Call this post “Cataloging My Collection.”

   I have no idea if anyone is interested or not, but here goes anyway. Part of what I do in my spare time is go through boxes of paperbacks I have in dead storage, catalog the books I find inside, and rebox them and put them away, in places where theoretically I can find them again easily. I’m still working on the latter part of that.

   I’ve been doing this since the Fall of 1968. I know this exactly since that was the first semester I was not in school, either as a student or as a teacher. It was also the year the Detroit Tigers were in the World Series (I’m talking baseball here) and I remember typing up books individually on 3×5 index cards sitting with an electric typewriter before the television set.

   Once I started my first full-time teaching job here in Connecticut, I gave that up, but I made sure I brought all the books — and the 3×5 index cards — with me when we moved. I don’t know what year it was that we got our Apple IIe (with around 64K of memory), but when we did, I transferred all of the info on the cards into computer files, and started adding the books I’d accumulated in the meantime.

   These files now exist only as a notebook filled to its two-inch capacity with printouts from a dot matrix printer. I’m sure it would be impossible to read the floppy disks now, if I still had them, but I have the data. (I also gradually discarded the 3×5 index cards, in case you were wondering.)

   When we started using PC’s, I didn’t transfer any of the old data, but I continued on, but essentially starting over, adding more and more books to a new computer file of data. I’ve always used word-processing programs, rather than database ones, and luckily I began with WordPerfect, which I still use, and so far I’ve had no problem with losing data to formats no longer readable.

   In any case, here’s a small segment of the PC-based data. If you see any missing books or authors, either I don’t have them — or I do, and the data’s in my notebook with the dot matrix printouts. (A third possibility, of course — and for new books, an extremely high one — is that I have it and haven’t Gotten To It yet.)

   The box numbers are included, along with an indication of the condition. (I didn’t do this originally.) There are also some notes about the authors themselves and cover artists, too, but I haven’t done this consistently over the years.

GENEVIEVE HOLDEN –
   Something’s Happened to Kate (Ace G-558; c.1958) M305 vg-g
LARRY HOLDEN –
   Dead Wrong (Pyramid G306; c.1957; Pyr edn, 1957) M152 vg+
   Hide-Out (Eton 132; c.1953) M239 fair-poor
WILLIAM HOLDER –
   The Case of the Dead Divorcee (Signet 1539; c.1958; 1st pr., June 1958) M22 fine
ELISABETH SANXAY HOLDING –
   The Blank Wall (Pocket 662; c.1947; 1st PB Pr., Jan 1950) M28 good
   The Blank Wall (Ace Double G-512; c.1947) M158 g-vg
   The Girl Who Had to Die (Ace Double G-512; c.1940) M158 g-vg
   Kill Joy (Ace Double G-534; c.1942) M37 vg-g
   Net of Cobwebs (Ace Double G-530; c.1945) M94 vg+
   Speak of the Devil (Ace Double G-534; c.1941) M37 vg-g
   The Unfinished Crime (Ace Double G-530; c.1935,1963) M94 vg+
   Who’s Afraid (Bonded Mystery #14) M179 fair
   Who’s Afraid (Ace Double G-524; c.1940) M89 vg-g
   Widow’s Mite (Ace Double G-524; c.1952-53) M89 vg-g
ISABELLE HOLLAND –
   Counterpoint (Fawcett Crest 24423; c.1980; 1st FC pr., July 1981) M294 n.fine
   The deMaury Papers (Fawcett Crest 23606; c.1977; 1st FC pr.) M323 good
   Flight of the Archangel (Fawcett Crest 20977; c.1985; 1st Ball edn, Dec 1986) M304 n.fine
   A Lover Scorned (Fawcett Crest 21369; c.1986; 1st Ball edn, Nov 1987) M303 fine
REBECCA HOLLAND –
   Danger on Cue (Raven House #18 [60018]; c.1980; 1st pr., June 1980; pub Dec 1980) M280 n.fine
       Note: This is one of two books by this author in CFIV under this pen name.
JIM HOLLIS –
   The Case of the Bludgeoned Teacher (Avon 725; c.c.1955; orig pub as Teach You a Lesson) M19 g-vg
   Teach You a Lesson (see The Case of the Bludgeoned Teacher)
J. HUNTER HOLLY –
   The Assassination Affair (Ace G-636; c.1967; TV tie-in: The Man from UNCLE #10) M189
      Note: Of the two “UNCLE” books written by the author, the other seems to been published only as a British hardcover. She is perhaps known better for her work as an SF-Fantasy writer. (Both of her other two entries in CFIV are SFnal in nature.)
HUGH HOLMAN –
   Another Man’s Poison (Signet 718; c.1947; 1st Signet pr., Apr 1949) M98 vg-fine
   Slay the Murderer (Signet 684; c.1948; 1st Signet pr., Sept 1948) M322 g-vg
TIMOTHY HOLME [UK] –
   The Devil and the Dolce Vita (Futura 3712; c.1982; Futura edn pub 1988) MB286 fair-good
   A Funeral of Gondolas (Futura 3078; c.1981; Futura edn pub 1986) MB286 good
H. H. HOLMES –
   Nine Times Nine (Penguin 553; c.1940; 1st Peng edn, Jan 1945) M47 fair
H. H. HOLMES –
    See also ANTHONY BOUCHER.
HAZEL HOLT –
   Mrs. Malory and a Death in the Family (Signet 21989; c.2006; 1st pr., Nov 2006) M220
   Mrs. Malory and the Only Good Lawyer (Signet 19264; c.1997; 1st Signet pr, Dec 1998) M288
HENRY HOLT [UK] –
   Calling All Cars (Collins Crime Club #12; 7th CC pr., Sept 1936) MB277 poor
ROBERT LAWRENCE HOLT –
   Good Friday (Signet 15703; c.1987; 1st Signet pr., Sept 1988) M143 vg-fine
      Note: The author has only one other entry in CFIV.
SAMUEL HOLT –
   I Know a Trick Worth Two of That (Tor 50463; c.1986; 1st Tor ppbk pr., Mar 1988) M290 vg+
   What I Tell You Three Times Is False (Tor 50465; c.1987; 1st Tor ppbk pr., June 1988) M139 fine
      Note: “Samuel Holt” is a pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake. In all he wrote four books listed in CFIV under this name.
VICTORIA HOLT –
   The Black Opal (Fawcett Crest 22271; c.1993; 1st Ball edn, Jan 1994) RS11 vg
   Bride of Pendorric (Crest t885; c.1963) RS3 vg-g
   The Curse of the Kings (Fawcett Crest Q2215; c.1973; FC edn, Aug 1974) RS10 vg-g
   The King of the Castle (Fawcett Crest T1162; c.1967; 1st FC pr., Aug 1968) RS14 vg+
   Kirkland Revels (Crest M1385; c.1962; 7th FC pr., Mar 1970) RS9 vg-fine
   The Legend of the Seventh Virgin (Fawcett Crest 2-3281; c.1964-65) RS9 vg+
   Lord of the Far Island (Fawcett Crest 2-2874; c.1975; 1st FC pr.) RS10 vg-fine
   The Mask of the Enchantress (Fawcett Crest 2-4418; c.1980; 1st FC pr., Sept 1981) RS2 vg
   Menfreya in the Morning (Crest t1020; c.1966; 1st FC pr., May 1967) RS2 vg-g
   Mistress of Mellyn (Crest t1132; c.1960) RS15 vg+
   The Shadow of the Lynx (Fawcett Crest P1720; c.1971; FC edn, July 1972) RS4 vg+
HUGH HOLTON –
   The Devil’s Shadow (Forge 57042; c.2001; 1st Forge ppbk edn, June 2002) M217
   Windy City (Forge 56714; c.1995; 1st Tor ppbk edn, Apr 1996) M111 vg+