Posts Tagged ‘small press publishers’
Monday, December 26th, 2022
This is the second Heritage Auctions lot I won this year, after the Clark Ashton Smith lot. And like that lot, these were from the Gary Munson Collection.
Warren Buffet once gave collecting advice to be willing to stretch yourself for desirable items, which is great advice…if you’re worth $110 billion. But I did stretch myself a tiny bit for this one, because I noticed something the auction house hadn’t.
Bloch, Robert. Midnight Pleasures. Doubleday, 1987. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, inscribed by Bloch: “Yours Truly, Robert Bloch!” Short story collection.
Bloch, Robert. The Opener of the Way. Arkham House, 1945. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with slight bumping at head and heel, slight wear in letters of spine, bookstore sticker to bottom of inner front cover, and a few touches of wear to boards, in a Near Fine- dust jacket with abrasion rub down right front fold edge, slight wear at head, slight loss at points, and slight dust soiling to rear cover, with auction sticker laid in, inscribed by Bloch: “To Charles R./Tanner with best wishes,/Robert Bloch, 1948.” What the people doing the Heritage description didn’t note (and possibly didn’t know) was that Charles R. Tanner was a fellow contemporary pulp writer (both had work in Amazing Stories), most famously of “Tumithak of the Corridors,” which appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Before the Golden Age. Flanagan, Robert Bloch: A Bio-Bibliography, page 49. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 10. Currey, page 46. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 10. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 10. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide 10 (also #23 on the Most Valuable list). Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy, page 36. Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 209. Chalker/Owings, pages 22-23. Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 299-300. I’d been looking for a signed copy of this for quite a while. (In fact, about a decade ago I negotiated with John Pelan for the copy inscribed to him after he needed to pay for unexpected cat surgery, but we couldn’t agree on a price.) As a signed copy it was probably above market, but as an associational copy it was cheap. (For an associational copy signed to Robert Bloch, see this.)
Bloch, Robert. Out Of My Head. NESFA Press, 1986. First edition hardback, #371 of 800 hardback copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Bloch. Chalker/Owings, page 303. Replaces an equally perfect unsigned copy in my collection.
Bloch, Robert. Psycho II. Whispers Press, 1982. First edition hardback, #516 of 750 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Supposedly very different than the movie of the same name. Supplements a trade edition. Chalker/Owings, page 476.
Bought for $630, including buyer’s premium.
Tags:Arkham House, Associational Copy, Books, Gary Munson, Heritage Auctions, Horror, Robert Bloch, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Horror, Kickstarter | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 21st, 2022
These three Bradbury (and one Matheson) firsts came in on three different orders. Three of these are from Gauntlet Press.
Bradbury, Ray. Dawn to Dusk: Cautionary Travels. Gauntlet, 2011. First edition hardback, #67 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Somehow missed this when it came out, maybe because I was dealing with one of my periodic bouts of unemployment. Bought for $76 off eBay.
Bradbury, Ray. Phoenix 451. Gauntlet Press, 2022. First edition hardback, one of 350 unsigned copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Huge 833-page collection. “We are proud to be publishing five versions of Fahrenheit-451 he wrote beginning in 1955.” Plus a whole lot more, including color plates, play texts, ancillary material, etc. Bought from the publisher. I will have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which I intend to mail out Friday.
Bradbury, Ray. The Parrot Who Met Papa b/w David Aronovitz’s The Parrot Who Met Papa (concluded). The Pretentious Press, 1991. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy, signed by Bradbury, then subsequently inscribed “Tom! Nov. 6, 1994.” Just about all these Pretentious Press chapbooks are hard to find and pricey. Bought from an online dealer for $150.
Matheson, Richard. Purge Among Peanuts. Gauntlet Publications, 2001. First edition chapbook original, #20 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Bought from the same dealer as The Parrot Who Met Papa for $22.50.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Gauntlet Press, Horror, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Science Fiction, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, December 19th, 2022
Two more deluxe slipcased editions of Robert E. Howard books, both bought from a private collector:
Howard, Robert E. The Ultimate Triumph: The Heroic Fantasy of Robert E Howard. Wandering Star, 1999. First edition hardback, #0507 of 1,500 slipcased copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase, still in shrinkwrap, with limitation bookmark. Bought for $125.
Howard, Robert E. Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933). Wandering Star, 2002. First edition hardback, #89 of 100A [sic] numbered slipcased copies signed by artist Mark Schultz, with eight pages of black and white sketches after page 348, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase, bought still in shrinkwrap (taken out to verify the state). Bought for $300 (which is all of $30 more than original cover price 20 years ago, and the trade edition typically lists for more).
Oddly enough, I found a trade edition of The Ultimate Triumph while book shopping in the Metroplex right before I bought these, so I guess that copy is now superfluous to my needs and will go in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which should be going out via email this Friday.
Tags:Books, Conan, Fantasy, Robert E. Howard, small press publishers, Wandering Star
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Fantasy | No Comments »
Monday, December 12th, 2022
I bought this from a Facebook user who was selling off his collection.
Heinlein, Robert A. The Man Who Sold The Moon. Shasta Publishers, 1950. First edition hardback, one of 250 copies signed by Heinlein, a Very Good copy with spine slightly concave at top, slight bumping at head and heel, slight rub ear to lettering at head and heel, points slightly bumping, and traces of wear to boards, with the “FUTURE HISTORY/1951-2600 A.D.” sticker added to front free endpaper and inside back cover (as issued), in a Very Good- dust jacket with 1/8″ loss across heel, 1/8″ ship at head points and associated creasing, 3/4″ abrasion (possibly a sticker pull) near bottom of spine, not affecting any lettering, moderate creasing along spine and flap folds, slight age darkening to spine, very slight darkening to rear cover and tops of flaps, and usual blind side foxing. A fairly nice copy that I’ll probably ended up swapping the better dust jacket on my trade copy with. Bought from a private seller for $500. Chalker/Owings, page 398. Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 162. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 109. Currey, page 233.
Tags:Books, Limited Editions, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Shasta Publishers, signed, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Friday, December 9th, 2022
Another Dragonstairs chapbook:
Swanwick, Michael. Solstice Veritas or The Christmas Cat and Other Memories. Dragonstairs Press, 2021. First edition chapbook original, #101 of 120 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Printed last year, but only offered for sale this year. “A collection of eight, well, true stories, memories and musings on holidays past.” Bought from the publisher at the usual discount. I will have a few copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Michael Swanwick, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Science Fiction, technology | No Comments »
Monday, November 14th, 2022
I won these as part of an Arkham House lot at an Invaluable auction for $217 plus shipping. Other books from that lot will be in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, already in progress (probably going out just before Christmas).
Carter, Lin. Dreams from R’lyeh. Arkham House, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with wear at head, heel and points, and dust soiling to rear cover, mostly along fold edge. Poetry collection. In terms of desirability, this one is way, way down the list of Arkhams that took forever to sell out, down there with Gary Myer’s In the House of the Worm and those very later novels from people nobody ever heard of. Honestly, I was sort of surprised to discover that I hadn’t already picked up a cheap copy somewhere along the line. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 133. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 137. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 139.
Derleth, August, and Mark Schorer. Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People. Arkham House, 1966. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a few touches of light dust staining to rear, the largest about dime-sized near the top where the back jacket copy begins. Story collection. Replaces a slightly less attractive copy. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 87. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 87. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 93. Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction 530.
Derleth, August, editor. Dark of the Moon: Poems of Fantasy and the Macabre. Arkham House, 1947. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with bumping to top corners, slight bumping at head and heel, and a trace of foxing to interior gutters, in a Very Good- first state (green) dust jacket with a 1″ x 1/2″ chip to top front cover, notable bump and creasing to top rear corner trace of dust soiling to perimeter of rear dust jacket slight loss at bottom rear corner, a light, thin 1″ abrasion scratch to spine just above “Arkham House,” a bit of general wear, and slight blind-side foxing; a nice copy in a flawed dust jacket. “A pioneering and well-nigh definitive anthology of weird poetry from the entire range of English and American literature…” – Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 23. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 23. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 26. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 24 (and 34th on his list of most valuable Arkham House books). Derleth, 100 Books By August Derleth 46. Bleiler, Checklist of Fantastic Fiction (1948), page 98. Bleiler, Checklist of Fantastic Fiction (1978), page 60.
Lovecraft, H. P., etc. (collected by August Derleth). Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Arkham House, 1969. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of dust soiling to the rear panel. Beautiful copy. “A volume that has come to be regarded as the definitive anthology of tales utilizing the framework of the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’…” – Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 102. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 97. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 109. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 108.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Derleth, August. Some Notes on H. P. Lovecraft. Arkham House, 1959. First edition chapbook original, a Very Good copy to which someone has attached a now-yellowing plastic protector, as well as attaching the bookplate of late antiquarian book dealer Franklin Victor Spellman to the inside front cover. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 55. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 55. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 55. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 58. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House (unnumbered item between 86 and 87 on page 84). Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft: A Comprehensive Bibliography, III.C.32. Tymn/Schlobin/Currey, A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies, 284.
Tags:Arkham House, August Derleth, Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, Lin Carter, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 9th, 2022
Three books, including two signed Tim Powers firsts.
Powers, Tim. Always Going On. Subterranean Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #183 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with Subterranean “packed by” slip laid in. Only available as a set with Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 (see below).
Powers, Tim. The Skies Discrowned. Charnel House, 2022. First edition hardback, #54 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. “Handbound in Indigo Night Cave Paper (Belgium Flax dyed with Indigo & Walnut). This Cave Paper was made by hand for this edition. Each one of a kind sheet sheet guaranties that each book is unique. Exquisitely printed on 80lb Mohawk Superfine.” Part of a uniform prestige edition that Charnel House is doing of all Powers’ books. I will have one copy of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Schafer, William, editor. Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3. Subterranean Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #183 of 250 numbered copies signed by all the contributors, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with Subterranean “packed by” slip laid in. Anthology with stories by Robert R. McCammon, Richard Kadrey, etc. Sold as a set with Always Going On, bought as a set from Subterranean for $75, 50% off the original cover price. Now sold out from the publisher.
Tags:Books, Charnel House, Fantasy, Horror, Limited Editions, small press publishers, Subterranean Press, Tim Powers
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Games, Horror | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022
Another book in the Borderlands Little Book series:
James, M. R. (edited and illustrated by Stephen R. Jones). A Little Jasmine Book of M. R. James. Borderlands Books, 2022. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Jones, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Six tales from the master of the ghost story, plus some nonfiction pieces from James, Jones and others, including a select bibliography.
I will have a small number of copies available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (currently in progress).
Tags:Books, Borderlands Press, Ghosts, Horror, M. R. James, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2022
This one of those “what the hell” lowball bids that won. F. Paul Wilson is a writer I collected some early work of (The Keep, etc.), but hadn’t really kept up with. This is the final book from that UK dealer sale.
Wilson, F. Paul. Sims Book 5: Thy Brother’s Keeper. Cemetery Dance, 2010. First edition hardback, letter R of 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine traycase. Bought from a notable UK dealer for £52.60.
I think this is the only non-Lansdale lettered edition I have from Cemetery Dance.
Tags:Books, Cemetery Dance, F. Paul Wilson, Horror, Limited Editions, Science Fiction, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, October 10th, 2022
Someone had a lot of eleven Ray Bradbury firsts listed on eBay for $420, and accepted a $300 offer. These are the ones going into my library (two replacing unsigned copies), the rest will be offered for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Bradbury, Ray. Farewell Summer. Morrow, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket with “National Book Award Distinguished Contribution to American Letters” sticker (presumably as issued; he was awarded it in 2000), signed by Bradbury. Sequel to Dandelion Wine.
Bradbury, Ray. The Last Circus & The Electrocution. Lord John Press, 1980. First edition hardback, #105 of 300 copies signed by Bradbury and introduction author William F. Nolan, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. Two stories, an introduction by Nolan and an afterword by Bradbury. Supplements a signed trade copy.
Bradbury, Ray. The Machineries of Joy. Simon & Schuster, 1964. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with previous owner’s name, city, and date to FFE, corners slightly bumped, slight bend at head and heel, and slight wear along bottom board edges, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with 3/16″ triangular chip at head join, slight edgewear at head and heel, bit of wrinkling to top edge, a few small, closed tears, a tiny bit of loss at points, and a few slight spots of dust soiling, signed and dated (“12/12/86”) by Bradbury. Short story collection. Nolan, The Ray Bradbury Companion, pages 148-150. Weist, Bradbury: An Illustrated Life, page 72. Currey, page 56.
Bradbury, Ray. One For The Road. Morrow, 2002. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Bradbury. Short story collection, including a smattering of older stories.
Bradbury, Ray. The Tonybee Convector. Knopf, 1988. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, inscribed by Bradbury: “Joe Anne &/Lee/Ray Bradbury/Dec. 10/1988.” Replaces an unsigned copy.
Bradbury, Ray. When Elephants Last In The Dooryard Bloomed. Knopf, 1973. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel, in a Near Fine, price-clipped dust jacket, signed and dated (“12/12/86”). Supplements a later printing.
Tags:Fantasy, Horror, Limited Editions, Lord John Press, poetry, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
