A stonking piece of luck brings me two gorgeous finds in an fantastic Welsh book shop. Plus good fortune plays its part in the Penguin Collectors Society Auction…
The D.A. Holds A Candle, Erle Stanley Gardner, Penguin (Games Cover), 1957
£3.00, very good condition, Penguin Collectors Society auction
If you love vintage Penguin’s its a must to be a member of the Penguin Collector’s Society, primarily for the huge range of information they produce. A bonus to membership is a chance to participate in their regular auctions. Participants submit a list of wants from the catalogue and all these are then put into a hat. What you end up with in part depends on the order you get drawn from the hat. An early pick could see you end up with all your requests, but if you get drawn towards the end, there is little chance of your choices still being available. I got lucky this time and got most of my requests including some lovely examples of Penguins with covers designed by Abram Games, known as Games covers.
Bring The Jubilee, New English Library – Master SF Series, 1977
£2.00, good condition, Second hand bookshop, Pembrokeshire.
I’m a bit of a sucker for a Science Fiction Series. I grab the Gollancz Classic SF and the SF Masterworks series if I ever see them at a reasonable price. But this New English Library series was a new one on me. Luckily the wonderful The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) reveals that its a series of 20 or so books published in the mid-seventies and edited by Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison. Bring the Jubilee, by Ward Moore is a great alternative history novel, published in the early 1950s, in which the South won the US Civil War. This edition has a lovely little introduction by Kingsley Amis who wrote one of my favourite alternative history novels – The Alteration.
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick, Penguin, 1967
£2.00, mint condition, Ystwyth Books, Aberystwyth.
Although I collect a whole variety of paperbacks, Penguin science fiction is the core of my collection and my passion. One glimpse at the the wonderful website The Art of Penguin Science Fiction website will tell you why. (Unfortunately the site has not updated its security certificate and so can only currently be viewed in ‘incognito mode’). Out of around 350 different titles/editions I am missing around 75 and like all collectors, I dream of walking into a bookshop and finding mint condition copies of rare titles that I don’t have for next to nothing. And that’s exactly what happened when I went into Ystwyth Books while on holiday. Not one, but two beautiful copies of Philip K. Dick novels in Penguin. Lucky boy.
The Penultimate Truth, Philip K. Dick, Penguin, 1970
£2.00, mint condition, Ystwyth Books, Aberystwyth.
A number of fantastic designers have created wonderful designs for Penguin science fiction cover over the years and one of my absolute favourites is Franco Grignani who produced an amazing set of 15 covers in the early seventies. Again, The Art of Penguin Science Fiction website provides a lovely overview here. One of the set is Philip K. Dick’s The Penultimate Truth. Being the first British paperback edition and having such a fab cover makes this a hard to find book. And so was delighted to find a mint copy at Ystwyth Books. Will definitely return for another rummage soon.
Animal Farm, George Orwell, Penguin Modern Classics, 1973 reprint
£2.00, very good condition, via eBay.
Animal Farm needs no introduction. And this gorgeous Penguin Modern Classic edition at £2.00 was a no brainer purchase, even though its a reprint. The cover, shows a detail from a Joan Miro painting, The Tilled Field. Its probably been 45 years since I first read this novel and its still as great as the first time of reading.
Vintage Paperback Treasure 