At the Maison d'Ailleurs

The Maison d'Ailleurs, the Museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary voyages in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland is based on the collection of Pierre Versins, who donated his tens of thousands of science fiction books, comic books and many other sci-fi related documents to the city in the 1970s. Central parts of the collection are the work of Jules Verne, French series of Sci-Fi books, but also American pulp novels.
I had the pleasure to accompany my friend Dave Tompkins on a research mission to their book collection. We had very little time, but I'm glad I sneaked away from the study desk to take some pics of amazing covers.

Related post: the library of Andreas Züst

Simulations Publications Inc.

I saw this game in an exhibition about the postapocalyptic and Tarkovsky's Stalker at the Maison d'Ailleurs, the excellent Swiss Science Fiction Museum/Library. Trying to find out more about the game, I discovered the wonderful world of board game geeks, who provide tons of material, e.g. about Simulations Publications Inc., the company behind said game.

"Founded by Jim Dunnigan in 1969, SPI was a publisher of board wargames during the 1970s and early 1980s, when it went bankrupt. SPI also published several magazines, including Strategy & Tactics, Moves and Ares"

All images found on boardgamegeek.com and tacticalwargamer.com. Thanks, board game enthusiasts!
The design of these magazines and some of the titles remind me of library records.

"Early SPI photo from Jim Dunnigan who has licensed this under Creative Commons with permission granted to use except for money-making and commercial purposes. The late game designer John Young is in the middle with a cigarette underneath the poster."

"Early SPI photo from Jim Dunnigan who has licensed this under Creative Commons with permission granted to use except for money-making and commercial purposes. (Unknown person, Dunnigan, Simonsen, John Young, and Marie Fredericks, a graphic artist.)"

the library of Andreas Züst

A book lover's dream weekend.

N. and I stayed for a weekend at the Alpenhof in the Appenzell region in the northeast of Switzerland. A few years ago, the run down hotel was taken over by people from the art and literature scene. It is still a hotel, very nicely renovated with an amazing panoramic view, but also hosts events, exhibitions, lectures - and since 2010, it is the home of the library of Andreas Züst. Andreas Züst (1947-2000) was a "glaciologist, weather watcher, photographer, painter, creature of the night, publisher, film producer, bibliophile, art collector, and patron of the arts", an important figure in the Swiss art scene.  His library contains 12'000 books on topics ranging from art, literature, photography, music, film, meteorology, glaciology, ethnology, space travel, to UFOs and drugs.
After a brief first visit some time ago, I could finally spend a few hours in the library. Here's my meandering, patchy tour through this wonderful collection, with an emphasis on the cover designs.

(I also happen to have grown up  in the village where the Alpenhof is, but long before it became the interesting place it is now.)

There were several books by the Swiss UFO-believers of the FIGU society, previously featured here.

Need a break? Take a look out the window. It was a foggy day, not much to see of the beautiful panoramic view. 

Back to the books then.