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Book collecting

Started by october,

158 posts in this topic

october

october

Posted
Posted

Over the past few weeks, I have become more and more interested in book collecting, specifically modern signed 1st editions. Does anyone on here actively collect books? It seems like a logical corollary to comic collecting, so I figured a post on here would not be out of line. Specifically, I am looking for information on message boards similar to this one or good starter reference materials. Thanks!

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Comics-n-ERB

Comics-n-ERB

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Posted

That would be interesting to know. I collect several authors including but not limited to:

 

Edgar Rice Burroughs (deceased)

Stephen King

John Grisham

Tom Clancy

Peter David

Robert Asprin (deceased)

J.K. Rowlings

 

and several others.

 

What do you collect?

 

 

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october

october

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What do you collect?

 

 

Well, nothing right now. I want to have a solid foundation in the hobby before buying anything, as I want to avoid as many rookie mistakes as possible. I do have a wantlist though, as far as 1st edition/1st runs go. So far:

 

Llyod Alexander: Chronicles of Prydain

Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged

John Bellairs: any of his early books

Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises

Herbert: Dune

 

 

Also seriously thinking about collecting Arkham House titles and some older illustrated books with work by noted artists like Arthur Rackham.

 

Still new to the hobby, so right now I am just looking at getting 1sts of books I enjoyed at some point in my life.

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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

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Andy,

Send Billy Parker a pm. He is a big collector of signed firsts and can give you tons of hints.

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drewincanada

drewincanada

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I'd also be interested in info on a book collecting discussion board. My collection of signed firsts is small and almost exclusively from the last half of the 20th century:

 

Stephen King

Peter Straub

Kurt Vonnegut

E.M. Forster

Larry McMurtry

John Irving

etc.

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october

october

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I just dont know where to start looking other than ebay and how to tell if the book is actually a 1st printing or not.

 

Those are the same problems I am having. I need reference material and a solid group of collectors to help me along, just like I had on here.

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october

october

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I'd also be interested in info on a book collecting discussion board. My collection of signed firsts is small and almost exclusively from the last half of the 20th century:

 

Stephen King

Peter Straub

Kurt Vonnegut

E.M. Forster

Larry McMurtry

John Irving

etc.

 

Which books? I would love a signed first of Cat's Cradle, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, The Last Picture Show or Ghost Story....

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trmoore54

trmoore54

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I collect 1st edition literary fiction hardcovers, somewhat haphazardly, of the authors I like...not obsessively like the comics, just in the interests of amassing my own personal library...I have books by the following writers...

 

Charles Bukowski (nothing signed but I do have a signed poem from the LA Times Magazine)

John Fante (two books, Ask The Dust and Wait Until Spring, Bandini signed, limited edition, Black Sparrow Press)

Ray Bradbury (one signed short story collection)

Graham Greene

Jerzy Kosinski

Paul Auster

Dom Delillo

John Updike

Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Lethem

Ken Follett

T. C. Boyle

Thom Wolfe

Nick Cave

Raymond Carver

Joyce Carol Oates

Carolyn See

E. Annie Proulx

Alice Munro

Philip Roth

Norman Mailer

Denis Johnson

Thom Jones

 

Those are the ones off the top of my head, there are others but I'm building new bookshelves so most of my books are in boxes at present...plus other random one-offs...

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drewincanada

drewincanada

Posted
Posted
I'd also be interested in info on a book collecting discussion board. My collection of signed firsts is small and almost exclusively from the last half of the 20th century:

 

Stephen King

Peter Straub

Kurt Vonnegut

E.M. Forster

Larry McMurtry

John Irving

etc.

 

Which books? I would love a signed first of Cat's Cradle, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, The Last Picture Show or Ghost Story....

 

Wish I had a signed Ghost Story... my Straub signed firsts are from a bit later, starting with The General's Wife (1982). I have signed firsts of most of his books since then.

 

My copy of The Last Picture Show is a true first edition, but it's unsigned.

 

I don't have a signed Cat's Cradle, but I do have a signed first edition of Player Piano. The dust jacket is probably in Fair to Good condition, and the book itself is VG+. I had it signed by Vonnegut when he was reading at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival back in 1992 or 93 (can't recall the exact year!).

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TupennyConan

TupennyConan

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3rd post in this supercool thread:

 

Oftentimes my 1st Ed. collecting leads or prompts my reading. That is, I collect authors who interest me & sometimes will buy a book I haven't read or contains material as yet unread by me. Then I have to turnaround & locate a cheap paperback copy of the same book so that I can read it & then dump it off at the local library afterwords.

 

I only collect genre writers. No serious literary types such as can be found on October's shortlist.

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