Softcover. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 144 pages. An illustrated history of the fabulous pulp magazines from 1896 to 1953. After tracing the birth of the pulps back to the 1882 launching of Golden Argosy magazine, printed on pulpwood pages, Server organizes his unwieldy subject into categories of pulps: adventure, romance and sex, horror and fantasy, private eye, weird menace, science fiction. Each receives a lively capsule history that covers trends, reader (and sometimes, as in the case of the ``Spicys,'' government) response, and writers' bios--which, though sketchy (Hammett's Hollywood experience gets one sentence), resurrect a number of relatively obscure but seminal and fascinating figures, like Conan- creator Robert E. Howard, who shot himself dead at age 30 on the day his mother died, and Frederick Faust (a.k.a. Max Brand), who sometimes wrote around the clock, piling up two or three million words a year. Server attributes the pulps' demise to, among other factors, the advent of TV, paperbacks, and comic books, and he winds up with a note on pulp-collecting. For all of the author's savvy, though, it's above all the eye- popping illustrations (100 color, 57 b&w) that will have readers beaming. Magazine covers (some lurid, some of eerie beauty), sample pages of text and ads (``Raise Giant Frogs'')--the pulps come alive once again here, in all their eccentric glory.
Hardcover. San Diego, CA, IDW Publishing, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 108 pages. Hardcover, no dust jacket. Color illustrations. Stamped decorative covers. Clean, unmarked copy. Ditko's Shorts is a fun and incredibly fascinating compilation of short comics one, two and three pages in length. Only a brilliant master could tell a dramatic, compelling tale in such compact form. You'll thrill as Ditko walks this exciting high-wire act without a net! The many stories contained in this hardcover are fast-paced and sport terrific, compelling artwork as only Steve Ditko can draw it! The genres show the artist's great range. There's horror, fantasy, science fiction, western, and even humorous stories. Taken from rare comic books from a who's who of publishers, all the comics are meticulously restored and printed in a beautiful, large-format book.
Hardcover. West Plains MO, Russ Cochran, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Some of the most beautiful visions of 1950s science fiction from artists Al Feldstein, Wally Wood, Al Williamson, Harvey Kurtzman, Joe Orlando, Jack Kamen & others. From 1952 writer Ray Bradbury's stories were adapted & several are featured here. Other science fiction writers were also sampled without their knowledge. 4 volume slipcased set. Published originally by William M. Gaines (1950-53). Black and white reproductions of the comics with color reproductions of the covers. Books and slipcase clean, very good.
Hardcover. Clarkston GA, White Wolf Publishing, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 625 pages. Illustrated by Phil Hale. Young Kingdoms map by James Cawthorm. Reader's Guide by John Davey. Volume 11 of the Eternal Champion series. Includes the novels: *The Sleeping Sorceress*, *The Revenge of the Rose*, *The Stealer of Souls*, *Kings in Darkness*, *The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams*, and *Stormbringer*, revised for U.S. publication. Clean copy.
Hardcover. London, T. Nelson and Sons, reprint, 1876, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, terra-cotta cloth stamped with black and gilt design, 235 pages, engraved frontispiece and numerous other plates and in-text drawings. Light shelfwear, previous owner's inscription, signatures on front endpapers. Otherwise clean, tight.
Hardcover. Boston, Gregg Press, 1st, 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 192 pages. Hardcover. Previous owners name at top right corner of front endpaper. Part of the Gregg Press Science Fiction Series edited by David G. Hartwell and L. W. Currey. Features examples of storyboards from the film production, and black & white stills from the movie. No dust jacket as issued. Light wear. Clean, unmarked text.
Hardcover. Mineola NY, Calla Editions, reprint, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, with pastedown plate on cover, gilt stamping. The creator of Sherlock Holmes dabbled in many other genres including science fiction, and in this 1912 fantasy he transported readers to the wilds of the Amazon for a rollicking adventure among dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. The Lost World is the first and best of Arthur Conan Doyle's five stories about the eccentric paleontologist Professor Challenger. This splendid hardcover edition reprints the tale as it first appeared in The Strand Magazine and includes the original brush-and-wash illustrations by Golden Age masters Harry Rountree. Doyle, using his Maple White alias, provides artwork as well. No dust jacket issued.
Hardcover. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1st, 1929, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth stamped in gilt, faded on spine, 315 pages. Science fantasy adventure involving the resurrection of a Viking woman, who has been frozen for a thousand years, by a lost community of Vikings in the far north.
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