Catalog 104, O-P
283. O'BRIEN, Tim. If I Die in a Combat Zone. (n.p.): Delacorte Press (1973). His first book, a highly praised memoir of the Vietnam war in which O'Brien uses some of the techniques of fiction to convey the experience with immediacy and power. Sunning to the board edges, as is usual with this title; else a fine copy in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with one small edge tear, a tiny spot of dampening on the verso of the rear panel, and some creasing to the flap folds. In all, a beautiful copy of one of the scarcest first books of its era.
284. 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. Signed by the author. A cheaply-made, "perfectbound" book, it is difficult to find in nice condition. The boards on this copy are dampstained along the edges; very good in a very good dust jacket similarly affected.
285. O'BRIEN, Tim. Going After Cacciato. (NY): Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence (1978). The uncorrected proof copy of his third book, a magical realist novel about a recruit who decides to simply walk away from the Vietnam war and go to Paris, overland. Dreamlike and surreal passages alternate with vivid straightforward action. The New York Times said that "to call Going After Cacciato a book about war is like calling Moby Dick a book about whales." Winner of the National Book Award. The uncorrected proof is of considerable interest bibliographically, as the author changed the book substantially between the time the proof was prepared and the publication of the finished book, especially near the ending. Several page corners turned; covers creased, with isolated staining; about very good in tall wrappers. A well-read copy (it was sent to a novelist for review, and he apparently read it quite thoroughly).
286. O'BRIEN, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. A collection of related stories that share a number of characters as well as the narrator -- a "Tim O'Brien" whose experience bears certain similarities to the author's own, as well as a number of differences. Selected as one of the 12 best books of the year, in all categories, by the editors of The New York Times Book Review, winner of the Heartland Award, and numerous other awards. The title chapter won a National Magazine Award for fiction. Not quite a novel in the usual sense but more tightly structured than the usual collection of stories, it is a meditation on war and death, and on the place that storytelling has in bringing these essentially unfathomable experiences within our grasp. Fine in a fine, first issue dust jacket, and signed by the author. By consensus one of the best, if not the best, work of fiction to come out of the Vietnam war -- a book that, like Michael Herr's Dispatches, has become a standard work on college campuses in any survey of the literature of the war.
287. O'CONNELL, Carol. The Man Who Lied to Women. London: Hutchinson (1995). The second book in the author's highly praised series featuring the very offbeat New York City Police detective, Kathy Mallory. The first book in the series, Mallory's Oracle, was a runner-up for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Signed by the author. Rear pastedown creased during binding; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
288. O'CONNOR, Frank. A Short History of Irish Literature. NY: Putnam (1967). An advance reading copy of this survey of Irish writing over the course of 1000 years, by the acclaimed Irish short story writer. Bound in plain blue wrappers and laid into a proof dust jacket. Ownership signature of a poet on the half-title and a few penciled check marks in the margins; near fine in a very good, edgeworn dust jacket. An uncommon format.
289. OFFUTT, Chris. Out of the Woods. (NY): Simon & Schuster (1999). The most recent book by this Granta 20 author, a collection of stories. Signed by the author. Light corner bump; else fine in a fine dust jacket. Blurbs by Tobias Wolff, Annie Dillard, and Kaye Gibbons.
290. PARKER, Robert B. Family Honor. NY: Putnam (1999). The advance reading copy of his first novel featuring a female private investigator, to be played by Helen Hunt in the film version next year. (Parker reportedly wrote the book specifically for Hunt to do a screen version.) Fine in wrappers.
291. PATCHEN, Kenneth. First Will & Testament. Norfolk: New Directions (1939). His second book (Morgan A2), printed in an edition of 800 copies. A thin bit of offsetting to endpages; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket. A remarkably nice copy of an important and uncommon book.
292. PATCHEN, Kenneth. To Say if You Love Someone. Prairie City: Decker Press (1948). Of a total edition of 200 copies, this is apparently one of less than 20 copies of the first issue, in off-yellow cloth with black lettering within a purple border. The rarest of any Patchen issue. In a dust jacket that the bibliographer identifies as the second issue green jacket, but as his descriptions do not in any single case correspond fully and correctly to any of the four copies we have in stock, we are inclined to think that he drew his conclusions from too limited a base of data. Thus, we hesitate to assign priority or fully subscribe to the bibliographer's views. Indeed, we have what he identifies as a later binding in what appears to be the dust jacket he suggests is the first. Clearly more research is required to sort this out. In any case, the entire edition was small, the first issue tiny, and the precedence of the dust jackets is problematical. Near fine in a very good, spine-faded, price-clipped dust jacket. In custom clamshell box.
293. -. Same title. Gray cloth with the same design as that in yellow cloth listed above, in a blue dust jacket with gold and black lettering, a price of and the words "THE ARCHIVE of Duke University" in place of "Louis Untermeyer" on the dust jacket copy. Fine in a mildly sunned; else fine dust jacket. An unrecorded variant of this uncommon title.
294. -. Same title. Gray cloth as above in purple and pink floral dust jacket with red and blue lettering, a $2 "Gift Edition" price, and different jacket copy. Near fine in a very good dust jacket rubbed along the folds.
295. -. Same title. The boards have a design similar to that of the purple dust jacket, above. The colophon now says "suede laid paper" rather than the earlier linweave. Some rubbing to boards; still about near fine. Without dust jacket, possibly as issued; this corresponds, in part, to what Morgan describes as the "second state."
296. PAZ, Octavio. Sunstone/Piedra de Sol. (NY): New Directions (1991). A bilingual edition of his collected poems, 1957-1987, translated by Eliot Weinberger. One of 250 numbered copies signed by the author and the translator. Paz, Mexico's preeminent man of letters, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. Fine in a fine slipcase.
297. PELECANOS, George P. A Firing Offense. NY: St. Martin's (1992). His first book, a mystery novel featuring Nick Stefanos. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket lightly rubbed at the spine extremities and rear panel. One of the most sought after first mysteries of recent years.
298. PELECANOS, George P. Shoedog. NY: St. Martin's (1994). Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
299. PELECANOS, George P. King Suckerman. Boston: Little, Brown (1997). Remainder stripe; else fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author. With an additional inscription laid in on New Homes stationery.
300. PÉREZ-REVERTE, Arturo. The Flanders Panel. NY: Harcourt Brace (1994). The first American edition of this novel by the author of The Club Dumas. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
301. PÉREZ-REVERTE, Arturo. The Seville Communion. NY: Harcourt Brace (1998). The first American edition of the author's third novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
302. PÉREZ-REVERTE, Arturo. The Fencing Master. NY: Harcourt Brace (1998). The advance reading copy of the first American edition. Splayed by a bulk of promotional material; else fine in wrappers.
303. 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.
304. POWER, Susan. The Grass Dancer. NY: Putnam (1994). The well-received first novel by this Native American author, which weaves the lives and memories of a group of characters over a span of 120 years to reveal the textures and depths of their relationships and the underpinnings of their contemporary situation. Published to excellent reviews and quickly reprinted. Blurbs by Amy Tan, Louise Erdrich and Alice Hoffman. Fine in dust jacket and signed by the author.
305. PROULX, E. Annie. Heart Songs. NY: Scribner (1988). Her first book of fiction, a collection of stories. Proulx's second book won the PEN Faulkner Award and her third won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Tiny spot to a top board edge; still fine in a near fine dust jacket with several edge tears and a few pen marks on the verso of the jacket, not visible from the outside.
306. PROULX, Annie. Close Range. (NY): Scribner (1999). The advance reading copy of this collection of "Wyoming Stories," one of which, "The Half-Skinned Steer," was selected for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. Fine in wrappers.
307. PYM, Barbara. A Few Green Leaves. (London): Macmillan (1980). Her last novel, completed shortly before her death. Dusty top edge; near fine in a near fine, spine- and edge-tanned dust jacket.
Advance Copy of Pynchon's First Book
308. PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1963). The advance reading copy of his first book, winner of the Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year. With elaborate inventiveness, labyrinthine plots and a sometimes paranoid comic sense, Pynchon became the "postmodern" standard against whom all writers since have been measured. Each of his first three novels won one or more of the major literary awards given out in this country. Faded front cover and spine; else a solid, crisp, near fine copy, with the spine still square and the binding tight. Quite uncommon in such condition.
309. PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. NY: Viking (1973). An advance review copy of Pynchon's magnum opus, winner of the National Book Award and the William Dean Howells Medal, for the best work of fiction to appear in the U.S. over a five year period -- the book that confirmed its reclusive author's stature as the preeminent American postmodern fiction writer. Pynchon reportedly declined the Pulitzer Prize for this title, as well -- the only time in the last 30+ years that there was no award given for fiction in a given year. An impressive book for the breadth of its references and allusions, it is widely considered the culminating novel of the American fiction of the 1960s, embracing the decade's experimentation with form and its breakthroughs in content. Top stain faded and very slight foxing to foredge; still a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with trace edgewear. Publicity photo (of the book, not the author) laid in. An attractive copy, and very scarce in an advance state such as this.
310. (PYNCHON, Thomas). "Entropy" in Gallery of Modern Fiction. Stories from the Kenyon Review. NY: Salem Press (1966). A numbered, limited edition (limitation not stated) of this selection of stories published in The Kenyon Review between 1944 and 1965. "Entropy" appeared in The Kenyon Review in 1960; it was collected in The Best American Short Stories 1961 and in Nelson Algren's Own Book of Lonesome Monsters in 1962 and 1963. After this 1966 publication, it was collected several more times before being published separately in a pirated edition in 1983 (although the piracy is dated 1957); it was finally collected in Pynchon's Slow Learner in 1984. Owner name; near fine in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket.