Featured Items
FRANKENSTEIN OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS ...
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, [1983]. Large octavo, illustrations by Berni Wrightson, cloth. First printing of this edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by King, who wrote the four-page introduction, and artist Berni Wrightson. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-47; (1981) 1-150; (1987) 1-84; (1995) 1-84; and (2004) II-997. In 333.
THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT.
Arlington Hgts: Dark Harvest, 1990. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. hardcover edition. One of 550 numbered copies signed by Koontz and artist Phil Parks. First published as a paperback original under the "Leigh Nichols" pseudonym.
EARTHSHAKER.
New York: Macmillan, 1958. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Adventure set in South Africa.
KALIFORNIA.
New York: St. Martin's Press, [1993]. Octavo, boards. First edition. "As brilliant a satire on the future of media and popular culture as any of Pohl and Kornbluth's classic works. By turns bitterly funny, inventive as well as humane, filled with a wealth of sly references to high and low culture, this comic inferno of a novel continuously confronts the reader with jaw-dropping moments of astonishing beauty ... This is a book of beauty and compassion, probing the flypaper of media and popular culture with which we have become stuck." - George Zebrowski. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-626.
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO...
Garden City: Doubleday, 1963. Octavo, boards. First edition.
BLACK UNICORN.
New York: Atheneum, 1991. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Fantasy novel.
STADIUM BEYOND THE STARS.
Philadelphia, Toronto: The John C. Winston Company, 1960. Octavo, cover illustration by Mel Hunter, cloth. First edition. Following the perfection of translight starships twenty generations ago, human civilization has spread to 120 other star systems. En route to the Interstellar Olympic Games, a starship carrying Earth's team encounters an apparently derelict spaceship carrying an intelligent nonhuman race that can teleport and communicate telepathically, and the crew member who discovered them is thrust into the midst of interstellar conflict and intrigue. Part of the popular Winston juvenile series published between 1952-1961, which introduced many young readers to science fiction. One of the last Winston juveniles done, the last one by John C. Winston before becoming part of Holt & Rinehart (& Winston).
GRIMSCRIBE: HIS LIVES AND WORKS.
London: Robinson Publishing, [1991]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Collection of linked stories. Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-241.
STRANGER THINGS HAPPEN.
Brooklyn, NY: Small Beer Press, [2001]. Octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Trade paperback original. The author's first book preceded by a booklet 4 STORIES [2000]. Collects eleven stories, including the four published in the earlier published booklet. 2002 nominee for World Fantasy Award, best collection. "Eleven stories showcase a dexterous use of language and a startling, if frequently elusive, imagination as ghosts, aliens, and the living dead invade the most mundane aspects of everyday life." "Stylistic pyrotechnics light up a bizarre but emotionally truthful landscape. Link’s a writer to watch." - Kirkus review, 1 July, 2001.
SHADOW FOR A LADY.
London: T.V. Boardman, n.d. [1948]. Octavo, Hardcover. First British edition. Author's first mystery. P.I. novel set in L.A.
UNEASY FREEHOLD.
London: Peter Davies, [1942]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 1-304 [305] [306: blank], original red cloth, spine stamped in gold. First edition. A brother and sister move to rural Devon and purchase Cliff House in which they find it is haunted by a ghost. The author's best known novel which became a bestseller U. S. (retitled THE UNINVITED). Filmed in 1944 with Ray Milland. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p. 124. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1064. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 275. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 128. Reginald 09409A.
MAN HUNGRY.
[New York]: Midwood (Tower) Publication, [1962]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Second printing. Midwood 147. First published in 1959.
GIFTWISH.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. edition. Review slip laid in. Young adult fantasy novel in the Tolkien tradition.
THE SHRINKING MAN.
London: David Bruce & Watson, [1973]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Introduction by Kingsley Amis. Filmed in 1957 from a screenplay by the author, currently slated for a possible remake. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-121. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-219. Pringle, Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels #18.
THE ART OF SURVIVAL.
New York: Doubleday, 1989. Octavo, boards. First edition. A Fiddler mystery novel.
BLOOD LAKE.
New York: Walker, 1987. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition.
THE DEAD LINE.
London: George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1966. Octavo, boards. First edition. A Commander Shaw adventure novel.
SUPERLUMINAL.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983. Octavo, cloth-backed boards. First edition. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-751.
THE MOON POOL.
New York: Liveright Publishing, n.d. (circa 1930's). Octavo, boards. Later edition. The author's first book.
THE DOOMSTERS.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1958. Octavo, boards. First edition. "With its sure pace and crisp prose, The Doomsters belonged with the best of the previous Archers. What was new was its more complex view of behavior. In this book MacDonald said good-bye to the simplistic views and solutions of the hard-boiled shool." Nolan, Ross MacDonald: A Biography, pp. 181. Pederson (ed.), St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, (4th ed.), pp. 676-678.
THE FAR SIDE OF THE DOLLAR.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. A Lew Archer novel. "...exposes the heartbreak of those who come to California expecting the answers to their dreams..." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 528. Hubin, p. 527.
NORTH WEST ROMANCES.
New York: Glen-Kel Publishing Co., Inc., 1947. Octavo, single issue, cover by Gross, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. Feature story "The Isle of Retribution" by Edison Marshall. Also includes "The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill" by Robert W. Service.
WIDDERSHINS.
London: Martin Secker, 1911. Octavo, original decorated orange-red cloth, front panel stamped in gold and blind, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind, top edge stained orange-red, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. First edition. Collects nine stories. "A landmark book in the history of supernatural fiction." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1261. Includes "The Beckoning Fair One," "... one of the finest of all ghost stories ..." and "Onion's work is stylishly suspenseful, and his best works are very effective" Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror 4-119. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1720. Jones and Newman (eds), Horror: 100 Best Books 31. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-190. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 398.
TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND THE FAIRY CHESSMEN...
New York: Gnome Press, Inc. Publishers, [1951]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Collects two short novels first published in ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION as two-part serials in January-February 1947 and January-February 1946. "Two complexly plotted but superior short novels with grim and bitter dystopian views." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-108. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-619.
THE LILY HAND: AND OTHER STORIES.
London: Heinemann, [1965]. Octavo, boards. First edition. With two signed inscriptions by Pargeter. The first inscription reads: "To Ellis / with best wishes / from Mary / 1965", most probably a presentation copy to the author's brother Edmund Ellis Pargeter with whom she lived with for 35 years of her adult life. Her brother and grandmother Emma Ellis is where the influence for first name for her pseudonym Ellis Peters. The second inscription reads: "For Sue, with / affectionate regards, / Edith, / August, 1991". This second inscription could well be to Sue Feder who founded the Ellis Peter's Appreciation Society. The author's second story collection, several appear to have fantastic elements to them. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Volume II, p. 88. Not in Reginald (1979; 1992). Hubin (1994), p. 626.