ISFDB:Verification requests

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This page is for requesting editors to locate and verify dubious or missing information about particular works. For completed requests, see ISFDB:Verification requests/Archives.

Henry Josephs / Robert Lowndes
I have on hold a submission wanting to make The Fourth Invasion by Henry Josephs a variant of a (new) title of the same name by Robert A. W. Lowndes, based on Project Gutenberg's listing (see this). There are a few sites that treat Josephs as a pseudonym, for example: http://www.trussel.com/books/pseud_l.htm#LO, http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2005/10/j-pen-names.html , and http://www.freesfonline.de/authors/Robert%20A.%20W._Lowndes.html , but nothing academic/authoritative that I could find. Does anyone have a resource that might confirm this (or perhaps tend to deny it)? Thanks. --MartyD 01:27, 16 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Tuck (vol. III, p. 843) agrees that "Henry Josephs" was a Lowndes pseudonym. Ahasuerus 01:42, 16 April 2013 (UTC)


 * That'll do it. Thanks!  --MartyD 02:03, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

The Uninvited
Does anyone know what other book used the same cover as [this]? I know I've seen the artwork, could be a magazine. Badger stole from US covers frequently. Would have to be 1961 or earlier. I've checked all the Ace covers and no luck. Thanks! --~ Bill, Bluesman 16:57, 19 April 2013 (UTC)


 * The layout looks vaguely familiar, but Google's nifty image search page doesn't find any likely matches. Ahasuerus 01:15, 20 April 2013 (UTC)


 * This might be a pre-code comic book cover, the art style looks familiar. MLB 08:52, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

Vampires, Ltd.
As per this discussion, 's "Upir ltd" appeared in Car Sinister as "Vampire Ltd." rather than "Vampires Ltd." We have only one primary verifier, Scott Latham, and he has been inactive for a quite some time, so I wonder if someone else might have a copy that he could check. (I have confirmed that at least one other pub, World's Best Science Fiction: 1965, uses "Vampires, Ltd.") TIA! Ahasuerus 17:24, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

The Engineer ReConditioned
I have received an e-mail from an MIT Science Fiction Society librarian with the following comments about this edition of 's "The Engineer ReConditioned":

1. Its table of contents lists completely bogus page numbers for these three additional stories: pages 76, 81, and 86. The ToC at the ISFDB listing (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?80733) has the correct page numbers (210, 221, and 236).

2. This 0-8095-5614-6 edition -- the copy of it that I have, at least -- says "Cosmos Books" on the title and indica pages and on the back cover, and I don't see "Wildside Press" anywhere. This is in conflict with the ISFDB listing (same URL as above), which says "Wildside Press" and doesn't mention Cosmos at all.)

And 3. the cover and title page say "the ENGINEER reconditioned" and the only other place the title appears, on the indica page, is in all-upper-case. Maybe the "ReConditioned" spelling with the upper-case C comes from one of the other editions; it certainly isn't present here.

I will leave notes for the primary verifiers of this pub to check this page since I suspect that at least some of the comments above (especially the messed up page numbers in the TOC) may not apply to all copies. Ahasuerus 04:07, 5 May 2013 (UTC)
 * I confirm all three points (even if Asher in the introduction spoke of the collection as being _The Engineer_ not in caps), note that as this is likely a POD title, there were perhaps changes of layout during the career of the book, e.g. Wildside being superseded by Cosmos (IIRC there was a kind of merging a few years ago). A problem we may encounter again with such titles. Hauck 07:45, 5 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I confirm, too, all three points: moreover, the all-caps title is present as a running title, in the foot of every odd page. Cosmos Books happens to be an imprint of Wildside Press (Wikipedia) --Pips55 21:10, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Stanisław Lem. Fiasco
I have two very similar books: Fiasco, (Mar 1988, Stanislaw Lem, publ. Harvest / HBJ, 0-15-630630-1, $6.95, viii+322pp, tp) Cover: John Alfred Dorn, III One edition is fully consistent with the description: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?13465 134 x 202 mm, printing per alphabetic line ABC... Second edition different sizes: 140 x 216 mm, printing per alphabetic line BCD..., on the back cover there is no price.

Q: This is the second edition of the same year - 1988? How can you determine the year of publication?


 * It would appear that the publisher, HBJ (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), used an alphabetic "number line" (aka "printer's key") rather than a numeric one -- see Wikipedia's explanation of this concept. I am not an expert, but I believe that "ABC" means that it's the first printing of this particular edition while "BCD" means that it's the second printing. Unfortunately, there is no easy way of identifying the date when later printings were published :-( Sometimes subsequent printings list all previous printings along with associated printing dates on the copyright page, but that's a matter of luck.


 * I should also point out that the publisher may have considered these two books to be separate "editions" (not to be confused with "printing") since their sizes differ. The fact that there is no stated price also suggests that it may be a different type of edition, although it's not definitive. It's not an ARC (Advance Reading Copy), is it?


 * I am afraid that's all I can think of. Sorry I couldn't help more! Ahasuerus 05:45, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Stanisław Lem. The Futurological Congress
I have a book that the description coincides with the publication of: The Futurological Congress (from the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy), (2003, Stanislaw Lem, publ. Harvest / Harcourt, 0-15-602827-1, $12.00, 156pp, tp) / http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?40283 But on the back cover is worth the price: $11.00. This printing per alphabetic line QPONMLKJIH. How do I know what the book year published?


 * The answer is along the same lines as Ahasuerus gave for the above: The alphabetic "number" line tells us this is an 8th printing due to "H" being the lowest letter present. If no printing date is stated, we don't have any way to know without some secondary source to tell us, so we would use 0000-00-00 for the date (which will then be presented as "unknown" in the listings).  So if it's otherwise similar to the one you linked to above, go to that one and pick "Clone This Pub" from the menu at the left, then change the details: date to 0000-00-00, price to $11.00, notes to include something like "undated 8th printing by number line QPONMLKJIH" and, if you want, the location of the price.  --MartyD 11:19, 8 January 2014 (UTC)