This is a deck-clearing post, since I just made another major purchase of Zelazny manuscripts and first editions that it’s going to take me some time to catalog…
Asimov, Isaac. In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920—1954. Doubleday, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight sun darkening to the very tops of inside flaps. Non-fiction. The first volume of Asimov’s massive two volume autobiography (I already had a first edition of the second volume, In Joy Still Felt).
Brunner, John. Tomorrow May be Even Worse. NESFA Press, 1978. First edition trade paperback, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bumping at points. Signed by Brunner. Small book of verse (one SF topic for every letter, arranged from A to Z), illustrated by fan artist ATom.
Honan, William H. Visions of Infamy: The Untold Story of How Journalist Hector C. Bywater Devised the Plans That lead to Pearl Harbor. St. Martin’s Press, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Fellow collector Chris Skillings sent this to me after reading about how I picked up E. H. Fitzpatrick’s The Coming Conflict of Nations, or the Japanese American War. Bywater sounds like he was a very interesting guy…
As far as I can tell, this Windermere is a defunct Post-Rock/Shoegaze band from Denmark, not the current band from New Jersey. They sound a bit like Jeniferever if the latter’s lead singer could sing a bit better. “Trailer Park” is a pretty song with a long build.
So a while back I got word of Neil Gaiman being involved in a benefit for a project involving (I kid you not) Tasmanian cave spider sex. He’s evidently quite the Tasmaniophile, having spent his honeymoon with Amanda Palmer in Hobart. It sounded like an odd, interesting project, and the sort of thing to drive Gaiman completists crazy if they didn’t presupport, so I went ahead and ponied up for the deluxe package, which was, IIRC, a bit over $100 for both books.
Now, finally both books from the Sixteen Legs project have come in:
Gaiman, Neil, with Niall Doran, Craig Wellington and Jodee Taylah (artist). Sixteen Legs Production Art: A Visit to the Queen of the Dark. Bookend Trust, 2015. First edition hardback, one of an undetermined number (though probably just over 100 copies, given that there are just under 100 names (including my own) listed under Premium Supporters on page 43) of the Limited Deluxe Edition signed by the three authors and the artist, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket in decorated boards, as issued.
Doran, Niall, Alastastair Richardson, Joe Shemesh. Kinky Love: Mating of the Tasmanian Cave Spider. Bookend Trust, 2015. First edition hardback, one of an undetermined number of signed copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket in decorated boards, as issued.
Yes, for a mere £1,500 starting bid, you can own Her Majesty’s Bloomers.
The Dreweatts & Bloomsbury auction takes place on May 21 BST, which means you’ll either need to place a bid online or get up fairly early in the morning (if you’re in the U.S.) to bid…
The Hope Slide is a Canadian Band named after a natural disaster and, like Great Northern, has a name that make it hard to search for information about them on Google. Evidently the two principles were previously in a different Shoegaze band called Hinterland. Here’s “The Prince William Sound.” (Speaking of songs that are hard to Google…)
I recently obtained two Michael Swanwick chapbooks, at least one of which is bound to drive Swanwick completists bonkers:
Swanwick, Michael. Hunting the Phoenix. Dragonstairs Press, 2015. First edition hardback (“archival board wrappers covered with hand-dyed rice paper, with a stab binding ornamented with a single aventurine bead”), #6 of 30 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, new and unread. Sort of an in-progress illustrated sketchbook for a Swanwick novel, more impressionistic colored line art than narrative. If it’s not the strangest Swanwick item yet, it’s tied with the hardback state of Puck Aleshire’s Abecedary. Bought for $30 from the publisher.
Swanwick, Michael. Season’s Greetings. Dragonstairs Press, 2014. First edition chapbook original, #18 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. I should be able to pick up copies of this to sell through Lame Excuse Books later in the year.
I picked up one of the key Gnome Press titles at a Heritage auction:
Simak, Clifford. City. Gnome Press, 1952. First edition hardback, a Near Fine- copy with slight spine lean and previous owner’s name and date on front free endpaper, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with a few pinhead sized spots of discoloration on dust jacket flaps and along top flap edges, and extremely slight dust-staining to white rear panel; an exceptionally nice example of the dust jacket. One of Simak’s key works, and one of the more desirable Gnome Press titles. Chalker & Owings (1991), page 199. Currey (1979), page 446. Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 208. Won for $200 from Heritage Auctions.
