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21 LETTERS OF AMBROSE BIERCE.
[West Warwick, Rhode Island]: Necronomicon Press, [1991]. Octavo, pictorial wrappers, stapled. First edition. Collects a series of letters from Bierce to Samuel Loveman, 1908-1913. Introduction by Donald R. Burleson.
A VOYAGE TO CACKLOGALLINIA: WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE RELIGION, POLICY, CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THAT COUNTRY ...
London: Printed by J. Watson in Black-Fryers, and sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1727. Octavo, pp. [1-2] [1] 2-167 [168: blank], engraved frontispiece, engraved tailpiece on page 121, later three-quarter green pebbled morocco and marbled boards, titled on spine in gold. First edition. Satire in the manner of Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS in which the narrator finds himself shipwrecked in a land populated by a society of fowls. "A VOYAGE TO CACKLOGALLINIA, written by Captain Samuel Brunt and printed at London London in 1727, is one of the most imaginative, thoughtful, and subtly satirical works in the imaginary voyages genre. The author is a slave-trader who at the start of his narrative is captured on Jamaica by runaway slaves under their leader, a certain Captain Thomas. His shipmates having been decapitated, Brunt is taken to the slaves' village in the mountains and treated with kindness and hospitality. When the village is raided by the English and most of its population murdered, Brunt escapes with a friendly slave in a commandeered fishing vessel with the intention of reaching Cuba or Hispaniola. En route the vessel is captured by pirates, but, after further adventures, the pirate sloop breaks up in a storm and Brunt finds himself shipwrecked on an unknown island, Cacklogallinia, populated by a community of talking chickens. Its capital is Ludbitallya, and the island is ruled by the Emperor Hippomina Connuferento. Although at first regarded as a curiosity, Brunt (or Probusomo as he comes to be called) is befriended by the chief minister and rises to the rank of 'castleairiano, or, 'examiner of projects to raise taxes.' Brunt's description of the community is a fairly conventional satire on English life and Walpole's government, but the author enhances this with a parody of the South Sea Bubble, the speculative trading venture that burst in 1721, by involving Brunt in a project to finance a Cacklogallinian expedition to the Moon. Borrowing from Godwin's THE MAN IN THE MOONE, the hero is projected skyward in a palanquin borne by several of the flying chickens. However, rather than finding a trading paradise on the Moon, the Cacklogallinians discover a peaceful world populated by the souls of humans with a disregard for wealth and power, causing Brunt and his chicken entourage to reflect on the folly of their own societies. Anxious to return to his home country, and with the aid of a compass, Brunt descends from the Moon directly into the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, makes his way to Kingston, and there acquires a free passage to England." - Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration: Invented and Apocryphal Narratives of Travel B60. "Nearly a hundred years elapsed between Godwin's THE MAN IN THE MOONE and the only other full-length English moon voyage to use the device of 'harnessing of birds' ... On the one hand this is a 'Robinsonade,' on the other an obvious imitation of the fourth book of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS which had been published a year before Brunt's lesser work appeared ... The originality of A VOYAGE TO CACKLOGALLINIA does not arise from its science ... It comes from the fact that this is the first moon voyage, the inspiration for which is to be found primarily in economics ... This is a satire upon that great orgy of speculation, the South Sea Bubble ... From this background, so poignantly in the minds of his contemporaries, Captain Samuel Brunt drew the materials for his satire." - Nicolson, Voyages to the Moon, pp. 98-108. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-8 and (1981) 1-28. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 286. Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 259-61. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 30. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 42. Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V153. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 159. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, pp. 20-1. Bleiler (1978), p. 33. Reginald 02080.
EREWHON OR OVER THE RANGE.
New York: E. P. Dutton, 1913. Octavo, cloth. Reprint. Classic Utopian satire. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 1-19.
THE CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD.
New York: The Macmillan Company, [1967]. Octavo, pictorial cloth. First U.S. edition. Set in a dystopian future where aliens have conquered the Earth. They travel in in three legged vehicles reminiscent of the Martian war machines in H.G. Well's WAR OF THE WORLDS. The aliens control humans by inserting communication devices in their heads. The second book of a trilogy preceded by THE WHITE MOUNTAINS (1967) and followed by THE POOL OF FIRE (1968). And later a fourth book, a prequel, WHEN THE TRIPODS CAME (1988) was published. Basis for a BBC series "The Tripods." Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-244.
THE CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD.
New York: The Macmillan Company, [1968]. Octavo, pictorial cloth. First U.S. edition. Set in a dystopian future where aliens have conquered the Earth. They travel in in three legged vehicles reminiscent of the Martian war machines in H.G. Well's WAR OF THE WORLDS. The aliens control humans by inserting communication devices in their heads. The final book of a trilogy preceded by THE WHITE MOUNTAINS (1967) and THE CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD (1967). And later a fourth book, a prequel, WHEN THE TRIPODS CAME (1988) was published. Basis for a BBC series "The Tripods." Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-244.
SWEENEY'S ISLAND.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition.
THE TWENTY-SECOND CENTURY.
[London]: Grayson & Grayson Ltd., [1954]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Christopher on the title page. The author's first SF book. A collection of twenty stories. "At this stage in his career Christopher's narrative craft was nearly mature." "He told stories with pace, suspense, sanity and clarity." - Pederson (ed.): The St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers (4th ed.), pp. 185-87. Many of these stories preview the themes of his later novels.
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
New York: The Macmillan Company, [1967]. Octavo, pictorial cloth. First U.S. edition. Set in a dystopian future where aliens have conquered the Earth. They travel in in three legged vehicles reminiscent of the Martian war machines in H.G. Well's WAR OF THE WORLDS. The aliens control humans by inserting communication devices in their heads. The first book of a trilogy followed by THE CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD (1967) and THE POOL OF FIRE (1968). And later a fourth book, a prequel, WHEN THE TRIPODS CAME (1988) was published. Basis for a BBC series "The Tripods." Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-244.
THE WORLD IN WINTER.
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962. Octavo, boards. First edition. Catastrophe novel in which a new ice age descends on England. Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-93.
THE YEAR OF THE COMET.
London: Michael Joseph, [1955]. Octavo, boards. First edition. The author's first science fiction novel. The world is split not into states but into business groups.
BABEL-17.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1967. Octavo, boards. First British and first hardcover edition. Co-winner of the 1966 Nebula award for best novel. "Clever, colorful, and highly original..." Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 4-126.
BABEL-17.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1967. Octavo, boards. First edition. Co-winner of the 1966 Nebula award for best novel. "Clever, colorful, and highly original..." Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 4-126.
DHALGREN.
Boston: Gregg Press, 1977. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Signed by Delany on the title page. This edition contains all textual corrections from the author, including several dropped lines of dialogue (these corrections were not fully made through the first nine printings of the paperback editions). Lengthy introduction by Jean Mark Gawron. "Convoluted and fascinating, it remains on of the key works of avant-garde SF, by an author determined to extend the limits of the genre." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 4-127. Nominated for the Nebula award for best novel in 1975. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-315. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions. Survey of Science Fiction Literature II, pp. 533-38.
DISTANT STARS ...
Toronto, New York, London, Sydney: Bantam Books, [1981]. Octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Trade paperback format. See Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 4-166.
DRIFTGLASS.
Boston: Gregg Press, 1977. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. trade hardcover edition. First published in 1971, this is a corrected reprint with new introduction by Robert Thurston. "Ten glittery SF stories, comprising Delany's entire short fiction output up to 1970. Contains two Nebula award-winners: "Aye, and Gomorrah" (1967) and "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" (1968). Effective marriages of style and ideative substance, these pieces represent American 1960s New Wave SF at its best." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (Second edition), p. 109. Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 4-166. Survey of Science Fiction Literature II, pp. 625-28.
THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION
Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, [1986]. Octavo, frontispiece by Frank Mayo, full leather, a.e.g. Later edition. New introduction by George Zebrowski. "A computer named PHAEDRA orchestrates the bizarre happenings in this fantasy patterned after the myth of Orpheus." - Mowshowitz, p. 304. Winner of the 1967 Nebula award for best novel (tied with FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON). 1968 Hugo nominee. Collector's notes laid in. Issued as part of the Easton Press "Masterpieces of Science Fiction" series. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-316. Survey of Science Fiction Literature II, pp. 703-7.
THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1968. Octavo, boards. First edition. "A fabulous tour de force of the imagination." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 4-129. Nebula award winner 1967 (tied with Flowers for Algernon), nominated for the Hugo award, 1968.
THE JEWELS OF APTOR.
Boston: Gregg Press, 1976. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. hardcover edition. First U.S. printing of the complete text. The author's first book. "In a post-holocaust world, a group of young people set out on a quest for a wonderful jewel. Baroque far-future stuff, exuberantly inventive. Delany's debut (he was all of 19 when he wrote it)." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (Second edition), p. 195.
NEVERYONA: OR, THE TALE OF SIGNS AND CITIES.
Toronto, New York, Sydney: Bantam Books:, [1983]. Octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Trade paperback original. Barron: Fantasy Literature 4A-84.
STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SAND.
Toronto, New York, London, Sydney, Auckland: Bantam Books, [1984]. Octavo, cloth-backed boards. First edition. First book of a diptych of novels titled "Visible and Invisible Persons Distributed in Space." Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-318. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 421.
TRITON.
Toronto, New York, London: Bantam Books, [1976]. Small octavo, cover art by Mitchell Hooks, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Bantam Books Y2567. Paperback original. "...Triton is more traditionally structured, but is in some ways more sophisticated. It presents a series of future societies differentiated mainly along sexual lines; the male protagonist, who begins by displaying a rather insensitive, traditional machismo, ultimately chooses to become a woman (see Transgender SF), but remains alienated. Triton (a moon of Neptune) is an "ambiguous heterotopia" with a bewildering variety of available lifestyles. The book poses interesting questions about sexuality, and also about freedom of choice." - SFE online. "In a fantastically rich and varied space-faring future, people can choose their own sexes, identities, whatever. A densely written (some would say turgid) utopian novel of high ambition. Be be warned that it's a difficult book to read." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (1995), p. 387. Nebula award nominee. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-319. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 374.
THE DELANY INTERSECTION: CONSIDERED AS A WRITER OF SEMI-PRECIOUS WORDS.
San Bernardino: Borgo Press, 1977. Octavo, wrappers. First edition. Paperback original.
FANTASTIC STORY MAGAZINE.
Kokomo, IN: Best Books, Inc., 1953. Octavo, single issue, cover by Erle K. Bergey, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. Largely a reprint magazine which started life as Fantastic Story Quarterly. Includes an original Richard Matheson story, "The Disinheritors." Two other new stories by Frank Robinson and Alfred Coppel. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 249-250.
FANTASTIC STORY MAGAZINE.
Kokomo, IN: Best Books, Inc., 1953. Octavo, single issue, cover by Erle K. Bergey, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. Largely a reprint magazine which started life as Fantastic Story Quarterly. Includes an original Richard Matheson story, "The Disinheritors." Two other new stories by Frank Robinson and Alfred Coppel. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 249-250.
FANTASTIC STORY MAGAZINE.
Kokomo, IN: Best Books, Inc., 1953. Octavo, single issue, cover by Ed Emshwiller, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. Largely a reprint magazine which started life as Fantastic Story Quarterly. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 249-250.