Catalog 117, G-J
127. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba. Medellin: Aguirre (1961). His rare second book, a novella about a retired colonel who waits in vain for his pension, published in the U.S. as No One Writes to the Colonel and, as such, his first book published outside of Latin America. Large owner name to half-title; very slight rubbing and acidification; a near fine copy in self-wrappers of a scarce book by the Colombian Nobel Prize winner.
128. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. No One Writes to the Colonel. NY: Harper & Row (1968). His first book published in this country, a collection of stories that combines the contents of his second and fourth books. This copy is from the library of poet Barbara Howes, editor of the important anthology of Latin American literature, Eye of the Heart, with several of her pencilled notes in the text. Foxing to top edge; near fine in dust jacket with light wear at the spine extremities.
129. GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Gabriel. Leaf Storm and Other Stories. NY: Harper & Row (1972). His third book published here, second collection of stories. Includes the much-anthologized "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." One pencilled marginal note by Barbara Howes; spine slant; near fine in a very good dust jacket worn at the corners and spine ends and with a small stain on the front panel.
130. GARDNER, John. The Resurrection. NY: New American Library (1966). Gardner's first work of fiction, one of the handful of significant literary first novels that were published by NAL under the editorship of David Segal. NAL was primarily a paperback publisher, with an emphasis on mass market paperbacks and a strong commercial focus. Publishing such writers as Gardner, William Gass, Cynthia Ozick and Michael Shaara was a fairly daring step; given the scarcity of all those first novels, it would seem that such publishing daring was counterbalanced with caution in the form of short print runs: this novel, for example, had a 2500 copy first printing, a minuscule number for a country the size of the U.S., and a high percentage of those would have been earmarked for libraries. This copy is signed by the author on the dedication page. Slight wear at the spine extremities, and bowing to the boards; about near fine in a dust jacket with mild spine fading; foxing on verso; a narrow, shallow crease to the front panel; and both flaps corner clipped (but not price-clipped). A scarce novel, especially so signed.
131. GELBER, Jack. Sleep. NY: Hill and Wang (1972). The uncorrected proof copy of this play by the author of The Connection, who is also known for his association with The Living Theater, an experimental theater group. Notes in text and name of Richard M. Buck on cover. Very good in tall wrappers. Uncommon.
132. GINSBERG, Allen. Siesta in Xbalba and Return to the States. Icy Cape: Self-Published, 1956. The second book by the premier poet of the Beat generation, whose importance to American literature has been compared to that of Walt Whitman. Published two months after Ginsberg's first book, Howl for Carl Solomon, and several months prior to the publication of the City Lights edition of Howl and Other Poems, his first "regularly" published book. One of an estimated 52 copies: Ginsberg wrote in a letter to Jack Kerouac at the time of publication that 52 copies were done. Other than Howl for Carl Solomon, of which only 25 copies were printed, this is doubtless Ginsberg's scarcest publication, a single long poem whose genesis was in a trip to southern Mexico, the area inhabited by the ancient Maya and their present-day descendants, but not published until the author was in Alaska, "near Icy Cape... At the Sign of the Midnight Sun." Stapled wrappers, reproduced from typewritten copy. A few small stains to the covers; very good.
133. GINSBERG, Allen and Louis. Family Business. (NY): Bloomsbury (2001). The uncorrected proof copy. Selected letters between Ginsberg and his father. Fine in wrappers.
134. GOLDMAN, William. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. NY: Bantam Books (1969). A paperback original of Goldman's Academy Award-winning screenplay for the movie. Inscribed by the author. Pages acidifying, one tiny edge nick, but no spine creasing; very near fine in wrappers.
135. GOLDMAN, William. Wigger. NY: HBJ (1974). Advance review copy of this scarce children's book by the author of The Princess Bride, among others. Fine in fine dust jacket with trace creasing near the crown, with review slip laid in.
136. GRAFTON, Sue. P is for Peril. (London): Macmillan (2001). The advance reading copy of the first British edition of the 16th Kinsey Millhone mystery. Fine in wrappers.
137. GREENE, Graham. The Little Train. London: Bodley Head (1973). The reissue of Greene's first children's book, originally published in 1946. Oblong quarto, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone. Boards splayed, small abrasion front pastedown; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with slight wear around the spine and a very small stain on the rear panel.
138. HAJDU, David. Positively 4th Street. NY: FSG (2001). Well-received new book on "the lives and times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña." Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
139. HARDY, Thomas. Human Shows Far Phantasies. London: Macmillan, 1925. A bit of edge-foxing to the endpages; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a bit of darkening to the spine. An attractive copy of the last of his books published during his lifetime
140. HARRIS, Mark. The Southpaw. Indianapolis/NY: Bobbs-Merrill (1953). The first book in the author's celebrated trilogy of baseball novels, which included Bang the Drum Slowly (1956) and A Ticket for a Seamstitch (1957). These were followed, more than 20 years later, with a fourth novel, It Looked Like Forever, which followed the same character, Henry Wiggen. Signed by the author in 1980. Bookplate front pastedown, small label shadow on flyleaf, spine-faded, with a touch of fraying to the cloth at the spine extremities; very good in a lightly foxed dust jacket with a small gutter nick on the rear panel.
141. HARRISON, Jim. Legends of the Fall, Revenge, The Man Who Gave Up His Name. (NY): Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence (1979). The three-volume limited edition of this collection of novellas, Harrison's first book published by legendary editor and publisher, Seymour Lawrence. Reportedly, prior to his meeting Lawrence, Harrison had been unable to get the collection published, being told several times that a collection of novellas wouldn't sell. Lawrence, on the other hand, loved the book, took it and published it, the result being that it sold more copies than all of the author's other books put together, according to Harrison. Lawrence decided to not only publish a trade edition but to do a signed limited edition in three volumes, with a volume for each novella, and to also publish a separate trade edition in three volumes as well -- an unusual move indicative of his innovative and creative approach to publishing. Since then, two of the novellas have been made into major movies, and Harrison has become a literary celebrity. One of 250 numbered copies signed by the author. Trace flaking to the spine lettering; else fine in slipcase.
142. HAUTMAN, Pete. Rag Man. NY: Simon & Schuster (2001). The uncorrected proof copy. A mystery novel by the author of Drawing Dead, and others. Fine in wrappers.
143. HEANEY, Seamus. Electric Light. (London): Faber and Faber (2001). A new collection of poems by the Irish Nobel Prize winner. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
144. HEGI, Ursula. Hotel of the Saints. NY: Simon & Schuster (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of this forthcoming collection of stories by the author of Stones From the River, among others. Fine in wrappers.
145. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Hemingway on Fishing. (NY): Lyons Press (2000). The advance reading copy (indicated as "advance uncorrected proof" by the publisher). Quarto. Mild cover splaying; else fine in wrappers with promotional sheet laid in.
146. HERLIHY, James Leo. Midnight Cowboy. NY: Simon & Schuster (1965). The author's second novel, about a small-time urban hustler, and the basis for one of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. Inscribed by the author: "For John -/ From one/ cowboy to another./ Love./ Jim Herlihy." Reader's notations on dates he'd read the book under the front flap; near fine in dust jacket.
147. HERR, Michael. Dispatches. NY: Knopf, 1977. One of the enduring classics of the literature of the Vietnam war. Herr, reporting for Rolling Stone and Esquire from Vietnam, was one of the first of the young writers to bring the sensibilities of the 1960s and the conventions of the New Journalism to the "first rock-and-roll war," and it worked: nobody had recounted the kinds of tales Herr found in Vietnam, which he sent back in a riveting series of dispatches that were eagerly awaited and legendary, even at the time. "Hell Sucks," "Illumination Rounds," "Khe Sanh," and his other pieces told stories of the war in voices so authentic -- the uncensored words of the ground-level participants themselves -- that their impact was enormous. The Official Picture of an orderly progression to the war -- Body Counts, Vietnamization, Winning Hearts and Minds -- bore no relation to the chaos and sheer hell that Herr found by merely scratching the surface and getting the grunts'-eye view of the war. His writings helped define the "credibility gap" that characterized Vietnam and led to the daily military briefings being known as the Five O'clock Follies. His prose is crystalline: nothing is wasted; it's as though the spaces between the words -- the silences and the things not said -- speak as loudly and clearly as the words themselves. Each piece is complete in itself, and the whole adds up to more than the sum of its parts both by virtue of its intensity and by the common chords struck throughout, regardless of the specific subject matter -- the disaffection of the GI's for the war, the lack of any credible accountability, the randomness and meaninglessness of the huge sacrifices that the grunts, many of them still teenagers, were being asked to make. An important book on the war, and scarce in fine condition. This copy has a small smudge to the lower page edges from the weight of the text block and is otherwise fine in a very near fine dust jacket with very little rubbing to the gold foil lettering but with a small nick to the front gutter.
148. HOFFMAN, Alice. Blue Diary. NY: Putnam (2001). Advance states of her latest novel: bound 8 1/2" x 11" sheets shot from typescript and reproducing the author's holograph corrections, and the advance reading copy. Both states fine.
149. HUXLEY, Aldous. Complete Essays. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000. The uncorrected proof copy -- three volumes, covering the years up to 1935, of a projected six-volume series -- totaling over 1500 pages. Each volume is fine in wrappers.
150. IRVING, John. A Widow for One Year. Media: Unicycle Press (1998). The American limited edition, theoretically issued to precede the American trade edition, both of which followed the British limited and trade editions as well as the Dutch edition. One of 1200 copies signed by the author. Leatherbound, gilt stamped, with an introduction by Irving on gender and structure that does not appear in other editions. The first publication by Unicycle Press, issued with a relatively small limitation compared to the Franklin Library signed editions of Irving's last several novels. Fine. At the list price:
151. ISHIGURO, Kazuo. An Artist of the Floating World. NY: Putnam (1986). The first American edition of the second novel by the author of the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
152. JOYCE, James. Chamber Music. London: Egoist Press, 1923. The third British edition and the first Egoist Press edition; one of only 107 copies. The edition was intended as 500, but 393 sets of sheets remained when Egoist was acquired by Jonathan Cape in 1924 [Slocum and Cahoon]. List of publications of the Egoist Press tipped to rear pastedowns; offsetting to endpages; else fine.
153. JOYCE, James. Ulysses. NY: Random House (1934). The first American edition of the book that redefined the modern novel, and to which all postmodern writing since has been compared. With this book and his later, and last, novel, Finnegans Wake, Joyce expanded the parameters of modern fiction, self-consciously applying a variety of literary techniques to the description of one day in the life of the book's characters. A groundbreaking novel, originally published in Paris in 1922, thereby becoming the model of experimentation, and the anchor of literary accomplishment, for that extraordinary generation of expatriate writers who came to be known as the "Lost Generation." Published on January 25, 1934, the first edition was sold out prior to publication. Sixty-four years later, the Modern Library would name Ulysses the number one book on its list of the 100 greatest English-language novels of the century. The title also appeared in the top ten of the Radcliffe list and the Waterstone's list and on the New York Public Library's Books of the Century. Spotting to foredge, with light indentation and sunning to spine; near fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with a couple nicks and tears at the crown and corners and a small hole mid spine. A very presentable copy of one of the great books of the century which, because of its unlaminated, coarse paper dust jacket, is difficult to find in fine condition.