Posts Tagged ‘eBay’

Library Addition: Two Signed Moorcock PBOs

Wednesday, February 5th, 2025

Two more signed PBOs from that same eBay seller:

  • Moorcock, Michael. The Fireclown. Compact SF/Roberts & Vintner, 1965. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy with slight spine creasing and wear at points, otherwise nice and square, signed by Moorcock, with a folded flyer for Modern Family Planning laid in (no idea if that was as issued or not). Bilyeu, Tanalorn Archive page 19. Currey, page 370. Bought for $20.51.

  • Moorcock, Michael. The Twilight Man. Compact SF/Roberts & Vintner, 1966. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with former owner’s name on blurb page and a few nicks of wear, otherwise tight and square, signed by Moorcock. Bilyeu, Tanalorn Archive page 35. Currey, page 373. Bought for $20.59.

    • Two very early Moorcock PBOs rarely offered for sale over here at all, much less signed.

    Also looks like I need to clean the scanner glass again, as those smudges aren’t on the books…

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    Library Additions: Three Signed Ellison and Farmer PBOs

    Thursday, January 30th, 2025

    Three more purchases from that eBay dealer selling off signed PBOs:

  • Ellison, Harlan. The Man With Nine Lives b/w A Touch of Infinity. Ace Doubles, 1960. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy with spine crease and faint crease along each cover’s spine join (exagerated here), both sides identically inscribed by Ellison: “For Carter/Harlan Ellison.” Richmond, Fingerprints on the Sky page 107. Currey, page 178. Supplements a slightly less attractive signed copy. Bought for $26.55.

  • Ellison, Harlan. No Doors, No Windows. Pyramid, 1975. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with slight spine fading, hairline creasing on front and rear join, and slight edgewear, signed by Ellison. Richmond, Fingerprints on the Sky page 54. Currey, page 178. Supplements a better but unsigned PBO and the signed, limited Borderlands Press hardback. Bought for $26.

  • Farmer, Philip Farmer. Strange Relations. Ballantine Books, 1960. First edition paperback original, (and, unlike many Ballantine SF of the era, there was no simultaneous hardback edition, a Near Fine copy with one wrinkle across middle of spine and a small stray ink mark at head, signed by Farmer. Short story collection, the alien sex anthology before Alien Sex. Currey, page 178. Bought for $10 (the opening bid).

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    Library Addition: Signed PBO of Sheckley’s Citizen In Space

    Friday, January 17th, 2025

    Another book from that seller selling off signed PBOs on eBay:

    Sheckley, Robert. Citizen in Space. Ballantine Books, 1955. First edition paperback original (simultaneous with the hardback), a Near Fine- copy with spine wear, 1/8″ indention at head, two small creases at bottom front, and trace of wear to white rear cover. Short story collection. Currey, page 433. Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, page 61 (“***”). Bought for $10.50 plus shipping.

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    Library Additions: Two Signed Neil Gaiman Items

    Thursday, January 16th, 2025

    Two more signed Neil Gaiman items, both bought off eBay.

  • Gaiman, Neil. Fragile Things. Morrow, 2006. First American hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, inscribed by Gaiman: “To Paul Incono —/Neil Gaiman.” Short story collection. Supplements an unsigned UK first hardcover. Bought for $24.99 plus shipping.

  • Gaiman, Neil. Speaking in Tongues DreamHaven, 2004. First edition compact disc (no additional pressings listed), a Fine copy, signed by Gaiman. Audio book of three stories and two poems read by Gaiman. Bought for $20 plus shipping.

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    Library Additions: Two Signed Ray Bradbury Postcards

    Thursday, January 9th, 2025

    Someone on eBay was selling off a lot of Ray Bradbury correspondence, and I managed to snag a postcard and an envelope at very modest prices.

  • Bradbury, Ray. Signed, mailed card reading “Ray Bradbury [signature]/The Illustrated Man.” Mailed from Fairfield, California, Jan 24. 1984. The back is addressed to and from bookseller James M. Dourgaruan of Pacheco, California. Also included with this lot is a postcard or cover blank for the Bantam Paperback edition of The Illustrated Man. Naturally, I’ll tuck both of these inside my first edition of The Illustrated Man. Bought for $19.50.

  • Bradbury, Ray. Signed, mailed postcard to Tim Sinniger from Paris reading “&/23/89/Dear/Tim: Happy/wishes from/Paris! have/A Grand/Summer! See/you, I hope, in/the Autumn/Fondly!/Ray Bradbury.” I will lay this in one of my few unsigned Bradburys (though not, alas, the highly appropriate We’ll Always Have Paris, which is already signed). Bought for $23.65.

    • To my mind, a signed postcard is superior to a signed bookplate anyway, and signed Bradbury bookplates have gotten thin on the ground…

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    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.

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    New Book Acquisitions: Two Richard Matheson First Editions

    Sunday, September 25th, 2011

    I managed to pick up two notable Richard Matheson first editions in the last month or so:

  • Matheson, Richard. Born of Man and Woman. Chamberlain Press, 1954. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket with rubbing to front and rear, but less than the usual fading. Matheson’s first hardback book and first SF book (preceded by two mystery paperback originals). Some science fiction small presses have had trouble with floods, and others with fires, but Chamberlain Press may be the only one that suffered from both; a flood destroyed most of the remaining bound copies of this book (the only one they published), and a fire destroyed the remaining unbound sheets. About 650 copies are believed to have distributed, thus escaping both catastrophes. (See Jack Chalker & Mark Ownings, The Science Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History (Third Revised and Enlarged Edition), Mirage Press, 1991, pages 97-98 for more details.) L.W. Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction, G.W. Hall, 1978, page 358. Bought off eBay for $257.81 plus shipping.

  • Matheson, Richard. The Shrinking Man. David Bruce & Watson, 1973. First hardback edition, an Ex-Library copy with the usual marking, and a clipped price, otherwise a VG copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket (would be fine if not for the corner-clip). Currey, Page 358. Obtained from the auction of the Jerry Weist collection for $80. See here for details.

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