Catalog 98, P-S
320. PALEY, Grace. Leaning Forward. Penobscot: Granite (1985). A little-known limited edition of poems. One of 125 numbered copies, signed by the author, the entire hardcover edition of this book. Bound by Sarah Creighton and Carol Blinn, who also made the pastepaper for the binding. An attractive, finely printed edition. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
321. PARKER, Robert B. Taming a Seahorse. (NY): Delacorte/Lawrence (1986). The thirteenth novel featuring Parker's detective, Spenser. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket.
322. PARKER, Robert B. Perchance to Dream. NY: Putnam (1991). The sequel to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. Parker had earlier been commissioned to finish a novel, Poodle Springs, that Chandler had started but had left unfinished at the time of his death. Here he reprises Chandler's most famous character in a sequel to his most famous book. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
323. PETERS, Ellis. The Potter's Field. NY: Mysterious Press (1990). First American edition of this Brother Cadfael mystery, set in a 12th century Benedictine monastery. Slight corner bump; else fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
324. PHILLIPS, Kate. White Rabbit. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. Humorous, well-received first novel. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
325. PHILLIPS, W. Glasgow. Tuscaloosa. NY: Morrow (1994). Southern writer's first novel, with blurbs from John Hawkes, Scott Turow and others. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author in the year of publication.
326. PINSKY, Robert. History of My Heart. NY: Ecco Press (1984). The hardcover issue of this collection of poems. Inscribed by the author to another poet in the year of publication. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with two edge tears on the upper and lower edges of the rear panel. A good association copy.
327. PLUMLY, Stanley. Giraffe. Baton Rouge: LSU, 1973. His second collection of poetry, this being the softcover edition. Like the above title, this is inscribed by the author to another poet "with affection and admiration" in Iowa City. Rubbed; near fine in wrappers.
328. POWER, Susan. The Grass Dancer. NY: Putnam (1994). A well-received first novel, which weaves the lives and memories of a group of characters over a span of 120 years to reveal subtle textures and depths. Published to excellent reviews and quickly reprinted. Blurbs by Amy Tan, Louise Erdrich and Alice Hoffman. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
329. POWERS, Richard. Prisoner's Dilemma. NY: Morrow (1988). A review copy of the second novel by the author of the award-winning Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance and the recently-released Gain. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with review slip and publisher's promotional sheet laid in.
330. PROULX, E. Annie. Accordion Crimes. (NY): Scribner (1996). The publisher's limited edition of this title. One of 2500 numbered copies signed by the author on a tipped-in colophon. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
331. PYNCHON, Thomas. Mason and Dixon. NY: Henry Holt (1997). The advance reading copy of his latest novel, published to extraordinary critical reviews, with more than one reviewer calling it his best book, and again released under something resembling a cloak of secrecy. The trade edition had an announced 200,000 copy first printing; we are told that the number of copies of each advance issue was 500. There are two variant issues , with differences only on the rear wrapper: this is the one with the rear panel featuring publication and promotional data, which was reportedly sent to booksellers; the other was said to have been sent to reviewers, and has a brief synopsis of the book's content on the rear panel. Both issues, we are told, contain minor textual variations from the published book--the first time that a Pynchon advance copy has been textually significant, to the best of our knowledge. A fine copy of this massive volume, which would be unlikely to hold up well after being handled and read.
332. -. Another copy, this being the issue with a paragraph of plot summary on the rear panel. No priority determined. Also fine in wrappers.
333. REED, Philip. Bird Dog. NY: Pocket Books (1997). Well-received first mystery. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author. With a brief typed note signed by the author laid in.
334. RICE, Anne. Interview With the Vampire. NY: Knopf, 1976. The advance reading copy of her first novel, which began the successful series and was the basis for the movie. Slight foxing to page edges; covers lightly splayed and creased, possibly from reading; still near fine in wrappers.
335. RICE, Anne. Servant of the Bones. NY: Knopf, 1996. The uncorrected proof copy of this novel, which had an announced first printing of 1 million copies. This is the presumed second issue proof, in light ivory wrappers and printing the author photo and synopsis on the first page. Signed by the author.
336. -. Same title, the limited edition (New Orleans: B.E. Trice, 1996). Of a total edition of 526 copies, this is one of 50 deluxe numbered copies bound in black leather and signed by the author. Fine in slipcase.
337. -. Same title, one of 450 numbered clothbound copies signed by the author. Fine in slipcase. At the published price.
338. RICE, Anne. Violin. (New Orleans): (B.E. Trice) (1997). The limited edition of this title, consisting of the publisher's sheets with an added colophon and different binding. Of a total edition of 401 copies, this is one of 50 deluxe copies bound in leather and signed by the author. Fine in slipcase.
339. -. Same title. One of 325 clothbound numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in slipcase.
340. RICE, Anne. Pandora. (New Orleans): (B.E. Trice) (1998). The limited edition of the latest book by the author of Interview with the Vampire, a collection of vampire tales. Of a total edition of 326 copies, this is one of 50 deluxe copies, bound in leather and signed by the author. A very small limitation for an Anne Rice title. Fine in a fine slipcase, at the published price.
341. -. Same title. One of 250 clothbound numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase. Again, a small limitation for a Rice title: some of her signed editions have had limitations in excess of 1000 copies.
342. RUBINO, Jane. Death of a DJ. (Aurora): Write Way Publishing (1995). Author's first mystery, published with a small first printing by a small press. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a crease on the front flap. With a brief autograph note signed by the author laid in, attesting to the fact that she herself did not have any first editions of this title, her author's copies having been second printings as the first printing had already been exhausted.
343. RUSH, Norman. Mating. NY: Knopf, 1991. His first novel, second book. Winner of the National Book Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
344. RUSHDIE, Salman. Midnight's Children. NY: Knopf, 1981. The true first edition of the author's second book, winner of the Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary prize and then named as the outstanding title among all the Booker Prize winners--the "Booker of Bookers," in effect. This was the first book in Rushdie's ambitious sequence of novels of the Muslim world, which culminated in The Satanic Verses and the death sentence imposed on him by Moslem fundamentalists. An important book that, in effect, launched Rushdie's literary career as it represented a quantum leap from the subject matter and accomplishment of his first novel. Trace foxing to top edge; fine in a fine, unfaded dust jacket with a small, closed gutter nick on the rear panel.
345. RUSHDIE, Salman. Haroun and the Sea of Stories. (NY): Viking (1991). The first American edition of the first book published after he went into hiding as a result of the death sentence imposed on him by Moslem fundamentalists in response to his novel, The Satanic Verses. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed by Rushdie on a bookplate pasted to the flyleaf.
346. SALINGER, J.D. Franny and Zooey. London: Heinemann (1962). The first British edition of the third book by the author of The Catcher in the Rye, two novellas that originally appeared in The New Yorker. Small stamp and some staining to front endpapers; bumping to upper corners; very good in a good, edgeworn dust jacket with several light stains.
347. (SALINGER, J.D.). SKOW, Jack. "Sonny: An Introduction" in Time. (Chicago): (Time), September 15, 1961. The cover article, with inside illustrations by Russell Hoban. Pages acidifying and spots to text; cup rings and mailing label on cover; cover detaching; good in wrappers.
348. (SALINGER, J.D.). MARSDEN, Malcolm M. If You Really Want to Know: A Catcher Casebook. Chicago: Scott, Foresman (1963). A compilation of reviews and criticisms of The Catcher in the Rye. Publisher's complimentary label mounted inside front cover; rubbed; very good in wrappers.
349. SALTER, James. Sheridan Lord, 1926-1994. (NY): (Glenn Horowitz) (1995). A touching tribute to the artist Sheridan Lord, spoken at his memorial service in August, 1994, by his longtime friend, Salter. A limited edition, this being one of 200 copies signed by the author. Fine in saddle-stitched wrappers.
350. SALTER, James. Forgotten Kings. NY: Bookman Press, 1998. One of 200 numbered copies of this piece about the writer, Irwin Shaw, excerpted from Salter's memoir, Burning the Days. Only issued in wrappers. Fine.
351. -. Another copy, this one signed by the author. Fine.
352. SAPPHIRE. Push. NY: Knopf, 1996. Her second book, first novel, a well-received novel written in the vernacular of a poorly educated black teenager who is pregnant by her father. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author in the year of publication.
353. SAYLES, John. Pride of the Bimbos. Boston: Little Brown (1975). The scarce first book, a baseball novel, by this author who is more well-known as a filmmaker than as a writer, although his books have received substantial critical praise. Sayles directed the film Eight Men Out about the Chicago "Black Sox" scandal, the highly praised Lone Star, and others. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
354. SHERWOOD, Frances. Vindication. NY: FSG (1993). First American edition of this highly praised novel loosely based on the life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Fine in a fine dust jacket. and signed by the author.
355. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Laguna Woman. Greenfield Center: Greenfield Review (1974). Her elusive first book, a collection of poems published by Native American author and publisher Joseph Bruchac's press. Silko's first exposure to wide readership came in The Man to Send Rain Clouds, an anthology of fiction edited by poet Kenneth Rosen in 1974. She had several stories in the collection, one of which was selected for Martha Foley's Bicentennial anthology, 200 Years of American Short Stories, a remarkable honor for a writer who had not even had a book of fiction published at that point. Silko's early work combines elements of traditional Native American storytelling techniques with the standard Western form of the novel or short story. As an individual of mixed descent--part Laguna Pueblo, part Mexican, part white--Silko wrote from a perspective that acknowledged and used elements of each culture, while she herself was apart from all of them--an outsider, and as such, her perception was remarkably individuated, free from the clichés of standard Indian stories. It was in this way--in her ability to create characters who were alienated from both mainstream society and their own cultures--that she not only created compelling stories and characters but came to be regarded as a voice for the disenfranchised. Now her writings appear widely in anthologies and as introductions, although now they are more overtly "political," and more explicitly identified as "Indian." For a writer whose total literary output over 25 years is relatively small, Silko has had enormous influence--on publishing, on college campuses in Native American literature and multiculturalism courses, and in helping to define the parameters of a Native American literature that avails itself of Western forms and the written word at the same time that it draws upon tribal oral traditions of storytelling and other ceremonial purposes. This copy is warmly inscribed by Silko in 1992 to a former boyfriend. Fine in stapled wrappers.
356. SIMIC, Charles. Austerites. NY: Braziller (1982). The simultaneous wrappered issue of this collection of poems. Inscribed by the author to another poet in the year of publication. Mild splaying to cover; else fine. A good association copy.
357. SIMIC, Charles. Selected Poems, 1963-1983. NY: Braziller (1985). The simultaneous issue in wrappers. Inscribed by the author to another poet in the year of publication. Fine in wrappers. Again, a good association copy.
358. SKELLINGS, Edmund. Face Value. Orlando: University Presses of Florida, 1977. A collection of poetry, notable in part for the number of blurbs it reprints from such authors as Harry Crews, Robert Penn Warren, Norman Mailer, Fred Chappell, William Meredith, and many more. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
359. SPIEGELMAN, Art. The Complete Maus. NY: Pantheon (1997). First thus, a single hardcover volume comprising the two Maus books, the first of which won the Pulitzer Prize when originally published, an unprecedented accomplishment for a "graphic novel," i.e., one written in comic book format. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
360. STEGNER, Wallace. Crossing to Safety. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1987. The limited first edition, preceding the trade edition. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Signed by the author. With a special introduction by Stegner for this edition. Fine.
A Run of Steinbeck Books in Exceptional Condition
361. STEINBECK, John. Of Mice and Men. NY: Covici Friede (1937). Steinbeck's classic short novel of a couple of hobos drifting during the Depression, which has twice been translated to the screen. This is a fine copy of the first issue, with "pendula" on page 9 and a bullet between the "8's" on page 88, in a dust jacket that is very slightly, uniformly spine-sunned but otherwise crisp and very fine. An extremely nice copy of the very scarce first issue.
362. STEINBECK, John. The Red Pony. NY: Covici Friede, 1937. One of 699 numbered copies of this limited edition, which Steinbeck proclaimed, on seeing it for the first time, the finest typographic presentation of his work ever. A handsome edition, this being a fine copy, in the original tissue dust jacket with a tiny bit of wear at the upper edge of the rear panel, and fine publisher's slipcase. Signed by the author. The nicest copy of this edition we've ever seen.
363. STEINBECK, John. The Long Valley. NY: Viking, 1938. Published a year before his classic, The Grapes of Wrath, this novel had an 8000-copy first printing, as compared to 50,000 copies of Grapes. This is a very fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with some minor fading to spine and a small rubbed spot on the spine under the title. A very attractive copy of an early and uncommon book.
364. STEINBECK, John. Sea of Cortez. NY: Viking, 1941. Published in an edition of 7500 copies. This is a very fine copy in a near fine dust jacket, which is slightly rubbed at the corners. A very attractive copy of this book.
365. STEINBECK, John. The Moon is Down. NY: Viking, 1942. The first issue of one of his more common books, a short novel published during the war and essentially a piece of propaganda art. This copy is very fine in dust jacket--nearly as new. While the book is not especially uncommon (it had a 65,000 copy first printing), fine copies are quite scarce.
366. STEINBECK, John. Cannery Row. NY: Viking, 1945. The first issue, in buff cloth, of Steinbeck's homage to the people of Monterey county, where he was born. A slight novel, but one of the more lasting testaments of his ouevre. Very fine copy in very fine dust jacket.
367. STEINBECK, John. The Wayward Bus. NY: Viking, 1947. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket, with a tiny bit of rubbing at the top of the spine. One of Steinbeck's more common novels (100,000 copy first printing) but seldom found in such nice condition
368. STEINBECK, John. The Pearl. NY: Viking, 1947. The first issue, with the photograph of Steinbeck looking to the left. The book had a 40,000 copy first printing, and is not especially uncommon. This, however, is a flawless copy with virtually no wear to the book or dust jacket. It's hard to imagine a nicer copy of this title. Extremely scarce thus.
369. STEINBECK, John. Burning Bright. NY: Viking, 1950. One of the scarcer books from the latter period of Steinbeck's career. This book had a 15,000 copy first printing. A bit of offsetting to the top of the front free endpaper, presumably where a small clipping had been laid in, otherwise very fine in a very fine dust jacket.
370. STEINBECK, John. East of Eden. NY: Viking, 1952. Perhaps his most famous novel after The Grapes of Wrath, an ambitious family saga that was the basis for a Hollywood movie starring James Dean. Minimal fading to about 1/4 inch at the bottom of the front cover, otherwise very fine in a very fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy of this novel.
371. STEINBECK, John. Sweet Thursday. NY: Viking, 1954. A very fine copy in like dust jacket, with the slightest of use showing at the spine crown. While not an especially scarce book, few copies show up in fine condition.
372. STEINBECK, John. Once There Was a War. NY: Viking, 1958. One of the scarcer books from the latter part of his career, a nonfiction book that had a first printing of only 10,000 copies. Fine in fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy.
373. STEINBECK, John. Travels with Charley. NY: Viking, 1962. One of Steinbeck's last books, published the year he won the Nobel Prize, a touching memoir of his travels with his dog, "in search of America." This is a superb copy of a book that, because of its off-white dust jacket, almost always shows aging and/or fading. A pristine copy, with absolutely no sunning or fading to the spine-- so much so that it almost appears to be a facsimile. Exceedingly scarce thus.
374. STONE, Michael. The Low End of Nowhere. (NY): Viking (1996). The author's first mystery, a takeoff on the noir genre, which was nominated for a Shamus Award in the first novel category. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author in the month of publication.
375. STONE, Robert. A Flag for Sunrise. NY: Knopf, 1981. His third novel, which many consider his best book, winner of the L.A. Times Award for best novel of the year and a PEN Faulkner Award finalist. A dark tale of a small Central American country in upheaval, and the lives of a group of Americans whose different backgrounds and connections to the action intersect alarmingly and tragically. Fine in dust jacket and signed by the author.
376. STONE, Robert. Outerbridge Reach. NY: Ticknor & Fields (1992). The limited edition of the author's first bestseller. Chosen by the New York Times as one of the dozen best books of the year, covering all categories, and nominated for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. One of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. Stone's first limited edition. Fine, in slipcase. At the published price.
377. STONE, Robert. Bear and His Daughter. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. The author's highly praised first collection of stories, spanning the years 1969 to the present. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Signed by the author.
378. -. Same title. Bound galley sheets; 8 1/2" x 11"; tapebound in cardstock covers. Precedes the bound proofs that were issued and presumably produced for in-house use only; we have not seen any other copies offered elsewhere on the market. Fine, and very scarce.
379. STONE, Robert. Damascus Gate. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. The latest novel by the author of the National Book Award-winning Dog Soldiers, among others, just published to substantial critical acclaim and quickly reprinted several times. A densely plotted political and metaphysical thriller set in contemporary Jerusalem. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
380. (STONE, Robert). LOPEZ, Ken and CHANEY, Bev. Robert Stone. A Bibliography 1960-1992. Hadley: Numinous Press, 1992. A first bibliography of Robert Stone, describing in detail the American and English editions of his "A" items, along with an extensive listing of his appearances in others' books, in periodicals, in translation, etc. Illustrated with photographs and including a critical introduction as well as a previously unpublished piece by Robert Stone. Stone is widely considered one of the half-dozen most important American novelists to emerge from the era of the Vietnam war and the Sixties counterculture, and the short list of his published novels so far does not give an accurate indication of his pervasive influence on contemporary American literature. By tracing the secondary appearances--and there are many: the bibliography includes over 240 entries--one begins to appreciate the scope of his writing and the points at which his voice has been one of those that defines our current situation and gives us the terms with which to understand it. We're biased, of course, but we think every library should have a copy of this book, and any collector who cares about contemporary literature could benefit from it. This is the limited edition. One of 150 numbered copies, signed by Robert Stone. With a marbled paper dust jacket created expressly for this edition by Light of Day Bindery in Northampton, Mass., and printed letterpress by Wild Carrot Press. List price:
381. -. Same title, the trade edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
382. SWIFT, Graham. Last Orders. NY: Knopf, 1996. The advance reading copy of the first American edition of this Booker Prize-winning novel. Fine in wrappers and publisher's cardstock slipcase. Signed by the author.