The only thing these two have in common as that I bought them 50% off the listed price at Half Price Books during their coupon sale.
Posts Tagged ‘Books’
Library Additions: Two Signed Books
Tuesday, December 11th, 2018Library Additions: Three Subterranean Press Firsts
Tuesday, December 4th, 2018Three books from the same Subterranean Press order that came in:
Please note that all three of these will be available in the Lame Excuse Books catalog I’m emailing out this week. Drop me a line if you want a copy.
Library Addition: Book Signed By Cordwainer Smith
Monday, November 19th, 2018Like the Fletcher Pratt book I bought a few months back, here’s a difficult signature I found cheap:
(Smith, Cordwainer) MacNair, Harley Farnsworth. The Real Conflict Between China and Japan. University of Chicago Press, 1938. First edition hardback, a Very Good copy with spine and page blocks slightly grubby, lacking a dust jacket (possibly as issued). Formerly Paul M. A. Linebarger’s copy, with his signature, “Duke” and “1938” written at the top of the front free endpaper. Linebarger is most famous for writing science fiction under the pen name Cordwainer Smith (as well as Carmichael Smith and Felix C. Forrest). He was also a renowned Sinologist whose father was one of the chief advisors for Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat-Sen (indeed, I also own a copy of Linebarger’s non-fiction work The Political Doctrine of Sun Yat-Sen, as well as his book Psychological Warfare, which was used for many years as a text at West Point). Books signed by him are uncommon. Bought off eBay for $45.
Library Addition: Two Signed Michael Swanwick Chapbooks
Thursday, November 15th, 2018Two more signed Swanwick chapbooks:
I will have copies of both of these available for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in preparation.
Library Additions: Four Books From Half Price Books, Two Signed
Tuesday, November 13th, 2018No theme, except for the place I bought them and picking them up really cheap:
Halloween Horrors: My First Edition of the Haunting of Hill House
Wednesday, October 31st, 2018This is not a library addition, but rather describing a book I’ve owned since 1989. With all the attention paid the new Netflix series of the same name, I thought I would put up a post on my own first edition of the book.
Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Viking, 1959. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping and wear at head, heel and points, slight cracking along folds, and slight dust staining to white rear cover, but otherwise intact. Arguably the most important horror novel of the 20th century. Bleiler, Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1766 (in the Supplemental Section on page 547). Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 121. Barron, Horror Literature, 4-155. Tymn, Horror Literature, 4-119. Magill, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, pages 710-714. Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction Writers Volume I, page 483. St. James Guide to Horror Writers, page 292. Basis of the the classic 1963 film The Haunting, the not-at-all classic 1999 remake of same, and the 2018 Netflix miniseries. Bought for $45 at the 1989 Boston Worldcon, the first book for which I ever paid more than $35.
Library Addition: First Hardback Edition of James Blish’s A Case of Conscience
Thursday, October 25th, 2018Sometimes you take a chance that pays off:
Blish, James. A Case of Conscience. Faber and Faber Limited, 1959. First hardback edition (“First published mcmlix” on copyright page, as per Currey), a Very Good copy with spine lean and dust soiling along top, in a Very Good dust jacket with a 1″ closed tear along top front and moderate dust soiling to white rear cover, and slight rubbing and wear at points. All in all, better condition than I expected from a description of “Good”. Hugo winner for Best Novel. The first volume in the After Such Knowledge thematic trilogy. Currey (1979), page 40. Pringle, SF 100 26. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 36. Locke, Science Fiction First Editions, pages 19-20. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, 3-21 (referencing the Ballantine PBO). Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, pages 303-307. Bought for £60.63 from an online UK book dealer know more for quantity than quality, which is why it was a risk, but just slightly better copies list for over a grand. Supplements a copy of the Walker first U.S. hardback edition.
This is the last “difficult” Hugo winner in hardback for the period I collect (through 2014), which means I only lack Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, first editions of which are hardly difficult to come by.
Library Addition: Signed R.A. Lafferty Chapbook
Monday, October 22nd, 2018I picked up a signed R.A. Lafferty chapbook, one of the Drumm chapbooks I already had, but in unsigned form:
Lafferty, R.A. It’s Down the Slippery Cellar Stairs. Chris Drumm, 1984. First edition chapbook original, #76 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Drumm Booklet No. 14. Non-fiction collection. Bought off eBay for $23.95. Obviously I should have bought all these signed Lafferty chapbooks from Drumm back when they were $5 each, but I wasn’t collecting him then…
Library Addition: Philip Jose Farmer’s The Purple Book Inscribed to Robert Adams
Thursday, October 18th, 2018I picked up another Philip Jose Farmer paperback original associational copy:
Farmer, Philip Jose. The Purple Book. Tor, 1982. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy that, while tight and square, shows numerous small spots of rubbing across the front and rear cover as well as slight age-darkening to pages. Inscribed to fellow SF/F author Robert Adams of Horseclans fame: “To Bob Adams/From/Philip Jose/Farmer.” Thematic collection, containing “The Oögenesis of Bird City,” “Riders of the Purple Wage,” “Spiders of the Purple Mage,” “The Making of Revelation, Part I”, and “The Long Wet Purple Dream of Rip van Winkle.” Bought for $10 off eBay.
Another Farmer PBO inscribed to an SF author in my library can be found here.
Library Additions: Two Centipede Press Books
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018I picked up two Centipede Press books, one off eBay and the other direct from the publisher:
