April 21st, 2025
This was another purchase from that Facebook estate seller I bought the Howard chapbooks from.
Howard, Robert E. (Rob Roehm, editor). The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume One: 1923 – 1929. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2007. First edition hardback, #267 of 300 copies, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight bumping at heel, small fold to top of front flap, trace of wear at points, and slight haze rubbing to rear. Most of the letters in this volume seem to be to longtime close friend Tevis Clyde Smith.
With:
Howard, Robert E. (Rob Roehm, editor). The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume Two: 1930-1932. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2007. First edition hardback, #266 of 300 copies, a Fine- copy with bump to top front point in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bend at head, bump at point, trace of wear at points, and faint non-breaking surface scratches to rear cover. In this volume we finally start to see a number of letters to H.P. Lovecraft (I haven’t looked yet, but I’m guessing most if not all are included in the two volume A Means to Freedom, which I also have).
With:
Howard, Robert E. (Rob Roehm, editor). The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume Three: 1933-1936. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2007. First edition hardback, #265 of 300 copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket with two long, faint scratches to the front cover, slight wrinkling at head and a trace of wear at points. Letters to a wide range of recipients: Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, Emil Petja, etc.
All bought for $60 for the set, which I think is a great bargain, as the majority of the REH Press stuff, especially early books like these, are all long out of print and hard to find.
Tags: August Derleth, Books, Clark Ashton Smith, Emil Petaja, Fantasy, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, Limited Editions, reference works, Robert E. Howard, Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, small press publishers
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April 17th, 2025
That same eBay seller keeps having some interesting signed PBOs going cheap, including this one:
Tenn, William. The Square Root of Man. Ballantine Books, 1968. First edition paperback original (“First Printing: June, 1968”), a Very Good copy with spine creasing and lean, crease along front spine join, edgewear, and a bookstore stamp to teaser page, signed by Tenn. Currey, page 278. Bought for the opening bid of $10.
Tags: Books, eBay, PBO, Science Fiction, William Tenn
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April 16th, 2025
Someone on Facebook was selling off the collection of an Arkham House/Weird Tales collector, and he had some Robert E. Howard chapbooks I pulled the trigger on.
Howard, Robert E. The Complete Yellow Jacket. Paul Herman, 1999. First edition chapbook original, #80 of 100 copies, a Fine copy. Collection of Howard’s work that appeared in The Yellow Jacket, the school paper for Howard Payne University.
Howard, Robert E. Pay Day. Cryptic Publications, 1986. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Eight extremely short stories. Editor Robert M. Price: “These tales represent Howard’s attempt to write ‘realistic’ fiction.”
Howard, Robert E. Two-Fisted Detective. Cryptic Publications, 1984. First edition chapbook original, one of 450 unsigned, unnumbered copies, a Fine- copy with slight bit of wear to the spine. Four stories featuring Detective Steve Harris.
Price, Robert M., editor. Two-Fisted Detective Stories Volume 2. Cryptic Publications, 1988. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Anthology of detective stories, including stories from Manly Wade Wellman (“Murder Music,” which doesn’t appear to be in the five volume Selected Stories), Robert Bloch (“The Knife and the Throat,” which doesn’t appear to have been reprinted in any Bloch collections), Lin Carter and C.J. Henderson.
All the above bought for $80.
Tags: Books, chapbooks, Fantasy, Manly Wade Wellman, Mystery, Robert Bloch, Robert E. Howard
Posted in Books, Fantasy | 1 Comment »
April 14th, 2025
Two more Half Price Books finds, both signed.
Eggers, Dave. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Simon & Schuster, 2000. First edition hardback (full “1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2” numberline), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed (with initials) and dated (“3/6/00”) by Eggers. His debut novel. You have to admire the chutzpah of the title. Bought for $13.50.
Hill, Joe. The Fireman. William Morrow, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with two creases running the length of the front flap. Supplements an unsigned first and the signed, limited, slipcased PS Publishing edition. Bought for $13.04.
Tags: Books, Dave Eggers, Half Price Books, Horror, Joe Hill
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April 9th, 2025
Another Half Price Books find:
McDonald, Ian. Hopeland. Tor, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine-/Fine- copy with slight bumping to top points. Looks a bit New Weird-ish. ISDFB says the Tor edition precedes by a couple of days. Bought from Half Price Books for $13.49.
Tags: Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, New Weird, Science Fiction
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March 26th, 2025
Another Dragonstairs chapbook:
Swanwick, Michael. A Fantasist’s Guide to Venice. Dragonstairs Press, 2025. First edition chapbook original, #30 of 79 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Collection of short essays on various fantastic elements of Venice, in fact and fiction, following the author’s visit there.
Note that this is one of at least four different cover patterns for this title, all done in reds and yellows.
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which should be out in May.
Tags: Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Fantasy, Italy, Michael Swanwick, Venice
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March 24th, 2025
I did a fair amount of wargaming in my youth, but have done piratically none since graduating college. Still, every now and then a boardgaming Kickstarter strikes my fancy, as this one, vaguely based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail and first announced back in 2022, did. I think this is the first game I’ve bought since the designer edition of Ogre.
Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. Exalted Funeral, 2025. This has numerous components:
The “Public School Edition” of the main game book
Head of Light Entertainment Gamemaster Screen with 18 HoLE cards
A Head of Light Entertainment sash
Two “Black Beast” Nesting Box Dice Sets
Meeple Set
Bag of tokens
Coconut dice roller
Fetchez la Vache! boardgame feature catapults and cows. This was an add-on. It’s too big to fit on the scanner, so here’s an image I stole from the Kickstarter page:
All components are Fine/New, still in shrinkwrap or bag.
Bought for $250 back in 2022, but only shipped this year.
Tags: boardgames, Fantasy, Kickstarter, Monty Python
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March 21st, 2025
Quite a bit different than a lot of the items I catalog here:
Harvia, Teddy (David Thayer). WingNuts in Time and Space. Self-published, 2025. First edition comic book fanzine original, #90 of 200 copies, a Fine copy, with letter from the author/illustrator laid in. An eight page comic from the award-winning fan artist featuring his WingNut characters talking about the Big Bang. Given to me free after he asked me if I wanted a copy. Sure!
Tags: art, Books, comic books, fanzine, Science Fiction, Teddy Harvia AKA David Thayer
Posted in Books, Science Fiction, technology | 2 Comments »
March 19th, 2025
Though I have several H. G. Wells first editions, I have comparatively little by Verne. Not only do first English language editions of Verne not pop up at used bookstores in central Texas, I haven’t even chanced across any firsts of the Naval Institute Press translations (which evidently include material omitted from all previous translations). Prior to this volume, the only Verne first I had was the Chambers edition of Backwards to Britain, which I think I bought for something like $7.99. The is the latest in Borderlands “Past Masters of Horror & Fantasy” series.
Verne, Jules (Tim Connair, editor). A Little Blue Book of Icy Peril. Borderlands Press, 2024. First edition hardback, #463 of 500 copies signed by the editor, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issue. Three novelette/novella length stories (“A Drama in the Air,” “Winter amidst the Ice,” and “Ascent of Mount Blanc”) plus notes.
I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags: Books, Borderlands Press, Jules Verne, Little Books, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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March 17th, 2025
Two PS Publishing signed, limited hardback editions that came in from the publisher.
Blaylock, James P. The Invisible Woman. PS Publishing, 2024. First edition hardback, #76 of 200 signed, numbered hardbacks, a Fine copy in decorated boards and a Fine dust jacket. Set in the same universe as Pennies From Heaven.
Campbell, Ramsey. The Inhabitant of the Lake & Other Unwelcome Tenants (60th Anniversary Edition). PS Publishing, 2024 (stated, actually 2025). First edition hardback thus, a considerably expanded version of the 1964 Arkham House first edition, #47 of 100 signed, traycased copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket in a Fine traycase. A massively expanded version of Campbell’s first book, a collection of Cthulhu Mythos stories that August Derleth helped him edit and polish before publishing for Arkham House. In addition to being a much more attractive package than both the original and the 2011 PS edition, the book includes 12 additional works (stories and essays) not in the original. Sold out upon publication.
I will have a small number of copies for both of these in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, and I still have signed hardback firsts of Pennies From Heaven available.
Tags: Arkham House, Books, Cthulhu, James P. Blaylock, Limited Editions, PS Publishing, Ramsey Campbell
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