Picked up four Fairwood Press books at the usual dealer discount.
Library Additions: Fairwood Press Books
February 12th, 2022Moorcock, Moorcock, Moorcock, Eggs, Moorcock and Spam
February 10th, 2022In a Facebook group I’m on, someone started listing the contents of Moorcock-edited issues of New Worlds SF, the science fiction magazine he edited in the 1960s (and various later incarnations). One of these was the November 1965 issue (Vol. 49, No.156), which not only includes a Moorcock essay, Part 1 of a serialized novel, The Wrecks of Time by James Colvin (which was a pen name for Moorcock), and no less than eleven book reviews by “Colvin,” which lead me to pen the following:
Woman: What’s in this New Worlds?
Waitress: Moorcock, Bailey, Moorcock, Platt, Jones, Moorcock and spam.
Woman: Do you have any New Worlds with less Moorcock?
Man: Oh, I love Moorcock! I’m having the New Worlds with Moorcock, Moorcock, Moorcock, Cawthorn, Moorcock, Moorcock, Bailey, Moorcock, Moorcock, Moorcock, Jones, Moorcock and spam!
Having edited Nova Express, I know well the “Hey, looks like I’ve got to fill out the rest of this issue myself!” feeling. That’s a sign you need to find more suckers contributors…
Library Addition Signed Limited First of Robert A. Heinlein’s JOB
January 27th, 2022I already had two books signed by Robert A. Heinlein, one a second printing with a crappy dust jacket, the other a book club edition I bought off David Hartwell at an Armadillocon for $40. This is both the first signed, limited edition Heinlein I’ve bought, and the first first edition signed by him (though I have plenty of unsigned Heinlein firsts).
Heinlein, Robert A. JOB: A Comedy of Justice. Del Rey, 1984. First edition hardback, #109 of 750 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine slipcase with a quarter-sized water spot and a faint scratch, sans dust jacket, as issued. Not my favorite Heinlein, but quite readable by the standards of late-period Heinlein. Bought off eBay for $300.
Library Addition: Signed First of Harlan Ellison’s Rockabilly
January 25th, 2022I’ve tracked down almost all of the Ellison hardback, so now I’m tracking down signed copies of the PBOs I don’t already own.
Ellison, Harlan. Rockabilly. Gold Medal Books, 1961. First edition paperback original, a Very Good copy with considerable wrinkling and creasing along the spine, plus slight edgewear, signed by Ellison. Fingerprints on the Sky, page 108. Currey, page 178. Bought off eBay for $65.
Library Addition: Signed First Of Pat Murphy’s The Falling Woman (And The Solution To A Bibliographic Mystery)
January 24th, 2022I picked this up a while back, but it took me some time to track down a thorny bibliographic point.
Murphy, Pat. The Falling Woman. Tor, 1986. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine first state dust jacket, signed by Murphy. Winner for the Nebula Award for best novel. Supplements a copy of the first edition with a second state dust jacket inscribed to me by Murphy. You can tell the first state from the second state dust jacket by at least four different points:
- The lettering on the spine of the first state dust jacket has curvy features (the bottom of “Falling” is concave, and the top of “Woman” is convex), while the second state spine letters are straight.
- The lines in the center of the title on the front cover are black on the first state dust jacket, but red on the second state dust jacket.
- The back of the dust jacket is blank on the first state dust jacket, but has “Praise for The Falling Woman” followed by four blurbs on the second state dust jacket.
- The back of the second state dust jacket has an author photo of Murphy on the rear flap absent from the first state dust jacket.
I confirmed with Murphy with the “curved letter” spine version is indeed the first state dust jacket, and she says both first and second state dust jackets went out on first printings. Bought off eBay for $15.50.
Shoegazer Sunday: Blankenberge’s “Everything”
January 16th, 2022Library Addition: Signed First of Neal Stephenson’s Termination Shock
January 14th, 2022Another signed first:
Stephenson, Neal. Termination Shock. Morrow, 2021. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with “SIGNED FIRST EDITION” sticker on front, signed by Stephenson on page stating “This signed edition has been specially bound by the publisher.” Bought from the Mysterious Bookstore for $28.
Library Additions: Three Reference Works
January 7th, 2022Three more reference works:
Library Additions: Various Unsigned Firsts
January 5th, 2022The only theme here is various unsigned hardback firsts.
Library Addition: Signed Hardback of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses
January 4th, 2022Picked this up on my Thanksgiving trip to Houston:
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. Viking, 1989. Fourth printing of the first American edition, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Fine- dust jacket with slight curl at head, signed by Rushdie, with sales slip from a bookseller stating it was a signed copy laid. The book that earned Rushdie a fatwa from the Ayatollah Khomeini. Supplements a first printing of the first American edition (the Viking UK edition precedes). Bought at a Houston-area Half Price Books for $7.99.
