Catalog 98, A-B
1. ALEXIE, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press (1993). His first collection of stories to be published by a major trade publisher; winner of a special citation for the PEN/Hemingway Award as well as the winner of the 1994 Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers' Award. Stories from this collection were the basis of the recently released film, Smoke Signals, which won an award at the Sundance Festival. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
2. ALEXIE, Sherman. Reservation Blues. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press (1995). First novel by this writer of Coeur d'Alene descent, who was named last year as one of Granta magazine's 20 best young American authors. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
3. ALEXIE, Sherman. The Summer of Black Widows. Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press (1996). A collection of poems and prose poems. This is the trade edition, bound in black cloth; there was also a limited edition of 50 copies bound in white cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
4. ANDERSON, Kent. Sympathy for the Devil. Garden City: Doubleday, 1987. The well-received first novel by the author of the highly acclaimed Night Dogs. A powerful and well-written novel about the Special Forces in Vietnam, with whom the author served, which confronts the violence of the war head-on and explores an individual's capacity for tolerating and committing brutality that in any other context would be unthinkable and inhuman. One of the best novels of the war in its lucid portrayal of the devastating effects of the war on even so elite a group as this and, as such, a powerful antiwar statement without the usual postures and attitudes that are normally associated with an antiwar message. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
5. (Anthology). Mom, the Flag and Apple Pie. Garden City: Doubleday, 1976. A collection of essays by "Great American Writers on Great American Things." Contributors include Grace Paley on "Mom," M.F.K. Fisher on "Apple Pie," Jean Stafford on "Coca-Cola," Harry Crews on "Cars," Andy Warhol on "TV," Joan Didion on "Shopping Malls," Eudora Welty on "The Neighborhood Grocery Store," Harold Brodkey on "Boy Scouts," Alexander Theroux on "The Psychiatrist," Walker Percy on "Bourbon," and Tom Wolfe on "Great American Things." Very near fine in a near fine dust jacket with one internally tape-repaired edge tear.
6. (Anthology). The Great American Writers' Cookbook. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press (1981). Edited by Dean Faulkner Wells and with an introduction by Craig Claiborne, food critic for The New York Times. A collection of recipes from 175 writers including Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, John Barth, Donald Barthelme, John Cheever, Harry Crews, Joan Didion, E. L. Doctorow, Allen Ginsberg, Winston Groom, John Hawkes, Reynolds Price, Ken Kesey, Peter Matthiessen, Thomas McGuane, John McPhee, Norman Mailer, Wallace Stegner, Walker Percy, Joyce Carol Oates, Eudora Welty, William Styron, Hunter Thompson, Tom Robbins, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, and many, many others. An interesting collection of recipes and also a useful reference, in that it contains facsimile signatures of each of the contributors. Fine in ringbound cardstock covers.
7. (Anthology). Voices of the Heart. (Needham Heights): Ginn Press (1988). A compilation of works by participants in the Miami Book Fair International. Collects pieces by such authors as Toni Morrison, Anne Rice, Harry Crews, Derek Walcott, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joseph Heller, Maya Angelou, Barry Hannah and Russell Banks. Apparently only issued in wrappers. Mild splaying to covers; near fine.
8. (Anthology). The Phoenix Bookshop. A Nest of Memories. Candia: John LeBow, 1997. A chapbook of essays on and tributes to the Phoenix Bookshop, in Greenwich Village, and Bob Wilson, who owned the shop beginning in 1962. John LeBow provides the introduction, and Wilson provides a history. Essays by Amiri Baraka, Marshall Clements, Diane di Prima, Ed Sanders and Michael McClure. Additional tributes (from the 1980s and 1990s) by James Broughton, James Purdy, John Ashbery, Joseph Brodsky, Diane Wakoski, Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov and John Wieners. Issued in an edition of 265 copies, this is one of 200 numbered copies in saddle-stitched wrappers, signed by Bob Wilson, Diane DiPrima, Michael McClure and Amiri Baraka. Fine.
9. -. Same title. One of 65 roman-numeraled copies, 50 of which were for sale, signed by Bob Wilson, Diane DiPrima, Michael McClure, Amiri Baraka, John Ashbery, Denise Levertov, James Broughton, Diane Wakoski, John Wieners, Marshall Clements and Ed Sanders. Also included in this edition is a clothbound album of ten photographs from the Phoenix, featuring Allen Ginsberg, Marianne Moore, Diane DiPrima, Robert Duncan, Gregory Corso, Diane Wakoski, Michael McClure, Joseph Brodsky, and others; a copy of the Phoenix catalog #150 from October 1978; one of 300 copies of the Phoenix Christmas chapbook from 1980, written by Wilson and entitled Michael and the Lions; and several pieces of (usually autographed) Phoenix ephemera, which vary according to the copy. This copy contains three checks, respectively signed on verso by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) in 1962; John Wieners in 1964; and John Ashbery in 1977. Also included is the mailing label portion of an overnight envelope bearing Diane DiPrima's address label and presumably hand-addressed by her to Robert Wilson. Fine.
10. -. Another copy of the deluxe edition. As above but with the following ephemera: the prospectus for John Wieners' Ace of Pentacles; a check signed by John Wieners on verso in 1963; a check signed by Ted Berrigan on verso in 1964; and a check signed by Anne Waldman on verso in 1971. Fine.
11. ASHBERY, John. As We Know. (NY): Penquin (1979). The simultaneous issue in wrappers of this collection of poems by the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning poet. Inscribed by the author to another poet in 1985. Oblong quarto; read; covers slightly splayed; near fine. A good association copy.
12. BAKER, Nicholson. The Mezzanine. NY: Weidenfeld & Nicholson (1988). His highly praised first book, which examines to great effect the minutiae of a few moments in the life of an ordinary office worker. Fine in a fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author.
13. BANBURY, Jen. Like A Hole in the Head. Boston: Little Brown (1998). Well-received first novel, a noir bibliomystery with a female protagonist. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
14. BARR, Nevada. Track of the Cat. NY: Putnam (1993). First book in her acclaimed Anna Pigeon mystery series, with a female Park Ranger the protagonist. Winner of an Anthony Award for Best First Novel. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
15. BARRETT, Andrea. Secret Harmonies. (NY): Delacorte Press (1989). The uncorrected proof copy of her second book, and her first to be published in hardcover. Barrett won the National Book Award for Ship Fever and Other Stories. Fine in wrappers, with promotional sheet laid in.
16. BASS, Rick. The Watch. NY: Norton (1989). His first book of fiction, a highly praised collection of short stories. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a couple of thin lamination lines on the rear panel.
17. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. One corner crease and an edge tear at the lower front spine fold; read; very good in wrappers.
18. BASS, Rick. Platte River. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence, 1994. A collection of three novellas. Small sticker removal shadow front flyleaf; else fine in a fine dust jacket illustrated by Russell Chatham.
19. BAXTER, Glen. The Falls Tracer. London: Tetrad Press, 1970. By all appearances, his first book (preceding that listed in Ahearn's Book Collecting by four years). Of a total edition of 250 copies, this is one of 50 copies signed by the author. Quarto; near fine in self-wrappers.
20. -. Another copy. One of the 200 unsigned copies, but this copy has been inscribed by the author in 1975. Near fine.
21. BAXTER, Glen. The Khaki. (NY): (The Poetry Project) (1973). Apparently his second book, a mimeo/photocopy production in the style of the Lower East Side publications of the early 1970s. Short prose pieces with Baxter's quirky, stylized illustrations. Inscribed by the author. Slight edge-sunning; else fine in stapled cardstock covers.
22. BAXTER, Glen. Stories. (Kent): Joe Dimaggio Press (1973). Short poems and prose poems. One of 175 numbered copies, this copy inscribed by the author. Tall sheets, printed on rectos only, stapled into cardstock covers; near fine.
23. BAXTER, Glen. The Handy Guide to Amazing People. (NY): Gotham Book Mart (1974). Drawings with captions, reproducing the author's holograph. Inscribed by the author. Stapled sheets; one strip of sunning near the spine, else fine.
24. BAXTER, Glen. Drawings. (NY): (Adventures in Poetry) (1974). Another Poetry Project production, and the book listed in Book Collecting as the author's first. Stapled sheets, printed on rectos only. Inscribed by the author. Fine in cardstock covers.
25. BAXTER, Glen. Fruits of the World in Danger. (NY): Gotham Book Mart (1974). Just as the title says, quirky drawings of fruits in danger (an orange about to be run over by a train, etc.). Inscribed by the author in 1976. Stapled covers; fine.
26. BELLOW, Saul. Henderson the Rain King. NY: Viking, 1959. His fourth novel, fifth book, nominated for the National Book Award. Besides the Nobel Prize for literature, Bellow's books have brought him three National Book Awards and a Pulitzer Prize; although this title was not an award-winner, it does bear the distinction of being #21 on the Modern Library's list of the top 100 Novels of the Century. Only The Adventures of Augie March made the list as well, at #81. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light wear at the spine extremities, and signed by the author.
27. -. Same title, the bound galleys. Approximately 6 1/2" x 12 1/2"; stringbound in paper covers. Printed on rectos only. The cover has a previous owner signature and bears a draft copy of the jacket blurb and author bio. The galleys have a fair amount of (mostly pencilled) underlinings and several marginal notes, which may be those of a reviewer (but are not those of the previous owner). The text itself exhibits, even on casual inspection, numerous differences between this version and the published version. The changes found were not sweeping, but they were telling: word changes and sentence additions that clearly show the subtle difference between remarkable Bellow writing and even more remarkable Bellow writing. The unwieldy format has caused a little wear to the corners of the covers; still a very near fine copy of a exceptionally scarce item in an exceptional career. We have never seen another Bellow proof of this vintage offered for sale.
28. BELLOW, Saul. Humboldt's Gift. NY: Viking (1975). His eighth novel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the title published just before he received the Nobel Prize. Also nominated for the National Book Award, which three of his previous novels had won--an unprecedented accomplishment in American letters. A poorly manufactured volume, which uses cheap paper and is "perfectbound," making attractive copies of this title much scarcer than one would expect: in fact, this is one of the few titles we can think of wherein the book club edition of the same title is more solidly and attractively bound than was the publisher's trade edition. This copy has a penciled owner signature on the page with the publisher's device, and extensive penciled notes throughout, including a map of Chicago; practically an annotated edition. Obviously read; structurally still near fine in a dust jacket with a thin, 2" surface abrasion on the rear panel.
29. BELLOW, Saul. The Dean's December. NY: Harper & Row (1982). The Harper & Row limited edition, which follows the Franklin Library edition. One of 500 copies signed by the author. Fine in acetate dust jacket and slipcase.
30. BELLOW, Saul. Something To Remember Me By. NY: Albondocani Press, 1991. A limited edition of a story that was first published in Esquire and then revised for this edition. Of a total edition of 376 copies, this is one of 350 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in an acetate dust wrapper, with the publisher's prospectus laid in.
31. BERENDT, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. NY: Random House (1994). Highly praised literary nonfiction portrait of Savannah, Georgia, a surprise bestseller for over two years, going through dozens of printings, and later the basis for a movie. The first is somewhat uncommon and certainly represents a minuscule percentage of the total number of copies printed to date. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
32. BERGER, John. To the Wedding. NY: Pantheon (1995). Advance reading copy of this novel, a luminous addition to the growing body of AIDS literature, published to excellent reviews. Fine in wrappers, encased in publisher's pictorial cardstock slipcase, and signed by the author.
33. BLOOM, Amy. Come to Me. (NY): HarperCollins (1993). Her first book, a collection of stories, two of which were included in The Best American Short Stories anthologies for 1991 and 1992. Jacket blurbs by Dorothy Allison, Annie Dillard, Ursula LeGuin and Alice Adams. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
34. (Book Collecting). AHEARN, Allen and Patricia. Collected Books: The Guide to Values, 1998 Edition. NY: Putnam's (1997). The latest edition of the standard guide to book values by the authors of Book Collecting. This volume updates their 1991 Collected Books, with values for more than 20,000 books and a section for identifying first editions. The Ahearns have put together the most useful single-volume reference books in the book trade. The listings in this guide include not only estimated prices but details regarding issue points where applicable, and a simple and coherent guide to assessing condition of old and/or rare books, one of the key factors that is often baffling not only to new collectors but even to experienced collectors and booksellers when operating outside of the field of their own expertise. This is probably the only book that virtually every dealer in the U.S. owns a copy of and is indispensable, both for dealers who must assess a wide range of material and for collectors who focus in one or a few areas. Just the changes in values since the last edition was published in 1991 are an invaluable reference and can easily repay the cost of the book. An essential guide. New.
35. BOWEN, Peter. Notches. NY: St. Martin's (1997). A Montana mystery, featuring Gabriel Du Pré. Fine in fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
36. BOYLE, Kay. Short Stories. Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1929. Her first book, published by Harry Crosby's Black Sun Press, the most famous expatriate press of the Lost Generation era. One of 150 numbered copies on Holland Van Gelder Zonen, of a total edition of 185. Although this issue is indicated by the bibliographer to have been slipcased, with the scarcer issue on Japan being protected in gold or silver tied boards, this copy is laid into the gold protective boards rather than being slipcased. This was not a signed issue, but this copy is inscribed by the author in 1965. Mild edge-sunning to covers; else fine in wrappers. An attractive copy of a scarce first book.
37. BROOKS, Gwendolyn. The Near-Johannesburg Boy. Chicago: The David Company (1986). Poetry by the former Poet Laureate of the U.S., also a Pulitzer Prize winner, one of the most celebrated African-American poets of the 20th century. Inscribed by the author in 1987 to another poet. Near fine in stapled wrappers.
38. BROWN, Larry. Facing the Music. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1988. The author's first book, a highly praised story collection. Fine in dust jacket. Quite uncommon these days.
39. BROWN, Larry. Dirty Work. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 1989. His second book and first novel, powerful fiction about two Vietnam vets in the aftermath of the war. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
40. BROWN, Larry. On Fire. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1994. The uncorrected proof copy of his fifth book, his first book of nonfiction--an extended personal essay on his life as a firefighter. Brown's fiction has been praised for its unflinching grittiness, and this book received similar reviews. Fine in printed wrappers, and signed by the author.
41. BROWN, Rita Mae. Rubyfruit Jungle. Plainfield: Daughters Inc. (1973). The author's acclaimed first novel, after two poetry collections. A book about growing up lesbian in America, published by a small, lesbian feminist press in Vermont, Rubyfruit Jungle went on to become a bestseller, was reprinted numerous times and brought out in a mass market edition that was a milestone in the acceptance of gay literature in this country. The first printing, however, is extremely scarce. Only issued in wrappers. This copy is signed by the author. A small spot of browning near the base of the spine; some wear at the crown; very good.
42. BROWN, Rita Mae. A Plain Brown Rapper. Oakland: Diana Press (1976). A collection of feminist essays, with illustrations by Sue Sellars. Small previous owner name on the title page; near fine in brown wrappers.
43. BUECHNER, Frederick. The Faces of Jesus. (Croton-on-Hudson/NY): Riverwood/Simon & Schuster (1974). Text by Buechner, author of A Long Day's Dying, among others; photographs by Lee Bolton. Inscribed by Buechner in 1975. Quarto; fine in a near fine dust jacket.
44. BUKOWSKI, Charles. Ham on Rye. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1982. One of 350 numbered copies signed by the author, with an added self-caricature. Fine in a slightly wrinkled acetate dust jacket.
45. BURKE, James Lee. Black Cherry Blues. Boston: Little Brown (1989). The third of his popular and critically acclaimed Dave Robicheaux mystery novels, this one the winner of the Edgar Award as best mystery novel of the year. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
46. BURKE, James Lee. Dixie City Jam. NY: Hyperion (1994). A Dave Robicheaux novel. Inscribed by the author to a well-known poet. Penciled name (not the poet) on flyleaf; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
47. BURKE, James Lee. Cadillac Jukebox. [New Orleans]: (B.E. Trice) (1996). The limited edition of this Dave Robicheaux novel, bound from the sheets of the trade edition. Of a total edition of 201 copies, this is one of 175 numbered copies signed by the author. Clothbound. Fine in a fine slipcase.
48. BURKE, James Lee. Cimarron Rose. (New Orleans): (B.E. Trice) (1997). The limited edition of this novel, a departure from his Dave Robicheaux series, and winner of the 1998 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel of the year. Printed from the sheets of the trade edition. Of a total edition of 176 copies, this is one of 150 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase. List price:
49. BURKE, James Lee. Sunset Limited. NY: Doubleday (1998). His most recent novel, a return to the Dave Robicheaux series. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
50. BURROUGHS, William S. The Ticket that Exploded. Paris: Olympia Press (1962). First edition, a paperback original published in Paris by Maurice Girodias' press. This copy belonged to artist Alfonse Ossorio, who is credited with designing the dust jacket of the Paris first edition of Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Signed by Ossorio and dated 1963 on the title page. Slight spine-slant otherwise near fine, without dust jacket.
51. BUTLER, Robert Olen. Tabloid Dreams. NY: Henry Holt (1996). A collection of stories, by the award-winning author of A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain. This is Butler's second collection of stories; his earlier collection not only won the Pulitzer Prize but also won the Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Foundation Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with an "Autographed Copy" label on the front panel.