Catalog 112, L
139. LEVINE, Philip. 1933. NY: Atheneum, 1974. The sixth collection of poems by this writer who has twice won the National Book Award for poetry and who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. Signed by the author on the title page and additionally warmly inscribed to the poet Ai "whose poems grow in all of us. With love and admiration. Phil." An excellent association copy. Very good in wrappers.
140. LEVINE, Philip. New Season. Port Townsend: Graywolf Press (1975). One of only 60 copies signed by the author, of a total edition of 225. This copy has been additionally inscribed, at length, to the poet Ai and signed "Love, Phil." Near fine in saddle-stitched wrappers. A scarce edition and a wonderful association between two award-winning poets.
141. LEVY, D.A. North American Book of the Dead. Cleveland: Free Lance Press, 1965. Probably the best-known book by the quintessential hippie-poet of the 1960s, a key figure in the Cleveland, Ohio underground and a writer whose suicide at a young age ensured him a kind of literary immortality that probably would have surprised him. Published (as usual) by his own press and, as noted by his bibliographer, "a typically bad Free Lance production with horrendous errors throughout." This copy is warmly inscribed by the author in the year of publication to a fellow poet: "to will inman/ for being/ and for being/ a good friend/ + a perhaps a/ great human being/ d.a. levy/ 65." Folded once vertically, and edge-darkened; very good in stapled wrappers with an old ink price written on the front cover. An excellent association copy of an enormously scarce book by one of the pre-eminent American poets of the 1960s counterculture.
142. LORDE, Audre. Autograph Letter Signed. Undated, written to Diane DiPrima. Two sides of a page, all of it detailed instructions for the removal of an evil spirit associated with a stone: "...take it now carefully when the sun is high...to the nearest natural water...Someone must follow you behind, sprinkling clear water...wash the place where it rested and your doorstep with clear ammonia & water. Hereafter, at the head of your sleeping mat, & the childrens', keep a glass half full of water, preferably with 8 small bits of cocoa butter... If you call the stone to mind ever with uneasiness again, burn myrrh alone on your altar..." An interesting literary association and also an interesting glimpse of this African-American writer's worldview, and the particular mix of cultures it embodied. DiPrima was one of the poets most closely associated with the Beat movement and the counterculture -- one of the few women writers to make her mark in that arena. Lorde was one of the most prominent African-American poets of the 1960s and '70s; her collection From a Land Where Other People Live was a National Book Award finalist in 1974. Folded in sixths; else fine.
143. LORDE, Audre. Autograph Postcard Signed. (Sept. 1977). A warm, personal note to poet Diane DiPrima: "Dear Precious Person - You would love the lake country in Minnesota - the North Woods. I thought of you a lot there and wondered if the place was printed on some story of yours. Or were you calling me?" Lorde, a prominent African-American, feminist, lesbian poet in the 1970s and 1980s, died at a young age of cancer, a struggle that she recounted in her final volumes of poetry. A nice association between two important poets. Fine.
144. LOWRY, Malcolm. Under the Volcano. NY: Reynal & Hitchcock (1947). Lowry's classic, one of the great books of twentieth century literature. This tale of a British consul drinking himself to death in the shadow of Mexico's twin volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl -- legendary mountains which are themselves inextricably bound into Mexican history and myth -- is a fierce moral parable: the exotic, lawless and majestic land of Mexico finds a fatal correlate in the unexplored regions of a civilized man's heart. A few years after the book's publication, Lowry died in his sleep after drinking heavily. Under the Volcano was his last book published during his lifetime. This copy is inscribed by the author to the writer James Stern: "as from heartless volcanoes/ to heartless lands/ -- &, again, to/ new times, from/ Malcolm,/ with love." A bit of spotting to cloth, including a stain at the spine base; near fine in a near fine, supplied dust jacket with several small edge tears. Books inscribed by Lowry are scarce, and an inscription such as this -- to another literary figure, and making poetic reference to the volcano of the title -- makes this one of the best association copies of this book one could hope for. In addition, the hopefulness of the inscription -- the reference to "new times" -- is exceedingly unusual for Lowry: a hard drinker and more inclined toward melancholy than optimism, Lowry seldom expressed himself in such terms. An attractive copy of a 20th century high spot, with a unique inscription by its reclusive author.
145. -. Same title. Paris: Correa, 1950. The first French edition, Au-Dessous du Volcan. This edition has a preface by Lowry written in 1948 not included in the earlier English-language editions. Inscribed by the author to novelist David Markson, a close friend during the last years of his life: "To David Markson/ with kind regards/ from Malcolm Lowry. June 20th 1951." A particularly good association copy: Markson's master's thesis, in 1952, was on Under the Volcano and was the first critical assessment of it after the original reviews; Lowry's biographer, Douglas Day, called Markson's thesis "still the best study of the novel's symbolism." Twenty-five years later Markson published the first book-length critical study of the novel, entitled Malcolm Lowry's Volcano - Myth, Symbol, Meaning. In the interim, one of Markson's own novels, Going Down, was published to substantial critical acclaim and to comparisons with Lowry's masterpiece. Lowry's inscriptions are extremely scarce; only a handful have turned up over the years, always to close friends or relatives. A very nice copy of his greatest book, seldom found signed or inscribed, and as fine a literary association as one could hope for with this book. Pages browning with age, but still a very good copy in original wrappers. In custom clamshell box.