Catalog 106, I-K
127. IRVING, John. The World According to Garp. NY: Dutton (1978). The author's fourth novel, his breakthrough book and one of the best-loved novels of recent times, winner of the National Book Award when it was reprinted in paperback the following year. Garp had a first printing variously reported as 25,000 or 35,000 copies -- a large number for a young, critically respected but commercially unsuccessful writer whose novels had never sold as many as 7000 copies previously. It was reprinted in hardcover numerous times, became a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, and eventually sold millions of copies when it came out in paperback. Later it was made into a successful film. Although copies of the first edition of Garp are not especially uncommon, it was the kind of book that was read, passed around, sometimes re-read, and most copies that show up are well-worn. This is a fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
128. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. This is the second issue proof, in tall green wrappers. Because there was a widely distributed advance reading copy (reported to have been printed in an edition of 1500 copies -- a huge number, in those days, for a literary novel), copies of the proof are scarce. A faint strip of sunning to the rear cover; else fine.
129. -. Another copy. Spine-cocked, covers creased and spotted; very good. With a typed label affixed to the spine, giving author, title and publication date.
130. IRVING, John. The Cider House Rules. NY: Morrow (1985). The publisher's limited edition of this title, issued in beige and brown cloth, in a brown slipcase, in an edition of 250 numbered copies signed by the author. There was also a Book-of-the-Month Club limited edition of this title, in a similar format but with a different binding and a much larger limitation -- 795 copies. This, the publisher's edition, is considerably harder to find. Fine.
131. IRVING, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1989. The true first edition of what may be Irving's best-loved book (a substantial claim for a book by the author of The World According to Garp), which was the basis for the movie Simon Birch. Leatherbound, gilt stamped, with gilt page edges and silk ribbon marker. With a special introduction for this edition which does not appear in the trade edition, and signed by the author. A fine copy.
132. JAMES, Henry. Theatricals. Second Series. London: Osgood McIlvaine, 1895. The first edition, U.K. issue, of this volume of two plays by the author of The American, The Europeans, and others, whose novels redefined the "cosmopolitan novel" for the modern era. Collecting "The Album" and "The Reprobate," with a preface by the author. One of 550 copies printed and bound for distribution in Britain. The balance of the print run (460 copies) went to the U.S., and was issued under an American imprint. Foxing to endpapers and page edges; spine-faded cloth; very good, without dust jacket.
133. JEN, Gish. Typical American. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. The first book by the author of Who's Irish? A highly praised novel of the contemporary Chinese-American experience. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
134. JOANS, Ted. Afrodisia. NY: Hill & Wang (1970). The hardcover issue of this collection of poems by this African-American writer who was associated with the Beat movement and whose poems borrow from the rhythms of improvisational jazz music. Inscribed by the author in 1975. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple short, closed edge tears.
135. JOYCE, James. Stephen Hero. (NY): New Directions (1944). Posthumously published short novel, written when the author was in his early twenties, and being an early version of what turned into Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Boards very mildly bumped and edge-sunned; offset numbers to front pastedown; still a near fine copy in a very good, edge-chipped dust jacket rubbed along the folds.
136. JOYCE, James. Epiphanies. (n.p.): University of Buffalo, 1956. A small, attractively printed volume, published posthumously. Approximately two dozen encounters or moments recorded by Joyce in the period 1904-1906, and previously unpublished. Copy #1 of a total edition of 550 copies. Foxing to top edge; else fine without dust jacket.
137. (JOYCE, James). MADDOX, Brenda. Nora. The Real Life of Molly Bloom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy of this biography of the woman on whom the character of Molly Bloom was based, as well as that of Anna Livia Plurabelle, in Finnegans Wake. The text of this biography was substantially changed and partially suppressed before publication, making this a highly significant proof copy, both bibliographically and textually. Uneven sunning to the covers; near fine in wrappers.
138. JUST, Ward. Echo House. (n.p.): Houghton Mifflin (1997). The advance reading copy of this novel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and which explores Just's customary terrain -- the behind-the-scenes power brokers of Washington, D.C., political life -- an arena in which Just has no peer among contemporary novelists, in terms of insider information and insight. Fine in wrappers.
139. KAFKA, Franz. The Trial. NY: Schocken Books (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of the Breon Mitchell translation of Kafka's masterpiece, based on the restored text. One of the most famous and important works of literature of the twentieth century. Fine in wrappers, with the Publisher's Note laid in rather than bound in.
140. KELLER, David. Through the Back Door. (n.p.: n.p.) [1948]. Original typescript, with extensive holograph emendations, of Keller's unpublished autobiography. First written in 1940-41, and heavily revised by Keller in 1947-48. Bound in two volumes. Bound into volume one is an autograph letter signed by Keller in 1951, transmitting the manuscript to a collector and describing the process of this "working copy" and explaining that all but one page of it is true. Keller was a science fiction and horror writer who was widely published in the pulps from the 1920s to the 1950s, and had a number of books published by the science fiction and fantasy specialty presses of the time -- Prime Press, Avalon, Arkham House, etc. He is known to have assembled manuscripts such as these a number of times, of both published and unpublished works, and had them bound into volumes that he gave to collectors or admirers of his writing. Near fine.
141. KELLER, David. Tales from Cornwall. (n.p.: n.p.) [1951]. Carbon typescript of a collection of tales. Bound together with an autograph letter signed by Keller stating that some of the tales collected have never before appeared outside his personal collection and informing the collector that "your library is the only one containing the complete Tales From Cornwall." Eleven stories, 142 pages. Apparently, Keller later wrote additional sotires in this sequence, but at least one of these stories, "Convalescence," has never been published or printed elsewhere. Near fine.
142. KELLER, David. The Final War. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1948. A story written to accompany ten otherwise unrelated science fiction images, each by a different artist. Original ribbon copy typescript, 20 pages, approximately 4 1/2" x 6 1/2", with a number of holograph changes in the author's hand. With an introduction by Keller. Stringbound and laid into a cardstock wrapper inscribed by the author in 1952. Lloyd Currey's bibliography of science fiction writers identifies a mimeographed version of this story done in 1949 and which does not contain the ten images. These, he says, had been earlier issued as a portfolio and "are generally not found with, nor are they part of, this booklet." Since the illustrations are tipped into the sheets of this manuscript pamphlet, it suggests that Keller's introduction -- which thanks the artists for the use of their pictures and hopes "that they will be pleased with the combination" -- was written for this particular, hand-assembled volume, the text of which later became the basis for the mimeographed edition. Paperclip marks to covers; otherwise fine. By all appearances, unique.
143. KEROUAC, John. The Town and the City. NY: Harcourt Brace (1950). His first novel, published seven years before On the Road and the only book Kerouac published using his given name, John, rather than the more casual "Jack" under which his Beat novels were published. Kerouac later dismissed this novel as "dead": he came to consider the carefully crafted style to be artificial, and in opposition to the more free-flowing, jazz-inspired writing of On the Road and his later books. The Town and the City is a partly autobiographical novel, and as such can be viewed in the context of Kerouac's later books, which together comprised the "Dulouz sequence" -- an series of semi-autobiographical narratives which he considered to be the literal truth of his life, altered into "fiction" by the demands of publishers. While The Town and the City is not as self-consciously experimental as On the Road, it shows Kerouac's literary antecedents -- it is reminiscent of Thomas Wolfe -- and gives a clear indication that he saw himself as a writer long before he became a cultural icon. This is a very near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with a small tape-repaired chip at the lower edge of the rear panel and multiple short edge tears, all of which have been internally tape-repaired.
144. -. Same title, the first British edition (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951). This copy is signed on the front flyleaf by beat writer Herbert Huncke, in 1953. Huncke appears in several of Kerouac's novels of the Beat period. Offsetting to endpapers, foxing to page edges; this is a very good copy in a near fine dust jacket which differs in design from that of the American edition and which blurbs Kerouac's second novel on the rear flap: "a novel whose background is the recurrence of the pioneering instinct in American life and its expression in the migrations of the present generation; a book provisionally entitled On the Road." Publisher's mailing list solicitation card laid in. A nice association copy of a scarce edition of Kerouac's first book.
145. KEROUAC, Jack. On the Road. NY: Viking, 1957. His second novel, the quintessential "road novel" and the book that defined the Beat generation. With its theme of two outcasts crossing the American heartland, Kerouac's fictionalized account of his exploits with his friend Neal Cassady -- here depicted as "Dean Moriarty" -- updated Mark Twain's story of Huck Finn and Jim on the Mississippi and became a cultural landmark. It helped introduce Zen Buddhism and other Eastern traditions into the popular culture of the West, and pioneered the concept of recreational drug use, a novel idea in the Fifties but one that was taken for granted barely a decade later. Unlike many self-consciously "hip" novels, both before and since, it continues to be read and admired today, retaining its freshness due to the immediacy of its writing, the clarity of its youthful perceptions, and the authenticity of the characters' quests. All by itself, it ensures Kerouac's standing as an important American writer. A near fine copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with some chipping at the crown and fading to the red on the spine. An attractive copy of a 20th century high spot.
146. KEROUAC, Jack. Book of Dreams. (San Francisco): City Lights (1961). First printing, in wrappers; there was no hardcover edition. Kerouac's dream journal, with a Robert Frank photograph of Kerouac sleeping on the cover. Spine sunned and creased, wear to corners; very good.
147. KETCHUM, Jack. The Dust of the Heavens. (Aliso Viejo): James Cahill (1997). A limited edition of a work previously published in Brutarian. Of a total edition of 200 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies signed by the author and by Edward Lee, who provides an introduction. Ketchum provides a previously unpublished afterword. Fine in a fine slipcase.
148. KIDDER, Tracy. The Road to Yuba City. Garden City: Doubleday, 1974. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author's first book, an investigative report on the Juan Corona murders in northern California in the early 1970s. Kidder later expressed displeasure with this book and has not allowed it to be reprinted, despite the commercial and critical success his later books have enjoyed, which resulted in publishers seeking to purchase the reprint rights for this book in order to reissue it. This copy has remainder spray on the bottom page edges; otherwise a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with a short tear at the top of the front flap fold. Signed by the author.
149. KIDDER, Tracy. Home Town. NY: Random House (1999). The latest critically acclaimed and bestselling book of nonfiction by the author of House and The Soul of a New Machine, among others. This book is a portrait of the town of Northampton, Massachusetts, as revealed through a handful of specific individuals whose lives and particularities help define the town and give it its flavor. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
150. (KILMER, Joyce). "Ballade of My Lady's Beauty" and "George Meredith" in The Younger Choir. NY: Moods, 1910. A collection of poetry edited by Edwin Markham, introducing a number of younger poets. A prefatory note indicates that only four of the poems included herein had been published in book form previously, although several had had magazine appearances. One of 500 numbered copies, this one signed by Kilmer, Louis Untermeyer, George Viereck and two others. A very good copy in a homemade, plain paper dust jacket. Kilmer, most famous for his poem "Trees," was killed in World War I -- his death came to symbolize, as did the deaths of British poets Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen, the destruction of courageous poetic idealism by war. As a result of his death in the war at a young age, books signed by Kilmer are very scarce.
151. KING, Stephen. Carrie. Garden City: Doubleday, 1974. His first novel, the beginning of a career that reinvigorated the horror genre, led the author to become the best-selling American author of all time, and resulted in gaining him a degree of celebrity and name-recognition usually reserved exclusively for film stars and athletes. Also the basis for one of the defining movies of the '70s. Front board a bit splayed; near fine in a very good dust jacket with several small edge tears. Signed by the author on letterhead notepaper tipped to the front flyleaf, and dated 1983, the point at which King's career as a best-selling, "name-brand" author was really just beginning to pick up steam. At that time, the first printings of his books began to number in the hundreds of thousands of copies; today they are counted in the million-plus range. Signed copies of King's early books are increasingly scarce, as the author's celebrity has required that he limit his signing appearances in order not to be deluged by an unwieldy number of requests.
152. KING, Stephen. The Shining. Garden City: Doubleday (1977). King's third novel, memorably filmed by Stanley Kubrick. This title is the third-scarcest of King's novels, in terms of the size of the first printing, which was 25,000 copies. King's recent novels have had first printings numbering over a million copies. Added to the scarcity factor is that Doubleday was notorious in the 1970s for producing books cheaply, which showed wear easily, and were inherently less survivable than the typical trade hardcover of the period. This copy is inscribed by King in 1980. The flyleaf bears the recipient's ownership signature, and King's signature has a water droplet partly obscuring the "g." A near fine copy with minor wear to the spine cloth, in a dust jacket with light rubbing and edgewear; also about near fine. An uncommon book to find inscribed by King in the days before he became a household name and arguably the most well-known living writer on the planet.
153. -. Another copy. Large glue stains on front flyleaf, presumably from the removal of a bookplate; otherwise a near fine copy in a good dust jacket internally tape-repaired along splitting folds and at the extremities; the lower extremity bears an inexplicable, albeit slight, touch-up of green.
154. KINSELLA, W.P. Dance Me Outside. (Canada): Oberon (1977). The award-winning author's first book, a collection of stories set on the Hobbema Reserve, a locale populated in a number of Kinsella books with an ever-increasing assortment of memorable characters. Kinsella's humorous, irreverent stories are important because they are decidedly unromantic and convey the implied message that Indian characters need not be "typical" but rather, like any other literary figures, should be particular, and that their relevance will emerge out of their individuality, not by being grafted onto them from the outside as politically correct baggage. The stories in this collection were the basis for a well-received Canadian film, done in 1994. This is the issue in wrappers and is signed by the author. Fine.
155. KIZER, Carolyn. Mermaids in the Basement. Port Townsend: Copper Canyon, 1984. The uncommon uncorrected proof copy of poems by a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, from an important small press. Stapled sheets with a black tape spine. A low-tech production, suggesting very few were done. Kizer won the Pulitzer Prize the following year, for her collection, Yin. Fine, with publisher's promotional sheet laid in.
156. KOCH, Kenneth. The Duplications. NY: Random House (1977). The uncorrected proof copy of this long poem. Inscribed by the author. Fine in tall wrappers. Koch, along with John Ashbery and James Schuyler, was one of the major poets who defined the "New York school" of poetry.