Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Signed memorabilia from fantasy and SF authors are coming up for sale in the Heritage Auctions Rare Books sales on 27/28 July.

A two-page, handwritten, autographed letter from JRR Tolkien to an enthusiastic reader is one of the numerous offerings in Heritage Auctions’ July 27-28 Rare Books Signature® Auction.

Says James Gannon, Director of Rare Books, “The reply, coveted by any fan of the author, touches on some of Tolkien’s inspirations for Lord of the Rings, steeped in his academic scholarship and personal interests and a brief history of the name ‘Tolkien.’ It’s a remarkable, insightful offering.”

In keeping with this find, Heritage also highlights a first-edition set of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, including the books’ original illustrated first-state dust jackets. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King make up a “stunning set, nearly as captivating and coveted as the One Ring itself. The first impression of The Fellowship of the Ring was composed of merely 3,000 copies, making a complete trilogy set in this condition something truly precious,” says Gannon.

In the mid-20th century, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World, George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-Five. This Heritage event presents first editions of all three modern-day masterpieces, which remain as relevant as ever.

The example of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) is in fine condition, boldly signed by the author with an ink self-caricature to the half-title page. Huxley’s classic dystopian polemic Brave New World (London: Chatto & Windus, 1932) is presented in the publisher’s teal cloth, spine stamped in gilt, with its original illustrated dust jacket. Orwell’s ever-prescient Nineteen Eighty-Four (London: Secker and Warburg, 1949) is one of the most cited and referenced books of our contemporary era; this first edition is from the beloved collection of Gary Munson, as is this event’s Brave New World.

“Mr. Munson, who passed away recently, was a longtime and extremely dedicated collector of genre fiction,” says Gannon. “He placed a special emphasis on stories in the supernatural, apparitions, horror, fantasy, ghosts and also had large holdings of mystery and detective, science fiction and action-adventure.”

Other selections from Munson’s famous collection include first editions of Philip K. Dick’s decisive novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968; and known to cinephiles, of course, as 1982’s Blade Runner); Anthony Burgess’ ever-bracing A Clockwork Orange (1962); and H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man (1897), this extraordinary copy inscribed and signed with an original ink drawing of the title character by Wells to novelist Ralph Straus. These are only a few great titles from Munson’s collection in this much-anticipated auction.

This event promises something for every lover of the rare and timeless, including coveted first editions of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1866), Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Or, The Whale. (New York: Harper & Bros., 1851) and a true collector favorite, Casino Royale, the first book in the James Bond series by Ian Fleming (London: Jonathan Cape, 1953). This is a beautiful copy of the story that began the Bond legacy, described by Fleming to his close friend, Robert Harling, as the “spy novel to end all spy novels.” Indeed, an auction to be shaken and stirred.