Catalog 111, C
63. CAMUS, Albert. Exile and the Kingdom. London: Hamish Hamilton (1958). The first British edition of this collection of stories, published the year after Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature. A fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with a touch of rubbing at the spine extremities and folds.
64. CAPUTO, Philip. A Rumor of War. NY: Holt Rinehart Winston (1977). One of the first personal accounts of the war to be published after the fall of Saigon and to receive wide distribution: it was a Main Selection of the Book of the Month Club. Caputo recounts his experiences in Vietnam as a Marine, which ended in a court-martial when two of his troops killed two civilians. The anguish of the war, and the way it not only divided a nation against itself but individuals from within, is recounted with directness and force. This is a leatherbound copy from first edition sheets, presumably done by the publisher in a small number (perhaps one) for presentation to the author. Marbled endpapers; raised spine bands; very light shelfwear to bottom edges, otherwise fine. We have never seen another such copy before.
65. CARROLL, Jim. The Basketball Diaries. (Bolinas): (Tombouctou) (1978). The author's classic memoir of coming of age in the New York drug culture of the late 1960s, about which a Jack Kerouac blurb said: "at 13 years of age, Jim Carroll writes better prose than 89% of the novelists working today." One of the defining memoirs of the 1960s, later made into a well-received movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Only issued in wrappers, this is the issue with silver lettering. Signed by the author. Vertical crease to front cover; near fine.
66. CARSON, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962. The most important book ever published on environmental issues: Silent Spring single-handedly caused the banning of the pesticide DDT by documenting its deleterious side effects on the natural food chain, and in so doing its author engendered the consciousness that, today, has become a reflexive and pervasive concern. Carson was inspired to write the book by a letter from a friend imploring her to find someone in Washington who could have an influence on stopping the spraying of pesticides in her area, which were killing the local songbirds; because of Carson's renown for her earlier books on the sea, her friend imagined that Carson might well have sway that an ordinary citizen wouldn't. As Carson's research progressed, the story grew larger and more complex -- and potentially more threatening to the chemical industry. Controversy was inevitable: chemical industry spokesmen routinely denied her requests for information; biologists who offered information and help requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. When portions of the book were published in a three-part series in The New Yorker, the reaction of the industry was swift and furious -- a huge public relations campaign extolling the benefits of chemical use in society combined with threats to withdraw advertising from any magazines or newspapers that favorably reviewed the book. The controversy, however, only generated more interest, and more sales. Silent Spring was chosen as a Main Selection of the Book of the Month Club; President Kennedy ordered the Science Advisory Committee to study the effects of pesticides; and Congressman John V. Lindsay entered the first third of the New Yorker article into the Congressional Record. By the end of the year, over 40 bills had been introduced to regulate pesticide use in various states, mostly as a result of Silent Spring. Throughout the writing of the book, Carson waged a personal battle against cancer; she died in 1964. This copy is signed by the author. Trace wear to the board edges; near fine in a very good dust jacket with only modest edge wear but the author's name faded from yellow to white on the spine.
67. CARVER, Raymond. Ultramarine. NY: Random House (1986). The uncorrected proof copy of his second major collection of poems. Near fine in wrappers.
68. CARVER, Raymond. Where I'm Calling From. NY: Atlantic Monthly (1988). The publisher's limited edition of the definitive collection of Carver's fiction, published just before he died and containing his final versions of a number of his most important and most anthologized stories, as well as seven stories previously uncollected. One of 250 copies signed by the author (this copy out of series). Bound in white cloth stamped in red and gold, and enclosed in the publisher's blue slipcase. Small smudge to contents page; otherwise a fine copy of an attractive edition.
69. CARVER, Raymond. Elephant and Other Stories. London: Collins Harvill, 1988. A collection of seven stories for which there is no comparable U.S. edition. Five of the stories appeared in Where I'm Calling From -- copyright problems reportedly kept the publisher from reissuing the other stories included in that collection. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
70. CARVER, Raymond. No Heroics, Please. NY: Vintage (1992). The uncorrected proof copy of this posthumously published volume of previously uncollected pieces, both poetry and prose, spanning Carver's entire writing career -- from early pieces that precede his first book to book reviews and introductions written after he was a well-established, even famous, author. Edited by William Stull and with a foreword by Tess Gallagher. Published in the U.S. only in paperback, in the Vintage Contemporaries series that Carver's Cathedral helped launch. White wrappers printed in black. Fine.
71. -. Same title. An advance issue sent out by the publisher to reviewers and booksellers; white wrappers stamped in green, this copy lacking the publisher's green card-stock folding box. Fine.
72. CATHER, Willa. Not Under Forty. NY: Knopf, 1936. One of 330 numbered copies signed by the author. A collection of sketches, including portraits of Sarah Orne Jewett and Katherine Mansfield. Small erasure front flyleaf, else fine in a near fine, lightly sunned dust jacket with a small edge tear, in the publisher's slipcase, which is cracked along one edge. A very attractive copy and quite uncommon in a nice dust jacket. One of the smaller limitations of Cather's signed limited editions.
73. CELA, Camilo José. Viaje a la Alcarría. Madrid: Revista de Occidente (1948). An early book by the Spanish writer who won the 1989 Nobel Prize for Literature. Cela's first novel, The Family of Pascual Duarte, published in 1942, was both a popular and critical success and established his reputation in Europe. This was the first of his several travel books, which further established him as a writer of acute observation and strong descriptive power. Illustrated with photographs by Karl Wlasak. Wrappers edge-sunned; first signature loose; very good in original glassine dustwrapper that is darkened and chipped.
74. CELAN, Paul. Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan. NY: Norton (2000). The advance reading copy of this selection of writings by Celan, an eastern European Jew who suffered in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and who later came to write what is widely considered the most powerful poem to emerge from the Holocaust. Fine in wrappers.
75. CHATWIN, Bruce. In Patagonia. London: Cape (1977). An idiosyncratic nonfiction account of the author's journey to Patagonia -- with historical vignettes interspersed with personal accounts -- the publication of which put the author at the forefront of contemporary travel writers. A few pages corner creased; mild foredge foxing; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with mild foxing to the flaps. This, the true first edition, contains photos from the trip that were not included in the American edition published the following year.
76. CHATWIN, Bruce. The Songlines. London: Cape (1987). Chatwin's fourth book, and by general consensus his best -- a "novel of ideas," as the publisher puts it, of Australian aborigines, and the questions about man that arise from the vast gulf that separates the culture of contemporary, Western civilized man from that of the wandering tribes of Australia, whose "dream tracks" or "songlines" delineate both a physical and a psychic geography. This copy contains a photocopied sheet of text that was added to a later, paperback edition. Light corner bumps; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
77. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Mild rubbing to spine; else a very fine copy of a scarce proof.
78. CHAUDHURI, Amit. A New World. (London): Picador (2000). The advance reading copy of this novel of contemporary India by one of the most highly praised of the young generation of Indian writers. Fine in wrappers.
79. COETZEE, J.M. Dusklands. Johannesburg: Ravan, 1974. The first book by this noted South African writer, the only two-time winner of the Booker Prize. Two novellas, one of which, "The Vietnam Project," deals with a researcher investigating the effectiveness of U.S. propaganda and psychological warfare in Vietnam. This is the true first edition, preceding British publication by seven years, and American by eleven. Slight foxing to top edge and bowing to boards; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with one open edge tear. A scarce book by an important writer.
80. COETZEE, J.M. Waiting for the Barbarians. (n.p.): Penguin (1982). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this novel by the recent Booker Prize winner. Only published as a paperback in this country, but nonetheless selected as one of the best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review in 1982. A novel of an incipient race war in an unnamed African nation, patterned after the author's native South Africa -- an insightful and chilling book, a bit reminiscent of Kafka. Faint corner crease; else fine in wrappers.
81. CONNELL, Evan S. Deus lo Volt! Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint (2000). The advance reading copy of his latest novel, a chronicle of the Crusades. Fine in wrappers with publicity material laid in, including a letter from Connell speaking to the genesis of the work.
82. CONROY, Pat. Thomas Wolfe. Atlanta: Old New York Book Shop, 2000. An essay on Wolfe that originally appeared in Southern Cultures in Fall, 1999, and is here published in an attractive limited edition with a frontispiece by noted artist Barry Moser. This is one of 265 numbered copies signed by Conroy and Moser. A fine copy without dust jacket, as issued. List price:
A Run of E. E. Cummings, Many Signed
83. CUMMINGS, E. E. The Enormous Room. NY: Boni & Liveright (1922). First edition, first state, of the author's first book, with the word "shit" not blacked out on page 219. The first edition has been estimated by Cummings' bibliographer as being fewer than 2000 copies, but nearly all of these comprise the second state, with the offending word blacked out. It's possible that only the author's own copies, and perhaps a handful of review copies, were issued without the censor obliterating the expletive. In any case, these days the second state is many, many times more common than the first, and a disproportionately large percentage of those first state copies that do turn up on the market are signed or inscribed by Cummings, suggesting that the author's own copies comprised a majority of the uncensored issue. This copy is inscribed by the author and his wife, Marion, in Marion's hand and with Cummings' stylized signature below the inscription: "A Merry Christmas to Bernice from Marion & [signed] E. E. Cummings." A fine copy in a very good dust jacket, with minor spine darkening, a bit of light edge chipping, and some internal tape strengthening and repairs. A very attractive copy of the rare first book by one of the best-loved American poets of the 20th century.
84. CUMMINGS, E. E. Him. NY: Boni & Liveright, 1927. The limited edition of this play, one of 160 numbered copies signed by the author. Vellum spine foxed, with a tear at the heel; a very good copy, lacking the glassine dust jacket and slipcase.
85. CUMMINGS, E. E. [Untitled]. NY: Covici Friede, 1930. Quarto, prose, a limited edition, one of 491 numbered copies signed by the author, with illustrations by the author. An uncommon, humorous prose work by Cummings, who persisted in defying convention, not to mention the critical establishment, with his publications during this period of his career.
86. CUMMINGS, E. E. EIMI. NY: Covici Friede, 1933. The first edition of this lengthy experimental prose account of Cummings' trip to Soviet Russia. Issued as a limited edition, this is one of 1381 numbered copies signed by the author -- the number of the limitation apparently being determined by the prepublication orders the publisher had received. This is a fine copy in a very good dust jacket with a stain on the lower portion of the spine extending to the rear panel but not affecting the book and a small stain on the rear flap fold. A very attractive copy of one of Cummings' most important prose works, seldom found in dust jacket, let alone in such a crisp and attractive one as this.
87. CUMMINGS, E. E. Tom. NY: Arrow Editions (1935). A ballet based on Uncle Tom's Cabin. One of 1500 copies. Frontispiece by Ben Shahn; printed by the Rydal Press in Santa Fe, N.M. Small bookplate on the verso of the first blank; otherwise a fine copy in a very good, lightly foxed dust jacket with two edge tears on the front panel and a small chip at the spine crown. A very attractive copy of this small book, and uncommon in this condition.
88. CUMMINGS, E. E. A Miscellany. NY: Argophile, 1958. The trade edition of this selection of short essays, poems, segments from an unfinished play, etc. This copy is inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "For the Hartmans (he & she)/ from E. E. & Marion Cummings/ with best wishes [underlined twice]/ September 6, 1958." A near fine copy, lacking the unprinted glassine jacket.
89. (CUMMINGS, E. E.). Eight Harvard Poets. NY: Lawrence J. Gomme, 1917. The first edition of Cummings' first book appearance, publishing eight poems by him. A fine copy without dust jacket, as issued.