Catalog 117, K-L
155. (KEROUAC, Jack). Jack Kerouac - The Legacy. Larkspur: Jan Kerouac Benefit Fund, 1995. An attractive poster, approximately 18" x 26", designed and printed by noted poster artist Alton Kelley -- who designed many of the famous psychedelic posters of the 1960s in San Francisco. This poster was prepared to promote a series of benefits for Kerouac's daughter Jan, who, besides being quite ill and without health care benefits, was contesting the disposition of Kerouac's literary estate. A series of fundraising events were organized in San Francisco, which included appearances and performances by a number of people who had been closely connected to Kerouac and the poets and artists of the Beat generation and later the Sixties counterculture. Of a total edition of 1135, this is one of 135 numbered copies signed by Alton Kelley and Jan Kerouac. Fine.
156. -. Another copy of the limited edition signed by Alton Kelly and Jan Kerouac, but this copy is additionally signed by a number of the participants, including Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, Paul Krassner, Hubert Selby, Jr., Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Jack Micheline, Allen Cohen, Harold Norse, Piri Thomas, John Cassady (son of legendary hipster/prankster Neal Cassady), and others. A remarkable congregation of individuals associated both with Jack Kerouac in the Fifties and Sixties and with the active effort to preserve his literary legacy and support his daughter in the Nineties. Reportedly only 7 copies of the limited edition were signed by these extra contributors. Fine.
157. -. Same title. One of 1000 copies, unsigned. Fine.
158. KESEY, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. NY: Viking (1962). Kesey's landmark first book, a pivotal novel of the literature of the Sixties, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. The early printings of the U.S. edition contain text that was later excised and changed after a lawsuit was brought against Kesey and his publisher by a woman who was a nurse at the institution which Kesey used as a model for the novel; she charged him with portraying a character that was based on her (and had the same first name) in a disparaging manner. The character was rewritten after the third hardcover printing, and later editions, including the mass market paperback and the "definitive" text in the Viking Critical Library Series, have an alternate character in her place. Inscribed by the author: "To ____ & ___/ Some things are/ the truth even if/ they didn't happen./ Ken Kesey." Top stain faded (or was never present) and a bit dusty; a hint of cloth foxing and spine indentation; near fine in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket with very shallow edge wear.
159. KESEY, Ken. Artwork. 1964. An ink rendering of edifice, stone, fence and flags, executed, according to an accompanying letter of provenance, after the author's "suffering through the activities of the prim and proper events" (at a talk he had been invited to give) and constructed around themes of confinement and despair. In the drawing, which includes approximately 100 words, Kesey poses the questions: "Is a walk possible, considering no doorway yet?" and "We can still (someone brags) cross the street when they won't even let us cross the street alone?" 8" x 10 1/2". Unlined notebook paper; one horizontal fold; slight edge wear; near fine. The most interesting multimedia work by Kesey we have seen, and an extremely early ephemeral piece, done at about the time of the publication of his second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion, and before he became a counterculture celebrity and leader of the Merry Pranksters and, as such, one of the iconic figures of the 1960s.
160. KESEY, Ken. The Day After Superman Died. Northridge: Lord John, 1980. A story about Neal Cassady, Kesey's longtime friend, sometime mentor, and the driver of the Merry Pranksters' bus on its legendary cross-country trip. Of a total edition of 350 copies, this is one of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. Faint fading to spine cloth and foxing to top edge; very near fine, without jacket, as issued.
161. (KESEY, Ken). The Acid Test. San Francisco: Studio City (n.d.). LP recording of Kesey, Ken Babbs, et al, made in the studio during one 14 hour acid-tripping session. Conceived as an attempt to create a record that would replicate the experience of attending one of the legendary Acid Tests, the record included Kesey and Babbs and the Merry Pranksters, and later the Grateful Dead, the "house band" at the Acid Tests, who had been playing at the Straight Theater in Haight-Ashbury that night and then came down to the studio afterward to join in on this record. The original LP is extremely scarce: a facsimile reissue was done in a limited edition many years later, and a CD reissue (with additional material from a later date) has recently been done. According to Babbs, the original tapes of the session were irretrievably lost soon after the session. Record fine; small sticker removal abrasion to sleeve and one corner mildly bumped and tape-strengthened; near fine.
162. (KESEY, Ken). STRELOW, Michael, ed. Kesey. Eugene: Northwest Review Books (1977). Introductory essays by Malcolm Cowley and John Clark Pratt (editor of the Viking Critical Library edition of Cuckoo's Nest) and selections from Kesey's manuscript notes for Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion, as well as a number of other previously unpublished writings and drawings by Kesey. This is the issue in wrappers and is inscribed by Kesey: "For ____/ He ate a delicious/ vision." Endpages foxed, covers dusty; about near fine.
163. KING, Stephen. Dreamcatcher. NY: Scribner (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of this recent novel by the master of horror fiction. Fine in wrappers.
164. KING, Stephen and STRAUB, Peter. Black House. NY: Random House (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of the second collaboration by these two best-selling and critically acclaimed writers of horror fiction. Fine in wrappers.
165. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Bean Trees. NY: Harper & Row (1988). The uncorrected proof copy of her first novel. Signed by the author. Kingsolver has become a bestselling novelist on the strength of fiction that is firmly rooted in the land and cultures of the American Southwest. Some scuffing to rear cover and slight creasing on front; light stain to foredge of pages. Very good in wrappers. The first trade edition of this novel is quite scarce; the proof considerably more so.
166. KINSELLA, W.P. Born Indian. (Canada): (Oberon) (1981). The hardcover issue of the fourth book by the author of the award-winning Shoeless Joe, a collection of Indian stories set on the Hobbema Reserve, the setting of two of his earlier books. While all of Kinsella's hardcover editions from Oberon are uncommon -- with print runs that are said to have been in the low hundreds -- this is the title that, other than his first book, seems the scarcest. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A flawless copy of one of his most difficult books; inscribed by the author on the title page.
167. KIPLING, Rudyard. Abaft the Funnel. NY: B.W. Dodge, 1909. The third issue (covers not blind-stamped; red lettering) of the true first edition of this collection of stories, a pirate edition published two months before Doubleday's authorized edition. Trace wear to the cloth at the spine extremities, otherwise a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with shallow wear at the crown. An uncommon edition, and especially scarce in dust jacket.
168. KIZER, Carolyn. Midnight Was My Cry. Garden City: Doubleday, 1971. First issue of the third collection of poems by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Kizer was the founder of Poetry Northwest, which she edited until 1965. Her 1984 collection, Yin, won the Pulitzer. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light wear at the corners.
169. KOTZWINKLE, William. Return of Crazy Horse. NY: FSG (1971). A picture book celebrating Korczak Ziolkowski's monument to Crazy Horse, which he began carving from Thunderhead Mountain in 1948 and was still working on when he died in 1982. Illustrations by Joe Servello. Quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket with two tiny edge tears. An uncommon book by Kotzwinkle.
170. (LAWRENCE, D.H.). BUNIN, I.A. The Gentleman from San Francisco and Other Stories. Richmond: Hogarth Press, 1922. Four stories translated from the Russian by Leonard Woolf, S.S. Koteliansky and D.H. Lawrence, whose name was omitted from the title page. An erratum slip is laid in crediting Lawrence as co-translator of the first story in the collection. Endpages foxed; darkening to boards from sun and handling; spine label peeling; still a sound copy, about very good, without dust jacket.
171. LAWRENCE, T.E. The Odyssey of Homer. NY: Oxford University Press, 1932. The first American edition, one of only 34 numbered copies (25 for sale), printed to secure American copyright, this being one of only eleven bound in crushed morocco. Lawrence's translation of The Odyssey was commissioned in 1928, two years after his landmark volume Seven Pillars of Wisdom -- which recounted the author's exploits as "Lawrence of Arabia" -- was published, and he completed the translation nearly five years later. It was his last major work and proved extremely successful, having been printed in a remarkable range of editions, from this beautiful copyright edition, based on the English edition published earlier the same year and designed by Bruce Rogers, to a paperback edition distributed free to American servicemen during the Second World War. Original rust-brown crushed morocco, spine gilt-lettered with five raised bands, publisher's original linen strengthening at inner hinges, top edge gilt. Bookplate front pastedown; light shelf wear at extremities; else fine, in custom clamshell box. A beautiful copy of one of the scarcest books in the Lawrence canon. O'Brien A148.
172. LAWRENCE, T.E. The Letters of T.E. Lawrence. London: Jonathan Cape (1938). The personal copy of Michael S. Howard, Managing Director of Jonathan Cape, publisher of this volume; bound in half-pigskin with marbled endpapers and a glassine dust wrapper tipped with flaps similar to the endpapers. Top edge gilt. Laid in is a signed note by Howard's widow certifying that this was his copy and stating that it is "one of two, possibly three, bound in this way." The book is fine; the jacket is brittle and cracked. O'Brien A202.
173. LAWRENCE, T.E. Secret Despatches from Arabia. (London): Golden Cockerel (1939). One of 1000 copies of this attractive edition, bound in cloth and 1/4 black Niger morocco; top edge gilt. The most extensive of the Golden Cockerel volumes by Lawrence. The boards are somewhat browned with age and a bit splayed; the endpapers are slightly foxed. Lacking the original (plain) slipcase; still a very good copy of a handsomely produced volume. O'Brien A226.
174. LE CARRÉ, John. Autograph Letter Signed and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. February 18, 1963/London: Gollancz, 1963. A letter, running two sides of one page, in which Le Carré answers five questions put to him by the recipient, Mr. Broberg, the head of a Swedish mystery society, who had apparently read Le Carré's earlier books and admired them, and written to the author with a number of questions. In the first response, Le Carré informs Mr. Broberg that Gollancz will be bringing out his third book, "Carcass of the Lion," (eventually retitled as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold) in the summer. In the fourth response he refers to this book as his best to date. The second response gives his profession as part-time civil servant, with an earlier stint as schoolmaster. The third response claims he began writing thrillers on train journeys because he needed money and " -- second reasons are always suspect -- because I can't read fiction myself." The fifth response projects his productivity: "I intend to produce about a book a year, if I can manage it, or until I think I am turning them out too easily." An interesting and revealing letter, in large part focusing on the book that established Le Carré as the preeminent novelist of the spy trade and the Cold War, the eventual title of which contributed a phrase ostensibly from spycraft that has virtually become part of the language. The letter is folded in fourths; apparently once tipped to something as the lower edge is unevenly cut and abraded on verso, not affecting any text; near fine. The book, retitled from "Carcass of the Lion," is slanted and faded on the spine; about near fine in a near fine, price-clipped and spine-faded dust jacket with the edges acidified, presumably from an earlier jacket protector.
175. LE CARRÉ, John. The Looking-Glass War. London: Heinemann (1965). His fourth book, published a year after his success with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, which redefined the spy genre. This grim novel, though not as successful, began the series in which Le Carré pushed authenticity to new levels in espionage fiction. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with the rear flap clipped and the addition of appropriate color to the front flap fold. The jacket shows only the slightest of fading on the spine, which is very unusual for this title.
176. LE CARRÉ, John. The Constant Gardener. NY: Scribner (2001). The advance reading copy of the first American edition of his latest novel. Fine in wrappers.
177. -. Same title. 8 1/2" x 11" bound sheets shot from typescript, with several pages reproducing holograph corrections, including one page reproducing a paragraph of holograph to be inserted in the text at a marked location -- an interesting glimpse of the work-in-progress. Fine.
178. LEONARD, Elmore. Escape from Five Shadows. [Boston]: Houghton Mifflin, [1956]. The uncorrected proof copy of the third of his extremely scarce Westerns, which preceded his first mystery novel by over a decade and his first bestseller by over two decades. 7" x 11" ringbound galley sheets, printed on rectos only. The label affixed to the cardstock cover gives a publication date of 1955 (the book was actually published in 1956) and, in pencil "May 1." Also in pencil on the front cover label is written "The Westerners" -- an alternate title? An indication of the genre, for marketing purposes? The covers show some extremely slight creasing; but still a remarkably fine copy, with the covers crisp, the fragile plastic ring spine intact. An extremely scarce item: we have never seen another proof copy of any of Leonard's Westerns offered for sale, and Houghton Mifflin was not even doing bound proofs for all its titles routinely at that time. There were probably only a couple of dozen of theses produced and given the format and fragility of this item, it's unlikely that many others have survived, if any. In a custom quarter leather clamshell box.
179. (LEONARD, Elmore). Hombre. (n.p.): Twentieth Century-Fox, 1967. Advertising for the film version of Leonard's novel, which starred Paul Newman and was the first major commercial success to be derived from a Leonard novel. The movie was directed by Martin Ritt, who had also directed Hud, the film adaptation of Larry McMurtry's first novel, Horseman, Pass By. (Newman also made films in the next few years based on novels by Robert Stone, Ken Kesey and Ross Macdonald.) Including one-sheet, 14" x 22", creased at top, near fine; lobby card, 14" x 11", fine; 12-page pressbook, with one excision from the "scene mats" page, thus very good in illustrated cardstock covers; an additional, abridged pressbook, also with excisions; an 8" x 10" color glossy of Newman, signed by Newman, fine; and a 10" x 8" black-and-white glossy of Leonard, signed by the author, also fine.
180. LEWIS, Wyndham. Apes of God. London: Arthur Press, 1930. A massive satirical novel in which Lewis skewers the British liberal literary culture of the 1920s, in particular the Bloomsbury group. This is one of 750 numbered copies, done for subscribers, and signed by the author. Endpages and page edges foxed, a stray pen mark to lower edges and a bit of soiling to the page edges at the lower corners from the bulk of the book; still a near fine copy in a good dust jacket with multiple internal tape repairs and strengthenings and heavily rubbed folds. Ezra Pound called this novel the most important book of the 20th century, ahead of James Joyce's Ulysses and all other contenders.
181. LISPECTOR, Clarice. Family Ties. Austin: University of Texas Press (1972). The second American edition of this collection of stories. Fine in a very good, unevenly faded dust jacket.
182. LOEB, Harold A. Doodab. NY: Boni & Liveright, 1925. The first book by this writer who was a figure in the American expatriate community in Paris during the 1920s. Loeb had helped Hemingway get his first book, In Our Time, published in the U.S.: in fact, it was when Leon Fleischman, Boni & Liveright's literary scout, came to Paris with the contract for this book that Hemingway turned over the stories that Liveright published later that year. Despite the support and encouragement Loeb had given Hemingway, he became the basis for the character Robert Cohn in The Sun Also Rises, an unflattering portrait that Loeb later tried to corrrect in his 1959 memoir, The Way It Was. Foxing to page edges and endpages; else near fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with some edge chipping and a closed tear at mid spine.
183. LOPEZ, Barry. Light Action in the Caribbean. NY: Knopf, 2000. The uncorrected proof copy of his latest book, a collection of short stories. Fine in wrappers.