Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Friday, December 20th, 2013
Another book from my recent buying spree, an early Arkham House title:
Smith, Clark Ashton. Lost Worlds. Arkham House, 1944. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with slight crimping at head and heel, bump to top front corner, usual age darkening to pages, and a trace of foxing to gutters, in a Near Fine dust jacket with age darkening to light-colored portion of spine, short closed tear and associated 1/2″ wrinkle crease at head, a tiny bit of rubbing at heel, and age darkening around edges and crease folds. Smith’s second prose collection and the seventh Arkham House book published. Currey (1978), page 453. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy One, page 200. Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 1485. Tymn, 4-202. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 7. Derleth, 30 Years of Arkham House, 7. Jaffery (1982), 7. Nielsen, 7. Bought for $172 off the Internet.
Tags:Arkham House, Books, Clark Ashton Smith, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction
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Thursday, December 19th, 2013
I’m closing in on a complete Manly Wade Wellman first edition collection (closer to completing that than my complete Heinlein collection, but farther than my complete Lafferty, Lansdale or Zelazny collections). I picked up two firsts, one off eBay, another off a major science fiction book dealer.
Wellman, Manly Wade. The Ghost Battalion. Ives Washburn, 1958. First edition hardback, most likely a repaired Ex-Library copy, Very Good with tape ghosts on boards, front free endpaper excised and another attached in it’s place, slight wear at heel, dust soiling at head, and slight crimping at head and heel, in a Near Fine dust jacket with edgewear and about 1/16″ inch of color loss at heel, and possible spine fading (hard to tell, since it’s a different color than the front and back covers). Second book in the Iron Scouts Civil War YA trilogy. Bought for $18 off eBay.
Wellman, Manly Wade. What Dreams May Come. Doubleday, 1983. First Edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with signature plate signed by Wellman attached to front free endpaper. Features supernatural detective John Thundstone. Replaces an Ex-Library copy in my collection. Bought for $20 from a major SF book dealer.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, First Edition, Horror, Manly Wade Wellman
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Wednesday, December 18th, 2013
My efforts to collect all of Robert A. Heinlein in first edition continue apace. Here are two Heinlein first editions, as well as an important related critical work.
Heinlein, Robert A. The Number of the Beast. New English Library, 1980. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Reportedly Heinlein’s worst novel, but if you’re collecting the whole set…
Heinlein, Robert A. The Puppet Masters. Doubleday, 1951. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight foxing to endpapers and tiny touches of wear at heel in a in a Near Fine- dust jacket with extremely shallow surface chipping at head and slight fading of purple coloring on spine. A very nice copy of one of Heinlein’s most important early novels. Currey (1978), page 233. Pringle, SF 100 4.
(Heinlein, Robert A.) Patterson, William H. Robert A. Heinlein in Dialogue With His Century Volume 1: Learning Curve: 1907-1948. Tor, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction biography.
Tags:biography, Books, First Edition, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction
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Monday, December 16th, 2013
Another acquisition from my recent book-buying spree:
Vance, Jack. Gold and Iron. Underwood/Miller, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a slight wrinkle at rear heel. Previously published in paperback as Slaves of the Klau. Hewett, A9e.
Tags:Books, First Edition, Jack Vance, pics
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Thursday, December 12th, 2013
Another notable book from the golden age of the genre small press:
Moore, C.L. Judgment Night. Gnome Press, 1952. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with slight crimping at head and heel, mild foxing to inner gutters, and a few tiny spots of wear to bottom boards, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with 1/4″ closed tear at heel, slight wrinkling at rear head, and a touch of edgewear. A truly superb, bright example of the dust jacket. Collection of five longer stories. Currey (1978), Page 377. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 199. Anatomy of Wonder 4, 3-130. Bought for $65 off eBay.
Tags:Books, C. L. Moore, First Edition, pics, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, December 11th, 2013
If you like Barry Hughart, you should really try reading Earnest Bramah’s Kai Lung series, which is exceptionally entertaining. Though most of the Kai Lung first editions were published slightly before my main collecting period, I do snatch up nice copies in dust jacket when I see them at an affordable price (though I doubt I’ll ever have a Bramah collection to rival Mike Berro’s).
Bramah, Earnest. The Moon of Much Gladness. Cassell & Company, 1932. First edition hardback (Berro A17), a Fine- copy with slight bends at head and heel in a VG+ dust jacket with a 1/8″ chip at rear head join, slight cracking at top edge of front cover, and dust soiling to rear, otherwise a fairly bright and attractive copy of a book seldom offered in dust jacket. Bought for $300 off the Internet from a major SF book dealer.
(Click to embiggen, but note that the what appear to be tiny spots of white rubbing to the black dj are in fact scanner artifacts.)
Tags:Books, Ernest Bramah, Fantasy, First Edition
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Tuesday, December 10th, 2013
I’ve been busy and have gotten slightly behind in cataloging books that have come in. In the interests “some content is better than no content,” I’m going to catalog the more interesting ones one at a time until I catch up with the backlog.
Up first: One of the few Gene Wolfe chapbooks I didn’t already own:
Wolfe, Gene. A Wolfe Family Album. United Mythologies Press, 1991. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Signed by Gene Wolfe. Chapbook of mostly Wolfe family photos, evidently issued with the hardback edition of Letters Home (which I’ve owned for some time, but which didn’t come with the chapbooks when I bought it).
Tags:Books, chapbooks, First Edition, Gene Wolfe, Science Fiction
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Friday, November 22nd, 2013
Over on my post about the first hardback edition of Texas Night Riders, reader Jason Bovberg asked for a scan of Joe’s rarest book, the pseudonymous porn novel Molly’s Sexual Follies, since he had never seen one before. I checked online, and indeed there seem to be no scans of this book’s cover, so here’s a scan of my copy.
Lansdale, Joe R. with Brad Foster (as Mark Simmons). Molly’s Sexual Follies. Beeline Books, 1982. First edition paperback original, a VG- copy with considerable creasing and 1/2″ of separation between front cover and spine at heel.
Any other rarities from The Person Collection (he said vaingloriously) people want to see?
Tags:Books, Brad Foster, First Edition, Joe R. Lansdale, porn
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Monday, November 18th, 2013
Some more library additions, with no particular theme except books signed by the author.
Bear, Greg. Early Harvest. NESFA Press, 1988. First edition hardback, #173 of 250 signed, numbered copies (800 print run total), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase. Supplements a signed trade copy. Bought off the Internet for $37.50.
Bradbury, Ray. Driving Blind Avon Books, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Bradbury: “Marilyn! /Onward!/Ray Bradbury/Oct. 18, ’97”. Bought for $20 off eBay.
Gaiman, Neil. Fortunately the Milk…. HarperCollins (UK), 2013. First edition hardback (the UK and U.S. edition were evidently simultaneous), slipcased limited edition (“with exclusive bookmark”) sold by UK bookstore chain Foyle’s signed by Gaiman and illustrator Chris Riddle, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, still in shrinkwrap. I think this state came out about a month after the trade edition. Young adult novella. Bought for £19.99 plus shipping off eBay.
Gibson, William. Zero History. Putnum, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Gibson. Bought for $12 (marked down from $20) at a Half Price Books during a coupon sale.
Lake, Jay. Dogs in the Moonlight. Prime Books, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a bit of wear at the tips. Signed by Lake. Missed this when it came out, mainly because Prime was still part of Wildside. Bought for $24 off the Internet.
Lake, Jay. Endurance. Tor, 2011. Signed by Lake. Bought for 20% off cover at the San Antonio Worldcon.
Pohl, Frederik, with Jack Williamson. The Saga of Cuckoo. Nelson Doubleday (SFBC), 1983. First edition thus and first hardback (a book club omnibus edition of Farthest Star and A World Around a Star, both previously published only in paperback), code “N34” on page 433 (as per ISFDB), a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of crimping at head and heel, in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by both Pohl and Williamson. Bought for $22.50 off eBay.
Powers, Tim/James P. Blaylock. The Way Down the Hill/The Pink of Fading Neon. Axoltl Press, 1986. First Edition hardback, #178 of 300 hardback copies by both authors and introducers Ed Bryant and Charles De Lint, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $30 plus shipping from Heritage Auctions. One of those books I wasn’t sure whether I owned or not, since I had the other Axolotl Press Powers and Blaylock books…
Tags:Books, First Edition, Frederik Pohl, Greg Bear, Jack Williamson, James P. Blaylock, Jay Lake, Mystery, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, signed, Tim Powers, William Gibson
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Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
If you collect everything an author wrote (or, in my case, everything they wrote which has been published as a separate items), you can end up with things that stray fairly far from what most people think of as “books.” Here are two recent acquisitions that may cause more than one collector to go “What the hell?”
Gaiman, Neil, with David McKean. Mythological Creatures. The Royal Mail, 2009. First edition folded broadside, legal-paper sized printed cardstock, two-sided, with six stamps in attached Mylar pouches, Fine. Collectable stamp folder with six mini-stories by Gaiman, one for each mythological creature on the stamps, with Dave McKean art. An odd item I only recently became aware of, and one that may frustrate Gaiman completists a few years hence…
Swanwick, Michael. Tumbling. Dragonstairs Press, 2013. First edition micro-chapbook original, 3″ x 2 3/4″, #10 of 50 signed, numbered copies, Fine, new and unread. Bought from the author at the 2013 San Antonio Worldcon. Dragonstairs Press is Swanwick and his wife, and they do short run Swanwick chapbooks. This one is even a shorter run than their usual 100 copies.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Michael Swanwick, Neil Gaiman, Science Fiction, stamps
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