Recently Shelved
THE SHUNNED HOUSE.
Athol, Mass. Published by Paul Cook The Recluse Press, 1928. Octavo, cloth. First edition. This is Lovecraft's first book of fiction. Of 300 copies printed this is one of 100 that Derleth bound and distributed in the Arkham House cloth binding in 1961. Originally a few copies were circulated among members of the tiny Lovecraft circle prior to August Derleth's acquisition of approximately 150 useable sets of sheets from Robert Barlow, Lovecraft's literary executor. Derleth distributed approximately 50 sets of the unbound sheets before binding 100 copies in 1961. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1037. Joshi I-A-5.
VANDALS OF THE VOID.
Philadelphia, Toronto: The John C. Winston Company, [1953]. Octavo, cover illustration by Alex Schomburg, boards. First edition. The author's first hardcover title. "Future piracy and old-fashioned megalomania play prominent roles in this novel of space rockets being attacked, taken, and reconverted into a fleet designed to conquer Earth and its colonies ... Stylistically one of the best written Winston 1950s novels." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 5-161. Part of the popular Winston juvenile series published between 1952-1961, which introduced many young readers to science fiction. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A3.
EMPHYRIO.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1969. Octavo, cloth. First edition. "A young man attempts to free the people of the semi-ruined city of Ambroy on the planet Halma from the benign oppression of the Lords...This is one of his best novels." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 118. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1163. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A34.
THE DEADLY ISLES.
Indianapolis & New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, [1969]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Mystery novel set in Tahiti and the South Seas. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A33.
TO LIVE FOREVER.
New York: Ballantine Books, [1956]. Octavo. cloth. First edition. Signed by Vance on the title page. The author's scarce fourth book. "The convoluted tale of a far-future metropolis in which people will kill for the chance of immortality. A standard theme, stylishly presented, in one of the most solid (and best plotted) of this talented author's earlier works." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 381. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1167. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A4ab.
EIGHT FANTASMS AND MAGICS: A SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURE.
[New York]: The Macmillan Company, [1969]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collects eight stories. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A37.
RHIALTO THE MARVELLOUS.
New York: A Baen Book Distributed by Simon & Schuster, [1984]. Octavo, cloth. First trade edition. Collects "The Murthe," "Fader's Waft," and "Morreion," three tales of The Dying Earth. See Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-380. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance A72b.
THE GRAY PRINCE.
Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., [1974]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Science fiction novel set in the author's "Gaean Reach" universe. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A46.
CUGEL'S SAGA.
New York: Timescape Books, [1983]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Episodic novel featuring Cugel the Clever. Includes "The Seventeen Virgins" and "The Bagful of Dreams." Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A71.
THE BEST OF JACK VANCE.
New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, [1978]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First hardcover edition. Signed by Vance on the title page. Collects six stories, including "The Last Castle" and "Rumfuddle." Introduction by Barry Malzberg. Offset from the Pocket Books edition (1976). Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A51e.
MASKE: THAERY.
New York: Published by Berkley Publishing Corporation, Distributed by G. P. Putnam's Sons, [1976]. Octavo, jacket art by Richard Powers, cloth. First edition. Signed by Vance on the title page. Science fiction novel set in the author's "Gaean Reach" universe. "Jubal Droad, a young and ambitious member of the scorned ""Glint"" population of Thaery on the planet Maske, bulldozes his way into the affairs of the ruling ""Theriot"" class--a chilly and devious set whose chosen manner, is an airily impersonal and endlessly ingenious rudeness. Seeking revenge on a noble Theriot who has wronged him, Jubal finds himself exploring an intrigue that threatens both Glints and Theriots." - Kirkus review, 1976. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A52.
THE LANGUAGES OF PAO.
New York: Avalon Books/Thomas Bouregy and Company, [1958]. Octavo, jacket illustration by Ric Binkley, cloth. First edition. "The first full-scale use in SF of linguistics as a "hard" science." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-186. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1164. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1135-39. Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A8.
BIG PLANET.
New York: Avalon Books, [1957]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Signed by Vance on the title page. "In Big Planet Vance provided an sf model for the planetary romance which has been of significant use for forty years. The planet of this novel is a huge though Earthlike world, with enough landmass to provide realistic venues in which a wide range of social systems can operate..." - Malcolm J. Edwards and John Clute, SFE (online). Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A5.
THE JACK VANCE TREASURY. Edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan.
[Burton, MI]: Subterranean Press, 2006. Octavo, leather backed cloth. First edition. One of 374 numbered copies signed by Vance. Collects eighteen stories, includes the Hugo award winning story "The Dragon Masters." Also includes an appreciation by George R. R. Martin.
WILD THYME, GREEN MAGIC: STORIES BY JACK VANCE. Edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan.
[Burton, MI]: Subterranean Press, 2009. Octavo, jacket art by Tom Kidd, cloth. First edition. Collects twelve stories, includes Vance's first published story "The World-Thinker" (1945). Also includes a biography and a piece by Norma Vance.
DREAM CASTLES: THE EARLY JACK VANCE VOLUME TWO. Edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan.
[Burton, MI]: Subterranean Press, 2012. Octavo, jacket art by Tom Kidd, cloth. First edition. Collects ten stories.
HARD-LUCK DIGGINGS: THE EARLY JACK VANCE. Edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan.
[Burton, MI]: Subterranean Press, 2010. Octavo, jacket art by Tom Kidd, cloth. First edition. Collects fourteen stories first published between 1948-1959.
NIGHT LAMP.
New York: Tor, 1996. Octavo, boards. First edition. According to the JACK VANCE: CRITICAL APPRECIATIONS AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY (2000) this trade edition precedes the limited edition from Underwood books which was dated April, 1996 had experienced production delays. "Another adventure/drama set in Vance's inimitable far-future Gaean Reach (Throy, 1993, etc.), encompassing thousands of inhabited planets. During a field trip to planet Camberwell, philosopher Hilyer Fath and his musicologist wife, Althea, rescue a six-year-old boy, Jaro, from a severe beating at the hands of local peasants. So traumatized is the boy by his experiences- -including the torture and death of his mother--that the doctors are forced to excise much of his memory. The Faths, with no clue as to Jaro's past, adopt the boy and return to their academic lives on planet Gallingale. Jaro, though occasionally troubled by fleeting memories and instances of what seem to be telepathy, grows up determined to become a spaceman and discover the truth about his origins. He also becomes friendly with Skirlet, an intelligent and vivacious girl from the top of Gallingale's social pyramid who, after numerous weird adventures, plans to become an interstellar detective. Years later, Jaro meets Tawn Maihac, a competent, unassuming ex-policeman with his own gruesome experiences to relate; Maihac--Jaro's father!--has been searching without success for the murderer of Jaro's mother. When the Faths are killed in a bizarre mass-murder while attending a conference on yet another planet, Jaro, Skirlet, and Maihac journey into space in search of some answers. And all of the foregoing merely hints at the diverse, expertly arranged plots, vivid scenarios, and splendid characters to be found here. Storyteller Vance is in top form here: the result is uneven in places, perhaps, but always astonishing and enthralling." - Kirkus Review, 1 August, 1996. Not in Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance.
THE BLUE WORLD.
San Francisco, CA, Columbia, PA: Underwood/Miller, 1979. Octavo, illustrated by Cathy Hill, cloth. First hardcover edition. "Epic adventure in futuro-exotic setting. Effective presentation of ecology and resulting life-style from 'criminal' beginnings." - Barron, Anatomy of Wonder (1976), 3-378. Expansion of the novella "The Kragen" (1963). Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance, A23i.
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).
LURULU.
New York: Tor, [2004]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Sequel to PORTS OF CALL. Part of the "Gaean Reach" series, set in the same universe as THE NIGHT LAMP. Not in Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance.
PORTS OF CALL.
New York: Tor, [1998]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Part of the "Gaean Reach" series, set in the same universe as THE NIGHT LAMP. Not in Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance.
TO LIVE FOREVER.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Charles F. Miller Publisher, 1995. Octavo, illustrated by Ned Dameron, cloth. Limited edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the Vance. "A young man attempts to free the people of the semi-ruined city of Ambroy on the planet Halma from the benign oppression of the Lords...This is one of his best novels." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 118. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1163. See Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance A34 (this edition issued after the bilbliography was printed).
EMPHYRIO.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Charles F. Miller Publisher, 1995. Octavo, illustrated by Ned Dameron, cloth. Limited edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the Vance. "A young man attempts to free the people of the semi-ruined city of Ambroy on the planet Halma from the benign oppression of the Lords...This is one of his best novels." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 118. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1163. See Hewett and Mallett, The Work of Jack Vance A34 (this edition issued after the bilbliography was printed).
OMNIBUS OF SCIENCE FICTION.
New York: Crown Publishers, [1952]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collects forty three pieces, two being short novels (Jack London & A. E. Van Vogt). Authors include Mark Clifton, Theodore Sturgeon, James Blish, H. P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Jack Vance, John D. MacDonald, Arthur C. Clarke and others. The majority of the stories are from the science fiction magazines and pulps (Astounding, Amazing, Thrilling Wonder, Galaxy, If and Other Worlds). A major reprint anthology of the 1950s. See Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1325.