Catalog 124, A-B
2. ABBEY, Edward. The Fool's Progress. NY: Holt (1988). His last novel to be published in his lifetime. Fine in a fine first issue dust jacket ("mist" for "myth" on front flap) with a corner crease on the rear flap.
3. ACKROYD, Peter. Dickens. (London): Sinclair-Stevenson (1990). A massive biography of Dickens (1100+ pages) by the Booker Prize-winning novelist. This is the limited edition, one of 150 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in slightly wrinkled glassine dustwrapper.
4. -. Same title. An advance reading excerpt. Fine in stapled wrappers.
5. ALLEN, Woody. Getting Even. NY: Random House (1971). His first collection, containing unpublished and published pieces, the latter primarily from The New Yorker. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with fading to the spine lettering.
6. ALLEN, Woody. Without Feathers. NY: Random House (1975). His second collection, and fourth book overall. Again, many of these pieces originally appeared in The New Yorker. Near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
7. ALLEN, Woody. Side Effects. NY: Random House (1980). Another collection of comic stories. Mild edge-sunning; else fine in a similar dust jacket.
8. ALLEN, Woody. The Floating Light Bulb. NY: Random House (1982). Allen's third play. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a shallow vertical crease on the front panel.
9. (Anthology). People, Books & Book People. NY: Harmony (1981). The hardcover issue of this collection of David W. McCullough's short pieces from the "Book-of-the-Month Club News." Interviews with John Updike, John McPhee, John Fowles, John Gardner, William Maxwell, Leslie Marmon Silko, Larry McMurtry, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Bishop, Allen Ginsberg, and many, many others. Fine in a fine dust jacket. An edition of this book was issued by BOMC, and the trade edition was published simultaneously in hardcover and softcover. This, the hardcover trade edition, is quite uncommon, and most or all of these interview-essays have not been reprinted elsewhere.
10. ASIMOV, Isaac. The Currents of Space. Garden City: Doubleday, 1952. The third of Asimov's Empire novels, which began with Pebbles in the Sky and continued with The Stars, Like Dust -- . An early novel by a prolific author who, by the time he died in 1992, had written over 300 books and won virtually every award given in the science fiction field. Faint spotting to extreme top page edges; else fine in a very good, mildly rubbed dust jacket with one creased edge tear.
11. AUBERT, Rosemary. Free Reign. Bridgehampton: Bridge Works Publishing (1997). The author's first book, a highly praised mystery that was published by a small publishing house and had a small first printing. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with an Arthur Ellis Award-Winning Author sticker.
12. AUBERT, Rosemary. The Feast of Stephen. Bridgehampton: Bridge Works (1999). Her second book which, like her first, features Ellis Portal, a disgraced former judge. Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award given by the Canadian Crime Writers for best novel of 1999. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
13. AUSTER, Paul. Facing the Music. (Barrytown): Station Hill (1980). A small, early collection of poetry. One of 1000 copies, 43 of which were numbered and signed. This copy is unnumbered and unsigned. Fine in stapled wrappers.
14. AUSTER, Paul. The Invention of Solitude. NY: Sun, 1982. His first full-length work of prose, an experiment in autobiography. The author has since written numerous well-received and award-winning novels. Only published in wrappers. Fine.
15. AUSTER, Paul. In the Country of Last Things. (NY): Viking (1987). A novel, his first to be published by a major publisher, after the surprising success of the New York Trilogy, and the even more surprising nomination for an Edgar Award that the first volume of the trilogy garnered (the Edgar is given by the Mystery Writers of America for the best mystery novel published each year -- Auster's cerebral fiction being an unlikely candidate for such a genre award). Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a small lamination crease on the rear spine fold.
16. AUSTER, Paul. Disappearances. Woodstock: Overlook Press (1988). A selection of Auster's poetry, from his small press publications of the 1970s. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
17. AUSTER, Paul. The New York Trilogy. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press (1994). First thus, the combined edition of City of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room. One of 200 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Quite uncommon now.
18. AUSTER, Paul. The Red Notebook and Other Writings. London: Faber and Faber (1995). First thus. Expands on the 1992 edition of The Art of Hunger by including A Prayer for Salman Rushdie. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A surprisingly uncommon title.
19. AUSTER, Paul. Translations. NY: Marsilio Publishers/EW Books (1997). First thus, a compilation of four works translated by Auster: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Phillipe Petit's On the High Wire, Andre Du Bouchet's The Uninhabited and Stéphane Mallarmé's A Tomb for Anatole, which was revised for this edition. With an original introduction by Auster. Front cover splayed; else fine in wrappers.
20. AUSTER, Paul. Paul Auster's New York. NY: Henry Holt (1997). A keepsake edition produced by Holt, featuring excerpts of Auster's writings on New York, with photographs by Frieder Blickle. Never formally issued for sale. Fine in illustrated boards and without dust jacket, as issued.
21. BAKER, Nicholson. Double Fold. NY: Random House (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of Baker's controversial book subtitled "Libraries and the Assault on Paper," which caused considerable stir when portions of it were published in The New Yorker and even more when the entire book was published. The book is a polemic arguing against the destruction of paper by libraries, which favor microfiching and digitization, and the author uses a number of astonishing examples to make his case. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Fine in wrappers.
22. BALDWIN, James. Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone. NY: Dial Press (1968). His fourth novel. Signed by the author. Laid in is a program for the presentation of the Rochester Literary Award to Baldwin on November 19, 1986. Offsetting to front endpages from the program; offsetting to pages 372-373 from a review; near fine in a very slightly spine-tanned dust jacket.
23. BARKWORTH, S. The Nijmegen Proof. Philadelphia: Holmes Publishing, 1988. A pseudonymously published bibliomystery, written by rare book dealer Arthur Freeman. One of 650 copies signed by the author as "S. Barkworth." Incidental foredge stripe; still fine in a fine dust jacket.
24. BARNES, Djuna. Vagaries Malicieux. NY: Hallman, 1974. An attractive limited edition printing two stories: the title story and "Run, Girls, Run!" One of 500 numbered copies. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
25. BARNES, Djuna. Greenwich Village As It Is. NY: Phoenix Bookshop, 1978. One of 300 numbered copies of this little volume that prints an article Barnes wrote in 1916 for Pearson's Magazine. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
26. BARNES, Linda. A Trouble of Fools. NY: St. Martin's (1987). The first Carlota Carlyle mystery. Inscribed by the author in 1988, "with criminal intent." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
27. BARR, Nevada. A Superior Death. NY: Putnam (1994). The third book in the acclaimed mystery series featuring Anna Pigeon. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
28. BASBANES, Nicholas. Among the Gently Mad. NY: Henry Holt (2002). The latest book to chronicle the world of rare books and book collecting, by the author of A Gentle Madness and Patience & Fortitude. Subtitled "Perspectives and Strategies for the Book Hunter in the Twenty-first Century," the book contains numerous anecdotes but is at the same time more of a guide to navigating the contemporary rare book world than his earlier volumes were. As such, it is truly the first guide to book collecting for the 21st century, and the first to take note of, and attempt to put into context, the impact of the internet on book collecting, and collecting in all fields. An interesting Appendix shows the change in values of certain books from 1980 to the present, as well as a selected bibliography. Signed by the author. Mr. Basbanes attended the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, where we were exhibiting, and kindly consented to sign a number of copies of his book as a benefit for the ABAA Benevolent Fund. We figure one good turn deserves another, and will follow Mr. Basbanes' example and donate our profits from the sale of this title to the ABAA's Benevolent Fund -- a fund set up to aid booksellers in need, whether ABAA members or not. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
29. BEATTIE, Ann. Jacklighting. Worcester: Metacom Press, 1981. The first separate appearance of this short story, which first appeared in Antaeus. Of a total edition of 276 copies, this is one of 250 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in saddle-stitched wrappers, with prospectus laid in, along with a letter from the publisher to the original owner defining the meaning and the imagery associated with the title.
30. BISHOP, Elizabeth. Poems: North and South - A Cold Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955. Her second book, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This is the correct first printing, with 1955 on the title page, one of 2000 copies. Inscribed by the author to the poet John Holmes: "Let me congratulate you on your book plate! With all best wishes, Elizabeth Bishop/ June 7th, 1957." Holmes's attractive woodcut bookplate is on the front pastedown. A very nice association: books signed by Bishop are very scarce, and association copies even more so. Holmes was a poet himself and the author of two books about poetry, but was most famous as a teacher and mentor to a whole group of poets in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area where his poetry workshops included such students as Maxine Kumin and Anne Sexton, themselves both later winners of the Pulitzer Prize. Offsetting to endpages and light wear to board edges; near fine in a good, heavily edge-chipped dust jacket.
31. BLATTY, William Peter. The Exorcist. NY: Harper & Row (1971). A bit of spotting to the top edge; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with slight edge wear including one very shallow chip to the top edge of the front panel.
32. BOWLES, Paul. Things Gone and Things Still Here. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1977. A collection of short stories by the author of The Sheltering Sky and The Delicate Prey, among others. One of 250 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in acetate dust jacket.
33. (BOWLES, Paul). CHARHADI, Driss ben Hamed. A Life Full of Holes. NY: Grove (1964). A novel recorded on tape recorder by Bowles and then translated by him -- the first of his translations from the Moghrebi. Contemporary owner signature of Boston Globe columnist George Frazier. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
34. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. Descent of Man. Boston: Little Brown (1979). His first book, a highly praised collection of stories, winner of the 1980 St. Lawrence Award for Fiction. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with minuscule creasing at the corners. A very attractive copy of an important debut.
35. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Gollancz, 1980. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a tiny nick at the rear upper corner.
36. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. Water Music. Boston: Little Brown (1981). His second book, first novel. Inscribed by the author "con amistad." Fine in a very near fine, faintly spine-tanned dust jacket.
37. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. Budding Prospects. NY: Viking (1984). A humorous novel of marijuana growing in the northern California wilds. For whatever reason, this is one of his least common titles. We suspect that Water Music did not sell as well as its publisher had hoped, and the print run for this, his second novel, was cut back considerably from his first. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine, faintly spine-sunned dust jacket.
38. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. Greasy Lake. (NY): Viking (1985). His second collection of stories. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
39. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. World's End. (NY): Viking (1987). His third novel, winner of the PEN Faulkner Award. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a nick on the upper rear panel and a bit of edge-sunning to the front flap.
40. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. If the River Was Whiskey. NY: Viking (1989). His third collection of short fiction. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
41. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. East is East. (NY): Viking (1990). An extravagant novel of a Japanese seaman who jumps ship and arrives on an island off the coast of Georgia. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
42. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. The Road to Wellville. (NY): Viking (1993). An elaborate, satirical historical novel based on the life of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a turn-of-the century health crusader and inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes (along with "peanut butter...[and] some seventy-five other gastrically correct foods"). Basis for the film. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
43. BREN, Jon L. Touch of the Past. NY: Walker and Co., 1988. A bibliomystery featuring book dealer Rachel Hennings, the second in the series. Signed by the author on the title page and additionally inscribed by the author on the dedication page. Fine in a dust jacket sunned on the flap edges; else fine.
44. BRODEUR, Paul. The Sick Fox. Boston: Little Brown (1963). The first book by this New Yorker writer and the author of The Stunt Man, among others. Inscribed by the author in 1977. Fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with a smudge on the front panel.
45. BRODEUR, Paul. The Stunt Man. NY: Atheneum, 1970. His second book, basis for the well-received film with Peter O'Toole. A bit of edge-sunning at heel; else fine in a near fine, spine- and edge-sunned dust jacket.
46. -. Same title. Second printing. Inscribed by the author in 1977 to "the only man I ever met who had all three of my books. Thanks." Sunned at heel; else fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket with some residue at the edges from a previous jacket protector.
47. BRODEUR, Paul. Downstream. NY: Atheneum, 1972. His third book, first collection of stories. Inscribed by the author in 1977. Fine in a fine dust jacket. After this book, Brodeur began writing a series of hard-hitting nonfiction books, beginning with an exposé of industrial accidents and continuing with controversial and influential books on the asbestos industry, microwave technology, and a New England Indian tribe's land claims case.
48. BRODKEY, Harold. First Love and Other Sorrows. NY: Dial (1957). Brodkey's first book, a collection of stories that had the literary world virtually on tenterhooks for the next three decades, eagerly awaiting his first novel, which wasn't published until 1991. Faint offsetting to front flyleaf; still fine in a very good, lightly rubbed dust jacket with several short, internally tape-mended edge tears.
49. BROWN, Larry. On Fire. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1994. His fifth book, and his first book of nonfiction -- an extended personal essay on his life as a firefighter. Brown's fiction has been praised for its unflinching grittiness, and this book received similar reviews. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
50. BUCKLEY, William F. Mongoose R.I.P. NY: Random House (1987). A mystery novel by the well-known conservative columnist. Inscribed by the author in 1988. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
51. BURKE, James Lee. The Neon Rain. NY: Henry Holt (1987). The first book in the acclaimed and award-winning Dave Robicheaux mystery series. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
52. BURKE, James Lee. Heaven's Prisoners. NY: Henry Holt (1988). The second novel in the Robicheaux series. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
53. BURKE, James Lee. A Stained White Radiance. NY: Hyperion (1992). The fifth book in the Robicheaux series. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
54. BURKE, James Lee. In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead. NY: Hyperion (1993). A Robicheaux mystery. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
55. -. Same title, the limited edition. Of a total edition of 176 copies, this is one of 150 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
56. -. Same title. One of 26 lettered copies signed by the author. Bound in quarter leather and marbled paper boards. Fine in a fine slipcase.
57. BURKE, James Lee. Cimarron Rose. (London): Orion (1997). The true first edition of this novel, a departure from the Robicheaux series and winner of the 1998 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel of the year. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
58. BURKE, James Lee. Jolie's Blon Bounce. NY: Simon & Schuster (2002). The uncorrected proof copy of the latest Robicheaux novel. Fine in wrappers. Much scarcer than the advance reading copy that was issued.
59. BURKE, James Lee. White Doves at Morning. NY: Simon & Schuster (2002). The uncorrected proof copy of his new book, a historical novel that is a departure from the mystery genre. Fine in wrappers.
60. BURKE, Jan. Sweet Dreams, Irene. NY: Simon & Schuster (1994). The second mystery featuring Irene Kelly. Signed by the author. A couple inadvertent page corners turned; still fine in a fine dust jacket.
61. BURNS, Rex. The Alvarez Journal. NY: Harper & Row (1975). The author's first book. Winner of an Edgar Award for best first mystery. Mild sunning to boards; else fine in a fine dust jacket with rubbing to one corner.
62. BURROUGHS, William S. The Wild Boys. NY: Grove (1971). A novel, published in an edition of 5619 copies. Inscribed by the author "For ___ ____/ all the best from/ the wild boys/ William S. Burroughs." A little page edge staining and loss to spine gilt; near fine in a very good, soiled and edgeworn price-clipped dust jacket. Uncommon signed.
63. BUSCH, Frederick. Breathing Trouble and Other Stories. (London): Calder & Boyars (1973). His second book which, like his first, I Wanted a Year Without Fall, was never published in this country. The first printing was reportedly only 1000 copies. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
64. BUSCH, Frederick. Manual Labor. (NY): New Directions (1974). The hardcover issue of his third book, and first to be published in this country. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine, mildly edge-toned dust jacket.
65. BUTLER, Robert Olen. On Distant Ground. NY: Knopf, 1985. A review copy of his fourth book, a moving novel of the Vietnam war that bears the characteristics of a Grail quest, and was one of our choices as among the ten best literary works on the Vietnam war. A relatively unsung novel of the war, especially compared to some of Butler's other books, one of which won the Pulitzer Prize. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
66. BUTLER, Robert Olen. Fair Warning. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press (2002). The advance reading copy of his new novel. Fine in wrappers.