Only theme here is that I bought all of these on a day trip to San Antonio:
Library Additions: Bradbury, Jeter, Mundy Firsts
September 11th, 2023Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “The Slab” (and first impressions of Everything is Alive)
September 10th, 2023Here’s “The Slab,” the final track from Slowdive’s new Everything is Alive album. But I should warn you that this is a case where the song of the CD is much stronger than the compressed version on YouTube:
I finally got the CD in this week, and I think it’s a very strong album, more consistent than their previous self-titled album, but only time will tell is something as strong as “Slomo” or “No Longer Making Time” emerges as particular favorites. (And the later only really twigged for me when it became such a burner live.)
Library Addition: First Edition of Hope Mirrlees’ Lud-In-The-Mist
September 6th, 2023Here’s a book I’ve been looking for quite a long time, even before Neil Gaiman recommended it.
Mirrlees, Hope. Lud-In-The-Mist. W. Collins & Sons, 1926. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a couple of abrasion spots on front cover, slight bend and head and heel, and small bookseller sticker to bottom of rear inside cover, otherwise a nice, sharp copy in an immaculate facsimile dust jacket. Bleiler, Checklist (1978), page 141. Magill, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, pages 926-931. Barron, Fantasy Literature 3-250 (“A beautifully written allegory unashamedly celebrating the necessity of enchantment”). Tymn Zahorsky Boyer, Fantasy Literature pages 141-142. Widely considered one of the classic novels of pre-Tolkien fantasy. Bought for $395 plus shipping.
Library Addition: Limited Edition of Avram Davidson’s Naples
September 4th, 2023Another Avram Davidson chapbook from Temporary Culture.
Davidson, Avram. Naples. The Nutmeg Point District Mail/Temporary Culture, 2022. First edition self-wrappers chapbook original, one of 160 copies, a Fine copy, inside a black envelope with Mylar protective wrappers and with a mounted black and white photograph laid in. Bought for $150 (the subscriber price). Story reprinted from Charles L. Grant’s Shadows anthology.
I’m sort of a Davidson completists but these chapbooks are starting to get a bit pricey for my budget…
Library Addition: Charnel House Limited of Tim Powers’ An Epitaph in Rust
August 31st, 2023Another volume in the Charnel House signed, limited edition reprint line of all Powers’ novels.
Powers, Tim. An Epitaph in Rust. Charnel House 2023. First edition hardback, #54 of 200 numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount.
I will have one copy available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Library Addition: Shakespeare Unleashed
August 29th, 2023Another Kickstarter item that came in:
With:
Bought together for $54, including shipping.
Library Additions: H. P. Lovecraft’s Miskatonic Missives
August 28th, 2023Here’s a Kickstarter project that was a long time in coming that finally shipped earlier this year.
Each volume contains a reprint of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most interesting letters, presented alongside related archival material such as contemporary short stories, art, maps, etc., as well as original art and new scholarship.
Each volume is also packaged with a set of exclusive extras—replicas of related contemporary materials such as photos, maps, ticket stubs, postcards, news clippings, and diary pages. The Collector’s set packages all of these extras in a custom box which nests in the slipcase alongside the three books. Each Limited Edition Collector’s set is supplied with a Certificate of Ownership signed by editors Andrew Leman and Sean Branney of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and a collectible enamel pin.
This is just the loose extras; there are additional extras for each volume, in their individual envelopes in the Ephemera traycase.
with
It’s an impressive assemblage, and one legions of Lovecraft fans will be kicking themselves over not picking up in years to come.
Total price for both with shipping was $203.50.
Library Additions: Three Signed PS Publishing Titles
August 23rd, 2023All signed, slipcased PS Publishing firsts:
Library Addition: VIE First of Jack Vance’s The Languages of Pao and The Dragon Masters
August 21st, 2023I have finally tracked down the last Vance Integral Edition volume I didn’t already own. This is the “Science Fiction Volume” produced as a preview test-of-concept.
Vance, Jack. The Languages of Pao and The Dragon Masters. The Vance Integral Edition, 2002. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. The first edition restoring Vance’s original texts. This was bought from a collector as part of a small Jack Vance lot. I think I could have bought this for $32 at the time, but having paid for the VIE itself (a considerable chunk of change), I didn’t want to spend more for work that would later be included in the complete VIE anyway. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 946, which states there were 500 copies of this volume produced, but it seems a bit rarer than that.
Also, I finally had a chance to add the proof dust jacket I bought back in 2020.
So I now have all three of the extra volumes, plus one of the 200 signed, numbered VIE sets, plus the proof dust jacket for this volume. I believe that makes my set about as complete as you can possibly make it. (I suppose you could have a 47 volume deluxe set, one of the reportedly 26 signed sets bound in full leather, plus the extra volumes, but assembling all three of the extra volumes in that state would probably be very challenging indeed…)
Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Skin in the Game”
August 20th, 2023Here’s another song off Slowdive’s forthcoming Everything is Alive album, due out September 1st.