Catalog 129, N-O
410. -. Another copy. Very slight crown bump, else fine in wrappers, with a color photocopy of the cover art laid in.
411. -. Same title. The signed limited uncorrected proof of the British edition, according to the cover text, although this copy is not signed. Near fine in wrappers.
412. NERUDA, Pablo. Splendor and Death of Joaquin Murieta. NY: FSG (1972). The uncorrected proof copy of this long poem based on the life and death of a Chilean highwayman in California in the 1850s. Bilingual edition, with the Spanish of the Chilean Nobel Prize winner and the English translation by Ben Belitt. Near fine in tall wrappers, with a near fine copy of the dust jacket.
413. NEUGEBOREN, Jay. Corky's Brother. NY: FSG (1969). The uncorrected proof copy of his third book, a collection of stories and a novella set in the ghettos of New York City. The title novella won the Transatlantic Review Novella Award and is the story of a baseball player, continuing the author's propensity for using sports as a metaphor for, and a window onto, the problems of the larger society. Inscribed by the author in 1976. One corner crease, slight dust soiling; still near fine in tall, ringbound wrappers.
414. NEUGEBOREN, Jay. Before My Life Began. NY: Simon & Schuster (1985). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel that won the Edward Lewis Wallant Prize for Best Novel of 1985. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
415. NICHOLS, John. The Magic Journey. NY: Holt Rinehart Winston (1978). The uncorrected proof copy of the second, and scarcest, book in Nichols' acclaimed New Mexico trilogy, which began with The Milagro Beanfield War and concluded with The Nirvana Blues. Modest diagonal creasing to front wrapper; literary agency stamp front and rear wrappers; near fine. Scarce.
416. -. Another copy. Spine-sunned, light creasing, one tear at the lower front spine fold; very good in wrappers. Scarce.
417. NICHOLS, John. The Nirvana Blues. NY: Holt Rinehart Winston (1981). The uncorrected proof copy of the third book in the New Mexico trilogy. Near fine in wrappers.
418. NICHOLS, John. The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn. NY: Holt Rinehart Winston (1982). The uncorrected proof copy of this nonfiction work, a personal odyssey with all roads leading to Taos. Fine in wrappers.
419. NIN, Anais. The Diary of Anais 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.
420. NIN, Anais. The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 6. NY: HBJ (1976). The uncorrected proof copy. Fine in tall wrappers.
421. NIN, Anais. Henry and June. San Diego: HBJ (1986). The first trade edition, fine in a fine dust jacket; together with the advance reading copy, fine in wrappers; and the uncorrected proof, also fine in wrappers. Selections from the unexpurgated Nin diaries, and later the basis for a movie.
422. NORMAN, Howard. The Wishing Bone Cycle. (San Francisco): (Zephyrus Image), [1973]. The galley sheets and page proofs for the aborted Zephyrus Image edition of Norman's Wishing Bone Cycle poems. The galley sheets consist of three long pages printing all 16 poems. Folded and acidifying; about near fine, with printer's specs on verso. The page proofs, an unbound mock-up of the finished book printed on thin paper, have some spotting to the covers and one gouge through the pages, affecting a small amount of (still legible) text; very good. Fourteen of these 16 poems appeared in the Stonehill edition of 1976; ten of the fourteen with textual variations. A very rare proof of an edition that was never published; probably unique.
423. OATES, Joyce Carol. Childwold. NY: Vanguard (1976). The uncorrected proof copy. Fine in tall wrappers. A scarce and fragile issue.
424. -. Another copy. Near fine in tall wrappers.
425. OATES, Joyce Carol. Angel of Light. NY: Dutton (1981). The uncorrected proof copy. Near fine in wrappers.
426. O'BRIAN, Patrick. The Mauritius Command. London: Collins, 1977. The uncorrected proof copy of this early volume in the series of maritime novels featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend Dr. Maturin. Routing initials on flyleaf; corner bump and spine slant; read; a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with wear at the spine crown. The first volume in the bestselling series, Master and Commander, has been made into a movie.
427. O'BRIEN, Tim. Northern Lights. (NY): Delacorte/Lawrence (1975). The uncorrected proof copy of 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. Approximately 5-1/4" x 10-1/2", with holograph page numbers. This copy has a reviewer's notes throughout, with the reviewer's name, word count and deadline on the front cover, and with the words "Idea for story of survival in the Bahamas" pencilled there as well. O'Brien is a relentless reviser and re-writer, and this proof varies from the publish text in at least one substantial degree a two-page section in the proof (two long pages, as the proof is in a tall format) has been deleted from the final book. Spine slanted; sunned and lightly creased; still about near fine in wrappers. Laid in is an envelope addressed from O'Brien to the reviewer in the year following publication. A scarce proof: we have only seen three other copies of it in over 20 years.
428. O'BRIEN, Tim. The Nuclear Age. Portland: Press-22 (1981). The proof copy of a limited edition of an excerpt from O'Brien's work-in-progress at the time, which was later published as a novel with the same title. This proof resembles the wrappered issue, but is unnumbered and stamped "Proof Set/ May 5 1981" on the front flyleaf and the colophon. Signed by the author. Fine. Presumably scarce: for an edition as small as this, it's hard to imagine more than a handful of proof copies being created.
429. 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. Paperclip mark inside front cover; publicity material laid in that was previously stapled to front cover; near fine in wrappers.
430. 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.
431. -. Another copy. Slight bump at spine base; still about fine in wrappers.
432. 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.
433. OLSEN, Tillie. Silences. (NY): Delacorte/Lawrence (1978). The uncorrected proof copy. First issue, fine in gold wrappers. An important statement about women writing by one of the most highly praised writers of her generation, whose literary output has been constrained by her need to attend to the other aspects of life that women, far more than men, are expected to take care of, which is one of the themes of the book. Olsen was a graduate of Wallace Stegner's Stanford Writing Program in the same era that such writers as Wendell Berry, Ken Kesey, Robert Stone and Larry McMurtry attended.
434. ONDAATJE, Michael. Anil's Ghost. NY: Knopf, 2000. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition. This is the first state, approximately 6-1/4" x 9-1/4", and without the cover art bound in. Fine in wrappers.
435. OPPENHEIMER, Joel. The Woman Poems. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill (1975). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection by the important Black Mountain poet. Inscribed by the author. Fine in pad-bound wrappers.