Catalog 130, C-E
48. CARROLL, Jonathan. Sleeping in Flame. NY: Doubleday (1989). His fourth book, which reprises characters from his third, Bones of the Moon, and is part of "the Rondua Trilogy." Warmly inscribed by the author to Pauline Kael, "whose own flames have kept me REELING [the title of one of Kael's books] for years." Signed and dated in Vienna in 1990. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
49. (CARSON, Rachel). "Islands and Man" in The Land, Vol. X, No. 3. Baltimore: Friends of the Land, 1951. Five pages of text by Carson, reprinted from the second half of the chapter "The Birth of an Island" from The Sea Around Us. There is also a three-page review of the book, which The Land names as its Top Choice from the current publishing season of books on the relationship of Man and the Land. Spine cocked and wrappers a bit creased; very good.
50. -. Another copy. Spine rolled and nicked; a few water spots to dulled covers; still very good in wrappers.
51. (CARSON, Rachel). HARRISON, Ruth. Animal Machines. (London): Vincent Stuart, 1964. Harrison's seminal work, which exposed factory farming in the U.K. the way Carson's Silent Spring exposed pesticide use in the U.S. With a two-page foreword by Carson which begins: "The modern world worships the gods of speed and quantity, and of the quick and easy profit, and out of this idolatry mysterious evils have arisen. Yet the evils go long unrecognised...until some public-spirited person, with patient scholarship and steadfast courage, presents facts that can no longer be ignored." An uncommon book in the first edition, with most hardcover copies having gone to libraries. Mild page edge foxing; a near fine copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with modest rubbing and edge wear and some tape-mending on verso. Published the year of Carson's death from cancer.
52. CARVER, Raymond. Where Water Comes Together with Other Water. NY: Random House (1985). Carver's first collection of poetry to be published by a New York publisher -- 17 years after his first book, and only after he had had three highly praised collections of stories published. Winner of the prestigious Levinson prize from Poetry magazine. Inscribed by Carver to the son of his doctor: "For Dan Addison/ with kind regards, Ray Carver/ May 16, 1986/ Port Angeles." Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a note of provenance from Addison laid in, stating that Ray and Tess [Gallagher] were close family friends and that his father diagnosed Carver's cancer, which surfaced in 1987.
53. CARVER, Raymond. Two Poems. (Concord): (Ewert) (1986). Of 130 copies, this is one of 100 copies issued unnumbered, unbound, and initially unsigned. A single sheet folded once; this copy is inscribed by Carver to his daughter: "For Chris,/ For the holidays./ with love./ Dad." Edge-sunned, slightly creased with a few surface markings; overall about very good, without the issued envelope.
54. (CARVER, Raymond). GARDNER, John. On Becoming a Novelist. NY: Harper & Row (1983). Third printing of this posthumously published book by Gardner, deriving from his classes in creative writing -- a distillation of the ideas by which he taught the craft of fiction. With an introduction by Carver, who at one point had looked to Gardner as a mentor. An important volume, both for its articulating the principles which guided Gardner's fiction writing, and also for its linking these two important contemporary American writers in one volume. Warmly inscribed by Carver in the year of publication. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with mild fading to the spine.
55. CATHER, Willa. Death Comes for the Archbishop. NY: Knopf, 1927. One of Cather's most important novels, set in New Mexico, in which the land itself becomes a major character in the tale. This copy is inscribed by the author on a tipped-in leaf and dated 1930. Tanning to the spine cloth, otherwise a fine copy in a restored dust jacket, with paper supplied along the edges and spine, up to and including the author's name. Also spine-tanned and with a tear at the lower front flap fold; very good. Much scarcer in dust jacket than most of her other titles from around the same period. A Modern Library and Radcliffe book of the century.
56. CHAST, Roz. The Four Elements. NY: Harper & Row (1988). Cartoons by the New Yorker artist. Inscribed by Chast to Pauline Kael, "with greatest admiration." Quarto; near fine in wrappers.
57. CHEEVER, John. The Day the Pig Fell into the Well. Northridge: Lord John, 1978. The first separate edition of a short story that first appeared in The New Yorker in 1954. There was a numbered issue of 275 copies and a lettered issue of 26 copies; this copy is indicated on the colophon in type to be a "Presentation Copy" -- limitation unstated but presumably a very small number -- and inscribed by the author "to Beverly Chaney," his bibliographer, and dated in the year of publication. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
58. COETZEE, J.M. White Writing. On the Culture of Letters in South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press (1988). The first book-length work of criticism by the recent Nobel Prize winner. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with several short edge tears.
59. COOVER, Robert. Gerald's Party. NY: Linden Press/Simon & Schuster, 1986. A novel by the author of The Origin of the Brunists (Faulkner Award, best first novel, 1966) and The Public Burning (National Book Award nominee, 1981), among others. This copy is signed by the author on the title page and is additionally inscribed by Coover on the dedication page to a well-known writer and editor in January, 1986, the month of publication: "For ____ ____. Who stormed/ in, raised hell and livened things/ up a bit -- hey, you're welcome/ at any party I throw, now or/ whenever!/ Yours in purest unremitting/ affection/ Bob." Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
60. CREWDSON, Gregory. Dream of Life. (n.p.): Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca (1999). The first major monograph on this contemporary photographer who is renowned for the cinematic quality of his images. Bilingual edition, in English and Spanish. Photographs by Crewdson, including numerous full-page four color plates, with an introduction by Darcey Steinke and an interview by Brad Morrow. Inscribed by Crewdson: "For Pauline [Kael], Love, Gregory Crewdson." Oblong quarto. Slight splaying to covers; else fine in wrappers. A very attractive book, produced in conjunction with an exhibition of the author's photographs. Uncommon, especially signed and as an association copy of note.
61. (CUNNINGHAM, Michael). WOOLF, Virginia. The Voyage Out. NY: Modern Library (2000). The first Modern Library edition of Woolf's first book. With a 35-page introduction by Michael Cunningham, who used Woolf's life and her novel Mrs. Dalloway as a departure point for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed by Cunningham.
62. DAVIS, Kathryn. The Girl Who Trod On a Loaf. NY: Knopf, 1993. The author's highly praised second novel, after the Kafka Prize-winning Labrador. This copy has been inscribed by the author to the novelist Margaret Atwood, whom she calls "inspiration and mentor," in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice association copy.
63. DAVISON, Peter. The City and the Island. NY: Atheneum, 1966. The second book by this poet whose first was selected in the prestigious Yale Younger Poets Series, and who is now the Poetry Editor for the Atlantic Monthly. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication to Pauline Kael "in admiration, affection, and in the loyal belief that she is the finest of film critics." A nice inscription, and an early one praising Kael's criticism, predating her hiring by The New Yorker in 1967. This is the issue in wrappers; edge-sunned; very good.
64. DELILLO, Don. Americana. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. His first book. Fine in a very good, slightly spine-tanned dust jacket with modest creasing to the edges. Overall, an attractive copy of this title.
65. DELILLO, Don. White Noise. (NY): Viking (1985). Winner of the National Book Award, an award for which DeLillo has been nominated for twice since. One page corner turned; else fine in a dust jacket with creasing on the front flap and several closed edge tears, about near fine.
66. DIDION, Joan. A Book of Common Prayer. NY: Simon & Schuster (1977). The third novel, fourth book, by the author of Slouching Toward Bethlehem and Play It As It Lays. A novel of the intrigue at the heart of a fictional Central American country, in some ways presaging her later essay Salvador, one of the most devastating portraits of the collapse of moral order in the Americas. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
67. DILLARD, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. NY: Harper's Magazine Press (1974). Book Club edition of her second book and first book of prose. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. Inscribed by the author: "Happy 1984 Birthday/ to a fine photographer,/ M.C. from/ Annie Dillard/ July 7, 1984." M.C. took the author photo for Dillard's 1984 book Encounters with Chinese Writers. Together with an autograph note signed by Dillard to M.C. giving him the details of contacting the publisher of Chinese Writers (Wesleyan University Press). 5" x 7", written on the verso of M.C.'s note requesting Dillard's inscription on Tinker Creek. The book is fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket; the note is fine.
68. DOCTOROW, E.L. Ragtime. NY: Random House (1975). Third printing of his fourth book, a historical novel of America at the beginning of the 20th century, peopled with such characters as Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Theodore Dreiser and others. Winner of the first National Book Critics Circle Award and the basis for a highly successful film. Inscribed by the author to film critic Pauline Kael, and signed "Ed." About a dozen pencil markings by Kael in the margins, with a few notes; most of the passages marked pertain to the movies. Spine-cocked; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with two small chips at the upper spine folds.
69. DRURY, Tom. The End of Vandalism. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Drury's first book, which won him recognition as one of Granta's top 20 young American novelists. Inscribed by the author to Annie Dillard, who provides a jacket blurb on the rear panel, and signed "Love, Tom." Near fine (read) in a near fine dust jacket, with a "Compliments of the Author" card laid in as a bookmark.
70. DUBUS, Andre. The Lieutenant. NY: Dial, 1967. The author's uncommon first book, and his only novel, a story of the peacetime military and the challenges to manhood and honor that its rigid code of morals creates. Dubus was once quoted as saying that after he wrote this novel someone introduced him to Chekhov's short stories, and he threw away the manuscript of what was to be his next novel and began writing short fiction -- to become one of our most acclaimed and accomplished practitioners. Inscribed by the author in 1979 in the midst of a fever which causes one mis-spelling, and remorse about the mis-spelling, but Dubus still manages to thank the recipient for "finding and reading this book; not may [sic, crossed out] many others have..." One page corner turned, else fine in a near fine dust jacket with one edge tear and several tape shadows on verso.
71. DUBUS, Andre. We Don't Live Here Anymore. NY: Crown (1984). A collection of his novellas, all of which had been previously published in other collections together with short stories. Only issued in wrappers in this country. Inscribed by the author to novelist Jay Neugeboren in 1985. Spine slightly slanted from reading but still a near fine copy.
72. DUNNING, John. The Bookman's Limericks. (Minneapolis): (Dinkytown Antiquarian Books) (2003). A collection of limericks by Dunning on book-related themes and an introduction by him on the theme of limericks. One of 2250 copies signed by Dunning. There were five issues of 450 copies each, each issue offered for sale at a different book fair. This copy bears the imprint of the Boston International Antiquarian Fair. Fine in stapled wrappers.
73. EASTLAKE, William. Go in Beauty. NY: Harper & Brothers (1956). The author's first book, and the first novel in his highly praised New Mexico trilogy. Eastlake was born and raised in New York City but moved to a New Mexico ranch after serving in the Army and later living in Paris, and most of his fiction has been set in the Southwest, with the landscape and the cultures of New Mexico playing an integral part in his fiction. This copy is inscribed by the author: "For my great/ friend Sophia/ Bill." Offsetting to endpages, else fine in a very good dust jacket with a small stain on the rear panel and an edge tear on the rear flap. Still a nice copy of a book that, because of its soft paper jacket and the bright colors in which it is printed, usually shows up worn and faded.
74. ELKIN, Stanley. Typed Note Signed. July 14, 1990. A short, humorous note: the body of the text, in full, reads "I have no plans to retire and I'll promise not to die if you will too. For Gass I can make no such undertakings." Signed by Elkin. Folded for mailing; else fine. With hand-addressed envelope.