Book porn
Went to the Los Angeles Antiquarian Book Fair of Pasadena. As usual, lots of ridiculous and amazing things, from incunabula to The Hunger Games, medieval elephant folio antiphony pages to Grateful Dead posters.
Outside the exhibition hall they had a few displays of local collectors, including Sarah Michelle Gellar's Rackham collection, and items from the personal libraries of William Andrews Clark (of UCLA's Clark Library) and Lawrence Clark Powell (of UCLA's Powell Library). To complete the hat trick of UCLA buildings, one bookseller with an emphasis on philosophy had three works by Josiah Royce.
Inside, there was all the treasure on display. Oh sure, that copy of De Rev was only a second edition, but it still was priced comparably to my house.
I think I'm starting to get jaded. There were fewer things that made my head explode. But some of that may be that I've seen some of the head explody things a few times. Oh, there's Clark Ashton Smith's personal copy of Beyond the Wall of Sleep again. Yawn.
But there were still a number of head explodies. Like a wooden maquette (if that's the right word) of Kennington's bust of TE Lawrence.
And this is an inscribed copy of The Maltese Falcon. I wish you could see it better, because Dash Hammett's handwriting is extremely regular and neat. It would also help if you could clearly read the price of $235,000.
From Public Photos
And the steal of the century is this one, which someone should snap up before Sarah Michelle Gellar gets it. JM Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. With a Rackham signature and drawing of Solomon Caw, a character in the story. Also signed by Barrie. Also signed by George Frampton, the sculptor who made the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Garden. Also signed by Princess Beatrice and Princess Marie Louise, granddaughters of Queen Victoria. A fucking steal at $9,600, but I didn't have that much on me at the moment. How embarrassing.
From Public Photos
However, I did come away with three items. Rather more modest. A signed copy of Donald Wandrei's Poems for Midnight. Although the joke's on me, since it appears the copy I already have is also signed. No matter, a good deal is still a good deal. Maybe I should corner the market on the book and create scarcity. There were only 742 copies published after all.
A signed HB edition of Last Defender of Camelot, one Zelazny's better short story collections. The PB was published first, but this was nicely made and signed, and not too expensive, so I got it.
A signed Whispers Press edition of Fritz Leiber's Rime Isle, a Fafhrd & Grey Mouser mini-novel, illustrated by Tim Kirk. It's also signed by publisher Stuart David Schiff, who describes it as Whispers Press' first book, though the interwebs suggests it was preceded by A Winter Wish, which I also have lying around here somewhere.
ETA: Someone, definitely not me, bought a Rudimentum Novitorum for a cool $1.15 million. Also interesting to compare that coverage of the show to the article in the Hollywood Reporter.
Outside the exhibition hall they had a few displays of local collectors, including Sarah Michelle Gellar's Rackham collection, and items from the personal libraries of William Andrews Clark (of UCLA's Clark Library) and Lawrence Clark Powell (of UCLA's Powell Library). To complete the hat trick of UCLA buildings, one bookseller with an emphasis on philosophy had three works by Josiah Royce.
Inside, there was all the treasure on display. Oh sure, that copy of De Rev was only a second edition, but it still was priced comparably to my house.
I think I'm starting to get jaded. There were fewer things that made my head explode. But some of that may be that I've seen some of the head explody things a few times. Oh, there's Clark Ashton Smith's personal copy of Beyond the Wall of Sleep again. Yawn.
But there were still a number of head explodies. Like a wooden maquette (if that's the right word) of Kennington's bust of TE Lawrence.
And this is an inscribed copy of The Maltese Falcon. I wish you could see it better, because Dash Hammett's handwriting is extremely regular and neat. It would also help if you could clearly read the price of $235,000.
From Public Photos
And the steal of the century is this one, which someone should snap up before Sarah Michelle Gellar gets it. JM Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. With a Rackham signature and drawing of Solomon Caw, a character in the story. Also signed by Barrie. Also signed by George Frampton, the sculptor who made the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Garden. Also signed by Princess Beatrice and Princess Marie Louise, granddaughters of Queen Victoria. A fucking steal at $9,600, but I didn't have that much on me at the moment. How embarrassing.
From Public Photos
However, I did come away with three items. Rather more modest. A signed copy of Donald Wandrei's Poems for Midnight. Although the joke's on me, since it appears the copy I already have is also signed. No matter, a good deal is still a good deal. Maybe I should corner the market on the book and create scarcity. There were only 742 copies published after all.
A signed HB edition of Last Defender of Camelot, one Zelazny's better short story collections. The PB was published first, but this was nicely made and signed, and not too expensive, so I got it.
A signed Whispers Press edition of Fritz Leiber's Rime Isle, a Fafhrd & Grey Mouser mini-novel, illustrated by Tim Kirk. It's also signed by publisher Stuart David Schiff, who describes it as Whispers Press' first book, though the interwebs suggests it was preceded by A Winter Wish, which I also have lying around here somewhere.
ETA: Someone, definitely not me, bought a Rudimentum Novitorum for a cool $1.15 million. Also interesting to compare that coverage of the show to the article in the Hollywood Reporter.