Catalog 141, M
110. MALOUF, David. Bicycle. (Sydney): (Thinking Fisherman Publications) (1993). The first separate publication of this poem by the Australian writer, originally included in his first book in 1970. Number 1 in the Paperback Poets series. One of a limited edition of only 100 copies. Illustrated by and signed by noted Australian artist Noel McKenna. Creasing to pages; near fine in wrappers, in a fine dustwrapper.
111. MAMET, David. The Cryptogram. NY: Vintage (1995). A short play, only issued as a paperback original. Inscribed by the author to the former President of Dartmouth College "with thanks" and with a self-caricature in 1996. Fine. Books signed by Mamet are somewhat uncommon; he was invited to Dartmouth to receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree, which was the occasion of his inscribing this book.
112. MARTIN, Steve. Typed Note Signed and Electronic Letter Unsigned. June and July, 1989. Written to an editor at Art & Antiques magazine. In the earlier, electronically transmitted letter, Martin says he is "extremely flattered and impressed with myself that I appear on your 100 collectors list. However, being on the list has caused me nothing but grief and I would prefer to slink back into the lower profile I had 'pre-List'..." The second note: "You're right about HG. That was the first worst mistake I ever made in my life." Martin's film credits include The Jerk, All of Me, Three Amigos, Roxanne, Father of the Bride, and others; he is frequently either the screenwriter or the executive producer as well as the star. Both letters capture, albeit briefly, an articulate and courteous grace, even mid-complaint. Folded; else fine, with envelopes.
113. MATHESON, Richard. Someone is Bleeding. NY: Lion Books (1953). His first book, a paperback original. Signed by the author. Matheson, author of Bid Time Return, Born of Man and Woman, I am Legend and many others, was also one of the most important script writers for the groundbreaking television series "The Twilight Zone." Ray Bradbury has called Matheson "one of the most important writers of the 20th century" and Stephen King cited him as "the author who most influenced me as a writer." Creasing at and near the spine; light overall wear; very good in wrappers.
114. MATHESON, Richard. Fury on Sunday. NY: Lion Books (1953). A paperback original, captioned "Four Seething Hours With A Depraved Man." His second book, like his first published by the short-lived but important publisher, Lion Books. Signed by the author. Near fine but for a spine bump to the crown. A nice copy of an uncommon book, especially scarce signed.
115. MATHESON, Richard. I Am Legend. NY: Gold Medal Books (1954). Perhaps his most famous and/or important book, a paperback original that preceded the hardcover publication by 16 years. A classic vampire/science fiction novel, it was the basis for the 1964 Vincent Price movie The Last Man on Earth and later the 1971 film The Omega Man with Charlton Heston. It was also reportedly an important influence on George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and on Soylent Green. One of the defining novels of the horror genre, and named one of the 100 Best Horror Novels. Signed by the author. Very near fine in wrappers.
116. MATHESON, Richard. The Shrinking Man. NY: Gold Medal Books (1956). A paperback original, and basis for the 1957 Hugo Award-winning movie, for which Matheson wrote the screenplay; a new film adaptation is scheduled for release this year. Signed by the author. Very near fine in wrappers. A beautiful copy.
117. MATHESON, Richard. Ride the Nightmare. NY: Ballantine Books (1959). A paperback original. Inscribed by the author. Fine in wrappers but for a short crease to the rear joint.
118. MATHESON, Richard. Collected Stories. (Los Angeles): Dream/Press (1980). Of a total edition of 1250 copies, this is one of 100 numbered copies signed by the author. Bound in full leather with marbled endpages and all edges gilt; a fine copy in a fine clamshell case.
119. MATHESON, Richard. "SWANSON, Logan." Earthbound. (NY): Playboy Paperbacks (1982). A pseudonymous paperback original, later re-released under the author's actual name. Signed by the author as both Matheson and Swanson. Fine in wrappers.
120. MATHESON, Richard. By the Gun. NY: Berkley Books (1994). A collection of Western fiction. Signed by the author. A bit of sunning to the top edges of the pages; else fine in wrappers.
121. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Under the Mountain Wall. NY: Viking (1962). His third book of nonfiction, recounting the Harvard-Peabody Expedition to New Guinea. This is the rare first issue, with the photos in the wrong place and the Table of Contents not corrected to account for it. Virtually all copies of this edition were withdrawn by the publisher prior to publication and sold to a book club, which tipped in a replacement contents page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. While this is not an uncommon title, we have only ever seen four copies of the first issue.
122. MAXWELL, William and O'CONNOR, Frank. The Happiness of Getting It Down Right. NY: Knopf, 1996. A collection of letters between the two spanning more than two decades, edited by Michael Steadman. Maxwell was O'Connor's editor at The New Yorker, where many of O'Connor's stories first appeared. Inscribed by Maxwell in June, 1996: "For Margaret with love/ Bill Maxwell." Books signed or inscribed by Maxwell are somewhat uncommon; this inscription is on an endpaper illustrated with reproductions of Maxwell's and O'Connor's letters, so the hand-written inscription is, unusually, against a background that consists in part of his printed handwriting. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
123. McCARTHY, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. NY: Knopf, 2005. The uncorrected proof copy of the first novel by McCarthy since he completed "The Border Trilogy." A novel of drugs and violence set in the contemporary Southwest, it reads like a combination of Blood Meridian -- McCarthy's classic novel of the brutality of the Old West -- and the work of Chuck Bowden -- the investigative reporter who has focused on the drug cartels of the borderlands between Mexico and the U.S. and chronicled the almost unimaginable violence of the drug culture there. Fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof; there was a later, much more widely distributed advance reading copy of this title.
124. McINERNEY, Jay. The Queen and I. (London): Bloomsbury (1996). A Bloomsbury Quid -- a single short story published as a pocket-sized paperback original. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon signed.
125. McMURTRY, Larry. The Last Picture Show. NY: Dial, 1966. His third novel, which fully realized the promise shown by his first two and firmly established his literary reputation. Basis for the Academy Award-winning movie, which launched the careers of several Hollywood notables, including Peter Bogdanovich and Cybill Shepherd, not to mention McMurtry himself, who recently won an Oscar with Diana Ossana for the screenplay of Brokeback Mountain. Signed by the author. Slight spine lean, else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a couple small spots.
126. McMURTRY, Larry. It's Always We Rambled. An Essay on Rodeo. NY: Frank Hallman, 1974. A limited edition of this essay, one of 300 numbered copies, signed by the author. This copy is additionally inscribed by McMurtry "with my good wishes" on the first blank. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
127. -. Another copy. Again, one of 300 numbered copies, signed by the author. This copy is additionally inscribed by McMurtry to a noted Texas bookman: "For Lee Milazzo/ This is an unfortunate mistake of mine. I suspect the limitation is erroneous./ Larry McMurtry." McMurtry doesn't indicate in which direction he believes the limitation statement errs, and this is the first we have heard of it. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
128. McMURTRY, Larry. Lonesome Dove. Los Angeles: Motown Productions (n.d.). 28-page treatment for a film version of McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Identifies and describes each of the major characters and many of the minor ones, and synopsizes the action of the novel/film. Photocopied sheets. On the front cover sheet is written in ink "Offer Sean Connery," in an unknown hand. One ink notation in the text, adjacent to the description of one of the characters. Lonesome Dove was ultimately made into an award-winning mini-series for television, with Robert Duvall playing the lead character, Gus McRae, in one of his signature roles. This treatment was never formally published nor, presumably, offered for public consumption. Rare; we have never seen, nor heard of, another one being offered.
129. McMURTRY, Larry. Paradise. NY: Simon & Schuster (2001). Nonfiction, an essay/memoir revolving around a trip to Tahiti and recollections of his parents' marriage in Texas. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
130. McPHEE, John. A Sense of Where You Are. NY: FSG (1965). The first book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a profile of former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley done at the time when Bradley was a Princeton basketball player and Rhodes scholar. A portion of this book first appeared as a "Profile" in The New Yorker, where McPhee's prose in the 1960s and 1970s helped elevate nonfiction writing to the realm of literary art. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple short closed edge tears and a touch of rubbing to the spine ends. A very nice copy, without any of the usual spine-fading, and scarce thus.
131. -. Another copy. Owner name and date (1965) front flyleaf; near fine in a spine-faded, else near fine dust jacket with a small chip threatening at the upper front edge.
132. McPHEE, John. The Headmaster. NY: FSG (1966). McPhee's second book, a portrait of Frank L. Boyden, the longtime Headmaster of Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where McPhee was a student during Boyden's tenure. Signed by the author. Very near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
133. -. Same title. Second printing. Inscribed by McPhee to the collector Arthur Rippey, "with warm regards." Rippey's bookplate front pastedown. Offsetting to front flyleaf; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
134. McPHEE, John. Oranges. NY: FSG (1967). His third book, an infinitely fascinating and entertaining study of oranges in history, biology and culture. Inscribed by the author to the collector Burt Britton, "friend of mine/ friend of books." Bent corners to several pages; near fine in a near fine dust jacket creased on the front flap. A nice inscription, and uncommon signed.
135. -. Another copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
136. - . Same title, the first British edition. London: Heinemann (1967). His first book published in the U.K. Inscribed by the author to Burt Britton: "the English edition -- where did you get it?" Fine in a very good, rubbed dust jacket with a tear mid spine.
137. -. Another copy of the British edition. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
138. McPHEE, John. The Pine Barrens. NY: FSG (1968). His fourth book, one of his scarcest, and a classic of this kind of reporting: McPhee covers history, natural history, and biography, and in so doing reveals in depth a previously all-but-hidden corner of the world, a wilderness in the heart of the eastern Boston-Richmond megalopolis that occupies one-quarter of the state of New Jersey and is as large as Grand Canyon National Park. Signed by the author. Slight spine lean; else fine in a very good, edge-sunned dust jacket with some dampstaining to verso and a bit of color added to wear at the spine base. One of his scarcest books in the first printing, and especially uncommon signed.
139. -. Same title. Seventh printing paperback. NY: FSG (1978). Inscribed by McPhee to Bob Bingham: "Remember the VW bus." Robert Bingham was McPhee's editor at the New Yorker, and he is acknowledged here in print on the copyright page. He was also the dedicatee of McPhee's book, Encounters With the Archdruid. A nice association copy.
140. McPHEE, John. A Roomful of Hovings. NY: FSG (1968). McPhee's fifth book, and his first collection of shorter pieces on a variety of subjects. Inscribed by the author in 1969: "For Dan and Nina Nyhart/ with love and gratitude / John McPhee." Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a few small spots at the top edges of the flaps. A very nice copy, without the fading to the spine and the edges of the covers that is so endemic to this title.
141. -. Another copy. Signed in full by the author and additionally inscribed: "Burt -- all the best -- John." Fine in a fine dust jacket with a short crease to the front flap fold.
142. McPHEE, John. Levels of the Game. NY: FSG (1969). A review copy of this account of a landmark tennis match between Arthur Ashe, the first world-class African-American tennis player, and Clark Graebner, "a middle-class white conservative dentist's son from Cleveland." A detailed, point-by-point account of the match, and an exploration of their different tennis styles that sheds light on their different backgrounds and lives and, by extension, the larger cultural differences to be found within American society. Inscribed by the author: "For Joyce/ regards -- / John McPhee." Fine in a fine dust jacket with one tiny nick to the top edge. Review slip laid in.
143. -. Another copy. Signed by the author ("all best -- John McPhee") on a bookplate affixed to the half title. Owner stamp front flyleaf; fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with an edge tear at the crown.
144. -. Another copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a corner crease on the front flap.
145. McPHEE, John. The Crofter and the Laird. NY: FSG (1970). McPhee's seventh book, in which he returns to the land of the Scottish clan from which he is descended. Inscribed by the author, "with best wishes." Small abrasion front flyleaf; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
146. -. Another copy. Trace foxing to page edges; light corner taps; near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
147. McPHEE, John. Encounters with the Archdruid. NY: FSG (1971). Three essays in which McPhee orchestrates a dialogue/confrontation between "archdruid" David Brower -- a former head of the Sierra Club and founder of the more radical environmental group Friends of the Earth -- and several advocates of development and the responsible exploitation of the earth's resources. Inscribed by the author to Burt Britton. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a tiny crimp at the spine base. A beautiful copy of this book, with none of the spine-fading that is typical for this title; uncommon signed.
148. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author: "For Norma and Neil Greensides/ with best regards from Mary, Mickey and John McPhee/ 1/27/72." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with one edge tear and a small corner chip.
149. -. Another copy. Inscribed by McPhee for Congressman Robert E. Jones, "with the compliments of Hibben Ziesing" in the year of publication. Laid in is a letter of transmittal to Congressman Jones from Ziesing, author of History of Fighting Squadron Forty-Six, the Cruise Book for the Naval Unit he served in during World War II; the letter is secretarially signed on his behalf. Jones was a US Navy gunnery officer in 1943-44 before serving as Democratic Congressman from Alabama for thirty years, during which time he served as Chairman of the Public Works and Transportation Committee. In 1972, a year after this book was published, Jones was one of the most outspoken supporters in the House of the Clean Water Act, which at the time was considered "the American environmental movement's single most important achievement." In McPhee's book, two sections on dams bear paper clip marks and a few pencilled marginal markings; top stain faded; near fine in a very good, heavily spine-faded dust jacket with a creased edge tear at the upper rear panel. A notable copy of this book.
150. McPHEE, John. The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed. NY: FSG (1973). The limited issue of McPhee's account of a serious, but flawed, attempt to create a new kind of aircraft -- a combination airplane and lighter-than-air airship. The limitation is not stated, but this copy is hand-stamped number "0047." Signed by John McPhee and six of the subjects of the book, as well as by Robert Bingham, McPhee's editor, who is credited on the copyright page of the book for helping in its development. With a color photograph of the Deltoid Pumpkin Seed ("deltoid Aereon") laid in. This is the first example of this issue of the book that we have seen, although we had heard of it before. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Extremely uncommon, especially with the photograph.
151. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author to novelist Shepard Rifkin in January 1974, "with much appreciation for your interest in this book." Fine in tall wrappers. Laid in is an autograph note signed agreeing to inscribe the title.
152. -. Another copy of the proof. Inscribed by the author to Burt Britton. Fine in tall wrappers but for a purposeful pencil scrawl (initials?) over the author name and title on the front cover.
153. McPHEE, John. The Curve of Binding Energy. NY: FSG (1974). A lengthy profile of Theodore Taylor, a nuclear physicist who spent years working on an eventually-aborted project to develop a spaceship powered by exploding atomic bombs. In later years he became an expert in preventing the "diversion" of nuclear materials to help limit nuclear proliferation. McPhee's explication of the concepts of nuclear physics necessary to tell this story is remarkable. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
154. McPHEE, John. Pieces of the Frame. NY: FSG (1975). A collection of short pieces, which likely had a smaller print run than other McPhee titles from the same period. Made even more uncommon by virtue of its flimsy, "perfect-bound" construction, whereby the pages, rather than being sewn in signatures, are glued, one-by-one, to the spine. Signed by the author. Owner name on front flyleaf; else fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
155. -. Another copy. Remainder dot lower page edges; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
156. McPHEE, John. The Survival of the Bark Canoe. NY: FSG (1976). Another exploration of an obscure but fascinating subject -- the art of building bark canoes -- which McPhee examines via Henri Vaillancourt, a canoe builder in Maine, with whom he takes a 150-mile canoe trip. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine, lightly spine-tanned dust jacket.
157. -. Another copy. Owner gift inscription and bookplate front flyleaf; else fine in a lightly sunned, near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
158. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author on the front cover. Fine in tall wrappers.
159. McPHEE, John. The John McPhee Reader. NY: FSG (1976). Collects sections from McPhee's first dozen books, along with an introduction by William Howarth and a checklist of McPhee's writings, which includes a number of unattributed "Talk of the Town" pieces from The New Yorker. Faint offsetting to endpages from flaps, and a tiny "B" inked on flyleaf; else fine in a fine dust jacket. A surprisingly uncommon McPhee title, especially in fine condition, and an important title for McPhee collectors in the bibliographic information that it contains.
160. McPHEE, John. Coming Into the Country. NY: FSG (1977). His breakthrough book -- three pieces on Alaska from The New Yorker -- which was chosen as a Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and became a modest bestseller, immediately going into a number of printings. This is the book by which McPhee went from being a relatively unknown staff writer for The New Yorker -- in general someone less famous than the subjects he profiled -- to being a household name among literary cognoscenti. McPhee's lucid, transparent style has come to define a particular era for The New Yorker much as the styles of Thurber and E.B. White did for an earlier time. After this book, Farrar Straus brought of McPhee's earlier books back into print, even reprinting hardcover editions in some cases. Slight spine lean, else fine in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
161. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. One slight spine crease; else fine in wrappers.
162. McPHEE, John. Giving Good Weight. NY: FSG (1979). A collection of essays and articles from The New Yorker, one of which -- a profile of an anonymous, but purportedly excellent, restaurateur -- created controversy when the subject of the article, Alan Lieb aka "Otto," speculated that a prominent New York restaurant used frozen fish for one of its plates. Heated denials and threats of libel suits followed, and McPhee issued a retraction in a later issue -- the first time such a thing had happened in the New Yorker's history. In the book, the offending passage is footnoted, along with the succinct disclaimer -- "Otto guessed wrong." This copy of the book is signed by McPhee and additionally inscribed by him to his editor at the New Yorker, Robert Bingham, whose contribution to the book is acknowledged in print on the copyright page. The inscription on the title page reads: "For Bob Bingham/ who has both given/and given up/ good weight/ All best/ John." A nice association, especially for this title -- for which his New Yorker editor is given explicit acknowledgement, and which created such a controversy at The New Yorker. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a small gutter nick.
163. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
164. -. Another copy. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a couple faint lamination scratches. Laid in is a generous review of the book, and the controversy, by Larry McMurtry from New York Times Book Review, as well as an unsourced clipping entitled "The Turbot Controversy (Continued)" which announces that the New Yorker is about to print a correction. Together with the September 1979 issue of Food & Wine, which carries a short piece on "Otto" by Richard Sax which summarizes the controversy and reviews Lieb's restaurant, and a devastating review of the restaurant by Mimi Sheraton, New York Times' restaurant critic, who speculates Lieb uses frozen duck. The most complete overview we have encountered of this minor footnote in contemporary literary history.
165. McPHEE, John. Riding the Boom Extension. Worcester: Metacom, 1983. The first book publication of this piece, which first appeared in The New Yorker and was eventually reprinted in Table of Contents. Of a total edition of 176 copies, this is Copy C of 26 lettered, hardbound copies signed by the author, the entire hardbound edition; the other 150 copies were issued in wrappers. Fine in a fine dust jacket with prospectus laid in. Scarce.
166. -. Another copy. Copy X of 26 lettered, hardbound copies signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a nick at the crown.
167. McPHEE, John. La Place de la Concorde Suisse. NY: FSG (1984). A book that began as a study of the Swiss Army knife and ended up as a study of the Swiss Army. Signed by the author on the title page and additionally inscribed by McPhee on the half-title in the year of publication. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a shallow corner crease on the front panel.
168. McPHEE, John. Rising From the Plains. NY; FSG (1986). The third of McPhee's geology books, later incorporated into the compendium of his geological writings, published as Annals of the Former World, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "for Emily and Charlie Smyth/ from Tom Spain and Linda, in affection for the Bertooths, at Christmas 1986, and with regards too from John McPhee." Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
169. McPHEE, John. The Control of Nature. NY: FSG (1989). Three long essays linked by their each reflecting some aspect of man's struggle to control nature. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal. Signed by the author and apparently issued as such by the publisher: a publisher's "Signed Copy" bookmark is laid in. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Uncommon.
170. McPHEE, John. Looking for a Ship. NY: FSG (1990). A long piece on the Merchant Marine which, like most of his writings, first appeared in The New Yorker. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
171. (McPHEE, John). "The Big Hustler" in Time, Vol. 78, No. 26. (Chicago): Time, Inc., 1961. McPhee has the cover story in this issue, on the life and career of Jackie Gleason. Mailing label lower corner; creasing to upper corner; near fine in stapled wrappers. A very early McPhee piece, preceding his first book by four years and prior to his move to The New Yorker.
172. MILLER, Henry. The Tropic of Cancer. NY: Medvsa, 1940. The first American edition, a piracy, of Miller's first novel and the book for which he would gain literary immortality. Tropic of Cancer is a fictionalized autobiography of Miller's first year in Paris, living as an expatriate vagabond writer on the fringe of society. The book was published with money that the writer Anaïs Nin borrowed from psychologist Otto Rank; Miller and Nin remained lifelong friends and sometime lovers. There were 1000 copies printed of the Medvsa edition of Tropic of Cancer (for which its publisher, Jacob Brussel, went to prison for publishing pornography); in addition, there were between 200 and 500 extra copies which went to New York erotica publisher Samuel Roth and were sold privately by him. The bibliography identified seven binding variants of these overrun copies (although there were probably more). Because they were not part of the contractual agreement between Brussel and Miller, and Miller almost surely received no royalties for them, they are legitimately considered piracies. This is the variant in plain magenta wrappers. Shifreen & Jackson A9q. Covers sunned, particularly on the spine; front wrapper and half-title neatly detached, thus only a fair, but repairable, copy. A fragile, early variant of one of the literary high spots of the modern era, and its first appearance in the U.S.; it was not published here legally until more than twenty years later.
173. MILLER, Henry. Original Watercolor Painting. Untitled. Signed and dated by Miller in 1951 ("3/51"). While Miller is most famous for his writings -- especially Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn -- his interest in painting began earlier than his writing, and lasted longer. His boyhood friend Emil Schnellock, an advertising artist in New York City, encouraged Miller in his painting, and also gave him books to read on the history of art. His first exhibition of art was in 1927, seven years before Tropic of Cancer was published; and in the 1970s, after he was no longer writing, he continued to paint. Over the course of his life he painted more than 2000 watercolors and had more than 50 exhibits of his artwork, in the U.S., England, Europe, Scandinavia, Israel and, several times, Japan. His paintings tended to use bright, primary colors, and rather than striving for either realism or abstraction, they strove for a childlike innocence of expression. He once wrote "When I write, I work, but when I paint, I play" and one of his famous lines -- which became the title of one of his books -- was "To paint is to love again." The quote went on to say "It's only when we look with eyes of love that we see as the painter sees." This painting came from the collection of John Martin, longtime publisher of Black Sparrow Press and a collector of works by Miller, as well as the publisher of his Notes on "Aaron's Rod" and a reissue of The World of Lawrence, originally published in the 1930s. Martin had an extensive Miller collection, which at one time included 40 original watercolors. He sold most of it, and this painting was one of the last five he kept -- in his opinion, one of the best of the Miller paintings he had acquired. (See illustration.) Approximately 11" x 14", matted and framed to 17" x 22". Fine.
174. MILLER, Henry. Original Watercolor Painting. "To the Promised Land." Signed and dated by Miller ("162[?]/63"). The image appears to be a man in a yarmulke passing underneath a palm tree, with a backdrop of abstract buildings, spires, etc. A bright, attractive image using many primary colors, this was done just after Miller moved from Big Sur to Pacific Palisades, a point at which he began to paint even more than he had previously, sometimes donating the paintings to charitable organizations: Tropic of Cancer had just been (legally) published in the U.S. for the first time, and Miller was more famous in this country than he had ever been before. Included is a slip of paper with the title written on it, as well as the names and address of the original owners. Approximately 14" x 16", matted and framed to 26" x 29". Fine.
175. MILLER, Henry. Lithograph. "The Joker." Undated. A limited edition reproducing one of Miller's paintings, an image of a clown that he did in 1966. One of 150 numbered copies signed by Miller. This is the first issue of this image, reportedly printed under Miller's supervision in the 1970s. A second edition was done posthumously in 1991 as a giclee print, with a limitation of 200 copies. Approximately 14" x 20", matted and framed to 25" x 32". A striking image: Miller commented on the clown in The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder: "The clown appeals to me deeply, though I did not always know it, precisely because he is separated from the world by laughter...what we call mirthless laughter. The clown teaches us to laugh at ourselves. And this laughter of ours is born of tears." From the collection of the actor Oliver Reed. Fine.
176. (MORRELL, David). Crime Movies. (NY): Severn House (1996). A collection of stories from which classic mystery movies were made. Includes "The Dripping" by Morrell, his first published story, which laid the groundwork for his novel, First Blood, the basis for the film Rambo. Also work by Woody Allen, Ernest Hemingway, Cornell Woolrich, Eric Ambler and Evan Hunter, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by Morrell.
177. MORRIS, Willie. My Two Oxfords. Council Bluffs: Yellow Barn Press (1992). One of 210 numbered copies signed by the author and by John De Pol, who provides the wood engravings. This copy belonged to De Pol and has his bookplate on the front pastedown. Fine without dust jacket, as issued. Prospectus laid in.
178. -. Another copy. Also one of 210 copies signed by Morris and De Pol. This copy also belonged to De Pol and bears his bookplate on the front pastedown. Fine without dust jacket, as issued. Laid in is an autograph note signed from Morris to De Pol: "Dear John Depol -- I love your work. Let's collaborate again someday. Best -- Willie Morris." The note is dated 2/3/92 in Jackson, MS. One of the best possible copies of this attractive little volume.
179. MORRISON, Toni. "The Place of the Idea; the Idea of Place." Princeton: (n.p.), 1996. Morrison's speech, delivered at the 250th anniversary convocation at Princeton on Charter Day, 1996, in her role as the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of the Humanities. Morrison holds forth on the private experience of Princeton (the place of the idea); and its public legacy (the idea of the place). Photocopied computer printout; 12 pages; double-spaced, with notations and corrections in two inks. Stapled in upper corner; binder clasp shadow top edge; near fine. Comparison with Princeton's version of the speech as given reveals subtle changes in phrasing and pacing and offers a glimpse of how what Morrison intended to say differed from what she was moved to say in the moment.
180. MUNRO, Alice. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (2001). A collection of stories by the three-time winner of the Governor General's Award, among numerous other literary honors. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. For reasons unknown to us, this title is very uncommon signed.
181. MURAKAMI, Haruki. Pinball, 1973. (Tokyo): Kodansha (1985). The first English language edition of his second book and the second book in the "Trilogy of the Rat," following Hear the Wind Sing and preceding The Wild Sheep Chase. A small, pocket-sized paperback, in the Kodansha English Library series, a series intended to allow Japanese readers to read Japanese books in English; the notes in the back -- themselves an unusual feature in a book of fiction -- translate English colloquialisms into Japanese characters. Owner name inside the rear cover under flap; a fine copy in wrappers in a near fine dust jacket nicked at the crown and with a crease to the front flap. This is the only English-language edition of this book, and Murakami has reportedly indicated that he does not want to publish it internationally.
182. MURAKAMI, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore. NY: Knopf, 2005. The advance reading copy of the first American edition of this novel, which The New York Times Book Review selected as one of the top five works of fiction of the year. Fine in wrappers.