Catalog 112, C
50. CARVER, Raymond. At Night the Salmon Move. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1976. Carver's third collection of poems, published the same year as his first major story collection Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? This is one of reportedly 1000 copies issued in wrappers and is inscribed by Carver to his daughter, Christine: "For Chris and her dreams / with love, as always / Dad/ (R.C.)/ 4-26-79." Additionally, beneath his printed name on the title page, Carver has written: "(Chris Carver's father)." The title of one of the poems is corrected in pencil on the contents page, and there is a small ink check next to another title on that page. Some pen and ink and miscellaneous soiling to covers and interior; about very good. An excellent family association copy, with an exceptionally warm inscription.
51. CARVER, Raymond. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. NY: Knopf, 1981. Carver's second major collection of stories. This is a third printing, fine in a near fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author to his brother "with love," in the year of publication. This was Carver's breakthrough book: whereas Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? had gotten excellent reviews and established Carver's reputation, this was the first of his titles to have popular and commercial success and to be reprinted several times in the original hardcover edition. A fine association copy of an important title in the Carver canon.
52. CARVER, Raymond. Ultramarine. NY: Random House (1986). His second collection of poems to be published by Random House. Inscribed by Carver to his daughter: "For my daughter, Christine -/ with my love always./ Dad/ January 1987/ Port Angeles." Underneath, in a child's hand, the words: "To Windy/ from/ Grampa/ Ray." This copy is also signed by Carver on the title page. Two ink words on the rear pastedown; otherwise a near fine copy in a good, edge-chipped dust jacket.
53. CARVER, Raymond. Two Poems. (Concord): (Ewert) (1986). Of 130 copies, this is one of 100 copies issued unnumbered, unbound, and initially unsigned. A single sheet folded once; this copy is inscribed by Carver to his daughter: "For Chris,/ For the holidays./ with love./ Dad." Edge-sunned, slightly creased with a few surface markings; overall about very good, without the issued envelope.
54. CASTILLO, Ana. The Mixquiahuala Letters. Binghampton: Bilingual Press (1986). The simultaneous issue in wrappers of the first novel (after several poetry books) by the author of My Father was a Toltec. An epistolary novel for which the author proposes three different routes through the text, none of them in strict conformance with a straight reading. Inscribed by the author to the poet Ai in 1987, in part: "As someone once said to ‘Walt Whitman' in a dedication, ‘from a less poet'." Slight foredge bump; else fine in wrappers. A nice association copy of an uncommon book. Ai's most recent book won the National Book Award.
55. CHATWIN, Bruce. In Patagonia. London: Jonathan Cape (1977). Chatwin's first book, an idiosyncratic nonfiction account of a journey to Patagonia -- with historical vignettes interspersed with personal accounts -- the publication of which put the author at the forefront of contemporary travel writers. This copy is inscribed by the author to Prunella Clough in 1978. Clough, a distinguished painter who died in 1999, was the niece of the designer Eileen Gray, who had given Chatwin the idea to travel to Patagonia when the two met in Paris in 1972. Gray was 93 at the time and she died in 1976, after Chatwin's trip but before his book was published; it was through her that Chatwin knew Prunella Clough. This British edition, which is the true first edition, contains eight pages of photographs not in the American edition. An uncommon book at all in the first edition, it is exceedingly scarce signed: this is the first copy we have seen in many years of active searching. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a bit of waterstaining to the upper edge of the rear panel.
56. CHEEVER, John. The Day the Pig Fell into the Well. Northridge: Lord John, 1978. The first separate edition of a short story that first appeared in The New Yorker in 1954. There was a numbered issue of 275 copies and a lettered issue of 26 copies; this copy is indicated on the colophon in type to be a "Presentation Copy" -- limitation unstated but presumably a very small number -- and inscribed by the author "to Beverly Chaney," his bibliographer, and dated in the year of publication. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
57. CONROY, Frank. Midair. NY: Dutton/Lawrence (1985). The uncorrected proof copy of the second book, and first book of fiction, by the author of the classic memoir Stop-Time, published eighteen years earlier. Inscribed by the author to the publisher, Seymour Lawrence, in May 1985: "For Sam -- / A publisher who cares about art,/ and a man who cares about artists./ A rare wizard indeed./ With my admiration -/ Frank Conroy." Near fine in wrappers.
58. CREWS, Harry. The Gospel Singer. NY: Morrow, 1968. His uncommon first novel. Inscribed by the author to Korean novelist Richard E. Kim, whose blurb is prominently placed on the front flap of the dust jacket. Kim was the author of The Martyred, one of the most highly praised novels of the Korean War and was, at the time this book was published, a far more well-known writer than Crews -- a situation that has reversed since then. The Gospel Singer had a first printing of only 4000 copies, the smallest printing of any of his trade editions. This copy has the usual discoloration to the endpages, and a waterstain to the lower outer corner of the rear board, bleeding onto the jacket, the jacket flap and the lower foredge of the pages. An attractive but flawed copy, very good in a very good dust jacket, but an association copy of the first rank.
59. CREWS, Harry. Karate is a Thing of the Spirit. NY: Morrow, 1971. His fourth novel, generally considered one of his best books. Inscribed by the author to the poet William Meredith with "thoughts of love and joy." Mild foxing to the spine cloth and page edges; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Laid in is a Christmas card from "Harry, Sally and Byron," apparently written in Sally's hand.
60. CRICHTON, Michael. Eaters of the Dead. NY: Knopf, 1976. One of the less common titles by the author of such bestsellers as Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, an historical novel set in the 10th century and written from the point of view of an Arab diplomat who encounters a group of Vikings. Inscribed by the author in the month of publication to film critic Pauline Kael: "Who has lost nothing at/ the movies -- from your/ fond admirer." A nice inscription from an author who has had a hand in three of the top 25 grossing films of all time. This novel was the basis for the movie "The 13th Warrior." The inscription alludes to Kael's first book, a collection of her film reviews entitled I Lost It at the Movies. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.