Catalog 120, O-P
205. O'BRIEN, Tim. If I Die in a Combat Zone. (NY): Delta (1989). Later printing of a paperback reprint of O'Brien's first book, a highly praised memoir in which O'Brien uses some of the techniques of fiction to convey the experience of Vietnam with immediacy and power. Originally published in 1973, this edition dates from 1989. O'Brien revised this book more than once between the publication of various editions. Signed by the author in 1995. Near fine in wrappers.
206. O'BRIEN, Tim. Going After Cacciato. Paris: Plon (1990). The first French edition (A La Poursuite de Cacciato) of his third book, a magical realist novel about a recruit who decides to walk away from the war and go to Paris, overland, originally published in 1978. Signed by the author. Near fine in wrappers.
207. -. Same title, the first Japanese edition, issued in two volumes, each fine in fine dust jacket with publisher's wraparound band. Each is signed by the author.
208. -. Another copy, also signed by the author, with the wraparound band torn and laid in to Volume II.
209. O'BRIEN, Tim. The Nuclear Age. Paris: Presses de la Renaissance (1987). The first French edition (En Attendant la Fin du Monde) of his fourth novel, first published in 1985. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
210. -. Same title, the first Italian edition, Pesoatomico 238. (Milan): A Vallardi (1987). Signed by the author. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with outwardly imperceptible dampstaining.
211. -. Same title, the first printing of the American paperback reprint. (NY): (Dell) (1993). Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
212. -. Same title, the first Japanese edition. Fine in wrappers, with publisher's wraparound band. Signed by the author.
213. O'BRIEN, Tim. The Things They Carried. (Milan): Leonardo (1990, 1991, 1992). Three Italian editions (Quanto Pesano I Fantasmi) of his fifth book, a collection of related stories that was first published in 1990. Each is signed by the author. The first edition is fine in a near fine dust jacket; the second edition is fine in a very good dust jacket with dampstaining to the crown; the third edition is fine in a fine dust jacket. For the set:
214. -. Same title, the first Swedish edition, Allt de Bar. (Stockholm): Norstedts (1991). Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket dampstained on verso.
215. -. Same title, the first Argentine edition, Las Cosas que Llevaban. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana (1992). Signed by the author. Fine in self-wraps.
216. -. Same title, the first French edition, A Propos de Courage. Paris: Plon (1992). Fine in wrappers and signed by the author.
217. -. Another copy of the first French edition, unsigned. Fine in wrappers.
218. -. Same title, a later French edition -- 1993, the year the title won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, the French award for the best foreign book of the year. Fine in wrappers and signed by the author.
219. -. Another copy of the later French edition. Front cover slice; near fine in wrappers and signed by the author.
220. -. Same title, the first and second Spanish editions (Las Cosas que Llevaban). Barcelona: Anagrama (1993, 1994). Fine in self-wraps, with publisher's wraparound band. Each is signed by the author. For both:
221. -. Same title, the second Spanish edition. Signed by the author. Near fine in wrappers.
222. O'BRIEN, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods. (Munich): Luchterhand (1995). The first German edition (Geheimnisse und Lügen) of this novel involving a Vietnam vet who rises to a position of public prominence but carries a secret that threatens to undo his accomplishment. First published in 1994. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
223. O'CONNOR, Flannery. Everything That Rises Must Converge. NY: FSG (1965). A collection of stories published shortly after she died. Like her first collection, this was a National Book Award nominee. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy of this book.
224. O'HARA, John. Hope of Heaven and Other Stories. NY: Avon Book Company (1946). First thus, printing Hope of Heaven and four shorter works by O'Hara as a volume of Avon Modern Short Story Monthly. Pages acidifying; very good in wrappers modestly rubbed at the spine folds. Uncommon, and an interesting look at a short-lived publishing phenomenon -- paperback "originals," i.e., with no corresponding hardcover edition, issued in digest form.
225. ONDAATJE, Michael. The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. NY: Norton (1974). The first American edition of this book that was originally published in Canada in 1970. Winner of Canada's Governor General's Award. Small tear front flyleaf; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with one internally tape-mended edge tear on the rear panel.
226. ONDAATJE, Michael. Coming Through Slaughter. Toronto: House of Anansi (1976). The Canadian edition, and true first edition, of Ondaatje's first full-length prose work, a novel based on the life of a turn-of-the-century New Orleans jazz musician. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Scarce.
227. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Norton [1977]. Fine in a very near fine, mildly edge-toned dust jacket.
228. ONDAATJE, Michael. Running in the Family. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (1982). The true first edition of this memoir of the author's youth in Sri Lanka and his family's history there. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with one closed edge tear.
229. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Norton (1982). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
230. ONDAATJE, Michael. In the Skin of a Lion. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (1987). A highly praised novel set in the aftermath of World War I, and the novel that immediately preceded Ondaatje's award-winning The English Patient. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
231. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Knopf, 1987. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
232. ONDAATJE, Michael. Anil's Ghost. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (2000). Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
233. ORWELL, George. Hop-Picking. (Kent): Bridge Books (1970). A limited edition of an essay by Orwell, here published separately for the first time. One of three hundred numbered copies. Fine with acetate dust jacket (original?).
234. PEARS, Tim. In a Land of Plenty. London: Doubleday (1997). The second book by this British novelist, a family saga spanning over 40 years. His first book won the Hawthornden Prize. This novel was the basis for a television miniseries. Signed by the author in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
235. PEREZ-REVERTE, Arturo. The Dumas Club. London: Harvill (1996). The first English language edition of this bibliomystery that revolves around a manuscript section of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. Originally published in Spain in 1993 and compared to the novels of Umberto Eco. Basis for the movie The Ninth Gate, which received mixed reviews, unlike the near-universal praise the book received. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
236. (Photography). FREED, Leonard. Made in Germany. NY: Grossman, 1970. The very uncommon hardcover edition of this collection of photographs by the noted photojournalist, a Magnum photographer since 1972 and the author of a number of photo-essay books that explore lives on the margins of society. This volume chronicles a still-divided Germany -- East and West -- with an eye toward the extraordinary in the everyday. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple of short edge tears. The hardcover issue is quite scarce these days.
237. (Photography). GAINES, Charles and BUTLER, George. Pumping Iron. NY: Simon & Schuster (1974). The softcover issue of the first edition of this landmark volume on "The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding," which featured a photograph of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover when he was still known solely as a bodybuilder, years before he became an actor. Inscribed by both Gaines and Butler. The book went through a huge number of printings and the first edition, in cloth or paper, is quite scarce these days, especially signed copies. Light cover splaying and one corner crease; near fine.
238. (Photography). GRIFFITHS, Philip Jones. Vietnam Inc. NY: Collier Books, 1971. The softcover issue of this classic book of photojournalism of the Vietnam war, which focused on the effects of the war on both participants and victims rather than the fighting itself. Recently, a new edition of it was published with a foreword by Noam Chomsky, who was reportedly profoundly influenced by its original publication. Fine in wrappers and quite scarce thus.
239. (Photography). PARKS, Gordon. A Poet and His Camera. NY: Viking (1968). A book of photographs and poems by this groundbreaking and multi-talented African-American artist. Parks was the first African-American photographer to work for Life and Look magazines, as well as the first African-American to work for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration. In addition, as a filmmaker, he wrote, produced and directed The Learning Tree, which in 1989 was one of only 25 films placed in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Warmly inscribed by Parks "with love, love, love." Fine in a near fine jacket.
240. (Photography). PARKS, Gordon. Whispers of Intimate Things. NY: Viking (1971). Another volume of photographs and poems, and again warmly inscribed by Parks "with affection and long lasting love." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
241. (Photography). PARKS, Gordon. In Love. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1971). Inscribed by Parks affectionately "To ____ - for who [sic] this little effort could have been written." Upper portion of the front cover soiled behind a tear in the dust jacket; near fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple of other tears.
242. PIRSIG, Robert M. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. NY: Morrow, 1974. Pirsig's first book, an acclaimed and bestselling inquiry into values and examination of Quality, and a title that is difficult to find in nice condition owing to its "perfectbound" construction, small first printing (its bestsellerdom took both author and publisher completely by surprise) and the fact that most copies that turn up are well-read. Modest foredge foxing; still about fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice copy of one of the key books of the 1970s.
243. POUND, Ezra. Typed Letter Signed. February 9, 1927. An extremely encouraging and revealing rejection letter, in which Pound rejects a poem yet requests a manuscript, and in so doing offers glimpses of his own editorial philosophy. Typed on letterhead; folded in eighths; bearing a couple faint smudges; boldly initialed by Pound. Near fine.
244. POUND, Ezra. Drafts & Fragments of Cantos CX-CXVII. (NY): New Directions (1968). The limited edition of several of the portions of the Cantos on which Pound had been working for some time. Gallup A91c. One of 310 copies signed by the author. A fine copy in a very good, sunned slipcase splitting at one joint and bumped at one corner.
245. PROULX, E. Annie and NICHOLS, Lew. The Complete Dairy Foods Cookbook. Emmaus: Rodale Press (1982). A how-to volume, an early book -- preceding her first fiction by several years -- by this writer whose fiction has won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Fine in pictorial boards.
246. PROULX, E. Annie. Heart Songs and Other Stories. NY: Scribner (1988). Her first book of fiction, a collection of short stories. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with one closed edge tear at the lower rear spine fold.
247. -. Same title. NY: Simon & Schuster/Scribner (1995). The first printing of the Scribner paperback edition, published after the success of The Shipping News. Fine in wrappers.
248. PROULX, E. Annie. Accordion Crimes. (NY): Scribner (1996). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
249. PROULX, Annie. Close Range. (NY): Scribner (1999). A collection of "Wyoming Stories," one of which, "The Half-Skinned Steer," was selected for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
250. PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1963). Pynchon's first book, winner of the Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year, and the debut of one of the most important American writers of the postwar era. A fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with a couple slight edge nicks and trace rubbing to the spine but with none of the fading to the spine that is endemic to this title. One of the most attractive copies of it we've ever seen, and probably the nicest copy we've ever handled. In custom quarter leather clamshell box.
251. PYNCHON, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1966). Pynchon's second novel, winner of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the most overtly political, and paranoid, of Pynchon's novels. Chosen by David Pringle as one of the hundred best novels of Modern Fantasy. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with two shallow spots of dampstaining to lower edge. In custom quarter leather clamshell box.
252. PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. NY: Viking (1973). A review copy of Pynchon's landmark third novel, winner of the National Book Award as well as the William Dean Howells Medal for the best work of fiction by an American over a five-year span. Gravity's Rainbow became the benchmark for postmodern American fiction upon publication and secured its mysterious and reclusive author's place in the postwar American literary pantheon. Faint foxing to top stain; else fine in a fine dust jacket with a corner crease on the front flap. A beautiful, near perfect copy of this massive book, and very scarce in such condition and as a prepublication review copy. In custom quarter leather clamshell box.