Posts Tagged ‘Books’
Monday, October 31st, 2016
Here’s a fairly rare Moorcock item: His first published novel, if you can call it that.
Moorcock, Michael, with James Cawthorn, as Desmond Reid. Caribbean Crisis. Sexton Blake Library 501/Fleetway Publications, 1962. First edition (“First Printing” stated) trade paperback original (digest format), a Very Good- copy with small stains to front and rear cover (some from bleed-through from rusting staple), general wear and wrinkling along spine edge, small line of thin blue handwriting at top of rear cover, and slight page darkening. 62 double-column pages, plus a two page “mailbag” at rear. Not sure if this counts as a book serial or a magazine, but it features an English detective who first made his debut in 1893! Currey, page 368. Tanelorn Archives, page 12. An online Sexton Blake bibliography says that W. Howard Baker also did some revisions on this. Bought online for $6.65 plus $12.96 in shipping from a UK dealer.
Tags:Books, Michael Moorcock
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Tuesday, October 25th, 2016
Back in August, I ordered three PS Publishing slipcased editions on sale at £12.99 each marked down from £60:
Baxter, Stephen. Universes. PS Publishing, 2013. First edition hardback, #131 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine decorated slipcase.
McAuley, Paul J. A Very British History with A Very British History: Additional Stories. PS Publishing, 2013. First edition hardback, #127 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine decorated slipcase.
Watson, Ian. The Best of Ian Watson with Squirrel, Reich and Lavender: Bonus Stories. PS Publishing, 2014. First edition hardback, #47 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine decorated slipcase. Note that in this set the signature page is found in the additional volume, not the main volume.
Tags:Books, Ian Watson, Paul McAuley, PS Publishing, Science Fiction, Stephen Baxter
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Monday, October 24th, 2016
Wong, David. John Dies At the End. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Cult science fiction horror novel and basis of the Don Coscarelli movie of the same name. Bought for $32.50 from Half Price Books with a 50% off coupon.
Tags:Books, David Wong, Horror, Science Fiction
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Friday, October 21st, 2016
Another signed Neal Barrett, Jr. book for my collection.
Barrett, Neal, Jr. Judge Dread. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight touches of edgewear. Signed by Barrett. Based on the Sylvester Stallone movie. Bought for $5 at Armadillocon
Tags:Armadillocon, Books, media tie-in, Movies, Neal Barrett Jr., Science Fiction
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Thursday, October 20th, 2016
Here are three Joe R. Lansdale first editions I picked up, the first two at Armadillocon:
Lansdale, Joe R. Hap and Leonard. Tachyon, 2016. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, inscribed to me by Joe.
Lansdale, Joe R. and John L. Lansdale. Hell’s Bounty. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 1,000 signed numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Got this from Joe in trade.
Lansdale, Joe R. and Kasey Lansdale. The Case of the Bleeding Wall. First edition hardback, #363 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought as part of a $99 package deal with some other books I’ll be cataloging or selling later.
Tags:Armadillocon, Books, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery, signed, Subterranean Press
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Tuesday, October 18th, 2016
Picked up one more thing from the Fred Duarte estate that I didn’t see during my previous purchase:
Bradbury, Ray. Green Shadows, White Whale. Random House Audio, 1992. Audio cassette (probably the “first edition,” as I suspect there was only one) in a Very Good- packaging with 1″ of the inner cardboard cassette sleeve missing at bottom. Signed by Bradbury across the rear of the package. Two cassettes adding up to three hours of audio (presumably abridged) of Bradbury reading from his own novel. (I also have a first edition of the novel signed by Bradbury.) Bought from the Duarte estate sale at Armadillocon for $5.
Tags:audio, Books, cassette tape, Fred Duarte, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, signed
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Friday, October 14th, 2016
Normally I don’t do a separate post about every Subterranean Press book that comes in, but since I picked up both the trade and limited state of this book, I thought I would do a post to highlight the different cover art.
Reynolds, Alastair. Beyond the Aquila Rift. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, trade state, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Another huge career retrospective collection, and at 781 pages, I think it’s the largest yet.
Reynolds, Alastair. Beyond the Aquila Rift. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #171 of 350 signed and numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine slipcase. I find it slightly odd that the trade edition includes a wraparound dust jacket illustration, whereas the spine and rear of the limited are just a background dark blue color, but the cover art here is by Reynolds himself.
I’ll have copies of the trade edition available for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Alastair Reynolds, Books, Science Fiction, signed, Subterranean Press
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Wednesday, October 12th, 2016
Now that I’ve finished cataloging those National Book Auction Books, I can finally start cataloging the books I bought at Armadillocon, way back in July. First up: Two Neal Barrett, Jr. chapbooks I already had in wraps, but not in the hardback versions I picked up there. Both of these are unnumbered copies, presumably from Neal’s own contributor copies, and both bought for $40 from two different sellers (Adventures in Crime and Space and Rick Klaw).
Barrett, Neal, Jr. The Day the Decorators Came. Subterranean Press, 2000. First edition hardback, a signed but unnumbered copy among 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy with pictorial pastedown on front boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Barrett, Neal, Jr. Way Out There. Subterranean Press, 2004. First edition hardback, a signed but unnumbered copy among 52 lettered copies, a Fine copy with pictorial pastedown on front boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
At this point I think all I’m missing of Neal’s books are some media tie-ins and the pseudonymous series work (of which he did quite a bit).
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Neal Barrett Jr., Science Fiction, signed
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Monday, October 10th, 2016
Here’s the second set of William F. Buckley books from that National Book Auction lot. Once again, most of these are signed on bookplates, and it occurs to me that maybe these were done as bonuses for National Review subscribers. Here are the non-fiction books, most of which are signed.
Signed Buckley Non-Fiction
Buckley, William F. Atlantic High. Doubleday, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with wear at points. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/With deep appreciation/Bill Buckley.” Non-fiction book about Buckley sailing across the Atlantic.
Buckley, William F. A Hymnal: The Controversial Arts. Putnam, 1978. Hardback (no edition stated), a Fine- copy with slight crimping at head and a page number circled in red with the word “Rush” written beside it on the table of contents on page 9, in a Very Good- dust jacket with chipping at head and heel. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/With high regards/Bill Buckley.” Collection of essays.
Buckley, William F. Inveighing We Will Go. Putnam, 1972. Hardback (no edition stated), a Near Fine copy with slightly soft heel and waviness to first few pages and a couple of dust spots to page block edges, in a Very Good- dust jacket with a long semi-closed tear across the bottom of the front cover and two 1/4″ chips at heel. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “To Mrs. Helen C. Avera/[Something] all/Wm. F. Buckley.” Collection of essays.
Buckley, William F. Execution Eve and Other Contemporary Ballads. Putnam, 1975. Hardback (no edition stated), a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with some tiny closed tears at head and heel. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “To Lorenzo Avera/[Something]/Wm. F. Buckley.”
Buckley, William F. Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography. Regnery Publishing, 2004. Fourth printing hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with CD of Buckley reading in plastic insert at back. Signed by Buckley on a bookplate. Regnery used a very heavy, high-quality paper on this book.
Buckley, William F. Overdrive. Doubleday, 1983. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with shallow chipping and creasing at heel and slight wear at head and points. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/With warm regards/Bill Buckley.” An autobiography of a week in Buckley’s hectic life.
Buckley, William F. Racing Through Paradise. Random House, 1987. First edition hardback (stated, with a numberline starting with 2, as per standard Random House custom), a Fine- copy with line of wear across bottom of spine at heel, in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Buckley on the front free endpaper: “For Claire Worth/With higher [something]/Bill Buckley.” Non-fiction book about Buckley sailing through the Pacific.
Unsigned Buckley Non-Fiction
Buckley, William F. In Search of Anti-Semitism. Continuum Publishing Company, 1992. Hardback, no printing stated, a Fine- copy with slight bump at head and light crease to first few pages, in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bump at head and small crease to corner of top rear flap. Long essay on charges of antisemitism against various figures on the right, followed by a round of essays and letters from various people in reaction.
Buckley, William F. On the Firing Line: The Public Lives of Our Public Figures. Random House, 1989. First trade hardback preceded by a signed edition from the Franklin Library), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just the lightest traces of wear. Collection of transcripts from Buckley’s Firing Line program on PBS, including Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon, Kurt Vonnegut, etc.
And that, finally, is the last of the National book Auction Books, and the last of all the batches of books I bought on July 9…
Tags:Books, National Book Auctions, signed, William F. Buckley Jr.
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Thursday, September 29th, 2016
The very last lot I got from National Book Auctions wasn’t related to SF/F/H. It was a box of William F. Buckley books, which the listing showed that some indeterminate number of which were signed. I won it for $50, and upon getting it, discovered that slightly more than half were signed. This post just covers the ones I’m keeping which were fiction, all of which are Blackford Oakes spy thrillers.
Buckley, William F. Marco Polo, If You Can. Doubleday, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with small crease to top inner flap. Inscribed by the author on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/Best regards/Bill Buckley.” (I believe “Worth” is the last name; I have numerous example of books in this lot inscribed to the same person, and “Worth” seems the most obvious choice. In my (admittedly limited) experience, Buckley didn’t sign terribly many books “Bill”, “Wm. F.” seems considerably more common. If I had to guess, I’d say the books were signed for a longtime correspondent of Buckley’s, someone who took decent care of them but wasn’t a book collector per se (some, but not all, of the books in this lot were in a dust jacket protector, and a few others in plastic book bags).) Actually, I already had a signed first of this book, but this is a better copy. Smith/White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction 913.
Buckley, William F. Mongoose, R.I.P.. Random House, 1987. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with large foxing squares (probably from a newspaper clipping) to rear inside cover and rear free endpaper, in a Near Fine- dust jacket with significnat creasing to rear cover. Inscribed by Buckley: “For Claire Worth/With best & warm wishes/Buckley.” Unlike most of the signed books in this lot, this was signed by Buckley directly on the front free endpaper rather than on a bookplate. Smith/White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction 914.
Buckley, William F. Saving the Queen. Doubleday, 1976. Hardback (there’s no First Edition statement on the title page, so this is possibly a reprint, though the R10 gutter code on page 248 would put it in March of its publication year, and occasionally Doubleday did slip up and forget to include the First Edition statement on the true first), a Near Fine+ copy with slight bumping at head and heel and front inner hinge a little bumpy from the glue line under the paper, in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of dust soiling along extremities. Inscribed by Buckley: “For Claire Worth/With warmest regards/Bill Buckley.” Another book directly signed rather than on a bookplate. Smith/White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction 912.
Buckley, William F. See You Later Alligator. Doubleday, 1985. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and heel and a 1″ closed tear to bottom rear cover. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/With best regards/Bill Buckley.” Smith/White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction 920.
Buckley, William F. The Story of Henri Tod. Doubleday, 1984. First trade edition hardback (preceded by a Franklin Library signed edition), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight wear at head and heel. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/With high hopes/Bill Buckley.” Smith/White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction 921.
Buckley, William F. Who’s on First. Doubleday, 1980. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with 1/16″ chip at rear heel join, slight dust soiling to rear cover and a 1″ surface scratch. Inscribed by Buckley on a bookplate: “For Claire Worth/With high hopes/Bill Buckley.” Smith/White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction 918.
It’s somewhat frustrating not having a good bibliography of Buckley at hand, which is why I’m picking up William F. Meehan III’s William F. Buckley, Jr.: A Bibliography…
Tags:Books, First Edition, National Book Auctions, signed, spy, thrillers, William F. Buckley Jr.
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