So the very same day that I bought books from the Fred Duarte estate and from the Cold Tonnage sale also saw the close of a National Book Auctions featuring multiple lots from a serious werewolf and vampire collector. I missed out on two of the rarer items I bid on (Jane Gaskell’s The Shiny Narrow Grin, a mod vampire novel that’s the only Gaskell first edition I don’t own, and a better copy than mine of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend), but I ended up getting four mixed lots at bargain prices, the first three containing books from that werewolf/vampire collection, and the fourth…
Well, I’ll get to that eventually.
I’ll be listing the books incorporated into my own library here, while the rest will be offered up (most at bargain prices) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
The first set of books I’m listing are three August Derleth firsts from Arkham House, which he, of course, co-founded and ran until his death in 1971. I collect Arkham House much more than I collect Derleth per se, but all I’ve read of him are his dreadful posthumous Lovecraft “collaborations,” which I’m given to understand are not representative of his work as a whole.
Derleth, August and Mark Schorer. Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People. Arkham House, 1966. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of wear at points and a trace of dust soiling on white portions of dust jacket at rear. Collaborative short story collection. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 87. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 93. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 93. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 87. Currey, page 146.
Derleth, August, editor. Dark Mind, Dark Heart. Arkham House, 1962. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight dust soiling to white rear cover. Anthology. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 64. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 66. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 68. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 64. Currey, page 151.
Derleth, August, editor. Over the Edge. Arkham House, 1964. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight rubbing along rear cover fold. Anthology. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 75. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 79. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 81. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 79. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 6. Currey, page 153.
All three books bought for $55 as part of an eleven book lot.
