Signed titles
BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED.
[Burton, MI]: Subterranean Press, 2011. Octavo, cloth. Limited edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by Abercrombie. The author's second novel and the second book of "The First Law" trilogy. From a Guardian interview with the author 17 September, 2019: "...following the adventures of torturer Inquisitor Glokta, barbarian warrior Logen Ninefingers, and the dashing but vain swordsman Jezal dan Luthar. Gritty, violent, cynical and redolent with dark humour, “it was my take on Lord of the Rings, but bringing in all my weird preoccupations about how people work, the nature of violence. It’s a reaction against the shiny and optimistic heroic fantasy I read as a teenager. In trying to do the opposite, it becomes quite pessimistic and grim.”.
LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS.
[Burton, MI]: Subterranean Press, 2011. Octavo, cloth. Limited edition. The author's third novel and the third book of "The First Law" trilogy. From a Guardian interview with the author 17 September, 2019: "...following the adventures of torturer Inquisitor Glokta, barbarian warrior Logen Ninefingers, and the dashing but vain swordsman Jezal dan Luthar. Gritty, violent, cynical and redolent with dark humour, “it was my take on Lord of the Rings, but bringing in all my weird preoccupations about how people work, the nature of violence. It’s a reaction against the shiny and optimistic heroic fantasy I read as a teenager. In trying to do the opposite, it becomes quite pessimistic and grim.”.
HAWKSMOOR.
London: Hamish Hamilton, [1985]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed and also inscribed by Ackroyd on the title page. Detective Nicholas Hawksmoor investigates strangled victims near cathedrals built in the 18th century which are associated with ritual murders. "Ackroyd's vivid recreation of historical London and its squalor contributes to the story's eerie atmosphere." - Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror 6-1. [Reference: Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-1. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 4A-1. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-1. Cawthorn and Moorcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 99. Jones and Newman (eds), Horror: The 100 Best Books 96. Pringle, Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels 92].
MOSTLY HARMLESS.
Norwalk, Connecticut: The Easton Press, [1992]. Octavo, frontispiece by Frank Mayo, full leather, a.e.g. First limited edition. One of an unspecified number of copies signed by Adams. Introduction by James Gunn. The fifth book in the Hitch Hiker series. Part of the Easton press signed first edition series. [Reference: See Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-3].
NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED: A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES...
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., [1974]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Signed inscription by Aiken to a mystery book publisher and book seller on the title page. Two brief notes signed by the author laid in. A collection of stories which appeared in previous collections of the author's work. No equivalent U.K.edition of this book.
A TOUCH OF CHILL: TALES FOR SLEEPLESS NIGHTS.
New York: Delacorte Press, [1980]. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. edition. Signed inscription by Aiken to a mystery book publisher and book seller on the title page. Publisher's review slip laid in. Collection of fifteen stories. The contents of this book differ from the U.K. title of the same name, (nearly half the stories differ). [Reference: Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror 6-11].
THE WINDSCREEN WEEPERS AND OTHER TALES OF HORROR SUSPENSE AND FANTASY.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1969. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed presentation copy by Aiken to her brother and sister-in-law. This collection of twenty-four stories is the major repository of Aiken's tales of horror and suspense for adult readers.
BURNING MARCH.
New York: Dutton, 1994. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Signed by the Albert. Third novel in the series.
THE FEBRUARY TROUBLE.
New York: Walker, 1992. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by the Albert. The second P.I. Dave Garrett novel.
THE JANUARY CORPSE.
New York: Walker, [1991]. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Signed by the Albert. The first P.I. Dave Garrett novel.
CRACKEN AT CRITICAL: A NOVEL IN THREE ACTS.
[Worcester Park, Surrey]: Kerosina Books, 1987. Octavo, cloth. First British edition. One of 250 numbered copies signed by Aldiss. Text revised from that of the earlier U.S. edition published as The Year Before Yesterday.
HOTHOUSE.
London: Faber and Faber, [1962]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Signed by Aldiss on the title page. Issued earlier in the U.S. in a shorter version as The Long Afternoon of Earth (1962). Novelization of five Hothouse stories that won the 1962 Hugo award for best short fiction published in 1961. [Reference: Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-3. Pringle, Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels 34].
NON-STOP.
London: Faber and Faber, [1958]. Octavo, boards. First edition, first printing. Signed by Aldiss on the title page. The author's first sf novel. Issued later with textual differences in the U.S. as STARSHIP (1959). "... a brilliant treatment of the generation starship and also the theme of conceptual breakthrough in a kind of spacegoing ruined-Earth society; it has become a classic of the field and in 2008 was awarded a retrospective British Science Fiction Association Award for best novel of 1958." - John Clute / David Pringle, SFE (online). [Reference: Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-4. Pringle: Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels #25. Gerber, Utopian Fantasy (1973), p. 160].
A ROMANCE OF THE EQUATOR.
[Birmingham: The Birmingham Science Fiction Group, 1979]. Octavo, printed wrappers. First edition. Limited to 550 numbered copies. Signed by Aldiss on the limitation page. Booklet issued for Novacon 10 at which Aldiss was guest of honor. Prints the short story.
SOMEWHERE EAST OF LIFE.
Norwalk, Connecticut: The Easton Press, [1994]. Octavo, frontispiece by Frank Mayo, full leather, a.e.g. First limited edition. One of an unspecified number of copies signed by Aldiss. Introduction by James Gunn. "Roy Burnell likes his job; he travels the globe for World Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, an agency that researches, registers, and attempts to protect fine architecture from the dangers of wars that have broken out in Europe and Asia. While inspecting a cathedral in Budapest, Burnell encounters another danger of the 21st century: memory pirates. Ten years of his architectural knowledge and sexual experiences have been stolen from him, packaged, and offered up for sale on the e-mnemonicvision black market..." - Kirkus Review, 1 June, 1994. Part of the Easton press signed first edition series.
CRACKEN AT CRITICAL: A NOVEL IN THREE ACTS.
[Worcester Park, Surrey]: Kerosina Books, 1987. Octavo, cloth. First British edition. One of 250 numbered copies signed by Aldiss. Fix-up novel in which "the author has built a framing narrative, about an alternative Europe still under Nazi domination, around two old space adventure novellas from the 1950s ... The modern story is fine, but, unfortunately, it comprises less than a fifth of the whole book." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 80. Text revised from that of the earlier U.S. edition published as THE YEAR BEFORE YESTERDAY.
THE HELLICONIA TRILOGY: HELLICONIA SPRING; HELLICONIA SUMMER; AND HELLICONIA WINTER.
London: Jonathan Cape, [1982-1985]. Octavo, three volumes, boards. First British editions. The first volume is signed by Aldiss on the title page. First two simultaneous, last preceded by the U.S. edition. The complete trilogy comprising HELLICONIA SPRING, HELLICONIA SUMMER, and HELLICONIA WINTER. A "massive attempt at world-creation: the evocation of an alien planet where 'winter' lasts many centuries. An epic narrative, impressively detailed. John W. Campbell award winner, 1983. The elaborate, brilliantly sustained sequels are HELLICONIA SUMMER (1983) and HELLICONIA WINTER (1985)." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 170. "Though science fiction often has this scope, it has never had this grandeur." - The Times Literary Supplement. [Reference: Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-11].
THE RETURN.
Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, [2000]. Octavo, frontispiece by Vincent Di Fate, full leather, a.e.g. Limited edition. One of an unknown number of copies signed by Aldrin and Barnes. A near future science fiction/political thriller, a murder on a space shuttle and a nuclear war in Asia.
DEEP PURPLE.
[Sevenoaks, Kent]: New English Library, [1989]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Allbeury on the front free endpaper. Spy thriller involving Soviet defectors. [Reference: Smith and White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction (3rd ed.) 470].
THE FASHION IN SHROUDS.
London, Toronto: William Heinemann Ltd, [1938]. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 1-437, [438-440: blank], original green cloth, spine stamped in gold, publishers device in blind to rear cover, grey-green end papers. First edition. Inscribed and signed on second free end paper by Allingham, with a note of provenance from a family member. An Albert Campion novel. "Margery's masterpiece" - Barzun and Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime 36. "Margery Allingham was one of the three major Englishwomen mystery writers of the 'Golden Age of Detective Fiction' -- the other two. of course, being Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, p. 15. [Reference: Hubin (1994), p. 13].
DECEPTION.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2003]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Altman on the title page. Suspense/thriller novel.
A GAME OF SPIES.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2002]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed by Altman on the title page. Spy thriller set during WW II.
BACKGROUND TO DANGER. [SPECIAL ADVANCE COPY].
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937. Octavo, pp. [1-12] [1-2] 3-280 [281-284], printed wrappers. Advance copy (uncorrected proof) of the first U. S. edition. Signed inscription by Ambler on the half title page to Otto Penzler: "To Otto, enviously, / I've never even seen / this book at this stage -- / Eric Ambler / 21 IX 81." Signed and dated a second time on the title page. This is an advance reading/review copy. Espionage thriller involving military secrets, Soviet agents, German agents and Rumanian oil. Filmed in 1943, directed by Raoul Walsh with George Raft, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Turhan Bey from a script by W.R. Burnett.
WAITING FOR ORDERS: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF ERIC AMBLER.
New York: The Mysterious Press, 1991. Octavo, cloth. First edition. One of 26 lettered copies signed by the Amber. The 26 copy lettered edition is the only signed limited of this title. Ambler would not sign a numbered edition. Introduction by Ambler. Includes eight stories, six feature Dr. Czissar, a refugee Czech detective written during World War II.
NIGHT DOGS.
Tucson: Dennis McMillan, 1996. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Trade issue, signed by Anderson.