Catalog 130, F-G
76. FERLINGHETTI, Lawrence. Adieu à Charlotte. (San Francisco): (White Wail), 1978. A broadside poem, folded in fourths to make a booklet. Signed by Ferlinghetti on the cover of the booklet. Folds a bit sunned; very near fine.
77. FERLINGHETTI, Lawrence and PETERS, Nancy J. Literary San Francisco. San Francisco: City Lights and Harper & Row (1980). An overview, in words and pictures, of San Francisco writers from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century, written by Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights bookstore and publishing company and Peters, the co-director and editor of the City Lights publishing company. Inscribed by the authors. Quarto. Slight dampstaining to lower outer tip; else fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
78. FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. NY: Scribner, 1925. Fitzgerald's third novel and, by consensus, his masterpiece -- one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. This is the first issue, with "sick in tired" on page 205. Library name handwritten on front pastedown; spine cocked and spine cloth dulled, although the gilt is still quite readable; (accession number faint on mid-spine); partial cup ring front panel; a very good copy, lacking the dust jacket.
79. -. Another copy. Also the first issue, with an owner name in pencil, foxing to page edges, minor mottling to front board, but with cloth and spine gilt still bright, and in the first issue dust jacket, with the lower case "j" on the rear panel (this one corrected by a stamped upper case "J"). Beautifully restored. Copies of Gatsby in jacket are rare, and constitute one of the undisputed "high spots" of American first edition collecting. SOLD
80. FORBES, Bryan. The Distant Laughter. NY: Harper & Row (1972). The first American edition of this novel by the noted director of King Rat, The L-Shaped Room, The Raging Moon and others. Warmly inscribed to film critic Pauline Kael: "'Spare my face, aim at my heart'/ with admiration for the fact/ that you always care -- / and/ With kindest regards/ from/ Bryan Forbes," and dated in 1974. Foredge foxed; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Kael, with her studied disdain for the "auteur theory" of film -- which argues in part that any film by a great filmmaker must be viewed in light of that greatness, and forgiven its defects -- was fiercely independent in her reviewing, often praising one of a director's films to the sky while panning another brutally. Many of her correspondents in the film world, like Forbes, recognized and respected that in her writings, even when she had savaged one or more of their films. Forbes inscription here is typical of the kind of response Kael elicited from many filmmakers -- respect, and even admiration, for her integrity. Kael's 1974 book, Deeper Into the Movies, was the first book on film to win the National Book Award.
81. FORD, Richard. Rock Springs. NY: Atlantic Monthly (1987). His fourth book, first collection of stories. After the critical and commercial success of The Sportswriter, Ford's next book was published by the newly launched fiction imprint of the Atlantic Monthly, with considerable fanfare and promotion. Inscribed by the author. Slight splaying to the front board; else fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is a front page review from The New York Times Book Review by award-winning author John Wideman.
82. FOWLES, John and GODWIN, Fay. Islands. London: Cape (1978). Text by Fowles and striking black and white photographs by Godwin. Inscribed by Fowles in the year of publication. Small quarto. Slight splaying to boards and small bookseller sticker on front flyleaf; very near fine in a fine dust jacket.
83. FRANCIS, Dick. Wild Horses. NY: Putnam (1994). The first American edition of this mystery novel set in the world of horse racing. One of an unspecified number of copies signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
84. FRAZIER, Charles. Cold Mountain. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press (1997). The advance reading copy of the trade edition (identified by the publisher as an "uncorrected manuscript"). An early, pre-publication state of this Civil War novel that became a word-of-mouth bestseller and the publishing phenomenon of the year, winning the National Book Award. The first printing of the trade edition was 25,000 copies; there are now over 2 million copies in print, and a big-budget Hollywood movie based on the novel is on the verge of release. The advance copy is considerably scarcer than the first trade edition. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
85. FRIEDMAN, Carol. A Moment's Notice. NY: Schirmer Books (1983). The photographer's first book, a collection of her photographic portraits of American jazz musicians, with text by Gary Giddins. Friedman's photographs of jazz musicians have come to be recognized as the defining standard in the field. Inscribed by Friedman to Pauline Kael "with great admiration." Quarto. Trace edge-foxing and mild spine bump; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
86. GALLAGHER, Tess. Instructions to the Double. (Port Townsend): Graywolf Press, 1976. The poet's second book, this being the issue in wrappers, one of 1350 copies of a total edition of 1500. Inscribed by the author to another poet in 1981,with reference to "our days in Seattle," and signed with "Love." With the recipient's ownership signature. Fine in wrappers. A nice literary association.
87. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. NY: Harper & Row, 1970. The uncorrected proof copy of the Colombian Nobel Prize winner's masterwork, his second book published here and first novel. By consensus one of the most important novels of the century, which introduced "magical realism" to a worldwide readership and single-handedly brought the boom in Latin American literature before an international audience. At the end of the 1970s, the editors of The New York Times Book Review voted One Hundred Years of Solitude the most important novel of the decade, and added that they believed it was the one most likely to still be read a hundred years hence. This proof copy is in the very fragile "pad-bound" format, which presumably accounts for its extreme scarcity: the last copy we handled was well over a decade ago. Pad-bound proofs, because of the way they're constructed, tend to lose their front or rear covers over time: what was undoubtedly a scarce proof in its own day is now extremely rare. A near fine copy.
88. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. El General en su Laberinto. Mexico City: Diana (1989). García Márquez's novelization of the final days of Simón Bolívar, the great "Liberator" of much of South America. This was the first of the Nobel Prize-winning author's books to step outside of the history and culture of his native Colombia and tackle the larger history of the region. This is the first Mexican trade edition, probably issued simultaneously with the Colombian edition, as has been the usual case with García Márquez's Latin American editions. Fine in wrappers and warmly inscribed by the author ("from your great friend") in the year of publication. Signed copies of García Márquez's major novels are quite uncommon.
89. GASS, William H. Fiction and the Figures of Life. NY: Knopf, 1970. His third book, and first book of nonfiction. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a bit of wear at the spine base. Laid in is an announcement of a 1980 lecture by Gass on "Culture, Self and Style."
90. GASS, William. On Being Blue. Boston: Godine (1975). The trade edition of this title, subtitled "A Philosophical Inquiry," one of three thousand copies. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
91. GIBSON, William. Neuromancer. London: Gollancz, 1984. The book that defined the cyberpunk genre and in doing so won the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick Award -- a literary triple which had never before been accomplished. Signed by the author in black ink below his printed name on the title page and additionally signed by Gibson in blue ink in 1991 alongside his own decorated annotation "Wm. Gibson is in an altered state. Thank you Pal." A wonderful inscription. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a few lamination wrinkles on the front panel.
92. GIBSON, William and STERLING, Bruce. The Difference Engine. NY: Bantam (1991). A collaborative novel by two of the leading writers of contemporary science fiction, both associated with the "cyberpunk" movement in the field. This is a fantasy based on the premise that the computer age started in the 1850's, rather than the 1950's, with the perfection of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Elaborately inscribed by Gibson to Tim Powers: "For Tim P! This entire book originally serialized in Aryan Atrocity Adventure Jan 1937! WHATEVER WORKS MAN! Steal from one it's plagiarism/ Steal from TEN it's RESEARCH!" Gibson has also dated the title page "1855." With another full-page inscription by Gibson on the facing page surrounding a drawing of a decorated snake and the handwritten quote: "DEATH TO THE AUTEUR THEORY OF LITERATURE, PAL!," as follows: "To Tim Powers from Mr. Bill/ In orange, deeply" [beneath a drawing of a spilled can of Coors beer, with flies circling]. Powers, himself a winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, has blurbed the book on the rear panel. Laid into this book is the publisher's solicitation of that blurb and, on verso, Powers' handwritten drafting of the blurb, signed (twice) by Tim Powers. This sheet is folded with one corner chip; the book is fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket. A spectacular and unique association copy, one of the best imaginable.
93. GINSBERG, Allen. Empty Mirror. NY: Totem/Corinth (1961). Fourth printing. Inscribed by the author to Kennett Love in 1969: "Kennett - See Page 34 & 37/ both are Lucien's Compositions/ from E. 10 St. one evening/ in 1948 maybe./ (i.e. I gave/ him the situation/ & he phrased it/ in Thos. Hardyesque/ Newspaperese./ Allen Ginsberg." With Kennett Love's ownership signature. A nice inscription: Carr was Love's best friend, which Ginsberg would have known and which explains the inscription. Mild cover foxing; near fine in stapled wrappers.
94. GINSBERG, Allen and BURROUGHS, William. The Yage Letters. (San Francisco): City Lights Books (1966). The third printing. A volume of letters between Burroughs and Ginsberg that borders on being an epistolary novel, and deals with their respective experiences, over a number of years, with the South American hallucinogenic drug yage, also known as ayahuasca. Inscribed by Ginsberg to Kennett Love, "Letters & decades old," in 1969. Love's ownership signature; near fine in wrappers.
95. GINSBERG, Allen. T.V. Baby Poems. NY: Grossman, 1968. The first American edition, this being one of 1750 copies of the softcover issue. Inscribed by the author to Kennett Love in 1969, with a flower, sun, moon and stars drawing covering the front free endpaper. With Love's ownership signature. Minor surface soiling; near fine in wrappers.
96. GOLDMAN, Michael. At the Edge. London: Macmillan (1969). Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Cloth mottled; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
97. GORDIMER, Nadine. The Soft Voice of the Serpent. NY: Simon & Schuster (1952). The first American edition of the South African Nobel Prize winner's first book to be published outside of her native country, a collection of stories. Inscribed by the author. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a bit of rubbing to the spine, a tear to the front flap fold, and a tiny chip to the rear flap fold.
98. GORDIMER, Nadine. The Ultimate Safari. Johannesburg: Artists' Press, 2001. A limited edition of this story by Gordimer, about a young girl who flees Mozambique with her family and walks through the Kruger Park to a supposedly better life in South Africa. With original hand-painted lithographs by Aletah Masuku, Alsetah Manthosi and Dorah Ngomane, three women who earn their livings as seasonal farm workers and who each made the trek to South Africa. "The Ultimate Safari" appeared in Gordimer's collection Jump and Other Stories. This is one of 100 numbered copies signed by the author. Oblong quarto; clothbound in cloth slipcase. A beautiful production, the first artist's book to be made of Gordimer's work, and one of Gordimer's most powerful and most frequently anthologized stories since its original publication a little over a decade ago. Fine.
99. GUNN, Thom. Sunlight. NY: Albondocani Press, 1969. One of 150 numbered copies, of a total edition of 176. Signed by the author. This copy is additionally inscribed by Gunn to poet Gary Snyder in the month of publication, an excellent literary association. A bit of sunning to spine label; else fine in saddle-stitched self-wrappers.