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography, page 236 (for the PBO). Bought for $30 online.