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Library Additions: Five Signed First Editions

Thursday, August 25th, 2016

Five more books from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale, all first editions and all signed:

Langford, David. The Dragonhiker’s Guide To Battlefield Covenant At Dune’s Edge: Odyssey Two. Drunken Dragon Press, 1988. First edition hardback, one of 903 trade hardback copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Langford: “For Alison, without whom this inscription could not have/been written—/Best wishes/David Langford/11-88”. Science fiction parodies and pastiches. Chalker/Owings, page 193. Bought for £9 after discount.

Lee, Tanith. East of Midnight. Macmillan (UK), 1977. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and dated 2008 by Lee. Bought for £18 after discount.

Sheckley, Robert. Notions Unlimited. Bantam Books, 1960. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight wear at head and heel. Signed by Sheckley. Currey, page 433. Bought for £4.80 after discount.

Stapledon. Olaf (Sam Moskowitz, editor). Far Future Calling: Uncollected Science Fictions and fantasies of Olaf Stapledon Oswald Train, 1979. First edition hardback, one of 1,300 copies printed, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just of trace of rubbing on front cover along gutter line. Signed by Moscowitz and artist Stephen Fabian. Previously uncollected stories, plus a long bio by Moskowitz. Chalker/Owings, pages 607-8. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy 2, page 104. Bought for £18 after discount.

Whates, Ian and Ian Watson, editors. Shoes, Ships and Cadavers: Tales from North Londonshire. NewCon Press, 2010. First edition hardback, #48 of 50 signed, numbered copies signed by all the contributors (including introduction author Alan Moore), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The combination of the low print run and being signed by Moore enticed me into buying it. Bought for £12 after discount.

Tags:Books, Cold Tonnage, David Langford, Fantasy, Horror, Ian Watson, Olaf Stapledon, Robert Sheckley, Sam Moskowitz, Science Fiction, signed, Tanith Lee
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »

Photos from Worldcon Part 2 (The 2014 London Worldcon, That Is)

Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

And here’s Part 2 of those London Worldcon pics.

Note that some pictures are labeled “…and company.” This is code for “I’m slightly less embarrassed about not remembering your name a year later than I would be about getting it wrong.”

The lovely and talented Gail Garriger contemplates her next cup of tea.

It’s only a matter of time until leopard-skin gloves are all the rage…

Tobias Buckell, straight from his performance in Hipsters of the Caribbean.

I’m 99% sure this is Martin Hoare with David Langford. After all, it’s Worldcon. How many bearded, gray-haired men with glasses could there be?

Apropos of nothing in particular, here’s Mike Walsh.

John Kessel.

John Kessel in jacket.

John Kessel in jacket and the shoes he stole from Lew Shiner.

Michael Bulmlein.

Jo Walton contemplates the five kilometer hike to her next panel.

Your Humble Narrator and Ian McDonald.

Stephen Baxter, taking a short break from 100,000 words of galaxy smashing.

The ageless Ben Yalow. He stays the same while the original painting for Confessions of a Crap Artist gets older.

Signs of the horrific mental degeneration that comes from being a science fiction bookseller…

Just ask George Locke!

Charlie Stross, caught in the middle of a very geeky plan for world domination.

Ben Bova.

Ben Bova and Your Humble Narrator.

Lawrence Watt-Evans.

Lawrence Watt-Evans and company.

Lawrence and Lawrence, coming this fall to Fox!

Matthew Hughes

Ann VanderMeer

Jeff and Ann VanderMeer.

Stephen Jones.

Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman and Jim Burns.

John Douglas.

Michael Swanwick, yet again.

“Come, Mrs. Peel, we’re needed!”

Henry Wessels, rocking the seersucker.

John Clute and company.

Teddy Harvia fooling around with a married woman known only as “Mrs. Thayer.”

Robert Jackson Bennett, who I somehow had to travel 5,000 miles to see.

Andrew Porter.

Scott Edelman.

Jeff Orth, one of the three chairs of the 2016 Kansas City Worldcon. Expect him to look approximately 30 years older 380 days from now.

James Patrick Kelly, of the Gets-photographed-a-lot-at-Worldcons Patrick Kellys.

Has anyone seen Jack Dann and Russell Blackford in the same room at the same time?

Janeen Webb.

Betsy Mitchell.

Tags:Ben Bova, Ben Yalow, Charles Stross, David Langford, Gail Carriger, George Locke, Henry Wessells, Horror, James Patrick Kelly, Jo Walton, Joe Haldeman, John Kessel, Lawrence Watt-Evans, London, Matthew Hughes, Michael Bulmlein, Michael Swanwick, Michael Walsh, Science Fiction, Stephen Baxter, Stephen Jones, Tobias Buckell, Worldcon
Posted in Horror, pics, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »

Library Additions: Books Bought From Cold Tonnage Books

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014

On my London Worldcon sojurn, I took a day to visit Andy Richards of Cold Tonnage Books, who I’ve been buying from and trading with for a quarter century. In addition to swapping old bookseller stories (and it was a shock to realize I’m considered one of the “old timers” by now), I went over his stock and picked out a few things, some to buy and some for Lame Excuse Books stock. Below are just the items for my own library.

de la Ree, Gerry. Fantasy Collectors Annual—1974. Gerry de la Ree, 1974. First edition hardback, #78 of 80 signed, hardbound copies, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bumping at head and heel, sans dust jacket, as issued. Odd miscellanea of SF/F/H-related items, including facsimiles of various SF author’s inscriptions, an unpublished letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Virgil Finlay, the text of an unpublished letter from Edgar Allen Poe (that may be a forgery), black and white artwork from Finlay, Stephen Fabian and Malhon Blaine (if that third name isn’t as well known as the first two, well, there’s a reason for that…), etc. De la Ree was an important publisher, book dealer and collector. In his introduction, he said he wanted to do one of these every year. According to Chalker/Owings, there was one more in 1975.

Dozois, Gardner. The Peacemaker. Pulphouse, 1991. First edition hardback, #97 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Part of the short story hardback line, which was in turn a simultaneous extension of their short story paperback line. I thought at the time (and still think) that this was a stupid idea, that $1.95 for a single short story (the price point for the paperback) was a bad idea, and that this was symptomatic of the wild overproduction that help killed Pulphouse off. But I have been picking up the short story hardback for writers I collect when I stumble across them cheaply.

Durbin, Frederic S. Dragonfly. Arkham House, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Just for a complete Arkham House collection. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 191.

Ellison, Harlan. The Fantasies of Harlan Ellison. Gregg Press, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with boards just a tiny bit bowed and a few traces of dust soiling to page block edges, sans dust jacket, as issued. Inscribed by Ellison: “To Dane! Harlan Ellison”.

Hall, Hal W., editor. Science Fiction and Fantasy Reference Index, 1878-1985: Volume 1: Author Entries and Science Fiction and Fantasy Reference Index, 1878-1985: Volume 2: Subject Entries. Gale Research Company, 1987. First edition hardbacks, Very Good+ in decorated boards with bumping to extremities, slight wear at heel, and slight crease to second volume’s spine, sans dust jackets, as issued. Two large science fiction reference works. Massive two-volume reference index to non-fiction critical articles, reviews, books, etc. covering science fiction and fantasy. Hall was the long-time director of the Science Fiction collection at the Texas A&M Cushing Library, which has amassed a massive and impressive collection.

Heinlein, Robert A. (David Hartwell, editor). Destination Moon. Gregg Press, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Includes the novella “Destination Moon,” “Shooting Destination Moon“, numerous reproduced newspaper clippings on the movie, photo stills from the movie, and a new introduction by David Hartwell, who edited the volume.

Langford, David. Irrational Numbers. Necronomicon Press, 1994. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Got this inscribed to me by David at the London Worldcon.

Newman, Kim and Ian Freer. The First Empire Movie Almanac. Empire magazine, no date (but 1988). First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight waviness to pages due to glue bunching (probably a binding flaw common to the run). Signed by Newman. Freely distributed subscriber extra from Empire magazine (the British film magazine, not the American SF writing magazine), a non-fiction miscellanea of lists and movie trivia. It’s also an example of why the Internet isn’t an acceptable substitute for book scouting, since I had no idea this existed until I came across it in the Cold Tonnage stacks…

“Sarban” (pseudonym for John William Wall). The Sound of His Horn. Peter Davies Ltd., 1952. First edition hardback, a Very Good copy with some wear at head and heel, front free endpaper missing, and an inked name on half-title page, in a Very Good- dust jacket with shallow staining to head and heel, dust soiling to white rear panel, and two small blue ink spots to front flap. Actually a fairly attractive copy of this alternate history set after the Nazis win World War II. Pringle, Modern Fantasy, 12. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 189.