Catalog 109, N-O
303. NAIPAUL, Shiva. An Unfinished Journey. (n.p.): Viking (1987). The uncorrected proof copy. Six articles and the start of a book on Australia that was never finished due to the author's untimely death. Fine in wrappers.
304. NAIPAUL, V.S. The Mystic Masseur. NY: Vanguard (1959). The first American edition of the first novel by this Trinidadian author of Indian descent, who has since come to be regarded as one of the giants of contemporary English literature, and the most astute, if acerbic, Western commentator on Third World issues. Naipaul won the Booker Prize for his collection In a Free State, and he has won numerous other literary awards over the course of his 40-year writing career. Fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with rubbing to the folds and a couple small edge chips.
305. NAIPAUL, V.S. The Middle Passage. NY: Macmillan, 1963. The first American edition of his first book on the Caribbean, where he was born. This was Naipaul's first book of nonfiction and, for all the critical acclaim that his fiction has received, it is probably as an observer of Western, Eastern and colonial societies, as reflected in his nonfiction and essays, that Naipaul has gained the stature he is accorded as a literate observer and commentator on contemporary social issues. Mild sunning to top edges; else fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with moderate wear at and near both spine extremities.
306. NAIPAUL, V.S. Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion. NY: Macmillan (1963). The first American edition of his fifth book of fiction. Small spot to foredge; else fine in a very good, internally tape-repaired price-clipped dust jacket. An attractive copy of one of his early novels.
307. 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. Inscribed by the author. With the recipient's pencilled notes about a reading by O'Brien on the half-title, title page, pastedowns, and on a sheet laid in. Otherwise, fine in a fine dust jacket. 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.
308. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Small spot near the spine on the front panel; near fine in wrappers.
309. OFFUT, Chris. Typed Note Signed. July 5, 1999. Several short paragraphs in which Offut agrees to sign a book and thanks his correspondent for writing: "I appreciate knowing that these stories are able to reach someone whose background and experience in life are different from my own." He goes on to say he's moving, "...leaving Kentucky again forever. This is the sixth departure of my adult life. Fodder for the next book I suppose." Signed by the author. Folded for mailing; fine, with envelope.
310. O'HARA, Frank. Awake in Spain. NY: American Theater for Poets, 1960. A 23 page mimeographed script of a play in verse, dated 1953 on the final page; copyright notice given as 1960. O'Hara, who died in 1966 at the age of 39, was one of the leading figures of the "New York School" of poetry, and he was also closely associated with the art scene in New York, by virtue of his working as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art. O'Hara was close friends with John Ashbery and, in addition to writing poetry, he wrote trenchant criticism of a number of the artists who came to prominence in the 1950s, including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others. He took a certain amount of his inspiration from Charles Olson's views on poetry, both in terms of the openness of verse and the need for poetry to connect directly with the poet's life. Stapled, mimeographed sheets. Fine.
311. O'HARA, John. Pipe Night. NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1945). An uncommon book by the author of Butterfield 8 and Appointment in Samarra, among others. Inscribed by the author to radio personality Mary Margaret McBride in the year of publication: "To Mary Margaret/ and how are your/ taste-buds?/ Sincerely/ John O'Hara/ WEAF/ 20 March 1945." WEAF was McBride's New York station. Some spotting to rear board and fading to spine cloth; near fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple small edge tears that are internally tape mended. A fragile book, cheaply produced under wartime conditions, this is a very attractive copy. Books inscribed by O'Hara are quite uncommon although later in his career he did a number of signed limited editions of his novels and story collections.
312. (OLSEN, Tillie). DAVIS, Rebecca Harding. Life in the Iron Mills. (Old Westbury): Feminist Press, 1972. A review copy of a story first published (anonymously) in the April 1861 issue of Atlantic Monthly, issued here with a biographical interpretation by Olsen. Only issued in wrappers. This copy is signed by Olsen on the title page and additionally inscribed inside the front cover in 1976 in Olsen's tiny handwriting. In part: "Except for the caring reader, all would be lost." Very slight spine-tanning; else fine, with four pages of publisher's promotional material laid in.
313. OLSON, Charles. Mayan Letters. (Palma de Mallorca): Divers Press (1954). Olson's letters to Robert Creeley written while Olson was in the Yucatan. One of approximately 600 copies, published by Creeley's Divers Press, in French-folded wrappers. Remarkably, this book, in which the letters only hint at the extent to which Olson's experiences and discoveries were shoring up his hypothesis that the escape from "the too-simple westernisms of a 'greek culture'" lay at least partly in a "repossess[ing] ... of the Indian past" of America, is virtually the entire written record of that period, at least insofar as he directly refers to the Mayans and his belief that their sculpture and art provided a kind of "concrete poetry" whose rules were very different from those of Western art, and whose form therefore contained implicit lessons for us, if we could but read them. The last line of the last letter perhaps sums up some of the frustrations he felt: "The trouble is, it is very difficult, to be both a poet and, an historian." A provocative and revealing book by this important member of the avant-garde Black Mountain community. This copy is warmly inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "For ____ ____/ who now gives/ me Gloucester/ a way I never knew/ before!" -- a wonderful inscription from a poet who, because of his magnum opus, The Maximus Poems -- which focused on Gloucester, Massachusetts the way William Carlos Williams' Paterson had focused on Paterson, New Jersey -- was more closely associated with Gloucester than any other writer. A very good copy, partially split along the rear spine fold. Books signed by Olson are quite scarce, and one seldom encounters as warm and revealing an inscription as this.
314. OLSON, Charles. Projective Verse. (NY): (Totem) (1959). The first separate edition of this important essay by Olson, originally published in 1950 and here published by the poet Leroi Jones's press. Olson's essay, which argued for a form of poetry that was dictated not by the external structures of line and meter but by the internal "structure" of the poet's breath, was a radical and influential statement, and it helped attract a number of poets to Black Mountain College where he was teaching at the time, and where he was rector from 1951 until 1956. Among the poets who came to Black Mountain, largely because of Olson's presence there, were Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, and Denise Levertov. "Projective Verse" is widely considered Olson's most important critical statement on poetry in much the same way as The Maximus Poems -- although a much larger work -- is considered his most important poetic statement. This copy is warmly inscribed by the author in 1960. One spot to front cover; near fine in stapled wrappers.
315. OLSON, Charles. A Bibliography on America for Ed Dorn. (San Francisco): (Four Seasons Foundation) (1964). Writing 1 of the Four Seasons Foundation series, an important series of pamphlets started by Donald Allen, which included a number of notable essays and experimental pieces in the 1960s by such writers as Olson, Gary Snyder, Richard Brautigan, and others. Inscribed by the author on the front cover. Fine in stapled wrappers.
316. OLSON, Charles. Proprioception. San Francisco: Four Seasons, 1965. Writing 6 of the Four Seasons Foundation series, a collection of short, experimental essays that are virtually prose poems. With a lengthy inscription by the author on the inside front cover, extending over onto the half-title page. Spine-sunned; else fine in stapled wrappers.
317. OLSON, Charles. Human Universe and Other Essays. San Francisco: Auerhahn Society, 1965. An attractively printed and bound limited edition of this collection of essays which includes "Projective Verse" and the title piece, one of his most important essays, among many others. One of 250 hardbound copies printed by Andrew Hoyem for the Auerhahn Press. This copy is inscribed by Olson: "For Mary - and/ (you won't believe it!) - the 1st one/ I have signed. So here!/ Charles." Laid is in a strip of an autograph letter from Olson, seemingly used as a book mark. Still legible: "You make my book feel the way I do about it." The book is slightly rubbed and bears lightly pencilled marginal notations; else fine, without dust jacket, as issued. One of the most attractive and important books in the Olson canon, seldom found inscribed, and with an especially personal and warm sentiment, both in the inscription and in the letter fragment.
318. OLSON, Charles. Causal Mythology. San Francisco: Four Seasons, 1969. A lecture given at the University of California Poetry Conference, July 20, 1965, which includes excerpts from The Maximus Poems. Inscribed by the author: "For Vince [Ferrini] and Mary/ my dearest friends/ Charles." Ferrini was a Gloucester poet who was a close friend of Olson's but also a foil for him, and a character incorporated into one of the Maximus letters. "Mary" was married to Ferrini for a short time. Fine in wrappers. A wonderful association.
319. OLSON, Charles. Letters for Origin, 1950-1955. (London)/NY: Cape Goliard/Grossman, 1970. A volume of letters from Olson that were published in Cid Corman's influential literary magazine in the 1950s, which was one of the venues that gave Olson's writing exposure to a large number of the avant garde poets writing at the time. This is the issue in wrappers, and is inscribed by the author in a weak and shaky hand: "For my Oldest Lovers/ & Believers, Mary probably/ actually a relation and and [sic]/ Vincente [Ferrini] & entry [?] points throughout/ the creation,/ Charles." Another hand has dated the inscription 1/1/70. Olson was extremely sick at the time this book was published, and he died on January 10. It is certainly possible this is the last book that he inscribed, and we have never seen an inscribed copy of it before. A touching and poignant inscription. Marginal notes in pencil; very near fine in wrappers.
320. (OLSON, Charles). Psychedelic Review, Vol. 1, No. 3. (Cambridge): (Psychedelic Review) (1964). The Aldous Huxley memorial issue. Olson's contribution is from The Maximus Poems. Inscribed by Olson on the front cover. A couple pencilled underlinings in text; spine-sunned; near fine in wrappers.
321. O'NAN, Stewart. Autograph Note Signed. Undated. Written on hotel note paper, thanking the recipient for kind words on A World Away. "The next one is A Prayer for the Dying, due out in early April from Holt. It's a creepy gothic that would make Stephen King proud." Signed by the author. Small notepaper; fine.
322. O'NAN, Stewart. The Speed Queen. NY: Doubleday (1997). The advance reading copy of this novel, which was originally to have been called "Dear Stephen King," written in the form of a series of confessional letters by a mass murderer to author Stephen King. Fine in wrappers. O'Nan was selected as one of Granta magazine's 20 best young American writers.
323. ORWELL, George. Critical Essays. London: Secker & Warburg, 1946. A collection of essays, most of them previously published only in periodicals and most dealing with individual writers such as Dickens, Yeats, Kipling and Wodehouse, putting forth the notion that most literature posits an agenda beyond entertainment. A near fine copy in a spine-tanned dust jacket with a few tiny edge chips. This is a cheaply made book, in the manner of those produced in England in the early post-war years, using thin, acidic paper, thin binding, etc. Thus, an attractive copy of a fragile book, one of the few books of nonfiction published during Orwell's lifetime.