The Endless Bookshelf : simply messing about in books

Books are what I do : WRITE (very slowly), READ (rapidly or at leisure), RE-READ (for pleasure or reference),
BUY and SELL (my livelihood), CATALOGUE and DESCRIBE (ditto), EDIT, REVIEW (for The New York Review
of Science Fiction and others), RECOMMEND, and, unavoidably and repeatedly, LIFT (whether singly or in
boxes). I concede a fondness for private eye novels, equalled only by my interest in the quirky, erudite, or obscure.
This is an ongoing list of books that I have been reading or re-reading (these marked [RR]). — Henry Wessells

As of January 2007, The Endless Bookshelf has moved to : www.endlessbookshelf.net

  • Wo Es War, Soll Ich Werden by Guy Davenport (Finial Press, 2004)
  • The Doorbell Rang. A Nero Wolfe Novel by Rex Stout (Viking Press, 1965) [RR, October 2006]. The best of the Nero Wolfe books.
  • Echo Park. A Harry Bosch Cold Case Mystery by Michael Connelly (Dennis Mcmillan, 2006)
  • Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932; Penguin, 2006)
  • Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick (1959; Vintage Books, n.d.) [RR September 2006]
  • The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos (Dennis Mcmillan, 2006)
  • Fundamental Disch by Thomas M. Disch (Gollancz, 1981)
  • James Tiptree, Jr. The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (St. Martin's Press, 2006)
  • The Grand Slave Emporium. Cape Coast Castle and the British Slave Trade by William St. Clair (London : Profile Books, 2006)
  • Mysteries of Time and Spirit. The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. Lovecraft Letters Volume 1. (Night Shade Books, 2002)
  • Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925 ; Harcourt, Brace, n.d.)
  • Dictionnaire égoïste de la littérature française by Charles Dantzig (Grasset, 2005)
  • Land of the Snow Men. Written and Illustrated by George Belden. While undertaking a Commission for the Philadelphia Explorers' Club. Antarctica 1913. Manuscript Recovered and Edited by Norman Lock (Calamari Press, 2005)
  • Leaf of Allah. Khat & Agricultural Transformation in Harerge, Ethiopia 1875-1991 by Ezekiel Gebissa (Oxford, James Currey, 2004)
  • Polder. A Festschrift for John Clute and Judith Clute edited by Farah Mendlesohn (Old Earth Books, 2006)
  • The Birch Bark Books of Henry Abbott. Sporting Adventures and Nature Observations in the Adirondacks in the early 1900s. With an introduction by Vincent Engels (Harbor Hill, 1980), collection of Adirondack tales, privately printed 1914-1932.
  • Myself and the Other Fellow. A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson by Claire Harman (HarperCollins, 2005)
  • H. P. Lovecraft. Tales (Library of America, corrected 3rd printing, 2005) [June 2006]
  • Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch (Doubleday, 1969) [RR June 2006]
  • Hav. Comprising Last Letters from Hav and Hav of the Myrmidons by Jan Morris (Faber and Faber, 2006)
  • Oeuvres de Arthur Rimbaud. Vers et Proses. Poèmes retrouvés. Préface de Paul Claudel (Mercure de France, n.d.) [RR June 2006]
  • Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Oxford University Press, 1923)
  • Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Oxford University Press, 1923)
  • Emma by Jane Austen (Oxford University Press, 1923)
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The Text based on the Collation of the Early Editions by R. W. Chapman (Oxford University Press, 1923)
  • No Happy Ending by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. Translated by William I. Neuman. (Mysterious Press, 1993)
  • Just Passing Through by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. Translated by Martin Michael Roberts. (Cinco Puntos Press, 200)
  • My Life in CIA. A Chronicle of 1973 by Harry Mathews (Dalkey Archive Press, 2005)
  • Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Brooklyn, 1855) [RR December 2005]
  • Valentine M'Clutchy, the Irish Agent ; or the Chronicles of Castle Cumber Together with the Pious Aspirations, Permissions, Vouchsafements, and Other Sanctified Privileges of Solomon M'Slime, A Religious Attorney by William Carleton (Dublin : James Duffy, 1847)
  • Is That What People Do? by Robert Sheckley (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984) [RR December 2005]
  • Toby. A Real Life Ripping Yarn by A.J. Smithers (Gordon & Cremonesi, 1978), biography of Sir Alfred ("Toby") Rawlinson
  • Whitman Making Books. Books Making Whitman. A Catalog & Commentary by Ed Folsom (Ordeman Center for Advanced Studies, University of Iowa, 2005)
  • Stable Strategies and Others by Eileen Gunn (Tachyon, 2004)
  • The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (2004 ; Plume, 2005)
  • Thrift Store. The Past and Future Secret Lives of Things by Emily K. Larned (2003 ; Ig Publishing, October 2005)
  • The Life of Arthur Machen by John Gawsworth. Edited by Roger Dobson (Friends of Arthur Machen, 2005)
  • Lord Byron's Novel. The Evening Land by John Crowley (William Morrow, 2005)
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847 ; New American Library, 1982) [RR August 2005]
  • Le Détroit de Behring. introduction à l'uchronie by Emmanuel Carrère (P.O.L., 1986)
  • Road Scholar. Coast to Coast Late in the Century by Andrei Codrescu. Photographs by David Graham (Hyperion, 1993) [RR August 2005]
  • The Waves by Virginia Woolf (Harcourt, Brace, 1931)
  • Decoys. A John Denson Mystery by Richard Hoyt (M. Evans, 1980) [RR July 2005]
  • 30 for a Harry. A John Denson Mystery by Richard Hoyt (M. Evans, 1981) [RR July 2005]
  • Roald Dahl. A Biography by Jeremy Treglown (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1994)
  • Look at the Evidence. Essays and Reviews by John Clute (Serconia, 1995)
  • Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (1986 ; Greenwillow, 2001)
  • The Blind Pig by Jon A. Jackson (1978 ; Dell, 1992)
  • Grootka by Jon A. Jackson (1990 ; Dell, 1992)
  • The Lovecraft Chronicles by Peter Cannon (Mythos Books, 2004)
  • Within the Four Seas. The Dialogue of East and West by Joseph Needham (George Allen & Unwin, 1969)
  • Folk Archive. Contemporary Popular Art from the UK by Jeremy Delter and Alan Kane (Book Works, 2005), catalogue for exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery, London, May 2005
  • The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin (1983 ; Viking, 1987) [RR May 2005]
  • Trash Sex Magic by Jennifer Stevenson (Small Beer, 2004)
  • Der Ring Des Nibelungen. A Companion by Rudolph Sabor (Phaidon, 1997)
  • Richard Wagner. Das Rheingold. Die Walküre. Siegfried. Gotterdämmerung. Edited with introductions by Rudolph Sabor (Phaidon, 1997)
  • The Irish R.M. and His Experiences by Edith Somerville & Martin Ross (Faber and Gwyer, 1928)
  • The Real Charlotte by Edith Somerville & Martin Ross. Edited with an introduction by Virginia Beards (1894 ; Rutgers University Press, 1986)
  • An Irish Cousin by Geilles Herring [Edith Somerville] and Martin Ross. Second edition (Bentley, 1889)
  • Somerville and Ross. A Biography by Maurice Collis (Faber & Faber, 1968)
  • The Collected Jorkens. Volume One by Lord Dunsany. Edited by S.T. Joshi (Night Shade Books, 2004)
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury, 2004)
  • Benjamin Rush. Patriot and Physician by Alyn Brodsky (Truman Talley Books/St. Martin's Press, 2004)
  • The Last Hot Time by John M. Ford (Tor, 2000)
  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carré (Gollancz, 1963)
  • The Detections of Dr. Sam: Johnson by Lillian de la Torre (Doubleday, 1960)
  • Virginia Woolf by E.M. Forster (Harcourt, Brace, 1942)
  • The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004)
  • Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand (Morrow, 2004)
  • Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster (Arnold, 1924)
  • The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson (Doubleday, 1968) [RR July 2004].
  • Jericho Mosaic by Edward Whittemore (1987 ; Old Earth Books reprint, 2002)
  • Nile Shadows by Edward Whittemore (1983 ; Old Earth Books reprint, 2002), my favorite of the Jerusalem Quartet.
  • Jerusalem Poker by Edward Whittemore (1978 ; Old Earth Books reprint, 2002)
  • Sinai Tapestry by Edward Whittemore (1977 ; Old Earth Books reprint, 2002)
  • Vergil in Averno by Avram Davidson (Doubleday, 1987) [RR June 2004].
  • From Babel to Dragomans. Interpreting the Middle East by Bernard Lewis (Oxford Univ. Pr., 2004) [May 2004].
  • The Hashemite Kings by J. Morris (1959)
  • The Hard Life by Flann O'Brien (Penguin, [1977])
  • Ancient L. A. by Michael Jacob Rochlin (Unreinforced Masonry Studio, 1999)
  • Edward Johnston by Priscilla Johnston (Faber and Faber, 1959). Biography of the great calligrapher.
  • Spondulix. A Romance of Hoboken by Paul Di Filippo (Cambrian, 2003)
  • Scores. Reviews 1993-2003 by John Clute (Beccon, 2003)
  • The Steerswoman's Road by Rosemary Kirstein (Del Rey, 2003)
  • Nora. A Biography of Nora Joyce by Brenda Maddox (Hamish Hamilton, 1988)
  • Thrift Store. The Past and Future Secret Lives of Things [by Emily K. Larned] (Red Charming, 2003)
  • Saw Red by Bob Truluck (Dennis McMillan, 2003)
  • The Mechanical Bride. Folklore of Industrial Man by Marshall McLuhan (Vanguard, 1951)
  • Sky Full of Sand by Rick Di Marinis (Dennis McMillan, 2003)
  • Bear by Marian Engel (1976 ; David R. Godine, 2003)
  • The Worry Week by Anne Lindbergh (1985 ; David R. Godine, 2003)
  • The Price of the Ticket by Jim Nisbet (Dennis McMillan, 2003)
  • Henry Climbs a Mountain by D.B. Johnson (Houghton Mifflin, 2003)
  • Bears. Behavior, Ecology, Conservation by Erwin & Peggy Bauer (Voyageur, 1996)
  • Neuromancer by William Gibson (Ace, 1984) [RR August 2003].
  • The Book of Sand by Jorge Luis Borges (Dutton, 1977)
  • Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (Soho, 2001)
  • Seeds of Change. Five Plants That Transformed Mankind by Henry Hobhouse (1985 ; Harper & Row, 1986)
  • Portraits of the Missing. Imaginary Biographies by Julian Symons (Andre Deutsch, 1991)
  • The Crimson Bears and A Hundred Doors. Part II of The Crimson Bears by Tom La Farge (Sun & Moon, 1993-4) [RR 2003]
  • Measures of Poison (Dennis McMillan, 2002)
  • The Dark Stream. the Story of Eugène Marais by Leon Rousseau (Jonathan Ball, 1982)
  • Dream Books by William Reese (William Reese, 2000)
  • Better to Have Loved. The Life of Judith Merril by Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary (Between the Lines, 2002)
  • London Orbital by Iain Sinclair (Granta, 2002)
  • The Flying Inn by G. K. Chesterton (Methuen, 1914) [RR 2002]
    • Some favorites that form part of the Endless Bookshelf :
  • If It Had Happened Otherwise. Lapses into Imaginary History, edited by J. C. Squire (Longmans, Green, 1932). The «Sources of the Nile» in alternate and counterfactual history.
  • Other Inquisitions by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Ruth Simms (University of Texas, 1964 ; fourth paperback printing, 1993)
  • The Best of Myles. A Selection from 'Cruiskeen Lawn' by Myles na Gopaleen (Flann O'Brien), edited and with a preface by Kevin O'Nolan (Walker, 1968)
  • The Secret Service by Wendy Walker (Sun & Moon, 1992)
  • Little, Big by John Crowley (Bantam, 1981)
  • Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk by Christina Hardyment (Jonathan Cape, 1984)
  • The Swallows & Amazons books by Arthur Ransome, all back in print from David R. Godine
  • The Power of Nothingness by Alexandra David-Neel and Lama Yongden, translated by Janwillem van de Wetering (Houghton Mifflin, 1982)
  • Robert van Gulik, His Life, His Work by Janwilllem van de Wetering (Dennis McMillan, 1987 ; Soho, 1998)
  • Anything by Janwillem van de Wetering or Robert H. van Gulik (scholarly writings and detective novels).
  • Ireland and the Atlantic Heritage. Selected Writings by Emyr Estyn Evans (Lilliput, Dublin, 1996)
  • Sensory Exotica. A World Beyond Human Experience by Howard C. Hughes (MIT, 1999)
  • The Story of Libraries from the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age by Fred Lerner (Continuum, 1998)
  • Willeford by Don Herron (Dennis McMillan, 1997)
  • A Brief Illustrated History of the Bookshelf. With an Essay which Pertains to the Subject drawn and written by Marshall Brooks (Birch Brook, 1998)
  • Uncle Ovid's Exercise Book by Don Webb (Fiction Collective, 1989)
  • Doctor Mirabilis by James Blish (Dodd, Mead, 1971)
  • The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt, in Witches Three (Twayne, 1953)
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (Harper & Row, 1974)
  • Why I Don't Write Like Franz Kafka by William S. Wilson (Ecco, 1977)
  • In a Land of Clear Colors by Robert Sheckley (multimedia edition, with illustrations by Leonora Quiles and music by Brian Eno, Galeria El Mensajera, Santa Eulalia del Rio, Ibiza, 1979)