Favorites

The Fox Valley Murders by Jack Vance
1966 Bobbs-Merill, New York

This was the author's copy he used to revise the text for the subsequent Ace paperback edition. There are lots of editorial changes, even to the point of changing "Joe Bain" to "He." The changes are in at least three different ink colors.

Dee Goong An by Robert Van Gulik
1949 Toppan Printing Company, Japan (self-published)

Limited to 1200 signed and numbered copies, this particular one is number 853, and has "Review Copy" handwritten in ink in the hand of the author on the front free endpaper. Bound in boards with a Chinese woodcut illustration of a nude woman on the rack. Van Gulik's first "Judge Dee" book, a novel incorporating three stories translated from an ancient T'ang dynasty manuscript. Van Gulik utilized the Chinese detective in a series of original stories of his own creation, in what became a highly successful and critically applauded series in the 1950s and 1960s. Van Gulik entered The Netherlands Foreign Service in 1935, serving in various posts in China, Japan, East Africa, Egypt, India, Lebanon, and the U.S. From 1965 until his death in 1967 he was The Netherlands ambassador to Japan. Unfortunately I could not find a good English-language website for this author.

Silverlock by John Myers Myers
1949 Dutton

One of the best literary fantasies ever written. Note the "quiz" on the back cover; I have not been able to locate a copy of the answers offered by the publisher, although the questions themselves have been answered.

The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern (William Goldman)
1973 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

The "Good Parts" version, abridged by William Goldman. To this day people still ask if Morgensten was real. The answer, of course, is yes; as real as anyone who is no longer with us. A wonderful book, made even more desirable by the two-color text printing (black and red), as well as an excellent movie adaptation.

Moon of Three Rings by Andre Norton
1966 The Viking Press

Not a particularly rare book, but this copy is inscribed by the author to Roger Zelazny. This was one of a group of books formerly owned by Zelazny, and individually sold by his heirs shortly after his death. I ended up with 40 such science fiction books (most inscribed to him), whilst a good friend of mine got a large grouping of non-fiction, apparently used by Zelazny for reference. I thought it rather a shame the collection was broken up like that, and was pleased to be able to keep so many of them together. Unfortunately I could not afford all that were available.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf
1981 St. Martin's Press

A wonderful book, made into a wonderful movie. In December of 1998 I sold a few books at auction on Ebay, one of which was a review copy of Mr. Wolf's first book. The author himself was the winning bidder. It turns out that Mr. Wolf had given away his copies way back when. I asked him to sign my copy of Roger Rabbit, and he graciously agreed. You meet the nicest people when collecting books!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Melvin Frank and Michael Pertwee
1965 Quadrangle Films

A very funny movie. One of my favorites as a kid, and still one of my favorites when I watch it over again. Perhaps it hasn't aged well, but it is silly enough not to matter. I have many scripts, most of which I obtained when working on video effects for films, but I was lucky enough to find this listed quite some time ago on a newsgroup, before e-commerce and auction sites were the norm. Signed by the 1st assistant camerman on the plain front cover.

Salome: The Wandering Jewess, My First Two Thousand Years of Love by George Sylvester Viereck and Paul Eldridge
1930 Horace Liveright

A fascinating book. A fantasy of immortality, as well as morality. Surprisingly sophisticated views on sex, and a not unflattering view of Judaism, in my opinion. Viereck was apparently a propangandist for Germany (see below), so perhaps I am missing an underlying message. This is book two of a triptych; I have the first on order. The dust jacket is pretty decent for vintage 1930, while the book covers are pristine, with a provocative design of a nude woman embossed in silver on purple cloth.

Viereck has been associated with scandals involving H. P. Lovecraft and a public relations firm, whose general manager had to testify in front of a Congressional committee.

Doughnuts by James P. Blaylock
1994 ASAP, Michigan

First edition.  Limited to 250 copies, of which this is F of 26 lettered copies.  Signed on the limitation page by the author, Viki Blaylock, Phil Parks, Tim Powers, Lucius Shepard and Lewis Shiner.  Includes four color photographs. Book comes in a tri-folding traycase that includes an autographed photo of the author, and a holographic page of the manuscript, also signed. Laid into the book is a hand-corrected (one word added) typewritten sheet signed with a small illustration by editor James T. Seels.

The Omnibus of Crime edited by Dorothy L. Sayers
1929 Payson & Clarke Ltd, New York

First edition, the Deluxe edition with slipcase. I had been looking for a first edition for many years, because it contains a story by Ernest Bramah. I purchased this copy on the web for a few dollars, later to discover that the front of the dust jacket had been signed by Christopher Morley. He did not contribute to the book, but was quoted in a blurb on the slipcase. This book is rare to find with the dust jacket; the front flap says at the top "tear this off and use as a bookmark." Luckily the owner of this copy ignored that advice.