Friday, May 10, 2013

Book Sale Horror Haul

Every year the Wake County Libraries hold an enormous book sale at the North Carolina Fairgrounds. This is the third year I've gone and it is to die. These are all the books I bought yesterday... for $36. Most are in near-mint condition as they've been in storage for decades. I'm sure you can imagine my anticipation and excitement as I scoured the packed tables, and the sense of satisfaction I felt when I found a perfect copy of The Howling Man, the long out-of-print Tor collection of Charles Beaumont, a mint first-edition The Cellar (for archival purposes of course), the rest of the Shadows series which I needed, The Best of Masques, a slim volume packed with awesome writers, and a handful of Year's Best Horror from the '70s thru' the '90s. Not to mention Tessier, Bloch, Campbell, King...

Like an airplane hangar filled with books

I really cleaned out the selection of horror fiction - which was, to my disappointment, mixed in with science fiction this year (which my girlfriend attributed to the fact that we bought practically the whole horror section last year). So now I've got to reorganize my entire horror library to fit in these great new titles... and don't even think to ask me the question of when I'm gonna find time to read 'em!

15 comments:

Ron Clinton said...

Congratulations -- that's a nice haul!

Shane said...

That must be some library you've got there. I'm jealous as hell. What I wouldn't give to live in a place that has a huge library.

Charles R. Rutledge said...

Man, that's a good haul. Some Karl Edward Wagner edited Year's Best Horror and a nice selection of Shadows anthologies. I just got the Beaumont collection recently myself. Grats on the nice finds.

Melissa said...

Do you use LibraryThing or another service to keep track of your books?

Will Errickson said...

Thanks everyone. My brain is my LibraryThing.

Luis said...

I am consumed with jealousy. I would love to come across ANY of those books in your haul.

Fear Street said...

I am beyond envious. You got some great books!!

(As a side note, just wanted to say I've been reading your blog for a while now and I LOVE it. Definitely a favorite.)

me said...

Wow, Harvest Home! My parents had that edition lying around the house for years and years back in the 80's. I remember they also had Richard Matheson's Hell House, the edition with the gothic romance heroine running away from the house. Brings back memories!

Alejandro Omidsalar said...

Ahhh, man. Super jealous of the finds, Will. That looks gorgeous, especially the slew of Shadows volumes you found. Grad school has really killed my fun reading, but this summer is gonna be catch-up time.

Oh snap! I have the very same edition of Tessier's The Nightwalker! Picked it up for $2.75 at Shakespeare & Company in Berkeley, California. Beautiful cover. Great haul, all around. Enjoy!

Blofeld's Cat said...

I went to a library sale today but did not have nearly the luck you did...I had to make two with a few titles in The Saint series by Leslie Charteris and a few Charlie Chan titles by Earl Derr Biggers...

RustyWalrus said...

Jealous! I am lucky to find 1 battered Stephen King paperback at a library sale. You hit the jackpot.

Unknown said...
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highwayknees said...

Great will! The Howling Man PB is one of my most prized possessions! What a creepy cover too...I also have all the original Beaumonts Like Night Ride and The Hunger.

Will Errickson said...

I also have those original Beaumont books. What I love about this Tor edition are the introductions by Bradbury, Ellison, Matheson, etc...

Satan Claus said...

Sadly, here in Norway, horror paperbacks pretty much does not exist.