Posts Tagged ‘proof’
Wednesday, August 13th, 2025
I don’t usually pick up ARCs, but this was offered at a bargain price.
Lansdale, Joe R., editor. The Horror Hall of Fame. Cemetery Dance, 2011. First edition Advanced Uncorrected Proof, trade paperback format, of the hardback first edition, a Fine copy. Isajanko D13.a (but no mention of proof states). Bought off Facebook for $10.
Tags:ARC, Books, Cemetery Dance, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, proof
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Monday, July 28th, 2025
Kathryn Cramer, after having numerous problems selling David Hartwell’s book collection in other venues, is now selling some directly. I contacted her, haggled over prices, and eventually we agreed on a purchase of several books, this being the first listed here.
Wolfe, Gene. The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories. Pocket Books, 1980. Proof (trade paperback format) of the paperback original first edition, a Fine copy, inscribed by Wolfe to his longtime editor Hartwell: “To Dave Hartwell, who/had sense enough to/separate the Doctor stories./Gene Wolfe”. Supplements another signed copy of this proof inscribed to me by Wolfe. In his Nova Express interview, Gene said Hartwell was the best editor he ever worked with. I suppose it’s a bit greedy to have two signed proof firsts of this, but I had long wanted an associational copy of a Wolfe title inscribed to Hartwell, and this is a pretty good one. Bought for $100.
Tags:Associational Copy, Books, David Hartwell, Fantasy, Gene Wolfe, Kathryn Cramer, proof, Science Fiction, signatures
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Thursday, September 17th, 2020
I’ve won a number of Jack Vance first off eBay as of late, many signed:
Vance, Jack. The Languages of Pao/The Dragon Masters. Vance Integral Edition, no date. Unpublished paper dust jacket proof for the “Science Fiction Volume” containing those two novels produced by the Vance Integral Edition in 2002. Ultimately they decided not to use dust jackets for either that or the Vance Integral Edition itself. Bought from the Jack Vance estate off eBay for $33, and with the Vance Estate stamp on the blind side. The scan below is only what would fit on my scanner:
Vance, Jack. The Last Castle. Underwood-Miller, 1980. First hardback edition, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at tips and traces of wear at head and heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with a few traces of wear and faint phantom crease down front flap, with signature card by artist Alicia Austin laid in (as issued) and Vance Estate stamp on title page. Hewett, A30d. Cunningham, B45b. Bought for $20.13 from the Vance Estate off eBay.
Vance, Jack. The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph. Dennis Dobson, 1977. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Near Fine, price-clipped dust jacket, signed by Vance. Hewett, a27f. Cunningham, b55b. Currey, page 499. Bought off eBay for $93.97. One of the few Vance hardbacks I lacked, and one of the more difficult ones signed.
Vance, Jack. Marune: Alastor 933. Ballantine Books, 1975. Currey, page 499. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Fine- copy with a trace of edgewear, signed by Vance. Hewett, A48. Cunningham, B56. Currey, page 499. Supplements the Underwood-Miller hardback. Bought off eBay for $16.50.
Vance, Jack. Maske: Thaery. Berkley, 1976. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny wrinkle at top of the front flap and a few tiny traces of edgewear. Signed by Vance. Replaces a slightly less attractive signed first. Hewett, A52. Cunningham, B57a. Currey, page 499. Bought off eBay for $14.99.
Vance, Jack. Night Lamp. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Vance. Cunningham, B61a. Supplements an unsigned trade first, the Underwood Books signed, limited edition, and Volume 42 of The Vance Integral Edition. Bought off eBay for $20.50.
Vance, Jack. Ports of Call. Tor, 1998. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine hardback, signed by Vance. Cunningham, B66a. Supplements an unsigned trade first, the Underwood Books signed/limited edition, and Volume 43 of The Vance Integral Edition. Bought off eBay for $14.99.
Vance, Jack. Sjambak. Wildside Press, 2010. First edition trade paperback original (perfect bound chapbook), a Fine copy, signed by Vance. I suspect this was produced because the story slipped out of copyright. Replaces an unsigned copy. Bought off eBay for $33.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Jack Vance, proof, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Underwood/Miller, Vance Integral Edition, Wildside Press
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, May 4th, 2020
I was in Minneapolis in early March (right before everything went into lockdown), and I had a chance to drop by Dreamhaven Books and pick up a few things. Here are the unsigned books I bought.
Blish, James. Black Easter. Doubleday, 1968. An Ex-library copy I bought for $4 for the quite bright Near Fine+ dust jacket to marry to another copy.
Dick, Philip K. Mary and the Giant. Arbor House, 1987. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. For some reason I ended up with a copy of the UK first edition and the Ultramarine Press leather-bound-with-the-cancelled check edition, but never picked up the American trade edition (the true first) until now. Precious Artifacts, MS5.2. Bought for $20.
Dozois, Gardner. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection. St. Martin’s, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for cover price minus 20%. The remaining volumes I lack are 15, 23, 24, 27 and 28.
Martin, George R. R. Nightflyers. Bluejay Books, no date (but 1985). First edition uncorrected proof of the trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with blue bunching along front spine (not uncommon among proofs), and a 1″ square dragon stamp in red at top right corner of half title page. Bought for I think $16.
Tags:Bluejay Books, Books, Dreamhaven, Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, James Blish, Philip K. Dick, proof
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2015
Finally obtained a book I’ve been trying to get for over 20 years, ever since hearing about it while compiling Bruce Sterling’s bibliography for Nova Express in the early 1990s:
Martin, George R. R. The John W. Campbell Awards Volume 6. Bluejay Books, 1986. Uncorrected proof, trade paperback format, of the never-published hardback first edition, a Very Good- copy, being well-read with creasing along front and back spine joins, bottom of front spine join starting to split, a few spots of staining (including one to the edge of side/bottom page block), and general wear, with note on front cover stating “To/Shelia/Williams/Isaac/Asimov” and a note on the table of contents saying the Orson Scott Card story listed was going to be replaced with another Card story. Never produced because Bluejay Books went out of business in 1986. Copy on the back covers states the book was to be produced in both hardback and trade paperback formats.
The contents are as follows:
Page 1: “Preface” — George R. R. Martin
Page 9: “On John Campbell” — Jack Williamson
Page 17: “The Djinn Who Watches Over the Accursed” — Stephen R. Donaldson (Published in Word Tales, the book published for the 1985 World Fantasy Convention in Tucson.)
Page 41: “Angel Engines” — Bruce Sterling (Note: This story is present in the book, but is missing from the the (probably hastily typed) Table of Contents.) (Remains unpublished.)
Page 57: “The Necropolis at Fang Shang” — Bruce Sterling (Remains unpublished.)
Page 71: “Adrift Among the Ghosts” — Jack L. Chalker (Appeared as an original story in the Chalker collection Dance Band on the Titanic in 1988.)
Page 89: “The Red Hawk” — Elizabeth A. Lynn (Had previously appeared as a stand-alone Cheap Street chapbook in 1983.)
Page 123: “Unwyrm” — Orson Scott Card (Never published in this form, a novella that takes up half the book, but was evidently incorporated into Card’s 1987 novel Wyrms.)
Page 251: “The John W. Campbell Award Winners: 1973—1985” (No author listed, just a list of winners and nominees by year.)
Bought for $100 from an editor who was downsizing his library as part of moving.
Tags:Bluejay Books, Books, Bruce Sterling, Elizabeth Lynn, First Edition, George R. R. Martin, Jack Chalker, Jack Williamson, Jim Frenkel, John W. Campbell Award, Orson Scott Card, proof, Stephen R. Donaldson
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Gene Wolfe
Home Fires
Tor, January 2011
Seems like a time-lag war romance, ala The Forever War or Voices From a Distant Star. She goes off to war leaving him behind, she comes back, they go on a second honeymoon, and then weird things start happening.
This will probably jump to the next thing on the stack after I finish Charlie Stross’ The Fuller Memorandum
Tags:Books, Charles Stross, Gene Wolfe, proof
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 3 Comments »
