Catalog 123, M-N
304. MAIRS, Nancy. Plain Text. Tucson: University of Arizona Press (1986). A collection of essays by an award-winning poet who suffers from multiple sclerosis and agoraphobia and who writes on literary, personal and social issues. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
305. MANN, Thomas. Herr und Hund. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag, 1919. The first trade edition: two stories by the Nobel Prize-winning author of Death in Venice and Buddenbrooks, among many others. Owner name front flyleaf; some acidifying to page edges; mild spine-fading; still about near fine, without dust jacket.
306. MANN, Thomas. Der Betrogene. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag, 1953. The first trade edition of this novella, which was translated into English the following year as "The Black Swan." There was also a limited, numbered edition. A fine copy in a very good dust jacket with several small edge chips.
307. (MANN, Thomas). The Stature of Thomas Mann. (NY): New Directions (1947). Edited by Charles Neider. With essays by Conrad Aiken, Lewis Mumford, J.B. Priestley, Andre Gide, Gabriela Mistral, and many others. Near fine in a very good, spine and edge-sunned dust jacket with modest edge wear.
308. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: Viking (1983). Matthiessen's controversial and suppressed book on the conflict between agents of the federal government and members of the radical American Indian Movement in the 1970s, which culminated in a gun battle that left two FBI agents and one Indian dead. Matthiessen argues that the conviction of Leonard Peltier for the agents' death was a miscarriage of justice. His book was the subject of two lawsuits -- by one of the FBI agents involved in the case and by the former governor of South Dakota -- which effectively suppressed it for nearly a decade. A Supreme Court ruling declining to hear the case after an appeals court had thrown out the suits on the basis of First Amendment considerations finally allowed the book to be reprinted after nine years of litigation and untold millions of dollars in legal expenses -- a harrowing experience for the author, his publishers and (one assumes) their insurers; and a sobering example of how a legal case can effectively suppress a publication even if the case is finally deemed to be without merit: Matthiessen's book was effectively removed from its target audience for the crucial window of time during which it was most relevant (and agitation on Peltier's behalf might have had the best chance for success). A landmark of literary history and First Amendment tests. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
309. McCLURE, Michael and CONNER, Bruce. [Mandalas]. San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1966. Square quarto with text by McClure and mandalas by Conner. Corner creases to rear cover and some small faint patches of soiling (paint?) there as well as along bottom edge; still about near fine in stapled wrappers.
310. McELROY, Colleen J. Music from Home. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (1976). The second collection by this African-American poet and the first book in the Sagittarius Poetry Series, which was designed to publish "outstanding but commercially ‘awkward' volumes" of poetry. Warmly inscribed by the author to another poet and his wife in 1977. Fine in a spine- and edge-sunned, near fine dust jacket. Preface by John Gardner.
311. McELROY, Joseph. A Smuggler's Bible. NY: Harcourt Brace World (1966). The uncorrected proof copy of his uncommon first book. According to the author, about 200 copies of this advance copy were produced (although we have seen enough copies that we would have suspected the number was higher). Signed by the author. Spine-darkened; cover creased; very good in wrappers. Uncommon signed.
312. McELROY, Joseph. Women and Men. NY: Knopf, 1987. The uncorrected proof copy of his magnum opus, a highly praised novel so massive the proof is published in two volumes. Fine in wrappers with publicity information laid in.
313. -. Same title, the limited edition. (n.p.): Ultramarine, 1987. One of 99 numbered copies signed by the author. Quarterbound in leather and paste paper boards, using the publisher's first edition sheets. Fine.
314. McEWAN, Ian. The Cement Garden. NY: Simon & Schuster (1978). The first American edition, and the true first edition, of the third book and first novel by the Booker Prize winning author of Amsterdam. A couple page corners turned; trace wear to tips; very near fine in a near fine dust jacket with several short edge tears. A John Irving blurb on the rear panel compares the book to The Lord of the Flies, though "more loving."
315. McGUANE, Thomas. Nobody's Angel. NY: Random House (1982). The surprisingly uncommon hardcover edition of this novel of the contemporary West. Unlike McGuane's earlier books, this title was published simultaneously in a hardcover edition and a trade paperback. The paperback seems to have had a considerably larger printing and gotten much wider distribution. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight upper corner bumps.
316. McINERNEY, Jay. Bright Lights, Big City. NY: Vintage Contemporaries (1984). The uncorrected proof copy of his first book, published as a paperback original in the fledgling Vintage Contemporaries series of literary reprints and originals. This proof reproduces compositor's notes and a few final (mostly typographical) changes to the text. In our experience, proof copies from the Vintage Contemporaries series are quite scarce: few seem to have been done. This novel launched the "Brat Pack" writers of the 1980s. Very near fine in wrappers.
317. -. Same title, the first British and first hardcover edition. London: Cape (1985). Fine in a fine dust jacket, with the price clipped and replaced with a price sticker.
318. McKILLIP, Patricia. The Throme of the Erril of Sherill. NY: Atheneum, 1973. The second book, published the same year as her first, by one of the most highly acclaimed fantasy novelists of her time. Owner name on flyleaf; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight wear at the top edge.
319. McKILLIP, Patricia. The Riddle-Master of Hed. NY: Atheneum, 1976. The first volume in her acclaimed trilogy, the Chronicles of Morgon -- later more commonly known as the "Riddlemaster" trilogy. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
320. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Sidgwick & Jackson (1979). Fine in a fine dust jacket. This edition has the dedication page of the American edition of Harpist in the Wind.
321. McKILLIP, Patricia. Heir of Sea and Fire. NY: Atheneum, 1977. The second book in the Riddlemaster trilogy. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
322. McKILLIP, Patricia. Harpist in the Wind. NY: Atheneum, 1979. The third book in the Riddlemaster trilogy, winner of the 1980 Locus Award for best fantasy novel of the year. Bound in blue cloth. Fine in a fine, first issue dust jacket, without the Argo designation on the spine.
323. -. Another copy. Signed by the author. Bound in green cloth. Fine in a fine, second issue dust jacket with "an argo book" printed above "Atheneum" on the spine.
324. McMILLAN, Terry. Waiting to Exhale. (n.p.): Viking (1992). The advance reading copy of the third book by this bestselling African-American author. Fine in wrappers.
325. McPHEE, John. The Headmaster. NY: FSG (1966). McPhee's second book, a portrait of Frank L. Boyden, the longtime Headmaster of Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where McPhee was a student during Boyden's tenure. McPhee's nonfiction, which mostly appeared in long "Profiles" in The New Yorker, helped define the category of "literary nonfiction" in the late 1960s and 1970s. Faint foredge foxing; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with very shallow chipping and faint dampstaining to the edges.
326. McPHEE, John. Giving Good Weight. NY: FSG (1979). A collection of essays and articles from The New Yorker, one of which -- a profile of an anonymous, but purportedly excellent, restaurateur -- created controversy when the subject of the article speculated that a prominent New York restaurant used frozen fish for one of its plates. Heated denials and threats of libel suits followed, and McPhee issued a retraction in a later issue -- the first time such a thing had happened in the New Yorker's history. In the book, the offending passage is footnoted, along with a disclaimer. Signed by the author. Foxing to endpages; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with light shelf wear.
327. McPHERSON, Sandra. Radiation. NY: Ecco Press (1973). The second book by this award-winning poet, this being the hardcover issue. Inscribed by the author to another poet and his wife in 1974 "with love, thanks,/ and good memories." Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
328. MILLER, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. NY: Viking Press (1981). A limited illustrated edition, issued more than three decades after the first edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the author. With photographs from five major stage productions of the play. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Clothbound; top edge gilt; fine in a fine slipcase.
329. MILLER, Henry. Tropic of Capricorn. Paris: Obelisk Press [1945]. The third edition, the second Obelisk Press edition, and the first post-war edition of Miller's fourth full-length book, the companion volume to his first, Tropic of Cancer. Printed from the sheets of the 1939 edition but using cheaper paper. Errata sheet tipped to title page. Rear cover detaching; a very good copy in dull red wrappers.
330. -. Same title, the second American edition, first Grove Press edition, twenty-fourth edition overall. NY: Grove Press, 1961 [1962]. Fine in a very good, spine-faded, lightly rubbed dust jacket with a short gutter tear on the front panel.
331. MILLER, Henry. Tropic of Cancer. NY: Grove Press (1961). The first authorized American edition of Miller's controversial first book, originally published in Paris in the 1930s and preceded in the U.S. only by the Medvsa piracy of 1940. Droplets to top stain; fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
332. (MILLER, Henry). SEFERIS, George. George Seferis to Henry Miller. Two Letters from Greece. New Haven & Athens: Pharos, 1990. Quarto. One of 750 copies reproducing, in facsimile and in printed transcription, two letters from Seferis to Miller from 1940. Fine in stapled wrappers.
333. MOMADAY, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. NY: Harper & Row (1968). A publicity copy of one of the most acclaimed American Indian novels ever written, and the first modern Indian novel to attempt to fuse a fully conscious political awareness with an appreciation of the transcendent value, the "order and beauty," as Momaday writes, of the Native American culture and worldview. Signed by the author in 1969. This copy was sent out after publication, and after the book won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, to the San Francisco Library to encourage an interview. A letter to that effect is laid in, along with a pre-publication author fact sheet. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with trace wear at the top edge.
334. MORRISON, Toni. Beloved. NY: Knopf, 1987. Two states of the uncorrected proof copy of the Nobel Prize-winning author's fifth novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The two states are differentiated by the size and by the spine lettering: on the smaller proof (5 3/16" x 8 3/16"), "Morrison" is in all caps and "Beloved" takes less than 1 1/4" on the spine; on the larger proof (5 3/8" x 8 3/8"), the type style and scale correspond to that of the title page, with "Beloved" taking up 2 1/4" of the spine. The latter copy has a touch of staining at the spine base; otherwise both copies are fine in wrappers.
335. MORRISON, Toni. Playing in the Dark. Cambridge: Harvard U. Press, 1992. A book of literary criticism on the subject of race, subtitled "Whiteness and the Literary Imagination." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
336. MOSS, Stanley. Skull of Adam. NY: Horizon Press, 1979. A collection of poetry. Inscribed by the author to another poet and his wife. This is the hardcover issue. Flyleaf adhered to first blank; else fine in a near fine, rubbed dust jacket.
337. MURDOCH, Iris. The Time of the Angels. NY: Viking Press (1966). A review copy of the first American edition. Fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with slight wear at the crown, with review slip laid in giving publication date and an earlier price (changed by hand).
338. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Despair. NY: Putnam (1966). A review copy of the first American edition. A few small spots on lower edges of pages, otherwise fine in a faintly spine-darkened first issue dust jacket with light wear to the extremities; about near fine. With review slip and promotional material laid in.
339. NAIPAUL, V.S. A Flag on the Island. NY: Macmillan (1967)[actually 1968]. The first American edition of this collection of eleven stories set in England, India and the West Indies. By the recent winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
340. NAIPAUL, V.S. Guerrillas. (London): Deutsch (1975). A novel that The New York Times Book Review called the best novel of the year. Small sticker shadow front pastedown; else fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
341. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Knopf, 1975. Remainder stamp; scrape to rear board; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
342. NEWTON, Huey P. Revolutionary Suicide. NY: HBJ (1973). The autobiography of the Black Panther leader, one of the key figures in the Black Power movement of the 1960s. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with one tear at the upper edge of the rear panel.
343. NIN, Anaïs. Solar Barque. (n.p.): (Edwards Brothers) (1958). The first edition of this uncommon small volume, later included in Cities of the Interior. Small stains to foredge and front cover; still about near fine in wrappers.
344. NIN, Anaïs. Henry and June. San Diego: HBJ (1986). The first trade edition, fine in a fine dust jacket; together with the advance reading copy, fine in wrappers; and the uncorrected proof, also fine in wrappers. Selections from the unexpurgated Nin diaries, and later the basis for a movie.
345. NORTON, Andre. Shadow Hawk. NY: Harcourt, Brace (1960). A young adult novel, written by a woman who is considered the Grande Dame of science fiction writers and was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy Award and the Nebula Grand Master Award. Born Alice Mary Norton, she adopted the pen name Andre and later changed her name legally in order to have a better chance of penetrating a male-dominated market. She went on to become one of the bestselling fantasy authors of all time, and her Witch World series is considered a classic of modern fantasy. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and uncommon thus.