Weekly Sale

1982. November 15, 1982. Written to three Yale University English professors, accepting an invitation to a 1984 "Commonwealth of Letters" conference in which Achebe's work was slated to receive special attention. "But even without that peculiar attraction the project sounds so rich and so far away that I should have no hesitation in accepting to be there." Signed by the author. Typed on the stationery of Okike, an African journal of new writing that Achebe edited. Notation of one of the professors that the other two had been copied; folded in thirds for mailing with a couple small edge chips; near fine. [#029904] $375
$244

San Francisco, Early Stages Press, (1982). Epistolary novel of a young man drafted into the peactime Army just before the Vietnam war begins in earnest. This is the hardcover edition, reportedly one of only 400 copies (there were also 4600 bound in softcover). Signed by the author. Very good in a very good dust jacket. [#031185] $20
$10

Los Angeles/Columbia, Underwood-Miller, 1987. The uncorrected proof copies, three volumes. Owner bookplate in each volume, a hint of sunning to the spines, else each is fine in wrappers. Price for the set. [#030459] $100
$65

Round Top, Footsteps, 1987. Copy number 138 of 300 copies signed by the author. Stamp of another author inside the front cover. Fine in wrappers. [#030514] SOLD

NY, Scribner's, (1979). The advance reading copy of the author's first book, a novel of the CIA in Vietnam. The author served in Vietnam as an Operations Officer in the Clandestine Service for the CIA. Covers creased; very good in wrappers. [#009867] SOLD

NY, Bantam, (1987). The uncorrected proof copy of the first book in an ambitious tetralogy that also includes Love and Sleep, Daemonomania, and Endless Things. Signed by the author. Crowley's first book after the World Fantasy Award-winning Little, Big, this was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and was selected as one of David Pringle's 100 best fantasy novels of all time. According to Crowley, there were textual differences between this proof and the final published book. Near fine in wrappers. [#020178] $200
$130

(NY), HarperCollins, (1997). A review copy. Inscribed by the author. Bookplate of another author on the front flyleaf. Fine in a fine dust jacket with promotional material laid in. [#030559] $20
$10

(Dennis), Salt-works Press, (1973). One of 250 copies. Inscribed by the author "with love". Fine. [#002081] SOLD

NY, Scribner's, 1923. A play by Fitzgerald, written at the height of his popularity and the last book he published before his masterwork, The Great Gatsby. As a play it was assumed to have a much smaller market than his novels and its first printing, 7650 copies, reflects that: by comparison, The Beautiful and Damned had a first printing of 20,600 copies. Attractive owner bookplate front pastedown; a fine copy, with the spine gilt still bright and the binding tight, lacking the rare dust jacket. [#027607] $450
$293

NY, Riverhead Books, 1998. The advance reading copy of the first American edition. Trace edge rubbing, still fine in wrappers. [#018916] $30
$15

NY, Sloane, (1947). The first in his series of historical novels about the settling of the American west in the 19th century. The second book in the series, The Way West, won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. This book was a Pulitzer Prize nominee in 1948, is one of Jeff Dykes's "Western High Spots," and was the basis for the 1952 Howard Hawks movie starring Kirk Douglas that was nominated for two Academy Awards. Inscribed in Lexington, Kentucky in the year of publication to fellow Lexington residents: "For Elizabeth and Virgil [Steed], with the best of wishes," and signed "Bud Guthrie." Guthrie spent 22 years as a reporter and editor for the Lexington Leader, before moving back to Montana shortly after The Way West was published. Moderate dampstaining to cloth, with loss to the spine lettering; very good in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with small, internally tape-reinforced edge chips. [#032705] $575
$403

London, Hutchinson, (1992). A post-World War II alternate history novel in which Germany won the Second World War. A surprise bestseller and critically acclaimed, this was the author's first work of fiction after a number of nonfiction books. Basis for an Emmy Award-winning HBO movie. This is the advance reading copy in pictorial wrappers, marked "an uncorrected proof from Hutchinson." A bit of rubbing to lower rear edge and dustiness to lower edge of text block; otherwise fine in wrappers and near fine dust jacket. With a faux 1964 newspaper "front page" laid in, postponing the publication of Fatherland from 1964 to 1992, due to the sensitive nature of the material. [#029660] $125
$81

Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1987. The uncorrected proof copy of this well-received novel. Near fine in wrappers. [#020109] $20
$10

NY, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (1997). A memoir about her younger brother, who died of AIDS. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#023886] $20
$10

NY, Atheneum, 1972. The first American edition. Inscribed by the author. Recipient's signature and date (1973) front flyleaf; fine in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with one short, closed edge tear. A very nice copy of an uncommon book. [#029504] $400
$260

NY, Atheneum, (1972). An early collection of poems, only issued in softcover. Signed by the author in full on the title page and additionally inscribed by Levine to Peter [Matthiessen] on the half title: "For my friend Peter -- one of the great spirits of this place. With thanks & love, Phil." Foxed and a bit creased; very good in wrappers. Levine's address has been added to his biographical statement, likely in Matthiessen's hand. [#032491] $450
$293

Ithaca, Cornell University Press, (1969). A personal account by two volunteers who spent many years in Vietnam, learning the culture and the language, and who wrote this book in hope that it would help the Vietnamese voices to be heard in this country. Signed by Sommer, with "Best wishes." Very good in a very good dust jacket. [#031214] $40
$20

NY, Viking, 1955. A novel of partisan politics in Paris in the early 1950s and loosely based on Matthiessen's own brief experience with the CIA, in which he was asked to keep tabs on a young French communist leader during the period when Matthiessen was living in Paris and co-founded the Paris Review. Inscribed by the author to his parents: "For Mom & Dad. With much love. Pete." Two passages marked in the text, with page numbers written on the front pastedown: one of the passages begins, "Nevertheless, he respected his father -- " Heavy foxing to endpages; staining to boards; insect damage to cloth, which is splitting at the rear joint. A fair copy only, lacking the dust jacket, but an excellent family association copy. [#032362] $750
$525

NY, Random House, (1976). The uncorrected proof copy of this compendium of pieces on railroads, a number of them written by McPherson, who had originally contracted to write a whole book on the subject, a project which evolved into this one, not altogether to the author's liking, according to his later comments. A small quarto, heavily illustrated, somewhat uncommon now even in the trade edition and scarce in proof form. Fine in wrappers. Published the year before Elbow Room. [#001068] $250
$163

(London), New English Library, (1988). First British hardcover edition. Warmly inscribed by the author in 1991. Bookplate of another author on the front flyleaf. Foxing to top edge; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. [#031046] $175
$114

NY, Vanguard, (1959). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of the Nobel Prize winner's first novel, published two years after its appearance in the U.K. Naipaul is a Trinidadian author of Indian descent, one of the giants of contemporary English literature, and one of the most astute, if acerbic, Western commentators on Third World issues. Spine and a bit of the lower rear edge darkened, apparently from binder's glue rather than sun; some light dustiness to covers and a few gentle turns to page corners; very good in wrappers. An exceedingly scarce proof, by all appearances produced from the text block of the U.K. edition, bound in plain blue wrappers, with the U.S. publisher's label affixed to the front cover. This proof dates from the period when proofs were not routinely produced, which explains the use of the U.K. edition as an "American proof." Bound proofs in that era were little-known publishing artifacts, and were seldom saved, let alone filtered into the rare book market. We've only ever seen one other copy. [#028479] $2,500
$1,875

Los Angeles, 20th Century Fox, 1940. The revised shooting final screenplay, dated December 15, 1939, although with 24 pages of colored inserts dating from January and February, 1940. Machine stamped "copy #1," belonging to the producer Darryl F. Zanuck. This was one of the two screenplays that O'Hara worked on from September to December 1939 and shared screenplay credits for, in this case with Karl Tunberg and Don Ettlinger. The movie was produced by Zanuck, and starred Vera Zorina, Erich von Stroheim and Peter Lorre. Quarto; mimeographed pages with blue revision sheets inserted. Near fine in printed studio wrappers. Rare. [#025153] $2,000
$1,500

NY, Scribner, (2006). Subtitled "Concerning Faith," the book is an expansion of a letter Price wrote to his honorary godson, expanded and generalized for other children as well. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication to Virginia Spencer Carr. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#031485] $100
$65

Edinburgh, Polygon, (1986). His first book, a dark novel that is set in Fife, the region of Scotland where the author was born and grew up. Signed by the author on the title page, with a sketch of a gallows and hanged man. This is the hardcover issue, of which there were reportedly only 300 copies printed; after being turned down for publication by several publishers the novel was published by Polygon, a student-run press at Edinburgh University. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy of a scarce first book. [#028015] $1,500
$1,125

Undated. A one-page prose poem, typed, and signed "Clark Ashton Smith/Auburn, California." This version of the prose poem differs in a number of particulars from the published version, which was included in The Abominations of Yondo (Arkham House, 1960) and Poems in Prose (Arkham House, 1965). Previously folded in thirds but now in a custom binder, bearing the bookplate of horror writer Stanley Wiater, from whose library this came. Fine, with a letter laid in to Wiater from Roy Squires, the noted science fiction collector and dealer, from whom Wiater purchased it. Squires' lengthy letter comments extensively on the appallingly high prices "being asked -- and paid -- for the more desirable Arkham House books," in 1972, and then goes on to justify the high price Wiater had just paid for the Clark Ashton Smith manuscript, and says that he knows of only four prose poem manuscripts by Clark Ashton Smith in existence -- this one; one that he himself still had; and two that Smith's widow had at that time. A rare typescript by one of the most important American horror writers of the 20th century, with a long, illuminating letter from one of the great collectors and dealers in the field, and from the library of a horror writer who has been a three-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, given by the Horror Writers of America. [#029000] $5,500
$4,125

1979, 1986. Two typed letters signed from Stone, the first from Honolulu, the second from Providence, RI. The first grants permission for the recipient to use his name and discusses his time in Hawaii and his delay in responding ["I've been under the weight of burdens real and imaginary here that have played hell with my time."]. The second apparently accompanied a recommendation for the recipient ["If you think of anything they might want beyond this, I think you might add whatever you feel is necessary and sign my name."]. The recipient was a writer who studied with Stone in the Seventies and later became a friend. Both letters are folded for mailing; else fine, with envelopes. Also included is an autograph letter signed by Stone's wife, Janice in which she offers the recipient use of their summer home in the off-season. [#026626] $375
$244

(n.p.), (Xlibris), (2000). A print on demand copy, but inscribed by the author. Stamp of recipient inside the front cover; fine in wrappers. [#031103] $20
$10

NY, Knopf, (1965). A book of poems, one for each month. This is the third of Updike's books for children done in the Sixties, this being the library binding in pictorial boards (there was also a trade binding done). Illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. This is a fine copy in pictorial boards with just a small push near the upper spine. Difficult to find in collectable condition in the library binding. [#030407] $250
$163

NY, Knopf, 1962. Updike's fifth book, and second collection of stories. Inscribed by the author: "For ___ ___/ warm regards wherever you are, John Updike/ 12/19/06." Mild splaying to boards and trace foxing; near fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket with a small nick to the rear flap fold. [#030155] $350
$228

NY, Putnam, (1997). The advance reading copy of this novel in which Vonnegut and his fictional alter-ego, Kilgore Trout, each touch on stories they would have liked to have told and, in doing so, tell another, about the whole in life being the sum of the parts one attends to. Fine in wrappers. [#007237] $70
$35

NY, Villard Books, 1992. A collection of native stories by a white writer who has maintained a close contact with the Omaha tribe for a number of years and was adopted into the tribe in 1967. Very slight bump to crown; else fine in a fine dust jacket. [#002753] SOLD

NY, St. Martin's, (1993). A dedication copy of the third of White's popular Florida mysteries featuring marine biologist, Doc Ford. Inscribed by White to Peter Matthiessen: "For Peter Matthiessen, to whom this book is dedicated. Thanks for your friendship over many years. Randy Wayne White/ Pineland, Florida/ January, 1994." Matthiessen is the sixth of 15 people White names on the dedication page as "allies who have, during many travels and trails, proven steadfast in their friendship and unfailing in their support." White has been called "the rightful heir to John D. MacDonald" for his Doc Ford series; Ford is a marine biologist and the mysteries have been highly praised for their sensitivity to the Florida environment and ecology. Matthiessen of course won the National Book Award for his Florida trilogy that became Shadow Country. Light foxing to the endpages and page edges; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a bit of wear to the crown. [#031545] $1,000
$700