Catalog 108, O
255. O'BRIAN, Patrick. Master and Commander. London: Collins, 1970. The first British edition of the first of his acclaimed Jack Aubrey maritime novels (preceded by the American publication of it). Boards bowed, page edges foxed; a very good copy in a very good, edgeworn dust jacket creased along the front spine fold. Extremely scarce. O'Brian virtually single-handedly revived the genre of historical maritime novels, with his Aubrey-Marturin novels reaching a level of critical and commercial success unprecedented for the genre.
256. O'BRIAN, Patrick. Caesar and Hussein. NY: Norton (1999). The advance reading copies of the posthumously published reissues of O'Brian's first and second books, first published in 1930 (when O'Brian was fifteen) and in 1938, respectively. O'Brian provided a new foreword for Caesar. Both are fine in wrappers.
257. O'BRIEN, Tim. If I Die in a Combat Zone. London: Calder & Boyars (1973). The first British edition of the author's first book, a highly praised memoir of the war in which O'Brien uses some of the techniques of fiction to convey the experience with immediacy and power; one edition of this title was even marketed by its publisher as fiction, although all others have been presented as nonfiction. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author. Unlike most copies of this edition that turn up, the dust jacket on this copy has not been price-clipped.
258. O'BRIEN, Tim. Northern Lights. (NY): Delacorte/Lawrence (1975). The uncorrected proof copy of 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. Approximately 5 1/4" x 10 1/2", with holograph page numbers. This copy has a reviewer's notes throughout, with the reviewer's name, word count and deadline on the front cover, and with the words "Idea for story of survival in the Bahamas" pencilled there as well. O'Brien is a relentless reviser and re-writer, and this proof varies from the publish text in at least one substantial degree -- a two-page section in the proof (two long pages, as the proof is in a tall format) has been deleted from the final book. Spine slanted; sunned and lightly creased; still about near fine in wrappers. Laid in is an envelope addressed from O'Brien to the reviewer in the year following publication. A very scarce proof: we have only seen three other copies of it in over 20 years.
259. O'BRIEN, Tim. Going After Cacciato. (NY): Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence (1978). His third book, a magical realist novel about a recruit who decides to walk away from the Vietnam war and go to Paris overland. Winner of the National Book Award and one of the literary classics of the war. Trace foxing to top edge; near fine in dust jacket with modest edge wear and a crease on the front flap.
260. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author. The 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 end of the text. Spine cocked; covers somewhat creased and stained; very good in tall wrappers. An uncommon, bibliographically significant proof of an award-winning novel, and especially scarce signed.
261. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Jonathan Cape (1978). Signed by the author. Faint sticker shadow front pastedown, trace bumping to the spine extremities; very near fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
262. O'BRIEN, Tim. Speaking of Courage. Santa Barbara: Neville, 1980. His first limited edition, a chapter that was excised from Going After Cacciato and later appeared, in altered form, in The Things They Carried. Of a total edition of 326 copies, this is one of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
263. 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 best books of the year in all categories by the editors of The New York Times Book Review; winner of the Heartland Award among others, including a National Magazine Award for the title chapter. 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 unfathomable experiences within our grasp. Fine in dust jacket, and signed by the author. By consensus one of the best works of fiction from the Vietnam war -- a book that has become a standard work on college campuses in any survey of the literature of the war.
264. -. Same title, an advance reading excerpt featuring a trial dust jacket design. Inscribed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers.
265. O'BRIEN, Tim. A True War Story. Berkeley: Black Oak Books/Okeanos Press, 1992. A powerful broadside excerpt from The Things They Carried: "Twenty years later, I can still see the sunlight on Lemon's face..." (There was another broadside done in 1987 called "From How to Tell A True War Story" with different text.) 8" x 12 3/4". Although not called for, this copy is signed by the author. Margins sunned; else fine.
266. O'BRIEN, Tim. The Nuclear Age. NY: Knopf, 1985. A review copy of his fourth novel, about a man compelled to dig a bomb shelter in his back yard to protect his family even if it means losing them in the process. Signed by the author. Nick to the front cloth (a small binding flaw, one would guess), else fine in a mildly spine-faded dust jacket.
267. O'BRIEN, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. A novel involving a Vietnam vet who rises to a position of public prominence but carries a secret that threatens to undo his accomplishment. Named best novel of the year by Time magazine; made into a movie for television. Inscribed by the author in the month of publication. This is the wide issue, 1 1/16" thick; no priority has been established.
268. O'BRIEN, Tim. Tomcat in Love. NY: Broadway Books (1998). The advance reading copy of this novel, which departs from his Vietnam-inflected books of the past, and for which he developed a reputation as perhaps the finest chronicler of the moral dimensions of that war in fiction. Fine in wrappers.
269. O'CONNOR, Flannery. Wise Blood. NY: Harcourt Brace (1952). Her first book, a novel of a southern evangelist whose quest for God ends with his burning his own eyes out in order to see better. O'Connor's concern with religion, alienation and human suffering, combined with her sense of humor and the absurd, marked her as a distinctive voice from her first publications; novelist Caroline Gordon compares her to Kafka in a dust jacket blurb on this book. John Huston directed the film adaptation of this novel, more than a quarter century after its publication. Boards slightly bowed, as is typical with this title, but still a very near fine copy in a crisp, near fine dust jacket with one tiny chip at the base of the spine. A beautiful copy of this book, which seldom turns up in such condition.
270. O'CONNOR, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. NY: Harcourt Brace (1955). A review copy of O'Connor's most widely celebrated work, the collection of stories that created her reputation as a master of the form and which redefined the notion of Southern gothic. Nominated for the National Book Award. O'Connor has been called a master of the grotesque while at the same time being considered a deeply religious writer: for her, the suffering and pain of life were only potentially redeemable and black humor was more likely to be the form that relief and transcendence took than God-given grace. Review slip tipped to the front endpaper. Boards slightly bowed, trace wear at the extremities of the spine, as is usual with this title; near fine in a dust jacket with some very slight fading (much less than usual), a bit of foxing and some light staining on the rear panel. An uncommon book: the first printing was only 2500 copies and first editions in collectible condition are quite scarce, let alone advance copies such as this.
271. O'NAN, Stewart. In the Walled City. Pittsburgh: U. of Pittsburgh Press (1993). The author's first book, a collection of short stories that won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, selected that year by Tobias Wolff. Three years later Wolff was one of the judges for Granta magazine in selecting the "20 Best Young American Authors" and O'Nan was among those selected. This is a fine copy in a fine dust jacket with a corner crease on the rear flap.
272. O'NAN, Stewart. Snow Angels. NY: Doubleday (1994). His second book, first novel. Winner of the 1993 Pirates Alley William Faulkner Prize for the Novel. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
273. ONDAATJE, Michael. Leonard Cohen. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart (1970). An early and uncommon "A" item by Ondaatje, being a short critical study of Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen, number 5 in the Canadian Writers series. Paperback original. Signed by the author. Price rubbed out on covers; modest rubbing and creasing; still about near fine.
274. ONDAATJE, Michael. "We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes..." (n.p.): (Okeanos) (1993). A broadside excerpt from The English Patient. 9" x 6". A fine copy.
275. (ONDAATJE, Michael). New Wave Canada. Toronto: Contact Press (1966). Ondaatje's first book appearance: fourteen poems in this anthology of Canadian poetry edited by Raymond Souster. Issued in wrappers in an edition of 736 copies. Quarto. Acidic pages darkening; a very good copy, inscribed by contributor Barry Lord. The first copy of this we have seen.
276. (ONDAATJE, Michael). The Broken Ark. A Book of Beasts. (n.p.): Oberon (1971). An anthology of poems chosen by Ondaatje and including his own "Birds for Janet, the heron" as well as Margaret Atwood's "Dreams of the Animals." Drawings by Tony Urquhart. Quarto; near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with tears at two of the corners and a small sticker removal mark near the upper front corner. While we don't know the print run for this title, other Oberon hardcovers from this era had printings of only a few hundred copies, and this is the only copy of this title we have handled. Apparently scarce.