Catalog 132, M
160. MALAMUD, Bernard. The Magic Barrel. NY: Farrar, Straus, Cudahy (1958). The third book by the author of The Natural, a collection of stories that won the National Book Award. Some tanning to spine cloth and board edges; near fine in a near fine, spine-faded (as usual) dust jacket with an edge tear at the upper rear spine fold.
161. MALONE, Michael. Foolscap. Boston: Little Brown (1991). A comic novel by the author of Dingley Falls and The Delectable Mountains, among others. Signed by the author. Cloth sunned at spine, as is typical with this title; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
162. MAMET, David. The Verdict. NY: Fox-Zanuck/Brown, 1981. Photocopied screenplay of Mamet's breakthrough work as a Hollywood screenwriter, based on the novel by Barry Reed, filmed by Sidney Lumet, and in which Paul Newman gave a powerful performance as a down-and-out lawyer who finds a chance for redemption. Final draft, dated "November 23, 1981," with several revised, color-coded pages dated "12/20/81." Several actors' names in pencil on the title page; a fine copy in claspbound printed studio covers. Screenplays such as this, in the studio's own wrappers, are produced in limited quantities, usually only for those involved in the actual production.
163. MANN, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. London: Martin Secker (1927). The first English language edition of Mann's classic novel, published in two volumes. Mann began writing The Magic Mountain in 1912, and his work was interrupted by the First World War. When he resumed writing after the war, the book changed its scope and became a large scale meditation on history, human nature, and the perennial philosophical questions surrounding life and death. In large part as a result of this novel, Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. Modest foredge foxing and sunning to boards; near fine copies in near fine, spine-tanned dust jackets with shallow chips to the crowns. Extremely scarce: although the American edition was published the same year and turns up regularly, we have never seen nor handled a copy of the English edition in dust jacket. An exceptional copy of one of the great novels of the 20th century.
164. MASO, Carole. Ava. (Normal): Dalkey Archive Press (1993). The uncorrected proof copy of her third published book, the first in a projected trilogy. Textual differences from the first edition, including a change in the last page. Fine in wrappers.
165. MASO, Carole. The American Woman in the Chinese Hat. (Normal): Dalkey Archive (1994). The uncorrected proof copy of her third book, published fourth. A novel in which the forces of language and sex are summoned to compensate for the main character's "catastrophic loss of feeling." Fine in wrappers, with a dedication that differs from that of the published version.
166. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Race Rock. NY: Harper & Brothers (1954). His first novel, published just after he returned from Paris, where he helped found the Paris Review. This is the issue in blue cloth and black boards; the priority has not been determined. Matthiessen's career as a writer has spanned more than 50 years and by all appearances he is still going strong. He has expressed something approaching disdain for his early novels, which nonetheless were generally seen as signaling a young writer of great promise. One might say that promise has been more than fulfilled, as Matthiessen's writing has been more wide-ranging, and more influential in more different areas, than almost any American writer of the last half-century. Minuscule rubbing to the cloth at the crown; still a fine copy in a near fine, mildly spine-tanned dust jacket, with a bit of corresponding wear to the crown. A remarkably attractive copy of a book that does not normally age well.
167. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Partisans. NY: Viking, 1955. His second book, a novel of a young expatriate American in Paris, where Matthiessen spent a number of years. This copy is inscribed by the author to longtime New Yorker writer Berton Roueche and his wife. Near fine in a very good dust jacket, with the orange box on the spine faded as usual, and some chipping at the extremities of the spine and other modest edge wear. A significant association copy and an apparently contemporary inscription and scarce thus.
168. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Raditzer. NY: Viking, 1961. His fourth book, third novel, a tale of an outcast seaman on a World War II troop ship. Inscribed by Matthiessen to his brother-in-law, Kennett Love. Love's ownership signature on front flyleaf and a couple pencilled notes, apparently in his hand, on the rear pastedown. A near fine copy in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with a couple closed tears at mid-spine. Again, a nice association copy.
169. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. The Shorebirds of North America. NY: Viking (1967). Large folio edited by Gardner Stout and illustrated by Robert Verity Clem, with text by Matthiessen. A landmark volume, considered the standard book in the field. Inscribed by the author to his brother-in-law, Kennett Love, and bearing Love's 1967 ownership signature. A fine copy in an edgeworn dust jacket with several stains on the rear panel and thus about near fine.
170. 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. Illustrated with Matthiessen's own photographs. Inscribed by the author to his brother-in-law, Kennett Love. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. A very nice copy of a somewhat uncommon book which, because of its unlaminated dust jacket, is seldom found in such nice condition.
171. MAUROIS, Simone André. Miss Howard and the Emperor. London: Collins, 1957. The first American edition. Inscribed by the author to Lillian Hellman, "This book (a friendly gift of Arthur Cowan) is also the homage of my deep and sincere admiration for the great lady playwright." Boards a bit splayed and cloth splitting at joints; moderate foxing to text block; a good copy in a very good dust jacket with a couple edge tears and a tiny chip at the spine.
172. McCARTHY, Cormac. Suttree. NY: Random House (1979). His fourth book, which many considered his best, at least until the Border Trilogy (and some even still). Scarce: Suttree sold fewer than 3000 copies in the original edition. Slight concavity to spine; else fine in a fine dust jacket with the red outlining faded from the spine.
173. McCARTHY, Cormac. All the Pretty Horses. NY: Knopf, 1992. The first volume of the Border Trilogy, a landmark novel that won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and propelled its author to "instant" literary celebrity -- after nearly three decades of writing well-received literary novels in relative obscurity. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
174. -. Same title. The advance reading copy. Issued in wrappers and publisher's folding box, signed by the author, it was sent out in advance of publication to promote the book. Rumor has it that approximately 400 were to be done but the author quit after about 200, and declined to do any more. McCarthy has a reputation as, if not exactly a recluse, one who prizes his independence and privacy, and books signed by him are uncommon. Fine in a near fine folding box.
175. McDERMOTT, Alice. Charming Billy. NY: FSG (1998). Her fourth book, winner of the National Book Award. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
176. McGUANE, Thomas. Ninety-Two in the Shade. NY: FSG (1973). McGuane's third novel, which was made into a movie and which secured his reputation as a major American author (as opposed to a "promising" young writer). Paperclip mark to front board and clip indentation to top jacket edge; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a "Compliments of the Publisher" slip laid in. From the library of John Updike; letter of provenance on request.
177. McGUANE, Thomas. Live Water. (Stone Harbor): Meadow Run Press (1996). Essays on and tales of angling, by one of the most respected American novelists, who is also an avid angler. This is the deluxe limited edition, one of only 67 numbered copies, signed by McGuane and by the artist, John Swan. Quarterbound in blue leather and linen boards; fine in a fine clamshell box. An attractive, elegantly printed and bound volume.
178. McMAHON, Thomas. Principles of American Nuclear Chemistry: A Novel. Boston: Little Brown (1970). His acclaimed first novel. Faint foxing to top edge; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small chip threatening at the spine crown. "Compliments of the Author" card laid in. From the library of John Updike; letter of provenance available on request.
John Updike's copies
179. McMURTRY, Larry. Cadillac Jack. NY: Simon & Schuster (1982). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel about an antique dealer, reportedly based on a legendary book scout. This copy belonged to John Updike; letter of transmittal laid in to Updike from Michael Korda, Editor-in-Chief at Simon & Schuster. Paperclip and paperclip marks to prelims; else fine in wrappers.
180. McMURTRY, Larry. Texasville. NY: Simon & Schuster (1987). The uncorrected proof copy of the sequel to his novel The Last Picture Show, returning to the same locale some twenty years later. This copy belonged to John Updike; letter of transmittal laid in to Updike from the publisher. Paperclip marks to front cover; near fine in wrappers.
181. McMURTRY, Larry. Anything for Billy. NY: Simon & Schuster (1988). The uncorrected proof copy of this volume in his ongoing effort to re-mythologize the American West, by turning some of the more popular and misleading myths on their heads, and replacing them with versions which lend themselves to a greater understanding and insight than the simplistic cowboys-and-Indians tales fed to earlier generations. This volume focuses on the legend of Billy the Kid. John Updike's copy, with a letter of transmittal to him from the publisher laid in. Light mottling and rust to covers; near fine in wrappers.
182. McPHEE, John. Levels of the Game. NY: FSG (1969). A review copy of this account of a landmark tennis match between Arthur Ashe, the first world-class African-American tennis player, and Clark Graebner, "a middle-class white conservative dentist's son from Cleveland." A detailed, point-by-point account of the match, and an exploration of their different tennis styles that sheds light on their different backgrounds and lives and, by extension, the larger cultural differences to be found within American society. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a nick to the rear flap fold. Review slip laid in.
183. 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. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a bit of rubbing to the front flap fold but virtually none of the spine-fading that is usual for this title.
184. McPHEE, John. The Curve of Binding Energy. NY: FSG (1974). A lengthy profile of Theodore Taylor, a nuclear physicist who spent years working on an eventually-aborted project to develop a spaceship powered by exploding atomic bombs. In later years he became an expert in preventing the "diversion" of nuclear materials to help limit nuclear proliferation. McPhee's explication of the concepts of nuclear physics necessary to tell this story is remarkable. A bit of dampstaining to cloth; near fine in a very good dust jacket that also has dampstaining, predominantly visible on verso.
185. -. Another copy. Spine slant; light foredge foxing; very good in a very good dust jacket.
186. McPHEE, John. The Survival of the Bark Canoe. NY: FSG (1976). A portrait of a New Hampshire man who made birch bark canoes in the 1970s in the same manner that the American Indians did prior to the arrival of Europeans on this continent -- using the same materials and tools -- and also an account of a 150-mile canoe trip in Maine in one of the vessels, reminiscent of Thoreau's account in The Maine Woods. A hint of foredge foxing; else fine in a fine dust jacket with a small faint spot at the lower spine. A beautiful copy of one of McPhee's scarcest books to find in fine condition, owing to its white, soft paper dust jacket, which is usually soiled and frayed.
187. McPHEE, John. Coming Into the Country. NY: FSG (1977). His breakthrough book -- three pieces on Alaska from The New Yorker -- which was chosen as a Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and became a modest bestseller, immediately going into a number of printings. This is the book by which McPhee went from being a relatively unknown staff writer for The New Yorker -- in general someone less famous than the subjects he profiled -- to being a household name among literary cognoscenti. McPhee's lucid, transparent style has come to define a particular era for The New Yorker much as Thurber's and E.B. White's did for an earlier time. After this book, Farrar Straus brought all his earlier books back into print, even reprinting hardcover editions in some cases. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
188. McPHEE, John. La Place de la Concorde Suisse. NY: FSG (1984). A review copy of this book that began as a study of the Swiss Army knife and ended up as a study of the Swiss Army. Fine in a fine dust jacket with just a touch of foredge foxing. Review slip and author photo laid in.
189. (McPHEE, John). The Princeton Anthology of Writing. Princeton: Princeton University Press (2001). A collection of nonfiction co-edited by McPhee and with a preface by him that has not appeared elsewhere, explaining the origins of Princeton's focus on literary journalism. This anthology is ample evidence of the success of that focus, including such writers as Jane Kramer, Jonathan Schell, Leslie Cockburn, Larry L. King, Richard Gilman, Victor Navasky, Jeremy Bernstein, Geoffrey Wolff, James Gleick, Gloria Emerson, and many more, all of whom passed through Princeton. Also includes McPhee's "Travels of the Rock" from his collection Irons in the Fire. Signed by McPhee. Also signed by co-editor Carol Rigolot and contributors Christopher Wren, Gina Kolata, Landon Jones. This is a fine copy of the issue in wrappers. Uncommon signed.
190. McPHERSON, James Alan. Elbow Room. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown (1977). A review copy of his acclaimed second book, a collection of stories that won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize. Boards a bit skewed -- not uncommon for this fairly cheaply made book; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a strip of sunning at the front edge of the front panel. With publisher's review slip laid in.
191. MICHENER, James. Ventures in Editing. Huntington Beach: Cahill, 1995. Two essays by Michener, "My Advice to Young America," which takes a long view of a writing life, and "The Writer and His Machine," which takes a hard look at kidney failure. Two versions of each essay are included, together with an introduction by Michener about the machinations of the editing process. There were 300 published copies: this is a proof copy bound in maroon cloth and with the colophon of the lettered edition. Fine in a fine slipcase. Signed by the author.
192. -. Same title, the publisher's archive. Includes a ten page computer printout of "The Writer and His Machine," which varies in small measure from the first version in the book, and a 17 page computer printout, which varies from all versions. An unsigned Michener note says about this second version ("This Fourth Version of the manuscript, the final version"): "We have indicated by bold face the new material..." His note covers several options for dealing with printing two such similar versions of the essay. Also included is a 12-page typescript fax corresponding to the first version of "My Advice to Young America." This is on legal paper, folded up to letter size, with the text written in hand where it ran off the bottom. Together with a (secretarially) typed note signed by Michener from 1993, declining that he has any essays suitable for an edition. Except for the folded legal pages; all elements are fine. Original manuscript material by Michener, one of the most popular American authors of all time, is scarce as most of it resides in various institutional archives.
193. MILLER, Henry. Hamlet. (Puerto Rico): Carrefour (1939). Letters between Michael Fraenkel and Henry Miller. This is the trade edition: one of 475 copies. A fine copy in wrappers. A beautiful copy of this book published by one of the most important avant garde presses of the 20th century, which was founded by Fraenkel and American poet Walter Lowenfels, who introduced Fraenkel to Miller. Miller, Fraenkel and Lowenfels formed what has come to be known as the "Triumvirate of Death," because so much of their writing -- and that published by Carrefour -- focused on the theme of the spiritual death of Western Man.
194. MILLER, Henry. Plexus. (Paris): Corrêa (1952). The true first edition, one of 100 numbered copies, in French, preceding all other editions. A bit of offsetting to the endpapers from a protective tissue wrapper placed on the book; otherwise a fine copy in wrappers in a fine dust jacket. An exceedingly scarce edition, which was not seen by the bibliographers, Shifreen and Jackson. This copy is unopened and as close to "as new" condition as one could hope for.
195. -. Same title, the first English-language edition. Paris: Olympia Press (1953). Two volumes. One of 2000 numbered copies, these volumes both bearing the number "1645." Faint edge-foxing and slight corner bumping; very near fine copies, without dust jackets, as issued.
196. MILLER, Henry. Souvenir Souvenirs. [Paris]: Gallimard (1953). The first French edition of Remember to Remember, printed in a total edition of 86 copies, of which this is one of six lettered hors commerce copies. A trifle bit of edge-sunning; still fine in wrappers, in French-folded glassine wrapper. A notable rarity, one of the smallest issues of any Miller book.
197. MILLER, Henry. Signed Photograph. 1969. An 8" x 10" black and white photo taken by Bill Webb. Titled "H.M. at Pacific Palisades," this is one of five numbered prints, initialed and dated by Webb and signed by Miller. Miller, in profile, is smiling and smoking. A very attractive image of Miller in his later years. Matted and framed to 14 3/4" x 18". Fine.
198. (MILLER, Henry). BRINGER, Rudolphe. Trente ans D'Humour. Paris: France-Edition (1924). Inscribed by Miller to Emil Schnelluck, one of his oldest friends and one of only a handful who stayed close to Miller through the enormous changes in his life after he met June Mansfield and left his previous existence behind in almost every respect. Schnelluck had been to Europe long before Miller had, and he used to recount to Miller his memories of his visits there, which Miller eagerly soaked up. Now Miller, in Paris for the second time in October, 1930, relays this book to his friend, with a recommendation that it is "fairly easy to read and quite entertaining. Try it!" He also recounts seeing "a peach of a Huysmans yesterday on Blvd Raspail called 'Croquis de Paris.' So much to buy -- so much -- if one only had the dough!" A wonderful inscription to one of his best friends, focused on Paris and books, not to mention poverty -- the important early themes of Miller's literary life. Wrappers are missing and the inscription is on the half-title which is the first page here. Page detached from the rest of the text; extremely brittle, acidifying pages. The condition is fair, and with a risk of deterioration: a volume that certainly merits deacidification. With Miller's underlinings and comments in the text. An excellent personal association.
Henry to June
199. (MILLER, Henry). GIONO, Jean. Blue Boy. NY: Viking, 1946. The first American edition of this novel by Giono, a writer whom Miller had come to admire while in France and whom he had long worked to get published in the U.S. This copy is inscribed by Miller to his former wife, June: "For June/ from/ Henry, Lepska & Val/ Xmas 1947." Lepska was Janina Martha Lepska Miller, Henry's third wife, and Val was their daughter Valentin, who was born in October of 1945 and was named after Lepska's father and Henry's grandfather, who shared the same first name. June and Henry had not been in touch for several years at this point, but she had recently contacted him and was destitute. He arranged for a friend to send her some money (he was still broke in the U.S., although his books had sold well in France and he had a substantial amount of money there but no way, under postwar regulations, to get it out of the country). His renewed contact with June, however, sparked his getting back to work on the Rosy Crucifixion, which he saw as his masterpiece-to-be, but which had been languishing recently. The part he was about to embark on -- dealing with his time with June and Jean Kronski -- was full of painful memories that Miller would have to relive in order to write it. The contact with June -- with whom he maintained contact thereafter -- allowed him to revisit that time and those experiences, and to finally bring to fruition the long-contemplated work. The cloth is heavily and unevenly faded; corners bumped; a very good copy, lacking the dust jacket. An excellent association copy, representing numerous strands of Miller's life over the past two decades.
200. (MITCHELL, Margaret). A Tribute to Margaret Mitchell. (Atlanta): (Trust Company of Georgia) (n.d.). Announcement presenting the case for adding an oil portrait of Mitchell to the collection of illustrious Georgians gracing the main banking room of the Trust Company of Georgia. Reproduction of the painting tipped in. Folio, folded to make four pages; faint creasing; near fine. A scarce, ephemeral piece acknowledging the author's masterpiece, Gone With the Wind.
201. MORRIS, Wright. The Field of Vision. NY: Harcourt Brace (1956). After two nominations for the National Book Award for fiction, in 1954 and 1955, Wright won the award for this novel in 1957. Fine in a very good, first issue dust jacket with sunning at the edges and folds, a few tiny spots on the rear panel, and light wear at the crown. The first issue jacket, which differs dramatically from the more common pictorial jacket, is extremely scarce.
202. MORRIS, Wright. Plains Song. NY: Harper & Row (1980). Morris' second book to win the National Book Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
203. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Books inscribed by Morris are relatively uncommon.
204. (MORRISON, Toni). TWAIN, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. NY: Oxford University Press, 1996. A limited edition reissue in the Oxford Mark Twain series, with an introduction by Toni Morrison and an afterword by Victor A. Doyno, as well as a facsimile reproduction of the first edition text and illustrations. Morrison's 11-page introduction tackles head-on the controversy that Huckleberry Finn has raised, especially in these recent years of supposedly increased ethnic sensitivity and political "correctness." The Nobel Prize winner argues that the strength of the novel is "its ability to transform its contradictions into fruitful complexities and to seem to be deliberately cooperating in the controversy it has excited. The brilliance of Huckleberry Finn is that it is the argument it raises." One of 300 numbered copies signed by Morrison and Doyno. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and quite uncommon
205. MUNRO, Alice. The Beggar Maid. NY: Knopf, 1979. A review copy of the first American edition of the second of her books to win Canada's Governor General's Award (in 1978, under the title Who Do You Think You Are?). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
206. MUSIL, Robert. The Man Without Qualities. London: Secker & Warburg, 1953, 1954, 1960. The first English edition of his masterwork, three volumes present; the fourth volume, intended to contain Musil's concluding chapters and unfinished at the time of his death, is not present: it was not published in English until a new translation was done in 1996. Musil's great work has been compared to that of Proust and Joyce; in focusing on a year in the life of an Austrian intellectual near the onset of the First World War, he explored not only the culture of the time but the way that ideas shape human lives and events, giving the novel a transcendent relevance beyond its own era. The first two volumes exhibit a bit of loss to the spine stamping; the books are otherwise fine in near fine, spine-tanned dust jackets, the first two of which are deeply price-clipped. For the three: