Catalog 113, E-G
142. (ELLISON, Ralph). Writers & Issues. (NY): New American Library (1969). A paperback original of this collection of essays on cultural and political themes, most of which had been published in journals and magazines prior to being collected here. Contributors include Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Norman Mailer, William Styron, Ernest Callenbach, Jane Jacobs, and Alice Walker, among others. Inscribed by Ellison. Spine creased; acidic pages darkening; near fine in wrappers.
143. FALL, Bernard. Street Without Joy. Harrisburg: Stackpole (1961). Fall's classic study of French policy and tactics in Southeast Asia and the American penchant for following the footsteps of the French, duplicating their erroneous assumptions and mistakes. Perhaps the single most insightful volume on the Indochina war(s). This is the very scarce first edition, published by a press more noted for its sporting handbooks than for its general trade books and which often issued titles with first printings as small as 1000 copies. The first edition of this title is exceedingly scarce, although it was reprinted a number of times in the early and mid-Sixties as the American involvement in Vietnam grew. To read this book is to be struck by a slowly-building horror -- the realization that much of his description of the failure of various strategies, tactics and policies was written before the United States employed them, and could have been avoided. Near fine in a good, foxed and edgeworn dust jacket beginning to split at the folds.
144. FARIÑA, Richard. Correspondence Archive. 1961-1963. Six letters from Fariña to Kirkpatrick and Faith Sale, as follows: 1 typed aerogramme signed; 3 autograph letters signed (two with envelopes); 2 typed letters signed, with envelopes; nine pages total, spanning his time on tour in Europe and his engagement and marriage to, and later divorce from, fellow folk singer Carolyn Hester as well as his engagement to Mimi Baez. The letters predate the publication of his novel Been Down So Long, It Looks Like Up to Me but do touch on his writing life and mention two appearances in print, in Mademoiselle and Prairie Schooner. The first letter, February 24, 1961 -- addressed to "Robert Jordan," presumably in reference to Hemingway's hero in For Whom the Bell Tolls -- offers the Sales his impression of "the Scene" and one particular party that "swung." On September 6, he updates his UK performance schedule: "This singing thing is absurd... I am getting, of course, away with murder." On December 26, Fariña writes of the joy in the rhythm of hunting and of a high heel shoe fetish he may share with Kirkpatrick; and he offers his thoughts on (presumably) Hemingway's suicide (the subject is unnamed): "Much of what you said about the old man's death was true. Some of it angered me. I felt finally that like a good deal of what he accomplished, the surprise of it was precisely right. The suicide was so right I was furious with personal indignation at not having known about it before it was done." In June of 1962, Fariña informs the Sales that their wedding days coincide, offers an epithilamion (sic), and recounts a drug experience: "Last night, for the first & sweetest time ever, I passed out from an overdose of grass, PROVING COURAGEOUSLY that it CAN be done. It was Tangiers shit, cured in ether, and almost an hallucingen [sic] in its symptomatic effects. Met Burroughs in the Beat Hotel, sniffed some horse and had an orgasm. Did you know I was a cowboy?" He adds, "I am writing like a prolific maniac, mostly poems, some blues." In December of 1962, his letters become more subdued, as he writes from France of his pending divorce: "Certainly there's been much in the way of casual abandon, but as you certainly know from Carolyn, it was always tempered by a certain amount of caution and nervous hindsight. The divorce which is about to proceed into anonymous Mexican hands is only one of the symptoms, and I suppose only my pillow knows them all. Although in time, if I can manage to keep up the scribbling pace I have achieved over the last four months, much of the knowledge will be shared." He also touches on his feelings for Mimi Baez and of Mrs. Baez's feelings about him, recounting that he has developed "an overwhelming responsibility for the delicacy of the girl, a desire to care for her which is almost certainly the first non-selfish passion of any magnitude in my entire life." On March 20, 1963, in a three-page handwritten letter, Fariña expounds his theories of love: "...we, all of us, as lovers, are responsible for the making and continual molding of the thing; that it is not simply there, like a mountaineer's ridge, a thing existing on its own, daring conquest but not impervious to it." He also announces his plans to marry again.
Together with four letters to the Sales from Fariña's first wife, folk singer Carolyn Hester. Four autograph letters signed, 3 with envelopes, 8 pages total. Three of the letters are brief life updates. The fourth, dated October 10 [1963], runs 2 pages (4 sides) and discusses her impressions of Richard's current life and his most recent wedding, for which "Pynchon" served as best man; Fariña's book, which had been turned down for publication several times as "too filthy;" and her theory that Fariña helped to get Bob Dylan's book of poems published. All items folded for mailing; else fine.
The Sales are notable literary figures in their own right: Kirkpatrick was a critic of substantial reputation, and a longtime friend and editor of Thomas Pynchon; Faith served as Pynchon's editor on his first novel, V. Fariña and Pynchon were, of course, friends dating from their college days together at Cornell, and Pynchon was one of the few people to whom Fariña gave his first novel to read in manuscript form. Fariña's novel, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, was finally published by Random House in 1966. Fariña was killed in a motorcycle accident on the way to a publication party for the book. As a result, autograph material by Fariña, who was one of the preeminent folk singers of the 1960s and whose one novel became an instant underground classic, is exceedingly scarce.
145. FAULKNER, William. A Fable. (NY): Random House (1954). The limited edition of this novel, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A parable of the Passion of Christ, set in World War I. One of 1000 numbered copies signed by the author. A fine copy in the original glassine dustwrapper, which is near fine, in fine slipcase.
146. FLOKOS, Nicholas. Nike. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Tapebound advance copy, consisting of 8 1/2" x 11" sheets reproducing word-processed typescript; a very early state of the book. Fine. Laid in is a typed letter signed by the author.
147. FOOTE, Shelby. Jordan County. NY: Dial Press, 1954. A collection of seven related narratives, set in the same Mississippi county and extending backwards in time from 1950 to 1797. Foote is most well-known for his massive, three-volume history of the Civil War, and for having narrated the PBS television special on that war. His earliest writings, however, were fiction and his books from the Fifties have all become quite scarce. Trace rubbing at the spine extremities and faint offsetting to the endpages; still very near fine in a rubbed, very good dust jacket with a few short edge tears. Uncommon.
148. FRAZIER, Ian. On the Rez. NY: FSG (2000). Nonfiction about the contemporary Oglala Sioux on the Pine Ridge reservation, which has been called the poorest county in the U.S. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
149. FURTH, George and SONDHEIM, Stephen. Company. NY: Random House (1971). A play, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, with music and lyrics by Sondheim. Faint offsetting to front flyleaf from reviews laid in; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight lamination separation at the spine extremities. A nice copy of an uncommon book.
150. GADDIS, William. Carpenter's Gothic. (NY): Viking (1985). The uncorrected proof copy of his third novel, the shortest and most accessible of his books. Two of Gaddis' four books won the National Book Award, and a third title, The Recognitions, is considered a postwar classic. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Two tiny spots to covers; still fine in wrappers.
151. GAINES, Ernest J. A Gathering of Old Men. NY: Knopf, 1983. The uncorrected proof copy of this novel by the author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, among others. Fine in wrappers.
152. GALVIN, James. About. Missoula: Naked Man Press, 1988. A broadside poem. Signed by Galvin. With a wood engraving by Dirk Lee and also signed by Lee. 10" x 11". Fine.
153. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. NY: Harper & Row, 1970. The first American edition of his masterwork, one of the most important novels of the century, which introduced magical realism to a wide audience and helped bring the "boom" in Latin American literature to this country. At the end of the 1970s this book was voted by the editors of The New York Times Book Review to be not only the best book published in the last ten years but the one most likely to still be read and still be important one hundred years hence. García Márquez has been awarded the Nobel Prize, among countless other literary awards. Faint top edge foxing; still a fine copy in a very near fine, first issue dust jacket with a touch of rubbing at the upper rear spine fold and a bit of creasing at the lower front corner. In custom folding chemise and slipcase. A book that has become increasingly difficult to find with the correct first issue dust jacket (with an exclamation point at the end of the first paragraph of text on the front flap). For years, the priority of the two issues was unknown, and their relative scarcity a matter of some doubt but little import. Since the discovery of the galley proofs with the flap text included in proof form, the priority has been clearly established, and copies of the first issue have been snapped up in the market whenever they appear, leaving only copies with second issue jackets readily available. This copy has the red and yellow headbands; no priority determined.
154. -. Another copy. Faint top edge foxing and vertical spine crease; near fine in a near fine, first issue dust jacket with three professionally mended tears. This is the issue with the green and yellow headbands.
155. -. Same title. The galley proofs of the American edition. 145 7 1/2" x 24" sheets, folded once. These are the corrected galleys, incorporating earlier copy-editing changes, and with pagination to page 422, corresponding to the published text. The outer sheet (a blank) is torn; otherwise the sheets are near fine. The dust jacket text is not included. An exceedingly rare state of this landmark novel -- the only copy of this state of the text in galley form that we have ever seen offered; possibly unique. In custom folding chemise and full morocco slipcase.
156. GASS, William. In the Heart of the Heart of the Country. NY: Harper & Row (1968). His second book, a collection of stories. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy.
157. GERSH, Leonard. Butterflies Are Free. NY: Random House (1970). A review copy of this play, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning movie. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
158. GESNER, Clark. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. NY: Random House (1968). A review copy of this play, based on Charles Schultz's Peanuts characters. Fine in a near fine, lightly rubbed dust jacket. Uncommon.
159. GLEITER, Jan. Lie Down with Dogs. NY: St. Martin's (1996). Well-received first mystery, which won an in-house award at St. Martin's Press. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is an autograph letter signed by the author.
160. (GORDIMER, Nadine). "The First Circle" in Six One-Act Plays. Pretoria: J.L. Van Schaik, 1949. Her first play, written while she was in college and published prior to her first book. The play was performed by the Johannes H. Burg Repertory Society and won a Drama Award. School library stamp on front flyleaf; otherwise a fine copy without dust jacket, apparently as issued. Scarce: we have never seen another copy offered for sale.
161. (GOREY, Edward). "The Beastly Baby" in Town and Country, Vol. 128, No. 4616. (NY): (Hearst) (1974). A two-page parable in 23 vignettes. Inscribed by Gorey. Corner crease rear cover; very near fine.
162. GOYEN, William. Arcadio. NY: Clarkson Potter (1983). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel by the author of The House of Breath, The Fair Sister, and others. Fine in wrappers.
163. GOYEN, William. Had I A Hundred Mouths. NY: Clarkson Potter (1984). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of new and selected stories, published shortly after the author's death. Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates. Fine in wrappers.
164. GREEN, George Dawes. The Caveman's Valentine. (NY): Warner (1994). His first book, winner of an Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. Signed by the author with an added sentiment. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
165. GREENE, Graham. The Captain and the Enemy. (n.p.): Viking (1988). The uncorrected proof copy, reproducing several holograph changes to the text. Near fine in wrappers.