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ROLAND E. BOUNDS
SCIENCE FICTION
PAPERBACK BOOK COLLECTION
Collection Number: MSS 553
Location: Library Annex | Special Collections Use Only | Library requires 24 hour notice for retrieval.
Accessioned: Purchase, 2003
Extent: 117 linear ft. (ca. 7,000 vols.)
Content: Paperbacks.
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: 2004-2005 by Rob Sherwood and Beth Thomas; completed 2006 by James K. Fisher.
Biographical Note
Roland E. Bounds (1953 - 2002) attended Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, and obtained a B.S. in geology from the University of Delaware in 1975. He pursued graduate studies in mineralogy and applied geology at the University of Delaware and Oklahoma State University. By vocation and avocation, he was a collector. He began collecting rocks at age six, and as an adult became a noted mineral collector and dealer with business partner Eric Meier in Broken Back Minerals. Bounds was a senior research technician with the Delaware Geological Survey, located in Newark, Delaware. He regularly submitted articles to First State Geology and was a longtime editor of Geogram, the newsletter of the Delaware Mineralogical Association. Bounds was also active in the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy. Bounds was equally known as a collector of science fiction, an interest he developed at age thirteen when he "discovered the large amount of material being published but not available in either the local county or school libraries." Bounds concentrated on collecting vintage (pre-1965) paperbacks and pulp magazines (pre-1953). Thematically, he developed an interest in "the way technological advances have been predicted and the ways that authors of various times have viewed society and its problems." He also collected with an interest in book and magazine cover art and illustration of science fiction and fantasy. When he was a graduate student at the University of Delaware, he twice won (in 1983 and 1984) first prize in the student book collecting contest sponsored by the University of Delaware Library Associates. His science fiction collection was included in a 1991 exhibition at the University of Delaware Library, Delaware Collects, and the 2006 Special Collections exhibition From Verne to Vonnegut.
Sources:
Delaware Collects: checklist of an exhibition in the Hugh M. Morris Library, compiled by Max Yela. Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Library, 1991.
Ace Doubles (and Singles Library). Retrieved December 21, 2006 from http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/ACE.html.
The Tor Books FAQ. Retrieved December 21, 2006 from http://www.tor.com/torfaq.html.
Scope and Content Note
The Roland E. Bounds Paperback Science Fiction Book Collection consists of nearly seven thousand science fiction paperbacks published between 1890 and 2002 assembled by the Delaware collector Roland Bounds. Also included within this collection are numerous fantasy and a few horror and classic novels that do not fit the science fiction genre. Edition highlights of the collection include Ace Doubles, Armed Services Inc., early editions of Pocket Books, and Avon Books. Also of interest are large runs of early character series such as The Avenger, Conan, Doc Savage, Perry Rhodan, and later series such as Death Lands and Outlanders.
Nearly all of the paperbacks in the collection feature striking cover art or text illustrations created by some of the most famous illustrators in science fiction. Vincent Di Fate, Frank Frazetta, Frank Freas, Michael Whelan, and many other celebrated or less well known illustrators are represented in the collection. Like the authors themselves, these illustrators are important to the genre; they give a visual outline to the strange, wonder-provoking worlds of science fiction and are significant contributors to the "popular culture" of the genre. Many collectors seek these pulp paperbacks for the cover art and illustration only.
Arrangement Note
The Roland E. Bounds Paperback Science Fiction Book collection is arranged alphabetically by publisher or publishing imprint, as this represents the way Bounds built his collection. An "imprint" is the public name for a particular group of books created by a publisher; a publisher may have dozens of imprints. One such imprint is "Tor." Tor's parent company, Tom Doherty Associates, is actually the publisher of Tor books.
This finding aid includes a box summary list, reflecting the arrangement of the collection by publisher or publishing imprint. The major publishing runs that Bounds collected are housed first, i.e. Ace Doubles spans Boxes 1 through 5. Publishers represented by fewer titles are housed in the later boxes, i.e. Box 106 includes one or just a few titles each from publishers Harper, Hyperion, Island, Ivy, and Jove.
The finding aid further includes a bibliographic listing generated from an Endnote database report. The bibliography is presented in alphabetical order by author (and then title), or, in the case of anthologies, by title. Other data included in the bibliographic report includes the following fields: place of publication, publisher or imprint, date, and series number. The report also includes locational box number and "item number"; these two pieces of information should be used to request items from the collection. The Endnote database also includes series titles (if they exist) and may be consulted for other research queries. Please contact the manuscripts librarian for assistance.
Serial numbers for paperbacks were more important for publishers preceding the use of the ISBN (International Standard Book Number), which started to gain wide use internationally in 1970. Prior to the ISBN, the SBN (Standard Book Number) was used mainly in the United Kingdom, from 1966 - 1974. Publishers sometimes used the last few digits of the ISBN or the SBN as the serial number for a run of books. Some collectors make an effort to accumulate a complete run of serial numbers by a publisher and use these numbers as a system for arranging their collection. The books in this finding aid contain a serial number, a portion of a BSN or ISBN, or if the book lacked a numbering system all together the "Serial number" data field was left blank.
Several of the publication dates in the bibliographic report are actually the printing dates or an estimation of a printing date for a particular edition. This was done to add value to the collection from a research stand point. Finding a publication date for a particular work is quite easy while finding out when an edition of a work was printed is not always as easy. Collectors of science fiction sometimes use the printing date as well as the publisher and serial number to arrange their collections. If a printing date was not clearly marked on volumes in this collection, an effort was made to estimate the decade of the printing.
Related Collections:
MSS 494 Roland E. Bounds Collection: Papers and Ephemera
MSS 504 Roland E. Bounds Science Fiction Periodicals Collection
MSS 559 W. Merritt Burke III Pulp Paperback Book Collection
Box Summary List
Bibliography by Author or Collected Works
The box summary list reflects the arrangement of the collection by publisher or publishing imprint. The major publishing runs are housed first, followed by less complete publisher groups at the end of the collection. The box summary list includes box number and item number range of titles for each publisher. It is also possible to access the collection by browsing by author or title of collected works.
Boxes Publisher/Imprint
(Followed by Item Numbers)
1-5 Ace Doubles
1 1 - 54
2 55 - 101
3 102 - 156
4 157 - 208
5 209 - 216
5-22 Ace
5 1 - 48
6 49 - 112
7 113 - 172
8 173 - 230
9 231 - 282
10 283 - 327
11 328 - 372
12 373 - 422
13 423 - 468
14 469 - 516
15 517 - 555
16 556 - 632
17 633 - 691
18 692 - 756
19 757 - 820
20 821 - 895
21 896 - 963
22 964 - 1030
23-29 Avon
23 1-57
24 58 - 125
25 126 - 187
26 188 - 241
27 242 - 288
28 289 - 324
29 325 - 338
29-33 Baen
29 1 - 31
30 32 - 70
31 71 - 108
32 109 - 147
33 148 - 156
33-41 Ballantine
33 1 - 48
34 49 - 121
35 122 - 192
36 193 - 248
37 249 - 303
38 304 - 356
39 351 - 417
40 418 - 485
41 486 - 492
41-48 Bantam
41 1 - 56
42 57 - 119
43 120 - 171
44 172 - 221
45 222 - 257
46 258 - 319
47 320 - 399
48 400 - 416
48-55 Berkley
48 1 - 35
49 36 - 107
50 108 - 171
51 172 - 232
52 233 - 286
53 287 - 337
54 338 - 383
55 384 - 401
55-64 DAW
55 1 - 045
56 46 - 122
57 123 - 186
58 187 - 252
59 253 - 314
60 315 - 376
61 377 - 431
62 432 - 482
63 483 - 524
64 525 - 560
64-71 Del Rey
64 1 - 3
65 4 - 55
66 56 - 106
67 107 - 151
68 152 - 195
69 196 - 234
70 235 - 274
71 275 - 305
71-75 Dell
71 1 - 19
72 20 - 84
73 85 - 154
74 155 - 214
75 215 - 222
75-76 Fawcett Gold Medal
75 1 - 56
76 57 - 96
76-79 Gold Eagle
76 1 - 5
77 6 - 41
78 42 - 77
79 78 - 89
79-81 Lancer
79 1 - 50
80 51- 113
81 114 - 174
81-83 Paperback Library
81 1 - 4
82 5 - 75
83 76 - 124
83-86 Pocket Books
83 1 - 29
84 30 - 90
85 91 - 130
86 131 - 138
86-87 Popular Library
86 1 - 57
87 58 - 66
87-89 Pyramid
87 1 - 67
88 68 - 138
89 139 - 177
89-92 Signet
89 1 - 33
90 34 - 100
91 101 - 157
92 158 - 196
92-94 Tor
92 1 - 13
93 14 - 50
94 51 - 66
94-96 Zebra
94 1 - 34
95 35 - 86
96 87 - 119
96-97 Laser
96 1 - 19
97 20 - 58
97-98 Leisure
97 1 - 27
98 28 - 74
98-99 McFadden-Bartell
98 1 - 16
99 17 - 36
99-100 Pinnacle
99 1 - 45
100 46 - 51
100 Panther, Penguin, Perma,
101 Abbeville,Airmont, Archway, Arrow, Athenaeum, Award, Banner, Bard, Baronet, Bart House, Beagle, Bee-Line
Belmont
1 - 30
102 Belmont
31 - 81
Belmont-Tower, Carlyle, Carousel
103 Apollo,Book Company of America, Blue jay, Bridge, Century, Chariot, Charter,Collier,Condor, Corgi, Corinth, Coronet
Crest
1 - 12
104 Crest
13 - 22
Centaur, Curtis, Dale, Diamond
105 Davis, Dolphin, Donning, Dover, Dutton, Ellis, Epic, Equinox, Eton, FASA, Flagship, Fontana, Forge, Freeway, GDW, Goldstar, Golden Apple, Golden Press, Grafton, Granada, Grove, Guild, Hamlyn, Handi-Book
Harper
1 - 4
106 Harper
5 - 13
Hyperion, Island, Ivy
Jove
1 - 26
107 Jove
7 - 40
Lantern, Lion, Lodestone, Maclay, Magnum, Major,
Manner
1 - 11
108 Manor
12 - 22
Mayflower, Mentor, Merit, Moody, New English Library, Olympia, Orbit, Pageant, Pan, Papillion, Pennant, Perennial, Piccolo, Powell, Priam, Priory, Puffin, Premier
Pulphouse
1 - 5
109 Pulphouse
6 - 8
Regency
Scholastic
1 - 13
Simon and Schuster, Sphere, St. Martins, Standard, Star, Tandem, Target, Tempo, TSR
Tower
1 - 11
110 Tower
17 - 19
Scholastic
10 - 14
Unibook, Vega, Vintage, Ward, Lock and Company, Valcour/Krueger, Washington, Westend, Wisdom, Worldwide, Xerox, Zenith
Tor
67 - 83
111 Tor
84 - 123
112 Tor
124 - 131
Beacon, Armed Services, Badger, Brown, Comet, Comyns, Crestwood, Double-Action, Edwin Self, Fantasy
Galaxy
1 - 25
113 Galaxy
26 - 49
Handi-Book, Haughton, Mifflin, and Company, John Spencer, Milestone, Newsstand, Nova, Novel Selections, Quinn, RJ Reynolds, Royal, Scion, Tempest, The American Mercury, Toby, Uni, Universal, World Distributors, Ziff Davis, Brown Watson
Century
4
114 Playboy
1 - 17
Master
1 - 20
Monarch
1 - 19
Roc
1 - 13
115 Roc
14 - 51
116 Roc
52 - 56
Popular
67 - 89
Ballantine
493 - 498
Bantam
418 - 419
Berkley
402 - 404
Signet
192 - 206
117 Warner
1 - 29
Crest
23
Paperback
125 - 126
Tor
132 - 134
Signet
207 - 211
139 - 145
118 Popular
87
Pinnacle
52
Pyramid
178 - 179
Dell
223
Del Rey
306 - 307
Bantam
420
Berkley
405 - 406
Ballantine
499 - 501
Avon
339
Warner
30
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