Catalog 124, N-S
349. 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 "Travellers 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. Shortly after it was published, it was banned in France for three years (1956-1959). 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.
350. OATES, Joyce Carol. New Heaven, New Earth. NY: Vanguard (1974). Her second volume of criticism, collecting essays previously published in literary journals. Fine in a fine dust jacket, without any of the fading common to this title.
351. OATES, Joyce Carol. I'll Take You There. (NY): Ecco Press (2002). The uncorrected proof copy of her new novel. Fine in wrappers.
352. O'BRIEN, Tim. Speaking of Courage. Santa Barbara: Neville, 1980. His first limited edition, a chapter that was excised from Going After Cacciato and later appeared, in altered form, in The Things They Carried. Of a total edition of 326 copies, this is a presentation copy, so printed on the colophon, and is inscribed by O'Brien: "To Mom and Dad,/ Love,/ Tim." Clothbound, mildly sunned; near fine. An excellent personal association copy; unique. Provenance available.
353. POWERS, Richard. The Time of Our Singing. NY: FSG (2003). The advance reading copy of the new novel by the author of The Gold Bug Variations and Galatea 2.2, among others. Tiny nick at upper edge of front panel; still fine in wrappers. Laid in as promotion is the first separate appearance of John Leonard's January 11, 2001 New York Review of Books article about Powers, entitled "Mind Painting." Folded; near fine.
354. PURDY, James. The Running Sun. (NY): [self-published] (1971). Poetry, with illustrations (one) by the author. One of a stated edition of 300 numbered copies signed by Purdy; this copy additionally inscribed by the author. Only issued in stapled wrappers; this copy partially rolled; very good. Together with a typed letter signed from 1980, in which Purdy announces he is sending this copy to the recipient and that "it is the scarcest of all my books. Only 100 copies exist, I believe, though 300 were supposed to have been printed. The poetry has been set to music rather frequently." Folded for mailing; fine, with envelope.
355. PURDY, James. A Day After the Fair. NY: Note of Hand, 1977. Plays and short stories, done in an edition of 1000 copies. This copy is signed by the author and additionally inscribed by him. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a small spot on the rear panel.
356. PURDY, James. I Will Arrest the Bird That Has No Light. Northridge: California State University/Santa Susana Press, 1977. A poem, printed to commemorate the inauguration of Herb Yellin as President of the Bibliographical Society. One of 100 numbered copies signed by the author and by the artist, Irving Block. Small corner crease to cover label; else fine in self-wrappers.
357. PURDY, James. Narrow Rooms. NY: Arbor House (1978). A controversial novel about sadomasochistic sex and violent death among a group of young men living in the country in West Virginia. Signed twice by the author, once in the month of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is the New York Times review by Katha Pollitt.
358. -. Same title, the first British edition. (London): Black Sheep/Ram (1980). Inscribed by the author. Corner bumped; else fine in like dust jacket. Laid in are: a typed letter signed by the author stating that he has this book (as well as the privately printed 63: A Dream Palace), and two cancelled checks from the recipient that are also signed (endorsed) by Purdy. The British edition has a dust jacket with an image of a nude young man, which Purdy reportedly preferred over the American edition's jacket, but which was vetoed by the U.S. publisher.
359. PURDY, James. In a Shallow Grave. London: W.H. Allen, 1978. The first British edition of this novel that was published in the U.S. in 1975. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Laid in is a typed letter signed from Purdy from 1981 confirming that this edition is dedicated to John Uekcer ("John Uker" in the book), with a brief explanation of why he has "quit dedicating books." Folded in thirds; fine, with edge-sunned envelope.
360. PURDY, James. Two Plays. Dallas: New London Press (1979). The hardcover issue of the trade edition; the two plays are A Day After the Fair and True. Signed by the author. Spine slightly faded, otherwise fine, without dust jacket, apparently as issued.
361. PURDY, James. Dream Palaces. NY: Viking Press (1980). First thus, printing the three novels Malcolm, The Nephew, and 63: Dream Palace. With a foreword by Edward Albee. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a tiny edge tear at the upper rear spine fold.
362. PURDY, James. Mourners Below. NY: Viking Press (1981). Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. With a published review by Jerome Charyn laid in.
363. PURDY, James. On Glory's Course. NY: Viking Press (1984). Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Spine base bumped; else fine in similar dust jacket, with blurbs by Paul Bowles and Fran Lebowitz.
364. (PYM, Barbara). WELD, Annette. Barbara Pym and the Novel of Manners. NY: St. Martin's (1992). An uncommon critical study of Pym, who published several novels in the 1950s and subsequently gave up writing when her publisher told her they could not sell enough copies of her books to cover their costs. She was rediscovered in the late 1970s when she appeared on two different writers' lists of the most underrated writers of the 20th century, and all her previously unpublished books were published in quick succession, and her out of print novels brought back into print. She is now considered one of the major British novelists of the postwar era, and there are Barbara Pym Societies on both sides of the Atlantic as well as conferences and symposia devoted to her work. This copy is warmly inscribed by Weld with an autograph note signed by her laid in. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
365. PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. NY: Viking (1973). 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. Spotting to top stain; boards mildly splayed and musty; a near fine copy in a near fine, very slightly spine-faded dust jacket.
366. PYNCHON, Thomas. The Secret Integration. (London): (Aloes) (1980). The first printing of this piracy, which was limited to 2500 copies and later reprinted. This is the first separate appearance of a piece that Pynchon originally published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1964. Fine in stapled wrappers.
367. PYNCHON, Thomas. Entropy. [Troy Town: "Tristero, 1957"; actually, England c. 1983.] The second printing of this piracy, with photomontage cover. The limitation is not given, either in the publication itself or in Mead's bibliography, but the first printing is exceptionally scarce and even this second printing appears to be considerably scarcer than any of the four piracies done by Aloes Press. Fine in stapled wrappers.
368. (PYNCHON, Thomas). "Entropy" in The Kenyon Review, Vol. 22, No. 2. (Gambier): (Kenyon College), 1960. The first appearance of this story that was later collected in The Best American Short Stories 1961 and in Nelson Algren's Own Book of Lonesome Monsters in 1962 and 1963, Gallery of Modern Fiction in 1966 and several more times before being published separately in a pirated edition in 1983 (although the piracy is dated 1957); it was finally collected in Pynchon's Slow Learner in 1984. A little creasing to spine from binder's glue and a strip of sunning to rear cover; near fine in wrappers.
369. (PYNCHON, Thomas). Proceedings, Second Series, No. 26. NY: (American Academy of Arts and Letters), 1976. Prints William Styron's speech awarding the William Dean Howells Medal to Thomas Pynchon (for Gravity's Rainbow), which in its text includes Pynchon's letter declining the award. Also includes William Gaddis' acceptance of the National Book Award for J.R. and a Norman Mailer speech on writing and writers. Mild foxing; near fine in wrappers.
370. (PYNCHON, Thomas). STARK, John. Pynchon's Fictions. Athens: Ohio Univeristy Press (1980). A critical study. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
371. QUENEAU, Raymond. Zazie dans le Métro. Paris: Olympia Press (1959). The first edition in English of this novel by a French writer who was associated with the original surrealist movement and later with pataphysics and the "Oulipo," or "Workshop of Potential Literature." A paperback original in the Olympia Press Traveller's Companion series; made into a film by Louis Malle in 1960. Fine in wrappers and dust jacket.
372. REDD, Louise. Playing the Bones. Boston: Little Brown (1996). Well-received first novel about a white Southern woman who falls in love with a black blues musician. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is a typed letter signed thanking the recipient for his comments on the book and offering her own thoughts on what happens after the ending, as well as mentioning her second novel, which is still in progress. Folded for mailing; else fine, with envelope.
373. -. Same title. The advance reading copy. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication "with thanks for your support." Fine in wrappers.
374. ROBBINS, Tom. Still Life With Woodpecker. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1978, 1979. A 347 page, double-spaced, photocopied typescript of his third novel, reproducing authorial and editorial corrections. The several dozen changes evident in Robbins' hand are not large but they do show small color changes by one of our most colorful writers. (Several more minor changes were made to the text even after this version.) Minor edgewear, tape-repaired tear on final page; near fine. Inscribed by Robbins. A nice look at the work-in-progress as it approaches its final form; rare.
375. -. Same title. (n.p.): (n.p.)(n.d.). An unproduced screenplay of his 1980 novel, written pseudonymously as "Slick Gomez" by Robbins, who has altered the novel's ending and given himself a cameo appearance in the script. Signed by the author as both Robbins and Gomez. Photocopied sheets, bradbound in plain black covers. Fine.
376. ROBINSON, Marilynne. Housekeeping. NY: FSG (1980). Her first book and only fiction to date. A subtle story of keeping what matters and escaping from the weight of the rest. Winner of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award and a Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award. Also the basis for a well-received movie. Slight edge-sunning to boards; still fine in a fine dust jacket.
377. (ROTH, Philip). "The Jewish Blues" in The New American Review #1. NY: New American Library (1967). The uncommon hardcover issue of this literary magazine which was primarily published in mass market paperback format. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Additional contributions by William Gass, Anne Sexton, Grace Paley, John Ashbery, Robert Graves, Louise Gluck, Barbara Howes, and many others.
378. RUSHDIE, Salman. Step Across This Line. NY: Random House (2002). The uncorrected proof copy. Collected nonfiction 1992-2002. Front cover slightly splayed; else fine in wrappers.
379. RUSSO, Richard. Mohawk. NY: Vintage (1986). His first book, a novel published as a paperback original in the Vintage Contemporaries series, and set in a small town in upstate New York, as his other fiction has been. Russo won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Empire Falls. Fine in wrappers.
380. RUSSO, Richard. The Risk Pool. NY: Random House (1988). His second book and first hardcover publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Uncommon.
381. SALINGER, J.D. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, An Introduction. Boston: Little Brown (1963). Salinger's fourth and last book, two long stories of the Glass family. This is the third issue, with the dedication page tipped in after the title page. Mild cloth mottling; near fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket.
382. (SALINGER, J.D.). "The Long Debut of Lois Taggett" in Story, Vol. 21, No. 97. NY: Story Magazine, 1942. Salinger's sixth published story, which was collected in an anthology in 1949 but never published in one of Salinger's books. Near fine in spine-faded wrappers.
383. (SALINGER, J.D.). "The Hang of It" in The Kit Book for Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. Chicago: Consolidated Book Publishers (1943). Salinger's first book appearance, this being the second issue (1943). A small book of stories, poems and cartoons that was sent to servicemen overseas during the war. A fine copy, and scarce thus: it's a cheaply made book, and most copies show substantial wear. Without the rare mailing box.
384. (SALINGER, J.D.). "Once a Week Won't Kill You" in Story, Vol. 25, No. 110. NY: Story Magazine, 1944. An early story by Salinger, seven years before his first book, and never collected except in the pirated editions of his short fiction. Near fine in spine-faded wrappers.
385. (SALINGER, J.D.). "Elaine" in Story, Vol. 26, No. 112. NY: Story Magazine, 1945. Another early, uncollected Salinger story, preceding his first book by six years. Modest foxing to covers; very good in spine-faded wrappers.
386. (SALINGER, J.D.). WEAVER, Giles. "Untitled Diary" in The Phoenix, Vol. 3, No. 1. (Haydenville): (Morningstar Press), 1970. Letters to The Phoenix by Giles Weaver, which, according to the Notes on Contributors, "is the pseudonym of a writer living in solitary Bushman in America's Kalahari." Persistent rumor has had Weaver as a pseudonym for Salinger, and a talk with the publisher was inconclusive except to indicate that the author was indeed "weaving some guile." The November/December 1985 Saturday Review contained an article making the case for Weaver as Salinger. Spine-faded; thus near fine in wrappers.
387. (SALINGER, J.D.). LUNDQUIST, James. J.D. Salinger. NY: Frederick Ungar (1979). The hardcover issue. De-accessioned from the Library of Congress as a duplicate, so stamped on copyright page. Glue residue on front flyleaf; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Includes a useful bibliography of works by and about Salinger.
388. SEBOLD, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Boston: Little Brown (2002). The advance reading copy of her acclaimed second book, first novel, a story told from the point of view of a murdered girl and the surprise bestseller of the publishing season. After a modest first printing of 35,000 copies, rave reviews and word of mouth caused the book to go into numerous printings, with over 2 million copies of the hardcover reported to be in print at present. The advance reading copy was probably limited to a few hundred copies, at most. Bump to lower edge; near fine in wrappers.
389. SMITH, Zadie. The Autograph Man. NY: Random House (2002). The uncorrected proof copy of the second novel by the acclaimed and award-winning author of White Teeth. Fine in wrappers.
390. SPENCER, Elizabeth. Marilee. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1981. Three stories. Of a total edition of 326 copies, this is one of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a spine-tanned glassine dustwrapper.
391. SPENCER, Scott. Last Night at the Brain Thieves Ball. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. The first book by the author of Endless Love, among others. Mild sunning to boards; else fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket.
392. STARKIE, Enid. André Gide. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes (1953)[1954]. A volume in the Studies in Modern European Literature and Thought series. Starkie was perhaps the preeminent English literary critic specializing in French writers, the author of the definitive biography of Rimbaud, books on Baudelaire and Flaubert, as well as this short volume on Gide. This is the dedication copy of this book, warmly inscribed by the author: "For/ Evangeline and James/ with much love from/ the Author/ Enid Starkie/ 25th January 1954/ Day of Publication." The dedicatees of the book are Evangeline and James Olmsted. Evangeline was a translator of classics as well as a short story writer, and she and her husband collaborated on a number of historical works. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight wear to the spine.
393. STARKIE, Enid. Flaubert and Madame Bovary. (n.p.): (n.p.)(n.d.)[1964-1965]. An offprint of the text of Starkie's Tredegar Memorial Lecture delivered on March 19, 1964 and here reprinted from Essays by Divers Hands, Volume 33. Starkie later published a two-volume biographical and critical study of Flaubert that is considered a standard reference and one of the most ambitious works on the author and his most famous character. Inscribed by the author: "For/ Evangeline Olmsted/ with love from the author/ Enid Starkie/ 30 July 1965." Evangeline Olmsted, a longtime friend, was the dedicatee of Stark's book on Andre Gide in the 1950s. Stapled pages in near fine, sunned and mildly spotted wrappers.
394. STEADMAN, Ralph. Joe Meets the Aliens. Tucson: Sylph Publications, 2002. Sylph Chapbook #2. A riveting tale of alien abduction in the desert, illustrated with photographs and Steadman drawings. Of a total edition of 60 copies, this is one of 50 numbered copies signed by Ralph and Anna Steadman and the abducted one, Joe Petro, who also served as the printer. Attractively bound in quarter cloth and marbled paper boards. Fine. At the list price:
395. -. Same title. One of 10 Roman-numeraled copies with an original Steadman drawing bound in. Signed by Ralph and Anna Steadman and Joe Petro. Fine, in a cloth clamshell box. At the list price:
396. STEINBECK, John. The Grapes of Wrath. NY: Viking (1939). The greatest novel by this Nobel Prize winner, one of the greatest American novels ever, and the great American novel of the Depression era. Steinbeck fused social consciousness with literary artistry in a particularly American and individualistic way, refusing to allow his writing to become doctrinaire the way a number of the proletarian novelists of the Thirties did; the body of Steinbeck's work has stood the test of time considerably better than that of most of his contemporaries, especially those who tackled the same social issues that he did. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and basis for an Oscar-winning film in 1940. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket with trace rubbing at the corners. An exceptionally nice copy of a book that shows wear readily, usually in the form of fraying to the jacket and/or sunning to the spine. This copy has neither of those flaws and is crisp and bright.
397. STONE, Robert. A Hall of Mirrors. London: Bodley Head (1968). The first British edition of Stone's first book, which won a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award and a William Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year. An uncommon edition, with a single printing estimated to have been 1000 copies. This edition reprints a glowing blurb by Wallace Stegner, Stone's teacher at the Stanford Writing Workshop, with a hilarious misprint: instead of printing that "Stone writes like a bird, like an angel...like someone so high on pot that he is scraping his shoes on the stars," this edition has Stegner saying that Stone was "like someone so high on pot that he is scraping his shoes on the stairs" -- a very different image, to be sure. Five adjacent pages corner creased; faint spots to extreme top edge; near fine in a very good, spine-toned dust jacket with light wear at the crown.
398. SWIFT, Graham. The Sweet Shop Owner. (London): Allen Lane (1980). The Booker Prize-winning author's uncommon first book, which was not published in the U.S. until five years later, and then only in softcover. Slight bowing to boards; near fine in a very good dust jacket with creasing to the front flap and dampstaining visible on verso.
399. SWIFT, Graham. Shuttlecock. (London): Allen Lane (1981). His second book, again not published in the U.S. until 1985, after the success of Waterland, and then only in softcover. Stain to top margin of page 183; vertical crease to spine; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with edge sunning to the flaps.
400. SWIFT, Graham. Learning to Swim and Other Stories. (London): London Magazine Editions, 1982. His third book, a collection of stories, and his scarcest. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
401. -. Same title, a review copy of the first American edition. NY: Poseidon Press (1985). Published in the U.S. after the success of Waterland, as were his earlier books. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with publisher's review slip and promotional material laid in.
402. SWIFT, Graham. Waterland. London: Heinemann (1983). His fourth book, third novel and first Booker Prize nominee. Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Swift later won the Booker for Last Orders. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
403. SWIFT, Graham. Ever After. London: Picador/Pan (1992). The advance reading copy of this novel, one of 30 numbered copies signed by the author. Winner of the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book). Rubbed; near fine in wrappers. Scarce.
404. (SWIFT, Graham). The Magic Wheel. An Anthology of Fishing in Literature. London: Heinemann (1986). A fishing anthology edited and introduced by Swift and co-editor David Profumo. Begins with selections from The Iliad and The Holy Bible and continues through to the 20th century with Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Richard Brautigan, Hunter Thompson and David James Duncan, among others. Bumped upper rear board; near fine in a rubbed, near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.