Special Collections Department
Roland E. Bounds
Collection
Papers and Ephemera
1931 - 2002
(bulk dates 1970 - 2000)
Manuscript Collection Number: 494
Accessioned: Purchase, 2003
Extent: 2 linear ft. and oversize materials
Content: Books, magazines, posters,
photographs, map, ephemera, realia
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: June 2004, Kevin
Burke
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
Table of Contents
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.
The extensive Roland Bounds Science Fiction Collection, containing over 20,000 volumes, is housed in Special Collections at the University of Delaware Library.
Sources:
“Additions to the Science Fiction Collection.” Newsletter of the University of Delaware Library Associates. April 2004, no. 456. pp. 25-26.
“Roland Bounds, 1953-2002.” Matrix: a Journal of the History of Minerals. v. 10, no. 2 (Summer 2002). p. 91. (See Folder 24)
Scope and Content Note
The Roland E. Bounds Collection: Papers and Ephemera includes books, magazines, convention programs, posters, photographs, artwork, and objects related to Bounds’s collecting activities. The bulk of this collection relates to his interest in science fiction and its subgenres, fantasy and horror. This is a random assortment of programs that Bounds got from trade conventions, such as the annual Philcon (Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention), advertising promotions from Kinkos or Burger King for Star Wars or other movies, and odd collectibles and keepsakes varying from Pokemon toys to NASA photographs to U.S. postage stamps. Several items reflect Bounds’s special interest in illustration of science fiction; the collection includes reproductions of artwork by illustrators Kelly Freas, Michael Whelan, Berni Wrightson, and Ralph MacQuarrie. Also included are printed material and photographs related to Bounds’s career as a mineralogist and a few items related to his personal life. The collection is arranged in three basic series: Science fiction, Mineralogical and personal materials, and realia.Contents List
Box -- Folder -- Contents
Series I. Science Fiction Material
Series I.1. Printed Material
Contains books, periodical publications, and convention
programs related to Bounds’ activity as a collector of
science fiction publications. Many of the convention
programs are autographed by writers and speakers at the
conventions.
1 F1 Book Collecting, University of Delaware Library (3 items)
Wilson, Robert A. Modern Book Collecting. New York:
Knopf, 1980. Signed by author; bookplate: “First
Graduate Student Prize Awarded to Roland E. Bounds,
University of Delaware Library Associates, Student Book
Collecting Contest, 1983.”
UDLA press release listing Bounds as 1st prize winner,
1984 Delaware Collects (exhibition catalog), 1991. Includes
description of Bounds’s collection.
F2 The War of the Worlds: a Newly Illustrated Digest of
H.G. Wells’ Famous Story. Racine, WI: Whitman
Publishing Co., 1938. “Published by arrangement with
Harper and Brothers.” (1 item).
F3 Books about illustration (3 items)
The Illustrated Bradbury
Catastrophe: the End of the Cinema?
Virgil Finlay’s Women of the Ages
F4 Books about science fiction and space (5 items)
The Science Fiction Quizbook
The Future Focus Book of Lists II: the Sequel
Spaceships: Starlog Photo Guidebook and two brochures
F5 Star Trek Books (2 items)
Star Trek Puzzle Manual
Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual.
F6 Magazines (4 items)
Paperback Pulp and Comic Collector, no. 2
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, v. 6, no.
4, April 1954
"The Truth about Frankenstein" by Samuel Rosenberg in Life, March 15, 1968
Orphia: Slavonic Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine, v.
1, 1990
Pulphouse: a Fiction Magazine, issue 16, 1993
F7 Catalogs (2 items)
Daws SF Books 1979 Catalog
The Mindsparks Small Press Catalogue, issue 1.
Series I. Science Fiction Material
Series I.1. Printed Material
1
Convention Programs
F8 Balticon and Bucconeer (3 items)
Balticon 29, a Science Fiction Convention, Baltimore:
April 14-16, 1995 Bucconeer, 56th World Science Fiction
Convention Baltimore: August 5-9, 1998 (Pocket Program
and Souvenir Book)
F9 Philcon, 1980-1989 (7 items)
Programs from the annual Philadelphia Science Fiction
Conference.
F10 Philcon, 1990-1995 (6 items)
F11 Philcon, 1997-2000 (6 items)
F12 Philcon, 2001 (2 items)
F13 Star Trek, Philadelphia: 1977, (Leonard Nimoy
Commemorative Edition)
6th World Fantasy Convention, 1980
F14 Newspaper Articles (4 items) – housed in OVERSIZE BOX
Review, March 13, 1973 (article in student paper about
lecture at UD by science fiction writer William Tenn)
Modern People Special: Close Encounters of the Third
Kind Collector’s Edition
The Daily Herald, v. 275, no. 63 (article about movie
Capricorn One)
Evening Journal (Wilmington, Del.), March 26, 1973
(article about Isaac Asimov and William Tenn)
Series 1.2. Science Fiction Material -- Images
F15 Cover art and Photographs
Photographs of covers of Planet Stories, an early pulp
sci fi magazine Amazing Stories Quarterly, Spring, 1931 (cover only)
Color promotional photographs from 1971 Warner Brothers
film Omega Man (starring Charlton Heston)
Two 8x10 black & white photographs of Gene Roddenberry
and Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Janice Rand), from the
television series Star Trek
U.S. Postal Service 1980 Commemorative Mint Set, Item
No. 947, “to honor man’s achievement in space”
Michael Whelan “Elric Keepsake Collection,” six color
6x9 prints of fantasy illustrations
Series I. Science Fiction Material
Series 1.2. Images
1
F16 Broadsides: “Commemorative Issue, Meeting of the
Brotherhood” signed and numbered by the artist, Tim W.
Kuzniar (5 items) OVERSIZE BOX
July 5, 1986, Nos. 7 and 10/15
May 24, 1987, No. 10/15
May 29, 1988, No. 11/20
May 28, 1989, No. 8/25
F17 Star Wars Posters and Art (7 items) OVERSIZE BOX
Star Wars Calendar, 1984
Chromiumprint Collector’s Edition: The Empire Strikes
Back, The Return of the Jedi [2 prints]
The Star Wars Portfolio: superb production paintings
from the greatest space fantasy film ever, by Ralph
McQuarrie, 1977
The Empire Strikes Back Super Scene Collection, Burger
King promotion
Cut-out card of C-3P0 and R2-D2
Empire Strikes Back poster (of Yoda), Pizza Hut
promotion OVERSIZE MAP CASE
F18 Art related to Space (11 items) OVERSIZE BOX
2010 Futurecopy, Kinko’s promotion poster
NASA Picture Set No. 1: Saturn V, Apollo 8-9-10, 1966,
1968-1969 [7 items]
“The Red Planet,” National Geographic map, 1973
Two astronomical posters: The Pleiades and Gaseous
Nebula photographed at Hale Observatories OVERSIZE MAP
CASE
F19 Fantasy Art (18 items) OVERSIZE BOX
Collected greeting cards, illustrations by Michael R.
Whelan [10 cards]
Frank Frazetta Calendar, 1978
Book jacket: Jack Williamson. The Legion of Time.
Reading, Penn.: Fantasy Press, n.d. Jacket design by
Richard Angerman.
X-Men (Marvel Comics) promotional poster, 1991
Stephen King’s The Stand: a Portfolio of Illustrations
by Berni Wrightson, Glimmer Graphics, 1991 [12 plates]
Portfolio of illustrations for science fiction stories
and books by artist Kelly Freas, Richmond, Va.: Color
by Polycor, Inc., 1973 [6 prints]
Two prints of illustrations signed by Kelly Freas,
signed by the artist
The Wizard of Time and Space [painting by Kelly Freas]
poster OVERSIZE MAP CASE
Series I. Science Fiction Material
Series 1.2. Images
1
F20 Dr. Demento (3 items).
Dr. Demento The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time
Rhino Records, 1985. Booklet, poster, and cardboard
poster signed and numbered by Dr. Demento (#370).
Series II. Mineralogical and Personal Material
Series II.1 Printed Material
F21 University of Delaware Material (3 items)
University of Delaware diploma, B.S., 1975
Residence Hall yearbooks from Bennett Hall, 1975 and
1976
F22 Other Personal Material
Includes two issues of literary magazine The Bayonet
(Concord High School, Wilmington, Delaware) 1967-68 and
1968-69, and memorabilia
2
F23 Business Diary
Incomplete ledger containing partial record of 1990
trip to Tucson, AZ for mineralogy and gem show, pp. 1-
20 missing; diary on pp 306-295 (in reverse)
F24 Material related to professional activities
Resume and certificates
News Journal article on Bounds’s participation in 1992
Delaware Mineralogical Society Gem and Mineral Show
Summer 2002 issue of Matrix: a Journal of the History
of Minerals with dedication and obituary for Roland
Bounds
F25 Mineral Show Material
Display labels, price cards for mineral specimens, and
awards
Series II.2. Images
F26 Photographs – family, Univ of Delaware, Friends of
Mineralogy, Broken Back Minerals
F27 Other Images (3 items) OVERSIZE MAP CASE
Geology of the Newark Area, Delaware by Kenneth D.
Woodruff, Allan M. Thompson, 1972. Scale 1:2400. Base
maps USGS Topographic
Roland Bounds, 1953-2002, commemorative poster issued by
colleagues from the Delaware Geological Survey, 2002
44th Annual Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, 1998 [poster]
Series III. Realia
2-4 Science fiction and fantasy trading card sets, Pokemon
toys, audio tapes, Alaskan tourist souvenirs, 12 Star Wars
glasses, and novelties
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