Catalog 100, P-V
99. PEPYS, Samuel. Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq. F.R.S. London: Henry Colburn, 1825. The first published edition of this landmark diary, which Pepys wrote in a secret shorthand in the late 17th century, and which therefore contained extraordinarily candid comments and insights into the public matters of the day -- Pepys was a well-connected aristocrat, a well-travelled intellectual, and an officer of the government in a variety of capacities. More important, however, the document included exceptionally intimate personal reflections and introspection, which Pepys expected to remain private. This edition was published with considerable excisions, the times not allowing such full disclosure of personal confessions. Two thick quarto volumes, in contemporary three quarter leather and marbled paper boards. Very good copies of an important human and literary document.
100. PLATH, Sylvia. The Colossus and Other Poems. London: Heinemann (1960). The first edition of the author's first book, preceding its U.S. publication. The only collection of poetry published in her lifetime -- by a writer who is nonetheless universally considered among the most influential poets of the postwar era. Only one other of her books was published before she committed suicide -- the autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. This is a fine copy in a white dust jacket with the usual tanning to the spine as well as general surface soiling, but very light edgewear; still about near fine.
101. -. Same title, the first American edition (NY: Knopf, 1962). A thinner volume than the original, with nine fewer poems. Slight foxing, mainly at the foredge, but a very bright, fine copy in a lightly spine-tanned dust jacket.
102. PLATH, Sylvia. Ariel. London: Faber & Faber (1965). The first edition of what is widely considered her greatest poetic achievement, a series of poems written during the months leading up to her suicide. Plath's Collected Poems won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize, nearly two decades after her death. Her frank, confessional poetry helped give voice to a later generation of women writers, and she became an artistic icon for the fledgling women's movement a decade after her death. Light foxing to endpapers; very near fine in a very near fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy.
103. PLATH, Sylvia. "LUCAS, Victoria." The Bell Jar. London: Heinemann (1962). The uncorrected proof copy of her pseudonymously published first novel. Plath committed suicide barely a month after the publication of this novel in England, and it was not published in the U.S. for nearly a decade. By that time it had become an underground classic, one of the most influential books of a generation, and Plath herself a martyred heroine in the eyes of the nascent women's movement. Plath published pseudonymously in hopes of avoiding the consequences of being recognized by her friends and neighbors, and their recognizing themselves in her book. The Bell Jar is largely autobiographical, and deals with a young woman who feels herself alienated from others and from the world -- and thus ultimately from herself -- as though she were living her life within a glass "bell jar." The book's clearcut exposition of its heroine's pain and her attempted suicides was reinforced by its author's actual suicide, the two factors combining to establish the novel firmly as a contemporary classic of the literature of women's oppression. Copies of the first edition itself are very scarce; proof copies of this book are virtually unheard of -- we know of only two others having been offered on the market. The spine is mildly creased and tanned; about a near fine copy in wrappers. A modern rarity and a high spot of postwar literature. A Waterstone's book of the century.
104. POUND, Ezra. Lustra. Privately Printed [1916]. The unabridged text. First edition, first impression. One of 200 copies numbered in manuscript by Pound and stamped with his ink chop. Some minor wear and surface soiling to boards; very good, without dust jacket, as issued. Gallup A11. This first edition contains nine poems that were omitted from the reprint because of the publisher's concerns, and includes the original title of one poem, "Coitus," which was changed in the later edition. According to Gallup, although the book "was technically not published [i.e., "privately printed"], [copies] were sold by Elkin Mathews to those who requested the unabridged text when ordering the book." A scarce volume.
105. POUND, Ezra. Typed Letter Signed. February 9, 1927. An extremely encouraging and revealing rejection letter, in which Pound rejects a poem yet requests a manuscript, and in so doing offers glimpses of his own editorial philosophy. Typed on letterhead; folded in eighths; bearing a couple faint smudges; boldly initialed by Pound. Near fine.
106. POUND, Ezra. Drafts & Fragments of Cantos CX-CXVII. (NY): New Directions (1968). The limited edition of several of the portions of the Cantos on which Pound had been working for some time. Gallup A91c. One of 310 copies signed by the author. A fine copy in a very good, sunned slipcase splitting at one joint and bumped at one corner.
107. (POUND, Ezra). ARDINGER, Richard, ed. What Thou Lovest Well Remains. (Boise): Limberlost, 1986. Jim Harrison provides the preface to this tribute to Pound. One of 26 lettered copies, signed by 21 of the 23 contributors, including Harrison, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William Stafford, John Clellon Holmes, and Hayden Carruth, among others. Fine without dust jacket, as issued. A rare appearance by a number of important contemporary authors.
108. PYNCHON, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1966). Pynchon's second novel, winner of the Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the most overtly political, and paranoid, of Pynchon's novels. Chosen by David Pringle as one of the hundred best novels of Modern Fantasy. Penciled owner name on half-title; near fine in a dust jacket with light chipping to the crown and a small split at the middle of the rear flap fold; else near fine. With publisher's complimentary card laid in.
109. PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. NY: Viking (1973). Pynchon's landmark third novel, winner of the National Book Award as well as the William Dean Howells Medal for the best work of fiction by an American over a five-year span. Gravity's Rainbow became the benchmark for postmodern American fiction upon publication and secured its mysterious and reclusive author's place in the postwar American literary pantheon. It is also widely considered the culminating novel of the Sixties -- the one which encapsulates and sums up the postwar events that resulted in the countercultural rejection of mainstream society and the quest for a believable alternative view of the times and, by extension, of human possibility. Near fine in a dust jacket with a couple of creases on the front flap but completely free of the spine-fading that so often afflicts this title.
110. PYNCHON, Thomas. Vineland. (n.p.: n.p., n.d.). A photocopied typescript of an early draft of Pynchon's first novel since Gravity's Rainbow, a period of seventeen years by the time Vineland was finally published. 521 double-spaced pages, with textual variations from the published version. This version of the manuscript reportedly dates from a period about a year before the publication of the book in February, 1990. It represents a version of the text that is markedly different from that which was published -- and is an exceptional rarity in that regard. Pynchon reportedly insisted that no proofs or advance reading copies be done of this title, and the only pre-publication states that exist are a handful of f&g's (folded and gathered sheets) of the first edition and copies of the published edition that had a promotional sheet inserted. This version of the manuscript, which Pynchon apparently rewrote considerably, was never produced in printed form. From the very first sentence to the very last sentence, there are major, substantive differences between this draft and the text of the published volume. Only a handful of copies were made, presumably for use by the publisher, and this is one; it shows signs of having been read: the top sheet is slightly creased and worn, and the edges of the pages a bit dust-soiled and slightly rough. Overall, the condition is near fine. No copies have been made of this copy, and this text was circulated to a very small number of people, mostly those involved with the publication process. While only a photocopy, this is doubtless the most textually significant Pynchon item we have ever seen offered on the market, and copies of this draft are likely to be scarcer than any of the proofs of any of Pynchon's other books.
(RAND, Ayn). See item #147.
111. RHYS, Jean. Voyage in the Dark. NY: Morrow, 1935. The first American edition of the author's fourth book, a story of eighteen months in the life of a chorus girl who, like the author, grew up in the West Indies. After an early and productive writing career, during which she received much critical praise, Rhys went for nearly three decades without publishing a new work until Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966. At that time, her frank sensuality was embraced by the women's movement and her earlier works were rediscovered and republished, including this one. Offsetting to endpapers; very good in a dust jacket with several small edge chips and wear along the folds. Scarce in jacket.
112. SETH, Vikram. Mappings. (n.p.): (n.p.) (1980). The scarce first book by the author of Golden Gate and A Suitable Boy, among others. This is a collection of poems, which he published himself while studying at Stanford University, after he had been a Fellow in Wallace Stegner's Creative Writing Workshop. One of 150 copies, signed by the author. Trace rubbing along the spine; fine in stapled wrappers. Very uncommon.
113. SILKO, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. NY: Viking (1977). Her first novel, which combines traditional native storytelling techniques with the Western form of the novel, to create a book that embodies what it describes -- the book itself is structured as a healing ceremony. The success of this book, both critically and commercially, helped pave the way for the publishing of later Native American writers, such as Louise Erdrich and Linda Hogan. It has become a standard on college campuses. Inscribed by Silko in the year of publication to writer and publisher Gus Blaisdell. In the 1970s, Silko was attending law school and Blaisdell was in charge of grants to ethnic writers at the National Endowment for the Arts. Blaisdell awarded a grant to Silko that allowed her to quit law school and write this book. The inscription reads: "For Gus,/ The one who kept me/ going at a time when/ I almost became a/ lawyer instead./ I won't forget,/ Love,/ Leslie/ 12 April 1977/ Albuquerque." Fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket with a paper clip imprint at the upper edge of the front panel and a tiny gutter nick on the rear panel. An excellent association copy of this important novel.
114. SILKO, Leslie Marmon and MARMON, Lee. Rain. (NY): Whitney Museum, 1996. An attractive limited edition, with text by Silko and tipped-in photographs by Silko and her father, Lee Marmon. Printed at Grenfell Press and bound by Claudia Cohen, the edition was limited to 130 numbered copies signed by the author and photographer and also includes a signed print by Lee Marmon. Quarto in wrappers, with photograph in a paper sleeve. Fine in slipcase. List:
115. STEGNER, Wallace. Angle of Repose. Garden City: Doubleday, 1971. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by the author who redefined the literature of the American West. Trace foxing to page edges and mild offsetting to endpages; still very near fine in a near fine dust jacket with two tiny edge tears needlessly tape-strengthened on verso. A much-nicer-than-usual copy of a not particularly well-made book (Doubleday was earning a reputation at that time for breaking new ground in the cheapness of its book production), and an important title. A Modern Library book of the century.
116. STEINBECK, John. Tortilla Flat. NY: Covici Friede (1935). The fourth novel by the Nobel Prize winner, preceding his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork, The Grapes of Wrath, by four years. A scarce book, printed during the Depression in an edition of only 4000 copies, this was the first of Steinbeck's books to receive significant popular attention, because of its sympathetic portrayal of Monterey paisanos. This copy is inscribed by Steinbeck in the year of publication on the front pastedown above the recipient's bookplate. Light corner bumping and mild spine-darkening; a very good copy in a very good dust jacket restored at the spine extremities. Books signed by Steinbeck before his ascension to undisputed literary celebrity in 1939 are quite uncommon.
117. TOOLE, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U. Press, 1980. One of the most elusive of recent Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction titles, this book had a small first printing, reported to be 2500 copies. Initially, it was turned down for publication by dozens of publishers and the author committed suicide in 1969. Years later, his mother brought the manuscript to Walker Percy, insisting that he read it. Percy, who was inclined to dismiss it for lack of time, succumbed to her persistence, loved the book, and arranged to get it published, contributing an introduction. Excellent reviews and word-of-mouth led to its being reprinted numerous times and becoming a bestseller. It then won one of the most prestigious literary prizes given in this country. This copy is signed by Walker Percy on the title page and by Toole's mother on the half-title in 1983. Slightly splayed covers; else a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with trace wear to the crown and one a tiny chip to the rear panel. While copies of this title with Percy's signature turn up from time to time -- he did a book-signing at a New Orleans store at one point -- copies with the signatures of both of the principals involved in the book's publication are very scarce indeed.
118. TYLER, Anne. Celestial Navigation. NY: Knopf, 1974. The fifth book by the author of The Accidental Tourist and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Breathing Lessons, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Tyler's early books had small first printings, on the order of 5000-6000 copies; these days her novels have initial print runs that number in six figures.
119. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Two penciled names on the half-title; short tears at both spine extremities; near fine in tall wrappers. An uncommon proof, both dating from a period during which proofs were not routinely saved and also having been issued in an awkward, easily damaged format. We have not seen another offered in many years.
120. UPDIKE, John. The Poorhouse Fair. NY: Knopf, 1959. Updike's second book, first novel, winner of the Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Foundation Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, for a novel which, despite not being a commercial success, was nonetheless "a considerable literary achievement." Also nominated for the National Book Award. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a vertical wrinkle on the front panel, a small internal stain on the verso of the front panel, a tiny pinhole at the upper spine, and tape shadows on the flaps. Overall, an attractive copy, most of the flaws of which are probably attributable to a dust jacket protector having been affixed at one time in the past, and having shrunk slightly over time.
121. UPDIKE, John. Bath After Sailing. (Stevenson): (Country Squire) (1968). The first book of Updike's to be published as a limited edition -- a single poem, bound in cardstock wrappers. Updike had had one limited edition done earlier, a broadside, but this was the first to be issued as a "book." He has had dozens since. This is one of 125 numbered copies signed by the author. A fine copy in stiff wrappers. One of the most difficult Updike titles to locate these days.
122. UPDIKE, John. Rabbit Redux. NY: Knopf, 1971. The limited edition of the second book in his Rabbit Angstrom sequence, one of the most acclaimed fictional series of our time. This book was nominated for the National Book Award and other titles in the four-book sequence garnered two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Book Award. One of 350 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
123. UPDIKE, John. Six Poems. (n.p.): Aloe, 1973. One of the earlier and scarcer of his limited editions, having had a small printing and been done at a time before he was especially widely collected. Of a total edition of 126 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies signed by the author. Faint, thin strip of fading along the top edge of the front cover, otherwise fine in saddle-stitched self wraps.
124. -. Same title. One of 100 copies, signed by the author. Fine in saddle-stitched wrappers.
125. UPDIKE, John. Iowa. Portland: Press-22, 1980. An attractively printed and illustrated broadside poem. One of 200 numbered copies signed by the author. 22 1/2" x 15". Matted and framed to 29" x 21 1/2". Fine.
126. UPDIKE, John. Original Typescript for "The Revealed and the Concealed." September 25, 1992. 8 1/2 pages of ribbon-copy typescript of an article on the miniaturist Sarah Goodridge. Together with a typed letter signed transmitting the article to the now former editor of Arts and Antiques, with whom Updike had worked for more than six years. Updike writes, "I was stunned to read in the latest Art & Antiques that you are no longer editor of the magazine, and that you are HIV positive. You have been the most amiable of editors... I could think of no better way to thank you and to show my concern than by at last writing the piece that we corresponded about [beginning 18 months earlier]." Despite Updike's words of support, the tone of the letter is predominantly that of a writer trying to get an article in under an unexpected, intractable deadline. He continues, saying that there will be probable amendments, but that "I wanted to get it off to you, to show I hadn't forgotten my promise, and to clear my desk for the weekend. My regards to the new editor, and my best wishes to you." The letter and the first page of the manuscript bear Updike's rubber stamp, with his name and address. All pages folded in thirds for mailing; bottom edge of letter has trace wrinkling; else fine. Needless to say, Updike manuscript material seldom turns up on the market.
(UPDIKE, John). See also item #147.
127. VAN ALLSBURG, Chris. The Polar Express. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985. A modern children's classic, winner of the Caldecott Medal for the best illustrated children's book of the year. This copy is fine in a fine dust jacket (with the Caldecott Award sticker affixed to the front panel) and signed by the author. A very scarce book in the first edition -- it was reprinted dozens of times -- and especially so signed: Van Allsburg reportedly does not often sign books. We have not seen other signed copies of this title offered for sale.
128. (Vintage Contemporaries). 1984-1989. NY: Vintage Books [1984-1989]. An incomplete lot of titles published in the Vintage Contemporaries series from its inception in 1984 through 1989. 77 books, representing 63 titles, and including:
16 Vintage Contemporary Originals, such as Richard Ford's The Sportswriter, Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City, Richard Russo's Mohawk, Emily Prager's Clea & Zeus Divorce, Robert Olmstead's Soft Water and River Dogs, Janet Hobhouse's November, Susanna Kaysen's Asa, As I Knew Him, Joy Williams' Breaking and Entering, and the only hardcover in the series, McInerney's Ransom, which is inscribed by the author.
6 uncorrected proof copies, including Williams' Breaking and Entering and Spalding Gray's Sex and Death to the Age 14; 4 advance reading copies; 2 advance excerpts; and the Vintage Contemporaries Reader, which previews the first eight books in the series with chapters by Renata Adler, Raymond Carver, James Crumley, Janet Hobhouse, Paule Marshall, Peter Matthiessen, Thomas McGuane and Jay McInerney, whose chapter from Bright Lights, Big City is shot from typescript and bears textual differences from the published book.
44 first Vintage Books editions, in many cases representing the first paperback edition, and including works by Harold Brodkey, Raymond Carver, James Crumley, Don DeLillo, Steve Erickson, Frederick Exley, Richard Ford, Kaye Gibbons, Barry Hannah, Denis Johnson, Thomas McGuane, Gloria Naylor, Lewis Nordan, Charles Portis, Theodore Weesner, Richard Yates, and many others.
6 first printings of Vintage reissues of earlier Vintage titles by Brodkey, Carver, Exley and Russo.
In addition to the authors named above, the collection represents a vast number of other authors in the form of blurbs: John Irving, Lorrie Moore and Tobias Wolff, to name a few. All items are fine, except for Bright Lights, Big City, which is creased on the rear cover, and A Piece of My Heart, which is near fine. The Vintage Contemporaries series was a publishing experiment -- an attempt to bring serious literary fiction into the marketplace in editions that would receive wide distribution but did not have to be printed in the quantities that are required for "mass market" paperbacks. At the beginning, the books' designs were a uniform, identifiable format, a marketing strategy designed to gain recognition for the series that would help sell the individual titles. The experiment was wildly successful, and was quickly copied by most other mainstream publishing houses, which each issued its own line of literary paperbacks in an attractive format, a practice that is now taken for granted but which at the time constituted a virtual revolution in literary publishing in America. For the lot: