Posts Tagged ‘festschrift’

Library Addition: The Mammoth Book of Stephen Jones

Monday, August 3rd, 2026

One of my more obscure collecting vectors is festschriften, a volume in which a science fiction writer or editor is lionized by other luminaries. Other volumes I have include Polder (celebrating John Clute) and Moorcock@60.com, about which I’m pretty sure you can figure out who’s being celebrated. This volume celebrates Britsh horror editor Stephen Jones, who I know a bit.

(Jones, Stephen) Val Edwards, editor. The Mammoth Book of Stephen Jones. PS Publishing, 2003. First edition trade paperback original, one of 200 copies printed, a Fine copy. Festschrift in honor of Stephen Jones on his 50th birthday, with contributions from the likes of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Kim Newman, Lisa Tuttle, Pat Cadigan, Ramsey Campbell, etc. Bought from Cold Tonnage Books at the same time as the Pat Cadigan chapbook for about £20 pounds, plus shipping for both (which was pretty reasonable for UK post).

I don’t think any of these were for sale from the publisher, just issued to contributors (which is the usual case with festschriften).

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Library Additions: Six Random Firsts

Tuesday, August 7th, 2018

Still more books from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale:

  • (Aldiss, Brian)(Frank Hatherly, editor, with Margaret Aldiss and Malcom Edwards). A is for Brian: A 65th Birthday Present. Avernus, 1990. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with very slight wear at points. Signed by Aldiss. A festschrift put together by Aldiss’ friends, with tributes by J.G. Ballard, Michael Moorcock, Robert Silverberg, etc. Bought for £18 after discount. I also have festschrifts for John Clute (Polder) and Moorcock (Moorcock@60).

  • Gevers, Nick, editor. Postscripts 34/35: Breakout. PS Publishing, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Volume in the long-running anthology series. Includes two posthumous Steven Utley collaborations (among other works). Bought for £12 after discount.
  • Leiber, Fritz. The Pale Brown Thing. Swan River Press, 2016. First edition hardback, one of only 350 hardback copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards and a Fine dust jacket, with a postcard reprinting the cover of F&SF the story originally appeared in laid in. In addition to the story, there are extensive notes about how Leiber expanded the story into his novel Our Lady of Darkness. Bought for £16.80 after discount. There were plenty of scans of the dust jacket on the Internet, but none of the book itself, so the scan below shows the cover of the book itself (which, oddly enough, has no printing on the spine).

  • MacLeod, Ian R. Hector Douglas Makes a Sale. PS Publishing, 2011. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Signed by MacLeod. Freebie given away at the 2011 Eastercon to promote MacLeod’s forthcoming collection Wake Up and Dream. Bought for £3 after discount.

  • Russell, Eric Frank. Dark Tides. Bristol Press Dobson, 1962. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy with two Australian ownership stamps (one for “McGill’s Agency Book Department;” possibly a literary agent’s copy) along with the number “2456” written in ink on the FFE and the same number written in ink on the half-title page, in a Near Fine- price-clipped dust jacket with wear at head, heel and points. Short story collection. Currey (1979), page 423. Bought for £30 after discount.

  • Reynolds, Alastair. Pushing Ice. Gollancz, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. One of the few Reynolds novels I didn’t manage to snag when it first came out. Bought for £24 after discount.

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