Catalog 115, C
52. CALVINO, Italo. Cosmicomics. London: Jonathan Cape (1969). The first British edition and the first edition in English of this novel by the Italian novelist and fabulist, who has been compared to such luminaries as Borges and Joyce. Near fine in a very good, foxed dust jacket. Uncommon.
53. CALVINO, Italo. Italian Folk Tales. (London): J.M. Dent (1975). The first British edition of this collection of tales with colorful illustrations by Emenuele Luzzati. Fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket.
54. CALVINO, Italo. The Castle of Crossed Destinies. London: Secker & Warburg (1977). The first British edition and the first edition in English. A novel that takes its structure from a deck of Tarot cards, and is illustrated with color plates and black and white line drawings of the cards from a medieval Tarot deck. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
55. CALVINO, Italo. Italian Folk Tales. NY: HBJ (1980). A larger collection than that published in London in 1975 with the same title. Mild foredge foxing; else fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
56. CALVINO, Italo. If On A Winter's Night A Traveller. London: Secker & Warburg (1981). The first British edition and first edition in English. Fine in a near fine, mildly spine-faded dust jacket.
57. CALVINO, Italo. Marcovaldo. London: Secker & Warburg (1983). A review copy of the first British edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
58. CALVINO, Italo. Adam, One Afternoon. London: Secker & Warburg (1983). The first printing of the reissue of this collection of stories, originally published in 1957. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
59. CALVINO, Italo. Difficult Loves. London: Secker & Warburg (1983). The first British edition. Fine in a heavily spine-sunned, near fine dust jacket.
60. CALVINO, Italo. Mr Palomar. London: Secker & Warburg (1985). The first British edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
61. CALVINO, Italo. Sotto Il Sole Giaguaro. (Milan): Garzanti (1986). First edition, in Italian. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
62. CALVINO, Italo. The Literature Machine. London: Secker & Warburg (1987). Essays and interviews. The first British edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
63. CALVINO, Italo. Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1988). The text of Calvino's Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, 1985-1986, published posthumously, as Calvino died before he could deliver the lectures. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
64. -. Same title. London: Jonathan Cape (1992). The first British edition. Fine in wrappers and dust jacket.
65. CALVINO, Italo. Under the Jaguar Sun. London: Jonathan Cape (1992). A posthumously published collection of stories. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
66. CALVINO, Italo. The Road to San Giovanni. London: Jonathan Cape (1993). The first British edition of this collection of five reminiscences. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
67. CALVINO, Italo. The Path to the Nest of Spiders. London: Cape (1998). The first printing of the reissue of his first book, newly translated incorporating revisions Calvino had made to the original text. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
68. CALVINO, Italo. Why Read the Classics? London: Jonathan Cape (1999). The first British edition of this collection of 36 essays on the writers, poets and scientists whom Calvino considered "classics." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
69. CARVER, Raymond. Put Yourself in My Shoes. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1974. Carver's first book of fiction, a single short story published in the Capra Chapbooks series in an edition of only 500 copies, according to William Stull's checklist. "Put Yourself in My Shoes" was later included in Carver's first story collection, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? This is a fine copy of the issue in wrappers, signed by the author.
70. CARVER, Raymond. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. NY: Knopf, 1981. The uncorrected proof of Carver's second major story collection, and his first significant commercial success. This was his first book to be published by Knopf, the preeminent literary publisher in the U.S., and was also his first to go back to press: it received excellent reviews, including a front-page review in The New York Times Book Review, and went through four printings soon after publication. Carver relentlessly revised and refined his vision and his expression, and these stories reflect that: two of them were included in the earlier, small-press collection, Furious Seasons and Other Stories, but here appear in substantially different form, including one having been re-titled. In a later interview Carver recalled that, at this point in his writing career he was continually paring away the excess in his already-spare stories, whittling them down closer to the essence. The later, retrospective collection Fires contains earlier versions of three of the stories in this collection, showing the process of revision and Carver's literary development. An important proof, which reproduces numerous holograph changes in Carver's hand, including deletions, additions (sometimes whole phrases and sentences) and character name changes, among others. A remarkable glimpse of the work-in-progress, even after the proofs had been typeset. Signed by the author on the title page. Fine in wrappers, with a xeroxed sheet of advance quotes laid in.
71. CARVER, Raymond. Where I'm Calling From. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1988. The correct first edition of this title, preceding the trade edition. Leatherbound; page edges gilt; with a silk ribbon marker bound in. An attractive edition in the Franklin Library's "Signed First Edition" series, with an interesting introduction by Carver which does not appear anywhere else. Signed by the author. Because Carver died shortly after the publication of this collection, signed copies of this title are uncommon, other than the Franklin Library edition. Carver prepared this volume knowing that he was dying of lung cancer, and many of these stories, although they had been published previously, were revised for this edition and stand as his definitive versions of them. Fine.
72. CARVER, Raymond. Call If You Need Me. NY: Vintage (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of previously uncollected fiction and other prose. Edited by William Stull and with an introduction by Tess Gallagher. Fine in wrappers.
73. CHATWIN, Bruce. The Songlines. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1986. The correct first American edition, published by the Franklin Library for subscribers as part of their Signed First Editions series. An attractively designed book, in black leather stamped in brown and gold, in a pattern suggestive of the Australian aborigines' "songlines" that give the book its title. With a special introduction for this edition, which does not appear anywhere else. Signed by the author. Chatwin's signature is uncommon; reclusive while alive, he died three years after the publication of this book, at the age of 49. Fine.
74. CHEVALIER, Tracy. Girl with a Pearl Earring. (NY): Dutton (2000). The uncorrected proof copy of this well-received novel based on the subject of the Vermeer painting of the same name. Fine in plain printed wrappers with publicity postcard laid in.
75. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Fine in illustrated wrappers.
76. CLARKE, Arthur C. 2001: A Space Odyssey. (NY): New American Library (1968). The novel based on the screenplay of the classic film by Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. Signed by Clarke on a bookplate dated 1-1-85. Small bookstore stamp front flyleaf; very slight bumping to corners; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a bit of wear near the crown and a crease on the front flap. A landmark movie and an uncommon book in the first edition.
77. COETZEE, J.M. Life & Times of Michael K. NY: Viking (1984). The first American edition of the first of Coetzee's books to win the Booker Prize. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
78. COETZEE, J.M. Disgrace. London: Secker & Warburg (1999). The South African author's second Booker Prize-winning novel. This is the first issue, printed by Biddles, in a first issue dust jacket (without the Booker Prize notation). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
79. CONRAD, Joseph. One Day More. Garden City: Doubleday Page, 1920. A limited edition of this play, which was adapted from the story "To-Morrow," which appeared in Typhoon and Other Stories, published in 1903. One of 377 numbered copies signed by the author. Slightly spine-sunned; else fine, without dust jacket.
80. CROWLEY, Aleister. Moonchild. London: Mandrake Press, 1929. A novel by the occultist, which is in part a roman a clef -- with various of Crowley's contemporaries and acquaintances appearing in thinly disguised characters: William Butler Yeats as "Gates," for example, and Arthur Edward Waite as "Edwin Arthwait." In addition, Crowley uses the novel form as a vehicle for the exposition of his esoteric philosophy -- he was the head of an occult society at the time and the novel describes an ongoing magical war between a white lodge and a black lodge -- and as an account of a magical operation involving the creation of a Homunculus, or Magical Child, through the harnessing of spiritual powers derived from the Sun and Moon, incarnating a human being conceived without sex. One of Crowley's protégés later attempted to perform this magical ritual to create a homunculus, in an experiment done in 1947, the year Crowley died. Crowley reportedly feared that his protégé might actually succeed in tapping into forces much larger and more powerful than he realized, and unleash great harm on the world. The protégé, Jack Parsons -- a rocket scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories during World War II -- worked on the experiment with L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, and was later killed in a mysterious explosion in his laboratory which speculation over the years has suggested was related to his continuing attempt to perform the homunculus operation and invoke the powers that Crowley describes in this volume. Faint offsetting from the jacket flaps on the endpages; otherwise a fine copy in a near fine, strikingly illustrated dust jacket with a couple closed edge tears. A very scarce book in the first edition, especially in dust jacket.
81. CROWLEY, John. Little, Big. London: Gollancz, 1982. The first British edition and also the first hardcover edition of his fourth book, winner of the World Fantasy Award and a landmark of contemporary fantasy. Ursula Le Guin commented that this book, all by itself, calls for a redefinition of the fantasy genre. Mixing magic, myth and fairy tale with a plausible contemporary story, Crowley goes a step beyond "magical realism" into a realm that could be characterized as the obverse: a realistic take on magic. Because there was a simultaneous softcover issue, the hardcover printing was small, reported at various times as 300, 600, or 900 copies. Trace foxing to top edge; still a fine copy in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a bit of creasing at mid spine. Quite scarce.
82. CROWLEY, John. Aegypt. NY: Bantam (1987). A review copy of his fifth novel, and the first book in a projected and ambitious tetralogy, which continues with Love and Sleep and Daemonomania. A finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Crowley calls upon the historical figures of John Dee and Giordano Bruno, Renaissance alchemists, among others, to make the case that there is more than one history of the world. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small white spot to front panel. Publicity info and author photo laid in.
83. CROWLEY, John. Novelty. NY: Doubleday (1989). The uncommon hardcover edition of this collection of four long stories, including the award-winning "Great Work of Time." Finalist for the 1990 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
84. CUMMINGS, E.E. Xaipe. Seventy-One Poems. NY: Oxford University Press (1950). Inscribed by the author: "for David Diamond/ from the author & Marion/ March 21, 1950." Diamond, a student of Stravinsky and one of the most honored American composers of the 20th century, began his career in the spring of 1936 with a commission to compose the music for the ballet TOM -- a scenario by E.E. Cummings based on Uncle Tom's Cabin. Two notes in text, presumably in Diamond's hand: one translates the title (Rejoice); the other adds "Paul Rosenfeld" over the poem "o." Rosenfeld was a music critic for The Dial from 1920-1927; he died in 1946. Rear flap previously taped to pastedown; else a fine copy in a fine dust jacket with a small shadow on the lower front cover. An outstanding association between one of the most important American poets of the 20th century and one of the country's greatest composers.
85. CUMMINGS, E.E. Calchidas. Undated. An ink drawing of an inhabited seaside mountain, pictured in Cummings' CIOPW. On the verso are approximately 70 words in Cummings' hand, beginning "What am I doing on top of this hill at Calchidas, in the sunlight?" and describing the scene. At first glance, stream-of-consciousness description, but with more than a dozen revisions of text. 7 3/4" x 5". Edges and corners very fragile; near fine.