Catalog 159, N-O
147. (Native American). BRUCHAC, Joseph. Translator's Son. Merrick: Cross-Cultural Communications, 1980. A collection of poems, Cross-Cultural Review Chapbook 10, illustrated by Kahionhes (John Fadden). This copy is inscribed by Bruchac to his parents: "Moon of Falling Leaves/ 1980/ For Dad & Mom/ Peace,/ Your Son," with his signature Kokopelli drawing. According to the text, a "translator's son" is a term used among certain of the Lakota people to refer to a person of mixed Indian and white ancestry. Bruchac's father was Slovak; his mother was English and Abenaki. Fine in wrappers.
148. (Native American). COEL, Margaret. Dead End. Royal Oak/Mission Viejo: ASAP, 1997. The sixth volume of her "commandment stories," each of which was issued in a signed limited edition. Of a total edition of 186 copies, this is number 22 of 150 numbered copies signed by the author, the illustrator, Phil Parks, and James D. Doss, who provides an introduction. With an inscription by the author in Arapaho of the sixth commandment, which is the anchor for this story featuring Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden. Coel is a non-Native author who has written both nonfiction and fiction about the Arapaho. Color photo frontispiece of Coel tipped in, and illustrations by Parks tipped in. Minor rubbing to the cover graphic and a very small spine base bump; near fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
149. (Native American). ERDRICH, Louise. The Game of Silence. (NY): HarperCollins (2005). The advance reading copy of this sequel to The Birchbark House, a children's novel by the award-winning author of Love Medicine and other novels. Erdrich, an enrolled member of the Chippewa tribe, is one of the most successful and acclaimed authors of the "second wave" of the Native American Renaissance. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon advance copy, especially scarce signed.
150. (Native American). GLANCY, Diane. Traveling On. (Tulsa): (Hadassah Press)(1980). The first book by this author of Cherokee descent, a collection of poetry. Published by a small press that apparently was her own: Drystalks of the Moon in 1981 and The Woolslayer in 1982 were also published by Hadassah Press, which had the same address as that of MyrtleWood Press, which published What Do People Do West of the Mississippi? in 1982. An author's note on The Woolslayer indicated that Hadassah is the Hebrew word for Myrtle, the author's grandmother's name. Inscribed by Glancy: "___, I share my unfortunate mistakes with you. It's been a pleasure! Diane." Approximately a dozen corrections to the text in the author's hand. Near fine in wrappers. This is the first time we have encountered this work: a rare Glancy title, and a unique, special copy of it.
151. (Native American). HEATH, Jennifer. Super Colon, Admiral of the Ocean Sea. Boulder: Self-published, 1992. A 50-page "comic" book that scathingly debunks the Columbus-discovers-America myth, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his first voyage. Fine in stapled glossy color wrappers.
152. (Native American). HULSIZER, Allan. The Indian Boy's Days. The Indian Then and Now -- His Presence and Influence on Our Life-style. Smithtown: Exposition Press (1983). A vanity press publication by a white writer, written for pre-teens. Despite the title, which seems thematically all-encompassing (albeit gender-specific), each chapter is actually a story about food, and the author includes an introduction for teachers stressing that the coming global food crisis can be averted by emulating some Indian practices. A fine copy in a heavily rubbed, very good dust jacket with tiny corner chips.
153. (Native American). JOHNSON, Joseph. To Do Good to My Indian Brethren. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press (1998). An advance copy of this volume of letters and diaries of the Mohegan preacher Joseph Johnson, 1751-1776. 8 1/2" x 11" sheets, printing two text pages to one photocopied page, Ringbound in plain blue cardstock covers; fine.
154. (Native American). LUMMIS, Charles F. The Man Who Married the Moon. NY: The Century Co., 1894. A collection of Pueblo folk tales, assembled by a white writer who had walked across the continent in 1884-85 and became enthralled with the natural beauty of the Southwest. Lummis' A Tramp Across the Continent published in 1892, is widely considered the first book to redress the highly negative images that Easterners had of the desert Southwest. He went on to live in Los Angeles, becoming the first City Editor of the Los Angeles Times, and his collection of photographs and southwestern art became the foundation for the Southwest Museum. The Man Who Married the Moon is one of the first collections of southwestern Indian folk tales; it was reissued in 1910 with the title Pueblo Indian Folk Stories. Spine-darkened, with cloth showing modest overall handling. A very good copy, without jacket.
155. (Native American). NIATUM, Duane. The Crooked Beak of Love. (Albuquerque): West End Press (2000). The scarce hardcover edition of this collection of poetry, with a number of the included poems completely reworked from earlier collections. Signed by the author. Niatum, a poet of Klallam descent, has published a number of collections of poems and chapbooks, and was the editor of the important early collection of Native American poetry in 1975, Carriers of the Dream Wheel, as well as the subsequent collection in 1988, the Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
156. (Native American). PEIRCE, Norman A. "The White Man Cometh!" (Red Cloud): (Self-published)[c. late 1950s]. A self-published history of Red Cloud and the town of Red Cloud, Nebraska, which begins in the biblical book of Genesis and covers many of the intervening years in a first person narrative -- i.e., in part a fictionalized history/autobiography of the Lakota chief, written by a white man born and raised in Red Cloud. Signed by the author on the inside rear cover, following the author bio. Mild sunning; near fine in wrappers.
157. (Native American). POSEY, Alexander. The Poems of Alexander Lawrence Posey. Topeka: Crane & Co., 1910. The prolific Creek poet's only book, a posthumous collection of the poems he had published over the years in various newspapers and periodicals, gathered for publication by his wife, Minnie Posey, after the author's untimely death at age 35 by drowning. With an introductory memoir of Posey by Kansas historian William Elsey Connelley. A bit of wear to the edges of the cloth; spine gilt intact; a near fine copy of this book issued by a small press in the midwest, far from the publishing centers of the time. Illustrated with photographs.
158. (Native American). Seeds of Change. Boulder: Boulder Public Library, 1993. A course curriculum issued in conjunction with the Smithsonian's traveling exhibit of the same name, which focused on the encounter between Europe and the Americas as a result of Columbus' voyages 500 years earlier. Brochure, symposium program, and activities for each of the five "seeds": corn, potatoes, sugar, the horse, and disease (which includes genocide and racism). Fine, in hand-lettered "Teacher's Packet" folder.
159. NICHOLS, John. Conjugal Bliss and Typed Letter Signed. NY: Henry Holt (1994). Subtitled "A Comedy of Martial/Marital Arts," this copy is inscribed by Nichols in the month prior to publication: "For ___ and _____, Dunno if this will make you laugh or cringe - maybe both! Anyway, it always seems to me that laughter gets us through it all! With much love and in friendship always, John." Together with a full page typed letter signed, written the same day as the inscription, from Taos, NM, in which Nichols recounts having been "mucking about in Hollywood again, rewriting a script called Amazonia for Ridley Scott," and then being derailed by endocarditis and many weeks of antibiotics, including IV treatment. He then gives his Albuquerque address, where he'll be living with his girlfriend of seven months ("it is sweet, and quite an adventure"), and he invites his friends to visit. Lastly, Nichols adds, "I'm working on a novel, too, and a non-fiction book...so I'm keeping my hand in. Somehow the work always gets done. Amazes me!" The letter is signed, "John," and Nichols has added a waving, goofy-faced, self-caricature. Nichols married his girlfriend (Miel Castagna) a few months later; his next published book would be the collection of essays Dancing on the Stones, in 2000. Reportedly, the recipient was a producer who made an early attempt to produce a film of The Milagro Beanfield War, the first novel in Nichols' New Mexico trilogy, but we have not substantiated that. Conjugal Bliss is fine in a fine dust jacket; the letter is near fine; a bit edge-sunned and folded once to fit in the book. For both:
160. O'BRIEN, Tim. Friends and Enemies. Arizona: Synaethesia Press, 2001. Two stories from O'Brien's award-winning collection The Things They Carried, bound back-to-back and printed by Jim Camp in an edition of 125 copies, of which this is one of 99 numbered copies in saddle-stitched wrappers. Both stories involve the same two characters; technically "Enemies" precedes "Friends." Illustrated by noted artist Fritz Scholder and signed by O'Brien and Scholder. Fine, with errata slip laid in correcting part of the O'Brien bio.
161. (OE, Kenzaburo). The Showa Anthology 2. Modern Japanese Short Stories 1961-1984. NY: Kodansha, 1985. Oe's own copy, which he used as a reading copy at Toronto's Harbourfront International Festival of Authors in 1985, when he read from his included story, "The Clever Rain Tree." Inscribed by Oe to Greg Gatenby, the director of the festival: "Dear Greg Gatenby/ I thank for you sincerely. For your invitation, and beautiful effort at Harbourfront. Kenzaburo Oe/ Toronto 1985." Gatenby had asked Oe for a half dozen other important Japanese authors he might consider as guests of the festival, and Oe wrote on the same page (and prior to the inscription), the names and addresses of six authors, under the title, "Kenzaburo's list for Greg Gatenby." In addition, Oe's story shows, in (according to Gatenby) both Oe's hand and Gatenby's the cuts made to the story to make it a suitable length for a public reading at Harbourfront. Kenzaburo Oe is one of the most highly regarded Japanese authors of the postwar era, and winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature. Gatenby's signature on front flyleaf; fine in a fine dust jacket. An interesting, unique copy of this book.
162. O'HANLON, Redmond. Joseph Conrad and Charles Darwin. Edinburgh: Salamander Press (1984). His first book, a work of criticism that focuses on "the influence of scientific thought on Conrad's fiction," and is an outgrowth of his thesis "Changing Scientific Concepts of Nature in the English Novel, 1850-1920." Inscribed by the author: "To ___, who is loved by all the girls in the office, with a big hug from Redmond. October, 1997." Recipient's name front flyleaf; fine in a near fine dust jacket with wear at the spine extremities. A nice inscription in an uncommon first book.
163. O'HARA, John. Appointment in Samarra. NY: Harcourt Brace (1934). O'Hara's famous first novel, realistically detailing the three-day disintegration of Julian English in O'Hara's invented city of Gibbsville, PA. The nicest copy that we have seen, and probably the nicest copy there is. Fine in a fine, first issue dust jacket. Errata slip present. Appointment in Samarra was named to the Modern Library list of the best 100 novels of the 20th century. A high spot of American literature, an important debut, and a stunning, nearly unbelievable copy. Provenance: the Bruce Kahn collection.
164. OLSON, Charles. Projective Verse. (NY): (Totem)(1959). The first separate edition of this essay by Olson, originally published in 1950 and here published by the poet Leroi Jones's press. Olson's essay, which argued for a form of poetry that was dictated not by the external structures of line and meter but by the internal "structure" of the poet's breath, was a radical and influential statement, and it helped attract a number of poets to Black Mountain College where he was teaching at the time. Among the poets who came to Black Mountain, largely because of Olson's presence there, were Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, and Denise Levertov. "Projective Verse" is widely considered Olson's most important critical statement on poetry in much the same way as The Maximus Poems -- although a much larger work -- is considered his most important poetic statement. Warmly inscribed by Olson in 1960 to poet Vince Ferrini and his wife, Mary Shore. An excellent association copy: Ferrini and Olson were both friends and competitors, and Ferrini introduced Olson to Robert Creeley; in addition, Olson addressed Ferrini directly in The Maximus Poems. One spot to front cover; near fine in stapled wrappers.
165. OLSON, Charles. Causal Mythology. San Francisco: Four Seasons, 1969. A lecture given at the University of California Poetry Conference in July, 1965, which includes excerpts from The Maximus Poems. Inscribed by Olson to a fellow poet and his wife: "For Vince [Ferrini] and Mary/ my dearest friends/ Charles." Ferrini was a Gloucester poet who was a close friend of Olson's but also a foil for him, and a character incorporated into one of the Maximus letters. Near fine in wrappers. A wonderful association.