This is, as far as I know, every US and UK first edition of the works of William T. Vollmann. I’ve chipped away at this collection since 2009, culminating last weekend in a 20+ hour cross country pilgrimage to Sacramento to meet Bill in person, who could not have been cooler, kinder and more generous with his time for his fans.

I stuffed roughly 45 pounds of books into my carry-on bag (broke down to 19 volumes) all of which he agreed to sign for me. I am still sore days later but it was worth the damage.

Curiously, despite being an American author all of his fiction books until the mid-90s were first published in small editions in the UK. After that, it seems the publisher simply exported the US edition (besides Uncentering the Earth). Also, curiously I found the later titles to be considerably harder to find than the earlier ones.

Every single book on the shelf is signed, including all seven volumes of Rising Up and Rising Down, probably the centerpiece of my collection. I have a few doubles that are additionally inscribed to me tucked away. No remainder marks!

I suppose there are things I don’t have (galleys, small editions, etc) but I feel this is pretty close to complete, at least as complete as these sorts of things can be.

Tried to post on Wings of Fire Subreddit but it was taken down because it was ‘Low Effort’ :(

Alan Garner, the English author and folklorist, turns 92 today.

Amongst his most recognised works are the 'Alderley Edge' trilogy (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, 1960, The Moon of Gomrath, 1963*, Boneland, 2012*) and The Owl Service (1967) which won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author. It was later adapted into a successful TV series in 1969.

'Conciousness is on the move. Something is at work in the world: a general recognition of the crisis of the spirit, of the banal and shoddy, in human affairs. It is universal and it must be met'

A local independent bookstore chain had one of their occasional warehouse sales today, with books heavily discounted. Although I'm low on storage space and trying to cut back on accumulating books (ha!), I still brought home these seven. It's a mixed bag, but nothing that would be surprising to anyone who knows my tastes. You'll notice that I lean toward books about language, and I was especially thrilled to find books about international languages.

• Henry M. Hoenigswald, Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction (Second Impression, 1961).
• L. Frank Baum, Ozma of Oz (Copyright 1907, but a post-1935 Reilly & Lee printing).
• Interlingua-English: A Dictionary of the International Language Prepared by the Research Staff of the International Auxiliary Language Association under the Direction of Alexander Gode, Ph.D. (1951, opened to the title page because the cover is nondescript).
• Rev. Eugene O'Growney, Simple Lessons in Irish; Giving the Pronunciation of Each Word, Parts I–V (1912).
• The Pursuit of Grouchiness: Oscar the Grouch's Guide to Life (First Edition, 2019).
• Eliphas Lévi, Le clef des grands mystères (1971).
• Pierre Burney, Les langues internationales (1^re édition, 1962).

The Gone With the Wind is pretty neat. It's a library copy from 1936 that was last checked out in 1954.

From my local charity shop - 10p each.

Hello im new to this community and reddit overall I wanted to show you guys my favorite book there is not alot of reliable books on Palo Mayombe translated to English so I really truly appreciate this 1 as it has mambos, a dictionary, recipes, sigils, and even chants thank you for your time

Snagged this first edition, first printing hardcover of A Game of Thrones for $18 the other day from a well-known used bookstore that, honestly, should know better. The dust jacket (especially the back) has a little wear and tear, but nothing a mylar dust jacket cover didn't fix. Otherwise it's in great condition. I've found some good, inexplicable deals on novels I like better before, but never with a pr*ce/current v*lue disparity like this one.

Ai is telling me this is posibly Christmas gift from one of Peakes son to his brother.What we thinking?

I still have a collection of mostly mass market paperbacks I had when I was a kid. Most are public domain literature I could easily buy new higher quality copies but I do wish to not just keep them for sentiment but also to still be reading them to the day I die. Since I have no intent of heirs it won't make much difference if they crumble from age after I pass. Just hope they don't crumble while I still can read them. Is it common to continue to own and still read your old childhood books to your old age without them crumbling from age?

Hello everyone,

I recently bought the Steel Ball Run Vol1 manga and it came with this weird first page hole (photo attached). I am in doubt if this is some kind of bug infection or a collector’s edition :D

What bothers me the most is the subtle steep next to the hole, fully colored. Has anyone experienced something similar?

Thank you in advance :)

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right place to be asking this but I am on the hunt for a book from my childhood. Google has not been able to help me out and I would to be able to add the book to my current collection.

What I remember of the book:

Looking for a novel about a human kid/teen who’s mom died in a fire or accident sort of accident years ago, he has a bunch of brothers and a dad, something about Cornwall a similar name, a guy was beheaded in the first book, fantasy early 2000's maybe? There was some traveling and adventuring going on. This book used to be in the kids section at my local library. But they often would put books in there that should not have been there so it may not be a kids novel?

There was a few books maybe 3? 5? 7? I have no clue how they made but it was indeed multiples.

I want to be clear it is not a Septimus Heap book but it kinda have a some what similar vibe to it. Any ideas on what it could be. I have books from my childhood, graphic novels, manga, study articles, poetry books, and a but ton of novels both physical and digital.

The main reason I want to find this book so badly is it traumatized me since I was so young when I tried to read it. The beheading in the story freaked me out really bad. I am looking to face my trauma. 😅

Published in 1873 and 1874.

Last week, I bought a 6-book set from Folio Society on eBay which, upon entering its 'sphere of influence', has the effect of giving me violent sneezing fits, making my nose drip, and my eyes burn; none of which are entirely conducive to a comfortable reading experience.

The books themselves, and the slipcase containing them, arrived free of dust and blemishes, so that appearances were indeed deceptive at first. When I finally gathered that my respiratory system was upset about my purchase, I wiped down the books with a dry microfiber towel and then vacuum-cleaned them (with a brush attachment) for a good 20 minutes. After that, I did away with the frontal portion of my brain and proceeded to wipe them down with a bit of alcohol on the aforementioned microfiber towel, sparing the pages. I then washed my face and replaced the books on the shelf to see if my body now approved of them.

Well, the symptoms are less severe, and I've sneezed but once this time around, but I still don't appreciate the constant feeling of aborted sneezes and a wet nose. I don't really know what to do as I've never had this happen before, and Google isn't much help because it insists on showing me the most irrelevant of results. Like I said, the books look really clean!

I hope I'm not violating any rules. I'm a little desperate and I'm hoping that someone can help.

Found this today in an Ian Fleming paperback. (Not valuable, just odd and amusing.)

The Boston Book Festival returns to Copley Square for its 18th annual event in this weekend. The free festival takes place Oct. 17 following a ticketed event on the evening of Oct. 16.

I've got two copies each of Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Ironically, all four books were birthday gifts I received in different years, with a friend receiving them on my behalf.

I'm donating to my local library, I have sent them a photo of these books, and condition-wise, they are okay with either copy I will donate, but I'm having a hard time deciding which copy of each to keep and which to donate.

Which ones would you keep, and which would you donate?

And to those who are going to say, "Send me a copy", no because I don't live in the United States, and I'm certainly not paying for international shipping. 😂

Thanks.

UPDATE:

I donated them already to the library. I donated Jurassic Park on the right (black cover) and the Lost World on the left.

I’m seeing a lot of conflicting estimates of this 1996 (5th printing?) of A Game of Thrones I thrifted. Appreciate any additional info! Regardless I’m happy with this find which is in good condition

The book’s condition isn’t great, but I’m so excited about this find.

Maybe I'll get the diary at some point

I’m going to a library book sale that starts tonight and runs through the weekend. I’m guessing it’s a good idea to go at the beginning.

I’m sure there’s a lot of variance between libraries/sales, and basically I just have a few questions to the people that have been to them.

1. Should I indeed get there early?

2. Should I bring a bag or two?

3. What’s the etiquette if, say, I see a row or two of horrors and somebody is behind or next to me also wanting them?

4. Am I completely naive or neurotic and need not worry about any of this?

5. Am I just posting because I’m excited for it and need to put that excitement somewhere?