Posts Tagged ‘Books’

eBay Bad Seller Alert: jazzsharkman

Wednesday, December 24th, 2014

Back in October, I thought I had snagged a great deal: A first edition of Philip K. Dick’s Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said for $48.

However, upon getting it, I immediately saw that it was not a first edition. There was no First Edition statement on the copyright page, and code P7 rather than code 050 on page 231, indicating a later printing, as per Levack’s PKD bibliography. So I contacted the seller for a refund.

Despite selling it on false premises, he refused to take it back, and offered an insulting $5 refund through eBay’s arbitration system.

So this is a blog post to warn anyone away from dealing with eBay seller jazzsharkman, AKA

Kurt Skaggs
PO Box 1800
Union City, CA 94587
jazzsharkman@yahoo.com

due to his fundamental dishonesty in selling a non-first as a first edition, then refusing to take it back.

I’ll update this page if he ever comes to his senses and sends me a full refund.

Library Addition: The Signed Edition of Levack’s Philip K. Dick Bibliography

Monday, December 22nd, 2014

In the past few years I’ve obtained the signatures of H. G. Wells and H. P. Lovecraft (among many others), but wasn’t able to find a verifiable signature I could afford for Philip K. Dick.

Until now.

(Dick, Philip K.) Levack, Daniel J. H. PKD: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography. Underwood/Miller, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by Dick, Levack and annotator Steven Owen Godersky. A Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $299 off eBay at the Buy-It-Now price, which is less than half what it usually lists for.

PKD Bib signed

Dick Bib Signatures

I think this was the last signed edition Dick did while he was still alive. In fact, discount the numerous posthumous “cut from a check” limiteds, I think only this and Confessions of a Crap Artist were done in signed/limited editions.

A year and a half ago, I didn’t have the signed editions of any of the Levack Underwood/Miller bibliographies (Dick, Zelazny and de Camp); now I have all three.

Happy 75th Birthday, Michael Moorcock!

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

John Picacio notes that today is Michael Moorcock’s 75th birthday. Happy birthday, Mike!

By way of celebration, I thought I would scan one of the more unusual items in my collection:

Moorcock at 60

(Moorcock, Michael) Moorcock@60.com. Nomads of the Time Streams, 1999. First edition oversized trade paperback original (A4 sized), a Fine- copy (one corner bumped from bringing it with me to London to get several contributors to sign it). A festshrift miscellany celebrating Michael Moorcock on his 60th birthday put together by several of his friends, and not generally available for sale (I bought my copy from one of the contributors). This copy is signed or inscribed by Moorcock, Brian Aldiss, Nick Austin, David Langford, Kim Newman, and Howard Waldrop.

Library Additions: Random Interesting Books

Monday, December 15th, 2014

A few of these are from a mostly-disappointing book shopping jaunt around Houston the day after Thanksgiving, plus two from eBay.

  • Banks, Iain. The Steep Approach to Garbadale. Little/Brown, 2007. First edition hardback, a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies signed by Banks distributed through the Waterstone’s bookstore chain, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket as issued. Supplements a trade copy.

    P1000915

  • Bradbury, Ray. A Graveyard for Lunatics. Knopf, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Bradbury. Bought for $19.99 off eBay.

    Bradbury Grave Signature

  • Brooks, Max. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Crown, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket. Bought for $12 at Quarter-Price Books in Houston, which is conveniently close to Joel’s Classical Shop.
  • Ford, John M. Growing Up Weightless. Easton Press, 1993. First hardback edition, one of an undetermined number of signed subscriber copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in decorated leather boards. Bought from Half Price Books for $35.

    Growing Up Weightless

  • Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. MacAdam/Cage, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $20 at Half Price Books. Replaces a less perfect copy.

    Time Traveler's Wife

  • Library Additions: Three Gregg Press Hardbacks of Piers Anthony’s Bio of a Space Tyrant

    Monday, December 8th, 2014

    I’ve never been a big Piers Anthony fan, so it might surprise some that I’m picking these up. But: A.) I have a long-term goal of picking up all the Gregg Press hardbacks, B.) I am given to understand that these (along with Macroscope and On A Pale Horse) are among his best work, and C.) They were incredibly cheap, $6 (plus bidder fee and shipping) for all three (plus a random Xanth novel) from a Heritage Auction.

  • Anthony, Piers. Bio of A Space Tyrant 1: Refuge. Gregg Press, 1985. First hardcover edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust.

    Anthony Bio Refugee

  • Anthony, Piers. Bio of A Space Tyrant 2: Mercenary. Gregg Press, 1985. First hardcover edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.

    Anthony Bio Mercenary

  • Anthony, Piers. Bio of A Space Tyrant 3: Politician. Gregg Press, 1985. First hardcover edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with edgewear at head.

    Anthony Bio Politician

  • See Hartwell, David G. “The GREGG PRESS Science Fiction Series 1975-1985 Complete, a Preliminary Annotated Checklist.”

    These were the only volumes of the series done by Gregg Press. Volumes 4-6 were evidently done in hardcover by something called “Xlibris Corporation,” which I would guess is a Print-On-Demand publisher and lord, did they put some stupidly hideous covers on them…

    Library Additions: Two H. G. Wells First Editions in Dust Jacket

    Monday, December 8th, 2014

    In the same L. W. Currey order as the Bradbury chapbooks, I picked up two H. G. Wells first editions in dust jacket.

  • Wells, H. G. Men Like Gods. Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1923. First edition hardback (a probable third binding state, as per Currey’s listing, with decorated brown boards with black lettering, which is not recorded in Currey (2002)), a Near Fine copy with slight wear at heel, small, faint stamp to FFE, foxing to gutters and slight bend at head in a Very Good- dust jacket with small sticker remnant on front and shallow chipping at head and heel, and chips at points. Wells’ second socialist utopia. H.G. Wells: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 85. Bought for $22.50

    Wells Men Like Gods

    Wells Men Like Gods boards

  • Wells, H. G. The Secret Places of the Heart. Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1922. First edition hardback, first state binding (title blindstamped on cover, as per Currey (2002)), a Fine- copy with slight bending at head and heel and foxing to gutters in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of edgewear. H.G. Wells: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 81. Bought for $37.50

    Wells Secret Places

  • Wells is a bit before the time period I usually collect (post-World War II), but I like his work and he’s tremendously important in developing science fiction.

    Library Additions: Three Ray Bradbury Chapbooks By Roy Squires

    Thursday, December 4th, 2014

    Three more Ray Bradbury chapbooks from small press publisher Roy A. Squires, all bought from Lloyd Currey for $28 each.

  • Bradbury, Ray. Old Ahab’s Friend, and Friend to Noah, Speaks His Piece. Roy A. Squires, 1971. First edition thread-bound chapbook original, #152 of 485 copies, a Fine copy.

    Bradbury Old Ahab

  • Bradbury, Ray. That Ghost, That Bride of Time. Roy A. Squires, 1976. First edition thread-bound chapbook original, #289 of 400 copies, a Fine copy, in mailing envelope. (You can’t see from the scan, but the title is just barely visible through the slightly translucent paper wrapper.)

    Bradbury That Ghost

  • Bradbury, Ray. That Son of Richard III. Roy A. Squires, 1974. First edition thread-bound chapbook original, #164 of 400 “ordinary” copies, a Fine copy, in mailing envelope. With small typed note from the publisher laid in: “Send No Money, Rik. We’ll get squared away at Westercon.” and “RAS” signature.

    Bradbury Son Richard III

  • Library Additions: Three Michael Moorcock Titles

    Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

    Update: I was curious about the publisher’ stamp, so I asked Moorcock why “Wehman Bros./Publishers/138 Main Street/Hackensack, N.J.” was stamped on the title page. Mike thinks these copies were illegally imported into the U.S. and sold by Wehman Bros., which would explain the $3.00 stamp on The Stealer of Souls (and there appears to a sticker pull just above the price clip on the other where the same $3.00 stamp used to be); I guess that would make them second state dust jackets. I’ve also noted that the binding on The Stealer of Souls is actually the First State binding, as per Tanalorn Archives.

    I bought a lot of imperfect Michael Moorcock first editions in a Heritage auction. There were a total of seven titles I got for $26 plus buyer’s premium and shipping. Four will be going cheap in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, but these are going into my own library:

  • Moorcock, Michael. The Stealer of Souls. Neville Spearman, 1963. First edition hardback, a Fine- first state (orange binding with black lettering) copy with publisher stamp for “Wehman Bros./Publishers/138 Main Street/Hackensack, N.J.” on title page, and some slight bend at head and heel, in a Very Good-, price-clipped dust jacket with $3.00 stamp above price clip, rubbing and shallow chipping and wear at extremities. Though I usually look for books in better condition than this (at least for this era), this and Stormbringer were too cheap to pass up. Tanalorn Archive, page 32. Currey (1979), page 373.

    Stealer of Souls

  • Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer. Herbert Jenkins, 1965. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with “Wehman Bros./Publishers/138 Main Street/Hackensack, N.J.” stamp on title page, and slight bend at head and heel, in a Very Good, price-clipped dust jacket with sticker pull just over the price clip, rubbing and shallow chipping at extremities. Tanalorn Archive, page 32. Currey (1979), page 373.

    Stormbringer

  • Moorcock, Michael. The Sword of the Dawn. White Lion, 1973. First hardback edition, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bend at head and heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight rubbing. Tanalorn Archive, page 34. Currey (1979), page 373.

    Sword of the Dawn

  • Library Additions: Two Arkham House Books

    Monday, November 17th, 2014

    I picked up two early Arkham House books from two different sources:

  • Hodgson, William Hope. The House on the Borderland and Other Novels. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy with bumping at corners, small dust print at bottom page block outer edge, and faint foxing to gutters, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with 1/16″ chip at heel, wear at points (including a pinhead hole at lower front edge), and extremely mild sun-fading to the spine; it’s actually a wonderfully bright example of the Hannes Bok dust jacket, and the only better copies I’ve seen were at least three times the price. Includes the title novel, plus The Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’, The Ghost Pirates, and The Night Land, all of which were previously published individually (and all of which now go for well over a grand). One of the four large-format Arkhams, the other being H.P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others and Beyond the Wall of Sleep, and Robert E. Howard’s Skull-Face and Others, all three of which I still lack. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 16. Derleth, 30 Years of Arkham House, 16. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 19. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 16. Blieler, Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction (1978), page 101. Blieler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 821. Bought for £220 plus shipping off eBay.

    House Borderland Arkham

    IMG_0287

  • Walton, Evangeline. Witch House. Arkham House, 1945. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 11. Derleth, 30 Years of Arkham House, 11. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 11. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 11. Blieler, Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction (1978), page 202. Blieler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 1655. Crawford, Donahue and Grant, 333, page 67. Barron, Horror Literature: A Reader’s Guide, 3-203. Tymn, Horror Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide, 4-216. Bought for $47 off the Internet. It seems that every time I would see a copy at auction, I’d ask myself “Do I already have a copy of that?” Now I know the answer to that question…

    Witch House

  • Library Addition: First Edition of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

    Wednesday, November 12th, 2014

    I picked this up at Half Price Books on Tuesday using one of their 40% off coupons:

    Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. Random House, 1957. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated), a Fine- copy with just a tiny bit of bend at head and a tiny bit of pulling away of just the center of the top page block, and a tiny dust print at the outer bottom near page block edge, in a Very Good- first printing ($6.95 price and 10/57 code on front flap) dust jacket with shallow chipping at extremities (most notable at head and heel, perhaps 1/8″ at front and rear spine join points) and associated abrading, and blind-side age darkening, but otherwise an intact and fairly attractive example of the dust jacket. With clipping of a letter from Rand from the March 21, 1960 issue of Time magazine laid in. The novelistic summation of Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, Atlas Shrugged is one of the bestselling books (and most important political novels) of the 20th Century, and a central document for the Libertarian political movement. It’s also science fiction, not only featuring political and economic upheaval in a dystopian future, but also a new super-strong metal alloy and a hidden valley protected by a force field. In college, it took me two weeks to read the first 200 pages of Atlas Shrugged, and two days to read the last 800 pages. A personal favorite of both myself and my father. Bought for $270, marked down from $450.

    Atlas Shrugged