Posts Tagged ‘Books’
Friday, March 21st, 2014
More from the big 70% off sale purchase:
Shea, Michael. The Mines of Behemoth. Baen Books, 1997. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Signed by Shea. Price paid: $4.49.
Wolheim, Elizabeth (Betsy), and Sheila Gilbert, editors. DAW 30th Anniversary Box Set (including 30th Anniversary DAW Science Fiction and 30th Anniversary DAW Fantasy). DAW, 2002. First edition hardbacks, Fine leatherbound copies with gilt endpapers, #312 of 350 sets so produced, in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jackets, as issued. (I have not been able to determine if the leather binding state is simultaneous with the trade editions or not.) Signed by editor Sheila E. Gilbert and contributors Michael Shea, Tad Williams, C.S. Friedman, Melanie Rawn, Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon, Kate Elliott, and Irene Radford. This set was originally offered at $125 (though copies can now be found on Amazon for considerably less). The sets were not, as far as I can tell, offered in a signed state; these were signed independently by the contributors. Price paid: $59.99.
Michael Shea was probably the finest dark fantasy stylist of his generation, and Nift the Lean is a classic work that I expect to be read for years to come. He died unexpectedly on February 16th at age 67. I never had a chance to meet Shea in person.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, First Edition, Horror, Michael Shea, pics, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
I just got a big box of books from a dealer holding a 70% off sale, which I’ll probably be cataloging for the next week or so. This is the item that made me start piling things in the virtual basket for immediate purchase:
Chacal No. 1. First edition magazine original, a Fine- copy with slight bumping to top of spine. Signed by contributors Tom Reamy, Howard Waldrop, Richard Corben, Tim Kirk, and publisher Arnie Fenner.
Tom Reamy was widely acclaimed as the very best SF writer in Texas, winning a John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer as well as a Nebula Award for “San Diego Lightfoot Sue.” Reamy died of a heart attack on November 4, 1977 at the horrifically young age of 42. Reamy had no books of his own published during his lifetime, and things signed by him are genuinely rare and seldom come on the market.
Chacal was Arnie Fenner’s first magazine, a big color glossy magazine featuring first-rate fantasy fiction and art. (After two issues this would be followed up by Shayol, which had more of a science fiction focus, co-edited with Fenner’s then-wife Pat Cadigan.)
Howard believes that this was almost certainly signed at the 1976 Worldcon in Kansas City, which is the only time he recalled all of them being together at the same place and time after it was published.
Price paid: $29.99.
Tags:Arnie Fenner, Books, Fantasy, Howard Waldrop, Science Fiction, Texas, Tom Reamy
Posted in pics, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
Though I have seen no official word, people on Lucius Shepard’s Facebook page are mourning his death this morning.
Shepard was one of the most important new writers of the 1980s, with most of the stories in The Jaguar Hunter nominated for or winning major awards. His output fell off in the 1990s, then came back in the 21st century. He was certainly one of the finest prose stylists of his generation.
Shepard suffered a stroke while in the hospital in August of 2013.
It looks like the terrible year for deaths in the field that was 2013 is extending into 2014…
Tags:Books, Lucius Shepard, Obituary, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014
I also pick up science fiction-related reference works, especially when I see them cheap.
(Ballard, J. G.) Baxter, John. The Inner Man: the life of J. G. Ballard. Weidenfield & Nicolson, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Critical biography.
(Gilliam, Terry) McCabe, Bob. Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm, and other cautionary tales of Hollywood. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with what appears to be “delamination” of otherwise shiny area at base of the spine, in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Book on the making of the Terry Gilliam film The Brothers Grimm.
Lovecraft, H.P. (S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, editors. O Fortunate Floridian: H.P. Lovecraft’s Letters to R. H. Barlow. University of Tampa Press, 2007. First edition hardback (stated), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread.
Barlow was an interesting fellow in his own right. He was studying ancient Mexican writings at Mexico City College (at the same time William S. Burroughs was there) when he committed suicide in January of 1951.
Now I have the perfect thing to lay the envelope from Lovecraft to Barlow into.
(Moskowitz, Sam) The Sam Moskowitz Collection of Science Fiction b/w Comic Books and Comic Art. Southbys, 1999. First edition oversized trade paperback original, Fine. Auction catalog for the Sam Moskowitz’s science fiction collection held June 29, 1999 (plus a collection of rare comics sold the next day).
Stephenson, Neal. In the Beginning was the Command Line. Avon Books, 1999. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Long essay on the history of computing the Internet, and cyber culture.
Tags:Books, H. P. Lovecraft, J. G. Ballard, John Baxter, Movies, Neal Stephenson, R. H. Barlow, reference works, S. T. Joshi, Sam Moskowitz, Terry Gilliam
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Movies, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2014
Someone was selling off a numbered of signed editions of books on eBay; three of those are here, and the fourth (Farmer’s River of Time) was from Lloyd Currey.
Farmer, Philip Jose. River of Eternity. Phantasia Press, 1983. First edition hardback, #81 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Drive-In: The Bus Tour. Subterranean Press, 2005. First edition hardback, #223 of 350 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Supplements a signed trade edition.
Leiber, Fritz. Gummitch and Friends. Donald M. Grant, 1992. First edition hardback, #237 of 1000 signed, numbered copies (though not signed by Leiber, who died before the book was finished), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Contains both Leiber’s cat stories, as well as memorial appreciations of Leiber by Stephen King, Robert Bloch, etc. bound at the front of the volume. Also, for some reason, an unsigned limitation number plate for the Grant edition of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Black House is also laid in.
Straub, Peter. Mrs. God. Donald M. Grant, 1990. First edition hardback, #179 of 600 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket (as issued) in a Fine slipcase, new and unread.
I didn’t pay more than $40 for any of these…
Tags:Books, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, First Edition, Fritz Leiber, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Peter Straub, Phantasia Press, Philip Jose Farmer, Science Fiction, Subterranean Press
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2014
My habit of picking up signed Ray Bradbury first editions when I see them cheap continues apace:
Bradbury, Ray. Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far From the Stars. William Morrow, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of spine-join haze rubbing. Signed by Bradbury: “MARK!/Ray/Bradbury”. Collection of essays.
(Bradbury, Ray). Nolan, William F. and Martin H. Greenberg, editors. The Bradbury Chronicles: Stores in Honor of Ray Bradbury. Roc, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of wrinkling at head. Signed by Bradbury. Anthology.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, signed
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, March 10th, 2014
I recently got in some imperfect copies the Centipede Press limited edition of The Anubis Gates, and it’s completely off the hook:
Powers, Tim. The Anubis Gates. Centipede Press, 2014. First edition hardback thus, a Fine copy save two flaws (the slipcase keyhole cutout is about 1/4″ misaligned between the two halves, and it lacks the signature page) bound in decorated red and black velvet with a lenticular image embedded in the front cover, in a Fine slipcase. The thing is ginormous, resting in a two-part red velvet slipcase which houses the book and an accordion portfolio of the color art plates in the book, and includes an appendix of deleted scenes from the original manuscript and a fold-out map of 1810 London.
The entire assemblage is only a hair thinner than the traycased edition of George R. R. Martin’s GRRM.
I didn’t think I needed another Anubis Gates, since I have the PBO, the UK first, the Ziesing hardback, and the facsimile manuscript included with the ultralimited edition of the Berlyene bibliography. Plus I’m not a big fan of post-first limiteds in general. But this edition is so over-the-top I couldn’t pass up a chance to pick up copies at a bargain price. In fact, I still have a couple left at $75 a pop (first come first serve), which is a hefty discount over the $295 offering price on pristine copies…
Tags:Books, Centipede Press, pics, The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
Posted in Books, Fantasy, pics, Science Fiction | 5 Comments »
Monday, February 17th, 2014
Another important small press work I bought at auction:
Smith, Edward E., PhD. The Skylark of Space. Buffalo Book Company, 1946. First edition hardback, a VG+ copy with slight bumping at head, heel and corners and faint dust staining at heel, in a VG- dust jacket missing a small 1/4″ triangular chip from center of dj spine, plus about 1/4″ of chipping loss at head and heel, and slight overall rubbing, otherwise intact with $3.00 price on flap. The very first of Doc Smith’s famous space operas. Currey (1979), page 457. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 78. One of two books done by the Buffalo Book Company (the other of which, John Taine’s The Time Stream, I picked up in December).
Bought for $237 from Heritage Auctions.
Tags:book auction, Books, E. E. "Doc" Smith, First Edition, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, pics, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, February 10th, 2014
By now you should have figured out that book collectors are insane. If not, what I paid for the following item should convince you:
Lovecraft, H. P. Envelope Addressed to Robert Barlow, with Lovecraft’s return address on the back, in Lovecraft’s own handwriting. Postmarked December 4, 1931.
Barlow was a longtime correspondent of Lovecraft’s. The envelope itself bears the return address for another Lovecraft associate, bookseller George W. Kirk, a fellow member of the “Kalem Club,” a group of close friends from the time he lived in New York City from 1924-1927.
Bought for $328 off eBay.
Pretty much all books Lovecraft signed in his lifetime, as well as letters, postcards, etc., have commas in the price. This struck me as a way I could afford a Lovecraft signature.
Now I just need those James Tiptree, Jr. and Thomas Pynchon signatures…
Tags:Books, Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, R. H. Barlow, signatures
Posted in Books, Horror | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, January 15th, 2014
With Neal’s passing I thought I would pull out some of the photos I have of him and put them up here. The first couple are from Armadillocon, the rest from his Author Emeritus Award Party on May 30, 2010:
Tags:Books, Neal Barrett Jr., pics, Science Fiction
Posted in Austin, Books, pics, Science Fiction | No Comments »
