Does ANYONE know the deal with this title?

Bradbury Bits and Pieces: The Ray Bradbury Bibliography 1974-88 (Starmont Reference Guide 15) by Donn Albright.
* Hardcover
* Publisher: Starmont House; (March 1, 1990)
* ASIN: 155742151X

Is there any way (short of simply asking Donn!) to check whether this thing exists? I can find absolutely NO copies for sale ANYWHERE--which seems to indicate that publication was planned, but postponed. Last I heard the book was "in progress."

Those of you who have Bradbury bibliographical websites--Donn isn't online, but you could email me and I could send you his snail mail address. Maybe you guys can compare notes and see if you have anything that even Donn may have missed which would improve the guidebook!

I don' have any information to hand about this alleged publication, but I'll have a look through some bibliographies over the weekend to see if it has ever been cited by other Bradburyophiles.

I do know that Donn is working with Jon Eller on a new book about Ray's publishing history. And Donn seems to have been a significant force in getting some of Ray's older stories into his recent collections, such as Cat's Pajamas.

Phil
www.bradburymedia.co.uk

I can't find any exact citations for that tome, but Steven Aggelis cites the following:

Albright, Donn. The Complete Ray Bradbury Bibliography 1974-88. San Bernardino, California: Starmont, 1994.

Maybe publication was delayed four years, or maybe Aggelis is referencing a paperback edition. I can't find it in the Library of Congress on-line catalogue, so it seems to be a very rare item.

Phil
www.bradburymedia.co.uk

The plot thickens. Was this cited in a source published AFTER 1994? Because, if so, it seems to imply it really did appear then.

Oh...you're both in other countries, aren't you? One is in England and one in Russia, so postage for you sending your stuff to Donn would be prohibitive. Someone in the U. S. would have to print and mail it to him.

"Bradbury Bits and Pieces: The Ray Bradbury Bibliography 1974-88" was to be an addendum to Nolan's THE RAY BRADBURY COMPANION. Unfortunately, the book never got published.

What about the existence and availability of the other Albright work cited above? Donn Albright's name appears on only three works in the Library of Congress Online database, all as illustrator!

Likewise, it was never published. I recall a similar situation when a book by Ray called JOURNEY TO FAR METAPHOR was announced as a forthcoming publication of Capra Press; it was never actually published, either.

Thanks for clearing that up! Yes, Donn was after the publisher for YEARS to remove Journey to Far Metaphor, One Timeless Spring, and Kaleidoscope from Ray's list of works in the front of his books. He had about as much luck with it as...well...we have in getting them to do things here!

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 10-23-2004).]

A little more detail, coutesy of the ever helpful Jon Eller:

The Albright title we have been discussing never saw print. Any appearances of it on Amazon.com or similar are phantoms. Donn's bibliography was subsequently rolled into another unpublished (to date) work, known as October's Friend, compiled with Jim Welsh. Eller and Touponce use October's Friend as a source in The Life of Fiction.

The Aggelis reference I mentioned before is obviously another phantom. (A bit naughty in a PhD thesis to list a non-existent work!)

Phil
www.bradurymedia.co.uk

I know! I was thinking anything in a bibliography would have to be published unless otherwise noted!