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Catalog 136, F-G

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61. FALLACI, Oriana. If the Sun Dies. London: Collins (1966). The first British edition of this personal account of the fledgling U.S. space program by the Italian journalist who set new standards for participating in the stories she covered in the 1960s. In more recent years, she stirred up controversy again with a passionate diatribe against the Western liberal tendency to be tolerant of fundamentalist Islamists who seek, she argued, the destruction of secular civilization and the liberal values that inform it. Owner name on flyleaf; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with three short, creased edge tears.

62. FALLACI, Oriana. Limelighters. London: Michael Joseph (1967). The first British edition of the Italian journalist's near-legendary, tough-minded interviews with celebrities, including Fellini, Hitchcock, Ingrid Bergman, Robert Kennedy, and many others. In later years Fallaci was not unafraid to tackle politicians head-on either, and her interviews with Henry Kissinger and Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini stand out as critical journalism at its best. Foxing to page edges; small bookseller's stamp; near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with minor sunning and edge rubbing.

63. FAULKNER, William. The Sound and the Fury. NY: Cape and Smith (1929). One of Faulkner's greatest works, the first of his Yoknapatawpha novels, by which his reputation and his permanent place in the history of American literature was earned. A remarkably scarce and fragile book, this is a near fine copy with the slightest darkening and rubbing to the edges of the boards, in a very good, presumed first issue dust jacket (Humanity Uprooted priced $3.00 on the rear panel) with shallow chipping at the crown, an internal tape mend at the lower front flap fold and some mild spine-fading and rubbing to the spine and the folds. The various small flaws notwithstanding, this is a much nicer copy than is usually found, especially with regard to the spine-fading that is endemic to this title: this copy is mildly sunned but the red on the spine is still rich and the white lettering easily readable. Housed in a custom chemise and slipcase. One of the scarcest of Faulkner's trade editions, and one of the most important, if not the most important of his many novels.

64. (FAULKNER, William). SMITH, A.G. William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury/As I Lay Dying. (n.p.): (n.p.)(1971). A portfolio of nine etchings (two in color) by Smith, each signed by the artist. A page of text precedes each etching; the pairs are laid into folders; the folders are laid into a string-tied portfolio. Four of the etchings are Smith's interpretations of scenes from The Sound and the Fury; four more are scenes from As I Lay Dying. The text accompanying each image is from the respective book. The ninth etching is a portrait of Faulkner on the title page of the portfolio. Apparently issued in an edition of five copies: each of the etchings from the books is numbered in Roman numerals, III/V -- i.e., suggesting that this is set three of five sets. The portrait is not numbered. A.G. Smith's work has been exhibited at the Center for Book Arts and the New York Public Library. This is an early production of his. Approximately 18" x 24". The artwork and text are fine; the outer portfolio slightly marred and soiled; very good.

65. FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald. NY: Scribner (1963). Edited and introduced by Andrew Turnbull. A massive selection of Fitzgerald's letters, running to more than 600 pages, including extensive correspondence with his daughter, Scottie; his wife, Zelda; his editor, Maxwell Perkins; Ernest Hemingway; Edmund Wilson; and many others. Very near fine in a very good dust jacket with several open tears.

66. FORD, Richard. A Piece of My Heart. NY: Harper & Row (1976). The first book by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day. Fine in a dust jacket with a small crease at the crown; a very attractive copy of an important fiction debut.

67. FORD, Richard. The Ultimate Good Luck. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981. A review copy of his second novel, a hard-boiled thriller involving American expatriates in Mexico. Signed by the author. Partly because of the weak construction at the rear hinge, which tends to crack, this title has come to be harder to locate, particularly in fine condition, than his first book. This copy has just a hint of the start of a crack at the lower rear joint and is otherwise fine in a very near fine dust jacket with one tiny, closed edge tear at the heel. With publisher's review slip laid in.

68. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Collins Harvill, 1989. Ford's novel was not published in the U.K. until after the success of his third book, The Sportswriter. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

69. FORD, Richard. Independence Day. NY: Knopf, 1995. A sequel to Ford's third novel, The Sportswriter, and winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, a rare literary double. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

70. FRAZIER, Charles. Cold Mountain. NY: Atlantic Monthly (1997). His first book, a Civil War novel and a publishing phenomenon: after a modest 25,000 copy first printing, the book went into dozens of additional printings, eventually selling more than a million copies in hardcover and winning the National Book Award -- a rare combination of literary and commercial success for any work of fiction, let alone a first novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, without the John Berendt blurb attached on a label to the front panel (not exactly an issue point, as some copies had this affixed on publication day, while others didn't).

71. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. Love in the Time of Cholera. NY: Knopf, 1988. The first American edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a small crease on the lower front flap.

72. GARDNER, John. The Wreckage of Agathon. NY: Harper & Row (1970). Gardner's second novel. Darkening to pastedowns; owner name under front flap; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with several short edge tears.

73. GINSBERG, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights (1956). The first issue of the first trade edition of Ginsberg's first regularly published book, printed in an edition of 1000 copies and in print continually since then, with the total number of copies now in the hundreds of thousands. "Howl" has been called the most important American poem since Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." Fine in stapled wrappers, with just a hint of sunning at the spine; a beautiful copy of a work that defined the new poetic aesthetic that came to be associated with the Beat movement.

74. GINSBERG, Allen and FERLINGHETTI, Lawrence. Open Head/Open Eye. Melbourne: Sun Books (1972). Uncommon Australian edition of work by the two poets, bound back-to-back. Pages browning with age, otherwise near fine in stapled wrappers.

75. GINSBERG, Allen. Howl: Forest, Water and People. Kyoto: (Orpheus Dead End), 1988. A 77-page volume -- partly bilingual: English/Japanese -- commemorating Ginsberg's visit to Kyoto and a reading at the university. Includes several Ginsberg poems and photos of the poet in Japan, combined with statements of environmental concern. Much of the text is only in Japanese, including what appears to be a Japanese rendering of "Howl." Other portions of the text are printed in both Japanese and English, with the two versions being on facing pages or, in some cases, on the same page. The photos are captioned in Japanese, including one picture of Ginsberg with Japanese poet Nanao Sakaki, who was something of a mentor to the Beat generation poets, Ginsberg and Gary Snyder in particular. Together with Kyoto Review 22 (Kyoto: Kyoto Seiko University, 1989), which prints an account of Ginsberg's reading and the text of his talk, "What the East Means to Me." Both volumes are near fine in stapled wrappers.

76. GINSBERG, Allen. Maturity. (Denver): Wynkoop Brewing Company (n.d.). A commemorative edition of Railyard Ale, featuring on the rear label Ginsberg's haiku "Maturity," published in White Shroud Poems and here having its first separate appearance. The front label bears a short account of the mentions of beer in Ginsberg's Howl. The bottle is fine and capped; the labels are very near fine; the ale, however, is suspect as an inch or so leaked out during a freeze/thaw cycle.

77. GREENE, A.C. A Personal Country. NY: Knopf, 1969. The first book by this west Texas author, a former bookseller and later a journalist, who is perhaps most well known (outside of Texas, at least) for his volume The Fifty Best Books of Texas. Nicely inscribed by the author: For ___ ____ - Who hereby gets this piece of our personal country - West Texas. A.C. Greene." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with slight spine fading and light wear to the crown.

78. GRISHAM, John. A Time to Kill. NY: Wynwood (1989). Grisham's first book, written and published while he was still working as a lawyer and serving in the Mississippi State Legislature. Grisham's book was turned down by a number of publishers, and was finally picked up by the tiny Wynwood Press, which did a modest first printing of 5000 copies. The book didn't sell well, probably because the small publisher was virtually unknown, especially for publishing fiction, and also lacked marketing dollars. When Grisham's second novel, The Firm, was bought by Doubleday and published in 1991, copies of the first printing of A Time to Kill were still available from the publisher. The Firm stayed on the New York Times bestseller list and became the bestselling novel of the year. The Sydney Pollack movie of it cemented Grisham's status as not only a bestselling author but one whose work translated readily to the screen. A film version of A Time to Kill was released in 1996. The first book in a runaway career. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

79. GRISHAM, John. The Firm. NY: Doubleday (1991). His second novel, and first book to be published by a major trade publisher; also the basis for the successful movie with Tom Cruise. The Firm became a huge bestseller but at the time it was published Grisham was a virtual unknown; thus copies of the first printing are considerably scarcer than the first printings of Grisham's later novels, which all had 6- or 7-figure first printings. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

80. GRISHAM, John. The Pelican Brief. NY: Doubleday (1992). Grisham's third novel, the basis for the well-received movie. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with trace scratching to the rear panel and a tiny lamination lift to the front gutter.

81. GRISHAM, John. The Chamber. NY: Doubleday (1994). The limited edition of his fifth book. One of 350 numbered copies signed by the author. Leatherbound; fine in slipcase.

82. GUTERSON, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. NY: Harcourt Brace (1994). His first novel, a well-written and touching story of a murder trial on an island in Puget Sound in the aftermath of World War II. The evocative prose captures an era, depicting the conflicting sensibilities of the island's Japanese-American community and its white, patriotic fishermen. On the basis of this book, Guterson was included on the list of Granta's 20 best young American writers. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

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