Swanwick, Michael. The Proceedings of the American Martini Institute: Report of the American Martini Laboratory: The Evolution of the Martini. Dragonstairs Press, 2018. First edition chapbook original, one of 60 signed numbered copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Like a title says: A history of the development of the Martini cocktail.
I’ll have a small number of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which should go out tomorrow…
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 Early bibliography of Robert E. Howard, including much (then) unpublished work, but missing a few things (like the Herbert Jenkins A Gent From Bear Creek, which, to be fair, precious few Howard collectors had laid eyes on in 1975).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.
Here’s an interesting item: Another short-run Michael Swanwick chapbook, but with a difference:
Swanwick, Michael. Blue Moon. Dragonstairs Press, 2018. First edition chapbook original, #18 of 69 printed copies, a Fine copy (there’s some slight phantom creasing to the cover, because the chapbook was mailed in a flat envelope, which meant the sewn bead on the outside pressed against the book in transit, and all copies seen so affected), new and unread. Bought for $10 direct from the publisher.
Here’s the description of the project: “Five ‘flash’ stories, all with a lunar setting. Published in an edition of 69, released for sale on the second “blue moon” of 2018. 67 copies available for sale (publisher’s and author’s copies withheld) on March 31, 2018, for 24 hours only. All copies not sold by midnight, March 31, 2018 will be burned.” In fact, all copies sold out in a matter of hours, so none were burned.
Since 69 is a pretty small print run for a Swanwick chapbook, I took the liberty of picking up additional copies, and will be offering them in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, now in preparation…
I’m not an Isaac Asimov completist because I’m not completely insane. But I have been picking up firsts of the science fiction he did before Foundation’s Edge when I can find them at reasonable prices. This one is an odd little item, a scholastic chapbook of one of his robot stories done in “simplified language” for “upper intermediate” students, so not really Asimov when you get right down to it, but it’s not terribly common.
Asimov, Isaac. Little Lost Robot. The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1977. First edition chapbook original thus, a Fine- copy with the barest traces of wear at points. “This edition first published 1977” on copyright page at rear of book, as per Currey (1979), page 18. Bought off Biblio for $42 plus shipping.
Here’s an odd little item I picked up off eBay:
Bradbury, Ray. The R.B., G.K.C., and G.B.S. Forever Orient Express. Joshua Odell Editions, 1994. First edition chapbook original, consisting of a long, skinny (17 1/2″ x 5 1/2″) outer cardstock binding with the four pages of the poem laid in (not stapled or otherwise attached), a Fine- copy with a pinhole through the top of the chapbook and one tiny white scratch to rear, otherwise mint. Reportedly done in an edition of 300 copies. Signed by Bradbury. Poem, longish by Bradbury standards, about Bradbury riding a train with G. K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw in the afterlife. The rear cover says that this is an excerpt from the forthcoming Journey to Far Metaphor: Further Essays on Creative Writing, Literature and the Arts, a book that Joshua Odell Editions evidently cancelled. This work would later show up in Bradbury’s collection The Cat’s Pajamas. Bought off eBay for $37.79.
Tracked down an Iain Banks chapbook I lacked.
Banks, Iain M. Cleaning Up. Birmingham Science Fiction Group, 1987. First edition chapbook, a Fine- copy with one small phantom indentation to top rear and a touch of soiling. Issued for Novacon 17. Bought online for £24.99 plus shipping.
Between a new job, doing my taxes, and a relative coming into town, the task of cataloging library additions has been sidelined. The items here are from a Cold Tonnage Books sale in January, so the cataloging has been a long time in coming. All the below prices are after a 50% discount.
Two Michael Swanwick books:
Copies of both of these will be available in the new Lame Excuse Books catalog I’m sending out on Monday.
Here’s another book I picked up at a bargain price:
Powers, Tim (as Francis Thomas Marrity). Nine Sonnets. Subterranean Press, 2006. First edition hardback chapbook, letter Q of 52 signed, lettered hardbacks, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Berlyne, B14a2. (In addition to this and the wraps chapbook state made to accompany the Subterranean Press edition of Three Days to Never, there were 9 (!) hardback copies in a different patterned binding and matching traycase, not seen.) Bought for $50 from a Camelot Books 50% off sale.
Here’s another chapbook I had been looking for a long time that, like Moorcock’s Caribbean Crisis, popped up on an ABE Books want search at a bargain price:
Asimov, Isaac. Little Brothers. The Pretentious Press, 1988. First edition chapbook original, one of 126 copies signed by Asimov (the only edition), a Fine copy, with two photos (of Isaac and Stanley Asimov) tipped into front, as issued. Reprints Asimov’s first published work, an essay about how much he hated his little brother, from the Boys High Recorder in 1934. Bought for $35 plus shipping from a well-known literary dealer.
Pretentious Press chapbooks were done by bookseller David Aronovitz in very small runs, most of which were given away as freebies to his best customers. I now have the Zelazny and Asimov chapbooks (both very hard to find), but still need to track down the rest…