Catalog 117, R
278. RANKIN, Ian. Strip Jack. NY: St. Martin's (1994). The first American edition of this early novel featuring John Rebus of the Edinburgh, Scotland police; one of the most popular and critically acclaimed series in contemporary crime fiction. Fine in a near fine dust jacket, with a short creased tear on the front panel. A nice copy of a scarce book.
279. RANKIN, Ian. The Black Book. NY: Otto Penzler (1994). The first American edition of the fifth Rebus novel. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
280. RANKIN, Ian. Death is Not the End. (London): Orion (1998). A novella by the Scottish mystery writer, featuring John Rebus. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
281. RANKIN, Ian. Dead Souls. (London): Orion (1999). Another in the Inspector Rebus series. The previous entry in the series won the Macallan Gold Dagger award for fiction. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with publisher's "Special Introductory Price" sticker.
282. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with publisher's "Special Introductory Price" sticker.
283. RANKIN, Ian. The Falls. (London): Orion (2001). The most recent Rebus novel. Signed by the author. Unread copy but near fine in a near fine dust jacket, the lower edge of the jacket having once adhered to the front board.
284. -. Same title. The advance reading copy. Fine in wrappers.
285. REZNIKOFF, Charles. Nine Plays. NY: (Self-Published), 1927. One of 400 numbered copies of this self-published play in verse, by one of the foremost of the Objectivist poets. Inscribed by the author in 1975. Light mottling to cloth; near fine in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket with a small chip at the upper rear spine fold. Reznikoff was so little-known during his lifetime that he published much of his work himself, although he has come to be considered one of the leading poets of the school defined by William Carlos Williams and epitomized by Louis Zukofsky, among others. A very nice copy of this fragile early volume.
286. RHYS, Jean. Voyage in the Dark. NY: Morrow, 1935. The first American edition of the author's fourth book, a story of eighteen months in the life of a chorus girl who, like the author, grew up in the West Indies. After an early and productive writing career, during which she received much critical praise, Rhys went for nearly three decades without publishing a new work until Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966. At that time, her frank sensuality was embraced by the women's movement and her earlier works were rediscovered and republished. Offsetting to endpapers; very good in a dust jacket with several small edge chips and wear along the folds. Scarce in jacket.
287. RICE, Anne. The Vampire Armand. (New Orleans): (B.E. Trice) (1998). The limited edition of this novel in her ongoing vampire chronicles. Of a total edition of 326 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies, in full leather, signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
288. RICH, Adrienne. Collected Early Poems, 1950-1970. NY: Norton (1993). The uncorrected proof copy. Collects all the poems from her first six volumes, plus a dozen others from that period. Faint spotting to front cover and spine base; near fine in wrappers.
289. RICH, Adrienne. What is Found There. Notebooks on Poetry and Politics. NY: Norton (1993). The uncorrected proof copy. Spine slant; else fine in wrappers.
290. ROTH, Philip. Shop Talk. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. The advance reading copy of this collection of conversations between Roth and Milan Kundera, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Edna O'Brien, Aharon Appelfeld, Primo Levi and Ivan Klíma. In addition, Roth exchanges letters with Mary McCarthy and offers a reading of the work of Saul Bellow and an appreciation of Bernard Malamud. Fine.
291. RUSHDIE, Salman. Grimus. London: Gollancz, 1975. The first novel by the author of Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses, and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, among others. This is a fantasy that is by all accounts not in the same class as his later works but is quite scarce and, by virtue of his later career, an important first book. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a hint of wear at the spine crown; still, a beautiful copy.
292. RUSHDIE, Salman. Midnight's Children. NY: Knopf, 1981. The first American edition of his 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 Muslim 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 touch of the usual spine fading and trace wear at the spine base.
293. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Jonathan Cape (1981). This is the more desirable edition for "following the flag" and it is also considerably scarcer than the U.S. edition, with 2500 copies printed (the British book market being approximately one-fifth the size of the U.S. market). Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a hint of sunning to the spine.
294. RUSHDIE, Salman. Shame. London: Jonathan Cape (1983). The second in his series of books dealing with Islam and the countries of the East, beginning with Midnight's Children and ending with The Satanic Verses. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
295. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Knopf, 1983. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some edge-sunning to the rear panel.
296. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Jaguar Smile. A Nicaraguan Journey. (NY): Viking (1987). The first American and first hardcover edition of this politically charged account of a trip the author took to Nicaragua during the Sandinista years. Faint dampstain to crown; near fine in similar dust jacket.
297. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Satanic Verses. (London): Viking (1988). The true first edition of this controversial book, published in England several months before the U.S. publication. An ambitious novel and an imaginative tour de force, the book seems destined to become part of literary history by virtue of its notoriety -- it prompted a death sentence on Rushdie by Islamic fundamentalists, causing him to go into hiding for years -- rather than its considerable literary accomplishment. Winner of the Whitbread Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
298. -. Same title, the limited edition, published simultaneously with the British trade edition and bound in goatskin and buckram cloth. One of 100 numbered copies signed by the author. Slight shelf wear to lower board edges, else fine.
299. -. Same title, the first American edition. (NY): Viking (1988). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
300. RUSHDIE, Salman. Haroun and the Sea of Stories. London: Granta (1990). A small novel, written while the author was in hiding, about a father and son, and reportedly dedicated to his own young son, whom he was unable to see at the time, for reasons of security. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
301. -. Same title, the first American edition. (NY): Viking (1991). Gift inscription front flyleaf; fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket that is also corner-clipped on the lower rear panel.
302. RUSHDIE, Salman. Imaginary Homelands. London: Granta (1991). A collection of 75 essays covering ten years and including political and social commentary and literary essays on the work of such writers as Ford, Pynchon, Carver, Naipaul, Chatwin, Bellow, Greene, Orwell, Gordimer, Desai, and Le Carré (with whom Rushdie had a widely celebrated public spat, which one might see anticipated in the review contained in this volume). Signed by the author. Fine in dust jacket.
303. -. Same title, the first American edition. (NY): Viking/Granta (1991). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
304. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Wizard of Oz. (London): BFI Publishing (1992). The uncommon first printing of Rushdie's small book on The Wizard of Oz. Issued only in paperback, this copy is fine in wrappers.
305. RUSHDIE, Salman. Good Advice is Rarer Than Rubies. (n.p.): Pantheon (1994). An advance excerpt from his story collection, East, West, printed in an edition of 2000 copies to be given away for promotional purposes. Signed by the author on a tipped-in label, as issued. Fine in stapled wrappers.
306. RUSHDIE, Salman. East, West. London: Cape (1994). His first collection of stories. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
307. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Pantheon Books (1994). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
308. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Moor's Last Sigh. London: Cape (1995). Signed by the author. Fine in a dust jacket with very slight creasing near the spine crown.
309. -. Same title, the limited edition. One of 200 numbered copies signed by the author. Clothbound; fine in a fine slipcase.
310. -. Same title, first American edition. NY: Pantheon (1996). Fine in dust jacket.
311. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Ground Beneath Her Feet. London: Jonathan Cape (1999). Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
312. -. Same title, the limited edition. No. 136 of 150 copies (limitation unspecified) signed by the author. Leatherbound; fine in slipcase.
313. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Henry Holt (1999). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
314. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Screenplay of Midnight's Children. (London): Vintage (1999). Adaptation and introduction by Rushdie, for a six hour version of his award-winning novel to have been made for television, but never produced. Signed by the author. A paperback original. Fine.
315. RUSHDIE, Salman. Fury. NY: Random House (2001). The uncorrected proof copy of his new novel. Fine in wrappers.
316. (RUSHDIE, Salman). For Rushdie. NY: Braziller (1994). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this collection of essays by Arab and Muslim writers, published at the height of the controversy over Rushdie's enforced isolation, driven into hiding by the fatwa, or death sentence, imposed on him by Muslim fundamentalists after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Fine in wrappers.
317. (RUSHDIE, Salman). DELILLO, Don. "On February 14, 1989..." (NY): (Rushdie Defense Committee USA)(1994). A flyer issued in support of Salman Rushdie on the fifth anniversary of the Iranian death edict issued against him in response to The Satanic Verses. DeLillo, himself a master of imagining the fictive individual's response to dark and seeping cultural-political forces, asks us to imagine Rushdie's reality. One page folded to make four pages; the text is unattributed to DeLillo on the flyer, but DeLillo was named as author in a letter accompanying the initial distribution. 450,000 copies were printed but few are likely to have been preserved. The publicity effort was organized, in part, by Paul Auster. Fine.
318. RUSSO, Richard. Mohawk. NY: Vintage (1986). His first book, a novel published as a paperback original in the Vintage Contemporaries series. Signed by the author in 1993. Center crease to front cover; near fine.