Catalog 123, S-U
401. SHAW, Bernard. The Devil's Disciple. London: Archibald Constable, 1908. The first separate publication of this play. Bookplate front pastedown and a small "first edition" stamp there. Spine darkening and handling to boards; near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
402. SHAW, Bernard. The Quintessence of Ibsenism. Now Completed to the Death of Ibsen. London: Archibald Constable, 1913. First thus, a reissue of Shaw's important 1891 essay on Ibsen, with a new preface for this edition and an additional section incorporating the plays Ibsen wrote after 1891 and before his stroke in 1900. Small "first edition" stamp on pastedown; very near fine in a very good, sunned and spine-darkened dust jacket with only small corner chips. An important book: Shaw's original essay was his first important connection to the theater, and his commentary on the social realism of Ibsen's plays, versus the stagnant formalism of most Victorian theater, is a landmark of dramatic theory.
403. SHAW, Bernard. Translations and Tomfooleries. London: Archibald Constable, 1926. Foxing to page edges and offsetting to endpages; near fine in a near fine, spine-darkened dust jacket with a chip at the upper front spine fold.
404. SHEPARD, Lucius. Green Eyes. NY: Ace Science Fiction Books (1984). His first book, a paperback original; fine in wrappers.
405. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author in 1986. Fine in wrappers.
406. -. Same title, the first British and first hardcover edition. London: Chatto & Windus (1986). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
407. SHULMAN, Alix Kates. Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen. NY: Knopf, 1972. Her first novel, which became something of a feminist classic upon publication. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
408. SIMIC, Charles. Unending Blues. San Diego: HBJ (1986). The simultaneous issue in wrappers. Inscribed by the author to another poet and his wife in 1990. Light corner bump to rear cover; else fine.
409. SINCLAIR, Upton. The Jungle. NY: Doubleday, Page (1906). The first edition, later issue, with the broken "1" in the date on the copyright page. An important book: Sinclair's depiction of the Chicago stockyards triggered political reform and the regulating of the U.S. food industry. Large owner name front flyleaf; hinges cracked; edges rubbed; some loss to spine lettering, which is still readable. Overall, a very good copy, lacking the dust jacket.
410. SMITH, Lee. Something in the Wind. NY: Harper & Row (1971). Her second book, which many think is her scarcest. Faint foredge stain and a little rubbing to the lower board edges; very near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
411. SMITH, Patti. Babel. NY: Putnam (1978). Poems and writings by the noted poet/rock singer, who was an influential part of the New York City counterculture and underground scene in the late Sixties and Seventies, associating with such figures as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, William Burroughs, the Velvet Underground, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepard and others. This is the simultaneous issue in wrappers and is signed by the author. Rubbed, with front cover corner creased; still a very good copy.
412. SNYDER, Gary. Turtle Island. (NY): New Directions (1974). The uncommon hardcover issue of his Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
413. SOLZHENITSYN, Aleksandr. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. NY: Frederick A. Praeger (1963). The first American edition, which apparently precedes the "only authorized" American edition, published by Dutton the same year. His first book, an account of life inside the Soviet gulag, which was the first exposure to the outside world of the conditions in, and even the existence of, the Soviet prison camps. Based on the author's own experiences in the Soviet prison system. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
414. SOLZHENITSYN, Aleksandr. The Gulag Archipelago. NY: Harper & Row, (1974). The first American edition of the first volume of his classic condemnation of the Soviet state security apparatus, a combination of personal and social history, political analysis, autobiography and documentary. One of the most influential books of its time. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
415. SPARK, Muriel. Memento Mori. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1959. The first American edition. Fine in a fine, albeit short, dust jacket.
416. STEINBECK, John. Cup of Gold. NY: McBride, 1929. The first edition of Steinbeck's first book, a romantic historical novel based on the life of the pirate Henry Morgan, whose ship dominated the seas in the 1670s. Only 1537 copies were printed, and most failed to sell; the remaindered sheets were bound up in 1936 by Covici Friede, then Steinbeck's publisher, after the author had achieved a certain amount of literary and commercial success with such works as The Pastures of Heaven, To a God Unknown and Tortilla Flat. Steinbeck was dissatisfied with this book even before it was published. It was marketed as a boy's adventure story, and the author eventually regretted writing it; his later fiction concentrated on more realistic settings and people, and a more natural style. This is the issue with blue top stain (no priority indicated). Offsetting to flyleafs; owner name front flyleaf; mild fraying to shallowly sunned spine extremities; light foxing to foredge. Still very near fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket restored at the edges and folds. In custom full morocco clamshell case. A beautiful copy of a scarce first book.
417. STEINBECK, John. Tortilla Flat. NY: Covici Friede (1935). An advance copy of his fourth regularly published book, third novel, set in Monterey, California as much of his later fiction was. Basis for the 1942 movie with Spencer Tracy. This is one of about 500 copies issued in wrappers sewn into the dust jacket of the finished book, a typical way of producing advance copies in the 1930s. Stamped "advance complimentary copy" on the front flyleaf. A crisp, fine copy, in a custom clamshell case.
418. STEINBECK, John. East of Eden. NY: Viking, 1952. Perhaps his most famous novel after The Grapes of Wrath, an ambitious family saga that was the basis for a Hollywood movie starring James Dean. This is the first issue. Crown slightly bumped; spine sunning to cloth; about near fine in a good, spine-darkened and price-clipped dust jacket with shallow chipping to the spine extremities and internal tape-mending to the 3" tear at the upper front flap fold.
419. ST. JOHN, Primus. Dreamer. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1990. A collection of poems by this award-winning poet. Inscribed by the author to another poet and his wife. Fine in wrappers.
420. STONE, Robert. A Hall of Mirrors. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. Publisher's file copy of Stone's first book, a novel of drifters in New Orleans in the early Sixties caught up in the web of a quasi-religious political machine. Winner of the William Faulkner Award for best first novel of the year as well as a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award. Publisher's Reference Library bookplate front pastedown; publicity photo of author laid in, with incorrect date of publication on the photo. Fine in a very good dust jacket with very mild rubbing and spine-sunning and a couple short edge tears. A unique copy of an important first book.
421. STONE, Robert. Dog Soldiers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1974). His second novel, winner of the National Book Award and one of the best novels to link the impact of the Vietnam war on American society in the Sixties to the dark side of that era -- the official corruption and the underside of the drug experiences of a generation. Filmed as Who'll Stop the Rain by Karel Reisz, a well-received film for which Stone co-wrote the screenplay and which was nominated for the Golden Palm Award at Cannes. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with offsetting to the front flap and a hint of lamination peeling to the front panel.
422. STONE, Robert. Children of Light. London: Deutsch (1986). The true first edition of his fourth novel, preceding the American edition by one week, and printed in an edition of only 4500 copies, vs. 40,000 (announced) for the American edition. A dark Hollywood novel, with themes from Kate Chopin's The Awakening and King Lear and one of the best, and most hard-hitting, Hollywood novels since Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust. Reportedly, production of a film version of this novel is underway. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
423. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy of the American edition. NY: Knopf, 1986. Signed by the author. Staple holes front cover from sheet of review quotes (now laid in); fine in wrappers.
424. STYRON, William. The Confessions of Nat Turner. NY: Random House (1967). His controversial third novel, about a black slave uprising in the nineteenth century. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Dampstaining to cloth edges; near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket creased on the front flap.
425. STYRON, William. Sophie's Choice. NY: Random House (1979). His fifth novel, winner of the National Book Award and the basis for an Oscar-winning movie. Near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
426. -. Same title. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1979. A limited edition in the Franklin Library's First Edition series, with a special introduction by Styron for this edition. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine.
427. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Jonathan Cape, 1979. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a faint crease on the rear flap.
428. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof of the first British edition. Spine and edge-sunned; near fine in wrappers.
429. STYRON, William. This Quiet Dust and Other Writings. NY: Random House (1982). Collected nonfiction -- essays, reviews and reminiscence. Includes Styron's essays on Peter Matthiessen and Robert Penn Warren and a eulogy for William Faulkner, among other pieces. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small creased tear at the lower rear edge.
430. TEPPER, Sheri S. Northshore. (NY): Tor (1987). The uncorrected proof copy of the first book of the Awakeners series by this award-winning science fiction writer. Her fourteenth book, but first to have been published in hardcover. Fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof.
431. TEPPER, Sheri S. The Gate to Women's Country. NY: Doubleday, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy, shot from typescript, of this important feminist science fiction novel. Upper front corner bumped; else fine in wrappers.
432. THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. (San Francisco): Straight Arrow Books (1973). Thompson covers the Nixon/McGovern race for the Presidency in his own inimitable style. A little staining to page edges and rubbing to board edges; near fine in a good, second issue dust jacket with internally tape-mended edge tears and color inexpertly added to the edges.
433. TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938. The first American edition of Tolkien's landmark book, the first of his tales of Middle Earth that redefined the fantasy genre when he later expanded upon the story to produce The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's tale of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins began as a story he told his younger children, and the book was written and published as a book for children (or what might today be called "young adults"). Later, when he developed the history of Middle Earth more elaborately and wrote the Lord of the Rings sequence, the tales became darker, more allegorical, and more aimed at a mature audience. This volume has a color frontispiece by the author, and three other color illustrations, as well as a number of black and white drawings. This is the first issue, with bowing hobbit on the title page, and the position of the endpaper maps reversed from their listing in the table of contents. Bookplate on the verso of the front flyleaf; faint tape shadows to pastedowns; a very near fine copy, lacking the dust jacket, and seldom encountered as crisp and clean as this copy.
434. TYLER, Anne. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. NY: Knopf, 1982. A couple spots to top stain; else fine in a very good dust jacket with no chips or tears but some mostly-blended staining to the front panel.
435. UNDSET, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter. NY: Knopf, 1937. A later printing of the Nobel Prize edition, which prints the three volume series in one volume. A huge bestseller, both in the author's native Norway and in the U.S.; the book was chosen by Book-of-the-Month club and, according to the publisher, sold so many copies in the trade edition "that the plates from which the book was printed became badly worn," resulting in the setting of new type for this edition; this copy is from the nineteenth printing of the new edition. Signed by the author on the title page. Foredge foxing; else a fine copy in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket rubbed at the folds. An attractive copy of one of the landmark books of the first half of the 20th century, seldom found signed these days.
436. UPDIKE, John. Couples. NY: Knopf, 1968. The first of his novels to be both a critical and a substantial commercial success. Glue bleeding through on front joint; else fine in a very good dust jacket with a chip at the lower back panel and creases to both flaps.
437. UPDIKE, John. Rabbit at Rest. NY: Knopf, 1990. The uncorrected proof copy of the concluding volume of the award-winning Rabbit Angstrom saga, one of the most highly praised fictional sequences of our time. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. The announced first printing of the trade edition was 125,000 copies. The proof may be as much as 1000 times scarcer. Fine in wrappers.
438. UPDIKE, John. The Witches of Eastwick. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1984. The true first edition, a limited edition of Updike's suburban fantasy. Chosen by British critic David Pringle as one of the hundred best fantasy novels of the postwar era. Signed by the author. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. With a special introduction by Updike for this edition. Fine.
439. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy of the trade edition. NY: Knopf, 1984. This is the second issue proof, in mauve wrappers with text revised from the red-wrappered first issue proof. Fine.