Posts Tagged ‘Carl Sagan’

Library Additions: Five Half Price Books Finds

Saturday, December 30th, 2023

All of these were Half Price Books finds, all firsts, and all but the Sagan and Wong came from Austin stores. The Sagan and Wong came from Dallas Metroplex area stores, but I pulled them into this post because they go in bookcases I’m reorganizing.

  • Gaiman, Neil. Norse Mythology. W. W. Norton, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $12.99.

  • Robinson, Kim. New York 2040. Orbit, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and a trace of edgewear. Bought for $9.99.

  • Sagan, Carl. Contact. Simon and Schuster, 1985. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head, slight dust soiling to outer page block, and slight bunting of points, in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head, slight wear at points, and a trace of staining to blind side. Sagan’s only novel, and the basis of the 1997 film. Bought for $8.49.

  • Smith, Clark Ashton (Scott Connors and Ron Hilger, editors). The Miscellaneous Writings of Clark Ashton Smith. Night Sahde Books, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. I already had the five volume collected fantasies, but somehow never picked this one up, perhaps because Night Shade was so horrible at fulfillment. Bought for $14.99.

  • Wong, David (pseudonym of Jason Pargin). Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. St. Martin’s, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with one tiny wrinkle at heel and a trace of wear at top points. Bought for $13.49.

  • Unusually for Half Price Books, three of these titles had aftermarket labels over the UPC code that needed a fair amount of Bestine and elbow grease to remove…

    Library Additions: Two Signed Harlan Ellison Firsts

    Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

    Both of these were bought from a customer who wanted to sell off his collection. Some of that was listed in the Lame Excuse Books catalog, and I’ll be listing the books I bought for my own collection here.

  • Ellison, Harlan. The Deadly Streets with Gentlemen Junkie. Edgeworks Abbey/Subterranean Press, 2013. First hardback editions of each, #216 of 250 signed, numbered sets, Fine copies in Fine dust jackets and a Fine slipcase. Two early Ellison collections, originally PBOs, appearing here for the first time in hardback. Richmond, Fingerprints in the Sky, pages 46 and 51. Supplements trade copies of each.

  • Ellison, Harlan. Li’l Harlan and his sidekick Carl the Comet in Danger Land. Edgeworks Abbey/Subterranean Press, 2013. First edition hardback chapbook, #WW of 52 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Stories of Harlan paling around with Carl Sagan. I avoided buying this when it came out because it sorta looked super-cringy, but since I’m collecting everything else, and the hardback is rare, I added it to the stack. Richmond, Fingerprints in the Sky, page 121.

  • Other Ellison firsts I’m still looking for can be found here.