Archive for the ‘Science Fiction’ Category

Library Addition: Signed Edition of Philip Jose Farmer’s The Other in the Mirror

Tuesday, May 31st, 2016

I didn’t pick this up in the signed edition when it first came out, but I found it online cheap enough to be worth picking up.

Farmer, Philip Jose. The Other in the Mirror. Subterranean Press, 2009. First edition hardback, with a signed (but unnumbered) limitation page, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine slipcase. Omnibus edition of three novels (Fire in the Night, Jesus on Mars, and Night of Light), the first two of which were only published as paperback originals. Original price for the signed/numbered edition was $125. This supplements my trade edition, and all editions are now out of print from the publisher. Bought off eBay for $24.95 plus shipping.

Two Highlights of the Forthcoming Bonhams Book Auction

Thursday, May 26th, 2016

Bonhams has a book auction coming up on June 8. There are a lot of interesting things outside of fiction (like Mohammed Ali’s passport), but very few items of interest to science fiction collectors.

However, there are two quite notable exceptions:

  • A first edition of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged inscribed to Barbara Branden. For those unfamiliar with Rand, Barbara Branden was one of Rand’s closest friends before the break between Rand and her protege/lover Nathaniel Branden, Barbara’s husband. Rand and Barbara Branden would later reconcile toward the end of Rand’s life, after which Barbara Branden would write The Passion of Ayn Rand, so even though this is quite a worn copy, it’s among the best possible association copies of Rand’s most influential book.
  • An autographed letter from Thomas Pynchon. I don’t need to tell you how rare a Pynchon signature is, do I?
  • Pynchon Simpsons

    Library Addition: Signed First Edition of Ray Bradbury’s Let’s All Kill Constance

    Monday, May 9th, 2016

    Yet another signed Ray Bradbury first edition:

    Bradbury, Ray. Let’s All Kill Constance. William Morrow, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and dated by Bradbury. Bought off eBay for $19.95, which is $4 off cover price.

    Bradbury Kill Constance

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    Library Addition: Michael Swanwick’s 5 Seasons

    Monday, May 2nd, 2016

    Dragonstairs Press has been unusually busy this year. Hot on the heels of their last project, here’s another Michael Swanwick chapbook:

    Swanwick, Michael. 5 Seasons. Dragonstairs Press, 2016. First edition chapbook original, #69 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Five one page stories about the seasons.

    5 Seasons

    Unlike last month’s Dragonstairs book, I’ll actually have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in preparation…

    Library Addition: Michael Swanwick’s Fallen Leaves

    Tuesday, April 19th, 2016

    It’s another Michael Swanwick Dragonstair Press book with a ridiculously short print run:

    Swanwick, Michael, with Marianne Porter. Fallen Leaves. Dragonstairs Press, 2016. First edition hardback, number 17 of 20 signed, numbered copies (the only edition), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with spine label affixed.

    Swanwick Leaves

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    Says the Publisher:

    The Fallen Leaves Project was carried out during October, 2015, in multiple locations around Philadelphia, including Laurel Hill Cemetery, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Morris Arboretum, and Gorgas Park.

    Michael Swanwick composed “epitaphs”, and wrote them on fallen leaves. The leaves were photographed by Marianne Porter and Michael Swanwick within a few feet of where they were found and left where they were, to be discovered by passersby. Or not. The photographs were posted daily throughout October on Twitter, Facebook, and Swanwick’s blog. In total, ninety-four images were created.

    Fallen Leaves is a set of albums made of hand-crafted mulberry paper, manufactured by Karin tribe members, with a selection of leaf photographs pasted in. Archival glue was used throughout. Each album contains fifteen images and no two albums contain the same set of images. Fallen Leaves is limited to an edition of twenty albums.

    The book sold out pretty much the same day it was announced…

    Library Addition: Signed First of Ray Bradbury’s Yestermorrow

    Monday, April 18th, 2016

    Another signed Ray Bradbury first, this one a collection of essays:

    Bradbury, Ray. Yestermorrow. Joshua Odell Editions/Capra Press, 1991. First edition hardback (“First Edition” stated and numberline ending in 1), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of dust jacket crimping at head and heel. Inscribed by Bradbury: “Matthew!/Ray Bradbury/ 4/30/94”. Bought off eBay for $20, which is 5¢ over cover price.

    Yestermorrow

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    Library Addition: Signed Ray Bradbury Christmas 2008 Broadsheet

    Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

    Bought another signed Ray Bradbury Christmas broadsheet:

    Bradbury, Ray. Christmas Greetings 2008 (Imagine that you have been dead). Privately printed, 2008. First edition Christmas broadsheet, a Fine- copy with slight corner bumping. Signed by Bradbury. Bought for $25 off eBay.

    Bradbury Christmas 2008 1

    Library Additions: Three Signed Ray Bradbury Items

    Tuesday, March 15th, 2016

    Picked up a few more items signed by Ray Bradbury:

  • Bradbury, Ray. A Christmas Wish 1988 (If Only We Had Taller Been). Privately printed, 1988. First edition Christmas broadsheet, a Fine copy. Inscribed by Bradbury: “For Rev. Gerald Watt, C.R./With fond good wishes/for/1989/Ray Bradbury.” Bought for $28 off eBay.

    Bradbury Christmas 88

  • Bradbury, Ray. A Christmas Wish 1989 (The Bread of Beggars, The Wine of Christ). Privately printed, 1989. First edition Christmas broadsheet, a Fine copy. Inscribed by Bradbury: “For Rev. Watt. Thanks for Asking!/Love!/Ray/Bradbury/ 5/6/90.” Bought for $29 off eBay.

    Bradbury Christmas 89

  • (Bradbury, Ray) Weist, Jerry. Bradbury: An Illustrated Life. William Morrow, 2002. First edition hardback (precedes the Donald M. Grant limited edition by two years), a Fine-/Fine- copy with very slight bumping at head and heel. Inscribed by Bradbury: “To all the/Grand Tubers;Ray Bradbury.” Oversized illustrated history of Bradbury’s work. Bought for $27.10 off eBay.
  • I now have three of the Bradbury Christmas broadsheets (which he sent to friends as Christmas gifts/cards), all signed.

    Library Additions: Two Jack Vance Books

    Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

    I bought a lot of Jack Vance books from an Australian book auction. I’ll be selling the rest of the books from the lot in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, but here are the two books from the lot that are going in my own library:

  • Vance, Jack. Cugal’s Saga. Timescape, 1983. First edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Third book in the Dying Earth series (or fourth, if you count Michael Shea’s A Quest for Simbilis). Hewett, A71. Preceded the Underwood/Miller limited edition by six months.
  • Vance, Jack. The Houses of Iszm. Underwood/Miller, 1983. First hardback edition, one of 482 trade copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Hewett, A12h.
  • Library Additions: Three PS Publishing Limited Editions

    Monday, February 22nd, 2016

    PS Publishing had a sale, and I picked up three limited editions of things I already had the trade editions of.

  • Bradbury, Ray. Greentown Tinseltown. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, #29 of 50 copies signed by editor Donn Albright, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and decorated boards. Trade state lacks the dust jacket and limitation page.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Edge of Dark Water. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, #221 of 300 signed copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and decorated boards and a Near Fine slipcase with a 1″ indention.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Trapped in the Saturday Matinee. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, #157 of 200 signed copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and decorated boards and a Fine slipcase.