I managed to pick up two notable Richard Matheson first editions in the last month or so:
New Book Acquisitions: Two Richard Matheson First Editions
September 25th, 2011Neutrino Joke
September 24th, 2011“We don’t allow faster than light neutrinos in here” said the bartender.
A neutrino walks into a bar.
(Stolen from NRO)
Amazing 1974 Interview With Peter Sellers
September 20th, 2011I forgot exactly what I was looking for, but I came across this interview UK talk show host Michael Parkinson did with Peter Sellers in 1974. Sellers was, of course, one of the great comic actors, but according to this backstory, Sellers did very few interviews, and was very hard to interview in his own personality, as opposed to the many characters and impressions he did.
Anyway, the interview is a bit choppy in YouTube format (there’s a lot of overlap between the first two videos), but is full of fascinating Sellers impressions and bits, some Pink Panther outtakes, as well as a pinch of pathos about his failed marriages toward the end.
Seller died in 1980, but Michael Parkinson is still alive.
After Action Report on Heritage Auction’s Sale of the Jerry Weist Collection
September 19th, 2011Every year or two, Heritage Auctions in Dallas conducts a big auction of a major science fiction book collection. In 2007, it was the Ventura Collection.
The Ventura Collection auction was very successful, and since it occurred right before the advent of The Great Recession, many of the prices achieved in that auction have not since been equaled. (It may also be the first auction catalog Heritage mass-mailed to prospective SF collectors; I had not received any before then.)
In 2008, it was The Robert and Diane Yaspan collection, which included a vast array of SF firsts as well as several SF manuscripts and a few select non-SF firsts, such as many firsts by mystery writer Earle Stanley Gardener.
Later in 2008 was the auction of The Frank Collection, which was mainly SF art, but included a number of notable SF first editions as well.
The just completed auction of the Jerry Weist collection was of the same caliber. There was some original art and pulp magazines in the collection, but the bulk of it was collectible SF/F/H first editions. The auction realized more than $1 million (though a significant fraction of that was for the artworks).
I’m going to talk about some of the more interesting items sold, and how the prices realized compared to comparable copies of the same firsts in previous years. I’ll also mention when I have a copy of the first edition discussed in my own library.
A few general observations:
Holy Grails
To me, far and away the most interesting and desirable item was one of only five copies of Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Dawn of Flame to have the unsigned introduction by Amazing editor Ray Palmer. Weinbaum’s widow evidently objected to the introduction, which is why only five copies were so produced. Even the 245 copy Currey B state (with Lawrence Keating’s introduction replacing Palmer’s) is rare enough, and the book is widely considered the first true SF small press book. I don’t believe I’d seen a copy of the Palmer state for sale before, but I think one was sold when the Sam Moskowitz collection was auctioned off (they didn’t send me a catalog). Moreover, this particular copy once belonged to legendary collector and fan Forrest J. Ackerman, and was inscribed by him to Weist. Counting the buyer’s premium (a little shy of 20%, and which I’m going to include for all the other prices listed here), it went for $9,560.00; it wouldn’t have surprised me to see it go for twice that much.
There were some other SF collecting “holy grails” sold there:
Other Notable Books
From Holy Grails we move on to books that are merely Really Freaking Expensive. There are usually a few copies of these bumping around on Bookfinder.com, albeit with a comma in the price.
One of the most puzzling results of the auction was a signed first of Curt Siomdak’s Skyport was initially reported going for a stunning $8,611.17. That’s only about $8,500 more than it’s worth. But now when you go to the auction page for the item itself, it shows a far saner $101.58. I’m assuming there was some sort of glitch.
Slightly less puzzling was a signed, Near Fine copy of L. Sprague de Camp’s The Wheels of If (which has one of Hannes Bok’s most famous dust jacket illustrations) went for $717, which is a good bit more than it usually goes for; Lloyd Currey has a comparable-to-better signed copy online right now for $150. Before this I had the impression de Camp was out of fashion among collectors (and thus I have been able to pick up a number of signed copies of his work pretty cheap). I suspect this is an outlier.
Although I bid on several items, I only won one: an Ex-Library first of the UK David Bruce & Watson (first hardback) edition of Richard Matheson’s The Shrinking Man for $95.60. Fine copies go for over a grand.
Related Topics
Other science fiction book collecting topics (and glimpses into my own bibliomania) you might find of interest:
Armadillocon 2011 Photos for Sunday, August 28
September 17th, 2011Just a handful, as I left my camera recharging for the con itself, so all of these are from the dead dog party.
Lou Anders’ wife makes him presentable.
Willie Siros, Scott Bobo and Emma Bull get their Shiner on.
Emma Bull fiddles with a confounding electronic device.
Willie listens to Bobo tell the punchline. “And that’s when I gave him back the duck.”
Another Armadillocon survived.
Armadillocon 2011 Photos for Saturday, August 27
September 14th, 2011
A chipper-at-all-hours Kasey Lansdale, having no pity on us poor souls discomforted by having to get up at the crack of noon.
if we’re going to show Kasey, I suppose we should show her father, Joe R. Lansdale. I think he’s written a book or two.
Neal Barrett, Jr. “You working on anything right now, Neal?” “I’m a writer, I’m always working on something. That’s what writers do.”
Howard Waldrop, relieved that we only have to review Cowboys & Aliens once.
Rob Landley, the man who helped found both Penguincon and Linucon. And yet, somehow, he still walks among the living.
Paolo Bacigalupi, wondering just where that alligator might have gotten to.
Brad Denton, who foolishly exposed his skin to direct sunlight for almost 15 full seconds.
Martha Wells, reclining in the position usually reserved for her palanquin.
Elizabeth Moon’s expression shortly after hearing that she wouldn’t have spend three days being condescended and lectured to by dour, joyless feminists.
Jayme Lynn Blaschke, who’ had to cut back on his previously extravagant vest budget.
Kurt Baty towers over Lego creations. Deep in the night, he sneaks into his unfinished mansion to loom over them and shout “I’m the God! I’m the God!”
With his portable manual typewriter, Lou Antonelli may be taking his emulation of role-model Howard Waldrop a little too far…
Just one of the many, many martinis Scott Bobo drank that weekend, not all of which had Ed Scarborough looking on.
Scott, Ed and Dwight wait for dinner.
Dwight, Rich and Milton.
Little Chuckie, Emma Bull and Stina Leicht just before the Elizabeth Moon and Wiscon panel, more about which at a later date. No one was killed during the panel, which counts as a rousing success.
Ben Yalow and Emma Bull.
Matthew Bay, with beer and wearing a utility kilt, key clues for the police to piece together the horrific orbital belt sanding disaster that befell him moments later.
There used to be a picture here. Now there’s not.
Lovely con newbie Jamie Hott and here +5 Camera of Smiting.
Paolo attempts to re-enact the cover shoot from Peter Gabriel I.
The second of my blackmail photos of Mark Finn, this time cavorting with shameless married hussy Emma Bull.
The unsuspecting Will Shetterly sits next to his wife, none the wiser to the lascivious gyrations performed shortly before.
Oh yeah, baby! Finn and Dave Cake demonstrate that Fezes are TOTALLY coming back! It’s only a matter of time!
Brad offers Paolo the traditional SFWA Salute of Respect.
“I just ate what?”
Here serial cavorter Finns plys his oleaginous charm on the unsuspecting Jessica Reisman.
“Tonight the monkey dies!”
Kasey Lansdale reacts with calm, cool aplomb to Brad Denton missing a deadline.
This is what happens when you attempt to photograph the Tetragrammaton.
And finally (two base notes) in a world…where dinner can take three hours…one man…will drink…a martini!
Ed Bryant Could Use Your Help
September 12th, 2011Due to health and financial troubles. Details and a way to donate at the link.
“I too have an ass sword!”
September 11th, 2011RoboGeisha
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Writer: Noboru Iguchi (screenplay)
Starring: Asami, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Naoto Takenaka
Once again Japan brings us a classic piece of the “What the Fuck?” cinema at which they excel. Noboru Iguchi, the director of The Machine Girl, which was your typical “girl picked on and humiliated, girl gets machine gun grafted onto her arm, girl racks up serious body count” film, is back with a film that makes that one look like an exercise in good taste and restraint.
After an insane beginning of RoboGeisha-on-RoboGisha combat, we jump back to a flashback that, it turns out, will take up the entire rest of the movie. Two sisters, one older, pretty, and working as a geisha, the other younger-and-even-prettier-but-we’re-going-to-pretend-she’s-homely-for-the-sake-of-the-plot who gets bossed around, exhibit the usual sibling rivalry. Then they get kidnapped by your generic evil corporation and are forced to train as geisha assassins. Oh, as you just might possibly be able to surmise from the title, they sport all sorts of deadly robotic devices implanted in their body.
The biggest difference between this and Machine Girl is that that film was (with a few allowances) a reasonably realistic, conventional film until it went all machine gunny in the third act, while RoboGeisha is pure WTF from start to finish. Just in case you were worried that RoboGeisha would be a deep, introspective examination of sibling rivalry in modern Japan, the shurukens flying out of the female penis goblin guard’s asses and the circular saw blade popping out of another robogeisha’s mouth should convince you of the film’s pure over-the-top, mutant cinema goodness. Swords pop out of deeply unlikely places (as in the quote in the title), breasts sport guns, shattered buildings bleed digital blood (albeit more convincing than the digital blood than found in Ugandan action films) and a cyborg geisha tank takes on a giant robot. Add off-balance dubbing, the hilariously maudlin sister story, and a ridiculously small cast (the same guy gets killed at least four or five times), and you have a strong candidate to show at your next party.
Here’s the trailer, which pretty much puts all the virtues of the film (such as they are) on display:
And it beats the hell out of Wild Zero or Kibakichi.
Texans Slaughter Colts 34-7
September 11th, 2011The Texans managed to put together the most dominant half of professional football I’ve ever seen by going up 34-0 in the first half against the Manning-less Colts. The Texans dominated on both sides of the line, Mario Williams got his first sack as an outside linebacker and Ben Tate got his first career touchdown. And Jacoby Jones took a punt return 79 yards for a touchdown, turning what was a rout into a full-blown slaughter.
Alas, there was also the second half, where conservative play-calling and some bone-headed turnovers let the Colts get on the board and prevented the Texans from padding their lead.
Matt Schaub was 17 of 24 with 220 yards. The two interceptions are slightly deceptive, as the first one was a freak tip off Andrew Johnson’s fingers.
I expected the Texans to win this game, but I didn’t expect it to be a laugher. The offense is still plenty potent, but the defense is radically improved from last year’s league-worst unit. Tate’s 100+ yard game proves that last year wasn’t a fluke, and yes, the offensive line is that good at opening holes, with or without Arian Foster (who sat out the game with a tweaked hamstring).
if they can harness the intensity of the first half and avoid the miscues of the second, not only will they make the playoffs (especially in a weekend AFC South), they should actually be able to make some noise there. Of course, Texan fans felt that after last year’s opening day victory over the Colts, so we’ll see how they do against a murder’s row of an early schedule that has them visiting New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Baltimore in the first six weeks of the season.
But all in all, I feel very good about my bet with Dwight.