Catalog 108, R
292. ROBBINS, Tom. Still Life With Woodpecker. NY: Bantam (1980). The hardcover issue of his third novel (there was a simultaneous softcover). Contemporary reports indicated the first printing as 2500 copies, compared with 25,000 for the softcover. (Although we are skeptical that the hardcover printing was that small, this title was one of the very first hardcovers published by Bantam, which had previously been a mass market paperback publisher, and a conservative first printing of a hardcover edition of a book aimed at the "youth market" would have been in order.) Signed by the author. Mild splaying to boards; near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. Together with a typed (photocopied) note signed by the author dated (on the envelope) 1976. Robbins' four paragraph form letter, hand-addressed and hand-signed, apologizes, in his own inimitable style, for choosing to send himself "out in one large piece (a book) than in thousands of little pieces (letters)." Folded, fine, in a torn and tape-repaired envelope, addressed to "Amanda Reckonwithe," which appellation Robbins rewards with a "(?!)" on the letter. For both:
293. ROBBINS, Tom. Jitterbug Perfume. NY: Bantam (1984). Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is a 1990 letter from Robbins' assistant (on "Tibetan Peach Pie" company stationery) stating that Robbins would be willing to sign books. A dedication copy, given that this title is partially dedicated to "those whose letters I still haven't answered," and in 1984 the recipient had an unanswered letter to his credit.
294. (ROBBINS, Tom). Skagit Valley Artists. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1974. Robbins provides the text, in his typical animated style, for this catalogue of an exhibition by 16 artists from the Skagit Valley of Washington state, including Guy Anderson, who was the subject of Robbins' first published book (prior to Another Roadside Attraction). Very near fine in stapled wrappers. Scarce.
295. ROBINSON, Marilynne. Housekeeping. NY: FSG (1980). Her first book and only fiction to date. A subtle story of keeping what matters and escaping from the weight of the rest. Winner of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award and a Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Award. Made into a moving film with Christine Lahti. Trace edge sunning; fine in a near fine dust jacket with one small, internally tape-mended edge tear.
296. ROTH, Philip. Operation Shylock. NY: Simon & Schuster (1993). A hardcover advance reading copy of this winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and Time magazine's Book of the Year. Shot from proof sheets and bound in a quarter cloth binding with a paper label on the front cover and an unstamped spine. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued. With a "Compliments of the Publisher" card laid in. A very unusual format for an advance copy.
297. -. Another copy. Lower corners bumped; near fine.
298. ROTH, Philip. I Married a Communist. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. The limited edition of this novel, set in the McCarthy era, and the second book in a trilogy about postwar America, in which Roth investigates the interrelationship of his characters' individual fates with that of the nation. American Pastoral, set during the Vietnam war and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, was the first book in the sequence. The third, The Human Stain, is due out this spring. I Married a Communist won the Ambassador Award of the English Speaking Union, continuing Roth's remarkable string of award-winning novels in the 1990s. One of 200 numbered copies, signed by the author. Clothbound; fine in slipcase.
299. (ROTH, Philip). SCHULMAN, Arnold. Goodbye, Columbus. (n.p.): Paramount, 1968. A screenplay based on Roth's novel. This is the "final draft," dated May 29, 1968, with a sheet of revisions bound in dated 7/22/68 and nine pages of revisions from an unspecified date laid in. This is copy #27, which belonged to the mixer Jack Jacobsen and bears his ownership signature and address label. Several notations in text; general overall use. Near fine in a Paramount binder. Roth's book was a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award winner. The screenplay was nominated for an Oscar. Very scarce; we haven't seen another one offered for sale.