Catalog 112, D
62. DANIELS, Kate. The White Wave. (Pittsburgh): U. of Pittsburgh Press (1984). A collection of poetry that won the 1983 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. This is the simultaneous issue in wrappers. Signed by the author and additionally inscribed to the poet Ai in the year of publication. Ai's second book won a Lamont Poetry Award and her most recent won the National Book Award. Fine.
63. DAVIS, Kathryn. The Girl Who Trod On a Loaf. NY: Knopf, 1993. The author's highly praised second novel, after the Kafka Prize-winning Labrador. This copy has been inscribed by the author to the novelist Margaret Atwood, whom she calls "inspiration and mentor," in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice association copy.
64. DICK, Philip K. Solar Lottery. NY: Ace (1955). The first book, a paperback original, by one of the most innovative science fiction writers of his time, and the author of the novel on which the film Blade Runner was based. Inscribed by the author to award-winning science fiction writer Tim Powers. A fine copy and an excellent association -- Powers and Dick were very close during the last decade of Dick's life, even being roommates for a time, and Powers has, fittingly, twice won the science fiction award named after Dick -- the Philip K. Dick Award, given for the best science fiction novel published as a paperback original. Solar Lottery is an Ace Double, bound together with Leigh Brackett's The Big Jump.
65. DICK, Philip K. A Handful of Darkness. London: Rich & Cowan (1955). The first edition, a collection of stories, and Dick's first book to be published in a hardcover edition. This copy, in heavy orange boards, without dust jacket, is the copy that Dick's bibliographer saw and mentioned as either a later binding state or a privately rebound copy of the second state of the book. He suggested it was the latter, and we would concur. Inscribed by the author to Tim and Serena Powers: "To Tim & Serena/with love/ Philip K. Dick." An excellent association copy of Dick's rare first hardcover.
66. DICK, Philip K. The World Jones Made. NY: Ace (1956). The author's third book, a paperback original, being an Ace Double, with another novel bound back-to-back. This copy is near fine in wrappers and is inscribed by the author to Tim Powers, "my fellow novelist." Books signed by Dick are relatively uncommon; good association copies are rare. In addition, the Ace Doubles format are notoriously prone to wear, and this is a very nice example of one.
67. DICK, Philip K. The Cosmic Puppets. NY: Ace (1957). Paperback original, bound back-to-back with Sargasso of Space, by Andrew North [i.e., Andre Norton]. Small corner crease on rear cover, otherwise this is a very near fine in wrappers and exceptionally scarce thus. Inscribed by the author to Tim Powers: "To Tim -/ with affection/ Philip K. Dick."
68. DICK, Philip K. A Maze of Death. US: Bantam (1977). The second paperback reissue of this novel originally published in 1970. Inscribed by the author to Tim Powers, "the sex maniac of Orange County." Fine in wrappers.
69. DICK, Philip K. Confessions of a Crap Artist. (London): Magnum (1979). The first British edition, a paperback, of this mainstream novel that Dick wrote in 1959 but which was turned down for publication by Harcourt Brace, who asked him to rewrite it; it was first published in the U.S. by Entwhistle in 1975. The novel portrays the San Francisco of the Beat era, on the verge of entering the Sixties. Inscribed by the author to his best friend and fellow science fiction writer Tim Powers: "To Tim Powers -/ this is the only/ autographed UK/ edition copy/ Philip K. Dick." We do not know if it remains the only signed UK edition, but Dick died just three years later, and signed copies are likely to be uncommon. Pages slightly darkened with age, and bumped at the crown, but a near fine copy in wrappers. A remarkable rarity, perhaps unique, and an excellent association copy.
70. DICK, Philip K. The Golden Man. (NY): Berkley (1980). The uncorrected proof copy of this paperback original. A collection of stories that Dick helped select, and for which he wrote an introduction and "story notes." Inscribed by Dick to Tim Powers, with an inscription that satirizes the uncorrected proof state: Dick has misspelled both Powers' name ("Pouers," with the "u" struck and a "w" written above it) and his own (two "l"s in "Phillip," the latter crossed out). Near fine in spine-darkened wrappers. An extremely scarce proof: proofs are done in much smaller quantities for paperback novels than for hardcovers, generally; the ones that we have seen for which we have been able to get reasonably reliable numbers have been done in print runs of fewer than two dozen copies, and it's reasonable to suppose that this title conforms to that pattern; we have never seen another copy of this proof, let alone a signed one. And, again, an excellent association.
71. DICK, Philip K. Valis. NY: Bantam, 1981. The paperback original of what is widely considered Dick's masterpiece, and is certainly the most elaborate metaphysical construct in his fiction, much of which was concerned with the nature of being and of knowledge, and the world behind and beyond appearances. Inscribed by the author to Tim Powers: "To Tim and Serena with Love" in the year of publication and with a picture of a heart pierced by an arrow. Near fine in wrappers. One of the best possible copies of this book, perhaps the best, short of the dedication copy.
72. DICK, Philip K. Letter and Manuscript Archive 1964-1981. The archive of correspondence from Dick to Cynthia Goldstone, artist, long-time friend, and the dedicatee of Galactic Pot Healer. Including: eleven letters, six original poems, several photographs, 28 typed pages of others' poems (primarily those of James Stephens), a signed presentation copy of Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, and two pages of carbon typescript from the same novel.
The eleven letters (two autograph letters signed and nine typed letters signed, one with holograph marginal notations and doodles of religious imagery) comprise 18 pages of text and cover the years 1964 (4); 1965 (1); 1966 (1); 1967 (3); 1970 (1); and 1981 (1). Dick was as prolific a letter writer as he was a fiction writer, and the typed letters are single-spaced, densely written, running to upwards of 1000 words and touching on subjects ranging from the personal, to the literary, to business matters, to the philosophical. The main period covered by the correspondence, 1964-1970, coincides with the time during which he was writing many of his best and most ground-breaking science fiction novels, including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and others. In the body of work he produced during the 1960s, Dick showed a willingness to break the traditional rules of the science fiction genre and use his novels as a means of exploring not only the possibilities of outer space but those of inner space. Dick's sensitivity, especially to his own inner states -- which was both his curse as a person and his gift as a writer -- reveals itself abundantly in these letters. He writes of his depression and the fact that his anti-depressant pills aren't working, and he begins to show signs of the extreme mental duress that led to his nervous breakdown -- and the accompanying philosophical insights he felt it provided him -- in the early '70s. Throughout the letters there are insights into his novels. In one letter dated "January 3, 1960 something" [actually 1967], he writes "The war depresses me, too. I think we ought to get out of Viet Nam (I don't usually talk politics, but on this point I'm rabid). I wrote my feelings out in a recent Doubleday book of mine, called NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR, in which Earth is on the wrong side in an interstellar war, and is just beginning to realize it. Earth's political leader wants to get out, but how? ... I think you and Lou will both approve the underlying theme of the book: the horrid intimation of being involved on the wrong side in the wrong war..." Other letters are equally revealing, although more often in the personal realm than the political. In one, he writes "I think I would define reality -- my reality -- as everything and anything I feel strongly about... I mean toward lives and the needs and fears expressed in all the various lives, including those of animals. When I see some small bug making its way across the table I think to myself
Dick was one of the most important, highly praised science fiction writers of the modern era, winner of innumerable awards, and one of the primary motivators of the change in the science fiction genre away from space operas and little green men toward a field in which serious questions -- philosophical, psychological, epistemological and evolutionary -- about the human predicament could be addressed meaningfully. A major science fiction award is named after him, and abroad he is viewed as an important American "writer" -- genre qualifier not necessary -- in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. In David Pringle's book, Science Fiction - The 100 Best Novels, Dick is the only author with five entries and Pringle indicates that he could have added more but that "one has to draw the line somewhere." Terence McKenna, the late psychedelic advocate one publication called "the Copernicus of consciousness," believed that Dick's writings anticipated the current explorations into the nature of reality that are taking place in the realm of fractal mathematics and chaos theory; others have compared Dick's metaphysical excursions into the nature of reality to those of Borges and William S. Burroughs.
Together with a copy of Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Garden City: Doubleday, 1974), winner of the John W. Campbell Award for 1975 and nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. Inscribed by Dick to Lou and Cynthia Goldstone: "...with love to my/ friends whom I miss/ so much./ Philip K. Dick/ 1/27/74." (Reportedly, although Goldstone was the dedicatee of Galactic Pot Healer, Dick never inscribed a copy of that title to her.) Some light staining to boards and a slight tilt from reading; near fine in a very good dust jacket with several edge tears and a small chip at the spine base. The letters are folded for mailing, a few have a couple of light edge spots but are otherwise fine; all but one have the original mailing envelopes. A remarkable archive of unpublished writing by one of the most extraordinary writers of the second half of the twentieth century.
73. (DICK, Philip K.). LEVACK, Daniel J.H. PKD. A Philip K. Dick Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller, 1980. The uncorrected proof copy of this bibliography. Inscribed by Dick in 1981 to novelist Tim Powers and his wife, Serena, "my two best friends." Fine in a vinyl binder. The numbering of the items in this proof differs from that of the final published version. It is likely that only a very small handful were done, and this is an excellent association copy.
74. DILLEN, Frederick. Hero. South Royalton: Steerforth Press (1994). The author's first novel, warmly and lengthily inscribed by the author to Andre Dubus, who provides a jacket blurb. Dampstaining to lower cloth edges and verso of jacket there; about near fine in like jacket nicked at mid-spine.
75. DORN, Edward. Songs Set Two: A Short Count. (n.p.): Frontier Press, 1970. A collection of poetry, designed and printed by Graham Mackintosh and only issued in wrappers. This copy inscribed by the author to Clayton [Estleman] in the year of publication. A nice association between two of the poets who were among the most influential of the younger generation of writers coming of age in the 1960s. Fine in wrappers.
76. DRURY, Tom. The End of Vandalism. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Drury's first book, which won him recognition as one of Granta's top 20 young American novelists. Inscribed by the author to Annie Dillard, who provides a jacket blurb on the rear panel. Near fine (read) in a near fine dust jacket, with a "Compliments of the Author" card laid in as a bookmark.
77. DUBIE, Norman. The Springhouse. NY: Norton (1986). The simultaneous issue in wrappers of this collection of poems by an award-winning poet, recipient of both an NEA Fellowship and a Guggenheim. Inscribed by the author to the poet Ai in 1988 "with affection and respect for the work." Fine.
78. DUBIE, Norman. Radio Sky. NY: Norton (1991). Signed by the author and additionally inscribed in the year of publication to Ai, who has made a number of marginal markings on the contents page; else fine in a fine dust jacket. A good association copy.
79. DUBUS, Andre. We Don't Live Here Anymore. NY: Crown (1984). A collection of his novellas, all of which had been previously published in other collections together with short stories. Only issued in wrappers in this country. Inscribed by the author to novelist Jay Neugeboren in 1985. Spine slightly slanted from reading but still a near fine copy.