Posts Tagged ‘Cold Tonnage’

Library Additions: Four Chapbooks, One Postcard

Wednesday, April 26th, 2017

Between a new job, doing my taxes, and a relative coming into town, the task of cataloging library additions has been sidelined. The items here are from a Cold Tonnage Books sale in January, so the cataloging has been a long time in coming. All the below prices are after a 50% discount.

  • Aldiss, Brain W. Excommunication. Post Card Partnership, 1975. First edition postcard, a Fine copy. Bought for £2.50 after discount.
  • Drake, David. Codex. Sidecar Preservation Society, 2003. First edition chapbook original, #83 of 175 numbered copies, a Fine copy. According to Chalker & Owings Supplement 12, there were 25 copies bound in hardback (not seen). Bought for £2.50 after discount.

    Drake Codex

  • Partridge, Norman. Spyder. Subterranean Press, 1995. First edition chapbook original, a PC copy of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Bought for £2.50 after discount.

    Partridge Spyder

  • Tem, Steve Rasnic. Fairytales. Roadkill Press, 1990. First edition chapbook original, #352 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Bought for £2.50 after discount.

    Tem Fairytales

  • Tessier, Thomas. Lulu and one other. Subterranean Press, 1999. First edition chapbook original, a PC copy of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Bought for £2.50 after discount.

    Tessier Lulu

  • Library Additions: Two John Clute Books

    Saturday, September 3rd, 2016

    Here’s the last two books from that Cold Tonnage 40% off sale:

  • Clute, John. Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm. Beccon Publications, 2011. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Collection of reviews and essays.
  • Clute, John. Stay. Beccon Publications, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Collection of reviews and essays.
  • I now have all the Clute critical collections, as well as both his novels.

    And now that I’ve finished cataloging the Cold Tonnage purchase, instead of being 100 books behind in my cataloging, I’m only about 55…

    Library Additions: Two John Sladek First Editions

    Thursday, September 1st, 2016

    The second-to-last post cataloging books I got from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale:

  • Sladek, John. Black Aura. Jonathan Cape, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Currey, page 450. Mystery novel. Bought for £9 after discount.

    Black Aura

  • Sladek, John (as Richard A. Tilms) The Judgement of Jupiter. New English Library, 1980. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Ostensibly non-fiction, this is, like Arachne Rising (which I also have) a spoof of pseudoscience. Bought for £9 after discount.

    Judgement of Jupiter

  • Library Additions: Five Items in Wraps

    Wednesday, August 31st, 2016

    Still more items from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale. The only characteristic they share is that all are paperbound of one sort or another, but none are standard trade paperbacks or mass market paperbacks.

  • Aldiss, Brian. Science Fiction Blues With Brian Aldiss. Avernus, 2000. First edition oversized chapbook original (A4 sized), a Fine- copy with a slight bit of bend on the left side. Program for some sort of Aldiss reading or performance, which also happens to contain three original Aldiss stories as well as other material. Odd little item. Bought for £3 after discount.

    Aldiss SF Blues

  • Ferret, Tim: We Murder. Morrigan Publications/The Dog Factory, 1994. First edition center-stapled chapbook original, #165 of 200 signed, numbered copies (though the limitation sheet, slightly smaller than the chapbook itself, has merely been laid in, not attached, presumably as issued), a Fine copy. According to Cold Tonnage: “This was the last book(let) to be published by Morrigan Press and got very little (if no) distribution.” Chalker/Owings (2002), page 557, where they note “The 1994 Ferret chapbook was a surprise, but the fact that checks were made out to [Morrigan owner Les] Escott personally and the chapbook was typeset from Ferret’s The Dog Factory in San Francisco and printed in New Zealand (!) doesn’t suggest a really major reinvolvement and seems an aberration.” Bought for £3 after discount.

    Ferret We Murder

    Lewis, Anthony R. An Annotated Bibliography Of Recursive Science Fiction. NESFA Press, 1986. First edition oversized 8 1/2″ x 11″ center-stapled chapbook original, a Fine copy. Non-fiction reference work. Bought for £3 after discount.

    Recursive SF

  • Lupoff, Richard. Nebogipfel At The End Of Time. Underwood/Miller, 1979. First edition, tiny oblong (5 1/2″ wide by 4 1/4″ long) side-stapled chapbook, one of 300 copies printed, a Fine copy. According to Chalker/Owings, there are 15 different color covers; this one is beige. Supposedly a Cthulhu Mythos story, but not in Ernest or Harms. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 900. Bought for £4.80 after discount.

    Nebogipfel

  • Sotheby’s Catalogue: Science Fiction Art, Books And Related Memorabilia b/w Sotheby’s Catalogue: Comic Books and Comic Art. Sotheby’s, 1995. First edition oversize illustrated pictorial covers, a Fine copy. Illustrated color catalogue for the June 16/17, 1995, Comic Books And Comic Art and Science Fiction books auctions. Unfortunately for my purposes, there’s a lot more comic book and art material than SF first editions. Bought for £6 after discount.

    Sotheby's SF catalog 1995

  • Library Additions: Five Signed First Editions

    Thursday, August 25th, 2016

    Five more books from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale, all first editions and all signed:

  • Langford, David. The Dragonhiker’s Guide To Battlefield Covenant At Dune’s Edge: Odyssey Two. Drunken Dragon Press, 1988. First edition hardback, one of 903 trade hardback copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Langford: “For Alison, without whom this inscription could not have/been written—/Best wishes/David Langford/11-88”. Science fiction parodies and pastiches. Chalker/Owings, page 193. Bought for £9 after discount.

    Dragonhikers

    IMG_0901

  • Lee, Tanith. East of Midnight. Macmillan (UK), 1977. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and dated 2008 by Lee. Bought for £18 after discount.

    Lee East of Midnight

    IMG_0893

  • Sheckley, Robert. Notions Unlimited. Bantam Books, 1960. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight wear at head and heel. Signed by Sheckley. Currey, page 433. Bought for £4.80 after discount.

    Sheckley Notions

    IMG_0885

  • Stapledon. Olaf (Sam Moskowitz, editor). Far Future Calling: Uncollected Science Fictions and fantasies of Olaf Stapledon Oswald Train, 1979. First edition hardback, one of 1,300 copies printed, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just of trace of rubbing on front cover along gutter line. Signed by Moscowitz and artist Stephen Fabian. Previously uncollected stories, plus a long bio by Moskowitz. Chalker/Owings, pages 607-8. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy 2, page 104. Bought for £18 after discount.

    Far Future Calling

    IMG_0906

  • Whates, Ian and Ian Watson, editors. Shoes, Ships and Cadavers: Tales from North Londonshire. NewCon Press, 2010. First edition hardback, #48 of 50 signed, numbered copies signed by all the contributors (including introduction author Alan Moore), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The combination of the low print run and being signed by Moore enticed me into buying it. Bought for £12 after discount.

    Shoes Ships Antho

    IMG_0910

  • Library Additon: Three Jack Vance Firsts, One Signed

    Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016

    More books from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale, three Vance firsts (one signed) I either didn’t have or didn’t have in these particular forms:

  • Queen, Ellery (here a pseudonym for Jack Vance). The Madman Theory. Pocket Books, 1966. Signed by Vance. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with traces of wear to extremities and slight foxing to inside cover edges. Hewett, A25. Currey, page 499. Supplements a signed copy of the later first hardback printing. Bought for £15 after discount.

    Madman Theory PBO

  • Vance, Jack. Monsters in Orbit. Dennis Dobson, 1977. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Hewett, A20b. Currey, page 499. Bought for £30 after discount.

    Monsters in Orbit

  • Vance, Jack. The Seventeen Virgins. Underwood/Miller, 1979. First edition trade paperback chapbook original, one of 600 copies, a Fine copy. Hewett, A58. Supplements a copy of the combined hardback edition of The Seventeen Virgins & The Bagful of Dreams. Bought for £18 after discount.

    Seventeen Virgins

  • Library Addition: Signed First Edition of Ray Bradbury’s The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit

    Tuesday, August 16th, 2016

    The very same day that I bought a bunch of books from the Fred Duarte estate, Cold Tonnage books in the UK had their annual 40% off sale. (As an added bonus, the post-Brexit exchange rate was quite favorable as well.) Here’s the first item from that sale.

    Bradbury, Ray. The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1973. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Near Fine, corner-clipped (but otherwise fine) dust jacket. (Sadly, corner-slipped copies seem the norm for this title.) Signed by Bradbury. Collection of plays. Bought for £45 after discount.

    Ice Cream Suit

    IMG_0878

    Library Additions: Fiction Books Bought from Cold Tonnage’s £5 Sale

    Tuesday, February 16th, 2016

    Cold Tonnage Books had a sale where all £10 books were £5, so I picked up a fair number. This post covers fiction titles.

  • Aylett, Steve. The Inflatable Volunteer. Phoenix House, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with a publicity postcard signed by Aylett laid in.
  • Aylett, Steve. Toxicology. Gollancz, 2002. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with a postcard laid in.
  • Blish, James. A Dusk of Idols and Other Stories. Severn House, 1996. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • Constantine, Storm. The Monstrous Regiment. Orbit, 1989. Trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with a touch of edgewear at head and heel, signed by Constantine.
  • Ellison, Harlan. Edgeworks 2: Spider Kiss/Stalking the Nightmare. White Wolf, 1996. First edition hardback omnibus thus, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. When the Edgeworks series first came out, I didn’t pick them up because I already had all the individual works they contained. But at £5 it’s worth picking up for title variant completeness…
  • Newman, Kim. Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles. Titan Books, 2011. Fine, signed by Newman.
  • Library Addition: Signed Edition of Horror: 100 Best Books

    Thursday, August 13th, 2015

    This is another book I bought in the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale.

    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

    I tried to take pictures of the signatures on the endpapers, with varying results. Click to embiggen:

    IMG_0416

    IMG_0417

    IMG_0420

    IMG_0421

    I already had the trade edition, but the limited’s binding is quite different from the trade edition, as the picture below illustrates:

    Horror 100 Both

    (Ignore the grid lines, which are a scanner artifact.)

    Library Addition: Bob Shaw’s The Palace of Eternity

    Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

    Cold Tonnage was having it’s annual 40% off sale (Andy Richards says he uses the sale to pay his taxes every year), so I picked up several books I’ll be listing over the next week or so.

    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