Catalog 121, A
2. ABBEY, Edward. Good News. NY: Dutton (1980). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel, a post-apocalyptic vision of the West. Inscribed by the author in November, 1988. Near fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof, rare signed.
3. ABBEY, Edward. The Fool's Progress. NY: Holt (1988). His last novel to be published in his lifetime. Inscribed by Abbey in the month after publication: "To ___ & ____/ -- carry on!/ Edward Abbey/ Santa Fe/ 11/26/88." Very slight bowing to boards; else fine in a fine dust jacket. The book was published in October 1988 and Abbey died the following March, so there was a very small window of time during which he could sign copies of this title. This inscription, with its exhortation to "carry on!," is classic Abbey.
4. ABBEY, Edward. Hayduke Lives! Boston: Little, Brown (1989/1990). The uncorrected proof copy of the posthumously published sequel to the author's masterwork, The Monkey Wrench Gang. The dedication page of the novel, which Abbey wrote when he knew he had only a short time left to live, is a lengthy retrospective and farewell to many of Abbey's friends and colleagues, and is quite touching as such. One set of staple holes to the front cover otherwise a fine copy in wrappers.
5. (ABBEY, Edward). Resist Much, Obey Little. Some Notes on Edward Abbey. Salt Lake City: Dream Garden, 1985. A collection of essays about Abbey by such writers as Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Gary Snyder, William Eastlake, and others. This is the scarce hardcover edition, and reportedly one of only 100 copies to be issued in dust jacket; the rest of the hardcovers were issued unjacketed. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
6. (ABBEY, Edward). Kirk Douglas Writes to Gary Cooper. Santa Barbara: Santa Teresa Press, 1992. One of 500 copies of this pamphlet issued as a holiday greeting in 1992 and never formally offered for sale. A humorous but powerful letter written in May, 1961, in which Douglas, who starred in the film adaptation of Abbey's The Brave Cowboy, expresses mock dismay and chagrin at the fact that Cooper "should" have been the star of a movie originally to have been called "The Last Hero." He tells Cooper that the way he recognized Abbey when they first met was that, of all the people getting off the plane, Abbey was the one who looked like Gary Cooper -- and he even talked like Cooper. And he recounts that his director's first, and only, instructions regarding Douglas' character were to "just try and play this the way Gary Cooper would." Douglas contributes a short afterword to this little edition, remarking on both Cooper and Abbey. Fine in original envelope.
7. (ABBEY, Edward). BISHOP, James, Jr. Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist. NY: Atheneum (1994). The first biography of Abbey, although unlikely to be the last. With an epilogue by Charles Bowden, whose own hard-hitting and uncompromising writing is very much in the tradition of Abbey's. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
8. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Some rippling to upper edges of the last few pages; near fine in wrappers.
9. ALLISON, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina. (NY): Dutton (1992). Her first book published by a major publisher and her first novel, in part an unflinching account of a daughter's relationship to her mother in the face of abuse by her stepfather. A finalist for the National Book Award, reprinted numerous times and uncommon in the first printing. Signed by the author. Slight soiling to lower board edges; near fine in a fine dust jacket.
10. ANDERSON, Kent. Sympathy for the Devil. Garden City: Doubleday, 1987. The well-received first novel by the author of the highly acclaimed Night Dogs. A powerful and well-written novel about the Special Forces in Vietnam, with whom the author served, which confronts the violence of the war head-on and explores an individual's capacity for tolerating and committing brutality that in any other context would be unthinkable and inhuman. One of the best novels of the war in its lucid portrayal of the devastating effects of the war on even so elite a group as this and, as such, a powerful antiwar statement without the usual postures and attitudes that are normally associated with an antiwar message. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
11. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Shot from typescript, reproducing numerous holograph corrections and including several dramatic scenes that were deleted from the final published version. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
12. ANTRIM, Donald. Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World. (n.p.): Viking (1993). The uncorrected proof copy of his first novel, which received considerable praise and helped get him selected as one of The New Yorker magazine's "20 best young American writers." Fine in wrappers.
13. -. Another copy. Dusty, with a couple corner punctures on the rear cover; very good in wrappers.
14. ASHBERY, John and SCHUYLER, James. A Nest of Ninnies. NY: Dutton, 1969. Collaborative satiric novel by these two award-winning poets. This copy is inscribed by Ashbery and Schuyler to poet and art critic John Perreault "with our best!" A very nice association copy. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
15. ASHBERY, John. Three Poems. NY: Viking (1972). The hardcover issue of this important volume of three long interconnected prose poems, widely considered something of a modern masterpiece. Modest dampstaining at spine base; near fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket.