GAUNTLET PRESS 2009
Stated at limitation page: "This signed numbered edition of He Is Legend is limited to 750 copies. This is number '653.'" Beautifully signed by all seventeen contributors to this project including Stephen King at third signature page where his son Joe Hill has also signed. This marked the first collaboration of the father-son duo for their premiere piece "Throttle" inspired by Matheson's "Duel."
Jet black bonded leather boards, bold silver metallic spine titles, fine. Pages fine. Bind fine, square. Pictorial endpapers depict shelf of Richard Matheson titles w/oversize magnifying glass and shadowy facade in subtext. Several tales open with full-page haunting, near chiaroscura plates by Harry O. Morris. Pictorial dust wrapper, fine; protected in new clear sleeve. Front panel of wrapper presents overlapping sepia photo collage of Matheson's life and times with geometrical shining light through window in b.g.
Presented and preserved in beveled black leather slipcase with window panel mirroring wrapper in design. Another of these pictorial cards, likely used for slipcase production, is set in back cover. Manufactured in the United States of America. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall. 526 pages. Insured post.
For more than fifty years Richard Matheson has been a giant of literary intrigue. A master of fantasy - "I Am Legend," suspense - "Duel," and virtually everything else - he's written celebrated Westerns - "Journal of the Gun Years," tv scripts - "The Twilight Zone," movies - "The Incredible Shriking Man," meditations - "The Path," and so on and on.
This collection gathers an astonishing group of literary talents to honor him. Heading the list of stellar writers are Stephen King and Joe Hill. F. Paul Wilson delivers a sequel to "The Distributor," while Mick Garris presents a prequel to "I Am Legend". John Shirley takes "Somewhere in Time" in a surprising new direction. Matheson's son, Richard Christian Matheson, riffs on his father's "Legion of Plotters," and Joe R. Lansdale revisits a noted Zuni fetish doll in "Quarry," his sequel to "Prey".
The lineup continues with Matheson inspired tales by Thomas F. Monteleone, Gary A. Braunbeck, William F. Nolan, Ed Gorman, Barry Hoffman, Nancy A. Collins, Whitley Strieber, John Maclay, and Michael A. Arnzen. Matheson himself collaborates with Charles Beaumont for "Conjure Wife". Ramsey Campbell begins the cavalcade with an insightful introduction, "Matheson the Master".