Kaldar - World of Antares

Royal Oak, Michigan: Haffner Press, 1998. First and Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Arfstrom, Jon. No. 93 of 300 copies of the special edition, octavo size, 235 pp. Edmond Moore Hamilton (1904-1977) is credited with writing, in 1936, the first hardcover compilation of what would come to be known as the science fiction genre, "The Horror of the Asteriod and Other Tales of Planetary Horror". This volume is a collection of three stories from the fragile pulp pages of Magic Carpet and Weird Tales magazines, and is the first hardbound edition of the stories; it features original artwork by 1940s Weird Tales illustrator Jon Arfstrom as well as an introduction by Edmond Hamilton's longtime friend, Ray Bradbury. Also included is an autobiographical article by Hamilton from the January 1934 fanzine, Fantasy Magazine (n. b., some of the above info from the Press' web site).

___DESCRIPTION: Full black cloth, gilt decoration and lettering on the spine designed to match the Arkham House editions of Robert E. Howard's "Skullface and Others" and William Hope Hodgson's "The House on the Borderlands", pictorial limitation page serving as frontispiece, vignette of a creature on the title page; octavo size (9.25" by 6.5"), pagination: [9] [i] ii-iv [v-vi] [1] 2-219 [220-221]. In a pictorial dust jacket with wraparound colour illustration by Jon Arfstrom, black and white lettering on the spine, a description of the book on the front flap, and author and artist bios on the rear flap; the dust jacket is unclipped with the original price of $55.00 on the front flap.

___CONDITION: Volume is fine, with clean boards, with a strong, square text block, solid hinges, perfectly straight corners with no rubbing, the interior is clean and bright, the text block is crisp and tight as though the book has never been read, and it is entirely free of prior owner markings; there is a minute amount of rubbing on the gilt on the spine, else fine. The dust jacket is fine also, unclipped, clean with bright colours, without wear; our dust jacket is the first state, with the black matte finish, and does show a few light scuff marks (per the publisher, the printer shipped the books unprotected, and the black on the dust jackets scuffs easily and mars the finish); there is also a very light trace of black ink residue from the cloth binding on the verso of the dust jacket where the flaps meet the panels, else fine.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please contact us for details.

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