Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Wednesday, March 26th, 2025
Another Dragonstairs chapbook:
Swanwick, Michael. A Fantasist’s Guide to Venice. Dragonstairs Press, 2025. First edition chapbook original, #30 of 79 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Collection of short essays on various fantastic elements of Venice, in fact and fiction, following the author’s visit there.
Note that this is one of at least four different cover patterns for this title, all done in reds and yellows.
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which should be out in May.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Fantasy, Italy, Michael Swanwick, Venice
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Monday, March 24th, 2025
I did a fair amount of wargaming in my youth, but have done piratically none since graduating college. Still, every now and then a boardgaming Kickstarter strikes my fancy, as this one, vaguely based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail and first announced back in 2022, did. I think this is the first game I’ve bought since the designer edition of Ogre.
Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. Exalted Funeral, 2025. This has numerous components:
The “Public School Edition” of the main game book
Head of Light Entertainment Gamemaster Screen with 18 HoLE cards
A Head of Light Entertainment sash
Two “Black Beast” Nesting Box Dice Sets
Meeple Set
Bag of tokens
Coconut dice roller
Fetchez la Vache! boardgame feature catapults and cows. This was an add-on. It’s too big to fit on the scanner, so here’s an image I stole from the Kickstarter page:
All components are Fine/New, still in shrinkwrap or bag.
Bought for $250 back in 2022, but only shipped this year.
Tags:boardgames, Fantasy, Kickstarter, Monty Python
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Friday, March 21st, 2025
Quite a bit different than a lot of the items I catalog here:
Harvia, Teddy (David Thayer). WingNuts in Time and Space. Self-published, 2025. First edition comic book fanzine original, #90 of 200 copies, a Fine copy, with letter from the author/illustrator laid in. An eight page comic from the award-winning fan artist featuring his WingNut characters talking about the Big Bang. Given to me free after he asked me if I wanted a copy. Sure!
Tags:art, Books, comic books, fanzine, Science Fiction, Teddy Harvia AKA David Thayer
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Wednesday, March 19th, 2025
Though I have several H. G. Wells first editions, I have comparatively little by Verne. Not only do first English language editions of Verne not pop up at used bookstores in central Texas, I haven’t even chanced across any firsts of the Naval Institute Press translations (which evidently include material omitted from all previous translations). Prior to this volume, the only Verne first I had was the Chambers edition of Backwards to Britain, which I think I bought for something like $7.99. The is the latest in Borderlands “Past Masters of Horror & Fantasy” series.
Verne, Jules (Tim Connair, editor). A Little Blue Book of Icy Peril. First edition hardback, #463 of 500 copies signed by the editor, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issue. Three novelette/novella length stories (“A Drama in the Air,” “Winter amidst the Ice,” and “Ascent of Mount Blanc”) plus notes.
I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, Borderlands Press, Jules Verne, Little Books, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Monday, March 17th, 2025
Two PS Publishing signed, limited hardback editions that came in from the publisher.
Blaylock, James p. The Invisible Woman. PS Publishing, 2024. First edition hardback, #76 of 200 signed, numbered hardbacks, a Fine copy in decorated boards and a Fine dust jacket. Set in the same universe as Pennies From Heaven.
Campbell, Ramsey. The Inhabitant of the Lake & Other Unwelcome Tenants (60th Anniversary Edition). PS Publishing, 2024 (stated, actually 2025). First edition hardback thus, a considerably expanded version of the 1964 Arkham House first edition, #47 of 100 signed, traycased copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket in a Fine traycase. A massively expanded version of Campbell’s first book, a collection of Cthulhu Mythos stories that August Derleth helped him edit and polish before publishing for Arkham House. In addition to being a much more attractive package than both the original and the 2011 PS edition, the book includes 12 additional works (stories and essays) not in the original. Sold out upon publication.
I will have a small number of copies for both of these in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, and I still have signed hardback firsts of Pennies From heaven available.
Tags:Arkham House, Books, Cthulhu, James P. Blaylock, Limited Editions, PS Publishing, Ramsey Campbell
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Thursday, March 13th, 2025
Here are the final books from that big Robert E. Howard purchase.
Howard, Robert E. Red Nails. Donald M. Grant, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket was one pinprick black dot on front of dust jack. Fourth in the Deluxe Conan series. Currey, page 251. Chalker/Owings, page 217-18.
Howard, Robert E. Rogues in the House. Donald M. Grant, 1976. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Sixth in the Deluxe Conan series. Currey, page 251. Chalker/Owings, page 218.
Howard, Robert E. The Tower of the Elephant. Donald M. Grant, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and heel. Third in the Deluxe Conan series. Currey, page 251. Chalker/Owings, page 217.
Howard, Robert E. A Witch Shall Be Born. Donald M. Grant, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bend at head and slight crease to very tip of top front inner flap. Second in the Deluxe Conan series. Currey, page 251. Chalker/Owings, page 217.
Now I need to track down the other four volumes in the series: Black Colossus, The Hour of the Dragon, Jewels of Gwahlur and The Pool of the Black One.
Overall, this purchase doubled my Howard holdings…and I still have 48 Howard items on my want list!
Tags:Books, Conan, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, Robert E. Howard, small press publishers
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Monday, March 10th, 2025
Getting toward the end of cataloging that large Robert E. Howard purchase.
The Grant Deluxe Conan series was something I never really planned to collect, as I always found the covers drab, and it overlapped significantly with the Conan volumes (namely the Gnome Press firsts) I already had. But these were part of the lot deal, and, as I’ve noted before, there are few price points quite as attractive as “you’ve already paid for it.”
I don’t have all of these (yet), and there’s no sign on the books themselves of which volume they are in the series, so I’m cataloging and shelving these by title.
Howard, Robert E. The Devil in Iron. Donald M. Grant, 1976. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with slight bump at heel and long, faint non-breaking crease to front free endpaper, in a Near Fine dust jacket with bump at heel, small section of slight discoloration to bottom rear edge, long, faint non-breaking crease to front flap and trace of wear at points. Chalker/Owings, page 218. Currey, page 249. Fifth volume in the Deluxe Conan series.
Howard, Robert E. The People of the Black Circle. Donald M. Grant, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight discoloration to the front panel and slight bumping at head. Chalker/Owings, page 217. Currey, page 250. First volume of the Deluxe Conan series.
Howard, Robert E. The Queen of the Black Coast. Donald M. Grant, 1978. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine copy. Chalker/Owings, page 218. Seventh volume of the Deluxe Conan series.
Tags:Books, Conan, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, Robert E. Howard
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Thursday, March 6th, 2025
More from that large Robert E. Howard purchase, three from Donald M. Grant:
Howard, Robert E. Black Vulmea’s Vengence. Donald M. Grant, 1976. First edition hardback, a Fine-/Fine- copy with trace of wear at head, heel and points. Pirate stories. Currey, page 248. Chalker/Owings, page 218.
Howard, Robert E. Echoes from an Iron Harp. Donald M. Grant, 1972. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with trace of wear at head, heel and point in a Fine- dust jacket with trace of wear at head, heel and points and trace of dust soiling to white rear panel. Howard’s third poetry collection. Lord, The Last Celt, page 129. Chalker/Owings, page 217.
Howard, Robert E. The Hour of the Dragon. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977. First hardback edition thus (no statement of printing, as per Currey, and “7711” date on flap, as per ISFDB), “The Authorized Edition” of the Conan novel Conan the Conqueror edited by Karl Edward Wagner (and weirdly, the paperback edition precedes by a couple of months), a Fine-/Fine- copy with a trace of bumping at points. Currey, page 250, who notes “Follows the text of the five-part serial appearing in Weird Tales.” Supplements a copy of the Gnome Press first of Conan the Conqueror.
Howard, Robert E. The Pride of Bear Creek. Donald M. Grant, 1966. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with previous owner’s name in ink on front free endpaper and a tiny dust print at heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with a few small nicks to front panel near bottom edge. The second collection of Breckenridge Elkins stories. Supplements a copy of the 1977 Grant edition. Lord, The Last Celt, page 117. Currey, page 251. Chalker/Owings, page 216. (There was another Bear Creek book in this lot, but the condition was too poor to add it to my library.)
Tags:Books, Conan, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, pirates, poetry, Robert E. Howard, small press publishers, Western
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Monday, March 3rd, 2025
More books from that large Robert E. Howard purchase.
Howard, Robert E. Always Comes Evening. Underwood Miller, 1977. First edition thus, a reprint of the Arkham House edition #116 of 200 leatherbound copies signed by artist Keiko Nelson, a Fine copy in a Fine-, first state (dragon) dust jacket with a short hairline crack and three tiny spots of edgewear at head, four tiny spots of edgewear at heel, and indention in spine middle (where you would pull the book out of the slipcase with you fingers), with folded sheet reproducing the handwritten “The Song of Yar Ali Khan” laid in, in a Fine- slipcase with a trace of wear at points. Contents differ from the Arkham House edition. Chalker/Owens, page 430. Supplements a copy of the Arkham House first edition.
Howard, Robert E. Hawks of Outremer. Donald M. Grant, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight bumping and small abrasion at heel and trace of wear at head and points. Howard’s Cormac Fitzgeoffrey stories. Chalker/Owens, page 220.
Howard, Robert E. Marchers of Valhalla. Donald M. Grant, 1977. First edition thus, a larger and more heavily heavily illustrated version than the 1972 edition which adds an additional story (“The Grey God Passes”), a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with bumping at head and heel and two 1/2″ closed tears to top rear panel, with signature plate by illustrator Marcus Boas affixed to front free endpaper. Chalker/Owens, page 218 (“essentially a new book”). I’m not seeing any mention of the plate online or in the literature, and I’m not sure whose signature that is. Supplements the 1972 first edition.
Howard, Robert E. The Road of Azrael. Donald M. Grant, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bend at head and heel. Another lavishly illustrated collection, this one with art by Roy Krenkel. Chalker/Owens, page 219.
Tags:Books, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, Marcus Boas, poetry, Robert E. Howard, Roy Krenkel, Underwood/Miller
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Friday, February 28th, 2025
More books from that big Robert E. Howard purchase.
Howard, Robert E. The Adventures of Lal Singh. Cryptic Publications, 1985. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Short story collection.
Howard, Robert E. The Coming of El Borak. Cryptic Publications, 1987. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Short story collection.
Howard, Robert E. The Grey God Passes. Charles Miller, 1975. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Chalker/Owings, page 547.
Howard, Robert E. and Tevis Clyde Smith (“El Gringo” (E. A. Fisher) illustrator). Red Blades of Black Cathay. Real Free Press, 1975. First edition chapbook graphic novel, a Fine copy.
Howard, Robert E. Valley of the Lost. Charles Miller, 1975. First edition chapbook original, #691 of 777 signed by illustrator Bot Roda, a Fine copy (the ragged right edge of the front cover seems intentional). Chalker/Owings, page 547.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Charles F. Miller, Cryptic Publications, Fantasy, Robert E. Howard
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