Library Addition: Two James P. Blaylock Langdon St. Ives TPOs

Both of these were picked up at the Half Price Books Outlet Store in Waco:

  • Blaylock, James P. The Aylesford Skull. Titan Books, 2013. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with a few tiny touches of wear. Bought for $4.99.

    Interestingly, there was supposed to be a 750 signed, limited hardback edition of this. One copy of that showed up in a Cold Tonnage Books catalog in 2023, but I never saw any others listed. I asked Jim Blaylock about this on Facebook, and he told me the following:

    The story behind those ultimately destroyed books is unlikely, but essentially the production of the books was botched. There was gold-embossed writing on the cover and, I think, spine, but the gold was misapplied and muddied. They weren’t saleable, and Titan had no idea of reproducing them, so they pulped the lot. Several were sent out as pre-orders that were okay. One of my friends got one, which she ultimately gave to me. I can’t be sure how many survived the carnage, but Andy has one of probably a dozen books. I was slightly miffed, partly because I had to sign the signature pages twice. The first 750 were signed by me and Tim Powers, and then I sent the result to K.W. Jeter in Ecuador along with the box of necessary pens. The story is far more hilarious than I have room for here, but they were ultimately blown to smithereens by the Ecuadorian postal service who suspected that the box was some variety of terrorist plot and exploded it in a parking lot.

  • Blaylock, James P. Beneath London. Titan Books, 2015. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with a few tiny touches of wear. Bought for $4.99.

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