This is a case of replacing a just slightly less attractive first with a pristine copy.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. HarperCollins, 2008. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Newbery and Carnegie Medal winner. Replaces a Fine/Fine- copy. Bought for $8.09 from Half Price Books.
These four books were offered as The John Crowley Conway Miscellany set on Kickstarter. Each has a different trim size.
The four books together can be laid out to form a single image. Because the books are too large to fit on my scanner, I have copied the image from the Kickstarter page.
I will have a small number of sets of these (with the signature plate) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
You may have noticed that Joel Hodgson and MST3K gang are having a new kickstarter for the next season (for values of “kickstarter” that include “not on the Kickstarter platform”). There are five days left and they are only 38% of the way to the first goal of $4.8 million, which will be six features and six shorts.
The last two Kickstarters they had blew past their goals.
This one? Not so much. Despite announcing that Plan 9 from Outer Space will be among the riffed films.
Donor fatigue? The Biden Recession? Not doing enough promotion? Not enough boost from a non-Kickstarter platform? Disgruntlement over how long it took people to get their promised rewards from the last campaign?
I think it may be some combination of all the above.
Maybe the usual Turkey Day festivities will kick it into higher gear. But if they don’t, this may be the first MST3K fundraising effort to fail.
Another book from that Heritage lot. Random short story collections of Celtic fantasy are not exactly my usual line, but I’m keeping this one to solve the mystery of why it was published.
MacLeod, Fiona (pseudonym for William Sharp). The Hills of Ruel and Other Stories. Heinemann, 1921. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy in decorated boards (the design matching the dust jacket) with sight bumping at head, heel and points and slight foxing to inside covers and endpapers in a Very Good- dust jacket with a 7/8″ chip at head, 1/2″ chip at heel, smaller losses at top and bottom edges and wear along outer edges. Beliler Checklist (1978) page 131.
The mystery is why Heinemann decided to do such an elaborate book for an author that is fairly obscure today. It’s oversized (10 1/4″ high, the extact same height as the Dark Harvest first edition of Dan Simmons’ Carrion Comfort) with multiple inserted plates (most in color) and decorated endpapers.
The art, by M. H. Lawrence, in a sort of arts-and-crafts-meets-Art-Deco tops out at “sort of OK.” M. H. Lawrence turns out to be Margery Lawrence, more famous as a writer, including the psychic detective stories collected in Number Seven Queer Street publish by Arkham House sister imprint Mycroft & Moran. Judging from the art here, concentrating on writing was probably the right choice.
Still, fiction works with multiple inserted plates are fairly rare, and today limited to pricey small press editions by the likes of Stephen King and George R. R. Martin. Why did Heinemann go to that extent for MacLeod/Sharp? (This was published 15 years after his death, and he’s clearly listed as being MacLeod on a page advertising MacLeod and Sharp books right before the first plate page.) Presumably Heinemann did well with him, as there are nine books by him and one about him (by his wife) listed there. Also, this ISFDB page says that this was done as a Christmas gift book, which explains the elaborate production.
As I’ve stated before, “you’ve already paid for it” is a pretty compelling argument for adding anything interesting to your library…
Another limited edition:
Beagle, Peter S. The Essential Peter S. Beagle. Tachyon, 2023. First edition hardback, #95 of 474 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in silver decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, with Tachyon sticker and business card laid in. Just what it says, a best of collection of stories for this beloved fantasy writer. This combines what are two volumes for the trade edition (which I have on order but haven’t seen yet). I have a small number of these available through Lame Excuse Books.
I’ve already picked up the most important of Howard’s early work, including the five Gnome Press Conan books he wrote solo (the “posthumous collaboration” volumes are way down the list to pick up) and the three Arkham House books. (I do not have the Herbert Jenkins A Gent From Bear Creek; if you have one you’re willing to part with, let me know…) But I’ve mostly held off on picking up the “deluxe” editions of things, apart from the occasional Subterranean Press sale. But these came up for auction at PBA Galleries at fairly affordable prices.
All four are quite attractive volumes, and all four already had Mylar dust jacket protectors. Now I just need to track down The Ultimate Triumph, The Savage Tales Of Solomon Kane, and Conan of Cimmeria Volume One. Alas, those three seem even pricier…
Three Heinlein firsts bought from two different sources:
This is the fourth signed Heinlein I’ve added to my collection. For others, see here and here.
The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy, the redheaded stepchild of the Dwight and Lawrence blogging empire, has shambled back to life this months with two bits of news:
You might want to take a look if you like dining in Austin.
Try not to kill anyone over cutting in line for a taco trick.
Just after bar-close at 2:38 a.m. on Sunday, May 8th, the Austin Police Department responded to a report of gunfire at what appears to be the Tortillas Hecha a Manos taco truck in Lanier Village, just south of Peyton Gin and North Lamar. When police arrived, they found 39-year-old Rigoberto Jose Castillo dead and three others injured, one critically.
You may be asking, what could have caused all this mayhem? As the story goes, it all began when someone allegedly cut in line for tacos.
According to witnesses, a fight started over who was in line for tacos first. Nobody appreciates the wait for a taco, but police say that Mr. Castillo took special exception to the alleged line-cutting when two men, Osiel Benitez Benitez, 44, and Juventino Benitez Carbajal, 38, allegedly attempted to order out of line.
Things escalated to fisticuffs between Rigoberto and Osiel Benitez, the police report says, leaving Benitez unconscious on the ground, before all hell broke loose. Police go on to claim that a moment later Carbajal went to his truck, pulled out a gun, and began firing into the group of patrons. In addition to Castillo’s death, three women were also injured.
It’s also a bad idea to try and cut in line for a taco trailer. Upside: You get your taco faster. Downside: Getting shot to death over tacos. Plus it’s just not polite…
(Hat tip: Bill Crider.)