Two more signed Ray Bradbury items, both bought off eBay from different sellers:
Library Additions: Two Signed Ray Bradbury Items
September 21st, 2018Library Addition: Avram Davidson’s Chance Meeting
September 19th, 2018Another odd, interesting chapbook from Henry Wessells:
Davidson, Avram (Philip K. Dick). Chance Meeting. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 2018. First edition chapbook original, one of 150 copies thus, a Fine copy. 16-page chapbook (plus burgundy wrappers) featuring Avram Davidson’s review of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, plus a letter from Davidson about Dick, as well as additional material from Wessells and Grania Davis. The fifth in the Davidson chapbook series, and one of three non-fiction books by Davidson in my library, in addition to Adventures in Unhistory and Crimes & Chaos.
I’ll have a copy for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Apple-1 Computer For Auction, Already At $175,000
September 17th, 2018Holy crap that’s a lot of money. I need they were collectable, but not that collectable. It’s not even “mint in box” (or probably “shipping baggie” for that period).
The estimate for the auction is $300,000 to $400,000. Frequently those are just high estimates for show, but it may actually make it this time…
Library Addition: ARC of Robert Silverberg’s Time and Time Again
September 13th, 2018Saw someone mention this book on Facebook and went out and found an ARC of it:
Silverberg, Robert. Time and Time Again. Three Rooms Press, 2018. Advanced Reading Copy of the trade paperback original first edition, a Fine copy, new and unread. All Silverberg’s time travel stories in one place. Bought for $9.99 off eBay.
There was evidently a signed “preview” edition sold at this year’s Worldcon (which I no longer attend), which I may have track down at some point, but this ARC precedes the preview edition.
Library Additions: Signed Books by C. L. Moore and Bob Shaw
September 11th, 2018All these were from the same seller, and all were books I wasn’t actively looking for, but both looked interesting and cheap.
Shoegazer Sunday: The Capsules’ “The Long Goodbye”
September 9th, 2018The Capsules are another band in the Saint Marie Records stable:
Library Addition: Signed/Limited Ray Bradbury Chronicles Volume 2
September 6th, 2018Picked up another volume of this:
Bradbury, Ray (with Dave Gibbons, James Sherman, Daniel Torres, Raph Reese, Mark Charello, and Bernard Krigstein). The Ray Bradbury Chronicles Volume 2. Byron Preiss/NBM, 1992. First edition hardback graphic novel,#250 of 1200 signed, numbered copies, a Near Fine copy with trace of dampstaining to bottom boards (but not pages) in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight waviness at bottom and slight blindside dye transfer from boards, along with a few other traces of wear. Signed by Bradbury, Gibbons, Reese and Charello. Tempted to send it back, but the terse listing only said VG, so, eh, caveat emptor. Bought for $37 off eBay.
I now have Volumes 2 and 7 of this series, but am still looking for the others…
Library Additions: Two Dean R. Koontz Charnel House Books
September 5th, 2018I’m not a huge Dean R. Koontz fan, but I do like Charnel House books, and I saw these two from a dealer I knew almost cheap enough to pick up on a whim. I made an offer, we haggled, and I eventually got the following for $150 total, plus a couple of trade books.
Not a bad score, since I think both original sold for about $150 each…
Library Addition: Tim Powers’ Collected Stories
September 4th, 2018Another elaborate Charnel House Tim Powers book:
Powers, Tim. The Collected Stories of Tim Powers. Charnel House, 2018. First edition hardback (or first thus; see below), #58 of 124 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Even though this was sold out shortly after it was announced, I will have copies for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog. [Sold out.]
One thing the scan doesn’t do justice is just how sparkly this book is, it being “bound in Japanese ‘Snow Dust'” silk silver foiled boards.
There was a 2017 Baen hardback collection, Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers, but this collection evidently has an additional story, in addition to being signed and much better looking…
Library Addition: Multi-Signed Deluxe Edition of The Undead
September 3rd, 2018Another odd item for the reference library:
(Francis, Bruce (uncredited), compiler/editor, with Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Elvira, Rowena, and William F. Nolan.) The Undead (AKA The Book Sail 16th Anniversary Catalogue). McLaughlin Press, 1984. First edition hardback, #326 of 550 copies of the Deluxe (and only hardback) edition, a Near Fine copy with fading to spine, in a Near Fine slipcase, from which the cloth is starting to peel away at the bottom (which I intended to repair), sans dust jacket, as issued. An extremely elaborate affair for a book catalog, including a lenticular image of horror hostess Elvira (who has signed a signature page in the book) embedded in the cover, a Rowena full-page, full-color illustration, “Sorceress,” opposite her signature, which looks like something of a self-portrait, a signed Forward from Ray Bradbury, a signed story (“The Undead”) from Robert Bloch, and a signed William F. Nolan chapbook (“The Dandelion Chronicles”) inserted into a special pocket at the back of the book.
In addition to all that, there’s also an extensive book and manuscript catalog which makes up the bulk of the book, including a ridiculous amount of Lovecraft material, including amateur press publications, original manuscripts, letters, postcards, etc. It also includes Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft’s passport, which I’ve seen at listed for sale/auction least twice since (from L. W. Currey and later listed by Heritage Auctions). Also includes many non-book rarities, including the first appearance of Siegel and Shuster’s Superman character in a fanzine (where he was a bald villain), an original stop-motion armature of King Kong, and Judy Garland’s contract for The Wizard of Oz.
I’ve long lusted after a copy of this book, which came out just before I started collecting, but it usually listed in the $350 range. Bought for $75 off eBay.
Note: The limited, leather-bound presentation state (not seen) evidently included an original, unique Hannes Bok drawing in every copy…