Catalog 94, N-O
264. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Laughter in the Dark. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill (1938). His first book published in the U.S., and the first edition of his own English version of this novel. Variant b in Juliar's bibliography--the orange binding. Bookplate front pastedown, starting at hinge; a half dozen pages near the end have the margin cut or torn, apparently in opening; not affecting text. A very good copy, lacking the dust jacket.
265. NABOKOV, Vladimir. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. Norfolk: New Directions (1941). The first issue of this novel, bound in woven red burlap cloth. Fifteen hundred copies were printed; Juliar estimates the first issue to be 749 copies. Spine-faded, thus only near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
266. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Some New or Little Known Neartic Neonympha. [Cambridge: Cambridge Entomological Club, 1942]. Reprinted from Psyche, Vol. XLIX, Nos. 3-4. Scientific article on lepidoptera, printed in an edition of 100 copies. The pamphlet was issued with two staples and no cover or copyright page. This copy has been stapled into a self-made dust wrapper, and is otherwise fine.
267. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Three Russian Poets. Norfolk: New Directions (1944). The wrappered issue of this translation by Nabokov of the works of Pushkin, Lermontov and Tyutchev. A selection in the New Directions "Poets of the Year" series. Stapled wrappers, fine; in sunned, near fine dust jacket.
268. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Nikolai Gogol. Norfolk: New Directions (1944). First edition, in the "Makers of Modern Literature" series by New Directions. A trifle dampstained at the lower edges of the cloth; near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. A nice copy of a scarce wartime book.
269. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Notes on the Morphology of the Genus Lycaeides. [Cambridge: Cambridge Entomological Club, 1944]. From Psyche, Vol. LI, Nos. 3-4. Scientific article on lepidoptera, which was published as an offprint in an edition of 100 copies a week or so after the journal came out. According to the bibliographer, issued without a cover and with one center staple. This copy has the tan cover of the journal, one staple, and the holes of another, suggesting that it was excised from the journal itself, rather than being the reprint. The covers are split and detached at the spine; the article is fine.
270. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Bend Sinister. NY: Holt (1947). Trace rubbing to cloth at spine extremities and lower edges of boards; fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. A much-nicer-than-usual copy of this novel.
271. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Nine Stories. (Norfolk): New Directions (1947). A collection of stories only issued in wrappers, as the second issue of Direction magazine, a literary magazine each issue of which was devoted to the work of one author. Near fine in spine-tanned oversize wrappers.
272. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Conclusive Evidence. NY: Harper & Bros. (1951). The first volume of memoirs by one of the most inventive, and admired, prose stylists of the 20th century. This memoir was later published in a revised form as Speak, Memory. Near fine in a mildly spine-sunned, very good dust jacket.
273. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Pnin. Garden City: Doubleday, 1957. A short comic novel. Near fine in a somewhat spine-faded, near fine dust jacket.
274. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Nabokov's Dozen. Garden City: Doubleday, 1958. A collection of 13 stories. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket.
275. NABOKOV, Vladimir. A Hero of Our Time. Garden City: Doubleday Anchor, 1958. A paperback original of this translation by Nabokov of the 1840 novel by Mihail Lermontov. Near fine in wrappers, with a cover illustration by Edward Gorey.
276. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Poems. Garden City: Doubleday (1959). All of Nabokov's poems in English from 1942-1957. This is variant b in Juliar's bibliography, with "A26" in the lower right corner of page 44. Mottling to cloth; near fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
277. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Invitation to a Beheading. NY: Putnam (1959). A novel. Very good in a very good dust jacket.
278. NABOKOV, Vladimir. The Song of Igor's Campaign. NY: Vintage Books (1960). A 12th century Russian epic translated by Nabokov, published simultaneously in a small hardcover edition and in paperback; this is the paperback. Foxing to foredge; near fine in wrappers.
279. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Pale Fire. NY: Putnam (1962). First edition, this being the very scarce issue that states "First Impression" both on the dust jacket flap and on the copyright page. Much scarcer than those copies that do not state first explicitly. Trace sunning at the crown; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with the "P" rubbed on the spine.
280. NABOKOV, Vladimir. The Gift. NY: Putnam (1963). Very near fine in like dust jacket.
281. NABOKOV, Vladimir. King, Queen, Knave. NY: McGraw-Hill (1968). The first American edition of his second novel, first published in Russian in 1928. State b, with the bottom page edges trimmed. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
282. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Ada. NY: McGraw-Hill (1969). Mild foxing to foredge; else a fine copy of this massive novel, in a fine dust jacket with slight fading to the spine lettering.
283. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Glory. NY: McGraw-Hill (1971). Trace mottling to cloth; very near fine in very near fine dust jacket.
284. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Transparent Things. NY: McGraw-Hill (1972). A short novel. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
285. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Strong Opinions. NY: McGraw-Hill (1973). A collection of nonfiction: articles, letters to editors and interviews. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. One of the less common titles from this period in Nabokov's career.
286. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Look at the Harlequins! NY: McGraw-Hill (1974). Slight shelfwear to board edges; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
287. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories. NY: McGraw-Hill (1975). Fine in a fine dust jacket. Less common than some of his other titles from this period, and even earlier.
288. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Details of a Sunset and Other Stories. NY: McGraw Hill, (1976). Near fine in a mildly spine-faded, near fine dust jacket.
289. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Lectures on Ulysses. Bloomfield Hills: Bruccoli Clark, 1980. One of 500 numbered copies of this facsimile of the manuscript. Slight bowing to boards; else fine in glassine dustwrapper.
290. NABOKOV, Vladimir. The Enchanter. NY: McGraw-Hill (1986). First publication of this novel Nabokov wrote when he was 40, and which provided the seed for what became Lolita, but which was itself never published until after Nabokov's death. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
291. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). "The Lermontov Mirage" in The Russian Review, Vol. 1, No. 1. (NY): (Russian Review), November 1941. A nine-page essay by Nabokov on Lermontov. Stain to front cover; else near fine in wrappers.
292. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). ISWOLSKY, Helen. "Twenty-five Years of Russian EmigrÉ Literature" in The Russian Review, Vol. 1, No. 2. (NY): (Russian Review), April 1942. Five paragraphs on Nabokov in this article. Minor surface soiling, rear cover creased; near fine in wrappers.
293. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). STRUVE, Gleb. "The Double Life of Russian Literature" in Books Abroad, Vol. 28, No. 4. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954. One page on Nabokov in this article written by Struve, who translated Orwell's Animal Farm into Russian. Edge-sunned, spine splitting; about very good in wrappers.
294. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). "Problems of Translation: Onegin in English" in The Partisan Review, Vol. 22, No. 4. 1955. Article only. Pages fine, lacking the journal.
295. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). BRENNER, Conrad. "Nabokov: The Art of the Perverse" in The New Republic, Vol. 138, No. 25. NY: New Republic, June 23, 1958. Pages darkening; near fine in stapled wrappers.
296. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). "The Vane Sisters" in The Hudson Review, Vol. 11, No. 4. NY: Hudson Review, Inc., 1959. Mild edge- and spine-sunning; near fine in wrappers with wraparound band announcing the inclusion of the Nabokov story.
297. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). BOYLE, Robert. Archive for "An Absence of Wood Nymphs." October 1958 - May 1960. The author's archive for an article on Nabokov that was published in Sports Illustrated in September 1959. Boyle spent two days with Vladimir and Véra Nabokov in Arizona in the summer of 1959, as Nabokov pursued the butterfly known as "Nabokov's wood nymph." Included in this archive are: a stenographer's notebook in which Boyle scrawled notes and Nabokov's sentences as Nabokov chased butterflies and Boyle chased Nabokov down trails and through meadows; a second stenographer's notebook in which Boyle wrote background notes for his article; the twenty-eight page original typescript, with extensive holograph corrections; a partial set of galley sheets on which Boyle, in typed and holograph segments, seems to have worked (mostly unsuccessfully) to restore the entirety of the article that was shortened considerably by editors at Sports Illustrated; the issue of Sports Illustrated in which the article appeared; two 8" x 10" black and white glossies of Nabokov with his net that were used as illustration; and a copy of The New York Times Book Review from September 1991, in which the article is extensively quoted in Brian Boyd's "The Year of Lolita." Also included is the correspondence from Véra Nabokov relating to the article: one typed note signed from May 1959 agreeing to the meeting; a second typed note signed from August 1959 requesting a copy of the Sports Illustrated that carried the article; (a retained copy of the letter from Boyle to Nabokov transmitting the issue); and a butterfly postcard from Véra Nabokov extending thanks. There is also a typed letter signed from Véra Nabokov from May 1960, written on Nabokov's behalf, declining to write an article for Sports Illustrated as the screenplay for Lolita is taking all of Nabokov's attention. Also included are a 2 1/2 page proposal from Boyle pitching a cover article on Nabokov (to Time?) in June 1959; a rejection letter from the previous year (October 1958), declining a cover article on Nabokov, in part because of the fury over Lolita; and a two page typed checklist of Nabokov titles provided to Boyle by a bookseller for reference in December 1959. Boyle's original typescript and his 1959 proposal are on acidifying paper and are exceedingly fragile; Mrs. Nabokov's letters are folded for mailing and the included mailing envelopes are torn; the notebooks show wear from use in the field; but the archive is, on average, in near fine condition.
298. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). "Pushkin and Gannibal" in Encounter, Vol. 19, No. 1. London: Encounter, 1962. An essay by Nabokov in a journal edited by Stephen Spender; this issue also contains "The Circular Ruins" by Jorge Luis Borges. Near fine in wrappers.
299. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). McCARTHY, Mary. "Nabokov's Pale Fire" in Encounter, Vol. 19, No. 4. London: Encounter, 1962. A book review by McCarthy of Nabokov's novel. This issue also contains an article by Aldous Huxley and poetry by Donald Hall, among others.
300. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). Miscellaneous Articles. [c. 1959-1967]. Eight clippings of articles on Nabokov, including V.S. Pritchett's article in The New Statesman from 1959. One article in Russian. All folded, most with darkening and modest edgewear; about very good. For all:
301. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). FIELD, Andrew. Nabokov. His Life in Art. Boston: Little Brown (1967). First edition of this definitive critical biography. Fine in a very good, edge-torn dust jacket.
302. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). FIELD, Andrew. Nabokov. His Life in Part. NY: Viking (1977). A follow-up to his earlier book. Very near fine in like dust jacket.
303. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). QUENNELL, Peter. Vladimir Nabokov. NY: Morrow, 1980. First American edition of this collection of tributes, including "The Sublime and the Ridiculous" by Martin Amis. Only issued in wrappers. A fine copy.
304. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). ROWE, W.W. Nabokov's Spectral Dimension. Ann Arbor: Ardis (1981). An analysis of Nabokov's use of ghosts in his fictions. Uneven sunning to covers; near fine in wrappers.
305. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). KARGES, Joann. Nabokov's Lepidoptera: Genres and Genera. Ann Arbor: Ardis (1985). An in-depth study of the butterflies in Nabokov's fiction. Fine in a spine-faded dust jacket.
306. (NABOKOV, Vladimir). FIELD, Andrew. VN. The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov. NY: Crown (1986). The first printing of the "third edition" in Field's works on Nabokov, combining parts of his two earlier studies. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
307. NAIPAUL, V.S. A Way in the World. NY: Knopf, 1994. The first American edition of this book, a collection of linked fictional narratives. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
308. O'BRIEN, Tim. Northern Lights. NY: Delacorte (1975). His second novel, a tale of two brothers in the wilderness of northern Minnesota, one of them a war veteran, the other a veteran of the protests against that war. A cheaply-made, "perfectbound" book, it is difficult to find in nice condition, rivaling his first book, If I Die in a Combat Zone, for scarcity. This copy is very good: the weight of the text block is pulling a bit from the binding, causing the front flyleaf to separate from the half title; there is light wear to the cloth at the spine extremites; the jacket is fine. Inscribed by the author.
309. O'CONNOR, Flannery. Wise Blood. London: Neville Spearman (1955). The first British edition of her first novel, memorably filmed by John Huston nearly three decades later. Owner name front flyleaf; a few page corners turned and an edge tear to page 217; otherwise near fine in a very good dust jacket abraded at the crown and with horizontal dampstaining at the top of the rear panel.
310. -. Same title. A review copy of the reissue (NY: Farrar Straus Cudahy, 1962). With a new "Author's Note" for this edition. Spots to foredge; else fine in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket with several small chips at the edges and a couple of small holes at mid-spine of the jacket.
311. O'CONNOR, Flannery. The Violent Bear It Away. (London): Longmans (1960). The first British edition of her third book, second novel, and the last book published in her lifetime. Page edges foxed; near fine in a good dust jacket abraded on the spine and rear panel, leaving small holes in several spots.
312. O'HARA, John. Sermons and Soda Water. London: Cresset Press, 1961. The British limited edition of this three volume set. One of 525 copies signed by the author in volume one. A trifle spine-sunned; else fine in shrunken cellophane wrappers, in a very good slipcase cracked at two joints.
313. ONDAATJE, Michael. In the Skin of a Lion. NY: Knopf, 1987. The first American edition of this highly praised novel by the author of the Booker Prize-winning The English Patient. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a promotional sheet from the publisher laid in. Signed by the author.
314. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
315. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
316. ONDAATJE, Michael. The Cinnamon Peeler. NY: Knopf, 1991. The first American edition of this collection of poetry spanning twenty-five years. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
317. ONDAATJE, Michael. The English Patient. NY: Knopf, 1992. The first American edition of this novel which was a co-winner of Britain's Booker Prize before capturing the Academy Awards. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
318. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers and signed by the author.
319. ORWELL, George. Animal Farm. NY: Harcourt Brace (1946). The first American edition of Orwell's classic political satire. Near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with several edge tears, some light pencil notes on the rear flap, and modest rubbing along the (black) folds.
320. OZICK, Cynthia. Three Typed Letters Signed. June 16, 1972, 2 A.M.; June 19, 1972; and October 5, 1972. All addressed to an editor at Holt Rinehart Winston and concerning the publication of the book The Breast by Philip Roth. In the earliest letter: "Hooray for Philip Roth, Unexpected Feminist! And (consider Claire's visits) Gay Liberator for Lesbians! -- I nearly fell out of bed (I was reading in bed; no book ever demanded more to be read in bed)...One knows when one is reading something that will enter the culture." She writes again two days later in a continued fit of enthusiasm: "...the book ought to be kept out of the hands of every writer in America...with that sort of brain around, why bother? I predict that after its publication there will be a great desert of non-novel writing...everyone will dry up, there will be mass suicides..." The third letter appears to have been written following a publication party, "The Greatest Party of All Time (Including Eternity)," afterwhich "Paradise will be all anti-climax." She apologizes for not eating the meal and passes along Roth's comment that "they coulda put the price of your meal into an ad." The blurb eventually used for publicity was an amalgalm of sentences from these letters. The letters are folded in sixths for mailing; else fine.
321. OZICK, Cynthia. Typed Letter Signed; Typed Note Signed. July 10 and July 17, 1972. Again addressed to an editor at HRW, but on more personal subjects. The first letter contains two Ozick poems, one a Housewarming Ode and the second a celebration of being Jews rather than Druids. There is also a paragraph on her own aggressive feminism and a confession to her own feminist backslide: "Motherhood is not only the nicest, it's also the most intelligent, thing I ever did." The second item of correspondence is a brief, somewhat cryptic note; in part: "If I had only asked one day earlier, I was told, it would have been mine. Butterfingers Machiavelli." Both letters are folded in sixths for mailing; else fine.
322. OZICK, Cynthia. Ink and Inkling. (South Hadley): Mount Holyoke, 1990. An essay on the art of Mark Podwal, "master of the true line." Illustrated with Podwall drawings. An uncommon Ozick item. Fine in wrappers.
323. OZICK, Cynthia. The Puttermesser Papers. NY: Knopf, 1997. The uncorrected proof copy of her most recent novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award. Very near fine in wrappers.