Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Rare Books

Next week Heritage Auctions will sell the Jerry Weist Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy Art and Books. Fans of Wells, Lovecraft, Asimov, Clarke, Dick -- rejoice! This incredibly broad and deep collection has complete runs from nearly every publisher in the genre, high-grade pulp magazines, comic books, sci-fi movie posters, and early fanzines.

Tarzan.jpgThis All-Story from October 1912 is a highly coveted item, as it is the first appearance of Tarzan. Edgar Rice Burroughs had only published one story prior to this one, and that under an pseudonym. The cover was designed by Clinton Pettee. The estimate of $8,000-$12,000 reflects some minor condition issues.

Frazetta.jpgThis framed and signed oil on board by Frank Frazetta graced the cover of Ray Bradbury's 1966 paperback Tomorrow Midnight. Franzetta is considered "the greatest fantasy artist of all time." The estimate is $40,000-$60,000.

Weist, who died earlier this year, was the type of enthusiastic, active collector who sought not only books and art, but relationships with authors, artists, and other collectors. In HA's newsletter, rare books manager Joe Fay described a unique feature on many of Weist's books -- when Weist asked authors to sign books for him, he asked that they draw an outline of their hand and then sign inside the outline.

HandOutline.jpgThis first edition of Philip K. Dick's Confessions of a Crap Artist (1975) shows the unique signature. So says the catalogue: "Interestingly, Dick was the only author to question Jerry Weist's habit of asking authors to sign books with their handprints. True to form, Dick thought it was a government conspiracy." The estimate is $400-$600, although it looks like the online bidding has already pushed it to $2,200 with five more days to go.

The auction will be held on Sept. 12 in Beverly Hills, CA. The full catalogue is here: http://historical.ha.com/common/auction/catalog.php?SaleNo=606.

Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.