Catalog 115, J-L
140. JAMES, C.L.R. Mariners, Renegades and Castaways. The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In. NY: C.L.R. James, 1953. A self-published volume by this black West Indian writer and intellectual, which is both a critical study of Melville and an account of the author's internment at Ellis Island, where he was waiting to be deported, and where he wrote the book. A paperback original, with some rubbing and creasing; still about near fine.
141. KEROUAC, Jack. Doctor Sax. NY: Grove (1959). A novel by the author of On the Road that is part of his ongoing Duluoz saga, a multi-volume, semi-autobiographical account of the author's life and times, and those of his family and friends. Most of Kerouac's friends, family and acquaintances appear in his novels, thinly disguised: he had intended to write the sequence as autobiography -- or at least as a self-invented genre that stuck strictly to the "truth," albeit with the free-flowing rhythm and style of his inventive, spontaneous prose -- but was persuaded early on that the legal and logistical difficulties of such an approach were insurmountable. As such he followed through on the plan, simply changing the names of the various characters he chronicled. This is a copy of the softcover issue of the book; there was a small simultaneous hardcover edition published as well. This copy is inscribed by the author to Jeff Cru, the nephew of Henri Cru, one of Kerouac's early close friends: "Dear Jeff/ This is the final/ Baroque version/ of the Faust/ Legend, mixed with/ some New England/ Gothicism/ Jack Kerouac." Kerouac met Henri Cru at Horace Mann, the prep school they both attended in Riverdale, New York. Cru later introduced Kerouac to Edie Parker, who became Kerouac's first wife. On the Road contains an account of Cru ("Remi Boncoeur") getting Kerouac a job in San Francisco as a security guard. It was during this period in San Francisco that Kerouac wrote to Neal Cassady, and got the idea that the two of them should take a trip cross-country together, and he would write a book about it -- the book that became On the Road. Cru also appears in several of Kerouac's other novels as "Deni Bleu." A wonderful inscription and an excellent association copy. Wrappers lightly scratched and rubbed on hinges; still very good.
142. KESEY, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. NY: Viking (1962). Kesey's landmark first book, a pivotal novel of the literature of the Sixties, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. The early printings of the U.S. edition contain text that was later excised and changed after a lawsuit was brought against Kesey and his publisher by a woman who was a nurse at the institution which Kesey used as a model for the novel; she charged him with portraying a character that was based on her (and had the same first name) in a disparaging manner. The character was rewritten after the third hardcover printing, and later editions, including the mass market paperback and the "definitive" text in the Viking Critical Library Series, have an alternate character in her place. Top stain a bit dull, still a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with shallow wear at the spine extremities but only a fraction of the color loss endemic to this title.
143. KING, Stephen. The Shining. Garden City: Doubleday (1977). King's third novel, memorably filmed by Stanley Kubrick. This title is the third-scarcest of King's novels, in terms of the size of the first printing, which was 25,000 copies; King's novels these days typically have first printings of a million or more copies. Added to the scarcity factor is that Doubleday was notorious in the 1970s for producing books cheaply, thus they showed wear easily and were inherently less durable than the typical trade hardcover of the period. This copy has one slight corner bump and trace wear to the spine crown; very near fine in a near fine dust jacket with one closed edge tear. A very attractive copy of one of King's earliest and, by many accounts, best books.
144. LAHIRI, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. The uncorrected proof copy of her first book, a collection of stories published as a paperback original that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN Hemingway Award, and the New Yorker Debut Award. The New Yorker also chose her as one of 20 young writers to watch for the 21st century. Fine in wrappers with publicity sheet and author photo laid in.
145. LEAVITT, David. While England Sleeps. (n.p.): Viking (1993). The uncorrected proof copy of this controversial novel based loosely on Stephen Spender's life and memoirs, which Spender himself challenged and threatened legal action against. Leavitt read between the lines of Spender's autobiography to create a fictional adaptation of it, with the homosexuality much more explicit than in the original, and treated without euphemism. The suit was settled out of court with an agreement that stipulated textual revisions in future editions, as has been the case. Fine in wrappers.
146. LE CARRÉ, John. Call for the Dead. NY: Walker (1962). The first American edition of Le Carré's first book, which introduced George Smiley. With this book, Le Carré also introduced a new level of realism to the spy genre, in contrast to the far-fetched, swashbuckling adventures of James Bond that were popular at the time. With his third book, The Spy who Came in From the Cold, he raised the entire genre to the level of literature, by making the spy's predicament and the mysteries he must unravel a metaphor for the human condition generally, and the mysteries of life that confront us. This is the correct first American edition, with a white dust jacket printed in red, black and purple, not the ubiquitous later book club edition that is often mistaken for a first. Signed by the author and dated in 1991 in Cornwall, the author's home town. A very near fine copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with small chips at the corners and a gutter nick at the rear spine fold. A nice copy of a book that has become increasingly scarce in recent years.
147. LE CARRÉ, John. The Naive and Sentimental Lover. London: Hodder & Stoughton (1971). The uncorrected proof copy of his first novel to depart from the espionage genre, a book that he later said was his own personal favorite of his books, but which enjoyed considerably less popular success than his spy stories. Small ink name and date on front cover; minor sunning and creasing to spine; near fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof.
148. LE GUIN, Ursula K. The Tombs of Atuan. NY: Atheneum, 1971. The first edition of the second book in LeGuin's landmark "Earthsea Trilogy," one of the high spots of modern fantasy. Owner name front flyleaf; else fine in a near fine dust jacket. Not as scarce as the first book in the series, The Wizard of Earthsea -- which is exceedingly rare -- but quite uncommon in the first printing nonetheless.
149. LE GUIN, Ursula K. The Farthest Shore. NY: Atheneum, 1972. The third book in the Earthsea trilogy. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with the slightest hint of wear at the crown; a beautiful copy.
150. LENT, Jeffrey. In the Fall. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press (2000). The advance reading copy of this well-received first book, which was a Main Selection of the Book of the Month Club -- unusual for a first novel. Because of the Civil War setting, the novel received inevitable comparisons to Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain; the author's writing style was compared to that of Faulkner. Fine in wrappers.
151. LESSING, Doris. In Pursuit of the English. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1960. A memoir of her first years in England, after growing up in southern Africa. Near fine in a near fine, dusty and spine-dulled jacket. Scarce.
152. 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, eerily foreshadows Lowry's own death from excessive alcohol consumption a decade later. Under the Volcano was his last book published during his lifetime. This copy is inscribed by the author two weeks following publication to jazz great Eddie Condon: " -- to Eddie Condon,/ with all power to your wild/ hand at its wildest/ (not forgetting Eddie Lamp though)/ -- with love & respect from/ the author./ Malcolm Lowry/ March the fourth 1947." Lowry had spent the previous two weeks in New York drinking away the overwhelming response to the publication of Volcano; Condon owned a jazz club on W. 3rd Street. Condon was one of jazz's early virtuoso guitar players, and Lowry -- who played the ukelele -- was an ardent fan of jazz guitar, as his reference to Eddie Lamp, considered by many the first great jazz guitar player, attests. A very good, spine-darkened and handled copy with pencil scribbles on page 5, in a supplied, very good dust jacket with a vertical crease to the spine and front panel, chipping to the crown, and some splitting to the folds. Lowry signed very few books in his lifetime, mostly because he was usually drinking too much. Signed copies of Under the Volcano are extremely scarce and when they do turn up they are usually significant association copies, as this one is.