Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Thrift Store Book Covers: "Wollheim's Best SF: Series One"

Wollheim’s Best SF: Series One is a reprint of the anthology The 1972 Annual World’s Best SF. It features an impressive catalog of authors, including Barry N. Malzberg, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, and Harlan Ellison. While the writers included are impressive, the cover art is even better. The colors are a subdued with sharp lines and it hasn’t a certain muted starkness. The artist is John Berkey.






















The opening paragraph of the Introduction by Donald A. Wollheim:    

“The essence of science fiction is that this is a changing world. In consequence science fiction reflects this. Though science fiction sets up stereotypes, they are stereotypes of that which may some day be or which might have been or could be, but they are always presentations of some form of a changed world.”


This is the seventh of a series of posts featuring the cover art and miscellany of books I find at thrift stores and used bookshops. It is reserved for books I purchase as much for the cover art as the story or author.

2 comments:

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I discover new sf literature every time I delve a little deeper into the genre. This is fascinating. I enjoy reading sf short stories more than full-length novels. I have neglected the latter.

Ben Boulden said...

I agree. The SF story is particularly suited to short stories. I tend to prefer the older scifi from the 1950s to the 1970s. I even like the old science fiction Ace Doubles.