Sheldon Ronald Jaffery was born April 22, 1934 in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended UCLA and obtained a B.A. in English from Ohio State University in 1957. He received a B.S. in Education at Kent State University in 1959 and then taught English, speech, and journalism at Cardinal High School in Middlefield, Ohio for two years. He conducted postgraduate research at UCLA in 1960 and received a J.D. from Western Reserve University Law School in Cleveland, Ohio in 1964. Jaffery practiced law in Cleveland since being admitted to the Ohio bar in 1964. He was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar in 1970. He served as Special Counsel to Attorney General of Ohio from 1971 to 1974, and was a member of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers, Zeta Beta Tau and Tau Epsilon Rho. He most recently served as counsel for the law firm of Monroe, Zucco and Kaselak in Cleveland Ohio. As of 1986, Jaffery had practiced law as a private attorney in Cleveland, Ohio. Jaffery married Judith Ann Friedman on June 23, 1963. They had three children: Kimberly, Jonathon, and Jason, and lived in the Cleveland suburbs. Jaffery died on July 10, 2003. Jaffery had a private book dealer business until 1987. At one time he dealt in posters, but in 1982, he began to deal exclusively in out-of-print first edition rarities of fantasy and science fiction. Jaffery personally began collecting Arkham House books in 1979. Since many stories in the Arkham House books were first published in the Weird Tales pulp magazine, it was natural for Jaffery to shift his focus to pulp literature after completing his work on Horrors and Unpleasantries: A Collector's Price Guide and Bibliography of Arkham House (1982) and The Collector's Index to Weird Tales (1985). Jaffery published several pulp fiction anthologies through the 1980s. He began collecting DAW books in 1987 and shortly thereafter wrote Future and Fantastic Worlds: A Bibliographical (1972-1987) Retrospective of DAW Books (1987). Jaffery completed a revised edition of Horrors and Unpleasantries and retitled it The Arkham House Companion (1989). Ace Mystery Doubles and Ace Science Fiction books are the focus of Jaffery's most recently completed manuscripts.
From the guide to the Sheldon R. Jaffery Collection, 1947-1989, (Bowling Green State University - Browne Popular Culture Library)
