SF Masterworks Group discussion

Since the SF Masterworks series was rebound I've been trying to collect a few of the old bindings to add to the collection I already have (I'm a bit particular about things like that.) Anyway, today I popped to Dublin with my girlfriend and decided to pop into Waterstones while I was there - BAD IDEA. I ended up leaving with

Behold the Man
Eon
Emphyrio
The Shrinking Man
The Fountains of Paradise
Man Plus
Ringworld
Flowers for Algernon
Non-Stop
Star Maker
A Maze of Death

Thankfully six of them were part of a 3 for 2 deal.

Get them all while you can, I say. I don't think the original bindings will be around for much longer. I would hate to have half the set in the old binding and the other half in the new (although that will probably happen anyway with new titles coming out in the new binding, except you can almost class them as a new 'section' of the series, as they don't have numbers).

How many do you have to go from the original 73?

That nudges me to just over half the series so between 35 and 40. I've resigned myself to missing out on the few H.G. Wells volumes that seemed to go out of print even before the old bindings were stopped.

If I can find them all the way down here in Australia, I'm sure you can find them from Ireland. :P

I found the last of the books I needed (the out of print ones) at Waterstone's Marketplace, AbeBooks and eBay. Some were essentially brand new (they looked entirely untouched) and others were good (but not great; they showed signs of reading, eg. creased spine, a few turned corners, etc.) but still worthwhile getting just because I was that close to finishing the set and had no other options. The price ended up being about the same as a new book, but that included shipping to Australia, which was more expensive than the book itself.

I assume that the out of print titles will not be coming back into print before they are re-released with new covers, in which case they will get more expensive as they become more rare.

Personally, while I'm intent on collecting this series, I am not bothered about which binding they have. See my SF Masterworks shelf to see what I mean. I have a few in the Masterworks bindings but many are old 70's or 80's paperback versions that I picked up in second hand stores. It's a lot cheaper doing it that way, I can tell you.

Mind you, I'm seeing the Masterworks editions turning up more and more in second hand stores these days, often in good condition.

Planning on another trip to Dublin tomorrow to see if I can pick up a few more titles before they completely disappear. The delightfully named Hodges Figgis has a decently sized SF/Fantasy section that I hope will throw up a few that I don't have and there are two other good book stores and a vast second hand book store to check through.

The aforementioned trip proved to be quite worthwhile and I managed to add the following to my collection.

Earth Abides
The Dispossessed
Dr. Bloodmoney
The Demolished Man
Timescape
Bring the Jubilee
The Lathe of Heaven
The Book of Skulls
Pavane
Downward to the Earth
Mission of Gravity
Now Wait for Last Year
Stand on Zanzibar
Dune
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

your poor wallet indeed!

Sean wrote: "The aforementioned trip proved to be quite worthwhile and I managed to add the following to my collection.

Earth Abides
The Dispossessed
Dr. Bloodmoney
[b..."


Some very good novels in that pile I have read 9 and enjoyed them all. Interesting I almost never see SF masterworks in used or new bookstores in my sad neck of the woods. I am making a trip to chicago hopefully I can find a good bookstore. Almost all of my sf masterworks are the original pre-masterworks editions.

After discovering this wonderful series, I've also had an insatiable appetite for the different books. Even here in South Africa, I've managed to find more 10 titles already, and already read about 6. What a wonderful series!