skip to main content

Catalog 109, A

NOTE: This page is from our catalog archives. The listings are from an older catalog and are on our website for reference purposes only. If you see something you're interested in, please check our inventory via the search box at upper right or our search page.
1. ABBEY, Edward. Fire on the Mountain. NY: Dial, 1962. The third novel by the author of Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang and his first book to deal explicitly with the ecological and environmental themes that dominated his later writings. Abbey's passionate and uncompromising writings in defense of the wilderness of the American West helped lay the groundwork for the activist environmental movement in the 1960s and since, encouraging the creation of such radical groups as Earth First! and helping to initiate the dialogue on "deep ecology" that has defined much of the discussion in environmental circles in recent years. This is a fine copy in a fine dust jacket with infinitesimal spots of scattered rubbing -- perhaps the nicest copy we've ever seen.

2. (ABBEY, Edward). The 1983 Western Wilderness Calendar. (Salt Lake City): (Dream Garden) (1982). The second of the Wilderness calendars, with work by a number of prominent photographers, and text by Edward Abbey, Tom McGuane, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ann Zwinger, Lawrence Clark Powell, Wallace Stegner, Barry Lopez, Frank Waters, William Eastlake, John Nichols, and others. This copy has been signed by Abbey. Only a small number of these calendars were signed by Abbey, and they have become quite scarce. Fine.

3. AIKEN, Conrad. Brownstone Eclogues and Other Poems. NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1942). An uncommon collection of poetry by this prolific author, who wrote fiction, poetry and criticism, and was in the famous Harvard class of 1911 that graduated T.S. Eliot, Walter Lippman, Robert Benchley and Van Wyck Brooks. At Harvard, Aiken was both president of the Advocate and class poet. He also later became a close friend and supporter of the novelist Malcolm Lowry. Fine in a near fine, spine-tanned and price-clipped dust jacket. A very attractive copy of this wartime book.

4. AIKEN, Conrad. The Soldier. Norfolk: New Directions (1944). A volume in the "Poets of the Year" series, this being the hardcover issue. Fine in a slightly dusty but still fine dust jacket. A very nice, crisp copy.

5. AIKEN, Conrad. The Divine Pilgrim. Athens: University of Georgia Press (1949). The first publication of a sequence of long, philosophical poems that Aiken originally wrote between 1915 and 1920. A fine copy in a lightly spine-tanned dust jacket with a closed edge tear at the lower rear spine fold; still about near fine. With its publication having been by a university press, this is one of the scarcer Aiken titles from this period in his career.

6. AIKEN, Conrad. The Short Stories of Conrad Aiken. NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1950). Includes a selection of his previously published stories plus four that had never appeared in book form before. Slight corner bump; else fine in a near fine dust jacket. A nice copy.

7. AIKEN, Conrad. Ushant: An Essay. NY/Boston: Duell Sloan Pearce/Little Brown (1952). An "autobiographical narrative" in experimental prose, defying the conventions of standard autobiography or memoir; the essay is narrated by a character named "D.," who was the main character, Demarest, of Aiken's first novel, Blue Voyage, in 1927. A fine copy in a very good dust jacket with a bit of dustiness to the white front panel and a small chip near the upper spine fold.

8. -. Same title. NY: Oxford U. Press, 1971. First thus, including a key to the cast of characters and an insert of family photographs. Inscribed by the author to "Jacob," Dr. G.B. Wilbur: "For the one and only/ Jacob/ who was himself/ one of the Ladders/ with love/ from Conrad/ 1971." Annotated and cross-referenced by the recipient. With a "compliments of the author" carded tipped beneath the inscription. Fine in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket worn at the extremities.

9. AIKEN, Conrad. Collected Poems. NY: Oxford University Press, 1953. A collection of his poems covering a forty year span, selected by the author. Winner of the National Book Award for poetry in 1954. Aiken's earlier volume of Selected Poems, published in 1929, won the Pulitzer Prize. Fine in a near fine, modestly edgeworn and price-clipped dust jacket.

10. -. Same title. NY: Oxford University Press, 1970. Originally conceived as the second edition of Collected Poems, and stated as such on the spine, title page and dust jacket. However, this edition adds 150 more pages of poetry to the original edition, and in November of 1970 the dust jacket was changed to Collected Poems 1916-1970, with the title page and spine slated to follow suit in subsequent printings. This, then, is the first issue of the title Collected Poems 1916-1970, with the spine, title page and dust jacket all stating "Collected Poems, Second Edition." Inscribed by the author: "For Jake/ with love/ from Conrad/ 1970/ Wow!" Fine in a near fine dust jacket, on which the title has been changed to "Selected Poems, First Edition," in an unknown hand, presumably that of the recipient.

11. AIKEN, Conrad. A Reviewer's ABC: Collected Criticism of Conrad Aiken from 1916 to the Present. (NY): Meridian Books (1958). A review copy of this collection of 40 years of Aiken's reviews, with a preface by him and an additional section of essays on literature and criticism. Authors reviewed include Faulkner, Woolf, Eliot, Huxley, Pound, Stein, Cabell, Dylan Thomas, and Aiken himself. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in. A beautiful copy of this book, and especially scarce in an advance issue.

12. AIKEN, Conrad. The Collected Short Stories of Conrad Aiken. Cleveland/NY: World Publishing (1960). Forty-one stories, selected by the author, with an introduction by Mark Schorer. Inscribed by the author: "For Hy/ in the Hyest/ and with love/ from Conrad/ cc from Savannah/ 1960." Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple very small chips and closed edge tears.

13. AIKEN, Conrad. Three Novels. London: W.H. Allen, 1965. The first British edition, collecting Blue Voyage, Great Circle, and King Coffin. Owner name front flyleaf; small stain at extreme lower page edges; else fine in a near fine spine-tanned dust jacket with a phone number written on the back panel.

14. ALLEN, Woody. The Illustrated Woody Allen Reader. NY: Knopf, 1993. The uncorrected proof copy. Excerpts from Allen's films, books, and record albums, arranged thematically by the editor, Linda Sunshine. Includes Allen's first recorded monologue, from 1964, some of which later found its way into his films. A sixteen page advance reading excerpt is stapled inside the front cover. Quarto; near fine in slightly dusty white wrappers.

15. AMIS, Martin. Night Train. London: Cape (1997). Amis' take on the American hard-boiled murder mystery. Signed by the author. Fine in dust jacket.

16. ANDERSON, Maxwell. Mary of Scotland. Washington: Anderson House, 1933. A play in verse by the author of Key Largo, among many other plays. Anderson was widely considered the foremost American playwright in the early 1930s; this volume was published the same year he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Both Your Houses. One of 550 numbered copies. Leatherbound; gilt stamped; lightly foxed; near fine.

17. ANDERSON, Maxwell. Valley Forge. Washington: Anderson House, 1934. One of 200 numbered copies, this copy signed by the author. Leatherbound; a trifle rubbed at the spine extremities; else fine. Anderson won the first two New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, when the award was initiated in 1936.

18. (Anthology). The Great American Writers' Cookbook. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press (1981). Edited by Dean Faulkner Wells and with an introduction by Craig Claiborne, food critic for The New York Times. A collection of recipes from 175 writers including Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, John Barth, Donald Barthelme, John Cheever, Harry Crews, Joan Didion, E.L. Doctorow, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Gardner, Allen Ginsberg, Winston Groom, Donald Hall, John Hawkes, Ernest Hemingway, James Jones, Ken Kesey, Norman Mailer, Peter Matthiessen, Thomas McGuane, John McPhee, Arthur Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Walker Percy, Reynolds Price, Tom Robbins, Michael Shaara, Wallace Stegner, John Steinbeck, William Styron, Hunter Thompson, Eudora Welty, Tom Wolfe, and many others. Several writers, including Joseph Heller and Charles Portis, contribute excuses. An interesting collection of recipes and also a useful reference, in that it contains facsimile signatures of each of the contributors. Fine in ringbound cardstock covers.

19. (Anthology). The Iowa Writers' Workshop Cookbook. Hollywood: Frederick Fell (1986). Recipes by Robert Stone, John Irving, T.C. Boyle, Anne Tyler, Tim O'Brien, Andre Dubus, Jorie Graham, W.P. Kinsella, Reynolds Price, James McPherson, Grace Paley, Donald Hall, Dan Wakefield and dozens of others. Fine in wrappers.

20. (Anthology). Paths Less Travelled. NY: Atheneum, 1988. An anthology of nature tourism. Approximately thirty authors were solicited to take the adventure of their choice with Sobek Expeditions; this book collects the stories of twelve who went, including: Barry Lopez, Tom Robbins, James Salter, Tim Cahill, Bobbie Ann Mason, Edward Hoagland, Jay McInerny and David Roberts. Also included, in the introduction, are the reasons many writers gave for declining: Ann Beattie had drycleaning; John Irving's response is quoted at length. Quarto, heavily illustrated with photographs. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

21. (Anthology). Voices Louder than Words. NY: Vintage (1991). The uncorrected proof copy of a collection of pieces donated by the authors to help fight homelessness. Contributors include Andre Dubus, Terry McMillan, Robert Boswell, Bobbie Ann Mason, Jane Smiley, John Edgar Wideman, Susan Minot, Antonya Nelson, Bret Lott, David Huddle, Patricia Henley, Ron Carlson, Tess Gallagher, and others. Spine-sunned; near fine in wrappers.

22. (Anthology). Heart of the Land. NY: Pantheon (1995). An anthology of essays about some of the world's "last great places," published under the auspices of The Nature Conservancy. With a foreword by Barry Lopez and signed by Lopez, Peter Matthiessen and William Least Heat-Moon. Other contributors include Paul Theroux, Dorothy Allison, Jim Harrison, Rick Bass, Carl Hiaasen, Terry Tempest Williams, David James Duncan, Thomas McGuane, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, William Kittredge, James Welch, Pam Houston and Philip Caputo. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

23. (Anthology). Growing Up Ethnic in America. (n.p.): Penguin Books (1999). The advance reading copy of this book that was issued as a paperback original. With work by Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, Diane di Prima, Gish Jen, Sandra Cisneros, and many others. Fine in wrappers.

24. (Anthology). First Loves. NY: Scribner (2000). The uncorrected proof copy. Poets discuss the poems that captivated them. Included are Sherman Alexie on Theodore Roethke; Ai on Galway Kinnell; Donald Hall on H.D.; Seamus Heaney on The Dactyls of Derry; Philip Levine on Wilfred Owen; Joyce Carol Oates on Robert Frost; James Tate on Wallace Stevens; and many others. Fine in wrappers.

25. AUSTER, Paul. The Red Notebook and Other Writings. London: Faber and Faber (1995). First thus. Expands on the 1992 edition of The Art of Hunger by including A Prayer for Salman Rushdie. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

<< Back to Catalog Index