Posts Tagged ‘Philip K. Dick’

Library Additions: January 1—June 30, 2018

Monday, July 23rd, 2018

Here’s the roundup of all the books I bought for the first half of 2018. Most books here I’ve included in other Library Addition posts, but not all! Bonus: Three completely different books with “Bradbury” and “Chronicles” in the title.

All of these are Fine first edition hardbacks in Fine dust jackets, unless otherwise stated.

  • “Archer, Sterling.” How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written. HarperCollins, 2011. Trade paperback reprint. A gift.
  • Asimov, Isaac. The Heavenly Host. Walker, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a trace of wear to boards, in a Near Fine dust jacket with a couple of 1/4″ closed tears at top edge, a few traces of dust soiling, and slight sun-yellowing around the perimeter (greatly exaggerated in the scan). Young adult novel set on another planet. Currey (1979), page 17. Bought from an online dealer for $20 plus shipping.

  • (Ballard, J.G.) McGrath, Rick, editor. The JG Ballard Book. The Terminal Press, 2013. First edition, first printing hardback (stated, though actually a POD book), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Oversized hardback (about the size and thickness of a high school yearbook) chock full of various Ballard tidbits.
  • (Ballard, J.G.) McGrath, Rick, editor. Deep Ends The JG Ballard Anthology 2014. The Terminal Press, 2014. First edition, first printing hardback (stated, though actually a POD book), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Oversized hardback chock full of various Ballard tidbits, including a previously unpublished Ballard work (“Crystal of the Sea”).
  • (Ballard, J.G.) McGrath, Rick, editor. Deep Ends The JG Ballard Anthology 2015. The Terminal Press, 2015. First edition, first printing hardback (stated, though actually a POD book), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Oversized hardback full of even more Ballard tidbits.
  • (Ballard, J.G.) McGrath, Rick, editor. Deep Ends The JG Ballard Anthology 2016. The Terminal Press, 2016. First edition, first printing hardback (stated, though actually a POD book), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Oversized hardback full of still more Ballard tidbits.
  • Barker, Clive. The Body Book. Dark Regions Press, 2016 (stated, though evidently a production glitch meant some copies weren’t shipped until well into 2017). First edition hardback, a PC copy of 500 signed/numbered hardbacks, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Includes two stories from The Books of Blood, “The Body Politic” and “In the Flesh,” as well as screenplays for each of them, storyboards, and interviews with Barker and others who worked on them. Bought for $29.99 off eBay. (List price is $80.)
  • Barker, Clive. Tonight, Again. Subterranean Press, 2015. Erotic stories and poems. Bought for $10 from a Subterranean Press sale.
  • Bear, Greg. War Dogs. Orbit, 2014. Bought from Half Price Books for $3.
  • Bradbury, Ray (text). The Art of Playboy. Alfred van der Marck Editions, 1985. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight blunting to points and slight wear along bottom boards. Signed by Bradbury. Collection of art that appeared in Playboy magazine, something of who’s who of modern magazine illustration, including all the tasteful female nudes you’d expect, and the expected Vargas, Nagel, Olivia, etc., but also Frank Frazetta, Salvador Dali, Kinuko Craft, and a multitude of others. Bought off eBay for $38.77 plus shipping.

  • Bradbury, Ray. Christmas Greetings (AKA Scanning the Universe. Self-published, no date (but 1984). First edition broadsheet original, one sheet of paper, a Near Fine copy, folded for mailing. Inscribed: “Stephen! Ray Bradbury.” Yet another Bradbury poem referencing George Bernard Shaw. Credited to Ray and Marguerite Bradbury. Not sure if this has been reprinted anywhere. Bought off eBay for $35 plus shipping.

  • Bradbury, Ray. A Christmas Wish 1994 (AKA Go Not With Ruins In Your Mind). Self published, 1994. First edition broadsheet original, one sheet of paper, a Near Fine copy with a paper clip indention at top left. Inscribed by Bradbury: “Dear/Holly!/[line]/Happy New Year!/[line]/Ray Bradbury/ 1/3/95”. Credited to Maggie and Ray Bradbury. Bought off eBay for $34.89 plus shipping.

  • Bradbury, Ray (etc.). The Ray Bradbury Chronicles Volume 7. NMB/Byron Priess, 1993. First edition hardback, #304 of 100 numbered copies signed by Bradbury and several illustrators, etc., a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Graphic novel adaptation of several Bradbury short stories. Bought off eBay for $31.50 plus shipping.

  • (Bradbury, Ray) Slusser, George. The Bradbury Chronicles. Borgo Press, 1977. First edition chapbook original (“First printed——-April 1977,” as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with some bunching near the spine on the rear cover and a bit of general wear. Signed by Bradbury. The Milford Writers of Today series Volume Four. Bought off eBay for $20 plus shipping. First book I bought in 2018. Currey (1979), page 49.
  • (Bradbury, Ray) Weller, Sam. The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. William Morrow, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Bradbury. Biography and in-depth look at his work. Bought off eBay for $25.

  • Brown, Eric. The Martian Simulacra. NewCon Press, 2018. First edition hardback, copy YY of 52 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. With:
  • Fenn, Jaine. The Martian Job. NewCon Press, 2017. First edition hardback, copy YY of 52 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. With:
  • McCormack, Una. The Greatest Story Ever Told. NewCon Press, 2018. First edition hardback, copy YY of 52 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. With:
  • Williams, Liz. Phosphorus: A Winterstrike Story. NewCon Press, 2018. First edition hardback, copy YY of 52 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. As a set, all in the same slipcase.

  • Brown, Mack and Bill Little. One Heartbeat: A Philosophy of Teamwork, Life, and Leadership. Bright Sky Press, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight sun fading to spin and an ADVANCE READING COPY label on the front cover, as issued. Inscribed by Brown: “Harry,/Thanks for all/of your support!/Hook’Em,/Mack Brown.” Non-fiction book by the head football coach of the University of Texas Longhorns. Brown’s Longhorns would later go on to win a National Championship in 2005. Bought at auction for $5.
  • Brunner, John. The Crutch of Memory. Barrie and Rockcliff, 1964. First edition hardback (“First published 1964,” as per Currey), a Near Fine- copy with dust soiling to page block edges, slight bumping at head and heel and extremely slight blunting of points, in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping at head and heel, some dust soiling around the edge of the white rear cover, foxing to blind side of dj spine and edges, and general wear. With Brunner’s own ownership bookplate affixed to front flap. Brunner’s first mainstream novel. Currey, 1979, page 70. De Bolt, The Happening World of John Brunner, page 205. Bought for £9.50 plus shipping off eBay.

  • Constantine, Storm. Splinters of Truth. NewCon Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #57 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a fine copy in a fine dust jacket, new and unread.
  • Dick, Philip K. In Milton Lumkey Territory. Dragon Press, 1985. First edition hardback, one of 50 copies bound in quarter-leather with Philip K. Dick’s signature (cut from a cancelled check) pasted to the front free endpaper, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. One of the Dick mainstream novels unpublished at the time of his death. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 132. Wintz/Hyde, Precious Artifacts, MS4.1. Supplements a copy of the simultaneous trade first hardback.

  • Dick, Philip K. Mary and the Giant. Ultramarine Press/Arbor House, 1987. First edition hardback, one of 125 copies bound in quarter-leather with Philip K. Dick’s signature (cut from a cancelled check) pasted to the front free endpaper, a Near Fine copy with 1/4″ of what appear to be sun-fading to the leather along spine and at top, sans dust jacket, as issued. Like all Ultramarine Press books, this is just the rebound Arbor House sheets with Dick’s signature added. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 611, calls for a limitation page, but I’m not seeing one. Wintz/Hyde, Precious Artifacts, MS5.1. Oddly enough, I never picked up the Arbor House first, so this supplements a UK first.

  • Dick, Philip K. Ubik: A Screenplay. Corroboee Press, 1985. First edition hardback, one of 50 copies bound in full leather with Dick’s signature mounted on the half title page, and signed by the introduction authors (Tim Powers and Paul Williams) and the artists (Val Lakey-Lindhan and Rob Lindhan, and Doug Rice), a Near Fine copy with apparent sun-fading to leather spine, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine patterned cardboard slipcase. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 114. Wintz/Hyde, Precious Artifacts, SF34.2.

  • (Dick, Philip K.) Arnold, Kyle. The Divine Madness of Philip K. Dick. Oxford University Press, 2016. An analysis of Dick’s 1974 “pink light” incident. Bought from Half-Price Books for $5.99.
  • Fielding, Henry. The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling. The Franklin Library, 1980. Prestige hardback reprint, leatherbound with gilt edges, a Fine- copy with a few nicks to the gilt. A rather handsome and hefty volume. Bought from Half Price Books for $2.

  • Effinger, George Alec. Relatives. Harper & Row, 1973. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket with one 1/4″ closed tear on bottom front and very slight dust soiling to rear. Inscribed by Effinger: “For Dan Monte—/This is pretty scarce title. I/think the Center for Disease Control/developed a vaccine against this novel/shortly after publication. Well, it/was only my second book and I/was still learning—/George Alec Effinger.” I knew George (he came to the second Turkey City Writer’s Workshop I ever threw) and he signed most of his books for me, but I don’t think I picked this one up before he died. This and the Lovegrove title below were exchanged for credit.

  • Egan, Greg. Phoresis. Subterranean Press, 2018.
  • Ellison, Harlan. Can and Can’tankerous. Edgeworks Abbey/Subterranean Press, 2015. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 324 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase. Short story collection. This limited edition contains four stories not in the trade edition. Bought for $100.

  • Ellison, Harlan. An Edge in My Voice. Donning, 1985. First edition hardback, one of 1,200 copies signed by Ellison, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase. Collection of non-fiction essays. Supplements a trade hardback and Edgeworks 1. Bought for $30 plus shipping off eBay.

  • Ellison, Harlan. Rumble. Pyramid Books, 1958. First edition paperback original (“Pyramid Books edition 1958” on copyright page and 35¢ price, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with slight wear along spine, faint crease on top front corner, slight characteristic age-darkening of pages, and a few other touches of wear, otherwise a bright, tight, square copy of a book usually found in much worse shape. Inscribed by Ellison: “Best of/luck to Perry/and to Sue, undisguised/lust and an all-expense paid/trip to anywhere with me/Harlan Ellison/22 JAN 73”. Mainstream novel of juvenile delinquency. Currey (1979), page 179. Slusser, Harlan Ellison: Unrepentant Harlequin, page 62, 1. Segaloff, A Lit Fuse, page 75. Bought for $66 off eBay.

  • Ellison, Harlan. Top of the Volcano. Edgeworks Abbey/Subterranean Press, 2014. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase. Collection of Ellison’s award-winning short stories. Bought for $125.
  • Ellison, Harlan. Troublemakers. Edgeworks Abbey/iBooks, 2001. First edition hardback, #20 of 500 signed, numbered copies (via a signature plate tipped in on the FFE), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Short story collection. Evidently both trade paperback and hardback were issued in October of 2001, so no precedence that I can determine, and the hardback state isn’t in the Locus database. Bought off eBay for $57.50.

  • Farmer, Philip Jose. Gods of Riverworld. Phantasia Press, 1983. First edition hardback, #503 of 650 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and fine slipcase. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 341. Bought off eBay for $25.
  • Gaiman, Neil. Doctor Who: Nothing O’Clock. Borderlands Press/Gauntlet, 2018. First edition hardback, #109 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. Bought from the publishers at the usual dealer discount.
  • Farmer, Philip Jose. The Other in the Mirror. Subterranean Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine traycase. Omnibus edition of Fire and the Night, Jesus on Mars, and Night of Light, and the first hardback editions of the first two. Supplements both a trade edition and a copy of the limited edition I got very cheap. Bought for $150 (half cover price for the lettered edition).

  • Godwin, Parke, and Marvin Kaye. The Masters of Solitude. Doubleday, 1978. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with purple remainder speckling at heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with moderate soiling to white back cover. Inscribed by both authors: “[In Kaye’s hand]Worldcon 1986″/[In Godwin’s hand] For Fred/Parke Godwin/[In Kaye’s hand] For Fred/with best wishes/Marvin/Kaye.” I did not previously have examples of either author’s signatiure. Bought for $12. (Note: Kaye’s name comes first on the cover, but I have more of Godwin’s books so I’ll be filing it there.)

  • Hodgson, William Hope (Sam Moscowitz, editor). The Haunted “Pampero”. Donald M. Grant, 1991. First edition hardback, #185 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. “Uncollected Fantasies and Mysteries,” for which Moskowitz provides copious notes. This is the second book I have signed by Moscowitz, after Olaf Stapledon’s Far Future Calling. Bought off eBay for $25.

  • Holkins, Jerry and Mike Krahulik. Lexcalibur: Useful Poetry for Adventurers Above And Below The World. Penny Arcade, 2017 (actually 2018). First edition hardback (“First Printing. November 2017. Printed in China.”), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread, with additional “Table of Malcontents” poem on bookmark laid in. Fantasy-gaming themed humorous poetry. Not actually offered for sale until May 2018.

  • (Howard, Robert E.) Warfield, Wayne (editor). The Ultimate Guide to Howardia 1925-1975. Hall Publications, 1976. First edition chapbook first edition (and perfect-bound, which is unusual for a chapbook of a mere 32 pages), a Fine copy. Early bibliography of Robert E. Howard, including much (then) unpublished work, but missing a few things (like the Herbert Jenkins A Gent From Bear Creek, which, to be fair, precious few Howard collectors had laid eyes on in 1975). Currey, page 254. Bought of eBay for $15.

  • Hunter, Stephen. Pale Horse Coming. Simon & Schuster, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Hunter. Bought for $5.

  • Jackson, Shirley. Let Me Tell You. Random House, 2015. Previously unpublished and uncollected stories, essays, etc.
  • Jeter, K.W. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Warped. Pocket Books, 1995. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Jeter: “For Karen + Fred—/See you in/San Antonio!/Best,/K. W. Jeter.” Karen Meschke was con chair for the 1997 San Antonio Worldcon. Bought for $5 after discount.

  • Kay, Guy Gavriel. Tigana. Roc, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Kay: “For Fred,/All best,/Guy Kay.” Bought for $15 after discount.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. and Jussi Piironen. Hap and Leonard: Savage Season. SST, 2017. First hardback and first limited edition, number 105 of 270 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Graphic novel adaptation of the first Hap and Leonard novel. The IDW trade paperback edition precedes.
  • Lee, Harper. Go Set A Watchman. HarperCollins, 2015. Bought from Half-Price Books for $3.
  • Lovegrove, James. Provender Gleed. Gollancz, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and dated by Lovegrove. I should really read some of the Lovegrove I already have…

  • Matheson, Richard. Hunted Past Reason. Tor, 2002. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Signed by Matheson, with certificate of authenticity laid in. Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought for $18.
  • Mieville, China. Railsea. Subterranean Press, 2012. First limited edition hardback (the Del Rey hardback is the true first), PC copy of 26 signed lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine traycase (even by the standards of lettered editions, this is a very nice leather traycase with suede baffle surfaces on the inside of the front and back). Bought for $150.

  • Mieville, China, and Zak Smith. The Worst Breakfast. Black Sheep/Akashic Books, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards. Illustrated children’s book.
  • Moorcock, Michael. Pegging the President. PS Publishing, 2018. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. A new Jerry Cornelius novella. This trade edition precedes the limited.
  • Moore, Ward with Robert Bradford. Caduceus Wild. First edition paperback original, a Very Good+ copy with spine creasing and slight yellowing of the pages.
  • Moore, Ward, and Geoff St. Reynard. RX Jupiter Save Us and Beware, The Usurpers! Armchair Fiction, 2011. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Moore, Ward and George O. Smith. Transient and The World-Mover. Armchair Fiction, 2013. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle. Escape From Hell. Tor, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by both Niven and Pournelle. Sequel to Inferno. Supplants an unsigned copy. Bought for $10 plus buyers fee and shipping at auction.

  • Powers, Tim. The Drawing of the Dark. Subterranean Press, 2014. First edition thus, preceded by the Del Rey paperback original and the Hypatia hardback, both of which I already have. Bought for $10 from a Subterranean Press sale.
  • Pratt, Fletcher, editor. Civil War in Pictures. Holt, 1955. First edition (thus? no statement of printing, and there was a Garden City Books edition in 1955 as well, but what online references I’ve found (such as this from Henry Wessells) mention this Holt edition), a Near Fine copy with slight bumping at tips, a non-authorial bookplate on inside front cover (mostly obscured by the dj flap), and very faint yellowing to pages, in a Very Good dust jacket, with very shallow loss and head and heel, a 1″ semi-closed tear at bottom rear cover, same bumping at tips, and slight foxing to blind side spine. Signed by Pratt for members of the Civil War Book Club. $10 would have been very pricey indeed for 1955 (though it’s possible that was just for show and the club members received it for a substantial discount). Pratt died in 1956. Bought for $37.50 on eBay.

  • Reynolds, Alastair. The Iron Tactician. Newcon Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #197 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $57.60 from a fellow Biblio dealer.

  • Shaver, Richard S. The Shaver Mystery Book Five. Armchair Fiction, 2014. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Shaver, Richard S. The Shaver Mystery Book Six. Armchair Fiction, 2015. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Shaver, Richard S. The Shaver Mystery Book Seven. Armchair Fiction, 2016. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Silverberg, Robert. Beyond the Safe Zone. Donald I. Fine, 1986. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Silverberg: “For Joe—/L.A./ 10/25/86 / Robert Silverberg.” Short story collection. Bought for $10 plus buyers fee and shipping at auction.

  • Silverberg, Robert. Masters of Science Fiction Vol. 11: Robert Silverberg: The Ace Years, Part One (Chalice of Death AKA Earth Shall Live Again! AKA Vengeance of the Space Armadas AKA Lest We Forget Thee Earth, Starhaven and Shadow on the Stars). Armchair Fiction, 2017. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Silverberg, Robert. Masters of Science Fiction Vol. 12: Robert Silverberg: The Ace Years, Part Two (The Planet Killers, The Plot Against Earth, One of Our Asteroids is Missing). Armchair Fiction, 2017. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Smith, Clark Ashton (edited by Steve Behrands, with Donald Sydney-Fryer and Rah Hoffman). Strange Shadows: The Uncollected Fiction and Essays of Clark Ashton Smith. Greenwood Press, 1989. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Fragments, lists, variants, etc. Clute and Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, page 880. Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 1975—1991, 34170, page 909. Bought from a well-known online bookseller for $50.

  • Smith, E. E. “Doc”. Skylark of Valeron. Fantasy Press, 1949. First hardback edition (and first limited edition), trade state (Currey B), a Fine- copy with small bookplate pastedown remnant on RFE, in a Fine- dust jacket with just the barest trace of dust soiling to white rear cover. Inscribed by Smith: “To Rocco Mays/In appreciation of your appreciation/of my stuff —/Edward E. Smith, PhD. Currey, page 457. Chalker/Owings, page 159. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy (One), page 201. Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 26. Bought from National Book Auctions for $100. (Surface wear in the scan below is on the dust jacket protector.)

  • Sterling, Bruce. Gothic High-Tech. Subterranean Press, 2011. First edition hardback, #34 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Supplements the trade edition, which I already have.
  • Swanwick, Michael. Blue Moon. Dragonstairs Press, 2018. First edition chapbook original, #18 of 69 printed copies, a Fine copy (there’s some slight phantom creasing to the cover, because the chapbook was mailed in a flat envelope, which meant the sewn bead on the outside pressed against the book in transit, and all copies seen so affected), new and unread. Bought for $10 direct from the publisher. “Five ‘flash’ stories, all with a lunar setting. Published in an edition of 69, released for sale on the second “blue moon” of 2018. 67 copies available for sale (publisher’s and author’s copies withheld) on March 31, 2018, for 24 hours only. All copies not sold by midnight, March 31, 2018 will be burned.” In fact, all copies sold out in a matter of hours, so none were burned.

  • Swanwick, Michael. The Proceedings of the American Martini Institute: Report of the American Martini Laboratory: The Evolution of the Martini. Dragonstairs Press, 2018. First edition chapbook original, one of 60 signed numbered copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Like a title says: A history of the development of the Martini cocktail.

  • Tem, Steve Rasnic. Twember. NewCon Press, 2013. First edition hardback, #89 of 125 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread.
  • (Tenn, William) Klass, Philip. The Evolution of William Tenn, or Myself When Young. The Pretentious Press, 1995. First edition chapbook original (at 11″ x 6″, and unusualy tall chapbook), one of 85 copies, a Fine copy, signed by Klass, with a photo of the author tipped in on the back of the title page. Includes several short pieces published by the The Apprentice, published by NYU when Klass was a 19-year old student in 1939.

  • Tenn, William (writing name for Philip J. Klass). Immodest Proposals. NESFA Press, 2001. First edition hardback, a Very Good- copy with a large coffee-colored stain at head (and a smaller one at heel) in a Very Good+ dust jacket, with wrinkling to spine and front cover and spots of staining to blind side of the dust jacket. Signed by Tenn: “P. Klass/W Tenn”. Not a great copy, but bought for $5.99 at Half Price Books. Supplements a Fine/Fine (but unsigned) copy.

  • Tuttle, Lisa. Twember. NewCon Press, 2012. First edition hardback, #104 of 125 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread.
  • Vance, Jack. Desperate Days. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition hardback, a PC copy of the 26 copy lettered edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dustjacket and a Fine- traycase (there’s a small flaw to the cork-lined interior front lid), signed by Vance. Contains “The Genessee Slough Murders: Outline for a Novel” not in the trade edition (though reprinted from Jerry Hewett’s bibliography). Contains three Vance mysteries: The Fox Valley Murders, The Pleasant Grove Murders and The Dark Ocean. Note that there was no regular numbered edition of this, so the lettered edition was the only one signed by Vance. Bought from the Subterranean PC sale for $250 plus shipping. Supplements a trade edition.

  • Vance, Jack. The Houses of Izam. Underwood-Miller, 1983. First edition hardback, #104 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Hewett, A12h. Chalker/Owings, page 435. Supplements a trade edition. Bought from National Book Auctions for $55.

  • Watson, Ian. The 1000 Year Reich. NewCon Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #22 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a fine copy in a fine dust jacket, new and unread.
  • Webb, Don. Deep Dendo and Other Poems. Dunham’s Manor Press, 2018. First edition hardback, one of only 25 hardback copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Don’s latest poetry collection.

  • Weiner, Ellis. National Lampoon’s Doon. Pocket Books, 1984. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy with slight spine creasing and touches of wear. Parody of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
  • Wellman, Manly Wade. The Rebel Songster: Songs the Confederates Sang. Heritage House, 1959. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight wear at points and slightly uneven glue binding along front cover joint, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with age darkening 2 1/2″ along front bottom and 1″ near spine, and small touches of dust soiling everywhere. A book of songs Confederate soldiers sung during the Civil War, with music, some familiar (“The Yellow Rose of Texas”), but most not. Bought for $35 on eBay, a good deal since I intermittently searched for this for several years when there were no copies to be found online at all.

  • Wellman, Manly Wade. The Story of Moore County. Moore County Historical Society, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight wear at head and heel in a Fine- dust jacket with one 1/8″ closed tear at head (now under Mylar), slight wrinkling to top front jacket, and a few touches of general wear; a very nice copy. Non-fiction history of the North Carolina County. Bought off eBay for $10.

  • Wellman, Manly Wade. West Point 3000 A.D and The Invading Asteroid. Fiction House, 2012. Trade paperback original thus (a POD edition), a Fine copy, new and unread. The ISFDB says this was the first book publication of West Point 3000 A.D..
  • Wellman, Manly Wade, and Stanton Coblentz. Warrior of Two Worlds and Enchantress of Lemuria. Armchair Fiction, 2017. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Wellman, Manly Wade, and Ralph Milne Farley and Al P. Nelson. West Point 3000 A.D. and Holy City of Mars. Armchair Fiction, 2016. First edition trade paperback original (a POD production, like all Armchair Fiction books), a Fine copy, new and unread.
  • Williams, Liz and Trevor Jones. Diary of a Witchcraft Shop 2. NewCon Press, 2012. First edition hardback, #79 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a fine copy in a fine dust jacket, new and unread. Non-fiction.
  • Zelazny, Roger, editor. The Williamson Effect. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel and a few pinprick spots of foxing to FFE (maybe something with acidic paper was laid in there) in a Fine dust jacket. Tribute anthology for Jack Williamson, published after Zelazny’s. Signed by Williamson and contributors Ben Bova, Mike Resnick and David Weber. Won off eBay for $24.07. Replaces an unsigned copy.

  • Note that some of the new books above are available through Lame Excuse Books.

    Library Addition: Three Signed Philip K. Dick Books

    Monday, June 18th, 2018

    I won a three-book lot of signed Philip K. Dick firsts from Swann Auctions in May, and after a small shipping delay, they finally arrived.

  • Dick, Philip K. In Milton Lumkey Territory. Dragon Press, 1985. First edition hardback, one of 50 copies bound in quarter-leather with Philip K. Dick’s signature (cut from a cancelled check) pasted to the front free endpaper, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. One of the Dick mainstream novels unpublished at the time of his death. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 132. Wintz/Hyde, Precious Artifacts, MS4.1. Supplements a copy of the simultaneous trade first hardback.

  • Dick, Philip K. Mary and the Giant. Ultramarine Press/Arbor House, 1987. First edition hardback, one of 125 copies bound in quarter-leather with Philip K. Dick’s signature (cut from a cancelled check) pasted to the front free endpaper, a Near Fine copy with 1/4″ of what appear to be sun-fading to the leather along spine and at top, sans dust jacket, as issued. Like all Ultramarine Press books, this is just the rebound Arbor House sheets with Dick’s signature added. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 611, calls for a limitation page, but I’m not seeing one. Wintz/Hyde, Precious Artifacts, MS5.1. Oddly enough, I never picked up the Arbor House first, so this supplements a UK first.

  • Dick, Philip K. Ubik: A Screenplay. Corroboee Press, 1985. First edition hardback, one of 50 copies bound in full leather with Dick’s signature mounted on the half title page, and signed by the introduction authors (Tim Powers and Paul Williams) and the artists (Val Lakey-Lindhan and Rob Lindhan, and Doug Rice), a Near Fine copy with apparent sun-fading to leather spine, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine patterned cardboard slipcase. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 114. Wintz/Hyde, Precious Artifacts, SF34.2.

  • When the Dick “cancelled check limiteds” started appearing, there was widespread belief among collectors that they were extremely tacky, but damned if the things didn’t sell out almost instantly. Nowadays these typically retail in the $750-$1,250 range each. All three books bought for $880 at auction, including buyer’s fee and shipping.

    Overview of Lawrence Person’s Library: 2017 Edition

    Thursday, August 31st, 2017

    I decided updated pictures of my library were long overdue, so I took pictures of all my personal library bookshelves (as opposed to Lame Excuse Books stock) with my iPhone, which seems to do a better job than my old digital camera anyway.

    I tried to make the pics close and large enough that you could read the titles (which is, I think, one of the main points of photographing your library), though that’s not always the case. (Click to embiggen any of these.)

    I’ve listed very brief high points, but at some point I want to do several more comprehensive posts, probably broken up by letter (A, B, etc.) which will go into more detail and show individual books. But if I did that here I’d probably break your browser!

    As usual, all of these are Fine first edition hardbacks in Fine dust jackets unless otherwise stated.

    Where you see a dust jacket sitting on top of other books, I was reading that book when I took these pictures.

    This is just the fiction. I’ll get to the non-fiction, graphic novels, art books, science fiction reference books, etc. at a later date.

    Not all the pictures are perfect, and I may swap them out for better ones as time permits.

    Oversized Fiction

    These are all the hardback fiction books that were simply too big to fit anywhere else.

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    Highlights:

  • The traycase edition of Greg Bear’s Sleepside Story.
  • Several signed oversized Ray Bradbury books.
  • A copy of Lord John Ten inscribed to Neal Barrett, Jr. by Ray Bradbury.
  • Several signed Harlan Ellison limiteds.
  • Three signed Stephen King books (Desperation, Insomnia, The Black House).
  • The lettered traycase edition of George R. R. Martin’s GRRM.
  • Several signed Richard Matheson books.
  • Two Charnel House books (Ellison’s Coffin Nails and Tim Powers’ Deliver Me From Evil).
  • Three Centipede Press books (the Ambrose Bierce, Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates Michael Shea’s The Autopsy and Other Tales.)
  • Lucius Shepard’s The Last Time.
  • A binder full of hand-written Roger Zelazny manuscripts.
  • A—Ba

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    Highlights:

  • A signed Douglas Adams Mostly Harmless.
  • Some signed Brian Aldiss (RIP).
  • The three Gnome Press Foundation books, plus the signed Whispers Press Foundation’s Edge, plus several other signed Asimovs.
  • A first edition of Attanasio’s Radix.
  • Signed firsts of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl and the signed limited edition of Pump Six And Other Stories.
  • Bal—Bax

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  • Several Ballard firsts (including The Drought and Empire of the Sun), some signed (such as The Atrocity Exhibition).
  • A nearly complete Iain Banks collection (missing one or two of the last ones), including all the early ones, including The Wasp Factory and Use of Weapons, some signed.
  • Nearly complete Clive Barker up to about ten years ago, many signed, including the limited edition UK Weaveworld and all six of the Wiedenfield & Nicholson Books of Blood.
  • A complete collection of Neal Barrett, Jr. fiction hardbacks, all signed or inscribed.
  • Some Stephen Baxter (mostly early books), including Raft and The Time Ships, some signed.
  • Bax—Bi

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  • More Stephen Baxter
  • Some Peter S. Beagle books, including The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place, most signed.
  • A complete Greg Bear collection (save a few recent ones), most signed or inscribed to me.
  • Some Gregory Benford, including the Cheap Street Of Space/Time and the River and Timescape.
  • An incomplete Alfred Bester collection, including a pristine The Demolished Man with Bester’s business card laid in, and an imperfect Who He? inscribed.
  • A nearly-complete Michael Bishop collection (a new one may be out), including No Enemy But Time, most inscribed to me.
  • Bi—Br

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  • Nearly complete James P. Blaylock in hardback, several early ones inscribed to me.
  • Decent Robert Bloch collection, including an imperfect Psycho and several signed books.
  • Very incomplete Leigh Bracket collection, but including the very difficult first hardback of The Sword of Rhiannon.
  • A not-even-remotely-complete Ray Bradbury collection, but including some 30 signed firsts, including The Silver Locusts.

    Br—Bu

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  • Small Ernest Bramah collection, including The Moon of Much Gladness in dust jacket.
  • Early David Brin collection, including Startide Rising, The Uplift War, and his Cheap Street book, Dr. Pak’s Preschoool.
  • Some John Brunner, including a signed The Sheep Look Up and a Fine/Fine Stand On Zanzibar.
  • Signed/limited edition (only hardback) of Steven Brust’s To Reign in Hell.
  • Some signed William F. Buckley, Jr..
  • Several signed Lois McMaster Bujold Hugo and Nebula winners, including the Easton signed/limited (and first hardback editions) of Barrayar and The Vor Game.
  • William S. Burroughs’ The Place of Dead Roads inscribed to his agent.

    Bu—Ch

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  • Complete Octavia Butler collection, including Survivor, some inscribed to me.
  • A rebound first of Samuel Butler’s Erewhon from 1872.
  • A complete Pat Cadigan collection (save some media tie-in work), several inscribed to me.
  • Some Ramsey Campbell.
  • A complete Jonathan Carroll collection, including The Land of Laughs, most signed.
  • A complete Orson Scott Card collection up to the point I stopped reading him (which was Xenocide), including an inscribed Ender’s Game.
  • Some Angela Carter, including The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman (from Carter’s own copies) and The Passion of New Eve.
  • Most of Michael Chabon, including The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, many inscribed to me.
  • The true first edition of Robert W. Chamber’s The King in Yellow; not really visible in this picture since the trim size is so small.
  • Ch—Cr

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  • Some Arthur C. Clarke, including firsts of Against the Fall of Night and Earthlight, an imperfect copy of Childhood’s End (with a Clarke signature plate and photo laid in) and his Hugo winners Rendezvous With Rama and The Fountains of Paradise.
  • Most of Hal Clement, including a nice Iceworld, a signed, imperfect Mission of Gravity, and the three volume NESFA set are all signed as well.
  • A signed copy of Suzy McKee Charnes’ The Vampire Tapestry.
  • Most of the early Storm Constantine.
  • All the early John Crowley, including signed copies of The Deep, Engine Summer and (in the next pic) the Gollancz Little, Big.

    Cr-De

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  • Signed hardback editions of the first 17 issues of Postscripts, plus #24/25. (I’m in three of these.)
  • Most of the Datlow/Windling Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror series (I think I lack a few latter ones).
  • Complete Avram Davidson in hardback (save one hardback chapbook), including the hardback edition of El Vilvoy de las Islas.
  • Some L. Sprague de Camp, some signed.
  • Most of the early Samuel R. Delany, including Babel-17 and The Einstein Intersection, all signed by Delany.
  • Di

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  • I’m about four difficult books away from a complete Philip K. Dick in hardback collection. Highlights of what I have include imperfect copies of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Counter Clock World, Time Out of Joint, Ubik, A Handful of Darkness and World of Chance, firsts HBs of The Penultimate Truth, The Simulacra, The Man Who Japed, The Game Players of Titan, and Confessions of a Crap Artist, a really nice copy of A Scanner Darkly, both the Underwood/Miller and Subterranean Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, and the signed edition of the Levack PKD bibliography, the only Dick signature in my collection.
  • A reasonably complete Thomas M. Disch science fiction collection (I’m missing some of his poetry volumes), including The Genocides, Camp Concentration, 334, and his Cheap Street volume Torturing Mr. Amberwell.
  • Nearly complete Paul Di Filippo collection, many inscribed, including a PC copy of the 1/100 hardback copy edition of Spondulix.
  • Di-El

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  • I have a complete collection of Gardner Dozois’ authored books, and hardback first of all the Year’s Best Science Fiction up through the 14th volume (and just a few missing after that), many inscribed to me by Gardner, and many signed by several story contributors.
  • A nearly complete George Alec Effinger collection, many inscribed to me.
  • Complete (save a couple of very recent books) Greg Egan collection, including An Unusual Angle, Quarantine, Permutation City, and an association copy of Axiomatic inscribed to his editor David Pringle. (Inscribed Egan books are genuinely rare, much less association copies.)
  • El-Fo

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  • Nearly complete collection of Harlan Ellison in hardback (at least up through when he started issuing his own books), many signed.
  • A good ways toward a complete Philip Jose Farmer collection in hardback, including Too Your Scattered Bodies Go, many signed, including Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Lord Tyger and Love Song.
  • The first English-language edition of Camille Flammarion’s Urania and the first U.S. edition of Lumen.
  • Fo-Gi

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  • Complete Neil Gaiman prose collection up to a few years ago, including the signed/limited BCC Books (true first) edition of Neverwhere, Murder Mysteries: A Play For Voices, Snow Glass Apples: A Play For Voices, and the Lettered editions of the Subterranean M is for Magic. (The hardbound Gaiman graphic novels are shelved elsewhere.)
  • Nearly complete John Gardner collection, including Grendel.
  • Several Ray Garton books, including Crucifax Autumn and Live Girls.
  • Almost complete Jane Gaskell collection.
  • Complete Mary Gentle collection up to a few years ago.
  • A complete William Gibson collection (excepting Agrippa, which wasn’t a book), including the Gollancz Neuromancer inscribed to me.

    Gi-Ho

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  • William Goldman’s The Princess Bride.
  • True first of Alasdair Gray’s Lanark.
  • A number of Joe Haldeman books, including an imperfect Forever War.
  • Several Peter F. Hamilton books, including The Reality Dysfunction.
  • Several Harry Harrison books, some signed.
  • Several Robert A. Heinlein firsts, including imperfect copies of Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land and Double Star, as well as nice copies of Sixth Column, Assignment in Eternity, The Star Beast, The Puppet Masters and Podkayne of Mars, as well as a signed book club edition of Time for the Stars (my only Heinlein signature).
  • A very imperfect true first of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
  • Several Joe Hill books, including two states of 20th Century Ghosts and the traycase edition of Horns.
  • William Hope Hodgson’s House on the Borderland and Deep Waters.
  • All six of Robert E. Howard’s Gnome Press Conan books.
  • Ho-Kr

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  • Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen, plus the signed Subterranean press omnibus.
  • A nearly complete Shirley Jackson collection, including nice copies of The Road Through the Wall and The Haunting of Hill House.
  • Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon.
  • A good bit of Stephen King, including both the slipcase and traycase editions of the Colorado Kid, the signed/limited edition of Under the Dome, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, and an imperfect first of The Shining. The Talisman is the Grant “trade” edition, which in this case has been signed by Peter Straub.
  • A complete Russel Kirk fiction collection, most signed.
  • Some Nancy Kress.
  • Kr-La

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  • Some Henry Kuttner, including Robots Have No Tails.
  • A complete R.A. Lafferty in hardback collection (save one chapbook), some signed, including 1/50 signed copies of Tales of Chicago and Tales of Midnight.
  • Some Jay lake, most inscribed to me.
  • A complete Joe R. Lansdale collection, including the rare Chivers Texas Night Riders, The Magic Wagon, the lettered traycase editions of A Fistfull of Stories and For a few Stories More, 1/26 hardback copies of My Dead Dog Bobby, 1/100 hardback copies of Lansdale and Shiner’s Private Eye Action As You Like It, and many others, all signed or inscribed to me.
  • La-Lo

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  • The rest of the hardback Lansdale.
  • Both the true HB first (a large print edition) and the Subterranean limited of Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice.
  • Some Tanith Lee, several signed.
  • A goodly amount of Ursula K. Le Guin, including imperfect firsts of The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and A Wizard of Earthsea, two Cheap Street hardback chapbooks, and the signed/limited edition true first hardback of Always Coming Home (with the included cassette tape), which is supposedly quite dreadful.
  • Closing in on a complete Fritz Leiber collection, including a signed Our Lady of Darkness and Nights Black Agents, plus several Gregg Press firsts, including The Big Time, The Sinful Ones, and the six volume Farhard and Gray Mouser set.
  • The first English-language edition of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.
  • A pretty good Thomas Ligotti collection, including the hardback of The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein & Other Gothic Tales.
  • The start of the H.P. Lovecraft collection, including some of the latter Arkhams and the Variorum Edition of his complete work, as well as an envelop hand-addressed by Lovecraft.
  • Lo-Ma

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  • The rest of the Lovecraft, as well as Cthulhu Mythos anthologies by various editors. I’ll probably file these by editor the next time I add a bookshelf.
  • Some Brian Lumley.
  • All Ken MacLeod’s novels up to a few years ago.
  • Something approaching a complete collection of George R. R. Martin’s fiction, though I’m missing a couple of the recent Game of Thrones books and a lot of his anthologies. Includes U.S. first of A Game of Thrones inscribed to me, the signed/limited Armageddon Rag, the true first signed/limited edition of Songs the Dead Men Sing (the very first Dark Harvest book), and the leatherbound signed/limited “slipcrate” edition of Portraits of His Children.
  • Ma-Mc

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  • Closing in on a complete Richard Matheson collection, including Born of Man and Woman, imperfect firsts of Hell House, The Shrinking Man and I Am Legend, and several of the signed Gauntlet, etc. books.
  • A lot of Paul J. McAuley.
  • A lot of Robert R. McCammon.
  • Some Jack McDevitt.
  • Complete Ian McDonald collection, all but one or two inscribed to me, including the true UK first of River of Gods.
  • Mc-Ni

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  • Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove
  • Nearly complete China Mieville collection, including Perdido Street Station and The Tain.
  • An imperfect first of Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz
  • Quite a bit of Michael Moorcock, including Behold the Man, Stormbringer and Gloriana, all signed or inscribed.
  • Some C.L. Moore, including Judgment Night, Shambleau, and signed firsts of Mutant and Black God’s Shadow.
  • A couple of books away from a complete Ward Moore collection, including Cloud By Day.
  • All Richard Morgan’s early books, including Altered Carbon.
  • Some David Morrell, including First Blood.
  • Some signed Haruki Murakami.
  • Some Pat Murphy, including The Falling Woman.
  • John Myers Myers’ Silverlock.
  • Most of Kim Newman’s early books (at least those under his own name), including Anno Dracula.
  • A complete set of the Night Visions series, some (Barker, Lansdale, Martin) signed or inscribed.
  • A good bit of Larry Niven, including an imperfect but very clean copy of the Gollancz Ringworld.
  • Ni-Po

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  • Complete Chad Oliver collection, including the Ballantine hardback of Shadows in the Sun, The Mists of Dawn and the Jenkins The Wolf is My Brother.
  • The true Secker & Warburg first edition of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (green state dust jacket, no priority).
  • Alexi Panshin’s Rite of Passage.
  • A good bit of Frederik Pohl, most signed, including Gateway, Man Plus and The Space Merchants, and most of the collaborations with Jack Williamson here are also signed by both Pohl and Williamson.
  • A complete Tim Powers collection, most signed or inscribed, including the Chatto & Windus Anubis Gates, several Charnel House limiteds, and the ultra-limited edition of the John Berlyne’s Powers bibliography, which includes a bound holographic copy of The Anubis Gates.
  • Po-Ri

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  • Some Christopher Priest, including Inverted World and The Prestige.
  • Complete run of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, plus the signed/limited edition of Issue Eight, which is signed by Greg Egan.
  • Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49.
  • Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
  • A complete Alastair Reynolds collection (save a few recent books), most signed, including Revelation Space.
  • A good bit of early Anne Rice, including Interview With the Vampire and The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.
  • Ri-Sc

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  • Most of the early Kim Stanley Robinson, including the Mars trilogy and his Cheap Street book, The Blind Geometer.
  • A good bit of Rudy Rucker, including one of 350 signed, numbered copies of Transreal!
  • Sarban’s The Sound of His Horn.
  • Sc-Si

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  • Garrett P. Serviss’ Edison’s Invasion of Mars.
  • Some Bob Shaw, including a signed copy of The Palace of Eternity.
  • A complete Michael Shea collection, including the hardback edition of Nifft the Lean.
  • Some Robert Sheckley, including the five volume Collected Stories.
  • A complete Lucius Shepard collection, most signed.
  • A complete Lew Shiner collection, many inscribed to me.
  • A complete John Shiirley hardback collection (up to a few years ago, anyway), most signed, including one of only 50 hardback copies of Black Glass and one of only 100 signed, numbered hardback copies of Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories.
  • Si-Sm

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  • A lot of Robert Silverberg.
  • Clifford Simak’s City.
  • A complete Dan Simmons collection, several signed, including Hyperion, Song of Kali, and Entropy’s Bed at Midnight.
  • A lot of John Sladek, some signed.
  • A pretty good Clark Ashton Smith collection, including Out of Space and Time, Lost Worlds and Other Dimensions.
  • Sm-St

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  • A complete Cordwainer Smith collection, including three novels he did under his other pseudonyms, Ria, Corelia and Atomsk.
  • A few E. E.”Doc” Smith novels, including the true first of The Skylark of Space, and the signed editions of Second Stage Lensman and Skylark Three.
  • A complete William Browning Spencer collection, all signed or inscribed to me.
  • Some Brian Stableford.
  • Some Olaf Stapledon, including jacketless firsts of Last and First Men and Odd Job.
  • A good bit of Neal Stephenson, including inscribed firsts of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age.
  • A Complete Bruce Sterling collection, most inscribed to me, including a Mirrorshades signed or inscribed by most of the contributors.
  • Complete Charles Stross up to a few years ago.
  • St-Va

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  • Some Theodore Sturgeon, including the completed Collected Stories.
  • A complete Michael Swanwick collection, including Stations of the Tide, one of only 30 signed hardbacks of Puck Aleshire’s Abecedary, and several short-run Dragon Stairs Press books.
  • Some Tolkien, including most of the U.S. History of Middle Earth firsts.
  • A nice copy of Steven Utley and Geo W. Proctor’s Lone Star Universe signed by most of the contributors.
  • The start of the Jack Vance section. I’m closing in on a complete Vance hardback collection, but I’m not quite there yet. This case includes the Underwood/Miller signed/limited editions of Ariminta Station, Throy, Bird Isle/Take My Face, The Dark Side of the Moon, the Subterranean Press lettered/traycase edition of Dangerous Ways, The Deadly Isles, and a signed Dragon Masters.
  • Va-Wa

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  • The rest of the Vance hardbacks, including one of 200 signed sets of the 44 volume Vance Integral Edition, a signed Ballantine Books hardback state of To Live Forever, the beautiful Underwood Books signed/limited edition of Night Lamp, the Underwood Books limited Ports of Call, #2 of 200 signed/numbered copies of Light From a Lone Star, one of 111 signed hardback copies of The Seventeen Virgins/The Bagful of Dreams, and the Gollancz Four Men Called John, among many, many others.
  • A complete Vernor Vinge collection, most signed, including A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky.
  • Richard Vollmann’s You Bright and Risen Angels and Rainbow Stories.
  • A pretty complete Karl Edward Wagner collection, some signed.
  • Wa-We

    Starting about here the pictures got more difficult to take, because this bookshelf is right behind a heavy futon I don’t feel like moving on my own.

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  • A complete Howard Waldrop collection, including his two Cheap Street books, all signed or inscribed.
  • Complete Peter Watts collection.
  • A few Stanley G. Weinbaum volumes, including one of 250 copies of the 1936 Dawn of Flame.
  • Closing in on a complete Manly Wade Wellman collection, including Who Fears the Devil?, Lonely Vigils, a first of Worse Things Waiting inscribed to horror writer Dennis Etchison, and a copy of Third String Center inscribed to his brother, western writer Paul I. Wellman.
  • Some H. G. Wells, including some later firsts in dust jacket and the signed, numbered three volume first edition of The World of William Clissold.
  • We-Wo

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  • Some Jack Williamson.
  • Nearly complete Connie Willis, almost all signed, including Doomsday Book.
  • A nearly complete Gene Wolfe collection, including all the The Book of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and Book of the Short Sun volumes (plus The Castle of the Otter, all inscribed or signed, his two Cheap Street hardbacks (Empires of Flowers and Foliage and Biblioman), and one of 100 hardback copies of The Young Wolfe. (The hardback edition of Letters Home is in the non-fiction reference library).
  • Wo-Z

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    I have a fairly ridiculous amount of signed Roger Zelazny first editions, manuscripts, etc., thanks in no small part to two very extensive purchases of Zelazny material. Though I would like to trade up my imperfect Nine Princes in Amber and my signed, imperfect Lord of Light, all my other Zelazny hardbacks are Fine/Fine copies, and most signed, including Creatures of Light and Darkness, The Dream Master, one of 200 signed, hardback copies of For a Breath I Tarry (which, since it has a number of blank pages in the back, I’ve had signed by some 60-70 other science fiction writers, etc.), one of 35 signed hardback copies of The Last Defender of Camelot, one of only 21 lettered, hardback copies of Kovacs’ The Ides of Octember: A Pictorial Bibliography of Roger Zelazny with a Zelazny signature sheet bound in, etc. Those binders you see contain original Zelazny manuscripts, some proof copies, some typescripts, and some hand-written, including The Changing Land, “The Last Defender of Camelot”, “Unicorn Variations”, Dilvish the Damned, Knight of Shadows, etc. (Upstairs, in the non-fiction section, I have Roger Zelazny’s professional correspondence archive in two large binders.)

    Trade Paperbacks

    This includes proofs, chapbooks, etc.

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    Notable items:

  • Isaac Asimov’s Little Brothers, one of 126 signed copies.
  • One of 100 signed copies of J. G. Ballard’s News from the Sun.
  • Signed copy of David Brin’s The Tides of Kithrup (the proof of Startide Rising)
  • An issue of Chacal signed by Tom Reamy.
  • A copy of Young Author’s Club: The Wartime Adolescent Writings of Philip K. Dick, one of 100 copies.
  • Some signed Thomas Disch poetry collections.
  • Both blue and green variant covers of Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe’s A Walking Tour of the Shambles, inscribed to me by both.
  • A proof of the never-published random house edition of Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina.
  • A complete collection of R. A. Lafferty chapbooks, some signed.
  • Numerous Joe R. Lansdale trade paperbacks and proofs.
  • The proof of George R. R. Martin’s never published John W. Campbell Awards Volume 6
  • A signed copy of Michael Moorcocks’s tabloid-form Sex Pistols novel, The Great Rock-and-Roll Swindle.
  • James Morrow’s The Adventures of Smoke Baily, a novella only included as part of the packaging for a video game.
  • The proof (actually true first edition, since it was for sale) of Richard Matheson’s Collected Stories.
  • Proof of Chad Oliver’s The Cannibal Owl.
  • A signed, hand-corrected copy of Clark Ashton Smith’s The Double Shadow.
  • Jack Vance’s The Space Pirates and The Avatar’s Apprentice, one of only 30 copies.
  • Lew Shiner’s Modern Stories Number One signed by most of the contributors, including William Gibson and Howard Waldrop.
  • Dan Simmons’ Banished Dreams.
  • Inscribed copies of Neal Stephenson’s The Big U and Zodiac, as well as signed proofs of Interface and The Cobweb.
  • One of only 25 copies of Howard Waldrop’s self-published The Soul-Taker from 1966.
  • Manly Wade Wellman’s The Invading Asteroid and Devil’s Planet.
  • Lots of Gene Wolfe proofs, plus Talk of Mandrakes and four Cheap Street chapbooks.
  • Loads and load of signed Roger Zelazny proofs, plus Poems and A Rhapsody in Amber.
  • Mass Market Paperbacks

    Since I started concentrating on hardbacks very early it, I actually have fewer paperbacks than hardback.

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    Notable items (all paperback originals unless otherwise noted):

  • Several signed Aaron Allston books.
  • All six true first edition/first printing/first state of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, all signed.
  • Some signed Neal Barrett, Jr.
  • A copy of John Brunner’s pseudonymously published porn novel The Incestuous Lovers.
  • Some signed Pat Cadigan, including a paperback proof of Synners.
  • A lot of Philip K. Dick.
  • A lot of Harlan Ellison.
  • Some Philip Jose Farmer, including Love Song and an association copy of Down in the Black Gang inscribed to Bruce Sterling.
  • Some Ray Garton.
  • An inscribed William Gibson Neuromancer.
  • Some signed Harry Harrison.
  • Some signed K.W. Jeter, including Seeklight and The Dreamfields.
  • All R.A. Lafferty’s PBOs, including Ringing Changes.
  • Several signed Joe Lansdale PBOs, including his three MIA Hunter books and the very rare Molly’s Sexual Follies, the last also co-signed by co-author Brad Foster.
  • Some Tanith Lee.
  • Some George R.R. Martin, including most of the Wild Cards books, the early ones signed by George and several other contributors.
  • Some signed Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle reprints.
  • All Tim Powers PBOs, signed.
  • Spider Robinson’s Antimony.
  • All Rudy Rucker’s PBOs, including White Light, The Sex Sphere, Spacetime Donuts, and The 57th Franz Kafka.
  • All Michael Shea’s PBOs, some signed.
  • Several John Shirley PBOs, most signed, including The Brigade, Cellars and City Come A’Walkin.
  • All John Skipp & Craig Spector’s PBOs, several signed.
  • A good bit of Brian Stableford.
  • Inscribed true (Canadian) first of Sean Stewart’s Passion Play.
  • Bruce Sterling’s Involution Ocean and A Good Old Fashioned Future, inscribed.
  • Some Theodore Sturgeon, several PBOs, one reprint signed.
  • A lot of Jack Vance, some signed.
  • Some Manly Wade Wellman PBOs, including the rare movie novelization A Double Life.
  • A whole lot of Zelazny, almost all of it signed.
  • Finally, note that while none of these books are for sale, I do have many science fiction, fantasy and horror first editions (many signed) available through the Lame Excuse Books web page.

    Library Additions: July 1 through December 31, 2015

    Thursday, January 7th, 2016

    Here’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…

  • Anderson, Poul. The Unicorn Trade. Tor, 1984. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Near Fine- copy with light crease along front spine join. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Armstrong, Anthony. Wine of Death. Stanley Paul & Co. (London), no date [1925]. First edition hardback, a Very Good copy with moderate bend at head and heel at head and slight spotting to page block edges and first few pages, and slight foxing to front and rear free endpapers, with 32 page catalog dated 1924-1825 at rear, lacking the dust jacket. Tietler & Locke, By the Book World Remembered, pages 37 and 119. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy, page 22. Tietler, By the World Forgot, 55 (where it’s compared to Robert E. Howard’s Conan tales). Not in either edition of the Bleiler Checklist. Bought for $32.04 plus transatlantic shipping. Last year Lloyd Currey listed a better (but not perfect) copy, still lacking the dust jacket, for $1,250, and noted it was “Rare.”

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  • Asimov, Isaac. Gold. HarperPrism. One of 1226 copies (though, despite the statement of the limitation page, this one is not numbered), Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. Posthumous short story collection.
  • Asimov, Isaac. Three By Asimov. Targ Editions, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 250 signed copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- tissue paper dust jacket with a 7/8″ semi-closed tear on the top right front cover, with associated wrinkles (the white streaks at left and top are reflection glare from the dust jacket protector). All the pages seem to be made of hand-made paper with ragged edges. Bought for $107.79 off eBay.

    Asimov3

  • Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Drowned Cities. Little Brown, 2012. Signed by Bacigalupi.
  • Baker, Denys Val. The Face in the Mirror. Arkham House, 1971. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of wear at bottom edge (probably do to an old fold-around dj protector that doesn’t encase the edges). Joshi, 60 Years of Arkham House, 112. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 118. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 118. Chalker & Owings (1991), page 39. Not in Bleiler’s Guide to Supernatural Fiction (an odd omission). Bought for $12.50
  • Ballard, J. G. Super-Cannes. Flamingo, 2000. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with bumping at points, a 1/8″ closed tear at bottom rear fold point, and very slight haze rubbing to reflective silver dust jacket. Inscribed by Ballard: “To Jane,/J.G. Ballard”. Bought for £24 plus shipping.
  • Beagle, Peter S. The Innkeeper’s Song. Roc, 1993. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Benford, Gregory. The Best of Gregory Benford. Subterranean Press, 2015. #124 of 250 signed, numbered copies.
  • Benford, Gregory. The Best of Gregory Benford. Subterranean Press, 2015. Trade edition.
  • Bishop, Michael. Eyes of Fire. Pocket Books, 1980. First edition paperback original (PBO) this, a revision of A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire, a Fine copy. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Bradbury, Ray. The Cat’s Pajamas: Stories +5. Hill House Publishers, 2004. First limited edition and first edition thus (containing five stories not in the trade edition), #352 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine die-cut cloth slipcase with an extraction ribbon to pull out the book. Contains five stories not found in the William Morrow trade edition. Bought for $35 off eBay.

    Bradbury Cat's LTD

    Cat's Pajamas 2

  • Bradbury, Ray (illustrated by Gary Gianni). The Nefertiti-Tut Express. The RAS Press, 2012. First edition oversized oblong (9″ x 12″ long) chapbook edition, a Fine copy, new and unread. Oversized illustrated edition of a longish poem. Signed by Gianni. Bought for £12.
  • Bradbury, Ray, editor. Futuria Fantasia. Graham Publishing/Blood and Guts Press, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Bradbury, and containing a picture of him signing copies laid in. Reprints four issues of the fanzine of the title Bradbury produced just after graduating high school. Includes contributions from Robert A. Heinlein, Henry Kuttner, Hannes Bok, Damon Knight, Forrest J. Ackerman, etc. A fascinating glimpse into Bradbury’s early life, and the beginnings of several illustrious science fiction careers. Bought off eBay for $30. Replaces an unsigned copy.

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  • Breen, Walter. The Darkover Concordance: A Reader’s Guide. Pennyfarthing Press, 1979. A Fine copy, in decorated boards, as issued. Non-fiction reference guide to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover books. Despite the fact that this used to go for several hundred dollars, I bought this for $1 (plus buyer’s premium and shipping) off Heritage Auctions. Funny how accusations of (Bradley) and convictions for (Breen) pedophilia will drive down the value of a book…
  • Brunner, John. Times Without Number. The Elmsfield Press, 1974. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and dated by Brunner in 1987, with his usual peace symbol. Currey (1979), page 24. Bought for £18.

    Brunner Times Without Number

  • Bujold, Lois McMaster. Memory. Baen, 1996. Bought for $5.99 at a Half Price Books in Houston.
  • Clarke, I. F. Voices Prophesying War. Oxford University Press, 1990. First edition hardback (of this new expanded and updated edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket with slight wear on rear points. Non-fiction. The standard reference on future war fiction. Bought for £10.8.
  • Davidson, Avram and Grania Davis. Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty. Baen, 1988. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Very Good copy with spine wrinkly and slight front cover creasing. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • De Vet, Charles V. Special Feature. Avon, 1975. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Near Fine- copy with small bottom front corner crease. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Dick, Philip K. World of Chance. Rich and Cowan, 1956. First hardback edition and first thus under this title (the first hardback edition of Dick’s first published novel, published earlier in the U.S. as the paperback original Solar Lottery), an Ex-Library copy with tape ghosts to inside covers, slight signs of pocket removal from FFE, inner front hinge half-cracked, slight dust staining to page block edges, in a dust jacket that has about 1/8″ trimmed from top and bottom, and a larger amount (possibly 1/4″ to 1/2″) trimmed from inner flaps, not removing any text, but trimming the flap edges right to the edge of the text block, plus tape ghosts and a touch of edgewear; call it a Very Good-/Good+ Ex-Library copy, though it presents much better than that list of flaws would lead you to believe. Currey (1979), page 159. Levack, 38b. One of the rarest Dick hardcovers.

    World of Chance

  • (Dick, Philip K.) Williams, Paul. Only Apparently Real: The World of Philip K. Dick. Arbor House, 1986. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with some non-breaking indentations on the cover, as the book were used underneath a piece of paper someone wrote or scribbled on, otherwise apparently unread. Signed by Williams (the signature matches those found online for the limited edition of Ubik: A Screenplay). The biography of Dick by his close friend and designated literary executor. Supplements a Fine unsigned copy. Bought for $3.98 at a Half Price Books in Houston.

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    (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.

    Precious Artifacts

  • Di Filippo, Paul (illustrated by Jim Woodrung). Cosmocopia. Payseur & Schmidt, 2008. First edition hardback, one of 500 copies with a band signed by Di Filippo and Jim Woodrung around the box, in a decorated cardboard box with a cardstock illustration and a Jigsaw puzzle in the case as well as the book, sans dust jacket, as issued. Paul Di Filippo alerted me to the fact that Fantagraphics bookstore had copies on hand for Jim Woodrung’s signing there at $30 a pop and I managed to call and snag the last copy.

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  • Disch, Thomas and Charles Naylor. Neighboring Lives. Scribner’s, 1981, First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumoing at head in a Near Fine- dust jacket with one 1/8″ by 1/4″ triangular chip at top front cover ner head and wear at points. Signed by both Disch and Naylor. Bought for £18.

    Neighboring Lives

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  • Dozois, Gardner, editor. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection. St. Martin’s, 2015.
  • Engh, M. J. Arslan. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Fine- copy with a touch of glue bunching and age darkening. I already owned a first edition of the later hardback edition.
  • Ellison, Harlan. Angry Candy. Easton Press, 1988. First edition hardback (at least Barry Levin, relying on information from Ellison, has stated; other sources list the trade edition as first), one of 3,500 copies signed by Ellison, a Fine leatherbound copy, sans dust jacket, as issued.
  • Ellison, Harlan. Can & Can’tankerous. Subterranean Press, 2015. Short story collection.
  • (Ellison, Harlan) Priest, Christopher. The Book on the Edge of Forever. Fantagraphics Books, 1994. First edition trade paperback format (perfect-bound with the look and feel of a short graphic novel, which is Fantagraphics primary line), a Fine- copy. Non-fiction. An inquiry into the non-appearance of Harlan Ellison’s massive, long-delayed anthology The Last Dangerous Visions, expanded from an earlier fanzine titled The Last Deadloss Visions. Hugo Award nominee for best Non-Fiction. Bought for £15. Not particularly a Priest fan (I had lunch with two of his ex-wives at the 2014 London Worldcon), but when you’re right…

    Book Edge Forever

  • Etchison, Dennis. The Dark Country. Scream Press, 1982. Supplements a signed copy with a poorer dust jacket.
  • Gardner, James Finn. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. Macmillan, 1994. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with wrinkle to back cover. Formerly my father’s copy, which I bought for him as a gift many years ago.
  • Haldeman, Joe. Work Done for Hire. Ace, 2014. A Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with 1/4″ tear at top rear point. Bought for $1 at a Half Price Books in Houston.
  • Harrison, Harry. Stainless Steel Visions. Tor, 1993. Something of a best of Harrison short story collection (not just Stainless Steel Rat stories). Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • (Heinlein, Robert A.) Olander, Joseph and Martin Harry Greenberg, editors. Robert A. Heinlein (Writers of the 21st Century Series). Taplinger, 1978. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction. Bought for £12.
  • Jablokov, Alexander. Brain Thief. Tor, 2009. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Jeter, K.W. Death Arms. Morrigan Publications, 1987. First edition hardback, #99 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Contains an Afterword, “The Young Man Comes to The City,” not found in the trade edition. Supplements a signed trade edition.
  • Jones, Stephen and Newman, Kim. Horror: 100 Best Books. Xanadu Publications, Ltd., 1988. First edition hardback, #214 of 300 numbered copies signed by both the editors and almost every living one of the 100 (!) contributors, including Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Harlan Ellison, Basil Copper, Karl Edward Wagner, Jack Williamson, etc. etc etc. (though not by Stephen King), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for £30 off Cold Tonnage, marked down from £50.

    Horror 100 LTD

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  • Joyce, Graham. The Limits of Enchantment. Gollancz, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Joyce. Bought for £9.
  • 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.

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  • Lansdale, Joe R. Fender Lizards. Subterranean Press, 2015. #235 of 400 signed, numbered copies.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. and Stephen Mertz. M.I.A. Hunter. Subterranean Press, 2015. First hardback edition and first edition thus, an omnibus of three paperback original M.I.A. Hunter men’s adventure novels (Hanoi Deathgrip, Mountain Massacre, and Saigon Slaughter) Lansdale wrote under the pseudonym of Jack Buchanan, #376 of 500 signed, numbered copies.
  • Le Guin, Ursula K. From Elfland to Poughkeepsie. Pendragon Press, 1973. First edition paperback chapbook original, #49 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Non-fiction. Currey (1979), page 306. Bought for £18.
  • Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi). H. P. Lovecraft’s Collected Fiction: A Variorum Edition, a three volume set consisting of Volume 1: 1905—1925, Volume 2: 1926—1930, and Volume 3: 1931—1936. Hippocampus Press, 2015. First edition hardbacks, one of only 750 sets, all Fine copies in Fine dust jackets. “For the first time, students and scholars of Lovecraft can see at a glance all the textual variants in all relevant appearances of a story—manuscript, first publication in magazines, and first book publications. The result is an illuminating record of the textual history of the tales, along with how Lovecraft significantly revised his stories after initial publication. Along the way, Joshi has made small but significant revisions to his earlier corrected texts. He has determined, for example, that Lovecraft slightly revised some stories when a reprint of them was scheduled in Weird Tales, and he has altered some readings in light of a better understanding of Lovecraft’s customary linguistic usages.”

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  • Lupoff, Richard. Space War Blues. Dell, 1978. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Near Fine- copy with slight creasing. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Martin, George R. R. The John W. Campbell Awards Volume 6. Bluejay Books, 1986. Uncorrected proof, trade paperback format, of the never-published hardback first edition, a Very Good- copy, being well-read with creasing along front and back spine joins, bottom of front spine join starting to split, a few spots of staining (including one to the edge of side/bottom page block), and general wear, with note on front cover stating “To/Shelia/Williams/Isaac/Asimov” and a note on the table of contents saying the Orson Scott Card story listed was going to be replaced with another Card story. Never produced because Bluejay Books went out of business in 1986. Copy on the back covers states the book was to be produced in both hardback and trade paperback formats. Includes two never-published Bruce Sterling stories. Bought for $100 from an editor who was downsizing his library as part of moving. Now signed by Sterling.

    JWCA#6

    JWCA#6 Back Cover

  • McDonald, Ian. The Broken Land. Bantam Spectra, 1992. First U.S. edition hardback and first edition thus, re-titled from UK hardback first Hearts, Hand and Voices (which I also have). Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • O’Leary, Patrick. The Black Heart. PS Publishing, 2009. Unnumbered copy of 100 copy limited edition signed by O’Leary and introduction author James Morrow, in standard blue PS Publishing traycase. Bought for $4.99 at a Half Price Books in Houston.
  • Oliver, Chad. Shadows in the Sun. Ballantine Books, 1954. First edition hardback (Currey state A, tan cloth lettered in black, no priority), a Near Fine+ copy with slight bumping at head and heel and usual age-darkening to pages), in a Near Fine- dust jacket with a 1 1/2″ closed tear to rear dust jacket flap, slight spotting to top of white rear cover, and a few small rubs. Hall, Hal W., The Work of Chad Oliver: An Annotated Bibliography & Guide, A2. Currey (1979), page 397. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy, page 169 (an ex-library copy; his description of the dust jacket matches (down to the H-91 code on the front flap), but his description of the book itself as “gray cloth in dark blue lettering” doesn’t match either this copy or the Currey B state (blue cloth lettered in black); Locke’s copy was possibly a library rebind or another binding variant). Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, 3-138. Bought for $3 from the Half Price Books in Cedar Park. A conservative estimate of value is probably $2,000

    Shadows in the Sun BBHB

    Shadows Sun Back

    Shadows Sun whole dj

    Shadows Sun dj flaps

    Shadows Sun Book

  • Pangborn, Edgar. The Company of Glory. Pyramid, 1975. First edition paperback original (as per Currey, page 398), a Fine- copy. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Partridge, Norman. Dark Harvest. Cemetery Dance, 2006. One of 2,000 signed, numbered copies.
  • Partridge, Norman. Johnny Halloween. Cemetery Dance, 2010. One of 1,500 signed, numbered copies.
  • Partridge, Norman. Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales. Subterranean Press, 2005. Inscribed by Partridge: “For [Joe?]/Hope you enjoy these old/short stories & tales from/the writing trenches!/All the best to/a guy with /[major pain?] of his own!/Norman Partridge.” Additionally signed as a PC copy of 750 signed, numbered copies. Can scan the inscription is someone is really interested…
  • Randall, Marta. A City in the North. Warner Books, 1976. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Very Good copy with black marks at head and heel.
  • Reynolds, Alastair. Poseidon’s Wake. Gollancz, 2015.
  • Reynolds, Alastair. Slow Bullets. Tacyhon, 2015. Trade paperback original. Bought for $7.49.
  • Reynolds, Alastair. Slow Bullets. WSFA, 2015. First hardback edition (and first signed edition), #37 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies. Copies available through Lame Excuse Books.
  • Rusch, Kristine Kathryn, editor. Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine: Issue Eight: Summer 1990. Hardback first edition, #50 of 250 numbered copies signed by all the contributors, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase. Signed by Greg Egan at the title page for his story “The Moral Virologist.” Also signed by George Alec Effinger, Jack McDevitt, Jonathan Lethem, etc. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 364. Supplements an unsigned copy (I have the entire 12 issue run in the regular edition.) Bought off eBay for $39.95.

    Pulphouse 8

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  • (Shaver, Richard) W. Michael Moore. This Tragic Earth: The Art and World of Richard Sharpe Shaver. Grave Distractions Publications, 2006. Trade paperback original. Shaver Mystery non-fiction.
  • Sheckley, Robert. Shards of Space. Bantam, 1962. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Very Good+ copy with slight spine creasing and wear. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Silverberg, Robert. The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume Nine: The Millennium Express. Subterranean Press, 2014. Sans dust jacket, as issued.
  • Smith, Michael Marshall. More Tomorrow & Other Stories. Earthling, 2003. #174 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies.
  • Shaw, Bob. The Palace of Eternity. Gollancz, 1970. First hardback edition, a Near Fine copy with one small spot to page block edge and bumping to bottom points, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with with small dust blemish to spine near Gollancz “SF” logo, a few tiny dust spots elsewhere, and a slight bumping at bottom tips. Inscribed by the author: “To Brian,/with best wishes/Bob Shaw.” Currey (1979), page 431. Pringle SF 100, 61. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, 4-391. Bought for £120, marked down from £200.

    Palace of Eternity

  • Spinrad, Norman. Russian Spring. Bantam, 1991. Bookplate signed by Spinrad affixed to half title page, with a copy of a letter from Spinrad to bookdealers laid in. Reportedly a good novel depicting the fall of the Soviet Union which had the misfortune to come out as it was already dissolving.
  • Spinrad, Norman, editor. Modern Science Fiction. Gregg Press, 1976. First hardback edition, a Near Fine copy with two small, dust spots on bottom of side page block and rubbing to bottom rear edge of boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Anthology. Not a particularly important book, but it does seem to be one of the more uncommon Gregg press titles these days. Bought off eBay for $35.
  • Straub, Peter. Ghost Story. Cowan, McCann, and Geoghegan, 1979. First hardback edition, a Near Fine copy with slight discoloration at the very top edge of the boards and slight bumping at points, in a Near Fine dust jacket with wear at points.
  • Straub, Peter. Perdido: A Fragment. Subterranean Press, 2014. #207 of 400 signed, numbered copies.
  • Swanwick, Michael, and Christophe Morley. Meditations on Meditations on Oysters (Swanwick) b/w Meditations on Oysters (Morley). Dragonstairs Press, 2015. First edition sewn chapbook with decorative cultured pearl, #24 of 50 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Swanwick’s observations on a 1917 free-form rumination on oysters.

    Swanwick Oysters

  • Tenn, William. Time in Advance. Bantam, 1958. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Very Good copy with spine creasing. Twice Told Tales purchase
  • Tidhar, Lavie. A Man Lies Dreaming. Hodder & Stoughton, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Novel featuring Adolf Hitler as a hardboiled PI by this Israeli-born/UK-resident writer.
  • Vance, Jack. The Dragon Masters. Dennis Dobson, 1965. First hardback edition, a Fine- copy with usual page darkening, in a Fine, bright, unclipped dust jacket. Signed by Vance. Bought for $120 from L. W. Currey.

    Dragon Masters

  • Vance, Jack. Grand Crusades. Subterranean Press, 2015.
  • Vance, Jack. Lurulu. Tor, 2004. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a small remainder mark at heel in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Jack Vance. Bought off eBay for $25. Vance’s last novel.
  • VanderMeer, Jeff. Secret Lives. Prime Books, 2008. #299 of 1000 signed copies.
  • VanderMeer, Jeff and Ann. The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals. Tachyon, 2010.
  • Wagner, Karl Edward. Why Not You and I? Dark Harvest, 1987. First edition hardback, #252 of 300 copies signed by Wagner, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with waviness to dust jacket rear, in a Near Fine paper slipcase. I also have a copy of the trade edition inscribed to me by Wagner at the 1988 Worldcon in New Orleans. Bought for $32.50.
  • Wellman, Manly Wade. Battle in the Dawn: The Complete Hok the Mighty. Planet Stories, 2011. Trade paperback original, Fine. Twice Told Tales purchase.
  • Wellman, Manly Wade. The South Fork Rangers. Ives Washburn, 1963. Ex-Library copy, with usual flaws, otherwise nice and square, with complete dust jacket. Juvenile historical novel.
  • Wells, Martha. Emilie & The Hollow World. Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry, 2013. Trade paperback original. I’m a sucker for Hollow Earth novels…
  • Wells, Martha. Emilie & The Sky World. Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry, 2014. Trade paperback original. Sequel.
  • Williamson, Jack. Manseed. Del Rey, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Williamson. Bought for £9.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Trumps of Doom. G. K. Hall & Co., 2000. Large print edition, a Fine copy in a near Fine- with faint scratches to rear cover and slight crimping at head and heel. I’m not fanatical about collecting every edition of every Zelazny book, but it was only $3…
  • Zelazny, Roger, editor. The Williamson Effect. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of haze rubbing. Bought off Amazon for $8.75 plus shipping.
  • Library Addition: Limited Hardback of Precious Artifacts PKD Bibliography

    Thursday, December 24th, 2015

    Here’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.

    Precious Artifacts

    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:

  • The books are split into four categories (science fiction novels, mainstream novels, short story collections, and non-fiction) rather than (as with Levack’s PKD) including all the book-length fiction is one listing.
  • Within those sections they’re arranged alphabetically, but not the alphabetical order every single other bibliography in the world uses. Looking for A Maze of Death under M? Sorry, not there. It’s under A. Likewise every book that starts with The is found under T.
  • Within the listings for individual books, the various editions are not listed in a single list of chronological order, but broken up into U.S. and UK editions, making it harder to tell at a glance the true first edition, the first hardback edition, etc.
  • There’s an overall chronology of when books were written and published at the back, but it only covers books published during Dick’s lifetime.
  • The collector’s notes for individual titles are incomplete and infuriatingly random; the “Quick Guide to Collectable Editions of Philip K. Dick” by Frank Hollander is considerably better, but still a bit vague in places.
  • Etc.
  • 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: Signed First of Paul Williams’ PKD Bio

    Tuesday, December 15th, 2015

    Found this at a Half Price Books in Houston over Thanksgiving:

    (Dick, Philip K.) Williams, Paul. Only Apparently Real: The World of Philip K. Dick. Arbor House, 1986. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with some non-breaking indentations on the cover, as the book were used underneath a piece of paper someone wrote or scribbled on, otherwise apparently unread. Signed by Williams (the signature matches those found online for the limited edition of Ubik: A Screenplay). The biography of Dick by his close friend and designated literary executor. Supplements a Fine unsigned copy. Bought for $3.98.

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    Library Addition: Philip K. Dick’s World of Chance

    Monday, November 16th, 2015

    I picked the following up as part of a swap:

    Dick, Philip K. World of Chance. Rich and Cowan, 1956. First hardback edition and first thus under this title (the first hardback edition of Dick’s first published novel, published earlier in the U.S. as the paperback original Solar Lottery), an Ex-Library copy with tape ghosts to inside covers, slight signs of pocket removal from FFE, inner front hinge half-cracked, slight dust staining to page block edges, in a dust jacket that has about 1/8″ trimmed from top and bottom, and a larger amount (possibly 1/4″ to 1/2″) trimmed from inner flaps, not removing any text, but trimming the flap edges right to the edge of the text block, plus tape ghosts and a touch of edgewear; call it a Very Good-/Good+ Ex-Library copy, though it presents much better than that list of flaws would lead you to believe. Currey (1979), page 159. Levack, 38b. One of the rarest Dick hardcovers.

    World of Chance

    Library Addition: Philip K. Dick’s Young Authors’ Club

    Monday, April 20th, 2015

    Here’s an odd Philip K. Dick item it took me a bit of effort to track down:

    Dick, Philip K. (Frank T. Hollander, editor). Young Authors’ Club: The Wartime Adolescent Writings of Philip K. Dick. Frank T. Hollander, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, #58 of 100 copies signed by the editor/publisher, a Fine copy. A 94 page chapbook containing Dick’s published writings from 1942 to 1944 in the Berkeley Daily Gazette newspaper, consisting of fiction and poems, some of which are fantasy. Includes bibliographic information and story notes. Something likely to drive Dick completists crazy. I’ll have one copy available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Dick Young Authors

    Shadows are, as usual, a scanner artifact.

    Library Additions: July 1—December 31, 2014

    Monday, January 5th, 2015

    Here’s the comprehensive roundup of all the books I’ve added to my professional library between July 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014. Some of these I’ve blogged about before, but not all of them. All books are Fine/Fine first edition hardbacks, unless otherwise marked.

  • Allston, Aaron. Doc Sidhe. Baen, 1995. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with one non-breaking spine crease. Inscribed by Allston: “To Paul:/Aaron Alston/ 6/30/96”. This would likely have been signed at the New Orleans Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival, where Aaron was a guest that weekend. Replaces a less attractive signed copy.
  • Allston, Aaron. Galatea in 2-D. Baen, 1993. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with moderate foxing to inside covers.
  • (Alternate Classics of Filmdom) Mareth, Glenville. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Alternate Histories, 2014. First edition small trim sized chapbook, a Fine copy, new and unread. Transcribed script for the movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
  • (Alternate Classics of Filmdom) Warren, Harold P. “Manos” The Hands of Fate. Alternate Histories, 2014. First edition small trim sized chapbook, a Fine copy, new and unread. Transcribed script for the movie Manos: The Hands of Fate.
  • (Alternate Classics of Filmdom) Wood, Edward D. Plan 9 From Outer Space. Alternate Histories, 2014. First edition small trim sized chapbook, a Fine copy, new and unread. Transcribed script for the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.

    Manos Plan 9 Santa

  • Anthony, Piers. Bio of A Space Tyrant 1: Refuge. Gregg Press, 1985. First hardcover edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust.
  • Anthony, Piers. Bio of A Space Tyrant 2: Mercenary. Gregg Press, 1985. First hardcover edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • Anthony, Piers. Bio of A Space Tyrant 3: Politician. Gregg Press, 1985. First hardcover edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with edgewear at head.
  • Asimov, Isaac. In Joy Still Felt. Doubleday, 1980. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with light spotting to lower page block edge, in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of edgewear at head and heel (the price is also marked out in ink, but I believe that will lift off with repeated treatment with Bestine). The second volume of Asimov’s two-part autobiography, covering 1954 to 1978.
  • Asprin, Robert and Jody Lynn Nye. Myth-Told Tales. Meisha Merlin, 2003. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, signed to a Jennifer by both authors on August 31, 2003 (when I believe they attended Dragoncon). I haven’t read Asprin’s work in quite a while, but this was only $3 at Half Price Books.

    Myth Told Tales

  • Aylett, Steve (with Michael Moorcock). Rebel at the End of Time. PS publishing, 2011. First edition hardback, an unnumbered version of the 100 numbered copy state signed by Aylett, a Fine copy. Stories set in Michael Moorcock’s Dancers at the End of Time setting, with an additional story by Moorcock. Bought for $9.99 at Half Price Books. (List price is £24.99.)
  • Bacigalupi, Paolo. Zombie Baseball Beatdown. Subterranean Press, 2014. Number 331 of 500 signed, numbered copies.
  • Ballard, J. G. The Terminal Beach. Gollancz, 1964. First hardback edition, an ex-library copy with all the usual flaws, including dust jacketed taped to boards, pocket removal, tape stain bleed-through on first two and last two pages, front hinge starting. considerable wear at head and heel; call it a Good+ Ex_library copy in a Very Good- attached dust jacket. Important early Ballard collection. Bought for about $64 (depending on exchange right fluctuations) off eBay. Currey, 1979, page 23. Goddard & Pringle, Ballard: The First Twenty Years, page 85 (counting from the last numbered page, since the bibliography section is, irritatingly, unnumbered).
  • Banks, Iain. The Steep Approach to Garbadale. Little/Brown, 2007. First edition hardback, a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies signed by Banks distributed through the Waterstone’s bookstore chain, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket as issued. Supplements a trade copy.

    P1000915

  • (Banks, Iain) Novacon 25 Special. Novacon 25, 1995. First edition center-stapled chapbook original, a Fine copy. Features work by Banks, Brain Aldiss, Harry Harrison and Bob Shaw.
  • Bass, Thomas A. The Eudaemonic Pie. Houghton Mifflin, 1985. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with slight bending at head and heel and a faint 3″ blackish line on top front boards, in a near Fine dust jacket with several tears at the edges and edgewear, with errata slip laid in. Non-fiction about building a shoe computer to roulette tables in Las Vegas.
  • Bear, Greg. Halo: Primordium: The Forerunner Saga Book Two. Tor, 2012. Media tie-in.
  • Benford, Gregory and Gordon Eklund. Find the Changeling. Dell, 1980. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with edgewear, faint creasing along front and rear joins, and trace of foxing to inside covers.
  • Blaylock, James P. The Adventure of the Ring of Stones. Subterranean Press, 2014. Number 196 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies.
  • Bova, Ben. Viewpoint. NESFA Press, 1977. First edition hardback, #126 of 800 signed, numbered hardbacks, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought from Currey for $10.
  • Bradbury, Ray. The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition: Volume I: 1938-1943. Kent State University Press, 2010. Bought at Half Price Books for just under $15, a considerable discount off the list price of $65.
  • Bradbury, Ray. A Graveyard for Lunatics. Knopf, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Bradbury. Bought for $19.99 off eBay.

    Bradbury Grave Signature

  • Bradbury, Ray. Old Ahab’s Friend, and Friend to Noah, Speaks His Piece. Roy A. Squires, 1971. First edition thread-bound chapbook original, #152 of 485 copies, a Fine copy.

    Bradbury Old Ahab

  • Bradbury, Ray. That Ghost, That Bride of Time. Roy A. Squires, 1976. First edition thread-bound chapbook original, #289 of 400 copies, a Fine copy, in mailing envelope. (You can’t see from the scan, but the title is just barely visible through the slightly translucent paper wrapper.)

    Bradbury That Ghost

  • Bradbury, Ray. That Son of Richard III. Roy A. Squires, 1974. First edition thread-bound chapbook original, #164 of 400 “ordinary” copies, a Fine copy, in mailing envelope. With small typed note from the publisher laid in: “Send No Money, Rik. We’ll get squared away at Westercon.” and “RAS” signature.

    Bradbury Son Richard III

  • (Bradbury, Ray) Sam Well and Mort Castle, editors. Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury. Borderlands Press/Gauntlet Press, 2012. First edition hardback, #425 of 500 signed and numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Anthology featuring work by Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Margaret Atwood, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, etc. Paid cover price ($75), but the slipcase (usually an additional $25) was included for free.
  • Briggs, Joe Bob. Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In. Delecorte, 1987. Presumed first edition paperback original (no additional printings listed), a Fine- copy with a few tiny touches of wear. Non-fiction collection of humorous film criticism. Introduction by Stephen King.
  • Brooks, Max. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Crown, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket. Bought for $12 at Quarter-Price Books in Houston, which is conveniently close to Joel’s Classical Shop.
  • Buckley, William F. Marco Polo, If You Can. Doubleday, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bending at head and heel in a Very Good price-clipped and spine-faded dust jacket with shallow chipping at head. Inscribed by the author: “For Roger Birk/Warm regards/Wm. F. Buckley, Jr.” Blackford Oakes spy thriller. Bought for $5.99 at Half Price Books; I only checked it because it had a Mylar dust jacket protector on it. Actually the second signed Buckley I have, along with the copy of Right Reason he signed for me my senior year in college.
  • Bull, Emma. Finder. Tor, 1994.
  • (Card, Orson Scott). Collings, Michael. Storyteller: Official guide to the World of Orson Scott Card. Overlook Connection, 2001. Non-fiction. List price is $50; bought for $15 off eBay.
  • Carius, Otto. Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius. Stackpole Books, 2005. trade paperback reprint. Sent to me by my friend Nick Austin after learning of my interest in armored warfare. Thanks, Nick!
  • Clareson, Thomas D. (editor). Voices for the Future Volume Two. Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in Fine dust jacket. Reference work of essays on science fiction writers, including Robert Silverberg, Philip Jose Farmer, Walter M. Miller, Jr., J. G. Ballard, John Brunner, Mack Reynolds, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Roger Zelazny. Tymn, The Science Fiction Reference Book, page 75. Bought for $10.

    Voices Future 2

  • Clareson, Thomas D. and Thomas L. Wymer (editors). Voices for the Future Volume Three. Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1984. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in Fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in. Reference work of essays on science fiction writers, including Gene Wolfe, Damon Knight, Cordwainer Smith, Mervyn Peake, Frederik Pohl, C. S. Lewis, Samuel R. Delany and Thomas M. Disch. (No picture because the cover is identical to Volume 2 except for the editors names and saying Volume Three.) Bought for $10.
  • Clement, Hal. Half Life. Tor, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Clement: “”Hal Clement” (Harry C. Stubbs)”. Bought for $19 from an eBay seller.
  • Cowper, Richard. The Unhappy Princess with The Missing Heart. Cheap Street, 1982. First edition chapbook originals, #54 of 75 slipcased copies, Fine copies in a Fine slipcase. Chalker & Owings, 1991, page 106. Note: I store my slipcased chapbooks with the hardbacks. Bought from L. W. Currey for $10.

    Cowper Unhappy Missing

  • Crowther, Pete and Nick Gevers, editors. Postscripts 24/25: The New and Perfect Man. PS Publishing, 2011. First edition hardback, trade state, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Since I have a story in here, I already have one traycased copy of the signed state, so this will go downstairs with the rest of the Postscripts run. Bought for $14.99 at Half Price Books (list price is £30).
  • (De Camp, L. Sprague) Laughlin, Charlotte and Daniel J. H. Levack. De Camp: An L. Sprague De Camp Bibliography. Underwood/Miller, 1983. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by De Camp and others, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Supplements a copy of the trade edition. Bought from Currey for $10.
  • de la Ree, Gerry. Fantasy Collectors Annual—1974. Gerry de la Ree, 1974. First edition hardback, #78 of 80 signed, hardbound copies, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bumping at head and heel, sans dust jacket, as issued. Odd miscellanea of SF/F/H-related items, including facsimiles of various SF author’s inscriptions, an unpublished letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Virgil Finlay, the text of an unpublished letter from Edgar Allen Poe (that may be a forgery), black and white artwork from Finlay, Stephen Fabian and Malhon Blaine (if that third name isn’t as well known as the first two, well, there’s a reason for that…), etc. De la Ree was an important publisher, book dealer and collector. In his introduction, he said he wanted to do one of these every year. According to Chalker/Owings, there was one more in 1975.

    fantasy Annual

  • Dick, Philip K. The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 5: We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Subterranean Press, 2014.
  • Dick, Philip K. Four Novels of the 1960s. The Library of America, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, in slipcase, as issued. Library of America produces these jacketless, slipcased editions of their books for subscribers, and the jacketed version (which I also have) for retail. I am unclear as to whether there is any precedence between the two states. Bought for $8 from Half Price Books.

    P1000943

  • (Dick, Philip K.) Levack, Daniel J. H. PKD: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography. Underwood/Miller, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by Dick, Levack and annotator Steven Owen Godersky. A Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $299 off eBay at the Buy-It-Now price, which is less than half what it usually lists for.

    PKD Bib signed

    Dick Bib Signatures

  • Di Filippo, Paul. Wikiworld. Chizine Publications, 2013. First edition trade paperback original, Fine. Short story collection.
  • Dozois, Gardner. The Peacemaker. Pulphouse, 1991. First edition hardback, #97 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Part of the short story hardback line, which was in turn a simultaneous extension of their short story paperback line. I thought at the time (and still think) that this was a stupid idea, that $1.95 for a single short story (the price point for the paperback) was a bad idea, and that this was symptomatic of the wild overproduction that help killed Pulphouse off. But I have been picking up the short story hardback for writers I collect when I stumble across them cheaply.

    Peacemaker

  • Dozois, Gardner. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection St. Martin’s, 2014.
  • Durbin, Frederic S. Dragonfly. Arkham House, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Just for a complete Arkham House collection. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 191.
  • Ebert, Roger. A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length. Andrews McMeel, 2012. Trade paperback original, Fine. Non-fiction collection of scathing movie reviews.
  • Ellison, Harlan. The Fantasies of Harlan Ellison. Gregg Press, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with boards just a tiny bit bowed and a few traces of dust soiling to page blocked edges, sans dust jacket, as issued. Inscribed by Ellison: “To Dane! Harlan Ellison”.
  • Fabian, Stephen. Women & Wonders. Charles F. Miller, 1995. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, still in shrink wrap.
  • Farmer, Philip Jose. Down in the Black Gang. Signet, 1971. First paperback edition (Currey says the SFBC hardback, which I also have, precedes), a Very Good+ copy with faint spine creasing, very slight spine lean, edgewear, and darkening to pages. Inscribed by Farmer to Bruce Sterling. Picked up for $12 at Half Price Books.

    Black Gang

    Black Gang Sig

  • Finlay, Virgil. An Astrology Sketch Book. Donald M. Grant, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $10 which is, iddly enough, the actual cover price…

    Finlay Astrology

  • Finlay, Virgil. Finlay’s Illustrations for Weird Tales. Showcase Art Productions, 1976. First edition art portfolio of 9 illustrations (one in color) in a cardstock cover, a Fine copy.

    Finlay Weird Tales 1

  • Ford, John M. Growing Up Weightless. Easton Press, 1993. First hardback edition, one of an undetermined number of signed subscriber copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in decorated leather boards. Bought from Half Price Books for $35.

    Growing Up Weightless

  • Gaiman, Neil. The Sleeper and the Spindle. Morrow/Harper Collins, 2014. First separate edition hardback (it appeared in an anthology in 2013), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Chapbook on the Sleeping beauty theme, only available through California bookstores on California Book Day (May 3, 2014).

    Gaiman Sleeper Spindle

  • Gibson, William. The Peripheral. Putnam, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to me by Gibson at BookPeople on November 2, 2014: “TO LAWRENCE/WM GIBSON”. Near-future SF that sounds interesting. About a hundred people turned out for the Gibson signing, which is the second biggest crowd I’d seen there next to Neil Gaiman’s signing for Anansi Boys. I’ll have several signed William Gibson items available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
  • Haldeman, Joe, editor. Study War No More. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with crease to FFE and a BB-sized outward bump (probably a binding flaw) near top of spine, in a Near Fine+ slightly spine-faded dust jacket. Signed by Haldeman and contributors Harlan Ellison, Poul Anderson and George Alec Effinger. Anthology. Bought off eBay for $24.99.

    Study War

  • Hall, Hal W., editor. Science Fiction and Fantasy Reference Index, 1878-1985: Volume 1: Author Entries and Science Fiction and Fantasy Reference Index, 1878-1985: Volume 2: Subject Entries. Gale Research Company, 1987. First edition hardbacks, Very Good+ in decorated boards with bumping to extremities, slight wear at heel, and slight crease to second volume’s spine, sans dust jackets, as issued. Two large science fiction reference works. Massive two-volume reference index to non-fiction critical articles, reviews, books, etc. covering science fiction and fantasy. Hall was the long-time director of the Science Fiction collection at the Texas A&M Cushing Library, which has amassed a massive and impressive collection.

    P1000894

  • Heinlein, Robert A. (David Hartwell, editor). Destination Moon. Gregg Press, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Includes the novella “Destination Moon,” “Shooting Destination Moon“, numerous reproduced newspaper clippings on the movie, photo stills from the movie, and a new introduction by David Hartwell, who edited the volume.

    Gregg Ellison Heinlein

  • Hodgson, William Hope. The House on the Borderland and Other Novels. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy with bumping at corners, small dust print at bottom page block outer edge, and faint foxing to gutters, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with 1/16″ chip at heel, wear at points (including a pinhead hole at lower front edge), and extremely mild sun-fading to the spine; it’s actually a wonderfully bright example of the Hannes Bok dust jacket, and the only better copies I’ve seen were at least three times the price. Includes the title novel, plus The Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’, The Ghost Pirates, and The Night Land, all of which were previously published individually (and first editions of which all of which now go for well over a grand). One of the four large-format Arkhams, the other being H.P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others and Beyond the Wall of Sleep, and Robert E. Howard’s Skull-Face and Others, all three of which I still lack. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 16. Derleth, 30 Years of Arkham House, 16. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 19. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 16. Blieler, Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction (1978), page 101. Blieler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 821. Bought for £220 plus shipping off eBay.

    House Borderland Arkham

    IMG_0287

  • Jeter, K.W. Fiendish Schemes. Tor, 2013. A sequel to Infernal Devices.
  • Joyce, Graham. Some Kind of Fairy Tale. Gollancz, 2012. One of 1,500 first edition copies signed by the author.
  • Kennedy, Leigh. Wind Angels. PS Publishing, 2011. First edition hardback, an unnumbered copy of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Supplements the trade edition. Bought for $20 at Half Price Books.
  • King, Stephen. The Dark Half. Hodder & Stoughton, 1989. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Precedes the American edition.
  • (King, Stephen) Collings, Michael. Stephen King as Richard Bachman. Starmont House, 1985. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards (the covers from the trade paperback attached to the front cover). Reference work.

    King as Bachman

  • (King, Stephen) Reino, Joseph. Stephen King: The First Decade, Carrie to Pet Sematary. G. K. Hall, 1988. No dust jacket, as issued. Non-fiction.
  • Knight, Damon. Why Do Birds Tor, 1992. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Knight: “for Mark/Damon Knight”. With review slip laid in. Bought for $12.50 from an eBay seller.
  • Lafferty, R. A. Horns On Their Heads. Pendragon Press, 1976. First edition hardback, #Q of 50 signed hardback copies, a Near Fine copy with 1/2″ inch of darkening around the top and outer edge of the rear panel, and darkening to spine, sans dust jacket, as issued.

    Lafferty Horns

  • Langford, David. Irrational Numbers. Necronomicon Press, 1994. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Got this inscribed to me by David at the London Worldcon.
  • Lake, Jay. Pinion. Tor, 2010. Third in the Clockwork Earth sequence.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Black Hat Jack. Subterranean Press, 2014. Number 114 of 350 signed, numbered leatherbound copies in a different dust jacket.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Black Hat Jack. Subterranean Press, 2014. Trade edition.
  • Leiber, Fritz. The Leiber Chronicles. Dark Harvest, 1990. First edition hardback, #7 of 500 signed, numbered hardbacks, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine slipcase. Bought for $38 off eBay, which is roughly half the original publication price of $65.
  • Lethem, Jonathan. Dissident Gardens. Doubleday, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of crimping at heel. Signed by Lethem. Bought from Half Price Books for $13.99
  • (LonCon3) LonCon3 Program Book and LonCon3 Pocket Programme Guide. LonCon3, 2014. Given out as part of membership for the 2014 London Worldcon. I hadn’t previously been cataloging things like this, but I probably should…
  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Brennan, Joseph Payne. A Select Bibliography of H. P. Lovecraft. Self-published, 1952. First edition chapbook, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of wrinkling. Joshi, Lovecraft Bibliography, III-B-8. Bought for $10.

    Brennan Lovecraft Bib

  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Derie, Bobby. Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos. Hippocampus Press, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, Fine. Gahan Wilson cover. Non-fiction work examining sexual themes in a wide variety of Cthulhu Mythos-related work.
  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Faig, Kenneth W. The Parents of Howard Philip Lovecraft. Necronomicon Press, 1990. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy, signed on the inside front cover by Faig. Non-fiction.
  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Joshi, S. T. Lovecraft and a World in Transition. Hippocampus Press, 2014. First edition hardback, one of 500 copies signed by Joshi (the only edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Collection of Joshi’s most important essays on Lovecraft (of which there have been many).
  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Squires, Richard D. Stern fathers ‘neath the mould: The Lovecraft Family in Rochester. Necronomicon Press, 1995. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Non-fiction. This and The Parents of Howard Philip Lovecraft bought for $28.29 off eBay.
  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Wetzel, George (editor). Commentaries: Volume VI The Lovecraft Collector’s Library. SSR Publications, 1955. First edition oversized side-stapled mimeographed paperback, #46 of 75 copies, a Near Fine, age-darkened copy. Joshi, Lovecraft Bibliography, III-C-27. Tymn Schlobin Currey, 295. Bought for $25.

    Lovecraft Commentaries

  • Martin, George R. R., editor. Fort Freak. Tor, 2011.
  • McDonald, Ian. Planesrunner. Pyr, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Inscribed to me by McDonald.
  • McDonald, Ian. Be My Enemy. Pyr, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Inscribed to me by McDonald. Second in the Everness series.
  • McDonald, Ian. Empress of the Sun. Pyr, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Inscribed to me by McDonald. Third in the Everness series.
  • Mieville, China. The Apology Chapbook. China Mieville/World fantasy Convention, 2013. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Issued in lieu of Mieville being able to make his scheduled Guest of Honor appearance at the 2013 World fantasy Convention in Brighton.
  • Moorcock, Michael (as Edward P. Bradbury). Barbarians of Mars. Compact, 1965. First edition paperback original, a Very Good copy with spine creasing and general wear. Really only bought it for the additional 15% discount coupon to kick in for a web bookseller; it was the cheapest book they had in science fiction, but it’s one I can actually use! Tanalorn Archives, page 7. Currey (1979), page 368.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The End of All Songs. Harper & Row, 1976. First edition hardback (with the author’s name misspelled “Moorock” on the spine, as per Currey), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Third book in the Dancers at the End of Time trilogy. Currey (1979), page 370.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Golden Barge. New English Library, 1983. First hardback edition (preceded by a trade paperback original), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Stealer of Souls. Neville Spearman, 1963. First edition hardback, a Fine- first state (orange binding with black lettering) copy with publisher stamp for “Wehman Bros./Publishers/138 Main Street/Hackensack, N.J.” on title page, and some slight bend at head and heel, in a Very Good-, price-clipped dust jacket with $3.00 stamp above price clip, rubbing and shallow chipping and wear at extremities. Though I usually look for books in better condition than this (at least for this era), this, Stormbringer and Sword of the Dawn were too cheap to pass up. Tanalorn Archive, page 32. Currey (1979), page 373.

    Stealer of Souls

  • Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer. Herbert Jenkins, 1965. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with “Wehman Bros./Publishers/138 Main Street/Hackensack, N.J.” stamp on title page, and slight bend at head and heel, in a Very Good, price-clipped dust jacket with sticker pull just over the price clip, rubbing and shallow chipping at extremities. Tanalorn Archive, page 32. Currey (1979), page 373.

    Stormbringer

  • Moorcock, Michael. The Sword of the Dawn. White Lion, 1973. First hardback edition, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bend at head and heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight rubbing. Tanalorn Archive, page 34. Currey (1979), page 373.

    Sword of the Dawn

  • Moorcock, Michael, and Philip James. The Distant Suns. Unicorn SF, 1975. First edition trade paperback original (perfect-bound comic book format), a Fine- copy with slightly yellowed pages. Currey (1979), page 369.

    Distant Suns

  • (Moore, Alan) Millidge, Gary Spencer. Alan Moore: Storyteller. Ilex, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of surface wear. Lavishly illustrated book on Moore’s career. Includes a CD of Moore’s “songs, readings and performances.” Bought from Brad Foster at Armadillocon for (IIRC) $16.
  • Morgenstern, Erin. The Night Circus. Doubleday, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by the author. Fantasy, a first novel that got a lot of positive buzz. Bought for $27 (including buyer’s premium) off Heritage Auctions.
  • Newman, Kim and Ian Freer. The First Empire Movie Almanac. Empire magazine, no date (but 1988). First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight waviness to pages due to glue bunching (probably a binding flaw common to the run). Signed by Newman. Freely distributed subscriber extra from Empire magazine (the British film magazine, not the American SF writing magazine), a non-fiction miscellanea of lists and movie trivia. It’s also an example of why the Internet isn’t an acceptable substitute for book scouting, since I had no idea this existed until I came across it in the Cold Tonnage stacks…

    Empire Movie Guide

  • Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. MacAdam/Cage, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $20 at Half Price Books. Replaces a less perfect copy.

    Time Traveler's Wife

  • Niven, Larry, and Jerry Pournelle. Oath of Fealty. Timescape, 1981. First trade edition, preceded by the Phantasia Press limited edition (which I also have), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of wear. Pringle SF 100 list.
  • Noon, Jeff. Vurt. Crown, 1993. First hardback and first American edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Noon: “To Shirley/Good Feathers/Jeff Noon” (with a drawing of a feather). Supplements an unsigned edition.

    Jeff noon Sig

  • O’Sullivan, Kevin M. editor. The Great War: A World War I Exhibit Featuring the Aggie Experience. Texas A&M University Libraries, no date (but 2014). Trade paperback original first edition, a Fine copy. Exhibit catalog highlighting World War I material held by Texas A&M University libraries. Picked up for free from library representatives at Armadillocon.
  • Parnell, Frank H. (with Mike Ashley). Monthly Terrors: An Index to the Weird Fantasy Magazines Published in the United States and Great Britain. Greenwood Press, 1985. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with review slip laid in. Bought off Lloyd Currey for $22.50.
  • Pohl, Frederik, and Jack Williamson. Land’s End. Tor, 1988. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy with slight crease to spine, slight bend at head and heel, and a trace of lean, in a Near Fine- dust jacket with 1″ x 1/8″ crease at top dj rear and wear at extremity points. Inscribed by both authors: [In Williamson’s hand] “For/Debbie/with the very best/Jack Williamson/[in Pohl’s hand] and/Fred Pohl.” Bought for $20 off eBay.

    Land's End Sig

  • Powers, Tim. Appointment on Sunset. Charnel House, 2014. First edition hardback, #115 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with signed and numbered toe-tag affixed to the front cover.

    Powers Sunset

  • Powers, Tim. Nobody’s Home. Subterranean Press, 2014. Trade edition. Anubis Gates story.
  • Purdom, Tom. Reentry and other thoughts on Science Fiction. Dragonstair Press, 2014. First edition chapbook, a Fine- copy with slight crease to left edge. Non-fiction essays on science fiction.
  • Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. Random House, 1957. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated), a Fine- copy with just a tiny bit of bend at head and a tiny bit of pulling away of just the center of the top page block, and a tiny dust print at the outer bottom near page block edge, in a Very Good- first printing ($6.95 price and 10/57 code on front flap) dust jacket with shallow chipping at extremities (most notable at head and heel, perhaps 1/8″ at front and rear spine join points) and associated abrading, and blind-side age darkening, but otherwise an intact and fairly attractive example of the dust jacket. With clipping of a letter from Rand from the March 21, 1960 issue of Time magazine laid in. Bought for $270 from Half Price Books during a coupon sale, marked down from $450.

    Atlas Shrugged

  • Russ, Joanna. We Who Are About To…. Gregg Press, 1978. First hardback edition, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $20 off eBay.
  • Samuelson, Todd, editor. One Hundred Years Hence: Science Fiction & Fantasy at Texas A&M. Texas A&M University Libraries, 2010. Trade paperback original first edition, a Fine copy. Exhibit catalog highlighting the science fiction holdings at the Cushing Memorial Library at Texas A&M University. Picked up for free from library representatives at Armadillocon.
  • “Sarban” (pseudonym for John William Wall). The Sound of His Horn. Peter Davies Ltd., 1952. First edition hardback, a Very Good copy with some wear at head and heel, front free endpaper missing, and an inked name on half-title page, in a Very Good- dust jacket with shallow staining to head and heel, dust soiling to white rear panel, and two small blue ink spots to front flap. Actually a fairly attractive copy of this alternate history set after the Nazis win World War II. Pringle, Modern Fantasy, 12. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 189.

    Sound of His Horn

  • Schow, David J. Internecine. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2010.
  • Schow, David J. A Little Aqua Book of Creature Tails. Borderlands Press, 2014. First edition hardback, number 136 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
  • Sheckley, Robert. The Robot Who Looked Like Me. Sphere, 1978. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with edgewear and a few slightly dog-eared pages. Short story collection. Not in Currey (though it should have just made it in based on the publication date), but the ISFDB says the Sphere edition precedes the Bantam edition by four years.

    Sheckley Robot Who

  • Shepard, Lucius. Beautiful Blood. Subterranean Press, 2014. Number 191 of 1,000, unsigned (due to Shepard’s death) copies.
  • Silverberg, Robert. Blood on the Mink. Hard Case Crime, 2012. First edition trade paperback original, Fine. reprints a Silverberg crime novel published in the pulps, plus two additional stories and a new afterword.
  • Simmons, Dan. Flashback. Reagan Arthur/Little Brown, 2011.
  • Smith, Clark Ashton. The Immortals of Mercury. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1932. First edition chapbook original, Very Good only, more browned than usual. Probably the most expensive of all the Stellar series, as it frequently lists for over $100. Bought for $29.99 off eBay. For more on the Stellar series, see here.

    CAS Immortals Mercury

  • Stephenson, Neal. Some Remarks. Morrow, 2012. Non-fiction.
  • Sterling, Bruce, editor. Twelve Tomorrows: MIT Technology Review SF Annual • 2014. Technology Review, Inc., 2014. First edition trade paperback original, Fine. Bruce had extras at October’s Turkey City Writer’s Workshop.
  • Strahan, Jonathan. The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume Two. Night Shade Press, 2008. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine copy with a slight bend top top rear corner (bumped it carrying it around). Got this copy signed by Ted Chiang at Armadillocon.
  • Strahan, Jonathan. The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume Three. Night Shade Press, 2009. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Got this copy signed by Ted Chiang at Armadillocon.
  • Strahan, Jonathan. The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume Four. Night Shade Press, 2010. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy.
  • Stross, Charles. Equiod. Subterranean Press, 2014. Number 188 of 350 signed, numbered copies. Laundry novella.
  • Stross, Charles. Equiod. Subterranean Press, 2014. Trade edition.
  • Stross, Charles. Neptune’s Brood. Ace, 2013. Bought from Half Price Books for $9.99.
  • Stross, Charles. The Rhesus Chart Ace, 2014. Laundry novel.
  • Swanwick, Michael. The Dragons of Babel. Tor, 2007.
  • Swanwick, Michael. American Cigarettes. Dragonstairs Press, 2011. First edition chapbook, a slender 8 pages (including self wrappers), #85 of 100 signed, numbered copies, Fine, with advert for Dancing With Bears laid in.
  • Swanwick, Michael. The Nature of Mirrors. Dragonstairs Press, 2011. First edition chapbook, a slender 12 pages (including self wrappers and two blanks), #67 of 100 signed, numbered copies, Fine.
  • Swanwick, Michael. Song of the Lorelei. Dragonstair Press, 2011. First edition chapbook, a slender 8 pages (including self wrappers), #88 of 100 signed, numbered copies, Fine.

    Swanwick Chapbooks 100814

  • Swanwick, Michael. Solstice Fire. Dragonstairs Press, 2013. First edition side-sewn chapbook original, #42 of 100 signed numbered copies, a Fine copy.

    Solstice Fire

  • Teitler, Stuart A. By the World Forgot. Privately printed (Ferret Fantasy), 2014. First edition trade paperback original, one of 50 numbered copies (this one inscribed to me by compiler George Locke, noting he hadn’t gotten around to numbering them yet), a Near Fine copy with slight creasing near the spine (a result of carrying it around in my carry-on luggage). A 130 page (plus a catalog at the back) annotated bibliographic compendium of lost race fiction compiled by Teitler, a noted American book scout and lost race collector. Probably destined to become the definitive book on the subject.

    By the World Forgot

  • Teitler, Stuart A., George Locke and Others. By the Book World Remembered. Privately printed (Ferret Fantasy), 2014. First edition trade paperback original, one of 50 numbered copies (this one also inscribed to me by compiler George Locke, but not yet numbered), a Fine copy. Another non-fiction reference book, 146 pages, something of a memorial to Teitler, told largely in epistolary format, of the friendship between the two, covering book hunting, finer points of lost race bibliographic information, catalog and collection listings, etc. If you’re a hardcore book geek, you’ll love this stuff; if you’re not, it will probably leave you cold.

    By Book World Remembered

  • Tuttle, Lisa. A Spaceship Built of Stone and Other Stories. The Women’s Press, 1987. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Inscribed to me by the author: “For Lawrence/A spaceship built of stone/should not fall apart. I/hope this one lasts/All the best/Lisa Tuttle/20 Aug 2014”. (An additional personal postcard to me is laid in as well.) Sent to me by the author. The story is that I found a less perfect copy of this book at an Oxfam shop for £1.50, and bought it with the intention of having Lisa sign it at Worldcon. However, when I did so, the first leaf of the book fell out! At which point Lisa said she’d mail me a copy…
  • Vance, Jack. The Worlds of Jack Vance. Ace Books, 1973. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy. Currey, page 501. Hewett, A44.
  • (Wagner, Karl Edward) Szumskyj, Benjamin, editor. Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner. Gothic Press, 2006. First edition chapbook original, Fine in center-stapled wraps. Non-fiction. Missed this when it came out.
  • Walton, Evangeline. Witch House. Arkham House, 1945. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 11. Derleth, 30 Years of Arkham House, 11. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 11. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 11. Blieler, Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction (1978), page 202. Blieler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 1655. Crawford, Donahue and Grant, 333, page 67. Barron, Horror Literature: A Reader’s Guide, 3-203. Tymn, Horror Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide, 4-216. Bought for $47 off the Internet. It seems that every time I would see a copy at auction, I’d ask myself “Do I already have a copy of that?” Now I know the answer to that question…

    Witch House

  • Webb, Don. Through Dark Angles: Works Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. Hippocampus Press, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, Fine.
  • Wells, H.G. Experiment in Autobiography (Volumes I and II). Gollancz, 1934. First edition, a Very Good copy with dust soiling to boards and crimping at head and heel, in Good only dust jackets with significant chipping at extremities. Text of J. B. Priestley’s eulogy delivered at Wells’s funeral clipped from newspaper tipped in on front free endpaper of volume 1. Bought from L.W. Currey for $10 for the set.

    Wells Experiment 2

    Wells Experiment 1

  • Wells, H. G. Men Like Gods. Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1923. First edition hardback (a probable third binding state, as per Currey’s listing, with decorated brown boards with black lettering, which is not recorded in Currey (2002)), a Near Fine copy with slight wear at heel, small, faint stamp to FFE, foxing to gutters and slight bend at head in a Very Good- dust jacket with small sticker remnant on front and shallow chipping at head and heel, and chips at points. Wells’ second socialist utopia. H.G. Wells: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 85. Bought for $22.50

    Wells Men Like Gods

    Wells Men Like Gods boards

  • Wells, H. G. The Secret Places of the Heart. Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1922. First edition hardback, first state binding (title blindstamped on cover, as per Currey (2002)), a Fine- copy with slight bending at head and heel and foxing to gutters in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of edgewear. H.G. Wells: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 81. Bought for $37.50

    Wells Secret Places

  • Yellin, Herb. Lord John Film Festival. Lord John Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Signed by Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and Janet Leigh. Miscellany of film and screen memories and pictures of signed publicity photos, lobby cards, etc. from Yellin’s collection. Yellin was publisher of Lord John Press.

    Lord John Film

    Lord John Film sig

  • Copies of most of the small press books from Subterranean, Hippocampus, etc. listed above will be available through the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Addition: The Signed Edition of Levack’s Philip K. Dick Bibliography

    Monday, December 22nd, 2014

    In the past few years I’ve obtained the signatures of H. G. Wells and H. P. Lovecraft (among many others), but wasn’t able to find a verifiable signature I could afford for Philip K. Dick.

    Until now.

    (Dick, Philip K.) Levack, Daniel J. H. PKD: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography. Underwood/Miller, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by Dick, Levack and annotator Steven Owen Godersky. A Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $299 off eBay at the Buy-It-Now price, which is less than half what it usually lists for.

    PKD Bib signed

    Dick Bib Signatures

    I think this was the last signed edition Dick did while he was still alive. In fact, discount the numerous posthumous “cut from a check” limiteds, I think only this and Confessions of a Crap Artist were done in signed/limited editions.

    A year and a half ago, I didn’t have the signed editions of any of the Levack Underwood/Miller bibliographies (Dick, Zelazny and de Camp); now I have all three.