Catalog 144, N
166. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Conclusive Evidence. NY: Harper & Brothers (1951). The first volume of memoirs by one of the most inventive, and admired, prose stylists of the 20th century. Later published in a revised form as Speak, Memory. Mild sunning to board edges; else fine in a fine dust jacket. A much nicer than usual copy of this book, which typically exhibits substantial rubbing and wear to the non-laminated dust jacket.
167. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Invitation to a Beheading. NY: Putnam (1959). A novel, translated by Dmitri Nabokov from the Russian, which was originally published in 1938. This is the first English-language edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy of a book that seldom turns up this way.
168. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Typed Letter Signed. August 28, 1960. Written to Doubleday editor Pyke Johnson, Jr., returning the $2500 advance given to him for the novel Pale Fire and asking that he be freed from his contract: "On August 16 1959 I wrote you that I had decided to postpone indefinitely the writing of the novel (PALE FIRE) for which I had signed a contract with Doubleday & Co. Nothing new has happened since with respect to this matter, and I am not sure that I shall ever go back to the book I had been planning under this title." He then apologizes for not returning the advance sooner and requests confirmation of the cancellation of their agreement. A retained letter is included from Johnson, releasing Nabokov, with regret. Michael Juliar's Nabokov bibliography cites evidence that Nabokov worked on Pale Fire from 1959 to 1961: the title was published by Putnam in 1962. In one scenario, Nabokov did abandon the Doubleday novel but retained the title for the Putnam novel; in a second scenario, this letter shows Nabokov disingenuously dumping Doubleday. In either case, an intriguing letter that raises an interesting historical and bibliographic question. One page, signed "Vladimir Nabokov." One fold; staple holes to upper corner; else fine. Nabokov letters are uncommon; his wife, Vera, conducted much of his "business correspondence" for him.
169. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Pale Fire. NY: Putnam (1962). The true first American edition, stating "First Impression" both on the dust jacket flap and on the copyright page. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with none of the spine fading that routinely afflicts this title. As nice a copy as we've ever seen, or ever will see in all likelihood.
170. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). PUSHKIN, Aleksandr. Eugene Onegin. (NY): Pantheon Books (1964). A four-volume work in the Bollingen series. A novel in verse by Pushkin, with translation and commentary by Nabokov. Fine books in fine jackets but for the slightest shelf wear to the crowns, in a very near fine slipcase. A beautiful set, with crisp, unfaded and virtually unworn dust jackets; seldom encountered this way.
171. (Native American). ALLEN, Paula Gunn. A Cannon Between My Knees. (NY): Strawberry Press, (1981). A collection of poems published by poet Maurice Kenny's Strawberry Press, with a cover illustration by Wendy Rose. Inscribed by the author to Elaine Jahner, longtime professor of Native American literature at Dartmouth College "with much love & admiration." A nice association copy. Recipient's name to flyleaf; near fine in stapled wrappers.
172. (Native American). COOK-LYNN, Elizabeth. Seek the House of Relatives. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1983. Her scarce second book, poetry and one story, issued as Blue Cloud Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 4. Cook-Lynn, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux, is a highly regarded poet, novelist, critic and scholar of Native American literature. Labeled for mailing; a few light markings to front cover; near fine in stapled wrappers.
173. (Native American). GLANCY, Diane. Boom Town. (Goodhue): Black Hat Press (1995). The very uncommon first printing of this small press collection of poetry, only issued in wrappers. Small label removal abrasion rear cover; else fine.
174. (Native American). GLANCY, Diane. The West Pole. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press (1997). A collection of essays and other short prose nonfiction pieces. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
175. (Native American). GREY OWL and LITTLE PIGEON. Cry of the Ancients. (Independence): (Herald Publishing House) (1974). Collaborative book written by Grey Owl and his wife, Little Pigeon, and illustrated by one of their sons. Published well after Grey Owl's death. This copy is inscribed by Little Pigeon: "To Philip C. Johnson/ That we may remember well and truly and walk with pride in our heritage -/ With best wishes/ Princess Little Pigeon/ Ah que qua sue/ (Red Shirt)." Princess Little Pigeon has also written "first edition '74" on the front flyleaf. A fine copy in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with rubbing to the edges and folds and one internally tape mended edge tear. Uncommon signed.
176. (Native American). HIGHWATER, Jamake. Anpao. An American Indian Odyssey. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1977). Second printing of his fourth book under his Indian name, a coming-of-age story for young people told in a manner that N. Scott Momaday called "truly reflective of the oral tradition and the rich heritage of Native American storytelling." The biographical information identifies Highwater as being of Blackfeet/Cherokee heritage, and the book is illustrated by Fritz Scholder, a Luiseño Indian artist, who also provided the dust jacket illustration. Inscribed by the author: "For Hank,/ these tales of the ancient land/ Love, Jamake." The recipient was Henry Kurth, a longtime professor and the co-founder of the Dance Theater of Kathryn Karipides and Henry Kurth in 1969. Highwater, who wrote a book on Native American dance, was the director and choreographer of the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers from 1954 to 1967. Fine in a rubbed, price-clipped, very good dust jacket with the Newbery Honor Book label on the front panel.
177. (Native American). HIGHWATER, Jamake. The Primal Mind. Vision and Reality in Indian America. NY: Harper & Row (1981). A discourse on the characteristics and components of an Indian aesthetic and perspective, which attempts to also define the differences between the "Western" world view and that of "primitive" cultures, particularly Native American. Inscribed by the author: "For Hank [i.e., Henry Kurth]/ with much affection & loving friendship/ Jamake." A nice association copy. Recipient's name under front flap. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
178. (Native American). HIGHWATER, Jamake. Legend Days. NY: Harper & Row (1984). The first book in his Ghost Horse cycle, a novel written for young adults and chronicling three generations in the lives of a Northern Plains Indian family in the nineteenth century. Inscribed by the author to Henry Kurth, "in friendship." Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight wear at the crown.
179. (Native American). HIGHWATER, Jamake. Eyes of Darkness. NY: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (1985). A novel of a young Plains Indian boy coming of age at the time of the westward expansion of the white men, and of the social turmoil and collapse that followed. Inscribed by the author to Henry Kurth in 1986, "in friendship & admiration." A nice association copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
180. (Native American). HIGHWATER, Jamake. I Wear The Morning Star. NY: Harper & Row (1986). The third book in his Ghost Horse cycle. Inscribed by the author "with admiration & affection" in the year of publication. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
181. (Native American). HIGHWATER, Jamake. Kill Hole. NY: Grove Press (1992). A novel that continues with the character of Sitko Ghost Horse from his earlier young adult sequence, but which is apparently not aimed at a young adult audience; it is rather an autobiographical novel exploring the issues of ethnicity and identity that dogged Highwater both personally and publicly for many years. Inscribed by the author to Henry Kurth "with affection" in the year of publication. Spine lean; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
182. KENNY, Maurice. And Grieve, Lesbia. NY: Aardvark Press (1960). Apparently the fourth collection of poems by this Mohawk poet, who has also over the years become an important figure as a publisher, as well as casting a high profile as both a Native American writer and a gay writer. Near fine in stapled wrappers. Scarce: we've only seen this title once before.
183. (Native American). LITTLEHEART, Oleta. The Lure of the Indian Country and A Romance of Its Great Resort. Sulphur: Abbott (1909). A collection of tales that appears to be an autobiographical novel written by a Chickasaw woman, but is, according to Marable and Boylan's A Handbook of Oklahoma Writers [Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1939], authored by Aaron Abbott. Short tears at foredge and lower spine (repaired); mild creasing; a near fine copy of the issue in the darker charcoal-tan wrappers. A scarce and fragile book; this is the nicest copy we have seen of it.
184. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "Presented to/ Miss Addie G. Clifton/ by her Chickasaw cousin,/ Oleta Littleheart/ Sulphur, Ok.,/ June 17, 1904." Rear cover missing with a substitute cover attached by tape; front cover chipped and literally stitched back together (apparently using a sewing machine); spine wrapper chipped at both extremities; scattered foxing to text; only a fair copy of the issue in the lighter beige-tan wrappers, but the only signed copy we've seen, and one that raises the question as to whether Aaron Abbott, who is listed as the publisher of this volume, was in fact also the writer, or a ghost writer, and whether a person named Oleta Littleheart actually existed and actually wrote these tales or some portion of them.
185. (Native American). McNICKLE, D'Arcy. The Surrounded. NY: Dodd Mead (1936). The first book by McNickle, a writer of Flathead Indian descent, and a landmark Native American novel, one of the early books to address questions of assimilation and alienation from both the white way of life and traditional tribal culture. It began the process in American Indian literature of looking for value in traditional Native American beliefs even in the face of such alienation. As such, Charles Larson's seminal study of Native American literature (American Indian Fiction, Albuquerque, 1978) links McNickle with N. Scott Momaday -- thirty years McNickle's junior -- as the two writers who predate the later wave of politically aware Native American writers such as James Welch and Leslie Marmon Silko. McNickle was a lifelong activist for Native American rights: in 1934, he joined the staff of John Collier, the reformist Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and later was a co-founder of the Congress of American Indians, among many other accomplishments. The Newberry Library's Center for the History of the American Indian was renamed for McNickle after his death. This copy has some slight page edge foxing and is otherwise fine in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with shallow chipping at the crown and the lower edge of the front panel. Although this book dates from the modern era, this is only the second copy we have ever seen or heard of with the dust jacket intact. A keystone book for any collection of Native American literature.
186. (Native American). MOMADAY, N. Scott. "Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth..." (Eugene): Knight Library Press, 2006. A broadside excerpt from The Way to Rainy Mountain. One of 110 numbered copies, illustrated with a linocut by Rick Bartow. Designed and printed by Sandy Tilcock. Signed by Momaday and Bartow. 17" x 13". Fine.
187. (Native American). MOURNING DOVE. Coyote Stories. Caldwell: Caxton Printers, 1934. Second printing. Mourning Dove (Christine Quiinstasket aka Humishuma) has been called "the first Native American novelist to organically incorporate aspects of the daily life, the oral tradition, and the religious perspectives of an Indian people into a novel." This collection was edited and illustrated by Heister Dean Guie, with notes by L.V. McWhorter, and a foreword by Chief Standing Bear. Mourning Dove assembled these tales based on Okanogan folklore. McWhorter assisted her in publishing the book, and mediated between her and Guie, a journalist and aspiring artist who edited the manuscript, standardizing her spellings of Indian words and also questioning and checking her knowledge of the traditional tales, which at times caused friction between them. Standing Bear was enlisted to write a foreword, as he had published two popular autobiographies in recent years and it was thought his name on the book would help sell it. Pencilled owner's notation on verso of half title; a near fine copy in a very good, spine-faded and price-clipped dust jacket with just shallow chipping at the spine ends and corners. Very uncommon in dust jacket.
188. RIDGE, John Rollin. Poems. San Francisco: Henry Payot, 1868. Posthumous collection of poems by Ridge ("Yellow Bird"), an important Cherokee author who wrote the first novel by an American Indian writer, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta (San Francisco, 1854, two copies known). Ridge's father was assassinated in 1839 for having signed the Cherokee removal treaty, and Ridge himself remained at the center of the controversy over that treaty, which divided the Cherokee nation. In 1849, after killing another Cherokee, Ridge fled to Missouri and then to California, where he lived until he died in 1867, a year before this book was published. During that time, he wrote for newspapers and magazines and wrote these poems, collected after his death. This is a fine copy in original cloth, stamped in gilt, with a photographic frontispiece with tissue guard, a portrait of the author, and quite an early example of photography in a published volume, as well as being an early California imprint. Small owner's gift inscription in pencil dated 1868 on the front endpaper; foxing on the page with the tipped in photographic frontispiece; the photo itself is slightly faded. Still, this is by a considerable margin the nicest copy we have seen of this important title.
189. (Native American). SCHOLDER, Fritz. Random Thoughts and Memories. Scottsdale: ARC Press, 1979. A miniature book, apparently one of 500 copies, printed by the Stinehour Press. Short musings by the noted artist and sculptor. Signed by Scholder. Fine.
190. (Native American). SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Laguna Woman. Greenfield Center: Greenfield Review (1974). Her first book, a collection of poems published by Native American author and publisher Joseph Bruchac's press. This copy belonged to fellow Native American poet and novelist James Welch and bears his stamp, "WELCH," on the title page. A nice association copy. Very near fine in stapled wrappers.
191. (Native American). STRETE, Craig and MORRISON, Jim. Dark Journey. Haarlem: In de Knipscheer (1979). Poetry, published in the Netherlands in an edition of 1000 copies. Strete is an author of Cherokee descent who is noted for using American Indian imagery and myths in science fiction stories; he has been nominated for three Nebula Awards. He also wrote a novel about Jim Morrison and The Doors called Burn Down the Night, reportedly based on his friendship with Morrison. The poems in this collection are not credited to one or the other of the authors listed; one would conclude they were in some way co-written, although that is not claimed either. An interesting collection by a writer of some considerable accomplishment and a certain amount of controversy as well. Covers rubbed, spine creased; very good in wrappers.
192. (Native American). TALLMOUNTAIN, Mary. There Is No Word for Goodbye. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1981. The second book by this Athabaskan writer, a collection of poems. Fine in stapled wrappers.
193. NERUDA, Pablo. Obra Poetica de Pablo Neruda. (Santiago): Cruz del Sur (1947-1948). Ten-volume collection of Neruda's poetic works to that date, printed in limited editions of 1500 numbered copies at the University of Chile in Santiago over the course of a little over a year -- from February 1947 to May 1948. Becco 229. Small paperback volumes measuring approximately 4" x 5" and issued by subscription in the Residencia en la Tierra collection, named after Neruda's famous volume and edited by his longtime friend, the poet Juvencio Valle, who also provided introductions for each volume. In 1947 Neruda was at the height of his recognition as both a poet and a statesman, having been elected a Senator in 1945. In early 1948, however, his outspokenness in the Senate about the severe repression of a miners' strike led him to go into hiding and eventually, a year later, into exile. The last several volumes of this collection were published while Neruda was in hiding in Chile. A very uncommon set: it was never publicly offered for sale, with all copies distributed by subscription, and the small volumes are easily damaged. These copies are all very good with minor edge wear or rubbing. Although not called for, each volume is signed by Neruda in his trademark green ink on the half-title page; exceedingly scarce thus. This is the only set we have seen.
194. NERUDA, Pablo. Alturas de Macchu Picchu. (Santiago): Nascimento (1954). The first definitive edition of one of Neruda's greatest poems (Becco 97), one of 1000 numbered copies signed by the author, this being copy number 140. Illustrated with photographs by Chambi (well-known Peruvian photographer Martín Chambi Jiménez) which the colophon says were taken in 1906; in fact Machu Picchu was not discovered by Hiram Bingham until 1911 and Chambi first visited it in 1924. Neruda went to Machu Picchu in 1943 after returning to Chile from more than a decade abroad, and was inspired to write what many consider his greatest poem. It was first published, piecemeal, in a French translation in 1946 and later that year portions were published in Spanish. The first book edition was done in 1947 and it later became Canto II of his masterwork, the Canto General, published in 1950. This edition was published to commemorate Neruda's 50th birthday, and it contains what he called the "definitive form" of the text; Becco also identifies it as the definitive text, so it is the first appearance thus. Despite the large limitation, copies are scarce, perhaps because the oversize wrappers are prone to wear and it's not a particularly well put together volume to begin with. This copy has a water stain over the top portion of the pages, ranging up to about one third of some of the pages including the colophon, where it has unfortunately caused the Neruda signature, again written in green ink as usual, to fade and bleed onto the facing page. Still an extremely scarce edition of one of the major poems of 20th century Latin American literature, and one of Neruda's high points as a poet, in a signed edition.
195. NERUDA, Pablo. Estravagario. Buenos Aires: Losada (1969). Second edition of this collection, which was first published in 1958. This copy is inscribed by Neruda to Chilean poet Jorge Teillier with a warm and lengthy inscription: "For Jorge Teillier, poet of the Lares [Chile's southern frontier, where both Neruda and Teillier came from]. This house of fruit and flower, and in this time of rains and disasters, gives us the sense of friendship, hope, and respect for the arts. Salud! Pablo Neruda." On the dedication, which reads in ascending script "To rise to the heavens one needs," Neruda has added "poetry, love and friendship" and signed it with a "P." and a drawing of a flower. Perhaps the lengthiest, nicest, and most sentimental Neruda inscription we have ever seen, and particularly noteworthy in that it was to a fellow poet from his own homeland, whose work in some ways shadowed Neruda's own but was of a different generation: whereas Neruda's first book was published in 1923, Teiller was of the "generation of 1950." An extraordinary association copy. The front cover has a long crease with several short tears at the edges and some loss of paper. Still, at least a good copy, and a historic one.
196. (NERUDA, Pabo). VALLEJO, Georgette de. Apuntes Biograficos Sobre "Poemas en Prosa" y "Poemas Humanos." (Lima): Moncloa (1968). A memoir of the Peruvian poet César Vallejo by his wife, inscribed by Pablo Neruda to Chilean poet Enrique Lihn: "For Enrique Lihn/ in memory of the/ great Vallejo/ Pablo Neruda/ Isla Negra." A wonderful three-way association: Neruda and Lihn were both famous Chilean poets, and Neruda (at least) had been a friend of Vallejo's since the 1930s, when the two met in Spain at the time of the Spanish Civil War. Vallejo's poem, "España, aparta de mí este cáliz (Spain, take this cup from me)" was a description of that war in terms of a battle between good and evil, with the Spanish Republic representing the good, and it may have been a significant contributing factor in Neruda's politicization in Spain: until his time there and the experience of that civil war, his poetry had been introspective and lyrical; after that it had a distinctly political edge. Enrique Lihn was, like Jorge Teillier, one of the Generation of 1950, and was known as a poet, playwright and novelist. His literary work was highly political, especially during the period of Chile's dictatorship. Wrappers slightly rubbed, but still at least a very good copy in wrappers, and a significant association copy.