Posts Tagged ‘bibliography’

Library Addition: Bibliography of Limited and Signed Editions in Literature

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026

I’ve slowly been picking up some general literary bookselling references when I’ve found them cheap, and this purchase fits in that category.

Dingman, Larry. Bibliography of limited and signed editions in literature, Twentieth Century American Authors. James Cummings Press, 1973. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy in red cloth with a few faint spots, and slight wear at head and heel, sans dust jacket, as issued. Just what it says, and of very limited use to SF/F/H collectors, with only a few figures onn the literary end of the genre (James Branch Cabell, William S. Burroughs, etc.) included. Bought off a fellow Biblio dealer for $5.40 plus shipping.

Library Addition: Mark V. Ziesing Bibliography 1982-1993

Wednesday, August 26th, 2026

Here’s a bibliography of a publisher I collect that I never picked up when it came out because I was already aware of every book in it because I was on the Ziesing mailing list for the last half of the period covered. But I do like having bibliographies, so I finally picked it up.

(Ziesing, Mark V.) Mark V. Ziesing Bibliography 1982-1993. Airtight Seels Allied Production (A.S.A.P.), 2003. First edition chapbook original, #43 of 200 numbered copies signed by “Introduction” author Lucius Shepard, “The Bus of Many Windows: A Digression on Mark V. Ziesing” author James P. Blaylock, illustrator Phil Parks, and Mark and Cynthia Ziesing, a Fine copy. Bought from the Mysterious Bookshop for $12.

I can tell you there are at least three notable errors/omissions.

First, it fails to note that there were far more than 1,600 trade editions of Joe R. Lansdale’s Cold in July and Savage Season. I’ve heard it rumored as many as 6,000 total (including the 500 copy limited edition) were printed, though I’m guessing 4,000 might be closer.

Second, it doesn’t mention that for some titles (including the Cold in July/Savage Season set, and Howard Waldrop’s Them Bones/A Dozen Tough Jobs sets) Ziesing ended up with extra slipcases and sold unsigned sets in them (as unsigned sets), I think upon request.

Third, it fails to mention the unpublished, first state dust jacket for Ray Garton’s Trade Secrets, the jacket copy for which was written by Andy Watson and which Mark Ziesing felt was too explicit. I lost an eBay bid for a copy with it, and my understanding is that about 10 copies escaped pulping.

Library Addition: Robert Bloch: An Unconventional Bibliography

Thursday, July 10th, 2025

The field has long needed a better, up-to-date Robert Bloch bibliography. I’m not sure this new Print-on-Demand volume quite ticks all the boxes.

  • Nemeth, Jim (with Randall D. Larson). Robert Bloch: An Unconventional Bibliography. No publisher listed (but probably Amazon KDP), 2025. Print-On-Demand “first edition” (printing date of “03 July 2025”), a Fine copy. “This bibliography, as unconventional and idiosyncratic as Bloch himself, documents the entire oeuvre of his varied and diverse career, sprinkled throughout with Bloch’s own remembrances regarding many of his works.” Alas, one “unconventional” touch is the omitting of standard bibliographic information like first edition points (there is no mention of how to tell apart the two printings of Sea Kissed, for example), or things like page counts, prices, etc. Still, there’s a good bit of useful information in here, and the Larson essays look interesting. Bought from Amazon for $18.99.

  • Library Additions: Five Chapbooks

    Monday, February 10th, 2025

    Five chapbooks, four from Roy A. Squires, two concerned with small press chapbook publishing, one a modern oddity.

  • (Lafferty, R. A., Gene Wolfe) Knight, Dan (Amanda Patchin and Brent Towell, interviewers). Hedgehog Press Interviews Dan Knight. Hedgehog Press, 2024. First edition chapbook original, #23 of 50 copies, a Fine copy, with frontispiece tissue guard laid in. Interview with the publisher of United Mythologies Press, small press publisher of several works by R. A. Lafferty and Gene Wolfe. Bought off Abebooks for $15 plus shipping after Knight mentioned the existence off it on a Gene Wolfe group on Facebook. Do I want all the Lafferty and Wolfe critical chapbooks? Yes, yes I do.

  • Smith, Clark Ashton. Nero. Roy A. Squires, 1964. First edition chapbook original, one of “about 450” copies (Chalker/Owings says 381), a Fine copy of what seems to be the “ordinary” edition in a slightly crease and age-darkened white envelope. Squires’ second Clark Ashton Smith work. The Private Press of Roy A. Squires 3. Joshi/Schultz/Connors, Clark Ashton Smith: A Comprehensive Bibliography, I.A.20. Chalker/Owings, page 588. This and the other four Squires books were bought for $140.

  • Smith, Clark Ashton. The Potion of Dreams. Roy A. Squires, 1975. First edition chapbook original, copy 124 of 292 copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ envelope with age-darkening to edges. “The Fugitive Poems, Second Series, Third Volume, Xiccarph Edition.” The Private Press of Roy A. Squires 28. Joshi/Schultz/Connors, Clark Ashton Smith: A Comprehensive Bibliography, I.A.38.a. Chalker/Owings, page 589.

  • Smith, Clark Ashton. A Song From Hell. Roy A. Squires, 1975. First edition chapbook original, copy 124 of 296 copies, a Fine- copy with two thin scratches to front, in a Very Good only envelope whose flap came off when I opened it up. “The Fugitive Poems, Second Series, Second Volume, Xiccarph Edition.” The Private Press of Roy A. Squires 27. Joshi/Schultz/Connors, Clark Ashton Smith: A Comprehensive Bibliography, I.A.38.a. Chalker/Owings, page 589.

  • Squires, Roy A. The Private Press of Roy A. Squires. Roy A. Squires, 1987. First edition chapbook original, copy #128 of 230 copies of the “standard format” edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- envelope with short tears at either end of the flap fold and a touch of age-darkening to edges. Descriptive bibliography of the press. The Private Press of Roy A. Squires 39 (yes, the bibliography is the last item listed in the bibliography). Chalker/Owings, page 590. Burgess, Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror 258.

  • Library Additions: Two Jack Vance Bibliographies

    Thursday, August 10th, 2023

    I don’t usually go out of my way to pick up older bibliographies if I have a better, more recent one, but both of these were part of that Forum auction lot, and one of them is signed by Jack Vance. Both have been superseded by Hewett.

  • (Vance, Jack) Levack, Daniel J. H. and Tim Underwood. Fantasms: A Bibliography of the Literature of Jack Vance. Underwood-Miller, 1978. First edition trade paperback original (simultaneous with a much smaller hardback run), one of 900 copies, a Fine- copy with slight bumping to points, signed by Jack Vance. The first serious, professional bibliography of Vance’s work. Hewett, M47. Cunningham, E1. Stephensen-Payne/Benson, M3.

  • (Vance, Jack) Stephensen-Payne, Phil and Gordon Benson, Jr. Jack Vance: A Fantasmic Imagination (2nd Revised Edition) A Working Bibliography. Galactic Central, no date (but 1990). First edition of one-sided brad-bound sheets, either Fine- (for the condition of the sheets), with a two penciled notes at bottom of front page, or Very Good+ is you count the wrinkled condition of the Duotang thin cardstock brad binder, but it is unreasonable to expect such to last decades in pristine condition. Back before the rise of Internet bibliographies, a number of projects were started to make comprehensive science fiction bibliographies. (Willie Siros was involved in one, until he said he hit the undocumented limit of many-to-many links in the Macintosh 4D database software.) Galactic Central was one project working on an author-by-author basis, this being the 28th in a series that eventually reached 58 before petering out. Hewitt, M152. (He states that Borgo Press even did a hardback of this! I’ve never seen one.) Not in Cunningham.
  • Library Additions: Two Signed, Limited Jack Vance Reference Works

    Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

    Two more items from that Forum Jack Vance lot.

  • (Vance, Jack) Hewitt, Jerry, and Daryl F. Mallett. The Work of Jack Vance: An Annotated Bibliography & Guide. Borgo Press/Underwood -Miller, 1994. First edition hardback, #121 of 200 numbered copies signed by Vance, introduction author Robert Silverberg, Hewett and Mallett, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine- slipcase with a bump to the top rear that I probably inflicted myself. The definitive Vance bibliography. Supplements a trade copy. Hewitt, M166 (yes, a reference to the book in the book itself). Cunningham E.2. Jerry tells me that Mallett was actually the editor rather than co-compiler, and on my trade copy he’s crossed out “Borgo” and written in “Bozo” on the title page. I sense some tension there…

  • (Vance, Jack) Temianka, Dan. The Jack Vance Lexicon: From Ahuloh to Zipahgote. Underwood-Miller, 1992. First edition hardback, #87 of 200 numbered copies signed by Vance and Temianka, a Fine- copy with a slight bit of bend at heel, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase. Just what it says, a Lexicon of Vancian vocabulary. Supplements a trade copy. Hewitt, M163. Cunningham I.3.
  • These two books alone are probably worth more than I paid for the entire lot.

    Library Addition: Signed Robert Bloch Bibliography

    Monday, June 5th, 2023

    Another addition to the reference library:

    (Bloch, Robert) Larson, Russell D. The Complete Robert Bloch: An Illustrated Comprehensive Bibliography. Fandom Unlimited Enterprises, 1986. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with trace of wear at tips, signed by Bloch. Just what it says, an illustrated bibliography of Bloch’s work. Looks useful, though the type is a bit small for my aging eyes. Justice, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Reference 185. Bought of eBay for $35 plus shipping.

    Library Addition: Urish’s Hoard: The Guide to Elric Collectables

    Thursday, October 13th, 2022

    I read about this on a Michael Moorcock group on Facebook, and went “Why yes, this is relevant to my interests!”

    (Moorcock, Michael) Kirkland, James. Urish’s Hoard. Dreaming City Books, 2021. First edition? (no printing indicated, and it may well be a print-on-demand book) trade paperback original, a Fine copy. There was a Kickstarter for this back in early 2021, but after it was funded this was almost immediately available on Amazon, which is where I bought this.

    Though the first edition information can be had in more comprehensive forms elsewhere, there is a wealth of information on Elric comic book adaptations, art portfolios, music, games and RPG supplements, and even miniatures! There’s also a discussion of the foul-up behind the Melniboné Mythos section in the AD&D Deities and Demigods. I’d always thought TSR had done it without permission, but Mike had given his permission, not realizing that his agent had already sold RPG rights to Chaosium. Oops…

    There’s a ton of information gathered here (illustrated with color scans) you’re not going to find in other reference sources, so if it interests you, you might want to click the Amazon hyperlink on the title. Also, you’ve got to love the retro DAW Books inspired design of the cover.

    It does remind me that someone needs to do a comprehensive Moorcock bibliography, as Tanelorn Archive is over 40 years old, and Moorcock is very prolific…

    Library Addition: Lyle H. Wright’s American Fiction 1774 – 1850

    Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

    I have a lot of science fiction reference works and bibliographies, but fewer general bibliographies. The following was something I’d seen Lloyd Currey reference for many older books, and I thought I should pick up a copy, especially since I got it at a bargain price.

    Wright, Lyle H. American Fiction 1774 – 1850: A Contribution Toward a Bibliography. The Huntington library, 1969. Second Revised Edition, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with two 1/4″ closed tears to front, a slight age darkening to spine, and a trace of dust soiling to rear. Wright compiled two more volumes that go up through 1900, which I intend to pick up as targets of opportunity. Bought online for $5; a good deal for the price, but I was miffed that the eBay seller mailed it without any padding whatsoever, just in wrapping paper. This is not acceptable.

    Library Addition: Two SST Joe R. Lansdale Limiteds

    Thursday, November 18th, 2021

    Two more SST Lansdale limiteds came out a while back, and I’m just now getting around to listing them.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. Hap and Leonard: Of Mice and Minestrone. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2021. First hardback edition and first limited edition (the Tachyon trade paperback, which I also have, precedes), #101 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Linked Hap and Leonard short stories.

  • (Lansdale, Joe R.) Fred Isajanko. The World Lansdalean: The Authorized Joe R. Lansdale Bibliography. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2021. First edition hardback, #101 of 1000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Bibliography of Lansdale’s work, that also includes bonus Lansdale fiction in the back. I have not checked to verify that all of my edit suggestions on the ARC made it into the final edition.

  • I will have copies of both these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.