BECCON

BECCON is a regional English convention which, during the 1980's, published a convention booklet with each convention.  At least two of these were bibliographies of the Guest of Honour (a third, of Richard Cowper, was announced for 1985, but has not been seen and is believed not to exist).  More recently they also published the outstanding bibliography of E.C. Tubb.

While superficially very different, the basic coverage of the first two bibliographies is fundamentally the same.  The Bayley bibliography "attempts to cover all English language editions of all BJB's books and reprintings of his short fiction", excluding his extensive contributions to the juvenile comic-book field.  The Bulmer bibliography also concentrates on English-language fiction, excluding contributions to juvenile comic-books, but is less extensive in terms of reprints and, conversely, adds information on some other areas such as factual articles and fanzines.

The third volume is a very different matter being a very detailed (and extensive) annotated primary bibliography, including all known reprints (both English and foreign-language), together with a brief secondary bibliography.  The volume is particularly notable for the research done by the compilers in identifying Tubb's contributions outside the sf/fantasy genre under a variety of pseudonyms.

The three volumes are as follows:

Contact Details

I believe that the Bayley & Bulmer titles are long out of print, but the best bet would be to contact the man behind all the BECCON Publications:

Roger Robinson, 75 Rossyln Avenue, HAROLD WOOD, Essex, RH3 0RG, ENGLAND (www.beccon.org)

The Borgo Press

The Borgo Press was the brainchild of Michael Burgess (aka Robert Reginald) and was primarily concerned with publishing library editions of items from other small presses (including several of the other bibliography series listed here).  It's focus has always been on the library audience with the results that the books tend to be fairly expensive (although the author bibliographies are all available in trade paperback).   Note that prices were never quoted on the volumes themselves and were adjusted (for inflation) as time went by.

The series at question ("Bibliographies of Modern Authors") provide comprehensive annotated primary and secondary bibliographies of each author, with complete listings of all appearances of the author's books, short fiction, nonfiction, interviews, juvenilia, editorial credits, drama, verse and screen work, plus all known secondary works on the author, a chronology of the author's life, and index.  They are probably the most comprehensive of the modern bibliographies, hampered only by the fact that the publication cycle at The Borgo Press was so long that the cut-off date for each bibliography is typically some years before the volume actually appeared.

It is difficult to be sure exactly how many volumes there were in the series - at least 26 were announced, but some, at least, never appeared before the press folded.  The situation is further complicated by the fact that Burgess' own bibliography of bibliographies lists as published a number of volumes which have never appeared.  As far as I can tell, the latest editions are currently as follows:

In addition, the following titles were announced and may, or may not, exist:

• Raymond Z. Gallun
• Martin H. Greenberg

while the following announced titles definitely did not appear:

• Orson Scott Card
• Harry Harrison
• Joseph Payne Brennan

Contact Details

Ironically, for a publisher who did so much to preserve ephemera for a wider audience, The Borgo Press themselves closed their doors in 1999 and dispersed their remaining stock so there is no direct source for the remaining bibliographies. UK collectors would be best advised to contact the UK distributor, who may still have copies of some titles available:

Paupers' Press, 27 Melbourne Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 5DJ, ENGLAND (pauper.stormloader.com/borgo.htm)

A version of the Borgo Press imprint was revived by The Wildside Press, but this does not seem to include the bibliographies.

Chris Drumm

Chris Drumm was best known as one of the top mail-order sf specialists in the USA, but in the 1980s he produced a series of bibliographies that were very similar in intent (and low price!) to the Galactic Central series.  During the 1990s, however, the demands of the mail order business left him no time for bibliographies and the series ground to a halt.  In 1998 the series was formally merged with Galactic Central, with Chris Drumm becoming the US agent for the Galactic Central series, and Galactic Central completing the final, unpublished, volume of the series (John Sladek).

Although most of the volumes in the series bear the modest title of "checklist", they are much more extensive than this, typically containing information on all published works by the author (fiction and non-fiction), listing all known English-language editions.  The earlier formats tend to favour economy over legibility (with very small, cramped, text) although this was relaxed in later volumes.

A total of twelve titles were published:

Contact Details

It is unclear which volumes are still available so the best bet is to contact the publisher at:

Chris Drumm Books, P.O. Box 445, POLK CITY, IA 50226, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (cdrumm.blogspot.com)

Galactic Central Publications

Galactic Central was originally created by the late Gordon Benson, Jr. in the early 1980's as a way of providing the fannish community with cheap, but comprehensive, working bibliographies.  He was joined in the late 1980's by Phil Stephensen-Payne, who subsequently took over the reins when Gordon's health began to fail.  Most of the bibliographies are produced as A5 booklets, photocopied and side-stapled, although some of the more recent publications have been perfect-bound.  The intention is to keep all bibliographies permanently in print at all times and to offer them at a price that the average (impoverished) fan can afford.

The scope of the bibliographies has grown considerably over the years.  Initially only primary works of fiction in the English language were included, but 90% of the volumes now have a standard format containing seventeen separate sections including items such as poems, articles, and series as well as extensive coverage of secondary material.   Unique to this series (as far as we know) is a section listing "phantom titles" that have either been announced but not published or, at some time, have been erroneously credited to the subject of the bibliography.  Coverage of translations into languages other than English has also grown over the years and recent bibliographies contain comprehensive of translations into most major European languages.

There are currently 58 printed volumes in the series and the series is currently on hold because of pressures from other projects. It is likely that any further volumes will be made available online free of charge, although no definite plans are in place. The latest editions available are currently as follows:

Contact Details

Phil Stephensen-Payne, 'Imladris', 25A Copgrove Road, LEEDS, West Yorkshire, LS8 2SP, ENGLAND ( )

Donald M. Grant

Don Grant is one of the best respected small presses, particularly for his volumes of Robert E. Howard and Stephen King's Dark Tower series.  Less well-known are the small number of bibliographies they have published over the years.

Although not a series, as such, each of the bibliographies is immaculately researched, covering just about anything you might reasonably (or even unreasonably!) want to know about the author.  The only disappointments is that the Robert E. Howard volume was published before the Howard boom of the 1980s and hence is, now, woefully incomplete.

The four volumes published to date are:

Contact Details

I do not know if any of the titles are still in print, but the publisher can be contacted at:

Donald M. Grant, HAMPTON FALLS, NH 03844, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

G.K. Hall

G.K. Hall are a general publisher of reference volumes for libraries and the series in question ("Masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy") is no exception.  Aimed directly at rich academic libraries, the books were only available in extremely expensive hardbacks and tended to devote more space to secondary material than to works by the author himself.

Despite that, the volumes tended to be meticulously researched (usually with the assistance of the author) and often contained items not recorded elsewhere.  Entries are generally divided into the categories of fiction, miscellaneous media and non-fiction and are usually limited to very brief details of first publication.

Over a period of 5 years, 14 volumes were published covering a total of 18 authors.

Contact Details

As far as I am aware, all of these volumes are long out of print, but some might be available from second-hand dealers.

NESFA

From its modest origins as a publisher of tribute volumes for convention Guests of Honour, NESFA transformed themselves in the 1990s into a major small press, specialising in particular in collections of stories by unjustly neglected sf authors.  Many of these volumes contain a bibliography of the author in question, but NESFA have also recently branched out into publishing a small number of standalone bibliographies.

As yet there is no common format for the bibliographies - the Norton is a revised edition of the G.K. Hall volume and follows the format of that series (although with more emphasis on primary, rather than secondary, material); the Williamson was originally written for Borgo Press and follows the format of that series; the Zelazny was written to accompany the NESFA publication of Zelazny's short stories and is similar to the Underwood/Miller format.

The two volumes are:

Contact Details

NESFA Press, Post Office Box 809, FRAMINGHAM, MA 01701-0203, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (http://www.nesfa.org)

Mark Owings

Strictly speaking, Mark does not belong here as he is a bibliographer rather than a publishing house.  However, in the early 1970s, he published a short series of bibliographies that were identical in format, but appeared from different publishers - the Anderson from T-K Graphics, the Heinlein & Schmitz from Croatan House, the Leinster from the Washington SF Association, and the Simak from The Electric Bibliograph.

Each volume lists all fiction (short fiction and books) in alphabetical order of title, with details of all appearances, both English and foreign-language translations, with very brief details of other items (such as non-fiction) afterwards.

Five volumes are known to exist:

Contact Details

As far as I am aware, all of these volumes are long out of print, but some might be available from second-hand dealers.

Ultramarine

Ultramarine is best known for a series of luxury "collector's editions" of some mainstream sf novels in the 1980s but the publisher also produced a series of checklists of modern sf authors in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Unlike the Chris Drumm booklets, these really do deserve their title of "checklist", typically containing only details of fiction books by the author in question.  Although some of the volumes are more recent than those from other publishers, the more recent information is easily available from other sources (such as The Locus Index) making the more comprehensive bibliographies preferable.   However, for a significant number of authors, these represent the only bibliographies so far published.

I am aware of twelve titles in the series and, although there are rumours that Stephens updates them continually, the latest editions I am aware of are as follows:

Contact Details

I do not know if the bibliographies are still in print, but the publisher can be contacted at:

Ultramarine Publishing, P.O. Box 303, HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, NY 10706, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Underwood/Miller

During the 1980's and 1990's, this small press gained an excellent, and well-deserved, reputation for the quality of their books.  Their brief foray into bibliographies were no exception and they set a standard that excelled all that went before, and has never been equalled since.  Not alone were the volumes comprehensive and extensively illustrated (with images of dozens of the works listed), but they were also priced within the reach of the average fan.  Obviously such perfection was not viable commercially and did not last long.

Each volume attempts to list "all published works" by the author in question, including foreign-language editions and reprints.  Each entry is also annotated by the compiler, and an indication is given of which items have been seen and which have been taken from other sources.  Typically some information is given on secondary works but this is rarely extensive.

Note that reprint rights to the series were acquired by Meckler Press who announced major new editions of some of the volumes and, strictly speaking, were the publisher of the Frank Herbert volume (although it has the same outward appearance as the other volumes).  In practice, however, the "new editions" proved simply to be overpriced, hardback, reprints aimed at the library market.

In total, only five titles appeared:

Contact Details

As far as I am aware, the only volume still in print is the Jack Vance volume but, as Underwood-Miller themselves no longer exist, this is best looked for in specialist sf book shops.  Even though most of the older volumes are now somewhat obsolete in terms of content, they are still worth seeking out from second-hand dealers for the sheer quality of production.