Two more purchases from that same eBay seller offering signed PBOs:
Posts Tagged ‘Books’
Library Additions: Two Signed Philip Jose Farmer PBOs
Monday, June 9th, 2025Library Addition: Inscribed Associational PBO of Avram Davidson’s The Island Under the Earth
Monday, June 2nd, 2025I managed to pick up an Avram Davidson associational PBO at a bargain price.
Davidson, Avram. The Island Under The Earth. Ace, 1969. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with faint creasing along front spine join and slight edgewear (most noticeable at head and heel), otherwise square and bright, inscribed by Davidson to editor Lin Carter: “From one six-limbed to/another -/Lin Carter from/Avram Davidson/Jun 11, 1976/New York City.” In addition to having edited the acclaimed Ballantine Adult Fantasy line, Carter also bought two stories from Davidson: “Caravan to Illiel” for Flashing Swords #3: Warriors and Wizards, and “Milord Sir Smiht, The English Wizard” for Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 2, making this an even better associational copy. Dillon cover. Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought off eBay for $13.95.
Library Additions: Moorcock, Moore Firsts
Thursday, May 29th, 2025Two more purchases from the same Facebook seller I bought several Robert E. Howard items from.
Library Addition: Two Half Price Books Purchases
Wednesday, May 28th, 2025Two very different books bought at Half Price Books.
Library Addition: Signed First of H. Beam Piper’s Four-Day Planet
Tuesday, May 27th, 2025In collecting science fiction, there are signature that are difficult and expensive, and others that are virtually unobtainable.
Signatures from H. G. Wells, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick,. and Clark Ashton Smith are readily attainable, and I have multiple signed first editions from each. I even have H. P. Lovecraft’s signature in the form of a hand-written envelope.
But some other SF/F/H writers have signatures that range from impossible to nearly impossible. Stanley G. Weinbaum died so young that I’ve only heard of his signature being obtained on contracts. Henry Kuttner died quite young as well, though I’ve been able to obtain an association copy inscribed to Robert Bloch. Cordwainer Smith never attended conventions or signings, but I managed to find a book he formerly owned. Another, more modern writer who neither attends conventions nor signs books (he did one early in his career) is Greg Egan, but I managed to buy an associational copy of Axiomatic inscribed to editor David Pringle.
I do not have signatures of Robert E. Howard, C.M. Kornbluth or James Tiptree, Jr. (though I’ve unsuccessfully bid on examples of the latter).
Another writer with a difficult signature I lacked until recently was H. Beam Piper, a writer who died tragically (by his own hand) at age 60, which is not particularly young. Despite that, signed Piper first editions seem exceptionally scarce, and rarely seems to be offered for sale (Heritage Auctions has no records of an signed Piper being sold).
So when I saw this I jumped on it:
Piper, H. Beam. Four-Day Planet. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1961. First edition hardback (no statement of printing, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with slight wear at heel and points, slight bend at head and heel, and slight dust-soiling to page block edges, and a trace of foxing to gutters, in a Very Good- dust jacket missing several small chips from spine, the largest about 1″ x 1/16″), about 1/4″ loss at head, and shallow loss at points, inscribed by Piper: “For Bill Stroup/—off for California with his banjo on/his knee –/Hope the Injuns don’t get him. /a-crossin’ the plains —/H. Beam Piper.” According to the seller, Piper was a friend of his father’s. Currey, page 402. Bought for $150, bargained down from $180.
Library Addition: Signed First of Rosenbach’s Books and Bidders
Monday, May 19th, 2025This was a pleasant and unexpected addition to my reference library.
Rosenbach, A. S. W. Books and Bidders. Little Brown and Company, 1927. First edition hardback (“Published November, 1927), a Fine-copy with a faint 1″ groove at head near rear join and slight bend at head and heel, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with a 1” closed tear and associated creases at top rear, two much smaller closed tears, slight shallow loss at head and heel, and a bit of soiling to white rear cover, with dedication slip tipped in at the dedication page: “To Ben F. Wallace, with all best wishes/a.s.w. Rosenbach/ June 20, 1933.” Rosenbach was probably the grandest of the grand old men of the American bookselling trade in the first half of the 20th century. Given that Rosenbach sold multiple Gutenberg bibles throughout his career, I think my own bookselling efforts rather pale in comparison. Still, I expect this will be full of bookselling tidbits of yesteryear. Given to me as a birthday gift by Dwight after we watched The Booksellers documentary, which I recommend to bibliophiles, and in which SF bookseller/collector/publisher Henry Wessels gets a fair amount of screen time.
Library Addition: Robert E. Howard’s Early Adventures of El Borak
Monday, May 5th, 2025Another purchase from that estate sale:
Howard, Robert E. The Early Adventures of El Borak. The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2010. First edition hardback, #26 of 150 copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. All the Francis X. Gordon, Lal Singh and Yar Ali Khan stories. Although not signed when I purchased, I’ve now had introduction author David A. Hardy inscribe it to me. Bought for $50.
Library Addition: John Crowley’s Great Work of Time (PB)
Monday, April 28th, 2025I came across this in a Half Price Books store, and was either unaware it existed or had forgotten about it.
Crowley, John. Great Work of Time. Bantam, 1991. First edition paperback original thus and first separate edition, original publish as one of four novellas in Novelty two years before, a Fine- copy with edgewear. His World Fantasy Award-winning time travel novel, it which an initial time travel effort to keep the British Empire intact eventually results in radical changes up the line. Bought from Half Price Books for $1.79.
I think Bantam may have been the only mainstream SF publisher of the late 1980s and early 1990s who would put out novellas in paperback form, as I know they did a few others.
Note that I still have copies of the signed, limited hardback edition available through Lame Excuse Books.
Library Addition: Lachman’s A Reader’s Guide to The American Novel of Detection
Friday, April 25th, 2025Another pickup for my extended library of bibliographic reference works.
Lachman, Marvin. A Reader’s Guide to the American Novel of Detection. G. K. Hall & Co., 1993. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with most of the usual flaws (though UT Law Library rather than APL, so it doesn’t have the hideous APL band glued to the dust jacket), otherwise it would be a Fine/Fine copy. Provides plot synopsis for American detective novels, along with a few different index sections (pseudonyms, series characters, settings, etc.). There are no entries for Joe R. Lansdale, Kinky Friedman, or even Dashiell Hammett, so I wonder what the criteria was for an entry here. Bought for the munificent sum of $1 at UT’s ReUse shop.
All the dirt on the scan is just wear on the dust jacket protector.
Library Additions: Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard I-III
Monday, April 21st, 2025This was another purchase from that Facebook estate seller I bought the Howard chapbooks from.
With:
With:
All bought for $60 for the set, which I think is a great bargain, as the majority of the REH Press stuff, especially early books like these, are all long out of print and hard to find.