E-LIST #24
From Outer Space to You

Los Angeles: Leonard-Freefield Co., 1949. First edition. Signed by George Adamski on the front free end paper, inscribed "Good luck to you" and dated 11-12-1950. Very Good, lacking the dust jacket. Bowing to rear board. Light rubbing to gilt stamping and cloth at edges, slight fading to spine. Pages toned, offsetting to end papers. Small water spot to edge of page block. Contact address for Adamski's "Advanced Thinkers Club" is revised and updated in pencil. A very rare Adamski title, ghost-written for him by his secretary, Lucy McGinnis. Critics would later draw similarities between this early work of science fiction and his later claims of real-life space travel in Inside the Space Ships. Item #151108002

$1,600

New York and London: British Book Centre / Werner Laurie, 1953. Signed by Adamski on front free endpaper. First edition, third printing. Near Fine in Good dust jacket with chipping along edges, tear along bottom half of spine panel, wear spots, separation repaired with small piece of archival mending tissue on verso, price intact. The bestselling first book by the famous Polish-American purported UFO contactee, photographer, and researcher. Item #160720004

 $200

London: Neville Spearman, 1956. 12th printing of the first British edition. A former owner created a handmade tin foil jacket around the cloth of this copy, secured on the pasted downs with tape, now yellowed with age-- very similar to the stereotypical "tin foil hat" associated with paranoid or delusional individuals. The tin foil hat's genesis is in the "wavy" sub-movement of the conspiracy/UFO fringe that arose in the '60s; "wavies" believe electromagnetic frequencies are either reading their thoughts or altering their brains. Perhaps this book's owner was trying to shield its contents from the harmful beams of the CIA or the aliens? We can only speculate.

Some underlining to text in pen throughout, with an unusual wavy line, else Very Good with Very Good+ unclipped dust jacket included as well. Bookstore stamp of Chimes in Encinitas, California on paste down. An intimate relic of UFO culture. Item #140938934

 $75

Self-published: Boise, ID & Amherst, WI, 1952. First edition. 192 pp. Original green cloth lettered in gilt. Near Fine with slight bowing to front board, a little rubbing to spine lettering.

An account of the early days of Ufology co-written by Kenneth Arnold, the pilot whose sighting of nine UFOs near Mt. Rainier in 1947 began the modern UFO era. Co-author Ray Palmer was the ambitious editor of Amazing Stories magazine, who sometimes sent Arnold on assignment to research sightings like the Maury Island incident, which is covered here in numerous chapters. Item #140938921

 $150

Clarksburg, WV: Gray Barker, 1954. Vol. II, No. II; September, 1954. Saucerian Publication #4. 42 pp. Stapled wraps. Very Good with light wear, toned with age. An illustrated UFO newsletter edited by Gray Barker, billed as "World's Largest Flying Saucer Publication - All the Late Sightings." This issue includes the article "Two Men from Venus" by Jim Moseley, the "Wild Rumor" column by "R. Monger," book reviews and more. Item #140938916

$600

Clarksburg, WV: Gray Barker, 1955.

Vol. 3, No. 1; January 1955. Saucerian Publication #5. 48 pp. Stapled wraps. Very Good with light wear, a few stains to front cover, contents toned with age, ad for the book Oahspe crossed out in pencil. An illustrated UFO newsletter edited by Gray Barker, billed as "World's Largest Flying Saucer Publication - All the Late Sightings." This issue includes the article "Who' Lying: The Wright Field Story" by Jim Moseley, "Does the Air Force Have 'Hardware from Outer Space,'" the "Wild Rumor" column by "R. Monger," photos, and more. Item #140938917

 $500

Clarksburg, WV: Gray Barker, 1956. Vol. 1, No. 1; March 1, 1956. Saucerian Publication #7. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Good only with edge wear and creasing, slight creasing from having been folded in thirds, small hole in p. 1, pen marks to margins of p. 4 and p. 6, dampstain to final page. This inaugural issue of Gray Barker's UFO periodical outlines its similarities and differences with its predecessor The Saucerian, plus a news roundup a UFO photo from Norway. Item #140938905

$300

Clarksburg, WV: Gray Barker, 1956. Vol. 1, No. 4; Oct. 15, 1956. Saucerian Publication #10. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Very Good with light wear, slight creasing from having been folded in thirds, corner crease. This issue of Gray Barker's UFO periodical covers messages from "Mon-Ka" and a photo of a UFO from a Peruvian newspaper; the editor reports having no time to translate its Spanish caption. Item #140938903

$200

[Clarksburg, WV]: [Gray Barker], 1957. Vol. 2, No. 2; May 30, 1957. Saucerian Publication #13. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Very Good with light wear and a few tiny chips along edges, a little toned there as well, slight creasing from being folded in thirds. Covers photos from George Van Tassel's convention at Giant Rock in California. Item #140938901

$200

[Clarksburg, WV]: [Gray Barker], 1957. Vol. 2, No. 3; August 15, 1957. Saucerian Publication #14. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Very with light wear, tiny bit of insect nibbling along fore edge of first page, folded in thirds at some point. Covers some teenagers' sightings near Greencastle, Indiana. Item #140938900

 $200

[Clarksburg, WV]: [Gray Barker], 1957. Vol. 2, No. 4; November 18, 1957. Saucerian Publication #15. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Near Fine with very light wear. Covers sightings in Levelland, Texas. Item #140938899

 $200

[Clarksburg, WV]: [Gray Barker], 1958. Vol. 3, No. 1; April 1, 1958. Saucerian Publication #16. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Near Fine with very light wear. Covers the occult book The Third Eye by T. Lobsang Rampa and Barker's "feud" with Saucer Smear editor Jim Moseley, among other items. Item #140938898

 $200

[Clarksburg, WV]: [Gray Barker], 1958.

Vol. 3, No. 2; May 1, 1958. Saucerian Publication #17. 6 pp. Stapled 8.5" x 11" sheets. Very Good+ with typical toning, light wear. Showcases a large photo of free energy "inventor" (later convicted con artist) Otis T. Carr on the front cover, plus a letter from famous contactee George Adamski. Item #140938896

$200

Clarksburg, WV: Saucerian Books, 1970. First edition. 151 pp. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. Bookplate on front flyleaf. Edges and flaps of jacket have been sampled by Mothman's little minions, as is common; less rubbing than often found. Barker's semi-fictionalized account of the mysterious events in Point Pleasant, West Virginia 1966-1967, which were also covered by John Keel five years later in The Mothman Prophecies. Item #160514001

 $200

Twin Gates, Washington: Transistor Publishing Company, 1970. First edition. 191pp. Wraps, three pages of b/w photos at rear . Very Good with rubbing to spine, former owner's stamp on title page.

This work is a rant against the city manager form of local government (as exemplified by the author's hometown of Tacoma, Washington), penned by the quintessential 20th Century "fringe" person-of-interest. He is best remembered for his odd role in the Maury Island incident of 1947 that helped usher in the modern UFO era. Crisman acted as a Svengalish intermediary between UFO sighter Harold Dahl and the press/military, so much so that some have wondered if Crisman concocted the whole story. Before that he'd been sending purportedly-true stories in the Richard Shaver vein to the editor of Kenneth Arnold, who also investigated Maury Island.

Crisman would later be subpoenaed by New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison in regards to the JFK assassination. He appears to have been an associate of some of the shadowy New Orleans figures in accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's milieu: Clay Shaw, pilot David Ferrie (played memorably by Joe Pesci in Oliver Stone's film JFK), and young con artist Thomas Beckham. The dubious "Torbitt Document" even maintained that Crisman was one of the three "tramps" arrested in Dealey Plaza. In his later years in Tacoma he was a conservative talk show host (hence the Jon Gold pseudonym) and good friend of Michael Riconosciuto's father, placing him in a final realm of intrigue chronicled by mysteriously deceased journalist Danny Casolaro, the Octopus.

Was Crisman a con artist, nobody special, a "disruption agent" as one declassified letter maintained, or was he perhaps a Forrest Gump-like figure of the fringe, popping up at all the major junctures of 20th century conspiracy theory? Who was Fred Crisman? Item #140938113

$100

Sussex: The Flying Saucer Club, 1953-1955. Seven issues, 20 pp. each with exception of Winter 1953/54 issue which has 31 pp., shifting from 8" x 10" mimeographed sheets to a smaller, sleeker digest format with final two issues included here. Issues included are Summer 1953, Autumn 1953, Winter 1953/54 issue, one page Special Supplement (June 1954), Number Six (Summer/Autumn 1954), Number Seven (Winter 1954/55), No. 8 (Spring 1955), and No. 9 (Summer 1955). Stapled wraps. Very Good condition overall with some light wear and creasing from having been folded, staple rust on a few covers. Summer 1953 issue a little stained. Supplement has a few tears along one edge. Back cover of Winter 1954/55 issue holding on by one staple.

A British journal of ufology and the paranormal, uncommon in its mimeographed earlier issues. British, Irish, and continental UFO sightings are covered, as is news from the UFO scene in the US (Gray Barker, George Adamski, Frank Edwards, etc.). As of Winter 1953/54 issue the British Flying Saucer Bureau newsletter was included in issues; the special supplement announces the merger of the B.F.S.B. with the Flying Saucer Club. Item #140938906

$550

New York: New York Fortean Society, 1989. First edition in book form, reprinted from a 1969 issue of the British journal Flying Saucer Review. 16 p. Folded sheets, unbound.Signed by Keel in dark blue ink on the front cover. Near Fine. Photocopied correction in text, page numbers. A very Fortean article by the author The Mothman Prophecies and Jadoo, arguing for a statistical, open-minded approach to ufology. Item #150329009

 $350

New York: Saturday Review Press / E.P. Dutton, 1975. First edition. 218 pp. Green cloth and paper-covered boards, black spine lettering. Near Fine with bookstore stamp on ffep in Near Fine dust jacket with closed tear to top of front panel. An uncommon paranormal/ UFO book. Item #140937619

 $250

New York: Saturday Review Press & E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1975. First edition. [xii], 269 pp. Original black cloth and paper covered boards, lettered in silver. Near Fine in Very Good unclipped dust jacket with small nick in front gutter, a few tint chips along edges, slight toning.

Fortean investigator and author John Keel's best-known book, an exploration of a series of strange events in 1966 and 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The otherworldly creature spotted by many residents was first dubbed "The Bird," and then, mimicking a villain on the campy TV show Batman, "Mothman." The creature has become a legend in paranormal circles, and this book a cult classic. Point Pleasant just had their annual Mothman Festival just this past weekend. Item #140938818

$250

London: Neville Spearman, 1975. First British edition. (Also the first hardcover edition, following the American paperback original.) 288 pp. Orange cloth lettered in gilt. Fine in neon green Near Fine price-clipped dust jacket.

A Fortean miscellany from American writer John Keel. One of this book's chapters, "West Virginia's 'Mothman,'" would be expanded into  The Mothman Prophecies. Quite rare in this format. Item #140937312

$350

Clarksburg, WV: Saucerian Books, 1959.

First edition. 258 pp. Blue cloth with black lettering. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket, flap price torn off, a little sunning to spine panel. A UFO contactee memoir, with lots of photos, published by Gray Barker's imprint, Saucerian Books. Rare in jacket.

Allegedly seduced by a space woman at age 10, for years Menger was one of the most publicity-savvy UFO contactees, becoming involved with Frank Stranges and the mysterious " space alien" referred to as Val Thor. After dropping out of the UFO circuit Menger would claim that he and his fellow contactees had been used by the American government as part of some sort of disinformation campaign. Item #140938919

 $300

[No Place]: Uforum / Grand Rapids Flying Saucer Club, 1956. First edition. x, 33 pp. Sewn wraps. Near Fine with typical age-toning to contents, small stain to bottom edge. Reprinted many times but rare in the first edition.

An illustrated memoir of the author's contacts with aliens, including a ride on a spaceship with a human "trainee," two Venusians, and a 385-pound oversize space dog. He observes the customs, attire, and diet of the aliens: all very similar to ours with a few notable exceptions, one being their 17 hour clock, another being "The Twelve Laws of God" (two better than our Ten Commandments), and yet another being their overalls-- the overalls they wear having fewer restrictive buttons. Coincidentally, the author was a farmer from the Ozarks, fond of wearing overalls himself. He became a minor celebrity with the publication of this book, hawking copies at the annual Spacecraft Convention he held near his farm, along with black hair reputedly from Bo, the jumbo space dog. Item #140938915

 $400

Cream Ridge, NJ: Core Pilot Press, 1957. First edition. xxiii, 265 pp. Original light grey cloth with blue lettering. Near Fine with a little bit of blue ink staining along bottom edge, corners slightly bumped, in Very Good dust jacket with small crease in front panel, some light staining, worn head, small tear in back panel upper fore edge corner.

One of the most sought-after UFO books and Freudian psychologist Wilhelm Reich's final work. He reports on his experiments with cloudbusting in the American southwest desert with orgone energy, occasionally fighting off mysterious sky entities with his inventions. While many have dismissed this period of Reich's thought, others have pointed to covert US Air Force interest in his work and the book's observant nature prose. Item #140937175

 $3,500

Evanston, IL: Venture Books, 1948. First edition. [iv], 215 pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettering. Near Fine with light rubbing to cloth. No jacket.

A series of fantastic tales of battles with underground robot-like beings called the Deros that regaled readers of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories for years, collectively referred to as The Shaver Mystery. Some have argued that these tales presaged certain elements of the 1950s flying saucer craze. The author, Richard Shaver, believed these stories to be autobiographical, not fiction, and in recent years has become regarded by some as an "outsider" artist and writer. Item #140938920

$100

Berkeley: And/Or Press, 1979. First edition, cloth issue. Signed by Vallee on half-title in black ink. 243 pp. Light tan cloth lettered in gilt on spine. A Fine copy, apparently issued without dust jacket.

Jacques Vallee, the information researcher who inspired the main character in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, critically examined the late '70s UFO contactee movement and its associated religions in this book. Among other cults Vallee warned readers about were Heaven's Gate, 18 years before their mass suicide made headlines, and the Raelians. Item #180612002

 $250

Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1969. First edition. xi, 372 pp. Black cloth with gilt lettering. Near Fine in Very Good+ price-clipped dust jacket with small creased tear in top of front panel, light edge wear, no fading to spine panel, though. Very light small stain to top edge. A cult classic of paranormal philosophy that challenges the ETH or "Extra Terrestrial Hypothesis" of UFOs, written by a well-esteemed information scientist, mathematician, and ufologist. Passport to Magonia is one of the first books to look at UFO encounters in the context of worldwide mythology. The appendix alone spans 100 years of encounters and sightings and 197 pages. Item #180111008

$175

Yucca Valley, CA: The Ministry of Universal Wisdom, Inc., 1973-1979.

20 issues in total, 16 pp. each. Vol. 10 Numbers 1-4, 6, 8-11 [missing #5 & #7], and Vol. 11 Numbers 1-11 complete. Staple-bound with marginal staple securing magazines shut for mailing purposes. Near Fine despite having been through the mail, addressed to former owner on rear covers (most issues handwritten, presumably by one of the Van Tassels), stamped, and postmarked; a little scuffed and lightly worn. Some issues unopened. Brochure about The Integratron laid into one issue.

Twenty issues of an occult and UFO-themed journal edited George Van Tassel until his death in 1978, an event which is covered in Vol 11 Number 9. A UFO contactee, pilot, and entrepreneur, Van Tassel hosted "The Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention" (a must for all interested in UFOs) for twenty five years at his airstrip in Southern California. He also built a singular thing known as the Integratron, which is described by its current owners thusly:

"This structure, listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service, is a resonant tabernacle and energy machine sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex in the magical Mojave Desert. The Integratron is located in Landers, California, 20 miles north of Joshua Tree National Park. Its creator, George Van Tassel (1910-1978), claimed that the structure is based on the design of Moses’ Tabernacle, the writings of Nikola Tesla and telepathic directions from extraterrestrials. This one-of-a-kind 38-foot high, 55-foot diameter, all wood dome was designed to be an electrostatic generator for the purpose of rejuvenation and time travel." Item #140938889

 $1,000

New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1975. First edition. 172, (4) pp. Paperback original. Very Good+ with nice uncreased spine that's just a bit sunned, light shelf wear to covers.

The 1970s were a golden age of fringe books inspired by von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods, the flying saucer subculture, and Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision. This book is perhaps the high watermark of that era. In it the author argues that the moon is a gigantic hollow space vehicle parked like a derelict truck in earth's orbital field by aliens. (Perhaps that behavior explains why they feel so at home visiting earth's rural areas?) Features on the moon are analyzed in a style prefiguring that of Richard Hoagland, well-known for his Mars face discovery. This book proved a big enough hit to inspire a sequel, Secrets of Our Spaceship Moon, which is mainly remembered today as that other book about the moon being a spaceship. Item #170618010

$125