HENRY WESSELLS
P.O. Box 43072
Upper Montclair, NJ 07043
Electronym : wessells@aol.com

Detailed List of Publications

Books

  •  Another green world (short story collection). Temporary Culture, [December] 2003. Second edition, much expanded, forthcoming in 2025 from Zagava Books.
  •  A Melville Census. John Marr & Timoleon. With a Note by Henry Wessells. In press, forthcoming from Temporary Culture, 2025. Edition of 52 copies.
  •  A Conversation larger than the Universe. Readings in Science Fiction and the Fantastic 1762-2017. With a foreword by John Crowley. The Grolier Club, [25 January] 2018. Signed, limited edition, Temporary Culture, [25 March] 2018
  •  Extended Range; or, The Accession Label. With two original etchings by Judith Clute. [Temporary Culture, 17 December], 2015.
  •  The Private Life of Books. Poems by Henry Wessells. Photographs by Paul Schütze. Temporary Culture, [15 September] 2014. Second edition : Temporary Culture, [15 September] 2020.
  •  Against the art of war. Poems by Ernest Hilbert and Henry Wessells. Etchings by Judith Clute. Temporary Culture, [February] 2013.
  •  Davidson’s Homer. With a Note by Henry Wessells. Privately Printed, 2013

    • Books (as editor)

  •  Arthur Machen. The Norman Hickman Collection. James Cummins Bookseller, [January] 2024.
  •  Editions of the Bay Psalm Book in the Collection of Michael Zinman. First edition, April 2021. Second edition (revised), November 2023.
  •  James Cummins Bookseller. Catalogue 145. Jorge Luis Borges. With a Note by Henry Wessells. James Cummins Bookseller, [April 2023].
  •  Sexual Stealing by Wendy Walker. [With a preface by Daniel Levin Becker]. Temporary Culture, [September] 2021.
  •  ‘ She Saved Us from World War Three ’. Gardner Dozois Remembers James Tiptree, Jr. An Interview by Michael Swanwick. Temporary Culture, [1 May] 2020.
  •  The Books of John Alden Knight. A Manuscript Archive. [Privately printed, December 2019].
  •  William S. Reese. A Life Well Lived. [Privately printed, September 2019].
  •  Donald Trump The Magazine of Poetry, November 2016.
  •  James Cummins Bookseller. Catalogue 113. The Derrydale Press. Preface by Jed Lyons. Introduction by Nat Worden. James Cummins Bookseller, [September 2012].
  •  My Man and other Critical Fictions by Wendy Walker. [With an introduction by Henry Wessells]. Temporary Culture, [October] 2011.
  •  A Festschrift for David Hartwell on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday. Temporary Culture, 10 July 2011.
  •  What Happened to the Lands of the Valley [1978] by Gamal al-Ghitani. Translated from the original Arabic by Henry Wessells. Temporary Culture, [January] 2011.
  •  The Man with the Knives by Ellen Kushner. Art by Thomas Canty. Temporary Culture, [May] 2010.
  •  Hope-in-the-Mist. The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees by Michael Swanwick. Preface by Neil Gaiman. Frontispiece by Charles Vess. Temporary Culture, [July] 2009. Hugo Award finalist for best related work. E-book, 2016.
  •  Annals of Collecting by Michael Zinman.
    1. Lawrence’s Flag (2008).
    2. Hard Times (2010).
    3. Porky’s River Rats and Others of Their Ilk. The Framing of American Society through Its Social Constitutions (2011).
    4. Gopher Soup (2012).
    5. Pretty Women (2014).
    6. What Does Richard Cheney Read? (2014).
    7. I Like My Job. Cover title : Lust (2015).
    8. Unexpected Art (2018).
    9. The Elixir of Life (2020).
    10. The Good in People. Printing for the Blind (forthcoming).
    11. Have I Got a Deal for You (forthcoming).
  •  Forever Peace. To Stop War. Etchings by Judith Clute. Poem by Joe Haldeman. Artist book: Temporary Culture, [October] 2008. Political pamphlet edition: Temporary Culture, November 2008.
  •  What Can Be Saved from the Wreckage ? James Branch Cabell in the Twenty-first Century by Michael Swanwick. Preface by Barry Humphries. Temporary Culture, [October] 2007. E-book, 2016.
  •  When They Came by Don Webb. Temporary Culture, [October] 2006.
  •  Arabian Wine by Gregory Feeley. Temporary Culture, [March] 2005. E-book, 2015.
  •  Editor (with Grania Davis), The Scarlet Fig; or, Slowly through a Land of Stone by Avram Davidson. Rose Press, 2005.
  •  Editor (with Grania Davis), Limekiller by Avram Davidson. Old Earth Books, 2003.
  •  Editor (with Grania Davis), The Other Nineteenth Century. A Story Collection by Avram Davidson. Tor, 2001.
  •  Publications of the Avram Davidson Society
    1. The Last Wizard with a Letter of Explanation by Avram Davidson. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 1999.
    2. El Vilvoy de las Islas by Avram Davidson. Preface by Joanna Russ. Introduction by Don Webb. Afterword by Gregory Feeley. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 2000.
    3. The Beasts of the Elysian Fields by Avram Davidson. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 2001.
    4. The Wailing of the Gaulish Dead by Avram Davidson. Preface by Eileen Gunn. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 8 May 2013.
    5. Chance Meeting. Avram Davidson & Philip K. Dick. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 9 July 2018.
    • 6. Naples by Avram Davidson. The Nutmeg Point District Mail, 11 September 2022.

    Articles, Essays, Fiction, Reviews

  • "Sard Harker by John Masefield" (essay), Wormwoodiana, 29 October 2024.
  • "The Three Hostages by John Buchan" (essay), Wormwoodiana 1 August 2024.
  • "Moby-Dick and American Literature of the Fantastic; or, Bound for the South Seas" (essay), Exacting Clam 12 (Spring 2024).
  • "The Black Lands : one in an occasional series" (illustrated critical fiction), Exacting Clam 10, Autumn 2023. Reprinted, The Book Collector 73:2, summer 2024.
  • "‘Etta, with much affection from Blackie’ " (essay on a presentation copy of John Silence by Algernon Blackwood), The Book Collector 72:2, summer 2023.
  • "Fifty Forgotten Books by R. B. Russell" (book review), The Book Collector 72:1, spring 2023.
  • "A Curator’s Wunderkammer: A Decade of Collecting for the University of Virginia by David Whitesell" (book review), The Book Collector 71:2, summer 2022.
  • "Monocles, Hawthorn, and Memory, or, A Short Despatch on a Long Book" (essay), Wormwood 38, spring 2022.
  • "Collecting Science Fiction in the 21st Century" (essay), The Book Collector 70:3, autumn 2021.
  • "Strange Enough to Be Remembered Forever: John Crowley’s Little, Big" (essay), Wormwood 33, autumn 2019.
  • "Boucher & Borges" and "Bibliography" (essays), The New York Review of Science Fiction 344 (December 2017).
  • "A Note on Ronald Reagan The Magazine of Poetry" (essay), Foundation 46:3 (no. 128), Winter 2017.
  • "Peak Victorian" (essay), Wormwood 29, Autumn 2017.
  • "Extended Range; or, The Accession Label" (fiction), Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 35, December, 2016. Reprint, originallly published by Temporary Culture, December 2015.
  • "Foreword", in : Bibliotheca Salmo Salar. A Selection of Rare Books, Manuscripts, Journals, Diaries, Photograph Albums, & Ephemera on the Subject of Atlantic Salmon Fishing by Charles B. Wood III. David R. Godine, [2017].
  • "Doctor Benway, Surgeon General" (fiction), Donald Trump The Magazine of Poetry, November 2016.
  • "A Note on Maps" (essay on Diana Wynne Jones, maps in fantasy, & William Morris), Readercon 27, July 2016.
  • "Remembering David Hartwell" (memoir), The New York Review of Science Fiction 330, Special Memorial Issue, February 2016.
  • "Not in Skeat ; or, The Beast Unknown to Heraldry" (fiction), Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 32, June 2015, as "The Beast Unknown to Heraldry".
  • "Down to His Last Sleep: Zuleika Dobson in the Twenty-first Century" (essay), Wormwood 24, Spring 2015.
  • "Fire-Flies in Atlantis, or, The Country of Fear" (essay), Wormwood 23, Autumn 2014.
  • "If Not His, Whose?" (review of Shakespeare’s Beehive by George Koppelman and Daniel Wechsler), The Endless Bookshelf, 20 April 2014; French translation as La Ruche de Shakespeare, La République des livres, 25 avril 2014.
  • "The Windhill Bequest" (fiction), Contents Magazine, issue 5, 2013.
  • "At the Sign of the Fanlight Window; or, H.P. Lovecraft, Bibliopole" (critical fiction), The New York Review of Science Fiction 25, no. 5, January 2013.
  • "Standing in the Shadows of Lud. A selective discussion of interesting fantastical novels of the immediate aftermath of the First world war" (essay), Wormwood 19, Autumn 2012.
  • "Out of This World: Science Fiction But Not as You Know It" (review of exhibition at the British Library curated by Andy Sawyer, and book by Mike Ashley), The New York Review of Science Fiction, March 2012.
  • "Nested Scrolls. The Autobiography of Rudolf von Bitter Rucker by Rudy Rucker" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction, August 2011.
  • "The Secret Door; or, David Hartwell’s Library" (critical fiction), A Festschrift for David Hartwell on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Temporary Culture, 10 July 2011.
  • "Dancing with Bears by Michael Swanwick" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction, May 2011.
  • "The Ipsy-Wipsy Institute, Glimpsed in the Mists of Time" (essay), The New York Review of Science Fiction, 2010.
  • "Robert A. Heinlein. Volume 1. Learning Curve (1907-1948) by William H. Patterson, Jr." (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 22, no. 11, July 2010.
  • "Partners in Wonder. Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965 by Eric Leif Davin" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 22, no. 10, June 2010.
  • Journal kept Henry DeForrest aboard the William Rotch, 1852-53 [Cover title]. Providence Public Library. Occasional Nuggets, no. 3 (Autumn 2009). Description reprinted from James Cummins Bookseller Catalogue 100 (item 17), edited and with additional journal entries selected by Richard J. Ring.
  • "The Country You Have Never Seen. Essays and Reviews by Joanna Russ" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 21, no. 2, October 2008.
  • "A short and contentious note about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz" (essay), The New York Review of Science Fiction 20, no. 10, June 2008.
  • "Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 20, no. 2, October 2007.
  • "Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 19, no. 12, August 2007.
  • "An Antiquarian Look at Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke" (essay), The New York Review of Science Fiction 19, no. 11, July 2007, as "An Herde of Curlewes".
  • "Hav. Comprising Last Letters from Hav and Hav of the Myrmidons by Jan Morris" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 19, no. 8, April 2007.
  • "The Darkening Garden. A Short Lexicon of Horror by John Clute" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction, 19, no. 7, March 2007.
  • "Mysteries of Time and Spirit. The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. Lovecraft Letters Volume 1" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 19, no. 3, November 2006.
  • "Trash Sex Magic by Jennifer Stevenson" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 17, no. 9, May 2005.
  • "The Scarlet Fig: A Note on the Text" (essay), The New York Review of Science Fiction 17, no. 8, April 2005.
  • "The Collected Jorkens. Volume One by Lord Dunsany. Edited by S. T. Joshi" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 17, no. 6, February 2005.
  • "A Modern Sporting Rarity" (essay), Rare Book Review, November 2004.
  • "An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz & Lovecraft's Library by S. T. Joshi" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 16, no. 7, March 2004.
  • "Ten Bears; or, A Journey to the Weterings (A Critical Fiction)", The New York Review of Science Fiction 16, no. 2, October 2003.
  • "Curiosities: In a Land of Clear Colors, by Robert Sheckley (1979)" (column), The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2003.
  • "Ticket to Bargeton: The Writings of Tom La Farge" (essay), The New York Review of Science Fiction 15, no. 5, January 2003.
  • "Spaceland by Rudy Rucker" (book review), The New York Review of Science Fiction 15, no. 3, November 2002.
  • "Avram Davidson" (bio-bibliographical essay), Supernatural Fiction Writers. Contemporary Fantasy and Horror, Second Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002.
  • "Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture by Nicholas A. Basbanes" (book review). The Washington Post Book World, 9 December 2001.
  • "Hugh O’Neill’s Goose" (fiction), Interzone 172, October 2001.
  • "Appraisal at Edgewood: A Critical Fiction" in The New York Review of Science Fiction 13, no. 10, June 2001.
  • "Physics or Biology?: Two Science-Fiction Approaches to Bicycles" in The New York Review of Science Fiction, 13, no. 6, February 2001.
  • "Another green world" (fiction), Nature 405, no. 6788 (15 June 2000).
  • "'Jeeps in the Eighteenth Century': Avram Davidson in British Honduras" in The New York Review of Science Fiction 12, no. 10, June 2000.
  • "Book Becoming Power" (critical fiction), The New York Review of Science Fiction 12, no. 7, March 2000.
  • "Bookstore: The Life and Times of Jeannette Watson and Books & Co. by Lynne Tillman" (book review), The Washington Post Book World, 9 January 2000.
  • "Curiosities: The Well of the Unicorn, by Fletcher Pratt (1948)" (column), The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1999.
  • "James Blish: Science Fiction Author & Critic" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 104, no. 17, 1999.
  • "From Tallahassee to the High Plains" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 104, no. 13, 1999.
  • "Making His Own Millions": Boggs: A Comedy of Values by Lawrence Weschler (book review). The Washington Post Book World, 15 August 1999.
  • "The Moon and the Sun by Vonda McIntyre" (book review). New York Review of Science Fiction 11, no. 12, August 1999.
  • "Bibliographical Traces of the Boer War" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 103, no. 25-26, 1999.
  • "Western Travelers in Tibet" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 103, no. 22, 1999.
  • "Hennessey and Daniels: The Bookseller and the Education of the Collector" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 103, no. 15, 1999
  • "Port of Call by Jack Vance" (book review). New York Review of Science Fiction 11, no. 5, February 1999.
  • "The Book Illustrations of Wharton Esherick" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 103, no. 8, 1999.
  • "The New York School Poets: Influential and Collectible" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 103, no. 8, 1999.
  • "Thoughts Occasioned by the Publication of The Avram Davidson Treasury" (article). New York Review of Science Fiction 11, no. 3, November 1998.
  • "Lord Dunsany: Pioneer of Modern Fantasy" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 102, no. 16, 1998.
  • "Hard Military Service: Two Officers in the 19th-Century West" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 102, no. 14, 1998.
  • "Árni Magnússon and the Cultural Heritage of Iceland" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 102, no. 12, 1998.
  • "The Mystery Novels of Janwillem van de Wetering" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 102, no. 10-11, 1998.
  • "Solving Chinese Puzzles": Robert van Gulik: His Life, His Work by Janwillem van de Wetering (book review). The Washington Post Book World, 30 August 1998
  • "Novelist, Publisher, Historian: The Careers of John Buchan" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 102, no. 7-8, 1998.
  • "Arabia Unveiled: The Travels of St. John Philby" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 101, no. 25, 1998.
  • "The Literary Art of William Hogarth" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 101, no. 8, 1998.
  • "Minor White: Shaping American Photography" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 101, no. 6, 1998.
  • "Ambrosia Arabica: Books and Coffee in History" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 100, no. 24, 1997.
  • "Tales of H.P. Lovecraft: Major Works, selected and introduced by Joyce Carol Oates" (book review). New York Review of Science Fiction 10, no. 4, December 1997.
  • "Raymond Chandler and the Rise of Film Noir" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 100, no. 23, 1997.
  • "Paul Metcalf and the Mosaic of American History" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 100, no. 22, 1997.
  • "The Career and Writings of Avram Davidson" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 100, no. 16, 1997.
  • "R.H. van Gulik: Diplomat, Orientalist, Novelist" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 100, no. 9, 1997.
  • "H.P. Lovecraft: The New England Connection" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 100, no. 4, 1997.
  • "Fletcher Pratt, Military & Naval Historian" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 99, no. 26, 1997.
  • "'A place that you can put your arms around': Avram Davidson's Jack Limekiller stories." Foundation, Spring 1997.
  • "Tom La Farge." Entry in Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Ed. John Clute and John Grant. New York: St. Martins, 1997.
  • "Wendy Walker." Entry in Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Ed. John Clute and John Grant. New York: St. Martins, 1997.
  • "Exotic Pleasures by Englebert Kaempfer" (book review). New York Review of Science Fiction, 9, no. 9, May 1997.
  • "Félix Nadar, Celebrity Photographer" (feature article). AB Bookman’s Weekly 99, no. 8, 1997.
  • "A Preliminary Annotated Checklist of the Writings of Avram Davidson." Bulletin of Bibliography 53, nos.1-2, 1996.
  • The Avram Davidson Website (hypertext bibliography & essays, since September 1995) URL: http://www.avramdavidson.org
  • "Islamdancing" (text and illustration). The Subtle Journal of Raw Coinage 86, 1995.
  • "Paris au XXe siècle by Jules Verne" (book review). Locus magazine, February 1995.
  • "Michael Brownstein Self-Reliance" (book review). Poetry Project Newsletter 155, December 1994/January 1995.
  • "From This Swamp" (fiction), The Starry Wisdom. Ed. D.M. Mitchell. London: Creation Books, 1994.
  • "The Polynesian History of the Kerguélen Islands" (fiction), Exquisite Corpse 45 & 47, 1994.
  • "Call for Papers!!" Crypt of Cthulhu 83, 1993.
  • "Journal of Antarctic Archaeology and Protolinguistics" (sample bibliographic entry), Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, 31st through 35th editions, 1992-1997).
  • "Virtual Wisdom" (fiction), Exquisite Corpse 36, 1992.
  • "City of Fire: Transmissions (riverman seven)" (fiction), Temporary Culture 7, 1992.
  • "riverman six - six rivermen" (fiction), Temporary Culture 6, 1991.
  • "riverman five: Needham's Elemental Correlations" (fiction), Temporary Culture 5, 1990.
  • "There is Talk: North Philadelphia Sketchbook", Exquisite Corpse 8, nos.1-4, 1990.
  • "riverman's departure" (fiction),Newsletter of Temporary Culture 4, 1989.
  • "Nine Muses Sketchbook (New Orleans Streets)" (text and photos), Exquisite Corpse 7, nos.6-9, 1989.
  • "riverman's rist" (fiction), Newsletter of Temporary Culture 3, 1989.
  • "The Geography of Memory" (editor). Essays & writings by Steve Katz, Andrei Codrescu, Anne Waldman, Bernadette Mayer, Paul Friedman : Columbia : A Magazine of Poetry and Prose 14 (1989).
  • "riverman's return" (fiction), Newsletter of Temporary Culture 2, 1988.
  • Book reviews in The West Side Spirit (New York City, 1988-1989) : Moon Palace, Paul Auster ; Lion at the Door, David Attoe ; Rescue, Stephen O'Connor ; Leap Year, Peter Cameron.
  • "riverman" (fiction), Newsletter of Temporary Culture 1, 1988.
  • "The Cannabis Dreams of Monsieur Alphonse" (prose poem), Upper Larimer Arts (Denver), 1987.

    • Related Activities

    Binding design for special copies of Little, Big by John Crowley (Incunabula, 2023).
    The Booksellers (2019). Speaking role in this documentary film on the New York antiquarian book trade. Directed by D.W. Young.
    Binding design and execution for limited edition of And Go Like This by John Crowley (Small Beer Press, 2019).
    A Conversation larger than the Universe. Science Fiction and the Literature of the Fantastic from the Library of Henry Wessells. Exhibition at the Grolier Club, New York City, 25 January to 10 March 2018.
    On the Track of Robert van Gulik (2016). Speaking role in this documentary film on Dutch diplomat and novelist R.H. can Gulik (1910-1967). Directed by Rob Rombout.
    Binding design and execution for limited edition of The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosenkreutz by John Crowley (Small Beer Press, 2016).
    Binding design and execution for publisher’s presentation copies of Endless Things by John Crowley (Small Beer Press, 2007).
    Binding design and execution for Puck Aleshire's Abecedary by Michael Swanwick (Dragon Press, 2000).
    Publisher of The Nutmeg Point District Mail, electronic newsletter (1996- ).
    Panelist for Pennsylvania Council on the Arts awards in fiction (November 1998).
    New Jersey State Council on the Arts grant, 1993, for riverman, work in progress, published 1988-1992 in issues of Temporary Culture.
    Composed on the Tongue, WKCR-FM 89.9 (New York City). Host (1989-1991), and contributing producer (1992-1993) of weekly reading series presenting leading contemporary American poets, novelists, and short story writers.