bellwether | (no subject)

Some of you may know that I have an penchant for old books. Last week I participated in my first rare book auction!

My lovely wife,

morganlf, informed me of a rare SF auction being held in New York. I participated online in the real-time auction, and won two lots, including one lot containing 14 Lovecraft volumes:

Includes: Marginalia. Cloth, dj. [1944] * The Lurker at the Threshold. Cloth, dj. Signed by Co-author August Derleth. [1945] * Something About Cats. Cloth, dj. [1949] * The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces. Cloth, dj. [1959] * Dreams and Fancies. Cloth, dj. [1962] * At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels. Cloth, no jacket. Second printing. [1964] * 3 Tales of Terror. Cloth, dj. [1967] * Selected Letters. Cloth, dj. [1968] * Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Cloth, dj. [1969] * The Watchers Out of Time and Others. Cloth, dj. [1974]. Also includes: Joshi, S.T. H.P. Lovecraft and Lovecraft Criticism. Red cloth, no jacket. [1981] * Long, Frank Belknap. Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side. Cloth, dj. [1975] * [Another copy] * Lupoff, Richard A. Lovecraft's Book. Cloth, dj. Long inscription by the compiler on title page. [1985]. Together 14 volumes. First printings, except one.

The other lot was a 1901 H.G. Wells "The First Men in the Moon."

Now I have to wait very impatiently for UPS....

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I love Derleth and the whole Arkham House gang. I tried for a number of other Arkham House lots, but they quickly exceeded my budget.

I was actually quite surprised I won the Lovecraft lot--it was the one I had actually wanted, but feared I'd get outbid on.

There was a bidder on the floor who outbid me on every other Lovecraft-related auction.

Still.... :)

I'd love to visit sometime--although when I get close to the mid-west, my parents demand I come home.