Description

The Complete Compleat Enchanter The Original Harold Shea Stories by L. Sprague de Camp (signed bookplate) and Fletcher Pratt Frontispiece by Ron Miller Collectors Note by James Gunn (signed) Easton Press Collector's Edition Description: Leatherbound hardback book published by Easton Press. Bound in top grade dark blue leather with 22kt gold lettering and cover artwork. Hubbed spine, acid neutral paper with page edges gilded, and a satin ribbon book mark sewn in. Collector's Note and unused publisher supplied bookplate laid in (not attached). Originally issued by Easton Press completely unsigned, I have gotten this copy signed as follows: Bookplate signed by the author without inscription or personalization laid in; Signed by the writer of the collectors note at the bottom of the last page of the collectors note. Part of the now out of print Masterpieces of Fantasy series from Easton Press. We have books autographed by L. Sprague de Camp for sale (some with an autographed label or bookplate, others are actually signed), to see a list, click on the link below: Autographed L. Sprague de Camp items for sale About Harold Shea (from Wikipedia): The "Harold Shea" Stories is a name given to a series of five science fantasy stories by the collaborative team of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt and to its later continuation by de Camp alone, Christopher Stasheff, Holly Lisle, John Maddox Roberts, Roland J. Green, Frieda A. Murray, Tom Wham, and Lawrence Watt-Evans. De Camp and Stasheff collectively oversaw the continuations. The series is also known as the "Enchanter" series, the "Incomplete Enchanter" series (after the first collection of stories) or the "Compleat Enchanter" series. In the original stories, psychologist Harold Shea and his colleagues Reed Chalmers, Walter Bayard, and Vaclav Polacek (Votsy) travel to various parallel worlds where ancient myths or old literature are reality. In the course of their travels, other characters are added to the main cast, notably Belphebe and Florimel, who become the wives of Shea and Chalmers, respectively, and Pete Brodsky, a policeman who is accidentally swept up into the chaos. In the later continuations, the most notable additions to the cast are the recurring villain, Malambroso, and Voglinda, the young daughter of Shea and Belphebe. About the Original Series: The protagonists utilize a system of symbolic logic to project themselves into the worlds they visit, but it is an inexact science, and they miss their target realities as often as they hit them. For example, in the first story, "The Roaring Trumpet", Shea intends to visit the world of Irish mythology, and instead ends up in Norse mythology. Most of the worlds visited have systems of physics different from ours, usually magical, which the heroes devote a considerable amount of effort to learning and applying. Much humor is drawn both from the culture shock of their encounters and from the reality that they usually do not understand the local systems well enough to be able to predict the actual effects of the spells they attempt. Much of the series' attraction stems from the interaction of the psychologists' logical, rationalistic viewpoints with the wildly counterintuitive physics of the worlds they visit. Their attitudes provide something of a deconstructionist look at the basic rationales of these worlds, hitherto unexamined either by their inhabitants or even their original creators. Essentially, they allow the reader to view these worlds from a fresh viewpoint. The "worlds" so examined include not only the Norse world of "The Roaring Trumpet", but also the worlds of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene in "The Mathematics of Magic", Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (with a brief stop in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Xanadu from "Kubla Khan") in "The Castle of Iron", the Kalevala in "The Wall of Serpents", and, at last, Irish mythology in "The Green Magician". With "The Green Magician" the original collaboration ended, Pratt's early death precluding any additional entries. A final planned story set in the world of Persian mythology was never written, nor was a projected response to L. Ron Hubbard's misuse of their hero in his novella The Case of the Friendly Corpse (1941). (De Camp would finally address the latter issue in "Sir Harold and the Gnome King".) Reviewing the 1950 edition of The Castle of Iron, Boucher and McComas described the series as "a high point in the application of sternest intellectual logic to screwball fantasy.". Damon Knight characterized the series as "relaced, ribald adventure ... priceless," saying that "no fantasy reader should be without them." In 1977 Richard A. Lupoff described the series as "whole planes above the hackneyed gut-spillers and skull-smashers that pass for heroic fantasy. Table of Contents: • The Castle of Iron • [Incomplete Enchanter • 3] • (1950) • novel • The Green Magician • [Incomplete Enchanter • 5] • (1954) • novella • The Mathematics of Magic • [Incomplete Enchanter • 2] • (1940) • novella • The Roaring Trumpet • [Incomplete Enchanter • 1] • (1940) • novella • The Wall of Serpents • [Incomplete Enchanter • 4] • (1953) • novella Condition: Binding - very good, leather slightly rubbed at edges, some transferred gold on the front and back covers from having stuck to other Easton Press books on the shelves (looks like tiny silver flecks), boards slightly bowed, top page edges have some spots where the gilding didn't stick - otherwise the page edge gilding is fine. Dust jacket - none, as issued. Our Business Policies: Use the Contact Seller link near the top of this listing to see our FAQs, which should answer most questions about our business and listing policies. We have moved the extensive text we used to have here to those FAQs. Shipping and Packing: General Information: We always ship in sturdy new boxes with premium heavy duty packing tape, bubblewrap and filler to keep the item(s) away from the sides of the box. The pictures below show the boxes that we use for shipping. A Note On Customs: When customs forms are required for a shipment, we fill them out honestly, stating that the contents are merchandise and giving the price you paid for the item (not including the shipping) as the value. Please do not ask us to do otherwise. Take any customs duty that you will have to pay into consideration before making your purchase. Please note that many countries have restrictions on the import of certain goods and sometimes on the maximum value that can be shipped to the country by various shipping methods. Priority Mail International insurance cannot be purchased for all countries and some limit the amount of insurance that can be purchased (default indemnity coverage seems to apply to all countries). Details on shipping conditions by country can be found on the United States Post Office web site. signedbyLSpraguedeCamp