Catalog 121, N-Q
273. NUNN, Kem. Pomona Queen. NY: Pocket (1992). The third novel by the author of Tapping the Source, one of the great hard-boiled novels of California surf culture (there can't have been many, but Nunn's book really was a great one -- likened by Robert Stone to a cross between James Crumley and Raymond Chandler). This novel was marketed by its publisher as a mystery, which reportedly incensed the author, as such genre categories tend to ghetto-ize books and keep them from getting the kind of review attention that mainstream fiction gets. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
274. O'BRIEN, Tim. Northern Lights. NY: Delacorte (1975). His second novel, a tale of two brothers in the wilderness of northern Minnesota, one of them a war veteran, the other a veteran of the protests against that war. A cheaply-made, "perfectbound" book, it is difficult to find in nice condition, rivaling his extremely elusive first book, If I Die in a Combat Zone, for scarcity. Signed by the author. Slight sunning to the board edges; inner hinge professionally strengthened; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
275. O'BRIEN, Tim. Going After Cacciato. (NY): Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence (1978). His third book, a magical realist novel about a recruit who decides to walk away from the Vietnam war and go to Paris, overland. Winner of the National Book Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a crease on the rear flap. A very nice copy of the book that secured O'Brien's reputation as the pre-eminent novelist of the American experience in Vietnam.
276. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. With textual variations from the published version, allowing a look at an earlier draft. Spine cocked and faded; covers somewhat creased; very good in tall wrappers. Uncommon.
277. O'BRIEN, Tim. The Nuclear Age. NY: Knopf, 1985. The uncorrected proof copy of his fourth novel, about a man compelled to dig a bomb shelter in his back yard to protect his family even if it means losing them in the process. Spine-faded; modest overall handling; very good in wrappers.
278. -. Same title. A review copy. Signed by the author. Nick to the front cloth (apparently a binding flaw), else fine in a mildly spine-faded dust jacket.
279. O'BRIEN, Tim The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of related stories that share a number of characters as well as the narrator -- a "Tim O'Brien" whose experience bears certain similarities to the author's own, as well as a number of differences. Selected as one of the best books of the year in all categories by the editors of The New York Times Book Review; winner of the Heartland Award among others, including a National Magazine Award for the title chapter. Not quite a novel in the usual sense but more tightly structured than the usual collection of stories, it is a meditation on war and death, and on the place that storytelling has in bringing these unfathomable experiences within our grasp. Fine in wrappers.
280. -. Another copy. Slight bump at spine base; still about fine in wrappers.
281. -. Same title, an advance reading excerpt featuring a trial dust jacket design. Signed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers. Laid in is the cover art for yet another jacket design vetoed by O'Brien.
282. O'BRIEN, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. A novel involving a Vietnam vet who rises to a position of public prominence but carries a secret that threatens to undo his accomplishment. Named best novel of the year by Time magazine. Inscribed by the author in the month of publication. This is the wide issue, 1 1/16" thick; no priority has been established.
283. -. Same title. Two advance issues: the advance reading copy and the "Uncorrected Proof" that followed the more common advance reading copy. The earlier advance copy was heavily revised by the author before the book was published, and the "proof," in printed wrappers but without the raised lettering and author photo of the advance reading copy, incorporates his final changes before publication. With publisher's letter of transmittal laid in. The advance reading copy has a splayed front cover and is otherwise fine in wrappers; the "Uncorrected Proof" is fine in wrappers. For both:
284. O'BRIEN, Tim. Tomcat in Love. NY: Broadway Books (1998). Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
285. -. Same title. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1998. The leatherbound limited edition, with an introduction written especially for this edition that keeps us from calling this title a departure for O'Brien: "Though I am known as a 'Vietnam writer' -- whatever that may be -- I have always pegged myself more as a 'love writer,' and in that regard Tomcat in Love is no departure at all." Signed by the author. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
286. O'CONNELL, Carol. Mallory's Oracle. London: Hutchinson (1994). The advance reading copy of the true first edition of the first book in the acclaimed Mallory series, published in the U.K. prior to its publication in the U.S. even though the author is American. One corner creased and the first few pages also show creases; near fine in wrappers. Uncommon.
287. -. Same title, the advance reading copy of the first American edition. NY: Putnam (1994). Fine in wrappers.
288. O'CONNOR, Flannery. Proof Dust Jacket for The Habit of Being. [NY]: FSG [1979]. The proof dust jacket (jacket only, no book) for her collected letters, printing only the cover art and spine. Together with a copy of the finished jacket adding author photo and flap text. Each folded; else fine.
289. ONDAATJE, Michael. Leonard Cohen. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart (1970). An early and uncommon "A" item by Ondaatje, being a short critical study of Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen; number 5 in the Canadian Writers series. Signed by the author. A paperback original. Price rubbed out on covers; modest rubbing and creasing; still about near fine.
290. 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. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
291. ONDAATJE, Michael. Claude Glass. (Toronto): Coach House Press, 1979. The first draft (June, 1979) of this poem by Ondaatje, published as a Coach House Press MS. Edition, a computer line-printer copy of a work in progress printed and bound as orders are received and updated as the author revises. "Claude Glass" is a five page poem bound in stapled wrappers, which was later incorporated into the work Secular Love. Fine. Uncommon.
292. (ONDAATJE, Michael). New Wave Canada. Toronto: Contact Press (1966). Ondaatje's first book appearance: fourteen poems in this anthology of Canadian poetry edited by Raymond Souster. Issued in wrappers in an edition of 736 copies. Quarto. Acidic pages darkening; a very good copy, inscribed by contributor Barry Lord.
293. PELECANOS, George P. A Firing Offense. NY: St. Martin's (1992). His first book, a mystery novel featuring Nick Stefanos. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with two edge tears on the rear panel. One of the most interesting new arrivals in the hard-boiled detective genre and one of the most sought after first mysteries of recent years.
294. PELECANOS, George P. King Suckerman. Boston: Little, Brown (1997). His sixth book, set in Washington, D.C. in the mid-1970s, and involving characters who are related to those in his novel The Big Blowdown and who cross paths with characters from his Nick Stefanos novels. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
295. PERCY, Walker. Love in the Ruins. NY: FSG (1971). His third novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award. His first novel, The Moviegoer, won the award. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
296. PERCY, Walker. Lancelot. NY: FSG (1977). His fourth novel. Inscribed by the author to a well-known writer and critic. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small chip threatening at the upper rear panel. A nice association copy.
297. PHILLIPS, Jayne Anne. Machine Dreams. NY: Dutton/Lawrence (1984). The uncorrected proof copy of her first novel, a well-received book about the effect on a family of the Vietnam war and its aftermath. Spine-faded, with the outline of some dampstaining surrounding the rear fold; very good in wrappers.
298. PORTER, Katherine Anne. The Collected Essays. NY: Delacorte Press/Lawrence (1970). Inscribed by the author to her publisher, Seymour Lawrence in the month of publication. Some minor dampstaining; very good in a modestly worn, slightly spine-faded dust jacket.
299. POUND, Ezra. Section: Rock-Drill. (NY): New Directions (1956). The first American edition of Cantos 85-95. Ink numbers rear flyleaf; else fine in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket with a tear at mid-spine.
300. POUND, Ezra. Thrones. (New York): New Directions (1959). The first American edition of Cantos 96-109. Fine in a spine-darkened, near fine dust jacket.
301. POUND, Ezra. Drafts & Fragments of Cantos CX-CXVII. (NY): New Directions (1968). A small volume printing for the first time in book form several of the portions of the Cantos on which Pound had been working for some time. Fine in a spine and edge-darkened dust jacket.
302. POWERS, Richard. Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1988). The first British edition of one of the most highly praised first novels of recent years -- a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for a book of "considerable literary achievement." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
303. PYNCHON, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1966). Pynchon's second novel, winner of the 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, price-clipped dust jacket with one previously tape-mended edge tear.