Archer in Hollywood … Ross Macdonald’s first omnibus … how I got an antiquarian first edition ...

Ever since I read Pradeep Sebastian’s The Book Hunters of Katpadi, I have caught this ‘antiquarian’ bug.  I have been carefully going through some old books in my collection to check dates and editions.  Even while reading The Book Hunters …, I discovered that some English novels by Indian writers that I have are first editions.  I was thrilled.

So, this thing continued to bug me.  In my previous Ross Macdonald post I had mentioned that only two more novels and my Lew Archer set would be complete.  I was chasing these two titles, The Moving Target and Doomsters, in right earnest … with washed hands.  This omnibus edition of three Archer novels titled Archer in Hollywood kept popping up at regular intervals … mainly because it had The Moving Target and two other Archer novels that I had already have.  I was looking for a ‘standalone’ copy at a reasonable price, but the ‘reasonable’ part was becoming elusive.  The Archer in Hollywood omnibus edition continued to pop up.  I slowly began noticing that it had a very delicious antiquarian looking cover.  I clicked on it and saw that the book was being sold on a used books portal … not surprising that the book looked ‘antique.’  What about the price?  I want only one novel, but I would be paying for three.  The price was, I felt, higher than what I’d usually consider paying, when push comes to shove.  The cover tempted me so much that I decided to go for it. 

But not so soon.  I checked the details provided on the page once again … publisher, ISBN number, year of publication.  They seemed all right and going by the picture of the cover, the book is bound to be an ‘antique,’ I thought.  I was also aware that sometimes websites use stock images of book covers and not the actual picture of the book they are selling.  I sent a mail to the seller wanting to know if I’ll get the same book with the same cover.  I received a reply which was non-committal and which also sounded optimistic in a vague sort of way.  I didn’t want to mention all that ‘antiquarian’ stuff in the mail because I myself was not so sure; who knows somebody there might decide not to sell the book? 

With no firm answer in sight, I decided to take the leap of faith … ooo aaah …

Anyway, I leaped … and my faith was rewarded … for once …

Look what I got …

The front cover is exactly what was shown on the portal … I was delighted on seeing the covers and spine …

There was more confirmation once I opened the book.  This omnibus was first published in 1967 and this one is a first edition. 

And there is a lovely little foreword by Ross Macdonald himself … and he says this collection is the first omnibus edition of his novels and that he is glad that an omnibus edition was being published during his lifetime … and there is the year at the bottom of the foreword … 1966 … when the foreword was written … the book was published next year …

This is splendid, actually … a favourite author … first omnibus, first edition … a 51-year-old book … the only thing missing is Ross Macdonald’s signature … 

I have hyped this edition up so much that I myself am now scared of reading The Moving Target from this omnibus for which I bought this book in the first place.  I am worried that the page edges may crumble or the cover may tear further.  I might end up buying a standalone copy of The Moving Target after all.