Posts Tagged ‘H. P. Lovecraft’
Monday, September 3rd, 2018
Another odd item for the reference library:
(Francis, Bruce (uncredited), compiler/editor, with Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Elvira, Rowena, and William F. Nolan.) The Undead (AKA The Book Sail 16th Anniversary Catalogue). McLaughlin Press, 1984. First edition hardback, #326 of 550 copies of the Deluxe (and only hardback) edition, a Near Fine copy with fading to spine, in a Near Fine slipcase, from which the cloth is starting to peel away at the bottom (which I intended to repair), sans dust jacket, as issued. An extremely elaborate affair for a book catalog, including a lenticular image of horror hostess Elvira (who has signed a signature page in the book) embedded in the cover, a Rowena full-page, full-color illustration, “Sorceress,” opposite her signature, which looks like something of a self-portrait, a signed Forward from Ray Bradbury, a signed story (“The Undead”) from Robert Bloch, and a signed William F. Nolan chapbook (“The Dandelion Chronicles”) inserted into a special pocket at the back of the book.
In addition to all that, there’s also an extensive book and manuscript catalog which makes up the bulk of the book, including a ridiculous amount of Lovecraft material, including amateur press publications, original manuscripts, letters, postcards, etc. It also includes Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft’s passport, which I’ve seen at listed for sale/auction least twice since (from L. W. Currey and later listed by Heritage Auctions). Also includes many non-book rarities, including the first appearance of Siegel and Shuster’s Superman character in a fanzine (where he was a bald villain), an original stop-motion armature of King Kong, and Judy Garland’s contract for The Wizard of Oz.
I’ve long lusted after a copy of this book, which came out just before I started collecting, but it usually listed in the $350 range. Bought for $75 off eBay.
Note: The limited, leather-bound presentation state (not seen) evidently included an original, unique Hannes Bok drawing in every copy…
Tags:Elvira, Fantasy, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, Lovecraft Circle, Ray Bradbury, reference works, Robert Bloch, Rowena, Science Fiction, Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft, William F. Nolan
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 31st, 2018
Cold Tonnage Books had their annual 40% off sale, so here’s the first batch of books I picked up, all related either to H.P. Lovecraft or Arkham House.
Datlow, Ellen, editor. Lovecraft’s Monsters. Tachyon Press, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Signed by Datlow. Mostly reprints, with a couple of originals. Bought for £6 after discount.
Derleth, August. The Chronicles of Solar Pons. Mycroft & Moran, 1973. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a thin line of wear at the very bottom of the heel. Collection of Derleth’s Sherlockian Solar Pons stories from Arkham House’s sister imprint. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, M&M15, page 183. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 128. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, M15, page 154. Bought for £9 after discount.
Lovecraft, H.P. and Willis Conover. Lovecraft at Last. Carrollton-Clark, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Oversized volume that reprints the correspondence between Lovecraft and the then-teen-aged Conover, some in two-color facsimile. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: An Annotated Bibliography, I-A-62. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 91, who note that Conover lost tens of thousands of dollars on the project. Bought for £24 after discount.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) S.T. Joshi. An Index to the Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft. Necronomicon Press, 1980. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Reference work. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: An Annotated Bibliography, Supplement C-III, page 412. Bought for £12 after discount.
Wakfield, H.R. Strayers From Sheol. Arkham House, 1961. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of dust soiling to the white cover (exaggerated in the scan). Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 60. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 60. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 63. Bleiler, Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1647. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 30. Bought for £30 after discount.
Tags:Arkham House, August Derleth, Books, Cthulhu, Ellen Datlow, H. P. Lovecraft, H. R. Wakefield, Horror, reference works, S. T. Joshi, Willis Conover
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Monday, February 12th, 2018
Usually I try to do these updates shortly after the period covered, but I’ve been busy. Here’s the comprehensive roundup of all the books I’ve added to my professional library between July 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. Some of these I’ve blogged about before, but not all of them. All books are Fine/Fine first edition hardbacks, unless otherwise marked.
Aldiss, Brain W. Billion Year Spree. Wiedenfield & Nicolson, 1978. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a touch of edgewear at bottom front. Non-fiction history of science fiction. Signed by Aldiss. Bought from Cold Tonnage Books for £12 plus shipping.
Asimov, Isaac. Little Lost Robot. The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1977. First edition chapbook original thus, a Fine- copy with the barest traces of wear at points. “This edition first published 1977” on copyright page at rear of book, as per Currey (1979), page 18. Bought off Biblio for $42 plus shipping.
Barker, Clive. Infernal Parade. Subterranean Press, 2017. First edition hardback, #275 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Bought for $30 after discount.
Beagle, Peter S. In Calabria. Tachyon, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Beagle.
Bester, Alfred. The Deceivers. Severn House, 1984. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine, plastic-protected dust jacket. $5.
Beukes, Lauren. Slipping. Tachyon, 2016. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Short story collection.
Bradbury, Ray. Christmas Wishes 1986. Self-published, 1986. First edition 8 1/2 x 11″ broadsheet, folded once (as mailed), otherwise Fine- with slight wrinkling. inscribed by Bradbury: “Hans N!/Ray Bradbury”. A one page poem, like all Bradbury’s Christmas broadsheets. This one says “From Maggie & Ray Bradbury,” but I’m not sure it was actually co-written by his wife. Bought off eBay for about $35.
Bradbury, Ray. The R.B., G.K.C., and G.B.S. Forever Orient Express. Joshua Odell Editions, 1994. First edition chapbook original, consisting of a long, skinny (17 1/2″ x 5 1/2″) outer cardstock binding with the four pages of the poem laid in (not stapled or otherwise attached), a Fine- copy with a pinhole through the top of the chapbook and one tiny white scratch to rear, otherwise mint. Reportedly done in an edition of 300 copies. Signed by Bradbury. Poem, longish by Bradbury standards, about Bradbury riding a train with G. K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw in the afterlife. The rear cover says that this is an excerpt from the forthcoming Journey to Far Metaphor: Further Essays on Creative Writing, Literature and the Arts, a book that Joshua Odell Editions evidently cancelled. This work would later show up in Bradbury’s collection The Cat’s Pajamas. Bought off eBay for $37.79.
Brown, Christoper (formerly Chris Nakashima-Brown). Tropic of Kansas. Harper Voyager, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, with a long inscription to me by the author. (I’m also thanked in the acknowledgements.) His first novel, preceded by a co-edited anthology and a chapbook.
Caro, Robert. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path To Power. Knopf, 1982. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a bit of wear in a Very Good+, price-clipped dust jacket and non-authorial inscription on FFE. Non-fiction. First volume of Caro’s massive, still in-progress biography of President Lyndon Johnson, the third volume of which (Master of the Senate) won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. I already had a first edition of the second volume, Means of Ascent.
Carr, Charles. Colonists of Space. Ward Lock, 1954. Presumed first edition hardback (states “First published..1954,” but the ISFDB lists two states of that HB, with differing prices, but this dust jacket, while intact, has no price whatsoever; if I had to guess, I would say this is a first edition with a variant dust jacket for the library trade), a Near Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with very shallow chipping at head, slight dust soiling to white rear, and wear at points, in plastic dust jacket protector. Bought for $5.
Crowther, Pete and Nick Gevers. Postscripts 18: This Is The Summer of Love. PS Publishing, 2009. First edition hardback, Letter D of 26 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Crowther, Pete and Nick Gevers. Postscripts 19: Enemy of the Good. PS Publishing, 2009. First edition hardback, Letter D of 26 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Del Rey, Lester, editor. Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Third Annual Collection. Dutton, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight crimping at head and heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with significant sun-fading to red portion of the spine. Currey, page 145. Gardner Dozois would later take over this series as editor for volumes six through ten, before beginning his own Year’s Best Science Fiction series in 1984. Bought for $6.
Dozois, Gardner. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection. St. Martin’s, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Elliot, H. Chandler. Reprieve from Paradise. Gnome Press, 1955. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a bit of crimping at the head and heel and a touch of spotting along inner join margin on front free endpaper, in a Near Fine dust jacket with usual age darkening and slight spotting on lower half of front spine join, in the first binding state (green boards lettered in maroon). Chalker/Owings (1991), page 202. Kemp, page 242. Bought for $9.99.
Ellison, Harlan. Brain Movies: The Original Teleplays of Harlan Ellison Volume One. Edgeworks Abbey, 2011. First edition trade paperback original (no hardback state), the “Babylonian Limited Edition,” a Fine copy signed by both Ellison and introduction author J. Michael Straczynski. In addition to many of Ellison’s most celebrated teleplays (“Soldier,” “Demon With a Glass Hand,” etc.), it also includes “Memos From Purgatory” featuring numerous holographic corrections in Ellison’s hand. Not in ISFDB. Edgeworks Abbey is Ellison’s own press and he’s issued a whole lot of trade paperback books through it of previously unpublished or uncollected material. (The Brain Movies series alone is now up to six volumes.) Bought for $29.99 (the opening bid) off eBay.
Ellison, Harlan (art by Larry Todd). Harlan Ellison’s Chocolate Alphabet. Last Gasp Eco Funnies, 1978. First edition comic book original, a Fine copy (or “Mint” in comic parlance) save slight age darkening to pages, signed by Ellison. Graphic novel version of a short story that appeared a few years earlier in F&SF. Bought off eBay for $18.96.
Ellison, Harlan. Dreams With Sharp Teeth. Quality Paperback book Club, 1991. First edition paperback original, a Very Good+ copy with spine slightly concave, light crease across entire front cover, wear at points, and wrinkling to first few pages. Signed by Ellison. Omnibus edition of the collections I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream, Deathbird Stories and Shatterday, minus duplicated stories between the volumes plus an original introduction by Ellison and slightly revised texts and story introductions. Bought off eBay for $12.50. Below the condition I usually collect, but there were no other signed copies online at all…
Farmer, Philip Jose. The Classic Philip Jose Farmer: 1964—1973. Crown, 1984. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Farmer. Companion piece to The Classic Philip Jose Farmer: 1954—1962. Bought for $17.99.
Farmer, Philip Jose. Red Orc’s Rage. Tor, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight spine fading. Signed by Farmer. Bought off eBay for $14.99.
Farmer, Philip Jose. The World of Tiers Volume One. Nelson Doubleday (SFBC), no date (but 1981). First edition hardback thus, an omnibus edition of Maker of Universes and The Gates of Creation, a true first edition thus as indicated by the L44 gutter code on page 311, as per the ISFDB, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with a bit of rubbing. Signed by Farmer. Bought for $9.99.
Farmer, Philip Jose. The World of Tiers Volume Two. Nelson Doubleday, Inc. (SFBC), no date (but 1981). First edition hardback thus (first printing has gutter code “L44” on page 531, as per the ISFDB), an omnibus edition of A Private Cosmos, Behind the Walls of Terra and The Lavalit World, a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with edgewear at head and heel and a few small rubs. Signed by Farmer. Bought off eBay for $15.99.
Furze, Colin. This Book Isn’t Safe! Penguin Razorbill, 2017. First edition hardback (the U.S. and UK editions seemed to be simultaneous), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Non-fiction book by the very popular YouTuber/crazy inventor, somewhat geared toward a Young Adult audience, on how to craft various projects and inventions. Click here for some of the Colin Furze videos I’ve posted here.
Handey, Jack. The Stench of Honolulu. Grand Central Publishing, 2013. Novel by the author of Deep Thoughts (and yes, he’s a real guy).
Harrison, Harry. Backdrop of Stars. Dennis Dobson, 1968. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with age darkening to pages in a Very Good+ dust jacket with rubbing (heaviest along spine join) and moderate dust soiling. Bought for $5.99.
Howard, Robert E. Three-Bladed Doom. Ace Books, 1979. First Ace edition paperback original (preceded by a Zebra paperback edition), a Very Good+ copy with wear at points, black signature squiggle on inside front cover, store stamp on teaser page, and general wear. El Borak stories.
Hughes, Matt[hew]. Fools Errant. Maxwell Macmillan Canada, 1994. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Hughes. Bought from an online seller for $35.
Knight, Damon. The Best of Damon Knight. Pocket Books, 1976. First paperback edition (the SFBC edition precedes), a Fine- copy with age darkening to page and foxing to inside covers.
Lansdale, Joe R. Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. Subterranean Pres, 2017. First edition hardback, #580 of 1500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Prequel (of a sort) to Bubba Ho-Tep. Elvis, Nixon, Colonel Parker, and cosmic horrors.
Lansdale, Joe R. Coco Butternut. Subterranean Press, 2017. First edition hardback, #274 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Hap and Leonard novella. Bought for $22.50 after discount.
Lansdale, Joe R. Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade. Tachyon, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy.
Lansdale, Joe R. Honky Tonk Samurai. Mullholland Books/Little Brown, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Lansdale. Hap & Leonard novel.
Lansdale, Joe R. Hoodoo Harry. Mysterious Bookshop, 2016. First edition hardback (small trim size), letter T of 26 lettered copies (along with an additional 100 hardback numbered copies, not seen), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. “Bibliomysteries 33.” 72 page Hap & Leonard novella. Bought directly from the publisher for $100, since they were already out of the numbered edition.
Lansdale, Joe R. Hoodoo Harry. Mysterious Bookshop, 2016. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with bend to bottom outer tip (due to the way Mysterious Bookshop packaged things), otherwise new and unread. Presumably simultaneous with the hardback issue.
Lansdale, Joe R. Miracles Ain’t What They Used To Be. PM Press, 2015. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, signed by Lansdale. Collection of non-fiction essays, many autobiographical.
Leckie, Ann. Ancillary Justice. Orbit, 2013. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine, new and unready copy. Hugo and Nebula Award winner. Bought for $7.99 at Half Price Books. Supplements the later Gale/Thorndike Press large print hardback edition and the Subterranean Press signed/limited edition.
Lee, Tanith. The Silver Metal Lover. DAW, 1982. First paperback edition (the SFBC edition precedes), a Fine- copy.
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Real and the Unreal: Seclected Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin Volume 1: Where on Earth. Small Beer Press, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Already had Volume 2.
Lethem, Jonathan. The Fortress of Solitude. Doubleday, 2003. Bought at Half Price Books for $5.99.
Lippman, Laura. Snowflake Time: A Christmas Story. Mysterious Bookshop, 2017. Center-stapled chapbook. Back cover reads “A holiday gift with the compliments of The Mysterious Bookshop.”
Mieville, China. Railsea. Del Rey, 2012.
Lovecraft, H.P. (edited by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi). Letters to C.L. Moore and Others. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Non-fiction.
Lovecraft, H.P. (edited by S. T. Joshi). H. P. Lovecraft’s Collected Fiction: A Variorum Edition: Volume 4: Revisions and Collaborations. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Companion to the three volume hardback Variorum edition volumes (but no hardback edition for this one, alas).
Lovecraft, H.P. and Clark Ashton Smith (edited by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi). Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition hardback, one of 500 copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Huge 800 page non-fiction volume of Lovecraft/Clark letters.
Moorcock, Michael. London’s Bone and Other Stories. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016. Trade paperback reprint, a Fine unread copy.
Morrow, James. The Asylum of Dr. Caligari. Tachyon, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Short novel that uses the silent German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Norton, Andre. Ordeal in Otherwhere. World Publishing, 1964. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with patterning on spine in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with edgewear at head and heel and some blind-side transfer from spine (but no sun fading to spine), in plastic dust jacket protector. Currey, page 391. Bought for $5.
Pohl, Frederik and Lester Del Rey (as Edson McCann). Preferred Risk. Simon and Schuster, 1955. First edition hardback, a Near Fine- copy with page block spotting at heel, in a Near Fine dust jacket with traces of wear at points and moderate soiling to white rear panel. Inscribed by Pohl: “To Rick—/With all good/wishes—/”Edson”/or/Fred Pohl.” Currey (1979), page 404. Bought for $8, down from $10 with a 20% off coupon. This is a case of knowing more than the bookseller, since I knew this was a Pohl/Del Rey pseudonym and what Pohl’s signature looks like. As for the book itself, evidently Galaxy magazine and Simon and Schuster ran a contest for an SF novel, didn’t like any of the submissions, and got Pohl and Del Rey to write this under a pseudonym for the contest.
Powers, Tim. Medusa’s Web. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #226 of 474 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase, new and unread. Bought for $62.50 after discount.
Pratt, Fletcher. Double in Space. Doubleday, 1951. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with moderate spine fading. Bought for $8.
Haijun, Yao and Mike Resnick, editors. World’s Science Fiction Story Collection II (ISBN 978-7-5364-8711-6). Sichuan Science and Technology Publishing House, 2017. Trade paperback original, a Fine copy, still in shrinkwrap. Chinese language anthology that prints a translation of my story “Crucifixion Variations.”
(Shea, Michael). Shea, Linda, and S. T. Joshi. And Death Shall Have No Dominion: A Tribute to Michael Shea. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. A miscellany related to Shea, including short stories, novel segments, verse, unpublished work, and several tributes to him by other writers.
Simmons, Dan. The Children of the Night. Lord John Press, 1992. First limited edition hardback, #221 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $35 from a fellow collector who was downsizing.
Simmons, Dan. The Hollow Man. Lord John Press, 1992. First limited edition hardback, #324 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued, with errata slip laid in. Bought for $35 from a fellow collector who was downsizing.
Straub, Peter. The Process (is a Process All Its Own). Subterranean Press, 2017. First edition hardback, #650 of 750 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Novella. Bought for $20 after discount.
Swanwick, Michael. Midwinter Fables. Dragonstairs Press, 2016. First edition chapbook original, #22 of 110 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Four short recastings of classic fables (“The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” “The Fox and the Crow,” “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” “The North Wind and the Sun”) and a frame story (“Midwinter Fables”).
Swanwick, Michael. Touchstones. Dragonstairs Press, 2017. First edition chapbook original, #9 of 50 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Three one page stories: “Lovers and Lunatics,” “Bradbury Jar 2.0” and “A Jarful of Keys,” as well as an Afterword. Related to Swanwick’s trip to China in 2017.
Vachess, Andrew, Geoff Darrow, Michael Black and Gary Gianni. The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine No. 1. Dark Horse, 2012. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with a small scrape at heel and just a trace of wear. Signed by Vachess, Darrow and Black. Pulp fiction homage that looks like fun. Bought for $7.99.
Vance, Jack. Cadwell II: Ecce and Old Earth. Underwood/Miller, 1991. First edition hardback, #107 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket in a Fine- slipcase with one 1/8″ square spot of soiling to spine rear. Hewett, A84. Bought from a fellow Jack Vance collector who was downsizing for $75.
Van Vogt, A. E. The Battle of Forever. Author’s Co-Op, 1978. First edition hardback, #57 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with rubbing at head and along rear edges. Bought for $8.
Van Vogt, A. E. The Beast. Doubleday Science Fiction, 1963. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with the barest traces of wear at head and heel. Signed by van Vogt: “Sincerely/A.E. and Lydia van Vogt.” Replaces an unsigned copy. Bought for $8.
Van Vogt, A. E. The War Against the Rull. Simon & Schuster, 1959. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with soiling along join line of white rear cover and touches of wear elsewhere. Inscribed by the author: “With the compliments/of the author/A. E. van Vogt.” Bought for $8.
Wallace, F. L. Address: Centauri. Gnome Press, 1955. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with the usual age-darkening to the paper, in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping at head and heel, rubbing along spine and fading to spine, and other touches of wear, in the first state binding (gray boards lettered in black). Chalker/Owings, page 202. Kemp, page 236. Bought for $8.
Wilhelm, Kate. The Infinity Box. Harper Science Fiction, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket, with just a trace of surface wear (exaggerated in the scan); this reflective metallic dust jacket is usually found much, much more badly scratched up. Currey, page 538. Bought for $5.99.
Tags:A. E. van Vogt, Books, China Mieville, Colin Furze, Dan Simmons, Fantasy, H. P. Lovecraft, Harlan Ellison, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Swanwick, Mystery, Philip Jose Farmer, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, December 4th, 2017
These actually came in several months ago, I’ve just been too busy to catalog them. Most of these are still available through Lame Excuse Books.
Lovecraft, H.P. (edited by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi). Letters to C.L. Moore and Others. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Non-fiction.
Lovecraft, H.P. (edited by S. T. Joshi). H. P. Lovecraft’s Collected Fiction: A Variorum Edition: Volume 4: Revisions and Collaborations. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Companion to the three volume hardback Variorum edition volumes (but no hardback edition for this one, alas).
Lovecraft, H.P. and Clark Ashton Smith (edited by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi). Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition hardback, one of 500 copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Huge 800 page non-fiction volume of Lovecraft/Clark letters.
(Shea, Michael). Shea, Linda, and S. T. Joshi. And Death Shall have No Dominion: A Tribute to Michael Shea. Hippocampus Press, 2017. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. A miscellany related to Shea, including short stories, novel segments, verse, unpublished work, and several tributes to him by other writers.
Tags:Books, H. P. Lovecraft, Hippocampus Press, Horror, Michael Shea, reference works, S. T. Joshi, Science Fiction, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Thursday, March 17th, 2016
Multiple items of interest to the fanatical H.P. Lovecraft collector are coming up for auction soon:
A 31-page collaborative manuscript between Lovecraft and celebrated magician/escape artist Harry Houdini will come up for auction at Chicago’s Potter & Potter on April 9. It will start at an opening bid of $13,000, though the estimate is in the $25,000—$40,000 range. And it could go for a lot more, given that Houdini has his own fanatical collectors.
There are also numerous Lovecraft items, most from Stu Schiff’s collection, coming up at Heritage Auctions on April 6. Including:
Ten autographed letters from Lovecraft, totaling 46 pages, most of which remain unpublished. Bidding starts at $10,000.
An original typescript for Lovecraft’s story “The Festival”, with Lovecraft’s handwritten title page and hand-corrections. Bidding starts at $2,000.
A copy of the Visionary Publishing Shadow Over Innsmouth, with an errata sheet containing further hand-corrections by Lovecraft laid in. Current bid is $1000.
Donald Wandrei’s copy of The Outsider and Others, and probably the finest copy I’ve ever seen to boot. Current bid is $5,000.
They even have the passport of Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft (to which he had a brief, unsuccessful marriage) which L. W. Currey offered up a while back. Current bid is $550.
If you’re a serious Lovecraft collector, April looks like it’s going to be quite expensive…
Tags:book auction, Books, Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Harry Houdini, Heritage Auctions, Horror
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 17th, 2016
A follow-up to yesterday’s post, here are the non-fiction books I bought in that Cold Tonnage £5 sale:
Adams, Douglas and John Lloyd. The Deeper Meaning of Liff. Pan Books, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
Carr, Terry. Fandom Harvest. Laissez Faire Productions AB, 1986. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. According to Chalker/Owings (1991), page 538, only 250 hardbacks were done.
(Hitchcock, Alfred) Paul Condon and Jim Sangster. The Complete Hitchcock. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Eddy, Muriel, and C.M. Eddy, Jr. The Gentlemen from Angell Street: Memories of H. P. Lovecraft. First edition trade paperback original thus, containing additional material not in the 1961 edition, a Fine copy.
Tymn, Marshall B. American Fantasy and Science Fiction: Toward a Bibliography of Works Published in the United States, 1949—1973. Fax Collector’s Editions, 1979. Paperback original, a Very Good+ copy with spine creasing and wear along the spine. Though Tymn authored or co-authored a number of important reference works, this, an attempt to update Bleiler’s Checklist with modern works, limited only to those published in hardback, is generally not numbered among them, as it was largely superseded by Currey and Reginald the same year of publication. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 178, are not kind: “Alas, it’s useless, one of the most worthless pieces of bibliography in the past 20 years or so.” There was a hardback, but Chalker/Ownings says it was just attaching a premade casing to the paperback. Not in Keith L. Justice’s Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Reference.
Wake, Paul, Steve Andrews and Ariel (yes, just “Ariel,” no last name; I can only assume it’s edited by the mermaid from that Disney movie). Waterstone’s Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. Waterstone Guides, 1998. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. There are some good contributors in here (like John Clute), but the author entries are distributed somewhat randomly. Waterstone’s is a UK bookstore chain, and I imagine these are pretty common on the other side of the pond. Here? Not so much.
Tags:Alfred Hitchcock, Books, H. P. Lovecraft, Movies, Science Fiction, science fiction bibliography, science fiction criticism, Terry Carr
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, October 26th, 2015
This came in recently:
Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi). H. P. Lovecraft’s Collected Fiction: A Variorum Edition, a three volume set consisting of Volume 1: 1905—1925, Volume 2: 1926—1930, and Volume 3: 1931—1936. Hippocampus Press, 2015. First edition hardbacks, one of only 750 sets, all Fine copies in Fine dust jackets and shrinkwrap, new and unread. “For the first time, students and scholars of Lovecraft can see at a glance all the textual variants in all relevant appearances of a story—manuscript, first publication in magazines, and first book publications. The result is an illuminating record of the textual history of the tales, along with how Lovecraft significantly revised his stories after initial publication. Along the way, Joshi has made small but significant revisions to his earlier corrected texts. He has determined, for example, that Lovecraft slightly revised some stories when a reprint of them was scheduled in Weird Tales, and he has altered some readings in light of a better understanding of Lovecraft’s customary linguistic usages.” So not only do these three volumes represent the complete and super-duper definitive edition of Lovecraft’s work, hardcore Lovecraft fans can see how both Lovecraft and others revised his work over the years.
Update: They later published, and I obtained, a fourth volume.
I have sets of all four volumes for sale through Lame Excuse Books.
Tags:Books, Cthulhu, First Edition, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror
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Thursday, May 7th, 2015
My quest to pick up just about every damn H. P. Lovecraft reference work in the world continues apace:
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Shreffler, Philip A. The Lovecraft Companion. Greenwood Press, 1977. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. One of the first broad critical companions to Lovecraft’s work, offering an in-depth summary of Lovecraft’s literary theory, plot summaries of all his stories, an encyclopedia of characters and monsters, and an in-depth look at Cthulhu Mythos monsters. An interesting high-level overview and “first cut” of Lovecraft criticism, from before S. T. Joshi turned it into a cottage industry, and pretty much all the topics covered here have been examined at much greater depth since. Currey (1979), page 332. Joshi, Lovecraft Bibliography, I-C-158. Tymn Schlobin Currey, 294. Bought off the Internet for $42.50.
Scan shows surface wear to the dust jacket protector.
Tags:Books, First Edition, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, reference works, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, February 4th, 2015
I finally found a copy of the definitive one-volume H. P. Lovecraft biography I could afford.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Joshi, S. T. H. P. Lovecraft: A Life. Necronomicon Press, 1996. First edition, one of only 250 signed hardbacks (the only hardback edition), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a very tiny wrinkle at head. Widely considered to be the definitive Lovecraft biography until Joshi’s two volume expansion I Am Providence (which I also have) came out in 2010. The hardback of H. P. Lovecraft: A Life peaked around $500, but has since drifted down a bit. I bought this one from the publisher off eBay for $160.
Tags:biography, Books, First Edition, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, reference works, S. T. Joshi
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