Catalog 127, M
232. MARTEL, Yann. Life of Pi. (Toronto): Knopf (2001). The advance reading copy of the true first edition of his Booker Prize winning novel. Spine-creased; read; near fine in wrappers. Scarce.
233. MATHESON, Richard. Bid Time Return. NY: Viking (1975). An uncommon time-travel novel, which had developed something of a cult following even before it was made into the movie Somewhere in Time, with Christopher Reeve. Matheson had a following among readers of fantasy dating back to his first books, Born of Man and Woman and I Am Legend. This was one of the first attempts to market his fiction to a mainstream readership. Signed by the author. Fine in a slightly spine-faded, near fine dust jacket and, because of the perfect-bound construction of the book, scarce in fine condition, let alone signed.
234. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Oomingmak. NY: Hastings House (1967). An unusual, small volume, written for young people, perhaps for use in schools; an account of an expedition to an island in the Bering Sea inhabited by musk oxen. Erasure page 70; else fine in a near fine, slightly edgeworn and spine-faded dust jacket with internal tape-strengthening to the spine extremities.
235. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: Viking (1983). A review copy of Matthiessen's controversial and suppressed book on the conflict between agents of the federal government and members of the radical American Indian Movement in the 1970s, which culminated in a gun battle that left two FBI agents and one Indian dead. Matthiessen argues that the conviction of Leonard Peltier for the agents' death was a miscarriage of justice. His book was the subject of two lawsuits -- by one of the FBI agents involved in the case and by the former governor of South Dakota -- which effectively suppressed it for nearly a decade. A Supreme Court ruling declining to hear the case after an appeals court had thrown out the suits on the basis of First Amendment considerations finally allowed the book to be reprinted after nine years of litigation and untold millions of dollars in legal expenses -- a harrowing experience for the author, his publishers and (one assumes) their insurers; and a sobering example of how a legal case can effectively suppress a publication even if the case is finally deemed to be without merit: Matthiessen's book was effectively removed from its target audience for the crucial window of time during which it was most relevant (and agitation on Peltier's behalf might have had the best chance for success). A landmark of literary history and First Amendment tests. A bit of dampening to spine cloth and foxing to foredge; near fine in a fine dust jacket. Publicity information (no review slip) laid in.
236. -. Same title. (n.p.): (n.p.) (1983). Photocopied sheets of the first edition, reproducing a few marginal notes. Reduced in copying to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". One page excised (taking with it the "In the" of the title and a prior authorial inscription); else fine. Ringbound in cardstock covers printed with the title and author's name. This was one of several "underground" versions of the book that were produced and circulated during the years that the court case effectively suppressed all legal editions of it. We have never seen one with a ring binding like this, but it was reportedly given to the recipient by the author, when no other copies were available. Rare.
237. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Men's Lives. The Surfmen and Baymen of the South Fork. NY: Random House (1986). A volume about the fishermen of eastern Long Island and a way of life that, in the late stages of the 20th century, appeared to be irretrievably dying away. Matthiessen has spent much of his life on eastern Long Island, and once ran a charter fishing boat off the island in addition to having worked for three years with commercial fishermen, so this sympathetic portrait is written from the perspective of one who, at least for period of a time, shared the life described. Quarto, heavily illustrated with photographs, both historical and contemporary. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
238. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Nine-Headed Dragon River. Boston: Shambhala, 1986. A book of Zen journals spanning the years 1969-1982. Matthiessen began studying Zen in the Sixties and has since become an ordained Zen priest. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
239. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Norwalk: Easton Press (2001). A leatherbound limited edition of Matthiessen's 1965 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 on the indigenous cultures living in relative harmony with it, from a perspective that combines the political, cultural and spiritual. Signed by the author. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a ribbon marker bound in. Laid in is a certificate of authenticity signed by Matthiessen attesting to the signature in the book.
240. McCARTHY, Mary. The Oasis. NY: Random House (1949). Her second book, a novel. Foxing to top edge; near fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket. A nice copy of this early book by a writer who became, in time, one of the leading women of letters in America.
241. McCARTHY, Mary. The Groves of Academe. NY: Harcourt, Brace (1952). Her fourth book, a novel. This is a review copy, with publisher's review slip tipped to the front free endpaper, as was Harcourt's practice at the time. Signed by the author. A couple instances of pencil underlining, minor blended dampstaining to cloth; near fine in a very good dust jacket with modest edge wear and dampstaining mostly apparent on verso.
242. McCARTHY, Mary. A Charmed Life. NY: Harcourt, Brace (1955). Her fifth book, a novel. This copy is inscribed by the author to Virginia Spencer Carr, biographer of John Dos Passos and Carson McCullers, and herself an important literary scholar and writer. Near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with trace wear at the spine ends. A nice association copy.
243. McCARTHY, Mary. The Stones of Florence. NY: HBJ (1959). Photographs of Florence, mostly by Evelyn Hofer, with text by McCarthy. Quarto; front board slightly splayed; else fine in a fine dust jacket with a touch of edge sunning on the white flaps. A very attractive copy of this large book, which seldom shows up in nice condition.
244. McCARTHY, Mary. On the Contrary. NY: Farrar Straus & Cudahy (1961). A collection of essays and criticism, 1946-1961. Inscribed by the author to Virginia Spencer Carr (upside down on rear flyleaf), with Carr's signature on front flyleaf; faint fading to board edges; very near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
245. McCARTHY, Mary. The Writing on the Wall. NY: Harcourt Brace World (1970). A collection of literary essays, inscribed by the author to Virginia Spencer Carr. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with original price crossed out on front flap. Again, a nice literary association copy.
246. McCARTHY, Mary. Birds of America. NY: HBJ (1971). A novel, her first after the huge success she had with The Group in 1964. Inscribed by the author to Virginia Spencer Carr. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with several closed edge tears.
247. McCARTHY, Mary. Cannibals and Missionaries. (NY): HBJ (1979). A political novel set in Iran during the reign of the Shah. McCarthy developed an outspoken, hard-edged political view during the Vietnam war, which she opposed vehemently and about which she wrote several nonfiction volumes. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with one tiny edge tear.
248. McCULLERS, Carson. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940. A later printing of her first book, which was a runner-up for the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award, and which earned its young writer -- she was 23 at the time it was published -- immediate critical acclaim and literary recognition. Inscribed by the author: "For Eddie from Carson." "Eddie" was Edward Newhouse, a longtime writer for The New Yorker, who began working for the magazine shortly after it started, and was one of the frequent contributors of fiction during its early years. As such, he became good friends with a number of the other fiction writers regularly published by the magazine, including McCullers, John Cheever, William Maxwell and others. Sun-darkened spine; near fine, lacking the dust jacket. A nice association copy of one of the important first novels of the 20th century.
249. McCULLERS, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1946. Her third book. Inscribed by the author on a bookplate tipped to the front flyleaf: "Eddie and Dotty from Carson." Eddie was, again, Edward Newhouse, a New Yorker fiction writer during the 1930s, 40s and 50s: over 50 of his stories were published in the magazine during those years. Dotty was Dorothy DeLay, Newhouse's wife and a violin teacher at the Juilliard School of Music, who was recognized as the preeminent violin teacher in the world during her life. Her students included Itzhak Perlman, Midori, and many others. Handling to boards, a bit of fraying to crown; near fine in a supplied, very good, spine-faded dust jacket with light chipping to the crown. A nice association copy.
250. McCULLERS, Carson. Collected Short Stories and the novel The Ballad of the Sad Café. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1955)[actually 1961]. The first printing of the fourth American edition, according to the bibliographer (Shapiro, Bryer & Field A5.6), although in fact it is a "first thus," as this particular collection includes material not present in the earlier editions. Lower corners bumped; faint discoloration to rear board; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. A very attractive copy.
251. McGREGOR, Jon. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. (London): Bloomsbury (2002). His first novel, long-listed for the Booker Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight corner bumps.
252. McPHEE, John. Encounters with the Archdruid. NY: FSG (1971). Three essays in which McPhee orchestrates a dialogue/confrontation between "archdruid" David Brower -- a former head of the Sierra Club and founder of the more radical environmental group Friends of the Earth -- and three advocates of development and the "responsible exploitation" of the earth's resources. This copy bears four small patches of a previous dust jacket protector on the pastedowns under the front flaps and is thus near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Laid in is a typed letter signed by John McPhee, dated March 24, 1975 and written on New Yorker stationery, responding to a "critique" of the book and an apparent suggestion that the resort developer Fraser should have been replaced by a planner. In part, "...I would be making something of an error, I think, to set up a situation much like ones I have dealt with before. I try to avoid that -- from an instinct to shy away from formula..." The letter is folded in thirds from mailing; else fine. A nice piece of substantive correspondence.
253. McPHEE, John. Outcroppings. Salt Lake: Peregrine/Gibbs Smith (1988). Photographs of the West and Southwest by Tom Till, one of the premier nature photographers working in the U.S. today, accompanied by selections of McPhee's writings. With a five page introduction by McPhee for this volume, explaining why he writes about the West. Signed by McPhee and Till. Quarto. Fine in a fine dust jacket with one of the two printed prices clipped (the book was to sell for $29.95 in 1998; $34.95 thereafter). A beautiful production, with Till's photographs complementing McPhee's lucid prose.
254. McPHERSON, James Alan. Hue and Cry. Boston: Little Brown (1969). His first book, a collection of stories that defied the mold of late 1960s black writing by refusing to yield to the easy temptation to substitute political diatribe for literary accomplishment and postured anger for real, human feelings. A lengthy blurb on the dust jacket from Ralph Ellison -- author of Invisible Man, perhaps the most acclaimed African-American novel of the 20th century -- lionizes McPherson for precisely this accomplishment, on its own terms, unaided by the winds of political correctness. Inscribed by the author "with love" and signed "Jim McPherson." Fine in a very good, rubbed and price-clipped dust jacket with one externally tape-mended edge tear. McPherson is an extremely private author, and books signed by him are scarce, let alone ones with as warm an inscription as this.
255. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author "with affection and respect" and signed "James A. McPherson." Cloth a bit mottled; near fine in a good, heavily rubbed dust jacket with a couple of internal tape repairs.
256. McPHERSON, James Alan. Elbow Room. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown (1977). The second printing of his acclaimed second book, a collection of stories that won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize. Inscribed by the author. Text block bound in upside down; else fine in a very good dust jacket rubbed on the rear panel and with a small chip threatening at the crown. Announcement of the Pulitzer Prize on a sticker on the front panel. Uncommon signed.
257. McPHERSON, James Alan. Crabcakes. NY: Simon & Schuster (1998). The first book in over 20 years, a memoir, by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Elbow Room. Inscribed by the author "with great love" and signed "Jim McPherson." Trace of a bump to the crown; still fine in a fine dust jacket.
258. (McPHERSON, James Alan). Ploughshares, Vol. 16, Nos. 2/3. (Boston): (Emerson College) (1990). A double issue on the theme of "Confronting Racial Difference," edited by McPherson and DeWitt Henry. Includes the text of McPherson's 1990 speech "The Done Thing." Inscribed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
259. MILLAY, Edna St. Vincent. The Buck in the Snow. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1928. The first trade edition of this collection of poems. Millay was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, for her collection The Harp-Weaver, in 1924. Fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket internally tape-strengthened at the crown. An especially crisp, clean copy of this title.
260. MILLAY, Edna St. Vincent. Fatal Interview. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1931. Sonnets by Millay. This is the second issue, with no top stain. Offsetting to front endpages; else fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket internally tape-strengthened at the crown.
261. MILLAY, Edna St. Vincent. Wine from these Grapes. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1934. Edge-sunning to boards; near fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket internally tape-strengthened at the extremities. An attractive copy.
262. MILLAY, Edna St. Vincent. Huntsman, What Quarry? NY: Harper & Brothers, 1939. Fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket internally tape-strengthened at the extremities.
263. MILLER, Arthur. An Enemy of the People. NY: Viking, 1951. Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's play, and his first book after winning the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Death of a Salesman. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket. A very nice copy.
264. MILLER, Arthur. A View from the Bridge. NY: Viking, 1955. Fine in a near fine, rubbed dust jacket internally tape-strengthened at the crown.
265. MILLER, Arthur. The Misfits. NY: Viking (1961). A story written for film by Miller, which became the last film in the careers of both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with several internally tape-mended edge tears.
266. MILLER, Arthur. After the Fall. NY: Viking (1964). Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small edge tear at the upper front spine fold.
267. MILLER, Henry. The Books in My Life. (Norfolk): New Directions [1952]. The first American edition. One of 2500 copies. Chapters on Blaise Cendrars, Rider Haggard, Jean Giono, among others. Inscribed by Miller to Huntington Cairns in the year of publication: "For Huntington - one of the world's greatest readers. Henry 9/17/52." Huntington Cairns was a longtime friend of Miller; the two had met in the 1930s, when Cairns was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury as special legal advisor on censorship for the U.S. Customs Bureau and charged with writing opinions based on the 1930 Tariff Act, which prohibited the importation into the U.S. of any material deemed by the censors to be obscene, treasonous or promoting contraceptive practices. As a federal censor, it was Cairns who prohibited Miller's books Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn into the U.S., although he himself was a collector of erotica. Cairns was hired soon after the attempt to ban Joyce's Ulysses for importation to the U.S., but because of his literary and professional expertise in differentiating pornography from art, Cairns helped quell the outcry about Ulysses, and it is no coincidence that the U.S. edition was published in 1934, just after Cairns' appointment. Miller, sensing a formidable foe or a possible ally in Cairns, invited him to Paris in 1936 and showed him the town, and the two became fast friends. According to Miller's biographer, Miller wrote The World of Sex in 1940 at Cairns's request, in order that Cairns could get a clearer sense of Miller's view on the subject. And also according to Miller's bibliographer, Miller wrote the 1945 essay, Obscenity and the Law of Reflection, for his friend Cairns. An excellent association copy and, given Cairns' background as a reader and censor for the Customs Bureau, an inscription that suggests much more than it states. Cloth sunned at foredge; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. In a custom clamshell case.
268. -. Same title, the first French edition, Les Livres de ma Vie. Paris: Gallimard (1957). Of a total edition of 56 copies, this is Copy A of only six lettered copies (none of which were seen by the bibliographers). Signed by the author. This edition replaces Appendix 1 of the American edition ("The Hundred Books Which Influenced Me Most") with a 75 page listing of all the books Miller could remember having read (approximately 5000 titles). Shifreen & Jackson A86d. Pages uncut; modest edge-sunning; very near fine in wrappers and glassine dustwrapper. A beautiful copy of a scarce and fragile book. In custom quarter leather clamshell case.
269. MILOSZ, Czeslaw. Native Realm. Garden City: Doubleday (1968)[ca. 1981]. Later printing (J21) of this book of personal essays subtitled "A Search for Self-Definition," by the winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature. Inscribed by the author in 1982. Fine in a near fine dust jacket worn at the crown.
270. MOODY, Rick. Demonology. Boston: Little Brown (2000)[2001]. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this collection of stories. Agency stamps on half-title; contact label partially removed from front cover with resulting small abrasion; else fine in wrappers.
271. MOORE, Marianne. Nevertheless. NY: Macmillan (1944). First edition, second state, with the errata slip tipped into page 5. Paperclip indent on front flyleaf and an edge tear near the hinge there; near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
272. MOORE, Marianne. Predilections. NY: Viking, 1955. Literary essays by the noted poet. Fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket with a small crease at the crown.
273. MORRIS, Willie. North Toward Home. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. His first book, winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award for Nonfiction. Middle page signatures darkening; near fine in a very good, mildly spine-faded dust jacket with internal tape strengthening.
274. MORRIS, Willie. Yazoo. NY: Harper's Magazine Press (1971). Later printing of his second book. Inscribed by the author "with respect and admiration" in 1995. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Laid in is an autograph note signed by Morris, written on the back of an unused check: "Jim - / Mississippi is the/ American Ireland. Willie."
275. MORRIS, Willie. The Last of the Southern Girls. [NY: Knopf, 1973.] The Book Club edition (although "first edition" is explicitly stated). Signed by the author in 1990. Small stain on flyleaf; else fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with a crease on the front flap and internal tape mending.
276. MORRIS, Willie. James Jones: A Friendship. Garden City: Doubleday, 1978. Morris' biography and tribute to his close friend Jones, author of The Thin Red Line and From Here to Eternity. Inscribed by Morris and signed "Willie" in 1995. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a razor slice the length of the front panel and internal tape strengthening at the edges.
277. MORRIS, Willie. Good Old Boy. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press (1980)[1988]. First thus, a reissue of the 1971 Harper & Row edition with a new foreword by the author. Inscribed by Morris: "To ___ ___,/ who is a good old/ boy his own self/ - Willie Morris." Publication of this edition was timed to coincide with the cable TV movie adaptation that aired in 1988. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
278. MORRIS, Willie. Terrains of the Heart. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press (1981). Inscribed by the author: "To ___ ___,/ who knows/ these old places, people,/ and things./ Willie." Fine in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with trace wear at the base of the spine.
279. MORRIS, Willie. Always Stand in Against the Curve. Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press (1983). A collection of sports stories. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine, lightly rubbed dust jacket. An uncommon title.
280. MORRIS, Willie. The Courting of Marcus Dupree. Garden City: Doubleday, 1983. One of the great sports books of all time, according to many: the story of how the recruitment of one black football player in Mississippi brought whites and blacks together in ways only dreamed of during the civil rights era a couple of decades earlier. Small ink number front flyleaf, else fine in a very good, rubbed and price-clipped dust jacket with internal tape strengthening at the spine extremities.
281. MORRIS, Willie. Homecomings. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi (1989). Six essays by Morris, with twelve color plates of artwork by William Dunlap. Signed by both Morris and Dunlap. A beautiful book. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
282. MORRIS, Willie. New York Days. Boston: Little Brown (1993). A memoir of the author's time in New York City, where he became the youngest ever editor-in-chief of Harper's magazine. The sequel to his first book, North Toward Home. Signed by the author on the title page and additionally inscribed in Oxford, Mississippi in 1995: "To ___, We're a long way/ from New York City/ today! Best ever,/ Willie." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
283. MORRIS, Willie. A Prayer for the Opening of Little League Season. San Diego/NY: Harcourt Brace (1995). Small quarto, extolling the divine in amateur baseball. This copy is inscribed by Morris in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with illustrations by Barry Moser.
284. MORRIS, Willie. My Dog Skip. NY: Random House (1995). A memoir, and a short tribute to the author's closest companion during his childhood. Basis for the much-loved film, and the last book Morris published before he died. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed trade editions are much scarcer than the signed limited edition that was done for friends of the author and publisher.
285. MURDOCH, Iris. The Book and the Brotherhood. London: Chatto & Windus (1987). The 23rd novel, and one of the longest and most ambitious, by one of the most important British women of letters of the 20th century. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Inscribed by the author "with very best wishes" in 1996, with a star after her name. Rear cloth a bit dusty, else fine in a very near fine, slightly spine-faded dust jacket.