Posts Tagged ‘Half Price Books’
Friday, January 7th, 2022
Three more reference works:
(Ballard, J. G.) McGrath, Rick. Deep Ends: A Ballardian Anthology 2018. Terminal Press, 2018. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Collection of essays on Ballard, including David Pringle’s continuing, invaluable “Ballard/Moorcock Chronology,” of which Moorcock himself says “I frequently trust his memory over my own.” Bought from Amazon.
Gaiman, Neil (with Leslie S. Klinger). The Annotated American Gods. Morrow, 2019. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Annotated version of Gaiman’s Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning novel, made into the acclaimed TV series of the same name. This edition follows the text of the 10th Anniversary edition, but the annotations note where it differs from the first edition (among other things). Bought for $24.99 from a Houston-area Half Price Books. I will have one copy of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
(Gibson, William) Westfahl, Gary. William Gibson. University of Illinois Press, 2013. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Critical companion to Gibson’s work. Bought at Half Price Books for $12.49.
Tags:Books, David Pringle, Fantasy, Gary Westfahl, Half Price Books, J. G. Ballard, Neil Gaiman, reference works, Science Fiction, small press publishers, William Gibson
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Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020
Three Half Price Books purchases:
Finn, Mark. Gods New and Used. Clockwork Storybook, 2001. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, signed by Finn, with a “Signed by Author at Book People” sticker on it. Collection of linked stories. Bought at Half Price Books for $10.
(Heinlein, Robert A.) Patterson, William H., Jr. Robert A. Heinlein In Dialogue With His Century — Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better | 1948—1988. The second half of Patterson’s mammoth biography. Bought at Half Price Books for $17.49.
Moorcock, Michael. The White Wolf’s Son. Warner Aspect, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Elric/von Beck novel. Bought at Half Price Books for $7.98.
Tags:biography, Books, Clockwork Storybook, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Mark Finn, Michael Moorcock, reference works, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Sunday, January 19th, 2020
Most of these were Half Price Books purchases:
Caro, Robert. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power. Knopf, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head, heel and points. The fourth volume of Cato’s award-winning Johnson biography. Bought from Half Price Books for $9.99.
Haber, Karen, and Leigh Brackett. Thieves Carnival/The Jewel of Bas. Tor, 1990. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Sort of assembling a complete Leigh Brackett collection as targets of opportunity present themselves. Bought at Half Price Books for $1.99.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Joshi, S. T. The Madness of Cthulhu. Titan Books, 2014. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with a edgewear at head and heel. Joshi 200, IX.11.a. Bought for $3 at Half Price Books.
Piercy, Marge. Woman on the Edge of Time. Knopf, 1976. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight crease to top front flap. Pringle, SF 100 81. Bought from Half Price Books for $6 in a coupon sale.
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. The Gallery of His Dreams. Axolotl/Pulphouse, 1991. First edition hardback, #297 of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Additional inscribed by Rusch to Texas science fiction writer carrier Richerson: “For Carrie —/A very good/writer — Send me stories!/Kristine Kathryn Rusch/ 6/22/91.” In fact, Rusch did publish some of Richerson’s work in both Pulphouse and in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, making this something of an associational copy. Bought for, IIRC, $6.39 (20% off $7.99).
Silverberg, Robert. Moonferns & Starsongs. Ballantine Books, 1971. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with just a couple of touches of edgewear, otherwise apparently new and unread. Short story collection. Bought from a Half Price Books in Houston for $2.40.
Sturgeon, Theodore (with Dough Moench and Alex Nino). Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human: The Graphic Story Version. Byron Preiss Visual Publications, 1978. First edition hardback, a Near Fine- copy with bump to bottom points, slight bumping at head and heel, and one scratch and edgewear to front cover pasted-on color illustration, sans dust jacket, as issued. Signed by Sturgeon. Graphic novel adaptation of Sturgeon’s fix-up novel. I have been unable to find a limitation on the signed/limited edition of this book. Bought off eBay for $29.99.
VanderMeer, Jeff. Borne. MCD/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with bookmark for the Southern Reach trilogy laid in. Bought from Half Price Books for $9.99.
Wagner, Karl Edward. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVI. DAW, 1988. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with sight edgewear. Includes “Neighborhood Watch,” an early, rarely reprinted Greg Egan story. Bought from Half Price Books for $1.99.
Tags:Cthulhu, Greg Egan, H. P. Lovecraft, Half Price Books, Jeff VanderMeer, Karl Edward Wagner, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Leigh Brackett, Pulphouse, S. T. Joshi, small press publishers
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Monday, December 23rd, 2019
Bought this at a Half Price Books coupon sale last month:
Stephenson, Neal, and Nicole Galland. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. HarperCollins, 2017. First edition hardback, one of an unknown number of copies with a special signature page signed by both authors bound in, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with wear at points and a “Signed Copy” sticker taped to heel (in addition to the gold “Signed First Edition” sticker that seems standard now). Same ISBN (978-0-06-240916-4) as the trade edition. Bought at Half Price Books during a coupon sale for $10.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Limited Editions, Neal Stephenson, Science Fiction
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Monday, October 21st, 2019
Two bought at Half Price Books, two at a small used bookstore in South Austin called Good Buy Books.
Brunner, John. The Great Steamboat Race. Ballantine Books, 1983. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy (save very light age darkening to the paper), new and unread. I had a proof of this, but not the TPO itself. Brunner reportedly spent five years working on this, generally to the detriment of his career. Bought for $5.
Fortean Times. Strange Days #1: The Year in Weirdness. Cader Books, 1996. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with the barest trace of wear at points. Non-fiction about Fortean and other weird events. Bought for $6. Oddly enough, I already had volume 2.
Pournelle, Jerry. Birth of Fire. Laser Books, 1976. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Laser Books #23. Currey (1979), page 409. Have a reprint of this inscribed to me, but lacked this true first edition. Bought for $1.59 after discount.
Powers, Tim. The Skies Discrowned. Powers. Timothy. Laser Books, 1976. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Laser Books #28. Berlyne, A1a. Powers’ first novel. I already had a copy of this inscribed to me, but this is an absolutely perfect copy. Bought for $1.59 after discount.
Tags:Fortean, Half Price Books, Jerry Pournelle, John Brunner, paranormal, Science Fiction, Tim Powers
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Tuesday, October 8th, 2019
Another Chabon I was missing:
Chabon, Michael. Telegraph Avenue. Harper, 2012. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a bump at head and a pinhead red remainder mark at heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with wrinkling along that bump, with Chabon’s signature sheet bound in. ISBN is the same as the trade edition. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a presigned edition remaindered by a major publisher before. Maybe it got mixed in with the regular titles, or maybe it was due to the bump. Bought from Half Price Books for $12 (marked down from $15).
Tags:Half Price Books, Michael Chabon, signed
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Friday, August 2nd, 2019
Another Half Price Book find:
Duncan, Andy. The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, #80 of 200 signed, numbered copies, with an additional inscription by Duncan (“To/David –/Welcome/to the party!/Andy Duncan [with snake doodle]/NCSU/9/12/12.”) on the title page, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and decorated boards. Supplements a trade edition copy. Bought for $7.99; list is £39.99.
Tags:Andy Duncan, Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, PS Publishing, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
I don’t collect Andre Norton, but I do sort of half-assedly collect NESFA Press, and this was a good chance to pick up a signed, limited Norton cheap:
Norton, Andre, editor. Grand Master’s Choice. NESFA Press, 1989. First edition hardback, #44 of 275 signed, numbered copies, a Fine- copy with deep groove across top of half title page, title page and table of contents (I’m guessing a manufacturing process flaw), in a Fine- dust jacket with slight non-breaking crease along bottom inside flap. Anthology where Nebula Grandmaster winners Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Williamson, Clifford Simak, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, Andre Norton and Isaac Asimov pick their personal favorites of their stories. Bought for $15 from Half Price Books, marked down from $30 during their most recent coupon sale.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Limited Editions, NESFA Press, Science Fiction, signatures
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Friday, July 19th, 2019
Another Half Price Books find:
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Name of the Wind. DAW, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with the barest trace bend at points and a trace of haze-rubbing. Bought at Half Price Books for $14.99. Popular fantasy that seems to go in the $300-400 range these days.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Patrick Rothfuss
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Tuesday, June 18th, 2019
No particular theme, just various books I picked up at Half Price Books over the last few months that I didn’t feel like breaking out into separate posts.
Lake, Jay. Death of a Starship. Monkeybrain Books, 2009. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Bought for $4.99.
Lee, Tanith. Dancing Through the Fire. Fantastic Books, 2015. First edition (stated, though it looks like a POD book) hardback, an Ex-Library copy with most of the usual flaws (stickers, stamps, dust jacket taped to boards, etc., but otherwise apparently new and unread. Don’t usually pick up such current books as Ex-Lib copies, but I’d never seen a copy of this before, there are no other firsts listed online, and this was very cheap (I think $3).
Martin, George R. R., editor. Wild Cards: Black Trump. Baen, 1995. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with trace of edgewear and spine just slightly concave. All the Baen Wild Cards volumes are hard to find these days. Bought for $2.69.
Matheson, Richard. The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok. Jove, 1996. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with previous owner’s small (Mylar?) ownership label and “January 1996” on the second blurb page, plus slight edgewear. Western novel. Replaces a reprint copy. Bought for $2.48.
Niven, Larry. Neutron Star. Ballantine Books, 1968. First edition paperback original, a Very Good copy with spine creasing and slight lean, edgewear, and slight black marker staining over prices on front cover and spine (most, but not all, came off with Bestine, leaving a tiny bit of shadowing around the price). Currey, page 386. Bought for $1.99.
Reynolds, Alastair. On the Steel Breeze. Gollancz, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of wear at points. Actually, this is a Reynolds that I missed when it first came out and had difficulty locating an affordable copy of, so I was quite surprised to be able to pick this up in just shy of perfect shape for a mere $5.99.
Silverberg, Robert. In The Beginning: Tales From The Pulp Era. Subterranean Press, 2006. First edition hardback, probably an Ex-Library copy: the dust jacket flaps have been glued to the inside covers, something has been crossed out at the top of the front free endpaper, and just below that is what appear to be very faint traces of pocket removal, very easy to miss against the thick patterned endpapers used, maybe a Near Fine/Near Fine Ex-Lib copy, #173 of 1,000 signed numbered copies. Again, normally I wouldn’t bother with an Ex-Lib for so recent a book, but I missed this when it first came out and all the copies online list for more than $100. Bought for $17.99.
Tags:Alastair Reynolds, Books, Fantasy, George R. R. Martin, Half Price Books, Horror, Jay Lake, Larry Niven, Monkeybrain Books, Richard Matheson, Science Fiction, Subterranean Press, Tanith Lee, Western
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