Today my sweetie and I took one of our favorite day trips to wonderful Bisbee, AZ.
I took the day off from work to make the scenic 40-some mile drive to our county seat, pay the property taxes in person [Yup, I am that old guy who always insists on having a receipt in hand :) ] and hit the plethora of antique shops in search of... what else?... old books!
Turned out my fave shop of all had a recent arrival that was just flat DESTINED for Albie: a crate FULL of vintage paperbacks-- mostly westerns-- offered for the amazing sum of 2 bucks each! It's a good thing I didnt have more cash on hand, or I'da gone broke on that one stop alone. As it turned out I limited myself to 4 books, but I was very pleased with what I found.
"Find of the Day" was a vintage Bantam paperback of THE ADVENTURERS by my hero Ernest Haycox. The book is from 1955 but but is in mint-- I mean like new!-- condition. I haven't ever read that particular title, either, so this was a real score.
QE9s3HE23fBQ!HIhr,s!~~60_1.jpg)
Also I grabbed an old ACE paperback edition of a Nelson Nye book called LONG RUN. I think I will read this one first, as Nye is a favorite time-passer for me, and I found out just a bit ago that this was his Spur Award winner for best western novel of 1959. Looks like a very fun read. If you've never read Nye you oughtta check him out. He is my favorite recommendation when folks ask who I think is great for simple, fast-paced, escapist western fare. Plus most of his books, like this one, are set in AZ.
Then I also found GUNMAN'S LAND, a Western Writers of America anthology from 1956. I avidly collect any anthology from the WWA [I currently own at least 20] and while this one was in some pretty sorry shape-- it's a much more tattered version of the exact Lion edition pictured above-- I was still thrilled to get my hands on it as I needed it for my collection. As is my custom when I get a new anthology, I immediately sampled one of the stories within. The tale I chose, "Winter Of His Life" by Lewis B. Patten, was a true classic... so I have very high hopes for this little sampler.
Finally, there was today's oddball choice, an adventure novel called THE WALLS OF JOLO by the great and unheralded Alan Caillou. I first encountered Caillou's prose back in the early '90s when I read his novelization of the old Charlton Heston movie KHARTOUM and was absolutely blown away. No one ever talks about Caillou [an actor and real life adventurer who penned mostly "blood and thunder" paperback originals and a few great animal stories] but I assure you the man could tell a tale like very few wordsmiths. This one is about an American officer's escape from torturous Moros through the Philippine jungles of 1898. Sounds awesone! It is pretty rare that I come across any of his books in my jaunts through dusty old shops, so this was a perfect capper for today's enjoyable hunt!
All in all, a splendid day in Old Bisbee town.
Turned out my fave shop of all had a recent arrival that was just flat DESTINED for Albie: a crate FULL of vintage paperbacks-- mostly westerns-- offered for the amazing sum of 2 bucks each! It's a good thing I didnt have more cash on hand, or I'da gone broke on that one stop alone. As it turned out I limited myself to 4 books, but I was very pleased with what I found.
"Find of the Day" was a vintage Bantam paperback of THE ADVENTURERS by my hero Ernest Haycox. The book is from 1955 but but is in mint-- I mean like new!-- condition. I haven't ever read that particular title, either, so this was a real score.
QE9s3HE23fBQ!HIhr,s!~~60_1.jpg)
Also I grabbed an old ACE paperback edition of a Nelson Nye book called LONG RUN. I think I will read this one first, as Nye is a favorite time-passer for me, and I found out just a bit ago that this was his Spur Award winner for best western novel of 1959. Looks like a very fun read. If you've never read Nye you oughtta check him out. He is my favorite recommendation when folks ask who I think is great for simple, fast-paced, escapist western fare. Plus most of his books, like this one, are set in AZ.
Then I also found GUNMAN'S LAND, a Western Writers of America anthology from 1956. I avidly collect any anthology from the WWA [I currently own at least 20] and while this one was in some pretty sorry shape-- it's a much more tattered version of the exact Lion edition pictured above-- I was still thrilled to get my hands on it as I needed it for my collection. As is my custom when I get a new anthology, I immediately sampled one of the stories within. The tale I chose, "Winter Of His Life" by Lewis B. Patten, was a true classic... so I have very high hopes for this little sampler.
All in all, a splendid day in Old Bisbee town.
PEACE
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