20th Century Books

07/21/2026

When I was really young, I read an EC horror comic that belonged to a friend of mine. It was the only EC I had ever seen at that point in time, I don't think they were well distributed in the St Louis area. Really scared me! Frankly, I had nightmares about one of the stories in that book for years. Well, my wife Debra always says I'm squeamish. This despite the fact I worked cleaning hospital operating theaters and emergency rooms for years. Anyway, I can now appreciate the high quality, scary high quality, those comics actually had.

Pioneering publisher Woody Gelman, noted for his many important early books of comic strip reprints, also offered this beautiful collection of William Gaines' EC horror comics. Edited by Ron Barlow and Bhob Stewart. Includes art by George Evans, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Bernard Krigste...

07/11/2026

Recently while sorting and cataloging a large collection of wonderful books -- mysteries, film, music, comics -- I found an Isthmus Book Quarterly from 1993 tucked neatly into one of the books. (By the way, I don't recommend saving newspaper clippings in your books. Newsprint is high in acid and can damage book paper.) This ad brought back lots of memories! My store was located on King St (also with an entrance on E. Main) just off the Square. Borders had opened in Madison some time before this, and sent a wave of worry through other area booksellers. The response was the formation of an organization, The Madison Area Independent Booksellers Association. One of the initiatives of that group was group ads like this in Isthmus. You'll notice that of the participating stories, only 20th Century and A Room of One's Own are still around. Well, Borders is gone too.

06/26/2026

I've just acquired an almost complete set if the Fantagraphics collections if the Prince Valiant newspaper comic strips. These books are great -- good paper, large trim size! (Lots of other strip reprints as well.)

05/22/2026

The Left Hand of Darkness, Kindred and Maus made this list.

In honor of America’s 250th birthday, we polled PW’s staffers and freelance reviewers, as well as members of the National Book Critics Circle, on the most essential books published in the U.S. since 1776.

04/13/2026

I have a lot of autographed mysteries in stock. A friend and customer of mine collected these books for years. He traveled for work, so was able to attend book store events all over the country. He also regularly attended the mystery fiction convention Bouchercon. Well, like all of us, there came a time when he had to downsize, so he has been carrying boxes of those books up the steps into my store. I picked this example because I enjoy Joe Hensley's mysteries, and he also wrote science fiction. I got to know him while attending a science fiction convention in Cincinnati, Midwestcon. This was in the late 60s. and I appreciated that he was willing to chat with me, a teenager.

1st printing hardcover with dust jacket. autographed by author on title page...

01/04/2026

To follow up on my earlier post on laser discs, I expect to get a really diverse assortment . . .!

12/31/2025

Anyone still have a laserdisc player? I ask because one of my customers is downsizing his large collection of these, er, obsolete artifacts. I've seen evidence that people still sometimes buy these, mostly for modest prices, though that does vary. They were quite expensive when new, of course.

107 minute Japanese anime, with the original Japanese on the digital soundtrack, and Carl Macek's English language version on the analogue track.

12/03/2025

This is a book which must have caused some confusion. It has nothing to do with the old TV series of the same name. Murray Leinster was an interesting writer. A prolific and popular writer of science fiction, he also wrote westerns under his real name, Will F Jenkins. And he was an inventor! He won an Academy Award for an optical special effects system he developed. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that he became wealthy, but I was unable to fact check that just now. If this is true, I doubt that his wealth was because of his writing. While popular, he was never best selling. His inventions, however, might have been very lucrative.

Find the best prices on Time Tunnel by Murray Leinster at Biblio | | 1965 | Pyramid

11/30/2025

I don't visit airports often, so I've never been here. I used to visit what was the flagship store when it was located in downtown Milwaukee. It was an adventure!

11/10/2025

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