Catalog 117, B
32. BANVILLE, John. Eclipse. (London): Bridgewater Press (2000). The limited edition, published in an edition of 138 copies, this copy out of series and unnumbered but signed by the author. Clothbound, the full cloth binding used for the issue of 100 copies; fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
33. BARKER, Pat. Regeneration. (NY): Dutton (1992). The first American edition of the first book in her acclaimed and award-winning trilogy of World War I novels. This book features poet Siegfried Sassoon as one of the major characters. An important book, which stretched the boundaries of the antiwar novel. A bit of darkening to spine cloth from backstrip; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
34. BARTH, John. Coming Soon!!! Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin (2001). The advance reading copy of this new book, "a narrative," due out in November. Fine in wrappers.
35. BASS, Rick. In the Loyal Mountains. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. The advance reading copy of this collection of stories. Fine in wrappers.
36. BASSANI, Giorgio. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. London: Faber and Faber (1965). The first British edition. Bookplate of two poets on front pastedown, with several pencilled notations to text. Foxing to endpages, light splaying to boards; near fine in a foxed, else near fine dust jacket. Basis for the Academy Award-winning film.
37. BEATTIE, Ann. Perfect Recall. NY: Scribner (2001). The advance reading copy of her latest collection of stories. Fine in wrappers.
38. BECKETT, Samuel. Watt. (Paris): Olympia Press (1953). Of a total edition of 1125 copies, this is one of 1100 numbered copies. Spine-creased, more from glue than use, one light corner crease; near fine in wrappers with the publisher's prospectus laid in.
39. BECKETT, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. London: Faber & Faber (1956). The first British edition of Beckett's masterpiece, which defined the Theater of the Absurd and created for its author an immediate spot in the literary pantheon, culminating in his being awarded the Nobel Prize. Offsetting to the endpages; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with several small edge tears. With a Publisher's Note tipped in explaining that this text conforms to the performance at the Criterion Theater. Possibly the single most important play of the twentieth century.
40. BECKETT, Samuel. Company. London: John Calder (1980). The uncorrected proof copy of this prose work by the Nobel Prize-winning dramatist. Fine in wrappers. Very scarce in proof form.
41. BECKETT, Samuel. Mal Vu Mal Dit. (Paris): Les Éditions de Minuit (1981). Fine in self-wraps.
42. BECKETT, Samuel. Worstward Ho. London: John Calder (1983). First U.K. edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
43. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
44. BECKETT, Samuel. Soubresauts. (Paris): Les Éditions de Minuit (1989). Near fine in self-wraps. First issue, with bar code on the rear flap.
45. (BECKETT, Samuel). "Dante... Bruno. Vico.. Joyce." in Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1929. Beckett's first book appearance. Wrappers chipped and have been repaired and restored; as such, only a good copy.
46. BERGER, John. Pig Earth. NY: Pantheon (n.d.). The uncorrected proof copy of the first book in his "Into Their Labours" trilogy. Faint erasure front cover, else fine in wrappers.
47. BERGER, John. And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos. NY: Pantheon Books (1984). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of essays and reminiscences by the author of G., Ways of Seeing and To the Wedding, among many others. Fine in wrappers.
48. -. Another copy. Fingerprints page 72; near fine in wrappers.
49. BERGER, John. Lilac and Flag. NY: Pantheon (1990). The uncorrected proof copy of the third volume in the "Into Their Labours" trilogy, which began with Pig Earth and continued with Once in Europa. Fine in wrappers.
50. BERGER, John. Corker's Freedom. NY: Pantheon (1993). The uncorrected proof copy of the reissue. Fine in wrappers.
51. BERGER, John. To the Wedding. NY: Pantheon (1995). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel, a luminous addition to the growing body of AIDS literature. There was a widely distributed advance reading copy of this title; the proof is less common. Fine in wrappers.
52. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Fine in wrappers.
53. BERGER, Thomas. Siamese Twins. NY: Harold Matson Co. (n.d.). A two-act play by Berger, apparently unpublished (and unproduced?). The setting for this comic script is a suburban milieu similar to the one Berger used in his novel Neighbors, which was made into a well-received movie. This is the corrected typescript, signed by the author. Ninety-eight pages, ribbon-copy, heavily corrected by the author with numerous changes and deletions in felt tip pen. A unique item by the author of the award-winning Little Big Man. Loose sheets in three-ring binder. Fine.
54. BIOY CASARES, Adolfo. The Invention of Morel and Other Stories. Austin: University of Texas Press (1964). The first American edition of his first novel, and first thus, adding stories from La Trama Celeste. The Invention of Morel, first published in 1940, won the first Municipal Prize for Literature of the City of Buenos Aires and stands as a seminal work in modern Latin American literature, with a now-famous introduction by Borges in which he praises the novel as an exemplary instance of the narrative of "reasoned imagination" and "verbal artifice," thus supplying parameters and context both for the appreciation of this particular novel and also for the use of fiction to probe intellectual problems. Several pencilled marginal markings in text; light foxing to top stain; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
55. BORGES, Jorge Luis. The Book of Imaginary Beings. NY: Dutton, 1969. The first American edition of this fantastic bestiary, describing a host of imaginary animals, many of them drawn from the writings of diverse figures of world literature, from C.S. Lewis to Franz Kafka. Inscribed by the author to the poet Barbara Howes, "with best wishes." Books signed by Borges from this late period in his life are quite uncommon: the author was virtually completely blind by this time. Inscribed books are even scarcer, and most often Borges would have someone write the inscription for him and he would simply sign it. In this case, Borges wrote the whole inscription himself. Barbara Howes, the recipient, edited the important anthology of Latin American literature, Eye of the Heart, which includes stories by 42 Latin American writers including Borges, Neruda, Paz and many others, and was the vehicle by which a number of the authors were introduced to the North American audience. Howes had developed her interest in Latin American literature in the 1940s, when she co-edited the avant garde literary magazine Chimera, which published Borges, Neruda, Gabriela Mistral and others and was, for most of the writers, one of their first publications in English. Thus, this is an excellent association copy, linking Borges with one of his earliest American publishers, with whom he had had a relationship for over twenty years by this time. This probably explains his inscribing the book personally to her. An important book in the Borges canon, and scarce signed, let alone as an association copy. Dampstaining to boards and end pages, not especially visible and not affecting inscription. A very good copy in a supplied, fine dust jacket.
56. BORGES, Jorge Luis. Dreamtigers. Austin: University of Texas (1964). The first American edition of this collection of short fictions, prose poems and poetry. Bookplate of Barbara Howes and William Jay Smith on the front pastedown; a few marginal marks in pencil; light mottling to cloth; about near fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with abrasions to the rear panel.
57. BORGES, Jorge Luis. Doctor Brodie's Report. NY: Dutton, 1972. The first American edition of this collection of stories, from the library of poet and anthologist Barbara Howes, with several pencilled marks by her in the preface. Light mottling to cloth; near fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket.
58. BORGES, Jorge Luis. Selected Poems 1923-1967. (n.p.): Delacorte Press (1972). A review copy of the first American edition of this collection, which seems not to have had nearly the print run nor distribution that Borges' fiction did at this time. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with author photo laid in.
59. BOWLES, Jane. Two Serious Ladies. NY: Knopf, 1943. Her first book, a wartime production and a scarce book in nice shape. This copy belonged to poet James Laughlin, who was also the founder of New Directions Press, which published the American edition of Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky in 1949. Laughlin's ownership label on the front flyleaf, with the holograph notation "Please return to." Cloth fraying at the spine extremities; near fine in a very good dust jacket with modest edge wear but heavy rubbing at the folds. Over the years, Jane's output was remarkably small, but her influence on later generations of women writers has been out of all proportion to the quantity of her production.
60. (BRADBURY, Ray). BEAUMONT, Charles. Best of Charles Beaumont. NY: Bantam (1982). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of pieces by a writer whose reputation derives in part from his having written for the classic television series The Twilight Zone. Introduction, "Beaumont Remembered," by Bradbury. A bit spine-tanned; else fine in wrappers.
61. BRAINE, John. Room at the Top. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1957. The highly acclaimed first novel by this writer who was one of the "Angry Young Men" in Britain in the 1950s. This was made into a well-received movie in 1959, which was nominated for six Academy Awards in 1960 and won two, including one for best screenplay based on material from another medium. A bit of foxing to the top edge; else fine in a very good dust jacket with mild sunning, spotting and edge wear, including a closed tear at the upper front spine fold. With the publisher's wraparound band. A nice copy of an important first novel, and scarce with the band.
62. BRAUTIGAN, Richard. Trout Fishing in America, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar. NY: Delacorte Press (1969). The first combined edition and, other than the scarce signed limited editions of the latter two titles, the first hardcover appearances of all three. Signed by the author in April, 1970, six months after publication. Owner notation on flyleaf; rubbing to boards; about near fine in a very good, rubbed and spotted dust jacket.
63. BURKE, James Lee. The Lost Get-Back Boogie. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U. Press, 1986. After publishing three novels in the late Sixties and early Seventies, Burke went 15 years without having a novel published in hardcover, until LSU -- which had recently had great critical and commercial success publishing John Kennedy Toole's posthumous, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces -- published this. Critical reception was immediate and extremely positive, and the following year Burke had the first book in his award-winning Dave Robicheaux mystery series published by a major New York publisher. It can rightly be said that this was his breakthrough book. A complimentary and prophetic dust jacket blurb by novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler bears repeating: "James Lee Burke has one of the most self-assured, supple and enchanting voices in modern fiction. And he makes us see through a character's surface to his soul, a rare and wonderful thing. The Lost Get-Back Boogie is a splendid novel, and I hope it wins Burke the wide audience he deserves." It began the process, and the Robicheaux series secured that readership. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine jacket.
64. BURKE, James Lee. Bitterroot. (New Orleans): (B.E. Trice) (2001). The limited edition of his latest novel, which features series character Billy Bob Holland, a lawyer and Vietnam vet. Of a total edition of 176 copies, this is one 150 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase. At the list price:
65. -. Same title. NY: Simon & Schuster (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of the trade edition. Fine in wrappers.
66. (BURKE, James Lee). "The Convict" in The Kenyon Review, Vol. VII, No. 3. (Gambier): (Kenyon College), 1985. The first appearance in print of the title story of Burke's scarce 1985 collection published by Louisiana State Press. A couple instances of re-wording in the text between this and later published versions. Owner name front cover; covers a bit edgeworn; near fine in wrappers.
67. BURROUGHS, William S. "LEE, William." Junkie. Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict. NY: Ace (1953). Burroughs' pseudonymous first book, a paperback original bound back-to-back with Maurice Helbrant's Narcotic Agent. Signed by the author. Burroughs, along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, came to be viewed as the leaders of the Beat Movement, widely considered to be the most influential literary movement of the postwar era. Bookplate inside front cover; moderate rubbing to creasing to spine; light cover creasing; very good in wrappers. A nice copy of a cheaply made and fragile book, which began one of the most remarkable literary careers of our time.
68. BURROUGHS, William. The Soft Machine. Paris: Olympia (1961). The true first edition, published in Paris by Maurice Girodias' press five years before it came out in the U.S. Only issued in wrappers. Fine in a fine dust jacket; a beautiful copy. The Paris first editions of Burroughs' books have become increasingly scarce in recent years, especially in dust jacket and in fine condition.
69. BURROUGHS, William. The Dead Star. San Francisco: Nova Broadcast, 1969. One of 2000 copies of this little pamphlet printed to simulate a newspaper story about the death of Dutch Schultz. Covers rubbed; near fine in stapled wrappers.
70. BURROUGHS, William, Jr. Kentucky Ham. Woodstock: Overlook Press (1984). The uncorrected proof copy of the reissue of the second book by the son of William S. Burroughs, a memoir which focuses extensively on his drug habit; the author died of a drug overdose in 1981. Issued in plain wrappers and dust jacket. Fine.