Hits and Misses

Life's been busy, and seems to only be getting busier as we head toward the holidays. Tracy and I are fully settled into the new house and loving it, although I still have some books stacked on the floor awaiting more shelves. (First world problems, right?)

For the most part, it's been a good book week. I ordered a couple of signed editions and they arrived yesterday. Both are Neil Gaiman books:


Hansel & Gretel, illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti (Toon Books / McNally Jackson. October 28, 2014)

I wasn't fast enough to get the Deluxe edition, with the die-cut cover, which sold out almost immediately. At the time of this post, there were about 40 copies of both the standard and deluxe editions listed over on Abebooks.com, none of which state that they are signed, however.


Stardust (Easton Press)

No mention of "limited edition" on this one, nor was there an edition number. Still, it's a signed edition & Easton Press provided a lovely letter of authenticity.


I also visited the used bookstore and found a couple of hits (and a couple of misses).

I went in thinking I could find a few Christmas presents for the fam (which I did do). I also found a few books for little ol' me.

The Hits:

Shadow of the Giant, Orson Scott Card (Tor, 2005)
Signed (inscribed) First/First.

In this part of the country it's not too hard to find signed copies of Orson Scott Card titles, but it's still a little exciting when I come across one in the bookstore.

Family of Honor, Robert B. Parker (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999)
Signed First/First.











The Misses:

"A" is for Alibi, Sue Grafton (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982)
Stated First Edition, price clipped

... and a BCE (book club edition).

It's always a bit harder to tell with older titles if they're book club editions. Not all titles displayed prices on their dust jackets or ISBN numbers on their covers. Unfortunately, that's not the case with this title. First printings should display a price of $16.95 on the inner flap. (The price got bumped up to $18.95 by the third printing), and both a large and a small ISBN on the back cover.
Rainbow's End, Martha Grimes (Alfred A. Knopf, 1995)
Stated First Edition, price clipped

... and another BCE.