Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series - Part 5

Finally, I've reached the end of my collection of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series with this mish mash of single volumes.

Firstly, Poul Anderson's Broken Sword about which I can't remember a thing, and Red Moon And Black Mountain by Joy Chant, which I remember being quite an engaging young adult fantasy where three teenagers are transported to another world with the purpose of saving it from an evil destiny.

Then there's Excalibur, an Arthurian fantasy by Sanders Anne Laubenthal and the fabulously strange Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay.

Finally The Shaving of Shagpat, a middle eastern fantasy by George Meredith and the The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt. This edition is not really in the Ballantine series, though originally an earlier edition was.

An lastly, another collection of fantasy stories edited by Lin Carter, Golden Cities Far.

Coming next, more paperback fantasy, when I have had time to scan them for your visual pleasure.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series - Part 4

I'm drawing to an end with my collection of the Ballantine Fantasy Series, so this will be the second last entry on the topic.

Katherine Kurtz first Deryni Series was published by Ballantine from 1971 to 1973. Camber of Culdi is not strictly speaking part of the Adult Fantasy series, but I'll put the cover up anyway to balance the display. I can't remember much about this series other than they had some pretty good battles of magic.

Also Ballantine published several books by James Branch Cabell. I remember loving the urbane witty and irreverent prose of Cabell. I really must read them again. I have two Ballantine editions of his books, but I have more in Del Ray editions which I'll get to later.

And finally for this entry, two fantasy novels by George Macdonald. His books, though of a Christian bent, are quite weird nonetheless.

Next- the remainder of my BAF collection ...

Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series - Part 3

This entry will cover books in the Lost Race genre of fantasy - writers such as H Rider Haggard and C J Cutliffe Hyne. There is a great site by Jessica Amanda Salmonson called Violet Books which covers this sort of fantasy and other odd stuff.

As well as Lost Race literature, the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series also published several short story collections, edited by Lin Carter.

And to end this entry, two books by H Warner Munn.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series - Part 2

Here for you delectation are more covers from the fabulous Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

Firstly, Evangeline Walton's retelling of the Mabinogian in her series of four books.

Then there are the strange fantasies of E R Eddison. I haven't read any of these books for over 30 years so I can't remember much about their contents. The only image that has stayed with me through the years is Florinda (?) in Fish Dinner at Memison leaning forward and pricking the bubble of fantasy with a pin. Whether this is actually in the book or not, I can't say.

A few solitary novels from various authors...

One of the rarest of the Adult Fantasies is G K Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday - a bizarre novel involving anarchists and a secret society whose members are known by days of the week.

And Hope Mirrlees wonderful Lud-in-the Mist - a delightful fairy tale and her best known novel.

Enough for tonight, or else the post won't load from Live Writer which is my preferred way of composing blog entries these days.

There are more in this series to come...

Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series - Part 1

Although I do not have the full collection of this series, I did collect many of them as they were released. Some that were published in the series I didn't bother buying as I already had the books in other editions, and besides, who knew at that particular time that they would be so collectible these days.

In terms of eye candy for bibliophiles they all had beautiful covers by various artists but are mostly recognisable from the cover art of Gervasio Gallardo.

There are many sites on the web dedicated to this series of books most notably the Haunted Bibliophile site and also this site: http://phantasma.onza.net/biblio/lists/baf.html

So how to present them on this blog? I will do it by author.

Firstly four books by Lord Dunsany

William Morris...

Hannes Bok...

Peter S. Beagle

More coming soon.

A Miscellany

This entry marks the end of the art book section of my library. These books occupy the bottom shelf.

Below are some oddities that don't really fit anywhere else, so I've lumped them together.

Firstly, The Illustrated Golden Bough - A study in magic and religion, by Sir James George Frazer. I also have a very large hard cover called The Mythic Image by Joseph Campbell on the same sort of thing, but it is a bit too large to scan.

Another book on myth, a famous one at that, is this study of King Arthur. I was always fascinated by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Another oddity - The Collectors Book of Children's Books by Eric Quale with one of the illustrations from the book representing a collection of first editions of the more prolific writers of the boy's adventure story with colourful pictorial cloth bindings.

This Max Ernst book, I recall was given to me by the Thames & Hudson Rep who offered me a free book from his catalogue. I chose this one, being a bit of a fan of Max Ernst.

Next, two famous Australian children's books, Snugglepot & Cuddlepie by May Gibbs and The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay.

These two books were staples of my childhood reading. They are both wonderfully illustrated.

The illustration below from Snugglepot & Cuddlepie has stayed with me forever. It horrified me when I was a child and still portrays the utter wickedness of the Banksia men very convincingly. I've never much cared for Banksias ever since, despite their very attractive flowers.

By comparison, Lindsay's illustrations are much more comical.

And finally, still on Australian humour and illustration Neil Curtis' Bear Dinkum - a charming eccentric graphic novel about a koala bear who becomes a master of the ballet in a very dinkum aussie way. The book is rather rare these days and I believe Neil Curtis is no longer with us, having died some years ago.

Click for larger images

Coming next - fantasy and science fiction