Three new R. A. Lafferty firsts, two signed (one by Lafferty).
Posts Tagged ‘reference works’
Library Additions: Three R. A. Lafferty Firsts, Two Signed
Thursday, June 10th, 2021Library Addition: Two Stephen King Critical Books
Thursday, June 3rd, 2021Someone sold off a large science fiction collection on eBay, including a great deal of Stephen King. All the actual King books went for way more than I bid, but I did pick up a couple of King reference works:
Library Addition: Signed Copy of The Ray Bradbury Companion
Thursday, May 13th, 2021Another book in my quest to get a signed copy of every Ray Bradbury-related book:
(Bradbury, Ray) Nolan, William F. The Ray Bradbury Companion. Gale Research, 1975. First edition hardback (no statement of printing as per Currey), a Fine copy in a sound, Very Good slipcase from which numerous small (tackhead sized and smaller) pieces of the affixed wrap-around paper label have chipped away, plus a few other touches of dust and wear, sans dust jacket, as issued, signed by Bradbury on page 37. Critical companion on Bradbury’s work. Currey, page 59. Tymn, Schlobin, Currey, 221. Bought off eBay for $59.
Library Additions: Half Price Books Purchases
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020Three Half Price Books purchases:
Library Additions: Two Art Books, Non-Moorcock Paperbacks
Tuesday, March 17th, 2020Still more books I bought from Michael Moorcock, including art books and non-Moorcock paperbacks I bought off him. I think he received all these as review copies.
Library Addition: First Edition of Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Obsession
Tuesday, December 31st, 2019Slightly out of the ordinary for what I usually collect:
Penzler, Otto. Mysterious Obsession: Memoirs of a Compulsive Collector. The Mysterious Bookshop, 2019. First edition hardback, #219 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction. The story of how Penzler assembled his famed collection of mystery first editions. This edition sold out before publication. I have precisely one copy available through Lame Excuse Books. Bought directly through Mysterious Bookshop at a slight discount off the $50 cover price.
Library Addition: Samuel R. Delany’s Letters From Amherst
Wednesday, July 17th, 2019A fellow collector alerted me to a bargain pre-publication price for this through Amazon:
Delany, Samuel R. Letters From Amherst. Wesleyan University Press, 2019. First edition hardback, a Fine new copy, sans dust jacket with ISBN price sticker, as issued. Subtitled “Five Narrative Letters.” Bought for $16.96, considerably off the list price of $45.
I have several other Delany non-fiction works. I hope this is more accessible than some of his critical works, which tend to be too heavily influenced by various academic critical trends (post-modernism, close-reading, etc.).
Library Addition: Thomas Ligotti’s A Little White Book of Screams and Whispers
Wednesday, June 12th, 2019Bought this from the publisher at the usual discount:
Ligotti, Thomas. A Little White Book of Screams and Whispers. Borderlands Press, 2019. First edition hardback, a #501 of 600 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. A “compilation of Interviews with Ligotti that have never been collected or reprinted.” Out of print before publication.
The shadow on the spine is a scanner artifact.
Library Addition: Inscribed First of George Locke’s Voyages in Space
Sunday, May 19th, 2019Science fiction bibliographer, bookseller and publisher George Locke died earlier this year. I knew George a bit (as pretty much every bookseller in the field must have), and we had lunch together on my 2005 trip to the UK. George was universally acclaimed as one of the most knowledgeable booksellers and bibliographers the field has ever known, and I already owned a fair number of his books, almost all published by his own Ferret Fantasy imprint, most inscribed to me, including the three volume Spectrum of Fantasy series and the two volume By the World Forget/By The Book World Remembered pairing about Stuart Teitler and Lost Race novels.
Now I’ve picked up another:
Locke, George. Voyages in Space. Ferret Fantasy, 2015. First edition trade paperback original (simultaneous with a very small hardback run of only 28 copies), one of 500 copies, a Near Fine copy with slight wear along spine and what appears to be a spot of dampstaining at heel. Inscribed to Australian-born, Paris-resident science fiction, film and travel writer (and fellow book collector) John Baxter: “For John Baxter/With all good wishes and the/hope that you’ll run into one of the Olde/Aussie Interplanetaries when you next meet/the banana-benders!/George Locke”. (I also own Baxter’s The Inner Man: the life of J. G. Ballard.) Subtitled “A Bibliography of Interplanetary Fiction, 1801-1914.” Tymn Schlobin Currey, A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies, 47. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4 7-7 (though only in passing, since the main entry is for Currey). Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature 1975—1991, 28470. Bought from a UK bookdealer for £40 plus shipping.
RIP, George.
Library Addition: Signed Philip K. Dick Reference Work
Friday, March 22nd, 2019Here’s another Philip K. Dick reference work to add to all the rest:
(Dick, Philip K.) Mckee, Gabriel. Pink Beams of Light from the God in the Gutter: The Science-Fictional religion of Philip K. Dick. University Press of America, 2004. First edition trade paperback original, #68 of 100 copies signed and dated by the author on the date of publication (1-6-04). Bought from an online book dealer for $35.
