All three of these were bought from Joe R. His Ownself’s table at this year’s Armadillocon.
Posts Tagged ‘First Edition’
Library Additions: Three Signed Joe R. Lansdale Firsts
Saturday, August 17th, 2019Library Additions: Four Signed First Editions
Monday, July 16th, 2018More of the Fred Duarte/Karen Meschke book collection showed up at the Austin Public Library’s Recycled Reads Bookstore. Two of the books here were 50% off their marked price, and the other two were pretty cheap. All these are in dust jacket protectors.
Other books I found there will show up in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
For more on Fred Duarte, see here, or click the Fred Duarte tag to see other books I acquired from his estate. (For more items from Meschke’s collection, watch this space…)
Library Addition: Henry Kuttner First Signed to Robert Bloch
Monday, October 23rd, 2017I try to collect at least one signature for every writer I seriously collect. I have signatures for H. G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Tom Reamy, to name a few.
I also have a few books signed by C. L. Moore, but not (until this item) any by her husband, Henry Kuttner, who were both behind the Lewis Padgett pseudonym. Kuttner, a first rate writer, died in 1958, and works signed by him seldom come on the market. However, I found the following first edition online, and not only is it signed, it’s an inscribed association copy.
Padgett, Lewis (Henry Kuttner and possibly C.L. Moore). The Brass Ring. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy, with uneven fading to the spine (looks to be lightening in relation to the dust jacket) and age darkening to pages, in a Good+ dust jacket with a 1″ chip to bottom front and 1/4″ chipping at head and heel. Not a great copy, but it does have a great inscription on the front free endpaper: “For Bob —/In memory of a happy childhood at the old Basutoland reformatory,/now dust./Hank/(“Lewis Padgett”)”. It also has Bloch’s signature at the top of the page. Currey, page 291 (which says this was in collaboration with C. L. Moore). Hubin, Crime Fiction: 1749—1980, page 309 (which credits this to Kuttner alone). Bloch and Kuttner were friends and collaborators, making this a very important association copy from one SF giant to another. Bought, after much haggling, for $500 from a dealer online.
Library Addition: Signed First of Robert Bloch’s The King of Terrors
Thursday, November 17th, 2016Another signed first edition I was able to pick up cheap:
Bloch, Robert. The King of Terrors. Mysterious Press, 1977. First edition hardback, #129 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Near Fine slipcase with a few white marks to black slipcase at heel. Currey A, page 46. Flanagan, Robert Bloch: A Bio-Bibliography, page 49. Won off eBay for $21.50. I also have Bloch’s Out of the Mouths of Graves by the same publisher in the limited edition.
Library Additions: Six Signed William F. Buckley, Jr. Spy Thrillers
Thursday, September 29th, 2016The very last lot I got from National Book Auctions wasn’t related to SF/F/H. It was a box of William F. Buckley books, which the listing showed that some indeterminate number of which were signed. I won it for $50, and upon getting it, discovered that slightly more than half were signed. This post just covers the ones I’m keeping which were fiction, all of which are Blackford Oakes spy thrillers.
It’s somewhat frustrating not having a good bibliography of Buckley at hand, which is why I’m picking up William F. Meehan III’s William F. Buckley, Jr.: A Bibliography…
Library Additions: Three August Derleth Arkham House Firsts
Tuesday, September 6th, 2016So the very same day that I bought books from the Fred Duarte estate and from the Cold Tonnage sale also saw the close of a National Book Auctions featuring multiple lots from a serious werewolf and vampire collector. I missed out on two of the rarer items I bid on (Jane Gaskell’s The Shiny Narrow Grin, a mod vampire novel that’s the only Gaskell first edition I don’t own, and a better copy than mine of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend), but I ended up getting four mixed lots at bargain prices, the first three containing books from that werewolf/vampire collection, and the fourth…
Well, I’ll get to that eventually.
I’ll be listing the books incorporated into my own library here, while the rest will be offered up (most at bargain prices) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
The first set of books I’m listing are three August Derleth firsts from Arkham House, which he, of course, co-founded and ran until his death in 1971. I collect Arkham House much more than I collect Derleth per se, but all I’ve read of him are his dreadful posthumous Lovecraft “collaborations,” which I’m given to understand are not representative of his work as a whole.
All three books bought for $55 as part of an eleven book lot.
Library Addition: Two First Editions
Tuesday, August 30th, 2016No theme, just two more hardback first editions I added from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale from two writers whose last names begin with W:
Library Addition: Signed First Edition of Clark Ashton Smith’s The Double Shadow
Monday, August 29th, 2016Just a few days after picking up Clark Ashton Smith’s Out of Space and Time for $399, I was able to pick up another important Clark Ashton Smith book at a bargain price. And this one is signed!
Smith, Clark Ashton. The Double Shadow. Auburn Journal Print, 1933. First edition oversized (8 1/2″ x 11 1/2″, about the size of a sheet music) side-stapled chapbook, a Very Good copy with light crease to bottom corner, bottom staple starting to go, page 19 torn most of the way through in the center (but still intact) and general wear. Inscribed by the author: “With compliments of Clark Ashton Smith.” There are also several hand corrections by Smith in blue ink. Smith’s first collection of prose. Currey, page 453. Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction, 1483. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy, page 200. Emperor of Dreams, page 183. Bought off eBay (after a bit of haggling) for $220. I did not previously have anything signed by Smith.
Library Addition: Signed First of Ray Bradbury’s The Silver Locusts
Monday, July 25th, 2016On Sunday, July 9, I bought a number of books formerly owned by the late Fred Duarte, an Austin area fan who helped out with Armadillocon, the San Antonio Worldcons, etc., and who had amassed a fair number of hypermodern science fiction firsts signed or inscribed to him. Most of what Fred had I already had myself, but I found a few things to pick up.
Here’s the first and most expensive item.
Bradbury, Ray. The Silver Locusts. Rupert Hart Davis, 1951. First UK edition and first hardback edition thus (includes almost all of The Martian Chronicles, dropping “Usher II” and adding “The Fire Balloons”), a Near Fine copy with dust soiling to top edge and a quarter-sized sticker for Foyle’s Bookstore (Charing Cross, London) affixed to bottom inside front cover, in a Very Good dust jacket with a 1/4″ chip at head, a 1″ tear and associated 1/4″ chip to top front cover, shallow chipping at points, foxing to white back cover and along flap edges, and general wear. Inscribed: “Fred!/Ray Bradbury/5/29/1992.” Weist, Jerry. Bradbury: An Illustrated Life, page 51 (where he notes that the cover is by Roy Sanford). Currey, page 56. Reginald, 01765. Tuck (Volume I), pages 62-63. Bought for approximately $320.
Library Addition: Signed First of George Alec Effinger’s Death in Florence
Tuesday, July 19th, 2016I had just about all of George’s non-media tie-in books, most inscribed to me at various conventions over the years, but for some reason this slipped through my grasp until now:
Effinger, George Alec. Death in Florence. Doubleday, 1978. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed: “To Stuart,/George Alec Effinger”. Bought for $35 off the Internet.
And as for George’s media tie-in books, well, watch this space…