I'm expanding my boyfriend's knowledge of the science fiction genre and need to get him pretty much all the Foundation novels (and robot novels, and empire novels) by Isaac Asimov and all but the first of the Dune novels by Frank Herbert. I'm a little crazy, so I'd also like them to match. Does anyone have most of either of these series languishing on their shelf and are you therefore willing to offer a deal? If you indulge my desire for editions that match the ones he already has, I'll be forever thankful!

For Foundation novels, he already has Prelude to Foundation and Foundation, which looks like the one on this page: http://blog.mindbites.com/asimov-abridged/

For Dune, he already has this copy: http://www.amazon.com/Dune-40th-Anniversary-Chronicles-Book/dp/0441013597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249526666&sr=8-1

If you want matched sets, your best bet is to join the SFBC and buy them that way. and they're hardcover to boot :-)

I just posted Pebble In The Sky, The Currents Of Space, and The Stars Like Dust. Those are the novels that come before Foundation in the series. (Foundation actually consists of one enormous series of 29 books, which includes Asimov's Robots books, and several books by other authors.)

Anyway, the ones I posted are a trio printed by Del Rey in the mid 80's, and look good together. Excellent condition, very slight creases where the covers flex open, slightly yellowed and a tiny bit of wear around some of the corners. One of the books (Pebble) has some odd tears in the last few pages at the top in the very inside corner near the spine - it appears to have happened at the publisher, and doesn't affect the readability in any way. 

If you'd like them, they're available, and I'd be pleased to see someone have all three. I'd keep them but I'm switching to ebooks.

Thanks for letting me know. . . I'm looking for the Bantam Spectra editions, however. I know I'm OCD. . . but oh well.

29?!?

The ones I think of as being in that universe are I, Robot; the four Elijah Bailey/R. Daneel Olivaw novels; the three Empire novels; the seven Foundation novels; and I think Nemesis is referenced in Foundation and Earth. Then there are the three novels written after Asimov's death by Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, and David Brin, which I haven't read (and don't really plan to). But still, that only comes to 19, if you're counting those non-Asimov three. What are the other ten?

Here's the list, in order of the chronology of the stories:

1. I, Robot
2. The Complete Robot
3. Robot Dreams
4. Robot Visions
5. The Positronic Man
6. The Caves of Steel
7. The Naked Sun
8. The Robots of Dawn
9. Mirage, by Mark W. Tiedemann
10. Chimera, by Mark W. Tiedemann
11. Aurora, by Mark W. Tiedemann
12. Have Robot, Will Travel, by Alexander C. Irvine
13. Robots & Empire
14. Caliban, by Roger MacBride Allen
15. Inferno, by Roger Macbride Allen
16. Utopia, by Roger Macbride Allen
17. The Stars, Like Dust
18. The Currents of Space
19. Pebble in the Sky
20. Prelude to Foundation
21. Foundation's Fear
22. Forward the Foundation
23. Foundation and Chaos
24. Foundation's Triumph
25. Foundation
26. Foundation and Empire
27. Second Foundation
28. Foundation's Edge
29. Foundation and Earth

There are also a bunch of juvenile fiction novels set in the same universe, but they're not canonical.

Oops, forgot to mention...

Foundation's Fear is by Gregory Benford.

Foundation and Chaos is by Greg Bear.

Foundation's Triumph is by David Brin.

While Nemesis is not officially a part of the series, Asimov certainly left openings to work it in later.  Unfortunately, he died shortly thereafter and never had a chance.  On my own bookshelf I still consider it part of the series, however.

I'm not sure that The Complete Robot, Robot Dreams and Robot Visions are officially part of the Robot/ Galactic Empire/ Foundation saga - but at the very least they are very good collections of robot stories.

Also, I have the Tiedemann and Irvine robot books, but haven't gotten around to reading them yet.  Any opinions out there on if they're any good?  Should I move them higher up on my TBR mountain?

You might try this book with all the main Asimov stories.  Selected Works.