Catalog 116, Awards, P-R
313. PAZ, Octavio. Alternating Current. NY: Viking (1973). A collection of essays on a variety of themes, literary and philosophical, originally published in periodicals over the period 1959-1967. Paz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
314. PAZ, Octavio and Charles Tomlinson. Air Born/Hijos del Aire. Mexico City: Pescador, 1979. Poems co-written by the authors. Of a total edition of 391 copies, this is a Roman-numeraled copy in cloth and boards, apparently one of 75 such copies (although the colophon is ambiguous on this matter) signed by both authors. Fine.
315. -. Same title. The edition in wrappers. Not signed on the colophon, but inscribed by Paz to Roman Jakobson and his wife, Christine "with friendship and admiration." Jakobson is widely considered one of the greatest linguists and thinkers of the 20th century and his influence has been pervasive. A wonderful association copy between one of the great Latin American Nobel Prize winners and one of the most important intellectual figures of the century. Near fine.
316. PAZ, Octavio. In Light of India. NY: Harcourt Brace (1997). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this volume of reflections on India by the 1990 Nobel Prize winner, who served as Mexico's Ambassador to India in the 1960's. Fine in wrappers.
317. PENNER, Jonathan. Private Parties. (Pittsburgh): U. of Pittsburgh Press (1983). The author's first book, winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. This is a complimentary copy, with slip laid in from the publisher. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Long Richard Yates blurb.
318. -. Another copy. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
319. POWERS, Richard. Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1988). The first British edition of one of the most highly praised first novels of recent years -- a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for a book of "considerable literary achievement." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
320. POWERS, Richard. The Gold Bug Variations. London: Scribner (1992). The first British edition of his third novel, a dazzling display of verbal pyrotechnics that earned him high praise, award recognition and comparisons with the best of the postmodern writers such as Thomas Pynchon. Winner of Time magazine's Book of the Year award and, like his first book, a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
321. POWERS, Tim. The Anubis Gates. Shingletown: Ziesing, 1989. The first American hardcover edition of his Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel, originally published in 1983. Introduction by Ramsey Campbell, illustrations by Mark Bilokur, and dust jacket art by J.K. Potter. This is one of 500 numbered copies signed by Powers, Bilokur and Potter. This edition restores a passage that was not in the original paperback edition. Fine in dust jacket, in fine cloth slipcase.
322. PROULX, Annie. The Shipping News. NY: Scribner (1993). The uncorrected proof copy of her third work of fiction and second novel, which won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize -- a rare literary double that firmly established her as one of the preeminent writers in America today. This book also won the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. Fine in wrappers.
323. -. Another copy. Fine in wrappers with promotional material laid in.
324. -. Same title, an advance reading excerpt in illustrated wrappers. Prints the first 45 pages of the novel. Fine.
325. PYLE, Robert Michael. Wintergreen. NY: Scribner (1986). His seventh book, but his first collection of essays, which describe the landscape and wildlife of a little-known region of Washington state, south of the Olympic peninsula. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal. Signed by the author. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with an edge tear at the upper rear flap fold.
326. PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Phil: Lippincott (1963). Pynchon's first book, winner of the Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year, and the debut of one of the most important American writers of the postwar era. Very slight edge-sunning; small spot to top stain; very near fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket with modest edge wear.
327. -. Same title. London: Jonathan Cape (1963). The uncorrected proof copy of the first British edition. His first novel is scarce in any edition, including the British, and the U.K. proof is remarkably uncommon. Minor spine creasing, small sticker removal shadow on first blank; a near fine copy in wrappers, in a near fine proof dust jacket. An uncommon proof, and we have never seen one before in a proof jacket.
328. -. Same title. The advance reading copy. This copy is sunned and spine-creased, with some shelf-soiling to the bottom page edges; very good in wrappers.
329. PYNCHON, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1966). Pynchon's second novel, winner of the Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the most overtly political, and paranoid, of Pynchon's novels. Chosen by David Pringle as one of the hundred best novels of Modern Fantasy. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with one previously tape-mended edge tear.
330. -. Another copy. Faint spotting to lower page edges and spine cloth; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket. A very attractive copy.
331. PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. NY: Viking (1973). The uncorrected proof copy of Pynchon's landmark third novel, winner of the National Book Award as well as the William Dean Howells Medal for the best work of fiction by an American over a five-year span. Gravity's Rainbow became the benchmark for postmodern American fiction upon publication and secured its mysterious and reclusive author's place in the postwar American literary pantheon. It is also widely considered the culminating novel of the Sixties -- the one which encapsulates and sums up the postwar events that resulted in the countercultural rejection of mainstream society and the quest for a plausible alternative view not only of contemporary society but of humanity itself. Pynchon's identity and whereabouts have consistently remained mysterious, and his publications have increasingly tended to be well-guarded secrets up to the moment of publication. For a number of years it was reported that no proofs of Gravity's Rainbow had been done, with Viking itself reportedly having confirmed that; however, in the last decade a dozen or so examples of this massive (760 pages) proof have shown up on the market. This copy has been read and bears the reviewer's marks in the text and on the rear cover; the spine is dulled from blue to gray; moderate overall wear; still very good, in a custom clamshell box.
332. RABE, David. Streamers. NY: Knopf, 1977. A review copy of this play set in an Army barracks in the early days of the Vietnam war. Winner of the N.Y. Drama Critics' Award for Best American Play of 1976. Sunning to board edges; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
333. ROBINSON, Marilynne. Housekeeping. NY: FSG (1980). A review copy of her first book and only fiction to date. A subtle story of keeping what matters and escaping from the weight of the rest. Winner of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award and a Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Award. Also the basis for a well-received movie. Trace edge sunning; fine in a near fine dust jacket with one small, internally tape-mended edge tear.
334. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. A bit of tearing to covers on and near the spine; just about very good in wrappers. Scarce.
335. -. Same title. Printer's proof. 12" x 9". Several pages have errors excised; the half title that serves as a cover has mild spotting and edge wear; else fine. A scarce state of an important, highly praised first book.
336. ROTH, Philip. Operation Shylock. NY: Simon & Schuster (1993). A hardcover advance reading copy of this winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and Time magazine's Book of the Year. Shot from proof sheets and bound in a quarter cloth binding with a paper label on the front cover and an unstamped spine. Lower corners bumped; near fine. A very unusual format for an advance copy.
337. -. Same title. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1993. The Franklin Library limited edition. Signed by the author, and with a special introduction by him for this edition. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Corners bumped; else fine.
338. ROTH, Philip. American Pastoral. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1997. The limited edition of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Roth's four books published in the 1990s collectively won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pen/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Award, an unprecedented accomplishment in American letters. Signed by the author. With a special introduction by Roth for this edition. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine.
339. -. Same title. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. The uncorrected proof copy of the trade edition. Fine in wrappers.
340. ROY, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. NY: Random House (1997). The advance reading copy of the first American edition of the first novel by this young Indian author. Winner of the Booker Prize. Fine in wrappers and publisher's cardstock slipcase.
341. RUSH, Norman. Mating. NY: Knopf, 1991. His first novel, second book. Winner of the National Book Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
342. -. Same title. An advance reading excerpt. Signed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers.
343. RUSHDIE, Salman. Midnight's Children. NY: Knopf, 1981. The first American edition of the author's second book, winner of Britain's Booker Prize and the first book in his ambitious sequence of novels of the Muslim world, which culminated in The Satanic Verses and the death sentence that was imposed on him by Moslem fundamentalists. The American edition is the true first, preceding the British (they were both printed in the U.S.). An important book that launched Rushdie's literary career as it represented a quantum leap from the subject matter and accomplishment of his first novel. This title was later named as the outstanding title among all the Booker Prize winners -- the so-called "Booker of Bookers." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a bit of the usual spine fading and a tiny tear at the crown.
344. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Moor's Last Sigh. London: Cape (1995). A leatherbound limited edition of this novel that won the Whitbread Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. One of 100 numbered copies bound in green full leather, all edges gilt, in a green cloth slipcase. Signed by the author. Fine in slipcase.
345. -. Same title. NY: Pantheon (1996). One of 1000 numbered copies of the advance reading copy of the American edition. Fine in wrappers in publisher's two-part, sliding cardstock box, an elaborate production for a promotional item. Signed by the author.