Catalog 138, G-L
44. GALLANT, Mavis. What Is To Be Done? (Ontario): Quadrant Editions, 1983. Gallant's first play, written for television. Gallant is most well-known for her short stories, and her collection Home Truths won the 1982 Governor General's Award, Canada's highest literary honor. This copy is signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. Although there is an ISBN listed for a hardcover edition, we have never seen a hardcover, and the same ISBN appears on another Quadrant book from 1983.
45. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. Cien Años de Soledad. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1967. The first edition of the Nobel Prize winner's masterwork, which introduced magical realism to a wide audience and helped bring the boom in Latin American literature to this country when it was published in the U.S. in 1970. At the end of the 1970s this book was voted by the editors of The New York Times Book Review to be not only the best book published in the last ten years but the one most likely to still be read and important one hundred years hence. This copy is inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "Para Luis Haro[?], con todo cariño, GABO. 1967." Creasing to spine, spine fold and rear cover; small stain to rear cover and bottom page edges; the rear cover and several of the rear pages were once sliced very nearly through and have been mended but are still tender: with the repairs a very good copy in original wrappers of a true high spot of Twentieth Century world literature, exceedingly uncommon signed, especially with a contemporary signature.
46. GARDNER, John. The Construction of the Wakefield Cycle. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (1974). A review copy of Gardner's scarcest trade publication, with a first printing of only 1483 copies, according to Howell. Inscribed by the author to a well-known art collector. Fine in a rubbed, near fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
47. -. Another copy, also a review copy. This copy is signed by the author on the title page. Fine in a rubbed, near fine dust jacket, with review materials laid in.
48. GARDNER, John. The Writers Forum. Brockport: SUNY, 1977. Program for Gardner's reading during the first night of the tenth anniversary season of the Writers Forum. One sheet, folded to make four pages; the inside pages consist of a humorous autobiographical sketch by Gardner and the poem "The Crow" from A Child's Bestiary. Fine. An uncommon Gardner item.
49. GARDNER, John. The Temptation Game. (n.p.): New London Press (1980). A limited edition of a one-act play by Gardner. Of a total edition of 326 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies signed by the author. Clothbound; fine with cloudy acetate dustwrapper.
50. GIBSON, William. Neuromancer. NY: Ace (1984). The true first edition of 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. Issued as a paperback original; later published in hardcover in the U.K. Signed by the author. Light rubbing and creasing to spine folds; one small corner crease. Near fine in wrappers. A nice copy of an important first book, seldom found signed.
51. GORDIMER, Nadine. What Happened to Burger's Daughter or How South African Censorship Works. (Emmarentia, South Africa): Taurus (1980). An in-depth account, by Gordimer and others, of the banning of her 1979 novel Burger's Daughter. Published by a small, non-profit press founded as a protest against South African censorship. Signed by Gordimer, with "best wishes." Only issued in paperback; this copy is cocked, rubbed and spine-creased. There are also light pencil marks in the text. Still about very good in wrappers. An uncommon title, which never received wide distribution, especially outside of South Africa, and extremely uncommon signed.
52. 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.
53. GOYTISOLO, Juan. Juegos de Manos. Barcelona: Destino (1954). The first novel by this important Spanish writer, who lived in exile until after the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, died. Owner name; foxing to endpages; prelims splitting at hinge; scrape to upper cloth edge; still a very good copy in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket with small corner chips and one edge tear at the lower front spine fold. An uncommon first book by an important writer.
54. -. Same title, the first American edition, The Young Assassins. NY: Knopf, 1959. His first book to be published in the U.S. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
55. GOYTISOLO, Juan. Fiestas. Buenos Aires: Emecé (1958). The first edition of his third novel. Pages uncut; modest cover sunning; still near fine in self-wrappers. A nice copy of a fragile book.
56. GOYTISOLO, Juan. La Isla. (Barcelona): Seix Barral (1961). Another scarce, early novel by the preeminent Spanish author. Signed by Goytisolo. Owner inscription; lower corners bumped; near fine in a very good dust jacket with rubbing to the folds and chipping to the corners.
57. GUTHRIE, A.B., Jr. The Big Sky. NY: Sloane (1947). The first in a series of historical novels about the settling of the American west in the 19th century. The second of these novels, The Way West, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1949. Previous owner signature; near fine in a very good dust jacket with rubbing to the folds and shallow spine end chipping. Laid in is a 1949 autograph note signed by Guthrie: "For ___ ___, who likes Kentuckians, with best wishes and thanks from a guy who likes guys who like Kentuckians." Guthrie, who grew up in Montana, moved to Kentucky in 1926. Edge-sunning to note; near fine.
58. HARRIS, Thomas. Red Dragon. NY: Putnam (1981). The author's second book, and the first to introduce the character Hannibal Lecter, who was featured in The Silence of the Lambs. Inscribed by the author on the half-title: "For Peter Rabbit/ who likes a good lunch/ as much as I do./ Thomas Harris/ Marigold 1991." Additional gift inscription on front flyleaf. Fine in a near fine, edge-sunned dust jacket. Red Dragon was the basis for the movie "Manhunter" in 1986 and then for the 2002 film adaptation under the book's original title.
59. HARRIS, Thomas. The Silence of the Lambs. NY: St. Martin's (1988). His highly acclaimed third novel, and the first to feature Hannibal Lecter as a main character. Basis for the Jonathan Demme film with Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, winner of five Academy Awards and one of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. Signed by Harris. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
60. HARRIS, Thomas. Hannibal. (NY): Delacorte (1999). The sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
61. HEANEY, Seamus. The Haw Lantern. NY: FSG (1987). The first American edition of this collection of poems by the Nobel Prize winner. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a bit of spine sunning and a crease on the upper edge of the rear panel.
62. HEANEY, Seamus. Diary of One Who Vanished. NY: FSG (2000). The first American edition of a new version of a song cycle by Leos Janá ek of poems by Ozef Kalda. Commissioned by the English National Opera. Signed by Heaney. Fine in self-wrappers.
63. HELLER, Joseph. Catch-22. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1961. Heller's first book, a black comedy of World War II and military life whose title has become a part of the language, signifying a contradictory set of instructions or constraints. This book was the basis for a well-received film and one of the novels that helped define the ethos of the 1960s: funny, irreverent, and critical of established authority and bureaucracy. One of the few books to be listed on each of the Modern Library, Radcliffe, Waterstone's and New York Public Library lists of the great books of the 20th century. Top stain faded, with a bit of sunning to board edges; still very near fine in a very good, lightly rubbed dust jacket with moderate fading to the spine and small chips and creases to the top edge.
64. -. Same title. The advance reading copy. Spine slightly cocked; wrappers sunned on spine; about near fine in wrappers and custom clamshell case.
65. HIJUELOS, Oscar. Mr. Ives' Christmas. NY: HarperCollins (1995). The fourth novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Signed by Hijuelos. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
66. -. Same title, the first British edition. (London): Bloomsbury (1995). Inscribed by the author to his editor, a full-page inscription, in part thanking him for the "great difference in the quality of the book" that his help had made. The recipient is also named on the acknowledgements page. A very warm inscription, and a nice association.
67. HILTON, James. Lost Horizon. NY: Morrow, 1933. The advance reading copy of the first edition of what is arguably Hilton's most famous book (perhaps tied with Goodbye Mr. Chips!), which introduced the world to "Shangri-La," which became a universal synonym for utopia. Filmed by Frank Capra in 1937, the movie won two Academy Awards and was nominated for four others. In 1939 this title was re-issued as Pocket Book #1, the first widely available mass market paperback. Hilton's imaginary utopia, centered around a lamasery in a hidden valley in the Himalayas, posited a world of natural beauty and harmonious coexistence, based on a philosophy that combined the Christianity brought to the area in the 19th century and the Buddhism that already prevailed there. As such, it is a novel of ideas as much as an adventure story, with its optimism preserved in part by isolation from the world outside, which was already gearing up for world-wide war, a fact alluded to within the novel. Published in 1933, it can be seen as the opposite bookend to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a dystopia that envisioned a far darker set of human possibilities. "Publication date/ Sep 27 1933/ Price $2.50" stamped on flyleaf. Spine slightly cocked, with a bit of rubbing to the rear joint and light abrasion to the lower rear cover, where there is a small hole repaired. Very good in self-wrappers and custom clamshell case. A very attractive copy of a scarce and fragile prepublication issue. The British and American editions were published simultaneously.
68. HOLBROOKE, Richard. To End a War. NY: Modern Library (1999). Second printing of the Modern Library reprint of this memoir of the diplomacy involved in ending the Balkan war. Inscribed by the author to novelist Robert Stone, "with great respect and best wishes." Spine slanted; read. Still about near fine in wrappers.
69. IRVING, John. The Water-Method Man. NY: Random House (1972). His second book, which, like his first, sold about 6000 copies. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with slight shelf wear and a thin strip of offsetting to the spine from the adhesive of a previous jacket protector. A very nice copy of a book that is uncommon signed; Irving has been declining to sign copies of his earlier books in his most recent author tours promoting his latest novels.
70. IRVING, John. The 158-Pound Marriage. NY: Random House (1974). His third novel. Signed by the author. Small label front pastedown; offsetting to spine from jacket lettering; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with just a tiny nick at the crown.
71. IRVING, John. A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound. (NY): Doubleday (2004). A children's book, adapted from a story the character Ted Cole tells Ruth in Irving's novel A Widow for One Year. Illustrated by Tatjana Hauptmann. Oblong quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed by the author.
72. IRVING, John. Until I Find You. NY: Random House (2005). His latest novel. This copy is inscribed by the author: "For ____/ with my appreciation/ John Irving." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Irving's signature has been elusive in recent years, and reportedly he declined to sign copies of even his latest novel on his most recent tour of readings.
73. -. Same title. Third printing. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
74. (KAEL, Pauline). ABRAHAMS, William. Children of Capricorn. NY: Random House (1963). Inscribed by the author to Pauline [Kael] in 1967, "belatedly but with love constantly." Near fine in a very good dust jacket with fading to the spine lettering and wear to the crown.
75. (KAEL, Pauline). ALTMAN, Richard and KAUFMAN, Mervyn. The Making of a Musical. NY: Crown (1971). A behind the scenes look at the making of Fiddler on the Roof, both the stage play and the film. Heavily illustrated with photographs of the productions. Inscribed by the authors to Pauline Kael. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
76. (KAEL, Pauline). PERL, Jed. Louisa Matthiasdottr. Reykjavik: Nesutgafan (1999). A monograph on the Icelandic painter, edited by Perl. Inscribed by Perl to Pauline [Kael] in 2001. In her review of Perl's 2000 book Eyewitness, Kael had said, "One thing is certain: he doesn't swallow the art world party lines. He's necessary." Quarto; full color plates; upper corners tapped; else fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful book, and a nice association copy.
77. (KAEL, Pauline). ROST, Leo. The Conch Eaters. Los Angeles: Wollstonecraft (1973). The author's first novel, set in the Bahamas. Inscribed by the author in 1974 to Pauline [Kael], "the Belle of belles lettres/ in memory of Las Vegas!" Rost was also the writer and a producer for the movie "Dick Deadeye," a musical cartoon based on Gilbert & Sullivan operettas -- a well-received film that largely disappeared without a trace in an era (the 1970s) when an ambitious and quirky animated film could not be easily marketed. A nice association copy, inscribed to the preeminent film critic of her time. Fine in a very lightly edge-rubbed, near fine dust jacket.
78. KARLIN, Wayne. The Extras. NY: Henry Holt (1989). The author's third novel, set in Israel and about the love between a young Israeli man and Palestinian woman. Inscribed by the author to Robert Stone, whose novel Damascus Gate is perhaps the best, most grueling exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in contemporary fiction. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
79. KELMAN, James. How Late It Was, How Late. London: Secker & Warburg (1994). The controversial 1994 Booker Prize winner. Kelman's book was excoriated for its extensive use of profanities, its nearly impenetrable Glasgow slang, and its structure -- lacking chapters and with an omniscient narrator that at times resembled stream-of-consciousness writing. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
80. (KESEY, Ken). FOSTER, Paul. The Answer is Always Yes. Eugene: Hulogosi Communications, 1995. An advance copy in the form of ringbound photocopied sheets. An unusual book consisting of short prose pieces, cartoons and drawings, written by one of the Merry Pranksters and shedding much light on the 1960s, including the early days of the Grateful Dead. Five page forward by Ken Kesey. 8 1/2" x 11", with title label to cover and editor's letter soliciting review laid in. Near fine. An uncommon book, published by a small press in Oregon, and especially scarce in this prepublication format.
81. (KINSELLA, W.P.). "Voyeur" in Karaki, No. 5. (Victoria, B.C.): Karaki (1975). A short story by Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe among others, preceding his first book by two years. Signed by the author. Near fine in stapled wrappers.
82. KNOWLES, John. Peace Breaks Out. NY: Holt Rinehart Winston (1981). A companion volume to his classic coming of age novel, A Separate Peace. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with light wear to the spine base.
83. LAHIRI, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. The first hardcover edition of her first book, a collection of stories initially published as a paperback original that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN Hemingway Award, and the New Yorker Debut Award. The New Yorker also chose Lahiri as one of 20 young writers to watch for the 21st century. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
84. (LAWRENCE, T.E.). GRAVES, Robert. Lawrence and the Arabs. London: Jonathan Cape (1927). The first biography of T.E. Lawrence -- "Lawrence of Arabia" -- written the year after Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom was published. Lawrence, in the Royal Air Force at that time, left England in December, 1926 after being posted to India. He arrived at the RAF depot on Drigh Road in Karachi in January, 1927. Later that year, in April, he officially changed his name to "Shaw." In June, Robert Graves, one of the most highly regarded men of letters in England, was commissioned to do a biography of Lawrence. Graves' book Lawrence and the Arabs was published in December, 1927. This copy is signed by Lawrence as "T.E. Shaw" and bears the ownership signature of Lawrence's neighbor, Dorothy Campbell, dated "Xmas 1927," making this one of the earliest copies of the book. In a third hand is the inscription "Karachi (Drigh Road)" and the date "1927." This copy is in the presumed first issue orange cloth -- several Graves presentation copies and at least one Lawrence presentation copy have been noted in this binding. Moderate handling; a read, very good copy, lacking the dustwrapper. Material autographed by Lawrence is extremely scarce and this book, the first biography of him with a contemporary signature dating to his time in Karachi, is especially interesting and possibly unique.
85. (LEE, Harper). "Christmas to Me" in McCall's, Vol. 89, No. 3. (Dayton): McCall's, 1961. Lee, writing the year she won the Pulitzer for To Kill a Mockingbird, tells the story of the act of love that gave her, while she was working for an airline in New York City, "a full, fair chance at a new life." Wear to the spine and edges of the covers; very good. Lee has published very little since the success of her first and only novel.
86. LOPEZ, Barry. "The Letters of Heaven." (n.p.): Knopf, 2000. A single story, excerpted from Light Action in the Caribbean. One of supposedly 1000 copies signed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers. This title was published as a hardcover limited edition by Knight Library Press.
87. LOPEZ, Barry. "I would ask you to remember only this one thing..." (Eugene): Lone Goose Press [2005]. A broadside excerpt from Crow and Weasel. One of 100 copies signed by the author. 6 5/16" x 15 1/4", attractively printed; fine. Although the item cites the 1990 copyright date of the book, this is the third broadside to feature this popular passage: this broadside was preceded by both a signed and an unsigned edition, and each of the three varies slightly in the excerpt used.
88. LOPEZ, Barry. The Near Woods. [Berkeley]: Tangram Press, 2005. A limited edition of a story that first appeared in Seneca Review. According to the colophon, one of 165 saddle-stitched copies in wrappers; there was also a hardcover lettered edition of 26. Two tipped-in illustrations by Charles Hobson. Reports are that Hobson took his allotment of copies in sheet form with plans to re-issue them in a hardcover edition, making the limitation on this issue less than the stated 165. Fine.