Catalog 111, S-U
309. SANTE, Luc. The Factory of Facts. NY: Pantheon (1998). An extended autobiographical essay. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
310. SCOTT, Joanna. The Closest Possible Union. NY: Ticknor & Fields, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy of the author's second novel. Fine in wrappers.
311. (SENDAK, Maurice). VON KLEIST, Heinrich and AGEE, Joel. Penthesilea. (NY): Perennial (1998). A review copy of the paperback original of Von Kleist's drama, translated by Agee and illustrated by Sendak. Fine in self-wrappers.
312. SETH, Vikram. From Heaven Lake. Travels through Sinkiang & Tibet. London: Chatto & Windus/Hogarth (1983). A review copy of the author's first regularly published book, an account of his attempt to hitchhike home to Delhi, India, overland from Nanjing University in China, via Tibet and the Himalayas. Warmly inscribed by the author in 1992 "in the hope that you come traveling our way soon," and signed "Vikram." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
313. SETTLE, Mary Lee. Know Nothing. London: Heinemann (1961). The first British edition of the second volume in the Beulah sequence. Boards mildly bowed; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Scarce.
314. SEXTON, Anne. Selected Poems of Anne Sexton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy of this posthumous selection of Sexton's poetry. Fine in wrappers.
315. SHEPARD, Sam. Curse of the Starving Class. NY: New York Shakespeare Festival, 1977. Photocopied script, which reproduces holograph changes to the text; designated as "Version A/June 20, 1977." A play from the most productive period of Shepard's career as a playwright: he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for Buried Child and his classic True West was written in 1981. Fine in a near fine binder, with one month's production/rehearsal schedule laid in.
316. SHEPARD, Sam. Savage Love. NY: New York Shakespeare Festival, 1979. Photocopied script, designated as "Version A/Oct. 11, 1979." An early version of this one-act play, which was changed substantially before it was published. Fine in a near fine binder.
317. SHEPARD, Sam. True West. NY: New York Shakespeare Festival, 1980. Photocopied script, designated as "Version B/May 1980" and bearing the penciled notes of an actor. An early version of one of Shepard's most well-known and successful plays, which was not published until the following year. Fine in a near fine binder.
318. STARR, Ringo. Cynical Doodle. Undated. A pencil sketch of a blind beggar selling pencils while flipping the bird and saying "Please buy one." Signed by Starr. Approximately 5 3/4" x 9". Fine. We don't recall seeing other artwork by the former Beatle offered for sale.
319. STEGNER, Wallace. The Potter's House. Muscatine: Prairie Press, 1938. Stegner's second regularly published book, a novella, and the scarcest of his trade publications -- one of 490 copies designed and printed at the Prairie Press, an important fine press. Fine, without the original unprinted glassine dust jacket, but a bright, pristine copy nonetheless.
320. STEGNER, Wallace. The Women on the Wall. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950. His first collection of short stories, which had a first printing of only 4500 copies. Owner initials front flyleaf; a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with trace edge wear, mostly at the spine extremities. A very nice copy of this important early collection, which helped establish Stegner as one of the ablest writers of a "literature of place."
321. 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. Owner information front flyleaf, some concavity to spine; near fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket with a bit of creasing on the front panel. A very presentable copy of a poorly 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.
322. STEGNER, Wallace. Recapitulation. Garden City: Doubleday, 1979. Fine in a near fine dust jacket worn at the spine extremities.
323. STEIN, Gertrude. Geography and Plays. Boston: Four Seas (1922). An early volume of Stein's experimental prose, which was intended to capture the techniques of abstraction and cubism that were then current in painting and apply them to literary work. Inscribed by the author. A fine copy in the second issue binding, without the lettering on the front cover, in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket, with modest chipping, mostly at the crown. Introduction by Sherwood Anderson.
324. STEINBECK, John. The Grapes of Wrath. NY: Viking (1939). The greatest novel by this Nobel Prize winner, one of the greatest American novels ever, and the great American novel of the Depression era. Inscribed by the author. Steinbeck fused social consciousness with literary artistry in a particularly American and individualistic way, refusing to allow his writing to become doctrinaire the way a number of the proletarian novelists of the Thirties did; the body of Steinbeck's work has stood the test of time considerably better than that of most of his contemporaries, especially those who tackled the same social issues that he did. Foxing to top edge; mild darkening to spine and endpapers; a very near fine copy in a fair dust jacket, splitting along all folds and at mid-spine, and internally tape-repaired back to presentability.
325. STONE, Robert. Children of Light. NY: Knopf, 1986. The first American edition of Stone's fourth book, a novel of Hollywood that, according to some reports, draws on his experiences with the filming of Who'll Stop the Rain, the adaptation of Dog Soldiers for which he worked on the screenplay. Children of Light involves a drink- and drug-riddled writer-actor and a schizophrenic Hollywood starlet, and has overtones of both King Lear and Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Signed by the author. The American edition was issued one week after the British edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
326. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
327. -. Another copy. Signed by the author. A bit of sunning to the board edges; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
328. (STONE, Robert). LOPEZ, Ken and CHANEY, Bev. Robert Stone. A Bibliography 1960-1992. Hadley: Numinous Press, 1992. A first bibliography of Robert Stone, describing in detail the American and British editions of his "A" items, along with an extensive listing of his appearances in others' books, in periodicals, in translation, etc. Illustrated with photographs and including a critical introduction as well as a previously unpublished piece by Robert Stone. Stone, who won the National Book Award for his novel Dog Soldiers, is widely considered one of the most important American novelists to emerge from the era of the Vietnam war and the Sixties counterculture, and the short list of his published novels so far does not give an accurate indication of his pervasive influence on contemporary American literature. By tracing the secondary appearances -- and there are many: the bibliography includes over 240 entries -- one begins to appreciate the scope of his writing and the points at which his voice has been one of those that defines our current situation and gives us the terms with which to understand it. We're biased, of course, but we think every library should have a copy of this book, and any collector who cares about contemporary literature could benefit from it. This is the limited edition. One of 150 numbered copies, signed by Robert Stone. With a marbled paper dust jacket created expressly for this edition by Light of Day Bindery in Northampton, Mass., and printed letterpress by Wild Carrot Press.
329. -. Same title, the trade edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
330. TAYLOR, Peter. Happy Families Are All Alike. NY: McDowell, Obolensky (1959). The uncorrected proof copy of this short story collection, in the form of ringbound galleys printed on rectos only. 7" x 12". Covers a bit splattered; very good. The first proof copy we have seen of this early collection. Taylor's novel A Summons to Memphis won the Pulitzer Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His 1985 story collection, The Old Forest, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and it was as a writer of stories, more than as a novelist, that Taylor earned his reputation as a consummate stylist and chronicler of the culture and manners of an agrarian Southern society that was fading into history even as he wrote about it.
331. THURBER, James. Selected Letters. Boston: Little Brown (1981). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of previously unpublished letters. Fine in wrappers.
332. TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Book of Lost Tales Part II. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1984). The second volume in the series, edited by Tolkien's son Christopher, and tracing the origins of the Middle Earth of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, including the legends and history that provide the unspoken underpinnings of those books -- alluded to, shared by the characters as a common heritage, but never explicitly dwelt on in the text of those books. Small scratch and "press copy" on front cover; otherwise fine in wrappers. A significant contribution to the body of his published work.
333. TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Shaping of Middle-Earth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1986). The uncorrected proof copy of the fourth volume in the history of Middle Earth. Fine in wrappers.
334. TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lost Road. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. The uncorrected proof copy of the fifth volume in the history of Middle Earth, this volume dealing with "Language and Legend before The Lord of the Rings." Slight spine fade; else fine in wrappers.
335. TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy of the edition annotated and introduced by Douglas A. Anderson, published on the 50th anniversary of the original edition. With Tolkien's illustrations. Large quarto. Fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof.
336. TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Treason of Isengard. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. The seventh volume in the history of Middle Earth, and the second in the history of The Lord of the Rings. Slightly dusty; near fine in wrappers.
337. TRUDEAU, G.B. The Doonesbury Chronicles. NY: HRW (1975). The first hardcover appearance of the Doonesbury comic strips, which have reshaped political cartooning in the past quarter century and which was the first comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize. Quarto; faint bump to crown; else fine in like dust jacket.
338. TYLER, Anne. The Clock Winder. London: Chatto & Windus, 1973. The first British edition of her fourth book. Bowing to boards; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with mild sunning to the edges and spine.
339. UNSWORTH, Barry. Stone Virgin. London: Hamish Hamilton (1985). Spine slant; else fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket. Unsworth won the Booker Prize for Sacred Hunger, and his novel Pascali's Island, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, was made into a well-received movie that was a finalist for the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
340. UPDIKE, John. Verse. (NY): Fawcett/Crest (1965). A paperback original, being a compilation of The Carpentered Hen and Telephone Poles with a one-poem foreword by Updike for this edition. Signed by the author. Trace edge rubbing; still fine in wrappers.
341. UPDIKE, John. Bath After Sailing. (Stevenson): (Country Squire) (1968). His first book to be issued 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 in book form. 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.
342. 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 wrappers.
343. UPDIKE, John. Too Far to Go. NY: Fawcett (1974). A paperback original; a collection of related stories that was turned into a made-for-television movie. Signed by the author and with a foreword by him. Seven of the seventeen stories had never been collected in book form prior to this publication. Spine slant; near fine in wrappers. Surprisingly uncommon in the first printing.
344. UPDIKE, John. Buchanan Dying. (London): Andre Deutsch (1974). The first British edition of Updike's first play, about President James Buchanan. Top edge foxed; else fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
345. UPDIKE, John. Problems and Other Stories. NY: Knopf, 1979. A collection of stories. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
346. UPDIKE, John. Just Looking. NY: Knopf, 1989. The limited edition of this collection of essays on art and artists. One of 350 copies signed by the author. Quarto, heavily illustrated in color and black and white; fine, bound in quarter cloth and marbled paper boards, in a fine cloth slipcase.
347. (UPDIKE, John). GREINER, Don. The Other John Updike. Athens: Ohio University Press (1981). A critical analysis of Updike's lesser known works, his poems, stories, nonfiction prose and play. This is the hardcover issue. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
348. (UPDIKE, John). The Best American Short Stories of the Century. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. A "Best of" the "Best of" collections, edited and introduced by Updike. Fifty-five stories, spanning the years 1915-1998, and collecting, among others, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Welty, Nabokov, Cheever, O'Connor, Roth, Oates, Barthelme, Bellow, Carver, Beattie, Munro, Lorrie Moore, Tim O'Brien, James Alan McPherson and, of course, Updike. This is the limited edition. One of 200 numbered copies signed by Updike. Red dot bottom page edges; else fine in a fine slipcase.