Catalog 119, A
2. ABBEY, Edward. Slumgullion Stew. NY: Dutton (1984). The scarce hardcover edition of this title, which was issued simultaneously in softcover. A "best of" selection, with much of the contents having been previously published, plus one section from a then-forthcoming novel. Signed by the author in Moab in 1986. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
3. (ABBEY, Edward). Announcement for a Memorial Service. (Salt Lake City): (Dream Garden Press) (1989). A printed postcard announcing a sunrise memorial service for Abbey. With a photograph of Arches National Park, where Abbey lived at one time. Fine.
4. ADAMS, Richard. Watership Down. NY: Macmillan [1974]. The first American edition of Adams' classic first novel, published two years after the British edition. Winner of the Guardian award for children's fiction and the Library Association's Carnegie Medal for outstanding work by a children's author. Text block loose, as is common for this perfectbound book; near fine in a very good, slightly dusty jacket with several short, closed edge tears.
5. AIKEN, Conrad. The Jig of Forslin: A Symphony. Boston: Four Seas, 1916. The author's third book, "a novel of adventure in verse." Inscribed by the author in 1934. Trace rubbing to spine cloth; else fine in a very good, stunningly illustrated dust jacket with shallow edge chipping. The jacket art was done by Dorothy Pulis Lathrop, well-known for her illustrations of children's books by Walter de la Mare and George MacDonald in the 1920s, and the winner of the very first Caldecott Award given in 1938. An extremely early piece of published artwork by her, two years before her first published illustrations in a book. A very attractive copy of a small, fragile book, seldom found with an intact dust jacket and even less often encountered signed by the author as well.
6. AIKEN, Conrad. Punch. NY: Knopf, 1921. Poetry, based on the Punch and Judy tales. Inscribed by the author to the poet Lee Anderson: "For Lee / from Conrad/ Potosi: 1952." Anderson published his first book of poetry in a limited edition in 1942 and at around the same time began a project to record the voices of poets reading their own works, one of whom was Aiken. He left his collection -- over 100 tapes with over 500 authors reading -- to the Library of Congress. Spine darkened and spine label rubbed; very good in a very good, spine and edge-darkened dust jacket with small chips at the extremities. A nice association copy between two poets, and a book seldom found in dust jacket or signed, let alone both.
7. AIKEN, Conrad. The Pilgrimage of Festus. NY: Knopf, 1923. A long narrative poem in five parts. Inscribed by the author: "Edward Wilbur Manchester/ with the best wishes of Conrad Aiken/ 1928." Spine label worn and sunned; near fine in a modestly rubbed dust jacket worn at the folds and with two internal tape repairs, overall about very good. A scarce book in the fragile jacket and/or signed.
8. AIKEN, Conrad. Blue Voyage. NY: Scribner, 1927. The limited edition of this novel about a playwright on a ship crossing from America to England, which was highly praised for its psychological insight at the time of its publication and has since been characterized as a "Joycean meditation" by virtue of its use of interior monologue as the primary vehicle of exposition. One of 125 numbered copies signed by the author. Boards rubbed; near fine without dust jacket, as issued, and lacking the publisher's slipcase.
9. AIKEN, Conrad. Great Circle. NY: Scribner, 1933. A novel about the breakdown of a marriage. A fine copy in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with two edge tears. An attractive copy in a striking, art deco dust jacket by Cleonike Damianakes, who is most well-known to present day book collectors for having done the dust jackets for The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, as well as for several F. Scott Fitzgerald titles.
10. ANDERSON, Kent. Night Dogs. (Tucson): Dennis McMillan, 1996. The long-awaited second novel by the author of Sympathy for the Devil. This book follows his character, Hanson, the protagonist of the first book, after his return from Vietnam to his job as a beat cop in Portland, Oregon -- a path the author himself also took. This, the true first edition, was issued in a small first printing (1900 copies) and became one of the year's most sought-after books. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
11. ANDERSON, Kent. Women of the KKK. (Santa Barbara): (Pride of Tacoma) (2001). One of 250 copies of this 8-page pamphlet printing a portrait of a Reagan-era Klan rally, reported on by the author of the novels Sympathy for the Devil and Night Dogs. Signed by Anderson and by Michael Kellner, the book's designer. Fine in stapled wrappers.
12. ANDERSON, Maxwell. Winterset. Washington: Anderson House, 1935. Signed by the author and additionally inscribed in the year of publication to actor Harold Gould. Together with two autograph notes signed from Anderson to Gould: in one Anderson agrees to sign Winterset and extends appreciation for one of Gould's performances; in the second, which transmits the signed copy, he thanks Gould for his appreciation -- "which is the best one gets in this world." The book is a little sunned; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket. The notes are folded; else fine. Winterset was a great success for Anderson, winning the first ever New York Drama Critics Circle Award; he had won the Pulitzer Prize two years earlier for Both Your Houses. He later wrote Key Largo, basis for the famous Humphrey Bogart film, among many other plays over a career that spanned three decades. A very attractive copy and an excellent association copy.
13. (Anthology). The Legion Book. London: Privately Printed, 1929. Of a total edition of 700 copies, this is one of 100 numbered deluxe copies printed at Curwen Press for Edward, Prince of Wales. Edited by Captain H. Cotton Minchin, and signed by more than 90 authors, artists and politicians, including Winston Churchill, Rudyard Kipling, Aldous Huxley, Vita Sackville-West, P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Sitwell, Rebecca West, Hugh Walpole, John Galsworthy, Max Beerbohm, G.K. Chesterton, John Drinkwater, Hilaire Belloc, Walter de la Mare, Clare Leighton, Georges Clemenceau and many others including Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII. Most of the contributions that appear in this volume do not appear anywhere else. Large quarto, bound in full-white pigskin with blind and gilt panelled design and raised spine bands. Slight dustiness to pigskin; else fine in original clamshell box. An elaborate and extravagant production by one of the great fine presses of the U.K., which grew out of an artists' studio and developed a reputation for its fine printmaking and lithography and for the fine papers used in production.
14. (Anthology). Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern 4. (Brooklyn): McSweeney's, 2000. Individually bound works by Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem, Lydia Davis, George Saunders, Haruki Murakami, Denis Johnson, Paul Maliszewski (on Nabokov paperback covers) and five others. With an additional booklet of sundry publishing opinions, apparently crafted by the editor, Dave Eggers, and another booklet of shorter pieces by various authors. All are fine in stapled wrappers except for the Denis Johnson which is perfectbound, and all fourteen, along with the entertaining Subscriber Agreement, are laid into a folding pictorial box.
15. (Anthology). Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern 5. (Brooklyn): McSweeney's, 2000. Issue No. 5, this being the state with the severed arm dust jacket and the not exactly mirror image of the jacket on the front board. With contributions by Susan Minot, Sarah Vowell, Lydia Davis, J. Robert Lennon, Steven Barthelme, Ann Cummins, and many others. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
16. (Anthology). Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern 6. (Brooklyn): McSweeney's, 2001. Issue No. 6, with CD soundtrack featuring They Might Be Giants and Philip Glass. With contributions by Zadie Smith, Ian Frazier, Breyten Breytenbach, Lydia Davis, Mark O'Donnell, and others. Oblong quarto; clothbound. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
17. ARENAS, Reinaldo. Hallucinations. NY: Harper & Row (1971). The first American edition of this novel by the Cuban writer who was recently the subject of the well-received film Before Night Falls. Blended dampstaining to spine base; near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with light wear to the extremities and some rubbing to the lettering.
18. ASIMOV, Isaac. Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation. NY: Gnome Press (1951, 1952, 1953). First editions of the three volumes in Asimov's landmark Foundation Trilogy, an example of the "alternate history" genre which won a special Hugo Award as the best science fiction series of all time. These were early books in Asimov's career: his first novel, Pebble in the Sky, was published in 1950. Decades later he added additional volumes to the sequence, as well as a prequel volume. Signed by the author in the first volume and with the author's signature tipped to the front flyleaf of volume two; each of these volumes is fine in a near fine dust jacket. Volume three, unsigned, is near fine in a very good dust jacket with several closed edge tears, one internally tape-mended. In all an extremely attractive set, in striking pictorial dust jackets. For the set:
19. (Auerhahn Press). Solicitation. San Francisco: Auerhahn Press (n.d.). Small blue card, the gist of which is, "The Auerhahn Press is looking for work..." Blue deckle-edged notecard. Fine. A scarce, ephemeral piece by the noted press, a partnership of Dave Haselwood and Andrew Hoyem, two of the important publishers and printers of the 1960s; Hoyem went on to found the Arion Press, while Haselwood published many of the Beat writers before they were well-known.
20. (Auerhahn Press). Holiday Greeting. (n.p.): Auerhahn Press (1962). Holiday greeting printing verses of Walt Whitman. Fine. Attractive ephemeral piece from this important small press.