Another Jack Vance lettered edition:
Vance, Jack. The Kragen. Subterranean Press, 2007. First edition hardback, Letter Z of 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine traycase. Supplements a copy of the signed, numbered edition. Bought off eBay for $295.95.
There are still several Vance Subterranean lettered editions I’m looking for…
This is the last item I bought from the UK dealer I bought two Heinlien firsts in the same order.
Brin, David. The River of Time. Dark Harvest, 1986. First edition hardback, copy “Q” of 52 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy (maybe Fine- with the spine of the gold biding showing a slight greenish tinge) in a Fine wooden “slipcrate,” sans dust jacket, as issued. Short story collection. Chalker/Owings, page 119. A lot of the Dark Harvest slipcrate editions were leather or imitation leather, but I have no idea what to call this goldish binding. This is the fourth Dark Harvest slipcrate edition I’ve bought, after George R. R. Martin’s Portraits of His Children, Joe R. Lansdale’s The Nightrunners, and Chet Williamson’s Dreamthorpe. Bought from a UK dealer for £50, which works out to less than the original $100 list price.
I was not particularly interested originally when Centipede Press did their signed, limited prestige reprints of Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead. They’re solid novels (something that can’t be said of Xenocide), but not among my particular favorites of SF novels in the 1980s. However, I was interested in Ender’s Way, since that contains previously uncollected Ender stories, but it sold out before I could pick up dealer copies.
Given that, I was happy to pick up this set:
Both books bought for $400 off eBay, a significant discount off the original cover price for both ($250 for Ender’s Way and $295 for Speaker for the Dead.
And if any of you out there have #156 of Ender’s Game you’re willing to part with at a reasonable price, let me know…
I had both of these titles, but not in these states:
(Crack at top is either a stray dog hair or a scanner artifact.)
Three different Jack Vance firsts, bought from various sources.
I should point out that this is the new, new, new, new, new incarnation of New Worlds, this time as a hardback anthology series.
Gevers, Nick, and Peter Crowther, editors. New Worlds Issue #1. PS Publishing, 2021 (i.e., 2022). First edition hardback, #49 of 200 copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards and a Fine dust jacket, and a Fine embossed slipcase. Latest resurrection of this venerable UK fiction title, most famous for Michael Moorcock’s New Wave editorship in the 1960s, and Moorcock contributes a story (and signature) here, as do Alan Moore, Michael Swanwick, Ken MacLeod, James Lovegrove, Ian Watson, Ian R. MacLeod, etc. The trade paperback version came out last year, but this hardback edition is already out of print. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount.
I will have two copies of this to sell in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (currently in progress).
I don’t pick up a lot of Folio Society books because they tend to do post-first limiteds (which I’m generally not wild about), but I picked this one up because: A.) The selection differs from the previous book with this title, making this a true first, B.) It’s a really attractive volume, and C.) A lot of the science fiction The Folio Society has been doing as of late has gone through the roof. So I decided to pick this up.
Dick, Philip K. Selected Short Stories. The Folio Society, 2022. First edition hardback (“First Printing 2022”), a Fine copy in decorated boards and a decorated, die-cut slipcase that even sports a full-color illustration printed inside the slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. The pageblock edges even include a dye-pattern image of two eyes (appropriate to Dick’s frequent theme of paranoia). Plus a Jonathan Lethem introduction and a full-color illustration for each story from 24 different artists (include Dave McKean). It’s a very attractive package.
I will have one copy of this available for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
Another limited edition Neil Gaiman book (this one of Sherlockian interest):
Gaiman, Neil (Gary Gianni, illustrator). The Case of Death and Honey. Arte Editions, 2022. First edition hardback, #254 of 500 numbered copies signed by Gianni (plus an additional 70 publisher’s copies), a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. A very attractive book, stamped in gold and black on full red cloth binding, black and red printing, numerous black and white (and one color) illustrations from Gianni. A Sherlock Holmes story from Gaiman. There were numbered and lettered editions signed by Gaiman in different bindings that were already sold out by the time I found out about this book. Bought from the publisher at a thin discount. Note: The slipcase was extra, and is not included in every copy of this edition.
I will have a very few copies available for sale (with the slipcases) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
Now the trilogy is complete:
Powers, Tim. Stolen Skies. Charnel House, 2022. First limited edition hardback, #54 of 150 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. The third in the trilogy started with Alternate Routes and Forced Perspectives. The usual beautiful Charnel House edition.
I will have one set of this trilogy available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
What is the longest you’ve gone between ordering a book and it showing up on your doorstep?
The following showed up five years after I ordered and paid for it. I had honestly forgotten all about it.
Hill, Joe. Strange Weather: Aloft, Rain, Loaded, and Snapshot. Cemetery Dance, 2022. First edition thus and first separate editions of all four individual titles, all of which were originally published in Hill’s 2017 Strange Weather novella collection, each volume one of 948 copies signed by the artist (Charles Paul Wilson III for Aloft, Renae De Luz and Ray Dillon for Rain, and Zach Howard for Loaded), and Snapshot being numbered 781 and signed by both Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, all Fine copies in Fine dust jackets and a Fine slipcase. (There was also evidently a 52 copy lettered edition offered for $1,000 I haven’t seen.) An attractive production. Bought for cover price, and sold out five years before publication…
