Catalog 118, U-Z
263. UPDIKE, John. Toward the End of Time. NY: Knopf, 1997. A novel that was initially published to mixed reviews: Margaret Atwood, in The New York Times Book Review, loved it; David Foster Wallace, a self-proclaimed Updike fan, wrote a scathing review of it in The New York Observer. Inscribed by the author. Remainder stripe; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
264. UPDIKE, John. Licks of Love. NY: Knopf, 2000. A collection of short stories and a novella, "Rabbit Remembered," a sequel to the Rabbit Angstrom sequence. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
265. -. Another copy. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with anti-theft device on verso.
266. UPDIKE, John. The Complete Henry Bech. NY: Knopf, 2001. A volume in Knopf's "Everyman Library," collecting Bech: A Book, Bech is Back, Bech at Bay, and adding "His Oeuvre." With an introduction by Malcolm Bradbury. Signed by Updike. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
267. UPDIKE, John. Photograph. Undated. A color photograph of Updike working at his typewriter, in front of bookshelves filled with his own books. Signed by Updike. 7" x 5", matted and framed to 13 1/2" x 11". Fine.
268. (UPDIKE, John). In Memoriam: Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977. NY: McGraw-Hill (1977). A small memorial volume, with Updike being one of the six contributors. Spine-faded; near fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
269. (VOLLMANN, William T.). MILLER, Ken. Kidnapping for Spin Magazine. 1993. A photograph of Vollmann by Miller, who has provided author photos for several of Vollmann's books. No. 1 of 40 numbered copies signed by Miller. Black & white; approximately 19" x 14". Matted to 25" x 20". Fine.
270. VONNEGUT, Kurt. "Army Specialized Training Program card" from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Dated August 5, 1943, the card is filled out in Vonnegut's hand and lists his name and address, date and place of birth, educational background, date of induction, Army serial number, Army test scores, religious preference, etc. Signed by Vonnegut. Vonnegut was 20 years old at the time he filled out this form; he had volunteered for the Army and originally been turned down for health reasons, but he was later accepted into the Specialized Training Program and sent to Carnegie Institute to study mechanical drawing. Vonnegut was sent overseas in late 1944, just in time to take part in the Battle of the Bulge. He was captured behind German lines and shipped with other POWs to Dresden, where they were housed in the cellar of a slaughterhouse. While he was imprisoned, the British and American air forces firebombed Dresden, in a calculated effort to create a firestorm. The result was that 135,000 Germans, mostly civilians, were killed -- more casualties than were caused by the atomic explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Almost a quarter century later, Vonnegut wrote the book he had intended to write ever since surviving Dresden -- Slaughterhouse Five -- which by itself established him as an important American writer, and which remains a classic. A unique ephemeral piece from an early critical moment in Vonnegut's life and military career. Fine.
271. WALKER, Alice. Revolutionary Petunias. NY: HBJ (1973). The uncorrected proof copy of the second collection of poems by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple. 8 1/2" x 11" bound galleys printed on rectos only. Short shallow horizontal creases to spine; else fine in wrappers. An uncommon format; the trade edition itself is quite scarce, the proof considerably more so.
272. WELTY, Eudora. The Ponder Heart. NY: Harcourt Brace (1954). Her sixth book, winner of the 1955 William Dean Howells Medal for the best book in the preceding five year period. Signed by the author on the half-title page. Fine in a dust jacket that has a tiny bit of surface dust soiling on the rear panel but is still fine; a beautiful copy.
273. WHARTON, Edith. The House of Mirth. London: Macmillan, 1905. The first British edition of Wharton's first major novel, which was recently made into a well-received movie. Owner name in pencil on front pastedown; modest foxing to endpages; spine a bit faded and rubbed; small blended stain lower front corner. A very good copy, without dust jacket.
274. WHITE, E.B. The Lady is Cold. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1929. A collection of poems by "E.B.W.," his first book to be published by a trade publisher. This is the first issue binding. Prelims a bit foxed and light wear to tips; a near fine copy, lacking the rare dust jacket.
275. WHITE, E.B. The Fox of Peapack. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1938. Poetry, including several book reviews in the poetic form. Offsetting to endpages; label removal to rear pastedown; owner name on front flyleaf; otherwise near fine in a fair, internally and externally tape-mended and price-clipped dust jacket. Quite scarce in any dust jacket.
276. WHITE, E.B. Charlotte's Web. NY: Harper & Brothers (1952). The second of his children's books and White's most famous book, a classic that has stayed in print continuously for nearly a half-century and was also the basis for a highly successful animated film. White was a poet and humorist before beginning a decades-long career as an essayist at The New Yorker, helping to give that magazine its reputation for clarity, urbanity and fine writing. His children's books are the only fiction that he wrote, and they have been much-loved over the years by children and adults alike, for their sensitive characterizations and their depictions of the bittersweet pain of life and loss. Charlotte's Web tells the story of a child's pet pig and its close friend, the spider, Charlotte, and in so doing explores the nature of friendship and the value of a life well-lived, in service of others, however truncated. Ownership signature and bookplate; tape strips on the endpages from prior attachment of the jacket flaps; otherwise a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket that has the aforementioned tape strips on flaps.
277. WHITE, E.B. Stuart Little in the Schoolroom. NY: Harper & Row (n.d.)[1962]. The first separate printing of chapter twelve of Stuart Little, published as a Christmas gift for employees and associates of Harper & Row. Near fine in red cloth, without dust jacket, as issued. Uncommon.
278. WILLIAMS, William Carlos. Paterson. (NY): New Directions (1946-1958). Williams' landmark epic poem, a Connolly 100 title, universally considered a masterpiece and one of the most important accomplishments in American poetry. Published in five volumes over twelve years. Books one through four were limited to 1000 copies. Book One has an owner name stamp on the front pastedown and some offsetting around the hinges; the jacket of Book Two has a small nick at the flap fold and the jacket of Book Three has an upper edge tear; otherwise a fine set in very near fine dust jackets; one of the nicest sets we have seen offered for sale in recent years.
279. WINTERSON, Jeanette. The Passion. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press (1988). A review copy of the first American edition of her fourth book (or her second book if one only counts the books she likes to have counted). Winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize. With author photo, press release and publicity postcard from the book's British publisher laid in. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
280. WINTERSON, Jeanette. Written on the Body. NY: Knopf, 1993. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this novel, a love story with a narrator of undeclared gender, and a departure from the magical realism of Sexing the Cherry and The Passion. Fine in wrappers.
281. -. Another copy of the proof. Near fine in wrappers, but with cover art and publicity material stapled inside the front cover.
282. WOLFE, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. NY: FSG (1968). Wolfe's landmark account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and their bus trip across the country. The epitome of the "New Journalism" that Wolfe helped to bring about in the Sixties, it was called at the time "the most penetrating piece of writing yet done on the ethos and dynamics of the hippie" and it remains a classic of the time. Very slight, general evidence of use; near fine in a very good dust jacket with a small stain and tear to the rear flap fold. A nice copy of a book that is increasingly difficult to find in this condition.
283. WOOLF, Virginia. The Common Reader and The Common Reader: Second Series. London: Hogarth Press, 1925 and 1932. The first volume is modestly foxed; very good, in illustrated boards with a Vanessa Bell design; the second volume is near fine, also without dust jacket. For both:
284. (WOOLF, Virginia). BELL, Quentin. Virginia Woolf. A Biography. London: Hogarth Press, 1972. Two volumes. Volume One is fine in a near fine dust jacket; Volume Two is fine in a very good dust jacket with one internally tape-mended edge tear. For both:
285. WRIGHT, Richard. The Outsider. NY: Harper (1953). The second novel by the author of Native Son and Black Boy, the success of which catapulted Wright to the front rank of African-American authors. Fine in a fine dust jacket with just trace rubbing to the tips. A beautiful copy.
286. YARBROUGH, Steve. The Oxygen Man. Denver: MacMurray & Beck (1999). His first novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a blurb by James Lee Burke.
287. (YEATS, W.B.). SYMONS, A.J.A. A Bibliography of the First Editions of Books by William Butler Yeats. London: First Edition Club, 1924. Bowing to boards, chip threatening at lower spine; a very good copy in a poor dust jacket, which is laid into the book in pieces.