Catalog 100, M
62. MAILER, Norman. Why Are We in Vietnam? NY: Putnam (1967). The uncorrected proof copy, in the form of bound galleys printed on rectos only. Nominated for the National Book Award. In the four years from 1968-1972, Mailer had five books nominated for the National Book Award -- in five different categories -- an unprecedented accomplishment in American letters. This novel, which covertly comments on the then-ongoing war in Vietnam, was the only one nominated in the Fiction category. 8" x 10 1/2". Ringbound in cardstock covers, with publication date written in ink on the front cover (as well as typed on the publisher's printed label affixed to the cover). Near fine. No dedication page. An exceptionally scarce proof: we've never seen another copy of it.
(MAILER, Norman). See also item #147.
63. MALCOLM X and HALEY, Alex. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. NY: Grove Press (1965). The uncorrected proof copy of this landmark autobiography, co-written by the author of Roots, and a book that is as much a story of spiritual transformation as a history of the radicalization of the Civil Rights movement. Malcolm X for a time embodied the radical critique of American society from a standpoint of race, and his condemnation of the inherent racism of mid-century American society helped open the way for less radical Black leaders to force significant social change. Malcolm X was assassinated in the year this book was published -- reportedly by Black Muslim militants who were unhappy with his decision to build alliances with progressive white groups. The publication of this "autobiography" (in fact written more by Haley than by Malcolm X himself) helped immortalize him as a cultural hero. The first printing of this book, issued by Grove Press -- a relatively small publisher associated with the "underground" and with marginalized writers and social movements -- is itself quite scarce. The proof is considerably more so. Fine in spiralbound wrappers and custom slipcase.
64. (MANDELA, Nelson). A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles. (NY): Oxford University Press (1996). A landmark publication -- the first dictionary of South African English, charting the development of the language over the course of more than 300 years, and attempting -- as the Oxford English Dictionary does -- to identify the origins and changes in meaning and usage over the years of all the words particular to the English of South Africa. The project took over 25 years: it was begun in 1968, at the height of the apartheid era, and was completed in 1994, the year of the first free, multi-racial elections in South Africa. Of the first edition, 100 copies were set aside to benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and were signed by Nelson Mandela, the first freely elected black President of South Africa. Leatherbound, with marbled endpapers and silk ribbon markers; an attractive production. All copies of the limited edition were sold out soon after publication. Fine in publisher's slipcase. A remarkable project, both for its philological significance and for the social significance of its formally embracing the diverse elements of South African English as comprising a single language. This edition, signed by one of the most respected and important statesmen of the late 20th century, is a monument to one of the most profound and far-reaching social changes of the century -- the peaceful transition from a segregated, racist state to a free democracy.
65. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Far Tortuga. NY: Random House (1975). The uncorrected proof copy of this unusual novel, which is almost an extended prose poem and is, in part, an elegy to the turtle fishermen of the Grand Cayman islands, written in their dialect. Matthiessen at one time ran a fishing boat off the coast of Long Island, and his affinity for the sea shows through repeatedly in his books -- in this book, Raditzer, the books on shore birds, and, later, Men's Lives. A very scarce proof: we can't recall seeing another copy offered for sale. Spine and edge fading, and a few small spots; still near fine in tall wrappers.
66. (MATTHIESSEN, Peter). Mischianza 1945 together with Mischianza 1944 and Mischianza 1943. Lakeville: The Hotchkiss School (1943-45). The high school yearbooks for Matthiessen's sophomore, junior and senior years in prep school. Matthiessen participated in numerous sports and activities so he appears repeatedly throughout the 1945 volume: he is pictured several times; mentioned at least seven times; and the front and rear endpapers contain the facsimile signatures of the senior class, including Matthiessen's. Most importantly he was the Chairman of the yearbook board and thus, in effect, the editor of the 1945 volume -- his "first book appearance," one could venture to guess. In addition, there are numerous uncredited contributions throughout the book about various members of the class and class activities; given Matthiessen's chairmanship of the yearbook, it is likely he contributed at least some of these. In the earlier volumes, Matthiessen is pictured with his class and with various activities (club soccer, yearbook, etc.). There were only 88 students in Matthiessen's graduating class, suggesting that perhaps as few as 100 copies would have been printed of each of these volumes. Near fine copies of these rare, early appearances by one of the important writers of our time, who has made his mark in a number of fields, from fiction to natural history to social history and criticism. Laid into one volume is a card announcing Matthiessen as the 1974 Hotchkiss Alumni Award Winner, with a photograph of Matthiessen and biographical information about him. Three volumes:
67. MAUGHAM, W. Somerset. Typed Note Signed and Autographed Photo. November 24, 1957. A brief note of thanks, 5 1/4" x 7", folded once; written to accompany "the only photograph I have here - it was taken on my eightieth birthday." The photograph is a black-and-white profile, 4¼" x 6½", signed in full in the bottom 1" white margin. Maugham is most well-known for his autobiographical novel, Of Human Bondage (a Modern Library 100 selection), and his last novel, The Razor's Edge. His collection of stories, The Casuarina Tree, was a Connolly 100 book. Both the note and the photograph are fine and suitable for framing.
68. MAXWELL, William. Time Will Darken It. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1948. The uncommon fourth novel by an author who has been called, by one prominent publication, the "greatest living writer" in America. In addition to being a writer, Maxwell is a longtime editor at The New Yorker. A little rubbing to the cloth at the spine extremities; else fine in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket with light chipping at the spine crown. Signed by the author. An attractive copy of an uncommon novel, particularly scarce signed.
69. MAYER, Tom. The Weary Falcon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of short stories by a writer who went to Vietnam twice, in 1966-67 and again in 1969, as a reporter. Mayer had published a well-received collection of stories seven years earlier, and been a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford's writing program, which had also graduated such highly regarded writers as Larry McMurtry, Robert Stone, Ken Kesey, Tillie Olsen and others. Short, potent stories of the war, and one of the most accomplished, and least common, of the literary offerings on Vietnam. Spiralbound proof, printed from galley sheets. Covers sunned; near fine. The book itself is uncommon, having been published at the height of public antipathy toward the war. The proof is rare.
70. McMURTRY, Larry. The Last Picture Show. NY: Dial, 1966. His third novel, basis for the Academy Award-winning movie, which launched the Hollywood careers of Peter Bogdanovich and Cybil Shepherd, among others. Minuscule spotting to bottom edge; still fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with one small, internally tape-repaired edge tear. A very attractive copy of this title, virtually free of the dust-soiling to which the dust jacket is especially prone.
71. McMURTRY, Larry. Terms of Endearment. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1975. The uncorrected proof copy of McMurtry's sixth novel which, like his first and third, was made into a highly praised Hollywood film. Tall pad-bound proof, an extremely fragile format: front cover detached but present, otherwise very good. Signed by the author. In an attractive quarter-leather, custom clamshell box.
72. McMURTRY, Larry and SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Honky-Tonk Sue. (n.p.): Columbia Pictures, 1985. The "Revised Second Draft" (March, 1985) of this unproduced and unpublished screenplay of a contemporary Western story, a notable collaboration between McMurtry and Silko, the author of Ceremony and winner of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" for her fiction and poetry on southwestern Native American life. 124 pages, claspbound in cardstock covers, with the title written on the page edges that form the spine. Stamped "From the Library of Peter Bogdanovich" on the title page. A good association copy: Bogdanovich's breakthrough as a film director was his adaptation of McMurtry's third novel, The Last Picture Show. The title page and pages 1-3 and 13 are seriously (coffee?) stained; the text is still quite legible. Otherwise very good.
73. McNICKLE, D'Arcy. The Surrounded. NY: Dodd, Mead (1936). First book by McNickle, a writer of Flathead Indian descent, and a landmark Native American novel, one of the early books to address questions of assimilation and alienation from both the white way of life and traditional tribal culture. It began the process in American Indian literature of looking for value in traditional Native American beliefs even in the face of such alienation. As such, Charles Larson's seminal study of Native American literature (American Indian Fiction, Albuquerque, 1978) links him with N. Scott Momaday -- thirty years McNickle's junior -- as the two writers who predate the later wave of politically aware Native American writers, such as James Welch and Leslie Marmon Silko. This is a near fine copy in a very good, spine-faded jacket that is chipped and externally tape-repaired at the spine crown. Although this book dates from the modern era, this is the only copy we have ever seen or heard of with the dust jacket intact. An important novel and a modern rarity in dust jacket.
74. McPHERSON, James Alan. Hue and Cry. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown (1969). First edition of this African-American author's first book, a collection of stories that defied the mold of late 1960s' black writing by refusing to yield to the easy temptation to substitute political diatribe for literary accomplishment and postured anger for real, human feelings. A lengthy blurb on the dust jacket from Ralph Ellison -- author of Invisible Man, perhaps the most acclaimed African-American novel of the 20th century -- lionizes McPherson for precisely his literary accomplishment, on its own terms, unaided by the winds of political correctness. McPherson's second collection, Elbow Room, won the Pulitzer Prize and together these two volumes stand as one of the high spots of African-American writing of the postwar era. After two highly acclaimed collections of stories, McPherson has published no more fiction of which we are aware, although he came out with a nonfiction volume earlier this year, his first book in over 20 years. This copy is fine in a near fine dust jacket and signed by the author. A very scarce signature, as McPherson is notably shy about giving appearances and signing books.
75. McPHERSON, James Alan. Elbow Room. Boston: Little Brown (1977). The uncorrected proof copy of the author's second book, a collection of stories that won the Pulitzer Prize, and represents the last fiction that he has published. Publisher's rubber stamp on front cover, otherwise fine in wrappers.
76. MILLER, Henry. Scenario. Paris: Obelisk Press, 1937. One of the scarcest of Miller's early works, printed by the Paris press that published Tropic of Cancer and, later, Tropic of Capricorn. The total edition was 200 numbered copies signed by the author. Subtitled "A Film with Sound," it was inspired by Anaïs Nin's The House of Incest. Fine, unbound signatures, with a two-page frontispiece by Abraham Rattner, laid into a very good, edge-darkened self-wrapper that is chipped along the top edge and has been professionally repaired on the spine. A very presentable copy of a scarce and fragile item, dating from the period of Miller's most famous works, and giving an early indication of his closeness with author Anaïs Nin, with whom he had a longlasting love affair.
77. MILLER, Henry. Money and How It Gets That Way. Paris: Booster Publications [1938]. A fragile volume in wrappers, published in an edition of 495 copies. This copy is inscribed by the author to William Saroyan in the year of publication. Miller and Saroyan met in Paris in the 1930s and Miller made Saroyan one of the Literary Editors of The Booster in 1937, along with Miller himself and Lawrence Durrell. Anaïs Nin was the Society Editor; Miller was also Fashion Editor; and various others, including Walter Lowenfels, contributed during its short life as a literary magazine. Mild edge-darkening; else fine in wrappers. In chemise and folding box. An excellent literary association copy of a scarce Miller item.
78. MILLER, Henry. The Colossus of Marousi. San Francisco: Colt Press (1941). An account of Miller's travels in Greece, heavily steeped in mystical philosophy, which caused the book to be turned down by numerous publishers before finally being accepted by William Roth, of the Colt Press in San Francisco. Miller received an $80 advance for the book. This is the deluxe edition, one of 100 copies signed by the author. This copy has a cloth spine and blue boards with a floral design, one of an unspecified number of variant bindings of the deluxe issue about which the bibliography states "it appears that no uniform binding was part of the original design" (Shifreen and Jackson, A26a). Slight rubbing to the edges of the paper-covered boards; else fine, without dust jacket, as issued. One of the earliest of Miller's signed limited editions, and one of the handsomest.
79. MOMADAY, N. Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain. (Albuquerque): U. of New Mexico (1969). The second regularly published book by the author of House Made of Dawn, which was the first book written by a Native American author to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. This is an account of the Kiowa tribe's history and migration to the land it presently occupies; in part a celebration of the beauty of the land and an elegy to a lost way of life. Illustrated by his father, Al Momaday. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
80. MUNRO, Alice. Dance of the Happy Shades. (Toronto): Ryerson (1968). First edition of the author's first book, a collection of stories that won the Governor General's Award, Canada's highest literary honor. This is a very near fine copy in a first state dust jacket, without the award seal. There is slight sunning to the edges of the cloth, and trace wear at the jacket crown; but this is a very nice copy of an uncommon first book, by a writer who has begun in recent years to receive public recognition on a par with the critical esteem in which her work has been held for many years, especially in the U.S. Munro's recent work has been published extensively in The New Yorker.
81. MUNRO, Alice. Lives of Girls and Women. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson (1971). The second book, first novel, by this three-time winner of the Governor General's Award for Canada's best book of the year. This book won an award from the Canadian Booksellers Association for best novel of the year. Inscribed by the author to her literary agent. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.