Well, sometimes Google search is your friend.

Turns out the books of the Moomin comic strips are a *new* *republication* and books 1 and 2 (the one with the cover I pictured) are currently available. (I had figured they were some kind of obscure, never-seen-in-the-U.S. specialty publication from years back).

And this is why I'm usually pretty frugal: to be able to buy, on a whim, $25 or so worth of something I really WANT. The books are now winging their way to me from Amazon. (And there's apparently a volume 3 due out sometime).