Other authors you collect

[Fsmdr]

Has anyone read Bryce Courtenay?.

His most famous work is The Power Of One. The movie sucks, of course. But the book is another matter. If you have read the book, you might be surprised to hear that there is a sequal to that book. Strangely, his only US published book is The Power Of One.

He has maybe about 20 more novels published mostly in UK, Canada and Australia where he resides now. He was banned from his home country; South Africa for teaching the Africans to read. Most of the hardcover I bought I had to buy from Australia. I only own 2 signed book by him. This guy is amazing!. One of the best writer alive, IMO, next to King.

[Patrick]

I just read his short non-fiction book, WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING. I was underwhelmed.

Yeah, having zero interest in running has kept me from rushing out to pick up that one. Now if he'd written a book called WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT CYCLING that would be a different story

See, I like running, so my logic was the same as yours would be if it were about cycling. Believe me, you probably would have been disappointed too.

[Ves'Ka Gan]

Hope this is the right place to post this....

Does anyone know about Academy Classics books? I bought this 1922 copy of Tale of Two Cities by Dickens and I have been having a little trouble finding anything out about it....

[Patrick]

I don't know, but hopefully someone here might know about them.




I moved this thread into the main forum (from the tutorials).

[Ves'Ka Gan]

Thanks!

[jhanic]

Tale of Two Cities Academy Classics Addall search

John

[Ves'Ka Gan]

Thanks, John! I need to really start getting to know ABE a little better. I just ran a google search and didn't find anything of worth!

I picked it up the same time I picked up that Steinbeck, also for fifty cents, just because it was from 1922 and it caught my fancy (doesn't take a whole lot to catch my fancy when its only fifty cents!). Looks like I did okay!

[herbertwest]

so i went to a french author's signing event.
Bernard Werber is famous worldwide (especially in Korea & Russia where he is a superstar) while he's (almost) unknown in the USA/UK.

Unfortunately, in the US/UK there is only his first book which is available : Empire of the Ants. One book out of roughly 20.

So i do collect his work (mainly signed items, every single appearance of his stories.. and chased all the articles he published... and there are few hundreds).
The good thing is that i work on a book about him : we shared some emails. He did say that my work is "superb" and today we talked a wee bit at the signing, and he told me that it's really interesting and that should try to show it to his publisher and should be able to do something with it... how good does it sounds? (oh and i have his personal details to make an interview :-) )

[Patrick]

Glad you enjoyed the signing, herbertwest, and that he took some time to chat with you. Nice pics in the Picture Emporium.

[Randall Flagg]

Signings are almost always a blast. Congratulations.

[Patrick]

Signings are almost always a blast. Congratulations.

The only way to guarantee it will be is to have a few beers first. Right, Jerome?

[herbertwest]

Earlier that week (like last week) i did meet a second time the french author i am working on, and i got a second signed copy for a friend of mine.
Doodles are : a butterfly and a fish :-)

[Patrick]

That's cool, Jeremy.

[carlosdetweiller]

I don't think there are too many McCammon fans on this board but here is something I had not seen before. In 1991 Dark Harvest published THEY THIRST in a limited edition. They did a few proofs and here is one. It is a massive book (412 pages printed on one side of the page only) with a black comb binding.

[Scoogs]

I saw a news blurb a couple of weeks back saying that Bram Stoker's grandson, or maybe it was great grandson, has authorized the publication of a Dracula sequel.

Reminds me of Scarlet.
I'll probably read it, but authorized or not, I don't think I could ever treat something like this as "official."

[carlosdetweiller]

In 1902 Doubleday, Page & Co. published the third American edition of DRACULA. (1st American in 1899 by Doubleday & McClure Co.; 2nd American in 1901 by A. Wessels Co.)

I've had a copy in the red binding variant for quite awhile. I had heard of a green binding variant but had never been able to secure one. I got this one in today. This edition is one of my favorites. I really like the illustration inserted on the front covers.

I'm not at all sure if the red binding precedes the green, vice-versa, or if they were simultaneous.

Not bad condition for 106 year old books!

[carlosdetweiller]

I saw a news blurb a couple of weeks back saying that Bram Stoker's grandson, or maybe it was great grandson, has authorized the publication of a Dracula sequel.

Reminds me of Scarlet.
I'll probably read it, but authorized or not, I don't think I could ever treat something like this as "official."

Reminds me of an author named Mark Winegardner who wrote one or more sequels to THE GODFATHER supposedly with the blessings of the Puzo family. It just ain't gonna be the same!

[jhanic]

Bob, that McCammon proof is something! I've never seen any other of the Dark Harvest proofs except for the Night Visions 5 that has the three King stories in it. I guess I never thought about other Dark Harvest proofs.

Those two states of Dracula are in beautiful shape for a book 106 years old! They look as if they had been purchased and put away without reading them. (I also like the illustration.) Do you know if they were issued with a dust jacket?

John

[William50]

Those 2 editions of Dracula look amazing!

[carlosdetweiller]

Bob, that McCammon proof is something! I've never seen any other of the Dark Harvest proofs except for the Night Visions 5 that has the three King stories in it. I guess I never thought about other Dark Harvest proofs.

Those two states of Dracula are in beautiful shape for a book 106 years old! They look as if they had been purchased and put away without reading them. (I also like the illustration.) Do you know if they were issued with a dust jacket?

John

If you do an ABE search with "Dark Harvest" in the publisher field and "proof" in the keyword field you will get over 40 items matched but there are currently none that interest me. Of the Dark Harvest proofs I've got Dan Simmons' CARRION COMFORT, the NIGHT VISIONS 5, and the four F. Paul Wilson books (REPRISAL, REBORN, NIGHTWORLD & SIBS). I would really like to find the proof of McCammon's SWAN SONG, but, so far, no luck.

Regarding dust jackets on late 18th century and early 19th centure books: I think that most had them but I don't know for sure. The Dracula books have no publisher's price on them that I can find so there must have been some outer covering with the price. Dust jackets really were meant to be thrown away and that was the common practice back then. It is really rare to find pre-1930's with jackets. It is difficult to find jackets on 1940's and 1950's books. Relatively easy on 1960's books to the present.

When Jerad Walters was in Amarillo he told me the origin of the "half title page." Prior to books commonly being "hardbound" they were sold in paper wrappers. The "half title page" was added over and to protect the "title page" from rain and other soiling that occurred with outdoor vendors.

[jhanic]

Interesting! I know that when I started collecting SF back in the '60s, I threw the dust jackets away also. I thought that made them look better on the shelf! Oh, jeez, what I would give now to be able to go back then and kick myself!

John

[carlosdetweiller]

Interesting! I know that when I started collecting SF back in the '60s, I threw the dust jackets away also. I thought that made them look better on the shelf! Oh, jeez, what I would give now to be able to go back then and kick myself!

John

Most everyone else did that too.

I remember when my parents were remodeling/redecorating the living room in the house I grew up in. This was in the early 60's. I remember a "decorator" came in and took all the dust jackets off of all the books in the living room and threw them away!!! Of course, these were mostly just things like Reader's Digest Condensed Books and Book-of-the-Month Club books, but just the thought of that sends chills down my spine today.


My mother also instructed me to clip the price from the inner flap of the dj if I was giving a book as a gift (shudder!) and to be sure and write a gift inscription to the recipient. Thanks, Mom!

[gsvec]

My mother also instructed me to clip the price from the inner flap of the dj if I was giving a book as a gift (shudder!) and to be sure and write a gift inscription to the recipient. Thanks, Mom!

Mine did the same thing and of course I did it. Hope I didn't end up irritating collectors like some people have irritated us!

[carlosdetweiller]

I've got pretty decent collections of books by Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon. I have recently been filling some holes by getting proof states of several of their books. This one came in today and I thought it was pretty interesting. It is a tall advance galley of the Pocket Book (paperback) edition of McCammon's BLUE WORLD. The size is what I found interesting. Fourteen inches tall with a black tape spine. The photo shows the proof next to another edition of the book (UK hardcover edition).



When I opened it I was immediately reminded of a similar book in my collection also by Pocket Books. The advance galley of the anthology SHOCK ROCK which was the first appearance of King's story "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band." Approximately the same size by the same publisher.

[Randall Flagg]

I think we just have to start using NCTA (Never cease to amaze) for you Bob.
I dig Simmons and McCammon too, but certainly have nothing so interesting as those.