Featured Items
RUE MORGUE NO. 1.
New York: Creative Age Press, Inc., [1946]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collects nineteen stories, by H. Bedford-Jones, Dorothy Dunn, Seabury Quinn, Jack Snow, Ray Bradbury, Bruno Fischer, a couple first published in the slicks, but most from pulp mystery magazines.
THREE FOR THE CHAIR: A NERO WOLFE THREESOME.
New York: The Viking Press, 1957. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collects three Nero Wolfe mystery stories. "A Window for Death," "Immune to Murder," and "Too Many Detectives." First published in magazines; The American Magazine and Colliers. Hubin, pp. 777-778. Townsend, Rex Stout: An Annotated and Secondary Bibliography, C9a.
THREE WITNESSES: A NERO WOLFE THREESOME.
New York: The Viking Press, 1956. Octavo, boards. First edition. Collects three Nero Wolfe mystery stories. "The Next Witness," "When A Man Murders," and "Die Like a Dog." All first published in The American Magazine. "Archie is tops in all and in the first we not only enjoy Wolfe subpoenaed and in a courtroom, but subsequently driving around and doing genuine detection on the hoof." - Barzun & Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime (1989), 4140. Hubin, pp. 777-778. Townsend, Rex Stout: An Annotated and Secondary Bibliography, C8a.
MATURITY: THREE STORIES ...
[Minneapolis]: Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc. Rune Press, 1979. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 750 copies of which this is one of 700 numbered copies signed by Sturgeon. Collects "Maturity," "Bulkhead" and "The Graveyard Reader." Includes a bibliography of Sturgeon's work compiled by Dennis Lien with Jayne Sturgeon, pp. 107-144.
THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN.
Reading, Pennsylvania: Fantasy Press, 1947. Octavo, cloth. First edition, trade issue. Concerns the search for spores from an alien plant located in a hidden valley in Central Asia. In 333.
THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE.
New York: Standard Magazines, Inc., 1938. Octavo, single issue, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. "Death Glow" by Robert Wallace. Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazine, pp. 408-414.
THE SECRET 6.
Chicago: Popular Publications, Inc., 1935. Octavo, single issue, cover by Henry Alan, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. Feature novel "The Monster Murders" by Robert J. Hogan. "...they represent [the four novels] some of the best efforts of one of the major pulp authors of the thirties." - Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazines, pp. 479-481.
SEMA-KANDA: THRESHOLD MEMORIES. A MYSTIC'S STORY.
Chicago: Purdy Publishing Co., 1898. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 8-254 [255-256: blank] [note: first and last leaves are blanks], original blue cloth, front panel stamped in gold and blind, spine panel stamped in gold, t.e.g., brown coated endpapers. First edition. Inscribed by Turnbull on a tipped in leaf. "Occult novel in four parts. The first and longest part is set in, and at the time of a degenerated Atlantis, before and during its complete destruction. Some members of a religious order of adepts accompany an ark on its voyage to Central America. The third part picks up this thread in the eighteenth century, with records from Atlantis in the possession of an Indian namesake of one of the Atlantean adepts." - Teitler and Locke (2013) 12-18. Not in Wright.
THE CLUB OF MASKS.
Philadelphia & London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1926. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 7-311 [312: blank], original yellow pictorial cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black, top edge stained brown. First edition. A Dr. Frank Tarleton detective novel, first published in England as THE DOMINO CLUB. Subtitled on front panel of dust jacket: "The thrills and mystery of nightclub life." Hubin, p. 815.
THE WEAPONS MAKERS.
Providence, RI: Hadley Publishing Co., [1947]. Octavo, pp. [1-7] 8-224, frontispiece illustration by Allan W. Halladay, cloth. First edition. Author's second book. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1158. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2501-05. In 333.
FANTASMS: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE LITERATURE OF JACK VANCE.
San Francisco, California, Columbia, Pennsylvania: Underwood/Miller, 1978. Octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. 1000 copies printed. This is one of the 900 copies in wrappers.
THE DEMON PRINCES SERIES: THE STAR KING, THE KILLING MACHINE, THE PALACE OF LOVE, THE FACE and THE BOOK OF DREAMS (5 volumes).
San Francisco, CA; Columbia, PA: Underwood/Miller, 1980-81. Octavo, 5 volumes, leatherette. First U. S. hardcover editions volumes 1-3, first hardcover editions volumes 4 and 5. Volume 1 signed by Vance, not numbered, one of approximately 15 stamped presentation copy, volumes 2-3, one of 175 numbered copies signed by Vance; volume 4, one of 150 numbered copies signed by Vance; volume 5, one of 200 numbered copies signed by Vance All five volumes comprising the "Demon Princes" series. "Originally published between 1964 and 1981 ... these five picaresque novels are vintage Jack Vance, crammed to the brim with sardonic wit and beautiful, slightly understated prose. Five aliens, the Demon Princes of the title, were responsible for the Mount Pleasant Massacre, which destroyed an entire world. Kirth Gersen, whose entire family died in the massacre, has dedicated his life to hunting down and avenging himself upon the princes, one per volume." - Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1160. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1160. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A15m, A17m, A31h, A61c, A66b.
THE DYING EARTH.
San Francisco, CA, Columbia, PA: Underwood-Miller, 1976. Octavo, illustrations by George Barr, cloth. First hardcover edition. The author's first book. Signed by Vance and artist George Barr. "Little noticed at initial publication, this work launched a whole subgenre of fictional futures in which magic replaces science..." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-185. "...Vance was beginning to compose the kind of story that would eventually make him one of the two or three most deeply influential authors in the sf and fantasy genres after World War Two" - Malcolm J. Edwards and John Clute, SFE (online). Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 3-345. Cawthorn and Moorcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 70. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A1i. Pringle, Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels 11. Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy 1066. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature I, pp. 441-46. Survey of Science Fiction Literature II, pp. 665-70. Tymn (ed), Fantasy Literature, pp. 168-69.
THE KRAGEN.
Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, [2007]. Octavo, cloth. Limited edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by Vance. Novella that first appeared in 1964 in the magazine Fantastic Stories. This was later expanded into the novel THE BLUE WORLD (1966). First published in this format as part of the Vance Integral Edition (VIE).
LYONESSE: SULDRUN'S GARDEN.
San Francisco, CA, Columbia, PA: Underwood-Miller, [1983]. Octavo, cloth. First hardcover edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by Vance. The author's preferred text, differing slightly from that of the paperbound 1983 Berkley edition. The first Lyonesse book. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 4A-257. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A70b.
WEIRD TALES.
Indianapolis, IN: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 1938. Octavo, single issue, cover art by Virgil Finlay, pictorial wrappers. Pulp Magazine. Includes stories by Carl Jacobi, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, H. P. Lovecraft (verse), Robert E. Howard (verse), Jack Williamson, and others. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 727-736.
WEIRD TALES.
New York, NY: Weird Tales, 1941. Octavo, single issue, cover art by Harold S. De Lay, pictorial wrappers. Pulp Magazine. Includes stories by Henry Kuttner, Seabury Quinn, Nelson S. Bond, and others. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 727-736.
WEIRD TALES.
New York, NY: Weird Tales, 1944. Octavo, single issue, cover art by Margaret Brundage, pictorial wrappers. Pulp Magazine. Includes stories by Dorothy Quick, Ray Bradbury ("The Lake"), Robert Bloch, Manly Wade Wellman, and others. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 727-736.
WEIRD TALES.
Indianapolis, IN: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 1928. Octavo, single issue, cover art by C. C. Senf, pictorial wrappers. Pulp Magazine. Includes stories by H. Warner Munn, Edmond Hamilton, August Derleth and others. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 727-736.
I GAVE AT THE OFFICE.
New York: Simon and Schuster, [1971]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Signed inscription by Westlake on the title page. Review slip laid in.
CLEAN BREAK.
New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., [1955]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Clean Break is the source for the 1956 Stanley Kubrick film "The Killing." The script for this classic film noir was written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson, it starred Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook, Jr., and Mary Windsor. "White is rather neglected at present but for unadorned action, suspense and vigorous storytelling his novels have seldom been surpassed." - St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, pp. 1049. Hubin, p. 858. Silver and Ward (eds.), Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd edition), pp. 154-155. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, pp. 117-122. Johnson, The Dark Page II, p. 204.
SEETEE SHOCK.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950. Octavo, boards. First edition. Inscribed and signed by Williamson as Will Stewart/Jack Williamson to a well known early fan. Sequel to Seetee Ship. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1261.
THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH.
New York: Timescape Books Distributed by Simon and Schuster, [1982]. Octavo, printed wrappers. Advance uncorrected proof. The fourth volume in "The Book of the New Sun." Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 4-510. Barron (ed.) Fantasy Literature 4A-270. Pringle-SF The 100 Best Novels #95.
THE BLACK PATH OF FEAR.
Garden City: Published for The Crime Club by Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., 1944. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Basis for the 1946 film noir The Chase, starring Robert Cummings and Peter Lorre. Hubin, p. 879. Johnson, The Dark Page, p. 296.
THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE: TALES OF LOVE AND DEATH.
New York: Walker and Company, [1965]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed inscription by Woolrich on the front end paper: "To Ethel & Karl Paley / Sincerely, / Cornell Woolrich." As with all Woolrich books, scarce signed, especially so as the author was quite reclusive and this title is one of the last two published during his lifetime (he died in 1968).