Catalog 122, M-N
214. -. Another copy, unsigned. Creasing to front flyleaf and a small tear at the lower edge; board edges mildly rubbed; near fine in a very good dust jacket with tears at the crown and internally tape-strengthened there and along both flap folds.
215. MAILER, Norman. Why Are We in Vietnam? NY: Putnam's (1967). A novel that comments on the war with only three mentions of it, including the title. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine, rubbed and spine-faded dust jacket. This copy lacks a printed dedication page, a somewhat disputed issue point, it would seem.
216. MAILER, Norman. The Executioner's Song. Boston: Little Brown (1979). Mailer's massive Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, based on the life and death of convicted killer Gary Gilmore. Signed by the author. Remainder mark; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
217. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Spine slightly slanted and mildly sunned; summary taped inside front cover (which reflects price change); very good in wrappers. A massive proof, probably done in relatively small numbers simply because of the bulk of it (and the expense of producing, even cheaply, such a large book) and few copies are likely to have survived. Scarce.
218. -. Another copy of the proof. Spine cocked and sunned; water ring front cover; small gouge rear cover; summary stapled inside front cover (reflects price change); a good copy in wrappers.
219. MALAMUD, Bernard. The Magic Barrel. NY: Farrar, Straus, Cudahy (1958). The third book by the author of The Natural, a collection of stories that won the National Book Award. Signed by Malamud. Spine cloth sunned and spotted; erasure rear flyleaf; about near fine in a very good, very spine-faded dust jacket with an edge tear at the upper rear flap fold. Uncommon signed.
220. MALAMUD, Bernard. A New Life. NY: Farrar Straus & Cudahy (1961). His fourth novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award. Tiny dent to upper rear board; very near fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket with a few spots on the rear panel.
221. MALAMUD, Bernard. The Fixer. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (1967). The first British edition of his fourth novel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Owner name and date front flyleaf; spotting to top page edges; offset sunning to spine; near fine in a near fine, very mildly spine-tanned dust jacket.
222. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. At Play in the Fields of the Lord. NY: Random House (1965). His fourth novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award and filmed nearly thirty years later. A tale of various Americans with widely divergent aims whose actions all have unintended effects on a tribe of Stone Age Amazonian Indians. This was the first fictional treatment of one of the themes that has dominated Matthiessen's writings, both fiction and nonfiction, over the last 30 years -- the impact of Europeans on the environment and the indigenous cultures living in relative harmony with it, from a perspective that combines the political, cultural and spiritual. A hint of foxing to top stain and a fairly imperceptible crease in the front panel; still a fine copy in a fine dust jacket corner-clipped on the lower rear flap; extremely scarce thus.
223. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. A couple small stains and some binding-based spine creasing; very good in wrappers.
224. MAXWELL, William. Over by the River and Other Stories. NY: Knopf, 1977. Remainder mark; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
225. McCARTHY, Cormac. Blood Meridian. NY: Random House (1985). His fifth book, a novel of the Old West, based on an actual series of events in 1849-1850 in Texas and Mexico, and rendered with an eye to bringing to life the surreal violence of the time and place. One of the most highly regarded books by this Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. McCarthy is notably reclusive; books signed by him are quite uncommon.
226. McCULLERS, Carson. The Ballad of the Sad Café. Boston: Houghton Mifflin/Riverside Press, 1951. Fine in a very good, lightly rubbed dust jacket with a couple creased edge tears and a couple of small chips.
227. McGUANE, Thomas. The Sporting Club. NY: Simon & Schuster (1969). His first book. McGuane was the first of the contemporary writers who have turned the state of Montana into a latter-day American Bloomsbury, with perhaps the highest per capita concentration of writers anywhere in the country. Remainder stripe; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
228. McGUANE, Thomas. Live Water. (Stone Harbor): Meadow Run Press (1996). Essays and tales of angling, by one of the most respected American novelists. This is one of 1500 copies, clothbound in slipcase, issued without dust jacket. Although not called for, this copy is signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
229. McMURTRY, Larry. The Last Picture Show. NY: Dial, 1966. His third novel, which fully realized the promise shown by his first two and firmly established his literary reputation. Basis for the Academy Award-winning movie, which launched the careers of several Hollywood notables. This is a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with no wear and only enough sunning to the spine to dull the red title lettering slightly. A very attractive copy -- one of the nicest we've handled -- of a book that generally soils easily and shows wear readily.
230. McPHEE, John. In the Highlands and Islands. London: Faber & Faber (1986). First thus, a paperback original collecting "The Crofter and the Laird," "Josie's Well," "Pieces of the Frame," and "From Birnam Wood to Dunsinane." Lower outer corner bumped; near fine in wrappers. One of McPhee's scarcer titles.
231. MILLER, Henry. Tropic of Capricorn. Paris: Obelisk Press, 1939. The true first edition of Miller's fourth full-length book, the companion volume to his first, Tropic of Cancer. Printed in Paris in an edition of 1000 copies -- the same as Cancer and the other two books published by Obelisk. This issue is identified by the bibliographer as a later variant first edition, with the price printed on the spine of the book. Signed by the author. Errata slip tipped to title page; price inked out (but visible) on front flap and spine; two small edge tears at the upper spine folds; faint erasure and fainter crease to front panel: near fine in self-wrappers and housed in a custom clamshell case. A very nice copy of a scarce and important book, seldom found signed. Capricorn, like Cancer, could not be published in the U.S. until nearly three decades later because of its frank depiction of sexual matters, but it wielded an enormous influence from afar, and helped usher in the modern era of literature, in which traditional barriers to the artist's self-expression were abandoned.
232. MORRISON, Toni. Sula. (London): Allen Lane (1974). The first British edition of her second novel, which uses the theme of the friendship between two black women to explore issues of race, conformity and expectations within the black community, and within the larger white society. Morrison has won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize; Sula was her first book published in the UK. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple of barely noticeable creases, but none of the spine-fading that so commonly afflicts this title.
233. MORRISON, Toni. Song of Solomon. NY: Knopf, 1977. Her third book and the first to go into multiple printings immediately after publication. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with the barest hint of spine-fading.
234. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Staple holes front cover from publicity sheet, now laid in; else fine in wrappers.
235. MORRISON, Toni. Tar Baby. NY: Knopf, 1981. Her fourth novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a hint of spine fading.
236. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Tiny spots to rear cover; still fine in wrappers.
237. MORRISON, Toni. Beloved. NY: Knopf, 1987. The uncorrected proof copy of her fifth novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was the basis for the award-winning 1998 film by Jonathan Demme. Fine in wrappers.
238. -. Same title. London: Chatto & Windus (1987). The advance reading copy (marked "uncorrected proof") of the first British edition. Fine in wrappers. Scarce.
239. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Lolita. Paris: Olympia Press (1955). The correct first edition of Nabokov's masterwork, published in Paris by the Olympia Press, which was most widely known at that time for the pornography published in its "Travelers Companion" series. This novel, which is now viewed as one of the high spots of 20th century literature, was not published in that series, but was bound in wrappers that are virtually identical to the Travelers Companion books -- presumably so that potential buyers might purchase it thinking they were buying the more "hard-core" erotica. Published in an edition estimated at 5000 copies. Two volumes in wrappers, this being the first issue, distinguished from the second by the absence of a price sticker over the original price on the back cover of Volume II, although the price is inked over here on each volume. Faint stain on the verso of the front wrapper of Volume I and a tiny spot on the front blank; slight spine creasing on both volumes -- from the binding process, not from reading, it would appear. Minuscule wear at the edges; still, without question a fine set, far superior to most we have seen on the market in recent years, with the spine panels still bright white.
240. NABOKOV, Vladimir. Pale Fire. NY: Putnam (1962). His first novel published in the U.S. after the success of Lolita. This is the true first edition, stating "First Impression" both on the dust jacket flap and on the copyright page. Near fine in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with minor edge-sunning and wear and a gutter nick on the front panel. Far less common than one would think, as most of the "firsts" offered are later states, lacking the "first impression" statements.
241. NARAYAN, R.K. The Financial Expert. London: Methuen (1952). The first edition of this early novel, with a Graham Greene introduction. Fine in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket with minor edge wear and a small amount of dampstaining along the rear spine fold.
242. NICHOLS, John. The Milagro Beanfield War. NY: Holt Rinehart Winston (1974). His third book and most well-known, the first in his New Mexico Trilogy. Basis for a well-received movie. Sticker shadow on front pastedown; light corner bumps; near fine in a near fine, lightly sunned and dusty dust jacket with slight wear at the lower edges.
243. NIN, Anaïs. Ladders to Fire. NY: Dutton, 1946. A novel, with woodcuts by Ian Hugo. Top edge foxed; boards well-handled; near fine in a very good dust jacket with only modest edge wear but for a longer tear at the upper rear spine fold.
244. NIN, Anaïs. Children of the Albatross. NY: Dutton, 1947. A novel of adolescence, with blurbs by "young writers" on the dust jacket flap, including "James Merrill, poet, 20 years [old]." Inscribed by the author, "For Lois/ from/ Anaïs." Ownership signature of Lois Wilson. "Miss Nin's permanent address" (a book shop on Christopher St.) written on rear pastedown and also on front jacket flap. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with wear at the corners and spine extremities. An attractive and interesting copy.
245. NIN, Anaïs. The Four-Chambered Heart. NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1950). Inscribed by the author: "For Anne and Max -/ our only friends who/ fulfill all our wishes/ at once for warmth and/ wisdom and elation./ Anaïs." Nin has also written the number "3" in an upper corner and numbered 3 of the titles on her list of previously published titles, with this title numbered 3. Edge-sunning to cloth; near fine in a very good dust jacket with repeated chipping along the top edge. Again, an attractive and interesting copy.
246. NIN, Anaïs. The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vols. 1-7. NY: HBW/HBJ, 1966-1980. Together with A Photographic Supplement to the Diary of Anaïs Nin (NY: HBJ/Harvest, 1974). Seven volumes of Nin's diaries, covering the years 1931-1974, and including the photographic supplement. Volume 1 is signed by the author. An enormously influential series of books which, despite some retrospective questioning of their factuality, nonetheless became a benchmark for women's autobiographical writings just as the feminist movement was coming into being and old definitions of femininity were being called into question. Nin, or at least the persona Nin presented in these somewhat carefully rendered diary excerpts, became a new paradigm for women's sexuality, creativity and independence. Volume 1 is near fine in a very good, rubbed and price-clipped dust jacket with a long tear at the front flap fold; Volume 2 is near fine in a near fine dust jacket with some spine fading and edge wear; Volume 3 is fine in a very good, spine-faded and rubbed dust jacket with internal tape strengthening; Volume 4 is fine in a near fine, internally tape-strengthened dust jacket; Volume 5 is fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket; Volumes 6 and 7 are fine in fine jackets; the photographic supplement is very near fine in wrappers. A nice set. For all:
247. NIN, Anaïs. Unpublished Selections from the Diary. Athens: Duane Schneider Press (1968). A small, hand-produced volume, printing excerpts from Nin's diary that were not included in the published volumes. One of 140 numbered copies signed by the author. Tapebound cardstock covers. Fine. Extremely scarce.
248. NIN, Anaïs. The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 5. NY: HBJ (1974). The uncorrected proof copy of this volume. Large quarto; bound galleys, printed on rectos only, a format that suggests relatively few would have been produced, as it is a bulky and unwieldy book and would have been more expensive to print than standard size proofs. Near fine in wrappers.
249. NIN, Anaïs. Linotte. The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1914-1920. NY: HBJ (1978). A posthumously published early diary, beginning when Nin was 11 years old. Slight sag to text block; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
250. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Paperclip impression rear cover; else fine in tall wrappers.
251. NIN, Anaïs. The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 2. (NY): (HBJ) (1982). The uncorrected proof copy. The first page is detached and laid in; near fine in tall wrappers.
252. NIN, Anaïs. The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 4. NY: HBJ (1985). Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.