Posts Tagged ‘bibliography’
Wednesday, May 16th, 2018
A non-fiction reference chapbook I hadn’t seen before I chanced across it:
(Howard, Robert E.) Warfield, Wayne (editor). The Ultimate Guide to Howardia 1925-1975. Hall Publications, 1976. First edition chapbook first edition (and perfect-bound, which is unusual for a chapbook of a mere 32 pages), a Fine copy. Early bibliography of Robert E. Howard, including much (then) unpublished work, but missing a few things (like the Herbert Jenkins A Gent From Bear Creek, which, to be fair, precious few Howard collectors had laid eyes on in 1975). Includes spot illustrations that range from “very solid” to “really not very good. Currey, page 254. Bought of eBay for $15.
Tags:bibliography, Books, chapbooks, Fantasy, reference works, Robert E. Howard
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Friday, January 6th, 2017
Still clearing out the backlog of books I bought in 2016. here are two bibliographies, each of which I bought quite cheap:
(Buckley, William F., Jr.) Meehan, William H. III. William F. Buckley Jr.: A Bibliography. ISI Books, 2002. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought this after picking up these Buckley boks. Alas, though it contains a great deal of information, it doesn’t include the one thing I bought it for: first edition pints on Buckley’s books.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Joshi, S. T. 200 Books by S. t. Joshi. Hippocampus Press, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, signed by Joshi. A self-bibliography of H.P. Lovecraft’s supreme scholar, biographer, and bibliographer. So a bibliography of a bibliographer. Bought off eBay for $4.50 plus shipping.
Tags:bibliography, Books, Horror, reference works, S. T. Joshi, William F. Buckley Jr.
Posted in Books, Horror | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 6th, 2016
Picked this up from a recent Heritage Auction:
(Burroughs, Edgar Rice) McWhorter, George T. Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection: A Catalog. House of Greystoke, 1991. First edition oversized trade paperback original, a Fine copy in vinyl overlay wraps. Inscribed by McWhorter: “To my good friends Roy and Dela White — who have stood by me/in this publishing ordeal. Best wishes! George T. Mcwhorter — 11/11/91”. With the Roy and Dela White library collection slip laid in. Comprehensive bibliography of the Burroughs collection at the University of Louisville by the curator. Won off the Heritage auction of the White Burroughs collection for $16, plus buyer’s premium, plus shipping.
Burroughs is typically before the period I collect, his important firsts generally go for far more than I’m willing to pay, and Burroughs bibliophiles are a world unto themselves. But I am big on SF/F/H reference works and bibliographies, and was happy to snag this for a lowball bid. Though it has some overlap with the Heins bibliography (which I also have), McWhorter is a lot more heavily illustrated.
More information on the Louisville Burroughs collections here and here.
Tags:bibliography, Books, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fantasy, reference works, Science Fiction
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Monday, December 22nd, 2014
In the past few years I’ve obtained the signatures of H. G. Wells and H. P. Lovecraft (among many others), but wasn’t able to find a verifiable signature I could afford for Philip K. Dick.
Until now.
(Dick, Philip K.) Levack, Daniel J. H. PKD: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography. Underwood/Miller, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by Dick, Levack and annotator Steven Owen Godersky. A Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $299 off eBay at the Buy-It-Now price, which is less than half what it usually lists for.
I think this was the last signed edition Dick did while he was still alive. In fact, discount the numerous posthumous “cut from a check” limiteds, I think only this and Confessions of a Crap Artist were done in signed/limited editions.
A year and a half ago, I didn’t have the signed editions of any of the Levack Underwood/Miller bibliographies (Dick, Zelazny and de Camp); now I have all three.
Tags:bibliography, Books, Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction, signatures, signed
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 5th, 2014
I saw grand old British bookseller/publisher/bibliographer George Locke at the London Worldcon. George has been book hunting and dealing in the field longer than I’ve been collecting, and has written a number of important bibliographies in the field, of which the three volume Spectrum of Fantasy set and Voyages in Space: a Bibliography of Interplanetary Fiction, 1801-1914 are perhaps the best known.
George has just published two books of genre bibliographic material, in editions of a mere 50 (!) copies each which, with a little prodding and discounting, he convinced me to pick up.
Teitler, Stuart A. By the World Forgot. Privately printed (Ferret Fantasy), 2014. First edition trade paperback original, one of 50 numbered copies (this one inscribed to me by compiler George Locke, noting he hadn’t gotten around to numbering them yet), a Near Fine copy with slight creasing near the spine (a result of carrying it around in my carry on luggage). A 130 page (plus a catalog at the back) annotated bibliographic compendium of lost race fiction compiled by Teitler, a noted American book scout and lost race collector. Probably destined to become the definitive book on the subject.
Teitler, Stuart A., George Locke and Others. By the Book World Remembered. Privately printed (Ferret Fantasy), 2014. First edition trade paperback original, one of 50 numbered copies (this one also inscribed to me by compiler George Locke, but not yet numbered), a Fine copy. Another non-fiction reference book, 146 pages, something of a memorial to Teitler, told largely in epistolary format, of the friendship between the two, covering book hunting, finer points of lost race bibliographic information, catalog and collection listings, etc. If you’re a hardcore book geek, you’ll love this stuff; if you’re not, it will probably leave you cold.
(Shadow effect is a scanner artifact.)
I paid £100 for the pair (a show special, since I believe George is selling them at £65 each).
If you’re looking to pick one or both of these up, you’ll probably have to contact George directly:
George Locke
Ferret Fantasy
27 Beechcroft Road
Upper Tooting
London, SW27 7BX
020 8767 0029
george_locke at hotmail.com
Tags:bibliography, Books, Fantasy, Ferret Fantasy, First Edition, George Locke, Lost Race, Science Fiction, science fiction bibliography
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
I managed to pick up three relatively uncommon Clark Ashton Smith items from Heritage Auction’s weekly book auction:
Smith, Clark Ashton. The Tartarus of the Suns. Roy A. Squires, 1970. First edition thread-bound chapbook, a Fine copy in envelope. The Fugitive Poems, First Fascicle, Zothique Edition. This is copy 105. Donald Sydney-Fryer, Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography, P. 140. Chalker Owings, P. 588.
Smith, Clark Ashton. The Titans in Tartarus. Roy A. Squires, 1974. First edition thread-bound chapbook, a Fine copy in envelope. The Fugitive Poems, Second Series, First Volume, Xigarph edition. This is copy 30 of the “small” edition (as opposed to the “manuscript” sized edition). Donald Sydney-Fryer, Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography, P. 140. Chalker Owings, P. 589.
(Smith, Clark Ashton). The Tales of Clark Ashton Smith: A Bibliography. Thomas C. L. Cockcoft, 1951. First edition chapbook, one of 500 copies, Near Fine- with a few small spots of soiling, phantom crease to rear dust jacket, and age darkening. Non-fiction. Currey (1978), P. 455. Tymn Schlobin Currey, A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies, 323. A very early Clark Ashton Smith bibliography. Not as useful as I hoped it would be.
I’d long heard that Roy A. Squires’ small press chapbooks were very well made, and I finally was able to snag a couple of them at a reasonable price.
I bought the Cockcroft because, well, I’m slightly fanatical about collecting bibliographic material, but also because I was hoping it might have some things not in Emperor of Dreams, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I really would like a better Smith bibliography, as Emperor of Dreams is perhaps the most confusingly organized bibliography I’ve ever seen.
Unlike a complete H. P. Lovecraft collection, a complete Clark Ashton Smith collection is probably within my means, but it’s a pretty long-term goal…
Tags:bibliography, Books, Clark Ashton Smith, Fantasy, poetry
Posted in Books, Fantasy | 2 Comments »
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
I’m not a huge Orson Scott Card fan. I thought Ender’s Game was an effective Heinlein juvenile homage, but little more. (I also thought Speaker for the Dead was actually a better, more ambitious novel.) I also thought that Seventh Son and Red Prophet were good alternate history fantasies, and “Hatrack River” (which forms the beginning of Seventh Son) was probably the best thing Card ever wrote. However, after reading Xenocide (awful) and Prentice Alvin (disappointing), I decided to stop picking up Card’s new books (the occasional Subterranean novella excepted), and haven’t regretted the decision. (Someday I may read Hart’s Hope, which some people have told me is his best.)
But after I stumbled across this at the nearest Half Price Books, I thought it was odd enough to be worth picking up, especially at 50% off $35 (marked down from $60) during the usual coupon sale.
Card, Orson Scott. Doorways. No publisher listed (though I’m assuming this is Card’s own Hatrack River imprint), 2002. (Presumed) First Edition trade paperback original, perfect bound on white cardstock covers, a Fine copy, inscribed by Card: “to Sam—/Merrily…/Orson Scott Card”.
Not in the Locus database. Not in the ISFDB. Not even in Card’s own online bibliography. (Oddly enough, it’s referred to in a bibliographic PDF on his site, but there’s not a listing for the book itself.)
This is 98 pages long and contains two previously published novelettes along with several unpublished poems. If I had to guess, this looks like it might have been given away as some sort of promotional freebie on Card’s website.
Given how obscure this particular Card book is, here’s the complete list of contents:
“Oh Hurried Guest” (Dedication) (poem): Page 5
“Short-Lived Creatures” (poem): Page 6
“On Another Road” (poem): Page 8
“Doorways” (foreword): Page 9
“Fires” (poem): Page 12
“Angels” (novelette): Page 13
“Echo” (poem): Page 44
“Walking on Water” (poem): Page 45
“This Is the Poem I Made Then” (poem): Page 46
“Dust” (novelette): Page 47
“Public Father” (poem): Page 95
“Don’t You Remember the End of the World?” (poem): Page 96
“A Poem For Erin’s First Christmas” (poem): Page 98
Tags:bibliography, Book Collecting, Books, First Edition, Orson Scott Card, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
And here’s the second part of my series on my reference library. The last installment dealt with the books I reach for most often. The reference works listed in this post share only size, being too big for most of my other shelves, which is why they’re filed here. Some of these (the Nevins, the first two Bleilers) get a lot of use, while others almost never get taken down (things that have been superseded by both the Internet and the two Clute encyclopedias).
(Click to embiggen.)
I’m not going to do a full run-down of publication dates, etc. for everything, but here’s a general overview of what’s here:
Harris-Fain, Darren, editor. British Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers before World War I (Gale Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 178). Eclectic selection, but a very solid work for the writers (about half the volume) who aren’t well-covered in other references.
Bleiler, Everett F. Science Fiction: The Early Years and Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years. Kent State University Press, 1990/1998. Absolutely essential for anyone with an interest in the early years of the field.
Bleiler, Everett F. Science Fiction Writers. First and second editions. Superseded by the two Clute Encyclopedias.
Smith, Curtis S., et. al. (editor) Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers. Ditto.
Vinson, James and D.L. Kirkpatrick, editors. Twentieth Century Western Writers. It was cheap. Like, $2 at a library sale cheap…
Tuck, Doanld H. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Two volumes. Another book set superseded by the two Clute Encyclopedias.
Nevins, Jess. The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana. MonkeyBrain Books, 2005. Extremely useful work, but not quite worth the $2,000 some people are asking for online…
Bell, Joseph. Les Bibliotheques Howard Phillips Lovecraft (Volumes 1-8). Soft Books, 1984-1987. Weird, eight volume, stapled paper-wrappers collection of various H. P. Lovecraft-related bibliographic tidbits. Huge overlap with the Joshi bibliography and the catalog of the Grill-Berkin collection (both of which I have), but some odd and interesting information for the Lovecraft fanatic (of which there are many). I will probably do a separate post on my collection of Lovecraft reference works sometime in the indeterminate future…
Sidney-Fryer, Donald. Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography. Donald M. Grant, 1979. If this isn’t the most irritatingly organized single-author bibliography of all time, it’s not for want of trying…
Grant, Donald M. Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny. Donald M. Grant, 1983. Just picked this up, so it’s still in the shrinkwrap…
Day, Bradford M. Materials Toward a Bibliography of the Works of Talbot Mundy. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Publications, 1955. My copy was beat to hell when I got it, and it was regarded as not entirely accurate even when it was produced. A historical curiosity only.
Pringle, David. St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers. St. James Press, 1998. A lot less superseded than the SF & Fantasy works, but unless it’s something quite modern, I’ll generally reach for Bleiler’s The Guide to Supernatural Fiction instead.
Hall, Hal. Science Fiction Book Review Index, 1974-1979. Gale, 1981. If you need it (and you know who you are), you need it.
Spignesi,Stephen J. Shape Under the Sheet: The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia. Popular Culture Ink., 1991. A mixture of the really useful and the completely worthless.
Wiater, Stanley, Christopher Golden and Hank Wagner. The Stephen King Universe: A Guide to the Worlds of Stephen King. Cemetery Dance, 2001. Signed, slipcased edition. I don’t have too many King reference works, but I’ve got these two. (Plus Hank use to do a lot of reviews for me back in the Nova Express days.)
Hawk, Pat. Hawk’s Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Series & Sequels. Hawk’s Enterprises, 2001. Not perfect, but nothing else really covers so much information for this particular area.
Stableford, Brian. The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places. Simon & Schuster, 1999. A solid work, but I almost never find myself consulting it.
Turner, George R. (Bruce Gillespie, editor) SF Commentary 76: The Unrelenting Gaze: George Turner Non-Fiction: A Selection. A hefty selection of commentary, reviews, etc. from the dean of Australian SF writers. The full text is available online.
Wright, H. Stephen. Philip K. Dick: A Secondary Bibliography, 1960-1983. Just what it says. Bound pages. Not a particularly common work. Like Lovecraft, I plan on doing a future post on my Philip K. Dick reference works.
Shoaf, Eric C. Collecting William S. Burroughs in Print: A Checklist. Ratishna Books, 2000. Bought this off eBay back around 2001, and was initially disappointed that it was just bound pages, but this is actually a really solid bibliography. For example, there’s an in-depth history of the Grove Press publication of Naked Lunch.
Bradbury, Ray. Futuria Fantasia. Graham, 2007. Hardback reproduction of four issues of an early fanzine Bradbury published. I’m guessing the green ink is designed to matched the original look of the fanzine, but man, it’s really hard on the eyes…
Collins, Paul, editor. The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy. Melbourne University Publishing, 1998. Felt compelled to pick this up after I published a very scathing John Clute review of it in Nova Express.
Science Fiction Bibliography, Volume 1, Number 1 (and only). Science Fiction Syndicate, 1935. A curiosity, being the first published science fiction bibliography on record (and published here in Austin, no less). Mainly reviews fanzine and magazines you’ve never heard of, condemning some as complete worthless. No author listed, but it was apparently a D. R. Welch, the first used SF book dealer in Austin. Picked up for $35 back when Currey was asking $100 for it. Mainly useful as something to pull out for guests and go “Look! The first published SF bibliography!” and watch them nod indulgently.
Tags:bibliography, Books, Donald M. Grant, Everett F. Bleiler, Fantasy, Horror, Jess Nevins, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, reference works, Science Fiction, science fiction bibliography, Stephen King, Talbot Mundy, William S. Burroughs
Posted in Austin, Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Locus is reporting that Everett F. Bleiler has died. For those unfamiliar with his work, he was perhaps the preeminent science fiction bibliographer and historian. His Checklist of Fantastic Literature was the first truly important SF bibliography, and his books Science-Fiction: The Early Years and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years are probably the most extensive and exhaustive coverage of pre-Campbellian SF ever published. His bibliographic knowledge of the field was so extensive that, among the living, only George Locke and Lloyd Currey even come close. (Though Texas’ own Jess Nevins is getting there.) I’ve reached for one of his works many a time, as have every serious SF bibliographer, historian, book seller or book collector. He will be missed, but people will still be consulting his books a century from now.
Tags:bibliography, Books, Everett F. Bleiler, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, science fiction bibliography, science fiction history
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
