Catalog 115, A
1. ALLEN, Woody. Don't Drink the Water. NY: Samuel French (1967). The acting edition of Allen's first play, a comedy in two acts, published in 1967 and originally performed in 1966, the year he directed his first film. This copy is signed by the author. Rubber stamp of Theaterbooks -- a Broadway bookseller in New York City -- on the front cover, a few faint spots in text; near fine in stapled wrappers. A very early Allen piece, and uncommon signed.
2. ALLEN, Woody. Without Feathers. NY: Random House (1975). His second collection of short humorous pieces, and fourth book overall. Many of these pieces originally appeared in The New Yorker. Signed by the author. A few faint spots to foredge; else fine in a fine dust jacket with a tiny nick at the lower front spine fold.
3. ANGELOU, Maya. All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1986. The limited edition of this continuation of her autobiographical reminiscences, which began with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Signed by the author. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a special introduction by Angelou for this edition. Fine.
4. (Anthology). Las Mamis. Favorite Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers. NY: Knopf, 2000. The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of original pieces, edited by Esmeralda Santiago and Joie Davidow. With work by Junot Díaz, Francisco Goldman, Dagoberto Gilb, Piri Thomas and others. Fine in wrappers with cover art bound in.
5. (Anthology). The Fat Man from La Paz. NY: Seven Stories (2000). Advance reading copy of a collection of contemporary Bolivian fiction. Fine.
6. (Anthology). Jewish American Literature. NY: Norton (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of this massive collection (1200+ pages) of Jewish American literature from the 17th century forward, featuring 145 writers including Woody Allen, Gertrude Stein, Nathanael West, Irwin Shaw, Saul Bellow, Grace Paley, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Cynthia Ozick, Philip Roth, Stephen Sondheim, Adrienne Rich, E.L. Doctorow, Robert Pinsky, Art Spiegelman and Allegra Goodman, among many others. Fine in wrappers.
7. ASTURIAS, Miguel Ángel. Viento Fuerte. Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educacion Publica (1950). The true first edition of the first volume of his "Banana Republic Trilogy" -- a fictional treatment of the foreign control of the Central American banana industry; published in small quantities in the author's native Guatemala and the most difficult title in the trilogy, which was not published in an English translation until almost 20 years later -- the year Asturias was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Asturias' early works were grounded in the mythology of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala; with this book, and the rest of the trilogy, he added to that an acute political awareness. His critique of the United Fruit Company, and the economic exploitation of native Guatemalans helped earn him the Soviet Union's highest prize -- the Lenin Peace Prize -- putting Asturias in the small group of people who had won the highest honors in both the West and in the Communist bloc during the Cold War. His amalgam of local history and myth -- and the epistemological questions they raised -- with contemporary regional political concerns created a blueprint for the Latin American writers of the "boom" generation. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Pages browning with age; spine creased and browned; a very good copy in self-wrappers.