History of the Project

What purpose is served by the collection of rare books is no more to be argued here than why is golf or music. First editions are collected to the interest and edification of an increasing number of persons, and these lists are for the service of those people and of dealers who supply the wants of collectors. -Merle Johnson, American First Editions (1929).

In the 1960's and 1970's the strong growth of interest in science fiction and fantasy literature among both academics and private collectors was comparable to a similar phenomenon which occurred in the 1930's - the emergence of collector interest in detective fiction. Both scholars and collectors faced a major obstacle in their quest for bibliographic details pertaining to fantasy and science fiction books. Previously published bibliographies and checklists were often incomplete and inaccurate. Many of these earlier works were prepared in part from secondary sources and the books listed had not actually been examined by compilers. Much of the early bibliographic work in these genres was severely limited in scope. The pioneer general checklists - Everett F. Bleiler (editor), THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FANTASY, WEIRD, AND SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS PUBLISHED IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Chicago: Shasta Publishers, 1948).1 Bradford M. Day, THE SUPPLEMENTAL CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE (Denver, New York: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Publications, 1963), and Bradford M. Day, THE CHECKLIST OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE IN PAPERBOUND BOOKS (Denver, New York: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Publications, 1965) - were followed by an avalanche of single-author checklists, specialty press and single-publisher checklists, and sub-genre checklists (utopian fiction, the interplanetary novel, the tale of the future and others).

Two major fantasy and science fiction author bibliographies were published in the 1970's. The first, R. Reginald (pseudonym of M. R. Burgess), STELLA NOVA : THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS (Los Angeles: Unicorn & Son, 1970), provided checklists of books by 483 writers active between 1960 and 1968 and biographical sketches of 308 authors who responded to Reginald's direct-mail questionnaires (many entries incorporate comments, sometimes lengthy, of the responders). A corrected and amended edition, re-titled CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS, was published by Arno Press in 1975. This seminal work eventually evolved into Reginald's much-expanded and re-formatted SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY LITERATURE: A CHECKLIST, 1700-1974, WITH CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS II (1979).2 The second and the more comprehensive general science fiction and fantasy author bibliography was Donald H. Tuck, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY THROUGH 1968 (Chicago: Advent, 1974-1978). The culmination of more than twenty years of research, this work was, in fact, the third edition of Tuck's A HANDBOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY.3 Tuck stresses in his introduction that the encyclopedia compliments the 1948 Bleiler Checklist, and ''can be considered as a sort of continuation to that book.'' Volumes one and two of this three-volume work comprise biographical sketches and briefly annotated author checklists. The scope of Tuck's book is immense and, although the bibliographies are often incomplete and occasionally inaccurate, it is still a useful research tool.

Neither the general science fiction and fantasy bibliographies described above nor most of the more specialized single-author or subject checklists have addressed the problem of identifying and describing first editions.4  Currey's SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY AUTHORS (1979; 2002) was intended for the collector, bookseller, and scholar who wished to identify first and significant later printings and editions by the subject authors. Loosely modeled on the classic AMERICAN FIRST EDITIONS (first published in 1929 under the editorial direction of Merle Johnson, with three revised editions following, the last appearing in 1942 with Jacob Blanck as editor), Currey's book was developed to serve the same need to which Johnson's compilation was addressed.

At the time of publication, Currey's book had no bibliographical antecedents in the science fiction and fantasy genres, or for that matter, within the entire field of modern popular fiction. It was compiled to meet the need for a one-volume bibliography which would provide up-to-date, comprehensive, and accurate checklists of book fiction by 215 authors identified with the science fiction and fantasy genres from the late nineteenth century to the mid-1970s. From late Victorian writers such as H. G. Wells, George Griffith, Fred T. Jane, and Garrett P. Serviss, the bibliography progresses through the authors of the Gernsback era, the "golden age" of the late 1930's and early 1940's, the post-war boom of the 1950's, the "new wave "of the 1960's, to the emerging new writers of the 1970's. The choice of subject authors was not the result of arbitrary selection. Every subject author represented a writer whose works influenced the science fiction and fantasy field or whose works were being read and/or collected at the time. Subject authors included major writers of established reputation like Wells, Clarke, Bradbury, Heinlein, Tolkien, and C. S. Lewis; writers important in the historical development of the genres like Cummings, Burroughs, England, Lindsay, Hodgson, and E. E. Smith; and the moderns - young writers like Gardner Dozois, George Alec Effinger, Stephen King, C. J. Cherry, and George R. R. Martin. Also included were some pulp fictioneers as well as representative editors and anthologists. Out of this crucible came the subject authors who influenced the course of science and fantasy fiction from the late Victorian era through the 1970s.

Currey's SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY AUTHORS was conceived as an ongoing bibliographical project and work on an updated, expanded version was in progress when the first edition was published in December 1979. Books published after 1977 by the subject authors were recorded and descriptive checklists of books by authors not included in the first edition were compiled. Although thousands of new book records were prepared, less than 100 checklists were completed. A few of the checklists were published as "work in progress" in THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION between November 1988 and November 1991. However, work on an expanded and updated edition ceased in 1991 due to work on other bibliographical projects and increased business activity. Over the years Currey refused to allow the original edition to be reprinted without revision. The manuscript of the first edition was typed, and no portion of the book existed in computer format. The G. K. Hall galleys were extensively revised from the manuscript and the published text, while not error free, was the closest version of an ideal text. In December 2001 this text, with all faults, was optically scanned by publisher Ron Brown who had convinced Currey that the book should be re-published in CD-ROM format, even if he refused to revise it. He agreed to prepare a "corrected" edition which was to be finished within 60 days after signing the contract. For this new electronic edition, the original bibliographical data for all entries (recorded on 4x6 index cards) was reviewed and many books were physically re-examined. Over two decades have passed since the original edition of SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY AUTHORS was published. During this time many new bibliographical details pertaining to books included in the bibliography have been discovered. In good conscience Currey could not ignore the existence of this new information, so the "corrected" edition morphed into a revised edition which incorporated much of this new data. While most likely still not error free, the electronic edition was a considerable improvement over the earlier book edition.

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Notes 1. Revised edition published as THE CHECKLIST OF SCIENCE-FICTION AND SUPERNATURAL FICTION (Glen Rock, New Jersey: Firebell Books, 1978).

2. R. Reginald (pseudonym of M. R. Burgess), SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY LITERATURE: A CHECKLIST, 1700-1974, WITH CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS II (Detroit: Gale Research Company, [1979]) and its sequel, SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY LITERATURE 1975-1991: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND HORROR FICTION BOOKS AND NONFICTION MONOGRAPHS (Detroit, Washington, D.C., London: Gale Research Inc., [1992]), is currently the most comprehensive general bibliography of fantasy and science fiction authors.

3. Donald H. Tuck, A HANDBOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (Hobart, Tasmania: Tuck, 1954); 2nd ed. (Hobart, Tasmania: Tuck, 1959), 2 vols.

4. The work of bookseller and bibliographer George Locke is a notable exception. Locke's three-volume A SPECTRUM OF FANTASY: THE BIBLIOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHY OF A COLLECTION OF FANTASTIC LITERATURE ([London]: Ferret, [1980]-2002), provides detailed bibliographical descriptions of books in his personal collection as well as variant copies and editions he does not own. The focus of the collection is on books published before 1950 and the bibliographical data presented here is of immense value to those interested in nineteenth and early twentieth century science fiction and fantasy literature.