Catalog 130, I-L
127. IRVING, John. The Hotel New Hampshire. NY: Dutton (1981). His fifth book. Inscribed by the author: "For Steve -/ with my/ appreciation/ for the/ world/ according to/ Tesich -/ John Irving." Steve Tesich, who wrote the 1979 Academy Award-winning screenplay for the film "Breaking Away," also wrote the 1982 screenplay for Irving's The World According to Garp. Fine in a dust jacket with a hint of sunning at the upper edge of the rear panel, but still fine.
128. -. Same title. London: Jonathan Cape (1981). The first British edition. Inscribed by the author: "For Alastair/ with my appreciation/ for an absolutely/ lovely evening/ in Edinburgh./ John Irving." One tiny corner bump; else fine in a similar dust jacket. A nice inscription, and uncommon thus.
129. IRVING, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. NY: Morrow (1989). The trade publisher's limited edition of what may be his best-loved novel. One of 250 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in acetate dust jacket and slipcase. There was also a Franklin Library edition, which preceded the publisher's editions and a signed limited edition produced by the Book of the Month Club, but this edition is by far the scarcest of them and most desirable.
130. IRVING, John. A Widow for One Year. (London): Bloomsbury (1998). A limited edition and the true first edition of this novel, which was published in a trade edition in both Holland and the U.K. before being released in the U.S. This British issue, however, precedes all trade editions. One of 1000 numbered copies, in a different binding than that of the trade edition. Clothbound, with pictorial label on front cover. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
131. IRVING, John. A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound. (Zurich): (Diogenes) (2003). A children's book, adapted from a story the character Ted Cole tells Ruth in Irving's novel A Widow for One Year. Illustrated by Tatjana Hauptmann. Oblong quarto; fine in pictorial boards, without dust jacket, as issued. A little-known Irving item, never seen by us prior to this copy.
132. (IRVING, John). "Amateur Wrestling: For Lovers Only" in Close-Up, Vol. 15, No. 1. Cambridge: Polaroid Corporation, 1985. Writers and photographers are paired for essays on eight sports. Irving writes on wrestling, with photos by Mary Ellen Mark. Other authors include Donald Barthelme on baseball, Robert Coover on soccer, Philip Levine on bodybuilding, and Daniel Halpern on wrestling, among others. Quarto. Sunning to title letters; else fine in wrappers.
133. IRVING, John. A Collection of His Writings. A significant collection of the writings of John Irving, author of A Prayer for Owen Meany and The World According to Garp, among others. The collection comprises 49 items, including copies of all of Irving's published books, a number of screenplays, various secondary appearances of his writings, and a number of proof and prepublication copies. 20 of the items are signed by Irving, who has become somewhat reclusive in recent years and has most often declined to sign books when he does make public appearances. A number of items are extremely scarce, including variant scripts for the film adaptation of Irving's novel The Cider House Rules, for which Irving wrote the screenplay and won an Academy Award. A detailed list of the collection is available on request.
134. JAMES, P.D. The Children of Men. NY: Knopf, 1993. The first American edition. One of an unspecified number of copies signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Dampstaining to spine cloth and inner corners; very good in a near fine dust jacket dampened on verso.
135. JOHNSON, Denis. Autograph Postcard Signed. August 16, 2001. Written on a postcard promoting Johnson's play, "Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into the Flames." A quick note congratulating the recipient on his wedding and suggesting he take his fiancee to the play. Signed "DJ." Fine.
136. KEROUAC, Jack. "Bird-Dog and Butterflys." Undated [c. 1956-57]. A painting by Kerouac (oil and acrylic?) of a small dog surrounded by butterflies. 7 1/4" x 6". Titled by him and signed "Jean-Louis Kérouac." Former tack holes to corners of artwork; else fine, matted. A nice example of Kerouac's artwork, which had a boldly expressionistic flourish, often applied to a romantic or even sentimental subject matter.
137. KEROUAC, Jack. Excerpts From Visions of Cody. (NY): (New Directions) (1959). A limited edition, one of 750 numbered copies signed by the author. A portion of Kerouac's work-in-progress, which was only published in its entirety after he died. Foxing to covers; a near fine copy, lacking the original acetate dust jacket, but including the publisher's promotional slip. This title has become increasingly scarce as the years go by -- and yet it is probably still the most accessible, least expensive way to get a signed Jack Kerouac first edition.
138. KINNELL, Galway. When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone. NY: Knopf, 1990. Poetry, this being the simultaneous issue in wrappers, inscribed by Kinnell to the poet Ai "with love" in 1992. A nice literary association between two major poets: Kinnell has won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, among many other honors, and Ai won the 1999 National Book Award for her collection Vice. Fine.
139. KINSELLA, W.P. Scars. (Canada): (Oberon) (1978). The uncommon hardcover issue of the second book by the award-winning author of Shoeless Joe, a collection of Indian stories set on the Hobbema Reserve in western Canada. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. The print run for the hardcover issue of this title is unknown, but Oberon books from the same era have been known to have had printings of only a few hundred copies, most of which would have gone to libraries.
140. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. His highly praised, much-loved first novel, winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award and basis for the award-winning movie Field of Dreams. A North American magical realist baseball novel, with J.D. Salinger as a character. Signed by the author. Fine in a very good dust jacket with several small tears and chips and a bit of dampstaining on verso.
141. KIZER, Carolyn. Yin. NY: BOA Editions, 1984. Second printing of this poetry collection by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Warmly inscribed by the author to Pauline Kael in 1986: "For Pauline, My! Don't we go way back though! Fond regards, Carolyn." Fine in wrappers.
142. KIZER, Carolyn. Mermaids in the Basement. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 1984. The issue in wrappers of this collection of poetry. Inscribed by the author to Pauline Kael in 1986: "For Pauline, a thin response to her fine fat new book! Love, Carolyn." Fine.
143. KLISE, Thomas S. The Last Western. (Niles): Argus (1974). The uncorrected proof copy of the author's first novel, an obscure book that has retained a nearly cult following over the years and has been compared to works by Pynchon, Gaddis and Barth, among others. The hardcover edition had blurbs by R.A. Lafferty and Philip Jose Farmer, two of the foremost exponents of an over-the-top science fiction/fantasy that blurs the borders of the genre with the postmodern writings of Pynchon et al, and this book has both been the subject of talks that identify it as a lost classic of baseball fiction and has also made its way into the canon as an important novel of religious ideas, been incorporated into religious sermons, etc. There was reportedly a discussion of it recently in David Foster Wallace's listserv. Subtitled "An Epic Novel Portraying the Terrible Truth About Western Civilization," The Last Western touches on such wide-ranging subjects as baseball, Roman Catholicism, Latin American revolution, racial politics, and more. Argus Communications was reportedly a company set up by the author himself, which helps explain why the book did not get the kind of distribution that the writers listed above have enjoyed, but it has made enough of a mark among its readers that it continues to be read, discussed, and sought after today. The book itself is very scarce; the proof immeasurably more so.
144. KOSINSKI, Jerzy. "NOVAK, Joseph." The Future is Ours, Comrade. London: Bodley Head (1960). The first British edition of the author's first book, a pseudonymously published nonfiction account of Russia in the postwar years, predating his first novel, The Painted Bird, by five years. Inscribed by the author as "Jerzy Kosinski" for Hugh Moorhead in 1982. Moorhead was a Philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University who wrote to 250 authors to ask them what they thought the meaning of life was, and then published their answers in a depressing book that suggested nobody had much of a clue. Stripe at bottom page edges; very good in a very good dust jacket chipped at the upper front spine fold.
145. KUMIN, Maxine. Up Country. NY: Harper & Row (1972). A Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection. Signed by the author. With the handmade bookplate of another poet on the front flyleaf. Fine, with various portions of the dust jacket clipped and pasted on the endpages.
146. LAHIRI, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Her first book, a collection of stories published as a paperback original that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN Hemingway Award, and the New Yorker Debut Award. The New Yorker also chose Lahiri as one of 20 young writers to watch for the 21st century. Fine in wrappers.
147. LEE, Gus. China Boy. (NY): Dutton (1991). The highly praised first novel by this Chinese-American author. Signed by the author in the month after publication. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight spine fading.
148. (LENNON, John). JANOV, Arthur. The Primal Scream. NY: Putnam (1970). Janov's book on primal scream therapy. Inscribed by John Lennon in March of 1970 on the dedication page, where he has underlined the phrase "end the struggle" that is part of the printed dedication. The inscription reads: "Dear Eric + / 'becoming American'/ won't stop the Pain./ love to you and yours/ from/ John + Yoko." Lennon has added a self-caricature of himself and Yoko. Within a month, the Beatles would break up and Lennon would go to California for several months of Janov's therapy, from which will come the Plastic Ono Band LP, which signaled Lennon's definitive break from his past with the Beatles. Much of the material in that album was drawn directly from Lennon's primal therapy sessions, and the inscription in this volume acknowledges the vocabulary of primal therapy, with Lennon's reference to "stop[ping] the Pain" and his underlining of the phrase "end the struggle." Although we can't confirm this (and therefore have not priced it accordingly) circumstantial evidence suggests that the "Eric" to whom the book is inscribed could be legendary rock guitarist Eric Clapton. Clapton and Lennon were close friends: Clapton was part of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and toured with Lennon in 1969 as well as participating in the 1970 album that arose out of Lennon's encounter with Primal Therapy. In March 1970, Clapton was in L.A. recording his first solo album. In addition, the inscription is to "Eric +" -- with no name following the "+": at the time, Clapton was making no secret of his anguish over Patti Boyd-Harrison's unwillingness to leave her husband, Beatle George Harrison; his anguish would be best expressed in his song "Layla." John Lennon was informal but not inarticulate: it's hard to imagine that he would have put a gratuitous "+" in the inscription; it's not hard to imagine that he would have been unable, or unwilling, to mention Boyd's name in writing. Nonetheless, this is only speculation, and we have priced the book based on its value as a Lennon inscription of substance, not on its being one of the great association copies in the history of modern rock, or pop culture. Wear to spine crown; rubbing to spine letters; text block shaken; about a very good copy in a price-clipped, edgeworn dust jacket with rubbing at the folds and a couple internal tape repairs. In a custom clamshell box. A significant inscription from Lennon at a critical moment in his life and career, and in the history of the Beatles.
149. LESSING, Doris. The Habit of Loving. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1957. A collection of stories. Lessing was the only woman to be grouped together with Britain's "angry young men" of literature in the Fifties. This copy is inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "To the nicest of men/ Doris/ Nov. 57." Foxing to endpages, prelims and page edges; near fine in an equally foxed dust jacket.
150. LESSING, Doris. Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. London: Jonathan Cape (1987). The text of Lessing's Massey Lectures: five lectures given under the auspices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1985. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
151. LEWIS, Sinclair. The Trail of the Hawk. NY: Harper & Brothers (1915). The third book, second under his own name, by the first American to win the Nobel Prize. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "To Joseph Margulis/ with the regards/ of his friend/ Sinclair Lewis/ Aug. 31, 1915." Spine greatly faded; near fine, lacking the dust jacket. Color frontispiece by Norman Rockwell -- a very early illustration in Rockwell's career, done when he was just 21 years old. About his first five novels, including this one, Lewis has said, "all of them dead before the ink was dry. I lacked sense enough to see that, after five failures, I was foolish to continue writing." The comments were made in an autobiographical statement for the Nobel Foundation after Lewis won the Prize in 1930 for his continued writing, including Main Street, Arrowsmith, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry. An uncommon early novel, very scarce inscribed.
152. LOPEZ, Barry Holstun. Desert Notes. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews McMeel (1976). His first book, a collection of "narrative contemplations" of the desert, told in a poetic, lucid prose, the clarity and simplicity of which is uncommonly suited to the subtleties of perception and expression it contains. Inscribed by the author. A thin book, published by a small midwestern publisher more noted for its religious titles than its books for the general trade, this book has become quite scarce in recent years. Owner name on front pastedown; small spine bump; near fine in a very good, supplied dust jacket with light wear to the top edge and some shallow tactile water rippling.
153. LOPEZ, Barry. "The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them." (n.p.): Hungry Mind (n.d.). A broadside excerpt from Crow and Weasel. One of 100 copies signed by the author. 10" x 13", attractively printed and with an image of a crow standing on the initial letter. There was an earlier, smaller, unsigned broadside excerpting this passage plus two sentences. Fine.
154. LOWRY, Malcolm. Under the Volcano. Paris: Correa, 1950. The first French edition [Au-Dessous du Volcan] of Lowry's classic, one of the great books of twentieth century literature, a tale of a British consul drinking himself to death in the shadow of Mexico's twin volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl -- legendary mountains which are inextricably bound into Mexican history and myth. The exotic, lawless, majestic land of Mexico finds its fatal correlate in the unexplored regions of a civilized man's heart. A few years after the book's publication, Lowry died in his sleep after drinking heavily, a demise all too reminiscent of that of the main character of his most famous novel. Under the Volcano was his last book published during his lifetime. This edition has a preface by Lowry written in 1948 not included in the earlier English-language editions. Inscribed by the author to novelist David Markson, a close friend during the last years of his life: "To David Markson/ with kind regards/ from Malcolm Lowry. June 20th 1951." A particularly good association copy: Markson's master's thesis, in 1952, was on Under the Volcano and was the first critical assessment of it after the original reviews; Lowry's biographer, Douglas Day, called Markson's thesis "still the best study of the novel's symbolism." Twenty-five years later Markson published the first book-length critical study of the novel, entitled Malcolm Lowry's Volcano - Myth, Symbol, Meaning. In the interim, one of Markson's own novels, Going Down, was published to substantial critical acclaim and to comparisons with Lowry's masterpiece. Lowry inscriptions are extremely scarce; only a handful have turned up over the years, always to close friends or relatives. Pages browning with age, but still a very good copy in original wrappers. In custom clamshell box.