So long and thanks for all the books!

My father plans to retire to Florida this year, St. Augustine to be exact. I'm quite thrilled for him and sad for me. Even when I was away at college, my family will never have been so far from me.

On the other hand, dad has worked his whole adult life, starting from the age of about 20, the year after I was born. 40+ years, non-stop work, my mom and he putting my brother and I through college. He's entitled to kick back and enjoy.

While I'm quite glad for him, and sad for me in general, I take petty pleasure that his house in Florida is small -- because he won't be able to bring his book collection with him. When I last spent a rainy after-school day counting, the collection numbered 2000 books. I was about 14 at the time.

This past weekend, my dad dropped off the first four boxes of his many, many box collection and together we sampled it. Here are just a few volumes I skimmed off the top:

Andre Norton's Star Guard ACE 2nd printing, 1961 $.40

Leigh Bracket's The Galactic Breed ACE 1st edition, long version, 1955 $.35

Cordwainer Smith's Space Lords Pyramid 1st edition, 1965

A $.40 ACE edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs The Land that Time Forgot While not a first edition or all that rare, my dad assures me he has the complete ACE printing of ERB.

Brian W. Aldiss, Vanguard from Alpha ACE, 1959. $.35

Poul Anderson, paperback edition of The High Crusade McFadden Books, 1964

A 1951 hard cover anthology of short stories titled The Outer Reaches by the likes of Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bardbury, L. Sprague de Camp, Henry Kuttner, Fritz Leiber, Murray Leinster, Frank Belknap Long, Fletcher Pratt, Clifford Simak, Clark Ashton Smith, Theodore Sturgeon, A.E. Van Vogt.. edited by August Derleth.

I found a few issues of iF, Galaxy, and Analog. Well and good. Then dad tells me the collections are complete. He's got the complete run of all three magazines.

And so much more. I've only begun picking through the treasures.

"Huh? What? Oh yeah. Sure. Have a good time in Florida, dad. See you."

And I return to my reading.