Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Klein Librarian Phoenix Alexander shares some treasures from the Eaton Collection on UC Riverside Library’s YouTube channel!

Discover the Science Fiction Treasures of the Eaton Collection Join Phoenix Alexander, the Jay Kay and Doris Klein Science Fiction Librarian at UC Riverside's Special Collections and Library Archives, as he takes us on a...

We're delighted to showcase the incredible new logos for the Eaton Collection, designed by illustrator John Jennings!

In celebration of May 4th, here’s one from the archives (specifically, MS 381): doing promo at Midamericon for this unknown little film, , in 1976!

Check out the collection (including thousands of digitized items) at https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8bv7nq5/

Celebrating some cats of science fiction!

…oh, and the humans are pretty cool too, we think.

Picture 1: Philip K. Dick with two precious furbabies [undated]

Picture 2: Terry Carr with handsome orange fuzzball [undated]

Both items are from the Terry Carr papers, which are currently being processed by our archivist - and which will be open to researchers soon!

We’re delighted to share that the recently acquired papers of SF author Carol Carr have been processed and are available to researchers!

Materials include drafts of her own writings, as well as correspondence with Philip K. Dick, Joanna Russ, Ursula K. le Guin, and many others.

The complete finding aid is available to view online: https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8b85h1x/

New acquisition spotlight: a fantastic, first edition copy of ‘Asylum Piece’: Helen Ferguson’s first book to be published under her nom de plume, Anna Kavan.

British novelist Anna Kavan is “one of the most mysterious of modern writers” (J. G. Ballard). Kavan’s contemporary, Lawrence Durrell, saw her as a writer in the lineage of Virginia Woolf and Djuna Barnes; others have placed her novel ‘Ice’ in the canon of drug novels, along with De Quincey’s ‘Confessions of an English O***m Eater’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World.’

This collection is a “strange, uncannily penetrating study” of a mind in peril: where “unrealities become realities” (Kirkus).

Our newest exhibit, 'Eaton at the Movies,' is now live!

We were delighted to welcome guests from the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, University of California, Irvine, University of Southern California, and faculty, staff, and grad students from UCR for the opening reception that took place on February 8th.

The exhibit is open to the public and available to view until July 2024.

UCR’s acquisition of the cover art for Le Guin’s ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ has been covered by NPR! Find out more about the piece here: https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951772/ursula-k-le-guin-leo-diane-dillon-left-hand-of-darkness

We’re delighted to announce the acquisition of the original cover illustration art for the first edition of Ursula Le Guin’s ‘The Left Hand of Darkness!’

The item will be featured on NPR and other local news sites, and will come to the library next month.

Artists Leo and Diane Dillon won the Caldecott Medal in 1976 and 1977, and Mr. Dillon was the first African-American to receive the medal. The Dillons’ artwork was influenced by African folk art, Japanese block printing, and medieval illumination.

UCR Special Collections & University Archives is delighted to announce completion of a project to process and make available the papers from the Jay Kay Klein photographs and papers on science fiction fandom collection. An in-depth finding aid to the collection can be found at: https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8bv7nq5/. Please see the included statement for more information.

This gorgeous gem arrived today: a novelization of the early horror film ‘The Cat and the Canary’ (1927), which was a precursor to the Universal Monster movies of the following decade. This ‘Readers Library Film Edition’ features a beautifully illustrated dust jacket, as well as a fascinating foreword discussing the merits of the film and novel mediums.

Found a really awesome end-of-day surprise working through more of the Jay Kay Klein collection: a program book from the first WorldCon in 1939!!! Klein did not attend (he was born in 1931 and joined the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society in 1945), so this must have been a gift or something he acquired as a fan. The softball game of Pros vs Fans must have been quite the spectacle!

From the Klein papers, here we have a letter from Anne McCaffrey to Jay Kay Klein providing some biographical information for Klein's "Biolog" series that was published in ANALOG. Some great tidbits of McCaffrey's early days as a writer, her experience of the SF&F community at the time, and a bit about Ireland.

Closing out the week with two VERY exciting acquisitions for the Eaton Collection: John A. Williams’ ‘Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light’ (1969) and ‘Captain Blackman’ (1972), both important texts in the canon of Black speculative literature.