Three Subterranean Press books that came in recently:
I will have copies of all of these in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Library Additions: Three Subterranean Press First Editions
September 21st, 2023Library Additions: Two Swanwick Chapbooks
September 20th, 2023Two signed Swanwick Dragonstairs chapbooks that came in separately:
Both of these sold out the same day they were offered for sale, and I will have copies of each available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Library Addition: Signed First of Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing
September 19th, 2023I’ve been somewhat casually collecting Cormac McCarthy for a decade or so. The early stuff (Blood Meridian and before) is insanely expensive, and he was well known for avoiding book signings and other public events. When this signed copy popped up in my price range, I went ahead and grabbed it.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Crossing. Knopf, 1994. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with McCarthy signature plate attached to half-title page. Second book in the Border Trilogy, preceded by his breakthrough bestseller and National Book Award winner All the Pretty Horses. Supplements an unsigned first. Bought for $400 (with discount) from a fellow dealer.
It’s always chancy to buy books signed by an author who’s recently died. There’s a “death curve” where prices for signed copies jump immediately after their death, and then start coming down again six months to a year later. And there are some writers whose popularity simply falls off entirely after their death. But I fairly strongly suspect that McCarthy’s appeal will prove more enduring, so I grabbed a signed first at a price I could afford.
Shoegazer Sunday: Collapse’s “Path”
September 17th, 2023Collapse is another obscure Japanese Shoegaze band. Or maybe not so obscure, since they already have ten albums and EPs out. Their earlier songs seem more My Bloody Valentine-influenced, but their later stuff seems a bit more Dreampop with a noisebed base, maybe Tokyo Shoegazer by way of The Cherry Wave and Civic with a soupcon of Asobi Seksu thrown in. Here’s “Path.”
Library Additions: Three Joe R. Lansdale Trade Paperback Firsts
September 14th, 2023Three more Lansdale firsts, two signed.
Note: Both the Pandi Press books say “First paperback edition,” but each is actually a true first (current ETA for the Thunderstorm Books signed/limited hardback of The Drive-In: Multiplex is December).
Library Additions: Bradbury, Jeter, Mundy Firsts
September 11th, 2023Only theme here is that I bought all of these on a day trip to San Antonio:
Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “The Slab” (and first impressions of Everything is Alive)
September 10th, 2023Here’s “The Slab,” the final track from Slowdive’s new Everything is Alive album. But I should warn you that this is a case where the song of the CD is much stronger than the compressed version on YouTube:
I finally got the CD in this week, and I think it’s a very strong album, more consistent than their previous self-titled album, but only time will tell is something as strong as “Slomo” or “No Longer Making Time” emerges as particular favorites. (And the later only really twigged for me when it became such a burner live.)
Library Addition: First Edition of Hope Mirrlees’ Lud-In-The-Mist
September 6th, 2023Here’s a book I’ve been looking for quite a long time, even before Neil Gaiman recommended it.
Mirrlees, Hope. Lud-In-The-Mist. W. Collins & Sons, 1926. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a couple of abrasion spots on front cover, slight bend and head and heel, and small bookseller sticker to bottom of rear inside cover, otherwise a nice, sharp copy in an immaculate facsimile dust jacket. Bleiler, Checklist (1978), page 141. Magill, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, pages 926-931. Barron, Fantasy Literature 3-250 (“A beautifully written allegory unashamedly celebrating the necessity of enchantment”). Tymn Zahorsky Boyer, Fantasy Literature pages 141-142. Widely considered one of the classic novels of pre-Tolkien fantasy. Bought for $395 plus shipping.
Library Addition: Limited Edition of Avram Davidson’s Naples
September 4th, 2023Another Avram Davidson chapbook from Temporary Culture.
Davidson, Avram. Naples. The Nutmeg Point District Mail/Temporary Culture, 2022. First edition self-wrappers chapbook original, one of 160 copies, a Fine copy, inside a black envelope with Mylar protective wrappers and with a mounted black and white photograph laid in. Bought for $150 (the subscriber price). Story reprinted from Charles L. Grant’s Shadows anthology.
I’m sort of a Davidson completists but these chapbooks are starting to get a bit pricey for my budget…
Library Addition: Charnel House Limited of Tim Powers’ An Epitaph in Rust
August 31st, 2023Another volume in the Charnel House signed, limited edition reprint line of all Powers’ novels.
Powers, Tim. An Epitaph in Rust. Charnel House 2023. First edition hardback, #54 of 200 numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount.
I will have one copy available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.