Another Kathryn Cramer purchase.
Link, Kelly. 4 Stories. Jelly Ink, 2000. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy, singed by Link. Jelly Ink was Link’s own publishing house before Small Beer Press. Bought for $35.
Library Addition: Signed First of Kelly Link’s 4 Stories
August 4th, 2025Library Addition: Signed First of Thomas Disch’s The Businessman
July 31st, 2025Another Kathryn Cramer purchase:
Disch, Thomas M. The Businessman: A Tale of Terror. Harper & Row, 1984. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Disch. Cawthorn and Moorcock, Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels 98. Pringle, Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels 88. Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought for $20.
Library Additions: Signed Firsts of Hal Clements’ Xi Bootis, Still River
July 30th, 2025Two more Kathryn Cramer purchases:
Library Addition: Signed First of Asimov’s Where Do We Go From Here
July 29th, 2025Another purchase from Kathryn Cramer:
Asimov, Isaac, editor. Where Do We Go From Here? Doubleday, 1971. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with one light thumbprint-sized blotch with a long sperm-like tail (binding flaw) to inside front cover, the ghost of that indention to the front free endpaper, slight bend at head, and front gutter just a little off from straight up and down (probably a binding flaw), in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Asimov. Reprint story anthology. Miller, Asimov: A Checklist, page 68. Currey, page 21. Bought for $100.
Library Addition: Assocational Proof of Gene Wolfe’s The Island of Doctor Death Inscribed to David Hartwell
July 28th, 2025Kathryn Cramer, after having numerous problems selling David Hartwell’s book collection in other venues, is now selling some directly. I contacted her, haggled over prices, and eventually we agreed on a purchase of several books, this being the first listed here.
Wolfe, Gene. The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories. Pocket Books, 1980. Proof (trade paperback format) of the paperback original first edition, a Fine copy, inscribed by Wolfe to his longtime editor Hartwell: “To Dave Hartwell, who/had sense enough to/separate the Doctor stories./Gene Wolfe”. Supplements another signed copy of this proof inscribed to me by Wolfe. In his Nova Express interview, Gene said Hartwell was the best editor he ever worked with. I suppose it’s a bit greedy to have two signed proof firsts of this, but I had long wanted an associational copy of a Wolfe title inscribed to Hartwell, and this is a pretty good one. Bought for $100.
Library Addition: Easton Press Limited of Dan Simmons’ Crook Factory
July 23rd, 2025This was simply a case of browsing eBay and going “Well, that’s pretty damn cheap.”
Simmons, Dan. The Crook Factory. Easton Press, 1999. First edition hardback thus, #264 of 1,050 copies, a Fine leatherbound copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with “a note about THE CROOK FACTORY and the author DAN SIMMONS” and Certification of Authenticity laid in. Supplements an inscribed first edition. Bought off eBay for $20.
Library Addition: Signed First of Jack Williamson’s Mazeway
July 14th, 2025Another bargain signed first off eBay:
Williamson, Jack. Mazeway. Del Rey, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Williamson. Bought off eBay for $10.
Jack was someone I knew from conventions, and he was a longtime subscriber to Nova Express. I pick up cheap signed firsts of his work whenever I can.
Library Addition: Robert Bloch: An Unconventional Bibliography
July 10th, 2025The field has long needed a better, up-to-date Robert Bloch bibliography. I’m not sure this new Print-on-Demand volume quite ticks all the boxes.
Library Addition: Signed/Limited Ray Bradbury Chronicles Volume 1
July 8th, 2025Closing in on a complete set of these:
Bradbury, Ray (with Kent Williams, Craig P. Russell, Segrelles, John Van Fleet, Chuck Roblin, Ray Zone, Ralph Reese and Al Williamson). The Ray Bradbury Chronicles Volume 1. Byron Preiss/Mantier, Beall, Minoustchini Publishing, 1992. First edition hardback graphic novel, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bumping at heel in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of wear at points. Bought off eBay for a $25 offer.
I now only lack Volume 5…
Library Addition: Inscribed Associational Copy Of Dean R. Koontz’s Oddkins
July 7th, 2025Here was a case on not just what you know, but who.
Koontz, Dean R. Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages. Warner Books, 1988. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, an association copy inscribed by Koontz to longtime friend and fellow writer Lisa Tuttle: “To Lisa —/A tale for kids of all ages./Button up your jammies, put/your slippers by the bed, and/be ready to run in case the/[underlined]bad toys[/underlined] show up some night./Warmest regards/Dean R. Koontz.” Lisa told me that she knew Koontz since she met him and his wife Gerda at a convention in the early 1970s when she was a student at Syracuse University, and in fact spent Thanksgiving break with the Koontzs one year. Koontz also dedicated his novel Beastchild to Tuttle. I saw on Facebook that Lisa had been selling off some books, and this is one of the ones she wanted to sell. The prices for signed Koontz firsts have come down a bit lately, to the point that recent titles can be had for cover price or even a bit less, but I have to think actual associational copies signed by him are a good deal harder to find. Bought from Lisa for £50, including shipping (which is a goodly chunk).
A little bit of the dust jacket top is cut off in the scan.
