Catalog 126, V
388. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. NY: HRW (1963). One of his greatest novels, which manages to both condemn and celebrate science, religion and the qualities of humans. "A quietly satirical consideration of mankind and its need for sympathy and compassion, proposing that we live by foma, lies that make for human happiness." One of Pringle's 100 best science fiction novels. Signed by the author with a self-caricature. Fading to boards; foxing to endpages; about near fine copy in a good dust jacket with some foxing and rubbing and a small ink mark on the front cover and internally repaired with archival tape along the edges and front spine fold. In a custom clamshell case.
389. -. Another copy. Signed by Vonnegut with a self-caricature. Heavy sunning to boards; otherwise near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with several small chips and edge tears. In a custom clamshell case.
390. VONNEGUT, Kurt. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. NY: HRW (1965). Vonnegut's sixth book, one of the novels that began earning him a small but passionate following in the mid-1960s, before his breakthrough to the status of "major author," which came when Slaughterhouse-Five was published. Signed by the author with a self-caricature. Modest mottling to boards and flaking to spine lettering; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight wear at the spine base. In a custom clamshell case.
391. -. Same title, the first British edition which by all appearances is considerably scarcer than the U.S. edition. Signed by the author. Minor foxing to endpages and sunning to spine; near fine in a near fine, rubbed dust jacket. In custom slipcase.
392. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Mother Night. NY: Harper & Row (1966). The first hardcover edition, published four years after the paperback original and following the success of Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
393. -. Another copy. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a gutter nick on the front panel and an ink price on the front flap.
394. -. Another copy. Owner signature; near fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a vertical crease to the spine.
395. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Welcome to the Monkey House. (NY): Delacorte (1968). A collection of short stories reprising most of those in Canary in a Cat House and fourteen others. Signed by the author with a self-caricature. This book had a modest 5000-copy first printing (all of Vonnegut's books prior to the commercial success of Slaughterhouse-Five had relatively small print runs). Trace foredge and top edge foxing; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight rubbing and fading to the yellow circle on the spine. In an attractive custom clamshell case with marbled paper designed to match the dust jacket of the book.
396. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. (NY): Delacorte (1969). Vonnegut's masterwork, a powerful fictional memoir of his experiences during the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Vonnegut's philosophical reflections on the tragic absurdity of humankind are embedded in an impressionistic, pessimistic yet comic science fiction tale that is a high spot of the literature of the 1960s and since. Foxing to top page edges; near fine in a dust jacket with slight darkening to the spine and upper edge, and one short edge tear. Signed by the author with a self-caricature on the half-title. A very nice copy of a Modern Library, Radcliffe and Waterstone's book of the century, increasingly scarce in collectible condition and exceptionally scarce signed these days. The first printing was 10,000 copies and the book eventually sold more than 60,000 copies in hardcover and innumerable in paperback, becoming a classic of its era and a standard on college campuses -- at first by word-of-mouth and later as part of the canon. Housed in a custom clamshell box of Japanese Asahi cloth lined with handmade marbled paper specially produced to match the dust jacket.
397. -. Another copy. Slight mottling to cloth, as is common with this title. Near fine in a dust jacket that is slightly darkened overall but still at least very good. Signed by the author with a self-caricature. An attractive copy in a handsome custom clamshell box, again of Japanese Asahi cloth and with marbled paper designed to match the dust jacket of the book.
398. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Between Time and Timbuktu. NY: Delacorte (1972). A "space fantasy" for television, created by David O'Dell from works by Vonnegut, and then given to Vonnegut to "fart around with" (his words). With photographs by Jill Krementz as well as stills from the TV production. Vonnegut does not count this as one of his own publications, but he did write a preface for the book. Signed by Vonnegut with a self-caricature. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light dampstaining and chipping to the corners. In an attractive custom clamshell case. One of Vonnegut's most elusive titles, both because of its fragile "perfect-bound" construction and a first printing that one would suspect was smaller than those of his novels.
399. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Unpublished Interview. [n.p.: n.p., c.1973]. Galley sheets of an unpublished interview with Vonnegut by Loree Rackstraw and Jerome Klinkowitz, who later compiled the Vonnegut bibliography. Seven galleys, each 4" x 24", folded in half. Signed by Vonnegut in 1996. A lengthy interview with Vonnegut, which never saw print, this being presumably one of the very few copies of this printed text in existence, possibly the only copy. Fine.
400. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons. London: Jonathan Cape (1975). The first British edition of this collection of essays, speeches and opinions. Signed by the author. Foxing to foredge and endpages; near fine in a fine dust jacket. In custom slipcase.
401. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Nothing is Lost Save Honor. Jackson: Nouveau Press/Mississippi Civil Liberties Union, 1984. A limited edition of two essays, "The Worst Addiction of Them All" and "Fates Worse Than Death," published as the second in a series benefitting the MCLU. With a postscript about this edition by Vonnegut and a frontispiece caricature of Vonnegut by David Levine. Of a total edition of 340, this is one of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
402. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Histoire du Soldat. (n.p.): Gonfalon Press, 1997. A limited edition of Vonnegut's libretto for Igor Stravinsky's 1918 composition. Vonnegut replaced the original text with a story based on the service and execution of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion in World War II. A heart and head-felt anti-war comment by an author whose masterwork, Slaughterhouse-Five, stands as one of the century's greatest statements on the absurdity and tragedy of the human insistence on self-destruction. This edition was created and illustrated by Michael Fallon. One of 110 numbered copies signed by Fallon, and although not called for, this copy is signed by Vonnegut on his 75th birthday. A fine copy, in cloth and paper covered boards, without dust jacket, as issued. Together with a photocopy of a typescript of Vonnegut's introduction, reproducing the author's holograph corrections and signed by Vonnegut with an added caricature and dated in 1994 (the introduction is dated 1993).
403. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Timequake. NY: Putnam (1997). The advance reading copy of this novel in which Vonnegut and his fictional alter-ego, Kilgore Trout, each touch on stories they would have liked to have told and, in doing so, tell another, about the whole in life being the sum of the parts one attends to. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers and custom slipcase.
404. -. Same title, the first Hungarian edition, Id omlás. Budapest: Magyar Konyvklub (1998). Signed by the author with smoking self-caricature. Fine in pictorial boards, without dust jacket, as issued. In custom slipcase.
405. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). Vonnegut Hardware Company General Catalog 38. Indianapolis: North American Press, 1938. "You Can Get It At Vonnegut's." Massive (>1000 pages) catalog of the hardware company founded by Kurt's great-grandfather Clemens Vonnegut, Sr. At the time of this catalog, the firm had been in business for 86 years. The Vonnegut Hardware Company had a retail store in Indianapolis and was also a wholesale supplier of hardware and industrial supplies. The younger Vonnegut worked at the store during the summers of his high school years; when this catalog was issued he would have been 15. Owner signature on store bookplate front pastedown; front hinge cracked; covers heavily stained; good only. A rare glimpse at the author's family history.
406. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). Ruler. Indianapolis: Vonnegut Hardware Co., (n.d.). Complimentary wooden ruler given out by the hardware company founded by Vonnegut's great-grandfather and where Vonnegut had a summer job. 12", several stains; very good. Also serves as an "Indiana Legal Length Fish Gauge" and as such bears, at inch 7, the prescient word: "Trout." Rare.
407. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). The Christmas Echo. (Indianapolis): (Shortridge) (1939). The Christmas issue of Vonnegut's high school paper. Vonnegut is mentioned in two "Christmas Couplets;" his family's hardware store has a full page ad; and he is one of three students whose likenesses, in formal wear, grace the inside rear cover. Vonnegut is pictured for "sponsoring the sartorial cause of the male" in a full-page photo with two female students. Pencil ownership names. Small upper joint stain throughout; modest general wear; very good in stapled wrappers. A fragile, ephemeral item,and a great picture of Vonnegut as a young man.
408. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). Shortridge Annual, 1938-1940. (Indianapolis): (Shortridge) (1938-1940). Vonnegut's sophomore, junior and senior high school yearbooks. The sophomore and junior yearbooks have him as part of Student Council and the Social Committee, respectively; unobtrusive owner and classmates' signatures; very good copies. The senior yearbook is marked as an "S.H.S safe copy" and is without markings; near fine. In addition to Vonnegut's senior picture, he also has mentions or appearances as a member of the Daily Echo, of Student Council, the Drama League (and not the fiction club), and as a runner-up in the annual Uglyman competition. Very nicely preserved copies of these 60+ year-old books. For the three:
409. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). Happy Birthday, Kurt Vonnegut. (NY): (Delacorte Press) (1982). A festschrift for Kurt Vonnegut on his sixtieth birthday. Issued in an edition of 500 copies and privately distributed. With original contributions by John Irving, John Updike, E.L. Doctorow, Richard Yates, Irwin Shaw, Norman Mailer, Garry Trudeau, Truman Capote, Jerzy Kosinski, Bernard V. O'Hare and many others, including family members. Compiled by Jill Krementz. Although not called for, this copy is signed by Vonnegut and dated on his 79th birthday. Laid in is a copy of the 1982 seating chart (Updike sat with Vonnegut; John Irving sat with Morley Safer). Faint spot to cloth at spine base; still fine in a fine slipcase.
410. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). KRIPLEN, Nancy. Keep an Eye on That Mummy. Indianapolis: Children's Museum (1982). A history of the Indianapolis Children's Museum, with two mentions of Vonnegut: one when an elk head is donated in his name and the names of his siblings; the other an account of his being a school representative to the museum's junior board. Faint cover crease; else fine in wrappers.
411. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). COOPERMAN, David. Miss Temptation. Woodstock: Dramatic Publishing (1993). A play based on a Vonnegut story that first appeared in Saturday Evening Post and later in Welcome to the Monkey House. Fine in stapled wrappers. We don't know if this play has ever been produced, but we've never seen a copy of it before.
412. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). KREMENTZ, Jill. Photograph. Undated. Photograph of Vonnegut by Jill Krementz, his former wife and one of the most notable photographers of her generation. 11" x 14"; black & white; with Vonnegut looking in from a New York City balcony. Signed by Vonnegut, with Krementz's stamp on verso. Small edge tear, not affecting image; still fine. Original photographs by Krementz are highly collected, and her photos of Vonnegut seldom appear on the market.
413. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). KREMENTZ, Jill. Photograph. Undated. Photograph of Vonnegut by Jill Krementz. 14" x 11"; black & white; with Vonnegut sitting alone in a row of theater seats, and bearing a remarkable likeness to photos of Mark Twain with his bushy hair and mustache. A striking image (see rear cover). Signed by Vonnegut, with Krementz's stamp on verso. Fine.