William Friedkin, RIP

August 7th, 2023

No director probably ever had three films back to back as good as William Friedkin (who just died at age 87) did in the 1970s. The French Connection, The Exorcist and Sorcerer are each truly great films that stand the test of time. The first two made a ton of money (justifiably). The third one didn’t, but has one of the greatest, tensest scenes of all time.

Friedkin let the success of those first two go to his heads, and then a string of flops (including Cruising, a film that, like The Last Temptation of Christ, alienated its only potential audience) put him out of favor in Hollywood.

He also directed a pretty swell episode of the 1980s Twilight Zone reboot.

He had a wealth of talent, I just wish we had more first rate films from him.

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Library Addition: Demon Prince: The Dissonant Worlds of Jack Vance

August 3rd, 2023

There was a Forum (UK) auction that had a fair amount of science fiction in it, so I bit the bullet and bid even though it was one of those dread “no in-house shipping” deals. And I’m glad I did! Even though I did get rooked for £100+ for shipping, I managed to pick up a number non-fiction works about Jack Vance for only £163.80 (including buyer’s premium), so £263.80 total. Here’s the first item from that lot.

(Vance, Jack). Rawlins, Jack. Demon Prince: The Dissonant Worlds of Jack Vance. Borgo Press, 1986. First edition hardback (plasticized boards), a Fine copy with “KATER-BOUND” sticker to rear cover (presumably as issued). Critical companion to the works of Jack Vance. Depending on the title, Borgo either did plasticized boards with the trade paperback encased, or cloth with the cover of the trade paperback pasted to the front; this is one of the former. I can’t recall ever seeing any copy of this title before, much less the hardback variant. Hewett, M.126. Cunningham, F.2.

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Library Addition: Three Joe R. Lansdale Firsts

August 2nd, 2023

Three Joe R. Lansdale first editions, two signed limited editions and a new Tachyon collection.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. Edge of Dark Water. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, letter D of 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Supplements a signed Mullholland Books first and both a signed PS trade edition and a signed, numbered copy. Not really an impressive limited, as it’s identical to a signed, numbered copy, but it was only $75, which is about what the regular numbered edition goes for these days. Isajanko, A044.d.ii (but he doesn’t list this lettered edition).
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Things Get Ugly: The Best Crime Stories of Joe R. Lansdale. Tachyon, 2023. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. and Kasey Lansdale. Terror is Our Business: The Dana Roberts Casebook of Horrors. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2023. First edition hardback, #101 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with tissue paper closure sticker laid in.

    • I will have copies of the last two in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

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    Library Addition: Three Oversized Hardbacks

    July 31st, 2023

    Three more items from that Heritage Auctions lot.

  • Merritt, A (and Hannes Bok). The Black Wheel. New Collector’s Group, 1947. First edition hardback, in a first (Currey A) binding, #571 of 1,000 copies, a Near Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel, abrasions to title on front cover, inner hinge before title page just starting at top, with copyright correction pasted to copyright page. Novel started by Merritt and finished by Bok, who also illustrates the book. Currey, page 364. Chalker/Owings (2002), pages 608-9. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 308. Kemp, The Anthem Series, pages 384-385.

  • Merritt, A (and Hannes Bok). The Black Wheel. New Collector’s Group, 1947. First edition hardback, in a second state (Currey B) binding, a Very Good+ copy with BB-sized indention to front board (extending to front free endpaper), bumping at head, heel and points, large former owner plate for Robert C. Culp affixed to inside front cover, and foxing to interior gutters, and no number on copyright page, in a Near Fine FFF dust jacket (see Chalker/Owings for details, though they note the yellow jacket had “no illustrations,” which is clearly incorrect) with bumping at head, and a faint, dime-sized damp-staining drop and slight creasing to rear panel. Novel started by Merritt and finished by Bok, who also illustrates the book and the post-publication jacket. Currey, page 364. Chalker/Owings (2002), pages 608-9. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 308. Kemp, The Anthem Series, pages 384-385.

  • (Sime, Sydney H.) Skeeters, Paul W. (introduction by Ray Bradbury). Sidney H. Sime: Master of Fantasy. Ward Ritchie Press, 1978. First edition hardback, #178 of 200 copies signed by Skeeters and Bradbury, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Art book featuring Sime’s illustration work. This was a pleasant surprise, as I thought it was just a trade hardback lacking the dust jacket, but it’s actually the limited edition signed by Ray Bradbury, which alone is worth just shy of what I paid for the entire lot. Chalker/Owings, page 1072 (not a listing for the book, but a description of the post-publication dust jacket for the limited edition that George Locke printed up). Supplements a copy of the unsigned trade paperback edition.

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    Library Additions: Three Lovecraft-Related Chapbooks

    July 21st, 2023

    Still more items from that Heritage lot. Three 8 1/2″ x 11″ items that are all related to H.P. Lovecraft: one Lovecraftian art portfolio (plus an additional critical chapbook), one prose portfolio, and one fiction chapbook, the latter two from members of the extended Lovecraft circle.

  • Day, Gene. Richard Upton Pickman: A Portfolio with Dirk W. Mosig’s H. P. Lovecraft: Psychological Realist. Stellar Z. Publications, 1977. First edition chapbook originals (for each), a Near Fine+ copy of the portfolio, with slight bending at the corners, and a Fine copy of the smaller Mosig critical chapbook. 10 art prints based on Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s Model,” plus a chapbook from a psychologist who has done a lot of essays on Lovecraft. There’s not a lot of Internet hits on either of these, and the few hits on the portfolio don’t appear to have the Mosig chapbook. I’m not sure what the print run on this was. I even reached out to Mosig himself (who’s still alive and teaching at a university) to ask the print run, but he didn’t know.

    (Though the seem the same size (the blog image default size), the Mosig chapbook is a much smaller trim size, which makes sense given it probably shipped inside the portfolio.)

  • Eddy, C.M. and Muriel E. Erased from Exile. Stygian Isle Press, 1976. First edition chapbook original, #234 of 300 copies signed (on stickers) by Muriel E. Eddy and illustrator Gene Day, a Near Fine+ copy with slightly bumped corners and two small black lines near top front outer corner. Stories and poetry by two members of Lovecraft’s circle, with illustrations by Day. Day, who did a lot of work for underground comics and role-playing games, died at the very untimely age of 31.

  • Searight, Richard F. The Sealed Casket. The Strange Company, 1975. First edition prose portfolio (wrappers containing loose pages for the story), one of 100 copies, a Fine- copy with a touch of bumping or creasing at the points. Short story from another Lovecraft circle writer, and Hippocampus Press published a volume of their correspondence (combined with Lovecraft correspondence with E. Hoffman Price), one copy of which I have available for sale through Lame Excuse Books.

    • I tend to pick up obscure Lovecraftian chapbooks when I see them and they’re cheap, and as I noted before, there are few cheaper price points than “you’ve already bought it.”

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    Library Addition: Fiona MacLeod’s The Hills of Ruel

    July 18th, 2023

    Another book from that Heritage lot. Random short story collections of Celtic fantasy are not exactly my usual line, but I’m keeping this one to solve the mystery of why it was published.

    MacLeod, Fiona (pseudonym for William Sharp). The Hills of Ruel and Other Stories. Heinemann, 1921. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy in decorated boards (the design matching the dust jacket) with sight bumping at head, heel and points and slight foxing to inside covers and endpapers in a Very Good- dust jacket with a 7/8″ chip at head, 1/2″ chip at heel, smaller losses at top and bottom edges and wear along outer edges. Beliler Checklist (1978) page 131.

    The mystery is why Heinemann decided to do such an elaborate book for an author that is fairly obscure today. It’s oversized (10 1/4″ high, the extact same height as the Dark Harvest first edition of Dan Simmons’ Carrion Comfort) with multiple inserted plates (most in color) and decorated endpapers.

    The art, by M. H. Lawrence, in a sort of arts-and-crafts-meets-Art-Deco tops out at “sort of OK.” M. H. Lawrence turns out to be Margery Lawrence, more famous as a writer, including the psychic detective stories collected in Number Seven Queer Street publish by Arkham House sister imprint Mycroft & Moran. Judging from the art here, concentrating on writing was probably the right choice.

    Still, fiction works with multiple inserted plates are fairly rare, and today limited to pricey small press editions by the likes of Stephen King and George R. R. Martin. Why did Heinemann go to that extent for MacLeod/Sharp? (This was published 15 years after his death, and he’s clearly listed as being MacLeod on a page advertising MacLeod and Sharp books right before the first plate page.) Presumably Heinemann did well with him, as there are nine books by him and one about him (by his wife) listed there. Also, this ISFDB page says that this was done as a Christmas gift book, which explains the elaborate production.

    As I’ve stated before, “you’ve already paid for it” is a pretty compelling argument for adding anything interesting to your library…

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    Library Addition: Two Arthur Machen Critical Chapbooks

    July 14th, 2023

    More from that Heritage lot, namely two critical chapbooks on Arthur Machen, both from The Arthur Machen Society.

  • Machen, Arthur (attributed). From the London Evening News. The Arthur Machen Society/Four Ducks Press, 1959. First edition chapbook original, #33 of 50 copies printed, a Fine copy, with a letter enclosed presenting the work from J. H. Stewart, Jr. to Joseph Kelly Vodray (who left an archive of Machen papers to Princeton) describing how the book was designed and printed by Bill Jackson. Three stories covering purportedly supernatural events reprinted from the London Evening News tentatively identified as the work of Arthur Machen. This is a remarkably attractive chapbook, crisply designed and printed in multiple colors inside, and really looks like something printed 20 years later. No online listings, though Worldcat does locate 13 copies in various libraries (including UT’s Harry Ransom Center).

  • (Machen, Arthur) Wesley D. Sweeter and Adrian H. Goldstone. Arthur Machen. Arthur Machen Society, 1960. First edition hardback chapbook, one of 200 copies, a Near Fine copy with sports of rubbing to extremities and cover and the decorative bookplate of Paul Jordan Smith (Literary Editor of The Los Angeles Times for 25 years and noted Machen fan) affixed to insider front cover. Reprints two pieces on Machen from The Aylesford Review: Sweeter’s “Machen: A Biographical Study” and Goldstone’s “Men About Machen,” discussing some of the more notable members of the Society (including Vodray and Smith).

    • Neither of these is in Donald Hassler’s extensive secondary bibliography on Machen on page 180 of Dictionary of Literary Bibliography Volume 178: British Fantasy and Science-fiction Writers before World War I, nor Wilson’s Shadows in the Attic, nor Tymn/Schlobin/Currey, nor any other reference works at hand. The only bibliography I have of Machen is Danielson’s, which is literally 100 year old. Goldstone and Sweeter did a more recent bibliography (put out by the University of Texas Press, no less) that I should probably keep an eye out for.

    Though I’m not really a Machen collector per se, there’s something deeply satisfying about unearthing rare reference chapbooks…

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    Library Additions: Two Hollow Earth Books

    July 13th, 2023

    Both these books were in the same Heritage lot as the Locke book. I have a small but growing collection of books on Hollow Earth theory and the Shaver Mystery, and these two fit right in.

  • Bernard, Dr. Raymond (pseudonym for Walter Siegmeister). The Hollow Earth. Fieldcrest Publishing, 1964. “New Edition” hardback (I think this amounts to the second printing of the first edition, which was evidently offset, so this might qualify as the first printed edition), a Very Good+ copy in red decorated boards with a few pinhead spots of staining to rear, slight wear at head and heel, slight blunting of points, and slight wear to gold lettering, lacking the dust jacket. Barnard wrote several books promulgating various fringe and pseudoscience beliefs (vegetarianism, parthenogentic reproduction, sexual abstinence, etc.), and this book discusses how UFOs actually come from the hollow earth. He also believed there was a hollow earth opening in Brazil, and tried to start a farming colony somewhere in the general vicinity of the entrance. Kafton-Minkel, Subterranean Worlds, pages 192-216. Standish, Hollow Earth pages 277-278 (“a distillate of virtually every crackpot theory about the hollow earth that had been accumulating for a hundred years or more”). Though this had many later printings, any Fieldcrest printing seems uncommon.

  • Wentworth, Jim. Giants in the Earth: Ray Palmer, Oahspe and the Shaver Mystery. Palmer Publications, 1973. First edition? (no additional printings mentioned) trade paperback original, a Near Fine- copy with one tackhead-sized chip at the end of a crease to top front corner and slight wear at points, otherwise a fairly nice copy. Mishmash of Shaver Mystery, spiritualism, UFOs, Shaver’s “rock books,” and a dozen other fringe ideas, mostly taken from Palmer’s publications. Not in Kafton-Minkel or Standish.

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    Library Addition: Signed, Limited Hardback of George Locke’s Voyages in Space

    July 12th, 2023

    As part of (I assume) it’s ongoing sale of the Gary Monson collection, Heritage Auctions offered up a lot of oversized and non-fiction works. Of those, this title was one I was most interested in, and is the reason I bid. I won the lot for $240 plus shipping.

    Locke, George. Voyages in Space: A Bibliography of Interplanetary Fiction 1801-1914. Ferret Fantasy, 1975. First edition hardback, #17 of 18 signed, numbered hardback copies (plus an additional 10 copies not for sale), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. The definitive bibliography on early space travel fiction. Chalker/Owings, page 527. Tymn/Schlobin/Currey A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies 47. Barron mentions this in Anatomy of Wonder 4 7-7 (on Currey’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors), but does not have a separate listing for it. Not in Justice. Supplements an inscribed copy of the trade paperback.

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    Library Addition: Signed, Limited Edition of John Crowley’s Great Work of Time

    July 11th, 2023

    Crowley, John. Great Work of Time. Subterranean, 2023. First edition hardback, #219 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. “Great Work of Time first appeared in John Crowley’s 1989 collection, Novelty. It was immediately recognized as a major addition to the literature of time travel, and went on to win the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. More than thirty years after its initial publication, it remains as dazzling, dizzying and totally enthralling as ever.” I have a small number of these available through Lame Excuse Books.

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