The Collectible F. Paul Wilson

[NoahM]

Didn't see an FPW thread; please forgive me if there is one already & I missed it!

Anyway, here is my FPW collection, on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/noah.mitche...0828265&type=3

[NoahM]

My Greek lettered edition (copy "Gamma") of Peabody Ozymandias. One of only 5 copies produced, in addition to the 26 English lettered copies. . . .I would venture to say that this is the rarest (as far as fewest copies extant) FPW collectible!!

[carlosdetweiller]

Very nice. I have a regular lettered edition but have never heard of the Greek letter state.

The art print in your Greek letter state is quite a bit larger than the one that came with my regular lettered state. Mine says that it was designed to fit inside the metal traycase that holds the book. Is yours, perhaps, the original artwork?

[NoahM]

Hey Bob!
F Paul Wilson himself never heard of the Greek lettered state! He just asked me on Facebook what the difference is between the two.
No - the art print is the same - it's just a funky camera angle that makes it look bigger. Mine fits inside the traycase as well.
The only difference between states was that the Greek letters were printed onto the limitation page, whereas the English letters were hand-written onto it. There were only 5 Greek letter copies printed, and 26 English letters, so the Greek state is by far more rare, but physically no different than the English.

Do you have a lettered copy of The Haunted Air? It's the only Gauntlet lettered edition that I'm missing.

[carlosdetweiller]

Do you have a lettered copy of The Haunted Air? It's the only Gauntlet lettered edition that I'm missing.

Yes, I do. I have been collecting F. Paul Wilson for many years and have bought all the Gauntlet lettered books as they were published.

Currently I am searching my photo files for a cool Wilson item that I think you will like. If I can't find the file photos I will take some more and post them later today.

[carlosdetweiller]

The Tomb is one of my favorite F. Paul Wilson books. As any fan will know it was the first book to feature Repairman Jack. First editions (trade and S/L's) are fairly hard to find and can be expensive. They were published by Stuart Schiff of Whispers Press in 1984.

I've got a few items to show and I'll start with the trade edition. I'm not sure of the print run for trade editions but there is a first state of 96 copies that were rushed to publication to be in time for FantasyCon 1984. In the rush the Whispers logo was left off of the spine of the book. Stuart also makes a distinction in the first state dj saying that there are subtle differences in the artwork coloring but all I can see for sure is that the dj flaps are a bit shorter on first state dj's

Trade edition with missing Whispers logo on spine of book. First state dj on the left.



Schiff inscription on ffe.



First state dj on left.



First state dj on top with shorter flaps.

[carlosdetweiller]

Of course there were limited editions. A lettered state of 26 copies and a numbered state of 250 copies.

Lettered on left. Numbered on right. Note the appearance of the Whispers logo. Both states have the later state of the dj.





Lettered limitation page.



The numbered edition has top page edges only stained orange while the lettered edition has top, bottom and foreedge stained.

[carlosdetweiller]

I have only seen one of these for sale. It is not in the best condition but I doubt I'll ever find another. A proof/ARC of The Tomb from Whispers Press.







Here is a set of F&Gs (folded and gathered) or also called blues for The Tomb. 13 unbound signatures.







Lastly, here is one of 10 galley proofs that Schiff had done to send out to reviewers. Note the larger size with the smaller orange proof/ARC next to it. Stu told me that he sent out all 10 and later bought one back on the secondary market for his own collection. A promotional letter is laid in.

[NoahM]

Bob - I am speechless. You are absolutely the GOD of book collecting! I do have the trade & limited editions of The Tomb - not sure about which state my numbered edition is - I'll have to go look & see whether the Whispers colophon is present. SO impressive!

I have all of the Gauntlet numbered editions, and all but one (Haunted Air) lettered. I have every FPW numbered S/L period, and all but a very few (just missing a few of the Borderlands) lettered editions. I also did get Imagination Fully Dilated II lettered and numbered, but only the numbered of Part I. Still looking for a lettered edition.

I've been collecting FPW since the mid-80s, but missed out on lettered editions until after the fact until sometime around Hosts, when I started buying them upon publication.

[NoahM]

Okay, I just checked my copies of The Tomb - my limited (numbered) edition DOES have the Whispers logo on the spine, but my trade edition does NOT. Does this mean my trade is one of 96 1st printings??

[Lookwhoitis]

awesome!

[carlosdetweiller]

Okay, I just checked my copies of The Tomb - my limited (numbered) edition DOES have the Whispers logo on the spine, but my trade edition does NOT. Does this mean my trade is one of 96 1st printings??

Yes. As I understand it there was a print run of 2500 or so first editions but only the first 96 had the logo missing from the spine.

[herbertwest]

No matter who Bob collects, he somehow always manages to get amazing rare neat stuff !
Thanks for sharing Bob !

[NoahM]

Nice!! Now I won't have to go looking for one of those 96!
Yeah, Bob is some kind of supernatural book collecting entity. The guy can't possibly be human.

[Bev Vincent]

I've been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with Paul over the years, but I don't think I have very much signed by him. He gave me a copy of a collaborative novel that he and Tracy Carbone co-wrote. I was one of the book's early readers and gave them lots of feedback on it. He's a great guy -- fun with a capital F.

[NoahM]

Bev - very cool that you were a beta reader for Proteus Cure! It was a great book!
Paul is incredibly generous and very open to his fans. He's signed a really offensive number of books for me at signings when there weren't many other fans around, and has personally helped me in obtaining a few incredibly rare items for my collection. He's also readily accessible on Facebook and interacts with people regularly. He even joined (and regularly posts comments) my FPW collecting page!!

[Bev Vincent]

He's also a decent musician.

[NoahM]

So I've heard!!

[Lookwhoitis]

Thanks for starting the F Paul Wilson thread Noah and showing us your awesome collection Bob.

As a result of this thread I went looking on ebay and found a S/N LE of the Tomb for a great price! (the cheapest I have seen this book go for on Ebay and Ive been looking since last year when I bought a set of the S/N LE Adversary Cycle from a Boardie)

[NoahM]

Congrats on the find! Are you talking about the Whispers Tomb? Very cool! Post a photo!!

[RC65]

I have a fairly complete run of his works, though no lettered editions, save for PEABODY OZYMANDIAS, which I received for being the copy editor on it. Another truly nice lettered edition is the lettered edition of MIDNIGHT MASS (CD Pub.):

[NoahM]

RC65 - nice! That's cool that you copy edited Peabody! I copy edited a Clive Barker novel once and received a copy of the S/L edition. . .
Midnight Mass is a gorgeous lettered - I have a copy. I think the Borderlands lettered edition of Black Wind is another stunning production.
Come check out our FPW Collecting page on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/394006667448325/