Catalog 119, N-O
188. -. Same title. NY: Macmillan (1967)[actually 1968]. The first American edition. Mild bowing, else fine in a near fine dust jacket with a nick on the front panel.
189. NAIPAUL, V.S. Guerrillas. (London): Deutsch (1975). A novel, which The New York Times Book Review called the best novel of the year when it was published. Mild top edge foxing; else fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket. A very attractive copy.
190. NAIPAUL, V.S. The Enigma of Arrival. (Middlesex): Viking (1987). An autobiographical novel by the recent winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
191. NAIPAUL, V.S. A Turn in the South. (London): Viking (1989). The first British edition of Naipaul's account of his travels through the American South. Signed by the author. Page edges browning as is usual with this title, due to the poor quality of paper used: when Viking merged with Penguin in the 1980s, Penguin -- which had been exclusively a paperback publisher for decades -- decided to use the same paper stock for both hardcovers and paperbacks as a cost-cutting measure. The result was that, for several years, Viking published hardcovers like this one, whose pages turned brown as quickly as those of the cheaper paperback editions. After a few years they abandoned the misguided effort. Other than the page browning, fine in a fine dust jacket.
192. NAIPAUL, V.S. Reading & Writing. A Personal Account. NY: New York Review of Books (2000). Contains the title essay, written for the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust, and "The Writer in India." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
193. NATHAN, Daniel. The Golden Summer. Boston: Little Brown (1953). A fictional boyhood memoir written by Nathan, better known as Frederic Dannay, better known as one half of the mystery-writing team known as "Ellery Queen." "Daniel Nathan" was apparently the author's birth name, which he later changed to "Dannay" -- a combination of "Dan" from "Daniel" and "Na" from "Nathan," with the "y" added on the end for convenience. [The author's son reports, however, that after his father's death, he found papers changing his father's name to Frederic Dannay from David Nathan.] Fine in a very good dust jacket with some edge chipping and surface soiling to the rear panel. A nice copy of an uncommon book by a noted author, whatever his actual name was.
194. NERUDA, Pablo. Splendor and Death of Joaquín Murieta. NY: FSG (1972). The uncorrected proof copy of this long poem based on the life and death of a Chilean highwayman in California in the 1850s. Bilingual edition. Near fine in tall wrappers, with a near fine copy of the dust jacket.
195. NERUDA, Pablo. New Poems (1968-1970). NY: Grove (1972). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection published the year after he won the Nobel Prize. Bilingual edition. Fine in tall wrappers.
196. NERUDA, Pablo. Toward the Splendid City. NY: FSG (1974). The uncorrected proof copy of a bilingual edition of Neruda's Nobel Prize speech. Near fine in tall wrappers.
197. NICHOLS, John. American Blood. NY: Holt (1987). A review copy of this violent and controversial novel about a Vietnam vet, by the author of the acclaimed New Mexico trilogy (The Milagro Beanfield War, etc.). Fine in a fine dust jacket with publisher's promotional material laid in.
198. OATES, Joyce Carol. The Art of Matt Phillips. NY: Marilyn Pearl Gallery, 1980. Oates provides the text (approximately 600 words) for an announcement of a Phillips retrospective. One page of cardstock, folded to make four pages, with the first page reproducing a color image of one of Phillips' paintings. Signed by Matt Phillips. Fine. Uncommon Oates ephemera.
199. O'BRIEN, Tim. Friends and Enemies. Arizona: Synaethesia Press, 2001. Two stories from O'Brien's award-winning collection The Things They Carried, bound back-to-back and printed in an edition of 125 copies, of which this is one of 99 numbered copies in saddle-stitched wrappers. Illustrated by noted artist Fritz Scholder and signed by the author and the artist. Fine.
200. O'CONNOR, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. NY: Harcourt Brace (1955). O'Connor's most widely celebrated work, the collection of stories that created her reputation as a master of the form and which redefined the notion of Southern gothic. Nominated for the National Book Award. O'Connor has been called a master of the grotesque while at the same time being considered a deeply religious writer: for her, the suffering and pain of life were only potentially redeemable and black humor was more likely to be the form that relief and transcendence took than God-given grace. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication and signed "Flannery O'C." Endpages foxed; tips rubbed; a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with the pink on the spine only very slightly faded -- much less than is usual with this title. With custom clamshell box. An uncommon book: the first printing was only 2500 copies and first editions in collectible condition are quite scarce, let alone inscribed. One of the nicest copies we've seen on the market in a number of years.
201. O'CONNOR, Robert. Buffalo Soldiers. NY: Knopf, 1993. One of the most highly praised first novels of the year, a black comedy of the peacetime army that was compared to Catch-22 and "Sergeant Bilko on scag." O'Connor was chosen, on the strength of this volume, as one of the Granta 20. Fine in a fine dust jacket. J.G. Ballard and James Ellroy blurbs, among others.
202. (ONDAATJE, Michael). The Brick Reader. Toronto: Coach House Press (1991). A collection of essays and interviews from Brick magazine, a literary journal edited by Michael Ondaatje and Linda Spalding. The list of authors includes Robert Stone, Don DeLillo, Alice Munro, John Berger, Kazuo Ishiguro, Richard Ford, Grace Paley, Russell Hoban, Marilynne Robinson, Russell Banks, Jane Urquhart, Rohinton Mistry and more. Fine in wrappers and signed by Ondaatje and Spalding.
203. ORWELL, George. Animal Farm. NY: Harcourt Brace (1946). The first American edition of this allegorical tale of tyranny. Small tear rear flyleaf; else a fine copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with a tiny bit of dampstaining at the upper rear panel. An attractive copy.