skip to main content

Catalog 156, A-D

NOTE: This page is from our catalog archives. The listings are from an older catalog and are on our website for reference purposes only. If you see something you're interested in, please check our inventory via the search box at upper right or our search page.
1. ABBEY, Edward. The Fool's Progress. NY: Holt (1988). His last novel to be published in his lifetime, and the work he considered to be his magnum opus. Inscribed by Abbey in the month of publication: "To Gus Blaisdell - good friend - old philosopher - reformed lecher! Ed Abbey/ Albuquerque NM/ October 1988." An excellent association copy: Blaisdell was a longtime professor at the University of New Mexico and, in addition to being an author himself, was heavily involved in the promotion and development of Native American literature in the 1960s and 1970s: he was an editor on N. Scott Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain, and counted numerous Native writers among his friends, colleagues, and even students, including Leslie Marmon Silko, Simon Ortiz, Joy Harjo, James Welch and others. He introduced Ortiz to Welch's work when Ortiz was preparing an anthology of Native American writing. Blaisdell also ran a bookstore and small publishing company for many years, and thus was tied into the Western literary scene on a number of fronts. In particular he was known for "smoothing the way" to publication for a number of young writers, many of them Natives. He and Abbey both had longstanding ties to UNM, and, as the inscription suggests, went back many years together. Abbey died the following March, so there was a very small window of time during which he could sign copies of this title. Fine in a very near fine, first issue dust jacket ("mist" for "myth" on the front flap), with just the tiniest nick to the upper rear flap fold.

2. ADICHIE, Chimamanda Ngozi. Transition to Glory. (NY): One Story (2003). A single story by this Nigerian writer, issued as One Story, No. 27, and published prior to her acclaimed first novel, Purple Hibiscus. Signed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers. Adichie is a MacArthur Fellow and was also chosen as one of The New Yorker's twenty writers under 40.

3. BARNES, Julian. Staring at the Sun. London: Jonathan Cape (1986). His fourth book written under his own name, after several well-received mysteries published under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. Inscribed by the author: "To ___ in his Parisian eyrie/ May 6th 1988/ with best Australian memories, cher collegue/ Julian Barnes." Fine in a near fine, mildly rubbed dust jacket with light edge creasing.

4. BARTH, John. Lost in the Funhouse. Garden City: Doubleday, 1968. Barth's innovative fifth book, his first that was not a novel. This is a collection of "fiction for print, tape, live voice." This copy belonged to the writer Geoffrey Wolff and bears his underlinings and marginal comments throughout, with a three point critique on the verso of the front flyleaf. Wolff reviewed books for Newsweek, The Washington Post and many other publications over the years, and tended to make his notes right in the books he read for review. An interesting glimpse at one writer's take on another writer's work, before filtering and shaping it into a review. Cloth mottled; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

5. BEATTIE, Ann. Distortions. NY: Doubleday, 1976. Her first book of stories. With this book and her simultaneously issued first novel, Chilly Scenes of Winter, Beattie instantly gained recognition as a voice of her generation**survivors of the social and political turmoil of the 1960s who, by the time they turned 30, in the Seventies, were weary and jaded. Fine in a near fine, slightly spine-faded dust jacket. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper.

6. BELL, Madison Smartt. The Washington Square Ensemble. NY: Viking (1983). The first book by this Tennessee native, a graduate of the renowned Hollins College writing program. Signed by Bell in the month of publication on the title page, and additionally inscribed by him on the half-title: "For Dr. ___ ___/ who (I know) saved my life more times than I could possibly remember/ Madison." Trace foredge foxing, else fine in a fine dust jacket. A very nice copy of this well-received first novel, with an early signature and a good personal inscription.

7. BERG, Stephen. Sea Ice. Omaha: The Cummington Press, 1988. A small, fine press edition printed by Harry Duncan, comprising poetic transliterations of Eskimo songs first recorded by a Nordic explorer in the 1920s. One of 292 numbered copies. Although not called for, this copy is signed by the author. Additionally inscribed by Berg on the title page with "fondest wishes" and signed "Steve." Modest foxing; near fine.

8. BERRIAULT, Gina. Conference of Victims. NY: Atheneum, 1962. Her second book, a novel. Berriault, who taught at the Iowa Writers Workshop and San Francisco State University, was best known for her short stories. One story, "The Stone Boy," was made into a movie starring Robert Duvall, for which Berriault wrote the screenplay. In 2009 San Francisco State established a literary award in her name, to honor a writer whose work exemplifies that qualities that characterized Berriault's fiction. Mild top edge foxing and one slight corner tap, else fine in a very good, lightly edgeworn dust jacket with a faint sticker shadow on the front panel.

9. BERRIAULT, Gina and NEUGEBOREN, Jay. Correspondence. (1981-1982). In April of 1981, Berriault wrote to author Jay Neugeboren to thank him for having suggested that she apply for a Guggenheim Fellowship that she ultimately received: "After I finish my novel...then I will try again to form again some short stories. In the past, when I wrote stories, each one seemed to quicken an idea for another, and that potential always waiting in the wings quickened the life in me, too. It was a beautiful illusion, in a way, like believing you were to be young forever. And now if I can experience that again because of the honor, you are the one most deserving of my gratefulness for the transformation." Neugeboren's retained letter of congratulations is included. In July, Berriault again wrote to Neugeboren, this time with praise for his latest book, The Stolen Jew, which she had hoped to review for New West Magazine. Neugeboren's retained letter of thanks is included. In 1982, at the request of North Point Press, Neugeboren wrote a promotional blurb for Berriault's The Infinite Passion of Expectation (retained copy included) and Berriault responded with her own letter of thanks, additionally inquiring whether she can use his name again to apply for a second Guggenheim Award and another year of "freedom." A retained copy of Neugeboren's second recommendation to the Award Committee is included. Attached to this recommendation, and stamped "Please Destroy," is a copy of Berriault's "A Statement of Plans," detailing how she would use the additional fellowship year to begin another novel, "the working title for which I have borrowed from Kierkegaard's Crisis in the Life of an Actress. It is about an actress...who has reached the point where self-centeredness has become unprofitable for the deeper self, the artist's spirit..." In all, two typed letters signed by Berriault (one with envelope); one autograph letter signed by her; four retained Neugeboren letters (two to Berriault, one to her publisher at North Point, one to the Guggenheim committee); and Berriault's synopsis of her next planned novel. A nice glimpse behind the scenes at the efforts of a critically acclaimed literary writer to find the funding to continue her work. Berriault's collection of stories Women in Their Beds won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction for 1996. She died in 1999. Neugeboren has published both fiction and nonfiction to substantial critical acclaim. An award in Berriault's name was established earlier this year; interestingly, the 2011 winner of the award, Susan Straight, had been a student of Jay Neugeboren when Neugeboren taught at the University of Massachusetts. The lot is near fine. For all:

10. BORGES, Jorge Luis. A Personal Anthology. NY: Grove (1967). One of his most sought-after books in this country, his third to be published here. A collection of Borges' own favorite stories, essays, poems and sketches from his earlier writings. Originally published in Argentina in 1961. This copy belonged to the writer Geoffrey Wolff and has several underlinings and marginal markings and notes by him. Ink price on front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with fading to the author's name on the spine.

11. BRADBURY, Ray. Dark Carnival. Sauk City: Arkham House, 1947. Bradbury's first book, a collection of stories, which was published by August Derleth's and Donald Wandrei's publishing house specializing in horror, dark fantasy and other weird fiction. Warmly inscribed by Bradbury to horror writer Stanley Wiater: "For Stan - with thanks for a fine evening! And good wishes from Ray Bradbury/ August 7, 1974." A nice association copy: Wiater, as a writer, interviewer, editor and anthologist, is a three-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award given our by the Horror Writers of America. This book was inscribed on the date of Wiater's first interview with Bradbury, and his first interview ever. Wiater is perhaps best-known for his Dark Dreamers anthologies, which led to a "Dark Dreamers" series of television interviews with various horror and fantasy writers, including Bradbury. Wiater's bookplate**designed by dark fantasy artist Gahan Wilson: the only bookplate he ever designed**on front pastedown; light taps to upper corners; a very near fine copy in a very good, mildly rubbed dust jacket with light edge and corner wear, fragile at the folds. A notable copy of an important first book.

12. BROWN, Larry. Dirty Work. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 1989. The advance reading copy of his second book and first novel, powerful fiction about two Vietnam vets in the aftermath of the war. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.

13. BROWN, Larry. Typescript of "Waiting for the Ladies." 1989. Photocopied typescript, 12 pages. With a typed letter signed by Brown to Dudley [Jahnke, a longtime publishing professional], submitting the manuscript and explaining that the story is currently being shopped in New York (by an agent whose feelings Brown says he has hurt). Brown also relates that he has been invited to join PEN, and expresses his frustrations in not having yet killed a deer this season. He says that he and Billy Ray, his son, "are going to hunt every day the rest of the week, though." The letter has paper clip rust in the top margin; the typescript is fine. "Waiting for the Ladies" was published in The Chatahoochee Review and collected in Big Bad Love. A good letter, to go with a manuscript of one of his early stories. Together with the photocopied typescript of "A Roadside Resurrection." 1990, 44 pages, presumably sent to Jahnke at a later date. Published in the Paris Review in 1991 and anthologized in New Stories from the South 1992, among other places. A clean typescript, with one photocopied spelling correction indicated. Comparison with the published version shows minor changes. Near fine. For all:

14. BROWN, Larry. Big Bad Love. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 1990. The uncorrected proof copy of his third book, a collection of stories that became the basis for a 2001 movie with Arliss Howard and Debra Winger. Signed by the author. Shallow strip of faint sunning to lower edge; else fine in wrappers.

15. BROWN, Larry. Two Typescripts of Joe. ca. 1991. Joe, Brown's fourth book and second novel, was published by Algonquin Books in 1991, and was his breakthrough book, establishing his reputation as a powerful and gritty writer of the realistic school, with elements of the Southern Gothic tradition of Flannery O'Connor and Harry Crews. His dark vision of contemporary Southern culture earned him comparisons to William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy, and his troubled and inarticulate working class characters earned him comparison to Raymond Carver. Two variant photocopied typescripts, loose pages, double-spaced. The earlier draft is 297 pages (missing page 120), reproducing several holograph corrections (mostly name changes). Pages 96-163 are printed on a different paper stock; mild edge wear; near fine. The second typescript is a later draft, at 413 pages (an increase in page count partially explained by a change of font size). Significant textual differences between the two drafts, and further differences between the later draft and the published text. The later draft is warmly inscribed by Brown on the title page in 1991 to Dudley Jahnke, a friend and publishing professional and, according to the inscription, "a best bro." Brown had little formal education**he never attended college**and spent most of his adult life as a firefighter in Oxford, Mississippi. He began writing in the 1980s and did not have a book published until 1987, when he was 36 years old. Over the next fifteen years he published nine books**five novels, two collections of stories, an autobiography and a book of essays. He died in 2004, at age 53, of a heart attack. A rare glimpse of one of the major works by an important Southern writer, showing the development of the work through multiple drafts, and with an inscription to a close friend and aide in navigating the world of publishing. A couple corner creases, else fine.

16. BURKE, James Lee. Heaven's Prisoners. NY: Henry Holt (1988). The second novel in his award-winning Dave Robicheaux mystery series. Inscribed by Burke to author, ex-Marine and longtime Parade magazine columnist James Brady: "To Jim, Best wishes, your friend, James Lee Burke." Burke often, though not exclusively, signs copies inscribed to friends as "Jim Burke;" this is speculation, but perhaps the change-up here has to do with the recipient also being named Jim. Brady had a long-running column in Parade, and before that he wrote for the New York Post and Harper's Bazaar, and he helped found W magazine. An ex-Marine, he wrote a number of well-received books on the Marines in the Korean War, in which he served. His 1990 autobiography, The Coldest War, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Light age toning to page edges; else fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice association copy.

17. BURROUGHS, Edgar Rice. Archive. A large archive of material spanning the whole of Burroughs' life, with emphasis on his career as a writer from the 1920 to the 1940s. Several thousand individual items including correspondence, both business and personal, unpublished manuscript material, photographs, and other memorabilia from his life and work. Thirty-three large binders of papers sorted by date, plus additional unsorted extra material and a number of printed works. Doubtless the largest collection of Burroughs material that has yet to be institutionalized.

One hundred years ago this year, Edgar Rice Burroughs began writing the adventure stories that would make him**and his most famous fictional creation, Tarzan**household names around the world.

       He began his first story in the summer of 1911. "Under the Moons of Mars" was accepted for publication in November, 1911 and serialized in All-Story Magazine beginning in February, 1912. Burroughs received $400 for the rights to it, approximately $9280 in today's dollars.

       Flush with the success of his first effort, Burroughs wrote a second story for All-Story, "Tarzan of the Apes." When it was accepted for publication and he received a check for $700 (about $16,200 today) he realized that he might actually be able to make a living writing these stories and set out to do so. The rest is history**much of which is documented on a week-by-week, sometimes day-by-day, basis, in the Edgar Rice Burroughs archive that is here offered for sale, including the original check Burroughs received for "Tarzan of the Apes"**one of more than 3000 unique items in the archive.

       We know of no comparable collection of Burroughs material in private hands today. This archive materially adds to the known history of Burroughs and his work. It includes many original, unique and unpublished items** from correspondence to wartime reporting to notes for his Apache novels, an unpublished illustrated account of a cross-country trip in 1916, an unpublished play fragment, and more.

       Burroughs has been not only one of the most popular writers in American literature but also an influential figure as well, whose influence has been pervasive and is ongoing. Many writers, such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and John Norman have credited him with being an inspiration, or even with triggering their decision to become a writer. The prominent scientist Carl Sagan said that reading Burroughs led him to his career as an astronomer studying the cosmos. And filmmakers George Lucas, who created Star Wars, and Steven Spielberg**creator of E.T. - The Extraterrestrial, Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark, among many others**have both cited Burroughs as a major inspiration for their work.

       It can be hard to recognize how much we owe Burroughs: Tarzan was not only an adventure story, but an environmental morality tale and a critique of industrial society and an image of the "natural" man. And although Burroughs is sometimes thought of these days as a writer for children or teenagers**a writer from a simpler, less sophisticated era than our own**one can find in his writing the antecedents of many contemporary strains of thought, including assumptions about who we are and our place in the world. The value of an unsullied natural environment and the sympathy for the non-human members of the animal kingdom mark Burroughs as ecologically-minded long before that term came into common use. Even his Westerns and space operas have a moral dimension in which the Western, "civilized" values and view of life are called into question and challenged.

       Above all, Burroughs the writer was an entertainer, and in his creative life we see the beginnings of today's modern entertainment industry: he "branded" both himself and his creations, most especially Tarzan, and he diversified from pulp magazines and novels into radio, films, comic strips and commercial products of every stripe. The McDonald's Happy Meal with the movie tie-in character toy would not exist if Burroughs had not pioneered the kinds of linkage that such commerce represents. Like most of Hollywood**where much of his work came into being in its most popular and accessible form**we find in Burroughs the intersection of art and commerce, the alpha and omega of contemporary culture.

       A detailed inventory is available on request.

18. BURROUGHS, William. The Soft Machine. NY: Grove (1966). The first American edition, revised from the first edition published in Paris by Olympia Press in 1961. Written using the cut-up technique and drawn from the same Word Hoard that Naked Lunch came from, it is part of the Nova Trilogy. This revised edition was to have been published by Olympia in 1963, and was announced, but was not published until Grove brought it out in 1966. This is the first edition of this text, and the first hardcover edition of this title. Inscribed by the author. Near fine in a very near fine dust jacket.

19. BUTLER, Robert Olen. They Whisper. Huntington: Cahill (1994). Butler's first limited edition and the true first edition, preceding publication of the trade edition by one day. This novel was Butler's first book to be published after his story collection A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain won the Pulitzer Prize. Several of Butler's earlier books had themes that related to his experiences in Vietnam during the war, and this book seemed to be an effort to break out of the mold of being seen as a "Vietnam war writer." This is one of 26 lettered copies, of a total edition of 150 copies. Signed by the author. Quarter leather in slipcase. Fine.

20. CAIN, James M. The Postman Always Rings Twice. NY: Knopf, 1934. Cain's first novel, and a milestone of hardboiled literature that was the basis for the classic 1946 film featuring Lana Turner and John Garfield (as well as at least three other versions). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone title. Knopf's success with the hardboiled fiction of Cain and Dashiell Hammett in the 1920s and early 1930s led directly to the publication of Raymond Chandler's fiction later in the decade and essentially ushered in the classic era of detective fiction. Slight fading to top stain, slighter offsetting to endpages, hint of a spine roll; a very near fine copy in a near fine, mildly spine-tanned dust jacket with a few small nicks to the spine and spine ends. A nice copy of one of the key books of its era, and a seminal volume in American writing.

21. CARPENTER, Don. Hard Rain Falling. NY: Harcourt, Brace (1966). The first novel by this mainstay of the San Francisco literary scene of the 1960s and ‘70s. Carpenter was the person who arranged the "Freeway" series of readings by Gary Snyder, Lew Welch and Philip Whalen in 1964, and he remained a friend and mentor to Bay Area writers for many years. He was particularly close to Richard Brautigan. He was known for novels that portrayed characters on the margins of society, and his first novel took its title from a Bob Dylan song about the crumbling of society from decay within and assaults from without. With a contemporary inscription from Carpenter to Norman Mailer on January 29, 1966: "For Norman Mailer, all kidding aside. Don Carpenter." Trace wear to cloth at spine crown; else fine in a near fine, dusty dust jacket with minimal edge wear. The dust jacket photo of the author was taken by Gary Snyder. This title, long out of print, was reissued in 2009 in the New York Review of Books Classics series, with an introduction by George Pelecanos.

22. CARSON, Rachel. Guarding Our Wildlife Resources. Washington, D.C.: Fish and Wildlife Service, 1948. Issued as Conservation in Action No. 5, a 46-page illustrated booklet written by Carson, giving an overview of the wildlife resources of the U.S. and various strategies for preserving and protecting them. Includes chapters on migratory birds, big game animals, endangered species, wildlife restoration, marine and inland fisheries and international cooperation in conservation efforts. Texas State Library information front cover; minor foxing to rear cover; near fine in stapled wrappers.

23. (CHANDLER, Raymond). SMITH, H. Allen. Lo, the former Egyptian! Garden City: Doubleday, 1947. Raymond Chandler's copy of this novel by the humorist. Near fine, lacking the dust jacket. Stamped with Chandler's name and address on the front flyleaf.

24. CHEEVER, John. The Enormous Radio and Other Stories. NY: Funk & Wagnalls, 1953. His second book, a collection of his stories from The New Yorker, published a decade after his first book. Funk and Wagnalls, the publisher of this collection, was primarily a publisher of reference books**dictionaries, in particular**and not literature, and this book probably did not receive the kind of distribution that his later books, published by more literary houses, did. Inscribed by Cheever in 1979, twice, once on the front flyleaf and once on the half title: both inscriptions are to the same recipient; both are dated November 2; one adds the sentiment "with cordial regards." Very faint evidence of bookplate removal front pastedown; a bit of dampstaining to upper foredge; a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with a strip of upper edge sunning and light rubbing to the spine ends. Scarce signed.

25. CHEEVER, John. The Brigadier and the Golf Widow. NY: Harper & Row (1964). A collection of stories. Inscribed by the author in 1979. The year after publishing this collection, Cheever received the William Dean Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for the most distinguished fiction to appear in a five-year period**during which he published this book as well as The Wapshot Scandal and one other collection of stories. Bookplate removal front pastedown and erasures to front flyleaf; still near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with light wear to the spine extremities and a small gutter nick on the rear panel. Most signed copies of this title were issued by the publisher with a signature on a tipped-in leaf.

26. COETZEE, J.M. In the Heart of the Country. London: Secker & Warburg (1977). His first novel published outside of his native South Africa (published in the U.S. as From the Heart of the Country), this was also his first book to tackle head on the political antagonisms between the colonizer and colonized, in particular in his native South Africa, where the tensions were exacerbated by racism. He has returned to these themes repeatedly, and has won the Nobel Prize for Literature as well as winning the Booker Prize twice. This book was made into the film Dust in 1985, directed by Marion Hansel, which won two awards at the Venice Film Festival that year. Fine in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a bit of rubbing to the flap folds, and signed by the author on the title page. A nice copy, with little of the rubbing that typically plagues this title, and very uncommon signed.

27. COETZEE, J.M. Life & Times of Michael K. NY: Viking (1984). The first American edition of the first Booker Prize-winning novel by the South African Nobel Prize-winning author. Signed by Coetzee in October, 1991. Fine in a fine dust jacket with just trace rubbing to the corners.

28. COETZEE, J.M. Foe. (NY): Viking (1987). The first American edition. Signed by the author in 1991. Remainder stripe lower edge of text block; else fine in a fine dust jacket with a tiny crimp to the spine base.

29. CRUMLEY, James. The Last Good Kiss. NY: Random House (1978). His third book, second mystery, a hardboiled classic with a comic edge**and one of the best opening lines in American fiction: "When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon." Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with tiny corner chips and very mild fading to the spine sunning.

30. DELILLO, Don. Valparaiso. NY: Touchstone (2000). The first paperback edition of DeLillo's third play (although only his second produced and published in book form). Inscribed by DeLillo to the poet Mark Strand, "all respect." Fine in wrappers. A nice association copy between a National Book Award-winning author, DeLillo, and a Pulitzer Prize winner, Strand.

31. DIDION, Joan. Salvador. London: Chatto & Windus/Hogarth Press (1983). The first British edition of this extended essay on the civil war in El Salvador, the brutality of which was perfectly captured by Didion's writing, which is imbued with a pervasive sense of dread. This is the scarce hardcover issue (there was a simultaneous paperback that was more widely distributed). Age toning to page edges; else fine in a fine dust jacket.

32. DILLARD, Annie. Typescript of "Life Class." No date, circa pre-1972. 7 page photocopied typescript with two holograph corrections in Dillard's hand. With Dillard's handwritten annotation: "this is a story I wrote sometime in my twenties - later I enlarged it and published it." Clipped to the story is an autograph note signed from Lee Smith (on a Lee Smith notecard): "Hi Annie - In clearing out old dresser drawers, look what I found! Love, L." The typescript is lightly foxed and folded once; near fine. Published in Carolina Quarterly in 1972, and published much revised in Antaeus in 1980. An early piece by Dillard**her first book was not published until 1974**and a nice association between two prominent women writers, whose friendship went back to their undergraduate years at Hollins College in the 1960s.

33. DILLARD, Annie. Signed Contract. 1999. Contract signed by Dillard covering, for a period of six years, the Chinese translation rights for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Three pages, with a cover letter to Dillard from her agent. Near fine.

34. DILLARD, Annie. Typescript of and Notes for For the Time Being. 1996-1997. Partial typescript, 193 pages, dated in Dillard's hand as "late Sept 97," for her series of linked personal narratives published in 1999 as For the Time Being, but here titled Tea Quai. Together with approximately 80 pages of draft material, in single-spaced typescript (a few pages double-sided; several on dot matrix paper) and one holograph post-it. Approximately a half dozen annotations in Dillard's hand describing what a section is or when it's from, in addition to numerous holograph corrections and notes to self: "How many births daily?," "Do you think I don't know cigarettes are fatal?," "Who are all these people?," etc. Together with three different versions (a one page manuscript, and two 2-page typescripts) of an "Author's Note" attempting "some sort of explanation" of the book, which was "impelled by" Evan Connell's Notes from a Bottle Found on a Beach at Carmel, and includes themes such as evil, birth, death, the individual, and "God, as usual," and which "probably eight or nine people will enjoy." Dillard uses the words of Jesuit thinker Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as a recurring narrative voice, but in his capacity as archeologist and historian rather than priest or theologian. There are two brief notes to Dillard, from Knopf and from Wesleyan, and a 1999 contract signed by Dillard allowing publication of the essay "For the Time Being" in The Best American Essays 1999. For the Time Being as a book defied easy categorization, and Dillard understood this: In one version of her introduction she wrote, with self-deprecating humor, "My worst fear is that some reviewer will decide the whole book is a smattering of journal entries or notes I didn't know what to do with**instead of a carefully crafted mess..." An interesting look at a an engaging and challenging book as a work-in-progress, and the author's own reflections on the book, which differ in a number of particulars from the Author's Note as published. All items near fine or better.

35. DODGE, Jim. Piss-Fir Willie Poems. (n.p.): Tangram (1998). A suite of poems "offered as an homage to the vernacular of northcoast working people," plus an introduction. One of 200 copies. This copy is inscribed by Dodge to another writer and signed "Jim." Fine in saddle-stitched self-wrappers. Dodge is the author of the novels Not Fade Away and Stone Junction as well as the underground classic Fup, about a magical duck. A nice association copy of an attractive and uncommon small press production.

36. (Drugs). DE MEXICO, N.R. Marijuana Girl. NY: (Universal Publishing) (1951). The scarce first edition of this now-classic work, which figured in American literary history as an example, in a Congressional subcommittee hearing in the early 1950s, of the negative impact of pornography, paperback literature, and comic books on American culture. Marijuana Girl was reprinted in 1960 and in several editions after that, becoming a cult classic. Its author, "N.R. De Mexico" remained unknown and was the subject of speculation for many years but was identified by folklorist and erotica historian Gershon Legman as Robert Campbell Bragg, a Greenwich Village bohemian and novelist, and one of the people who, along with Anais Nin and Henry Miller, wrote erotica for the collector Roy Milisander Johnson. A paperback original, issued as Uni-Book 19. Minor foxing to page edges and one very small chip to lower front cover. "Dec 20 1951" stamped on front cover; still about near fine in wrappers. Scarce in the original edition, especially in such nice condition, although reprints abound.

<< Back to Catalog Index