Catalog 131, M
180. MACLEOD, Alistair. The Lost Salt Gift of Blood. (Toronto): McClelland and Stewart (1976). The first book, a collection of stories, by one of the most acclaimed Canadian writers. His novel No Great Mischief won the Trillium Prize in 1999. Signed by the author. Erasure to top edge, else fine in a very good dust jacket with several short edge tears, splitting to the rear flap fold, and fading and dampstaining to the spine. Still an attractive copy of an uncommon first book, which was simultaneously issued in wrappers: the hardcover is extremely scarce.
181. MALOUF, David. Bicycle. (Sydney): (Thinking Fisherman Publications) (1993). A single poem by this Australian writer, who began writing as a poet but has since become better known as a novelist. Number 1 in the Paperback Poets series. One of a limited edition of only 100 copies. Illustrated by and signed by noted Australian artist Noel McKenna. Creasing to pages; near fine in wrappers, in a fine dustwrapper.
182. MAMET, David and SULTAN, Donald. Warm and Cold. NY: Grove Press (1988). A children's book, with text by Mamet and drawings by Sultan. This is the trade edition; an elaborately produced limited edition was done in 1985. Signed by Mamet. Quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket.
183. (MAMET, David). CHEKHOV, Anton. Uncle Vanya. NY: Samuel French (1988). The Samuel French acting edition of Mamet's adaptation of Chekhov's play, from a translation by Vlada Chernomirdik. Fine in wrappers.
184. MANKELL, Henning. The Fifth Woman. London: Harvill Press (2001). The first British edition of this mystery novel by the bestselling Swedish writer, featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander, one of the most engaging characters in contemporary detective fiction, and a bestseller in numerous languages although he has only recently been "discovered" in the U.S. Mankell uses the mystery form to reflect on conditions, and changes, in the society and culture of his native Sweden, and in turn these provide an ongoing commentary on societal changes of recent years in all of western Europe and the industrialized countries. This is the hardcover issue; there was a simultaneous softcover. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
185. MANKELL, Henning. The Return of the Dancing Master. London: Harvill Press (2003). The first British edition of this mystery novel that is a departure from the Kurt Wallander series, the author's first, but similarly uses a crime in a remote area of Sweden as a vehicle for exploring the social and cultural changes of the last 50 years. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
186. MANNING, Olivia. Friends and Heroes. London: Heinemann (1965). The uncorrected proof copy of the last volume in her Balkan Trilogy, which Anthony Burgess called "the finest fictional account of the [Second World] war produced by a British writer." Cocked; spine-tanned, with rubbing at the folds and small creases at the corners; very good in wrappers.
187. MANRIQUE, Jaime. Colombian Gold. NY: Painted Leaf Press (1998). A reprint of the Colombian author's first book to appear in English, a thriller first published in the U.S. in 1983. With an autograph note signed by the author to film critic Pauline Kael laid in, thanking her for allowing him to use the blurb that appears on the front cover: "Colombian Gold is like reading a movie... a film noir running wild." The note is folded and near fine; the book is fine in wrappers.
188. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. The Wind Birds. NY: Viking (1973). Small quarto, reprinting with some revisions the text of Matthiessen's classic Shorebirds of North America, with a new set of illustrations and a smaller format than that book. Signed by the author. Spine slanted; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with several small edge nicks.
189. MAUND, Alfred. The Big Boxcar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957. The first edition of this uncommon and important radical novel, which consists of a group of linked stories told by a group of black characters heading north in a boxcar after the Second World War. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with foxing to the rear panel and wear at the crown.
190. MAYOR, Archer. Fruits of the Poisonous Tree. (NY): Mysterious Press (1994). The fifth book in his acclaimed mystery series, featuring Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont police. Signed by Mayor. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
191. MAYOR, Archer. The Dark Root. (NY): Mysterious Press (1995). Another book in the Joe Gunther series. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
192. McCARRY, Charles. Shelley's Heart. NY: Random House (1995). A Washington novel involving the first presidential election of the twenty-first century, stolen by one candidate, and the crisis that ensues. Written by a former CIA agent, whose novels -- beginning with The Miernik Dossier -- have established a level of realism for the spy novel that is only matched by John Le Carré. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
193. McCARTHY, Cormac. The Orchard Keeper. NY: Random House (1965). McCarthy's first book, which won a Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year. Although the book was successful enough to go into a second printing, fewer than 3000 copies were sold in total, and it was a quarter century before McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and brought him recognition beyond the small, passionate circle of devotees who had been reading him and collecting his books all along. This book is notorious for several flaws: the front flap tends to detach at the fold from excessive scoring in the bindery, and the white jacket is susceptible to yellowing and soiling. This is a very near fine copy (slight splaying to boards) in a near fine dust jacket with several small edge tears and the white edge strips that suggest a previous dust jacket protector. An attractive copy of an uncommon and important first book.
194. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy. Lightly handled and slightly cocked; still near fine in wrappers. An uncommon advance issue of the author's scarce first book, seldom seen these days, especially in collectible condition.
195. McCARTHY, Cormac. Outer Dark. NY: Random House (1968). His scarce second novel, the total sales of which amounted to 2705 copies. Fine in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with light rubbing and very slight tanning to the spine lettering. A very nice copy of a book that appears to be at least as scarce as his first and seldom turns up in fine condition, the soft paper jacket being especially prone to wear.
196. McCARTHY, Cormac. Suttree. NY: Random House (1979). The uncorrected proof copy of his fourth book, which many considered his best, at least until the Border Trilogy (and some even still). Fine in wrappers. A very uncommon proof; this is the first copy we've handled.
197. McCARTHY, Cormac. Blood Meridian. NY: Random House (1985). His fifth book, a novel of the Old West, based on an actual series of events in 1849-1850 in Texas and Mexico, and rendered with an eye to bringing to life the surreal violence of the time and place. McCarthy's first five books sold fewer than 15,000 copies total -- this one selling only 1883 copies before it was remaindered. After the success of All the Pretty Horses in 1992, his novels have had first printings in excess of 100,000 copies. Faint stain on top edge; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
198. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers, with publisher's promotional material laid in. A very scarce proof, in our experience.
199. -. Same title. The uncorrected proof copy of the first British edition. (London): Picador (1989). Fine in wrappers.
200. McELROY, Colleen J. Winters Without Snow. (NY): (I. Reed Books) (1979). The first book by this acclaimed African-American poet. Inscribed by the author to another poet in 1981. Read, rubbed; near fine in wrappers.
201. 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. Inscribed by the author: "For ____ ____/ I guess this is another Keewaydin book./ It was my luck that you and [I] got interested/ in these things in the same places at/ the same time./ John McPhee/ 11/10/71." Keewaydin is a Vermont camp where McPhee spent the summers of his youth. The oldest private summer camp in the U.S., it is oriented toward outdoors activities and the natural world, presumably giving McPhee his early exposure to such issues, which he has focused on to great effect throughout his writing career. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a little sunning to the spine and shallow chipping at the crown. A nice copy of a book that is seldom found without a sunned spine, rarely found signed, and with an especially interesting inscription.
202. McPHEE, John. The John McPhee Reader. NY: FSG (1976). Collects sections from McPhee's first dozen books, along with an introduction by William Howarth and a checklist of McPhee's writings, which includes a number of unattributed "Talk of the Town" pieces from The New Yorker. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a little edge and spine wear. A surprisingly uncommon McPhee title, especially in fine condition, and an important title for McPhee collectors in the bibliographic information that it contains.
203. McPHEE, John. In Suspect Terrain. NY: FSG (1983). The second of his geology books, following Basin and Range. The two books were later combined in a collection entitled Annals of the Former World, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with two closed edge tears.
204. McPHEE, John. The American Shad. (Far Hills): Meadow Run Press (2004). An attractive limited edition, consisting of selections from McPhee's 2002 book The Founding Fish. One of 500 copies signed by McPhee. With illustrations by John Rice. Fine in a fine slipcase. At the list price:
205. (McPHEE, John). McPHEE, Laura and BEAHAN, Virginia. No Ordinary Land. Encounters in a Changing Environment. (NY): Aperture (1998). Six-page afterword by John McPhee to this book of photographs taken collaboratively by Laura McPhee, his daughter, and Virginia Beahan, using a fifty-pound, 40 year-old, Deardorff camera. McPhee's and Beahan's photographs concentrate on the ways in which people interact with the landscapes around them, and the images are striking, often startling, in their content, while the camera used gives them a degree of vividness and detail that seems almost preternatural. Signed by John McPhee and both photographers. Oblong quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket.
206. MEREDITH, William. Hazard, the Painter. NY: Knopf, 1975. Inscribed by the author in 1977 to another poet, "who has befriended Hazard and his grateful friend the author." Recipient's handmade bookplate front flyleaf; a near fine copy, with the main dust jacket sections clipped and attached to the boards. A nice literary association copy.
207. MILLER, Henry. Order and Chaos Chez Hans Reichel. (Tucson): (Loujon Press) (1966). One of the most elaborately produced volumes in the elaborate history of the Loujon Press -- hand printed and bound by Jon and "Gypsy Lou" Webb in a dazzling array of colored papers and hand made sheets, with an original photographic portrait of Miller bound in. This is the Black Oasis Limited Issue, one of 11 copies, quarterbound in black leather and gray cloth boards. Although the stated limitation is 11, this is copy letter L. Signed by the author on 6/6/66, with two signed postcards to the Loujon Press bound in, one of which concerns the health of Kenneth Patchen. Shifreen & Jackson A157e. One other issue of this title had a limitation of 11; only the Orange Oasis issue (with a limitation of 3) is more scarce. The bibliographers saw one copy of this issue, which was not identified on the colophon nor in the prospectus for the edition, although the copy they saw had only one postcard bound in. Fine in a near fine, mildly spine-sunned dustwrapper with a small foredge stain and a shallow crown chip, in a fine slipcase. A beautiful copy of a remarkable and magnificently produced book.
208. MOODY, Rick. The Ice Storm. Boston: Little Brown (1994). His second book, made into a film by Ang Lee that won an award at Cannes, for best screenplay adaptation from a novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Moody was chosen as one of The New Yorker's 20 best young American novelists.
209. MORRISON, Toni. "The Place of the Idea; the Idea of Place." Princeton: (n.p.), 1996. Morrison's speech, delivered at the 250th anniversary convocation at Princeton on Charter Day, 1996, in her role as the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of the Humanities. Morrison holds forth on the private experience of Princeton (the place of the idea); and its public legacy (the idea of the place). Photocopied computer printout; 12 pages; double-spaced, with notations and corrections in two inks. Stapled in upper corner; binder clasp shadow top edge; near fine. Comparison with Princeton's version of the speech as given reveals subtle changes in phrasing and pacing and offers a glimpse of how what Morrison intended to say differed from what she was moved to say in the moment.
210. MURRAY, Ken. The Golden Days of San Simeon. Garden City: Doubleday, 1971. Inscribed by the author to film critic Pauline Kael: "Having read your magnificent/ pieces relating to the Hearst legend,/ thought you might enjoy the/ impressions of an awe-struck lad/ many years ago." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.