Catalog 132, V-Z
280. VONNEGUT, Kurt, Jr. Happy Birthday, Wanda June. Hollywood: The Wanda June Co., 1971. Vonnegut's screenplay for the 1971 film based on his stage play, which opened off-Broadway in 1970 and later made it to Broadway for a successful, although relatively short, run. This copy is identified on the front cover as a "Rehearsal Script" and dated March 25, 1971. 8 1/2" x 11" sheets, printed on rectos only. Several pencilled corrections in text; claspbound in cardstock covers; faint coffee ring on rear cover; near fine. Signed by the Vonnegut on the front cover, with the added comment: "Genuine Relic." Rare.
281. WARREN, Robert Penn. How Texas Won Her Freedom. San Jacinto Monument: San Jacinto Museum of History, 1959. A small volume issued by the museum in an edition reported to be 512 copies, and thus one of the scarcer Warren "A" items. Inscribed by the book's designer, Gerry Doyle. Slight wear to cloth at spine extremities; fine without dust jacket, apparently as issued.
282. WARREN, Robert Penn. Now and Then. Poems 1976-1978. NY: Random House (1978). Poems by the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning All the King's Men -- considered by many to be the greatest American political novel of all time. Inscribed by Warren to his friend, biographer, literary critic and Harvard professor W. Jackson Bate: "To/ Jack/ in all friendship + admiration/ Red." Fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice association copy.
283. (WELTY, Eudora). Eudora Welty. Writers' Reflections Upon First Reading Welty. Athens: Hills Street Press (1999). Twenty-two writers reflect on Welty in this collection honoring her 90th birthday. Signed by the editor Pearl Amelia McHaney and by contributors Elizabeth Spencer, Reynolds Price, Barry Hannah, Doris Betts, Lee Smith, Clyde Edgerton, Richard Bausch, George Garrett, Fred Chappell, Louis D. Rubin, Jr., Anthony Grooms, Mary Hood, Greg Johnson, Tony Earley and also by Kaye Gibbons, who doesn't contribute. Other contributors include William Maxwell, William Morris, and Alice Munro. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Laid in is a fold-out timeline of Welty's life. Very scarce: there was a signed limited edition of this title, but only a handful of trade editions were signed by this many contributors.
284. WESSELLS, Henry. Another Green World. (Upper Montclair): (Temporary Culture) (2003). Bookseller Henry Wessell's collection of nine stories has blurbs by novelists Guy Davenport and William Gibson. An attractive edition; one of 200 copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
285. WHITE, Patrick. Happy Valley. London: George C. Harrap (1939). The first edition of the Australian Nobel Prize winner's extremely scarce first novel, winner of the Gold Medal from the Australian Literature Society. Happy Valley is set in a remote, inhospitable region of Australia, in the Snowy Mountains, which is where White worked for a year as a jackaroo. The theme of disappointment and dashed hopes persisted throughout White's writing career and his novels have a reputation for being psychologically harrowing; this, when combined with elements of place that figure in his writing, was what led to his Nobel Prize -- awarded "for an epic and psychological narrative art that has introduced a new continent into literature." Fine in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with a vertical crease to the spine and a small blended stain on the front panel. A very nice copy of this book, which is scarce in any jacket at all, let alone one as attractive as this.
286. WILDER, Thornton. The Eighth Day. NY: Harper (1967). A novel by the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Bridge of San Luis Rey, among others. This title won the National Book Award. Very faint spotting to cloth and foredge; still very near fine in a fine dust jacket.
287. WILLEFORD, Charles. I Was Looking for a Street. Woodstock: Countryman (1988). A memoir by the author of the highly praised Hoke Moseley detective novels. This is a somewhat more serious, reflective book, structured as an "Overture," "Opera" and "Coda," and a companion volume to his earlier memoir, Something About a Soldier. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
288. WILLIAMS, Thomas. The Hair of Harold Roux. NY: Random House (1974). His sixth book, co-winner of the National Book Award with Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with slight edge wear and a touch of black added to the spine extremities.
289. WINTERS, Jonathan. Winters' Tales. (Weston): Silver Spring Books (2001). A limited edition of this collection of "stories and observations for the unusual," first published in 1987. This edition is bound in red cloth silkscreened in black, with a black leather spine label. With a reproduction of one of Winters' paintings, "Trolling in Outer Space," as a frontispiece. This is one of 50 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
290. WOLFE, Tom. "Good Buildings." [ca. 1984]. Manuscript: two drafts, 9 pages and 25 pages. This piece first appeared in Esquire in June, 1985, as "Proper Places" and later much of the text was incorporated into Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities. The first draft is a ribbon-copy typescript with extensive holograph revisions by the author in pencil and ink. Much of this material was edited out of the later draft. The second draft is also ribbon-copy typescript, again with many holograph changes by the author. "Good Buildings" is a critique of New York in the mid-1980s, a savaging of the upper crust of New York's elite society and its peculiar, albeit passionate concerns. As a writer who has skewered the modern art world and the wealthy "radicals" of the late 1960's, Wolfe wields a much-feared pen, and The Bonfire of the Vanities was both eagerly and fearfully awaited as the publishing event of the year. Wolfe writes with scathing insight, and this manuscript is an excellent example of the writer sharpening his pen as he works. The sheets are fine.
291. WOOLF, Virginia. The Common Reader. Second Series. London: Hogarth Press, 1935. First thus: the second, Uniform Edition of this collection first published in 1932. Thin boards slightly splayed; near fine in a very good, spine-tanned, mildly foxed dust jacket with a small chip from the price label on the spine.
292. WOOLRICH, Cornell. "IRISH, William." After-Dinner Story. NY: Lippincott (1944). A Queen's Quorum title, and a fragile wartime production, printed on thin, cheap paper. Label partially removed from front flyleaf; minor watermarks to lower rear pages; very good in a very good dust jacket with tiny chips at spine crown. A very presentable copy of one of the high spots of the mystery novel, according to "Ellery Queen."
293. WORDSWORTH, William. The Excursion. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1814. First edition, one of only 500 copies. A long poem (400+ pages) intended to be the second of a three-part poem but, as it turned out, the only portion published in Wordsworth's lifetime. Together with his autobiographical poem The Prelude, published after his death, it is widely thought of as the masterwork in the career of the poet who is called the father of the Romantic movement, and whose critical writings did much to define modern thought on the subject of the relationship of poetry, and by extension literature, to life. This is a large paper copy, with modest foxing, a bookplate removed from the front pastedown, and a pencilled gift inscription on the first blank. Recently rebacked in attractive three-quarter calf, preserving the original marbled paper boards and marbled endpapers. A high spot of 19th century literature.
294. WRIGHT, Richard. Native Son. NY: Modern Library (1940). The Modern Library edition of his landmark second novel, considered by many to be the most important single title in 20th century African-American literature. Inscribed by the author: "To 'Mo'/ whose aid and friendship/ made the hard and hot/ days I lived in/ B.A. much, much/ easier./ As ever,/ Dick Wright/ March 23, 1950/ B.A." Wright, who moved to Paris, France in 1947 and never returned to the United States, spent 1949-51 living in Buenos Aires for the filming of Native Son. Wright himself, then 40 years old, played the 19 year-old Bigger in the movie, which was acclaimed overseas but only released in an abridged version in the U.S., which was unsuccessful. This is an ex- lending library copy from a Buenos Aires bookstore, with tape marks on the endpages and a return stamp on the verso of the front flyleaf; near fine in a very good, rubbed dust jacket with shallow edge chipping.
295. YATES, Richard. Eleven Kinds of Loneliness. Boston: Little, Brown (1962). His second book, a highly regarded collection of short stories and, by most accounts, his scarcest book. Dusty top edge; mottling to pastedowns; very good in a very good dust jacket with tanning to spine letters.
296. YATES, Richard. Cold Spring Harbor. NY: Delacorte (1986). The last novel by a "writer's writer," whose first book, Revolutionary Road, was a finalist for the National Book Award, along with Catch-22 and The Moviegoer and, in the opinion of novelist Stewart O'Nan, as deserving as either of them. Yates was Andre Dubus' teacher, and was admired by an entire generation of writers, including William Styron, Robert Stone, Kurt Vonnegut, and many others. This copy is inscribed by the author and dated in 1989. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Books signed by Yates are uncommon -- he was seldom in the public eye -- and this title, coming as late in his life as it did, is especially scarce signed.
ART BY WRITERS
297. ATWOOD, Margaret. Advertising Poster for Epicoene. Undated, circa 1957-1961. 14" x 11" poster created by Atwood for a production by The Victoria College Dramatic Society of "Epicoene; or, The Silent Woman," by Ben Johnson. Atwood, who was also a member of the cast, did the artwork and the lettering, cut the stencils, and printed the poster in three colors on her own silkscreen set. Matted and framed to 22" x 19". Signed by Atwood on verso. A few light scratches and pinholes; else fine. An extremely early, scarce ephemeral piece, done while she was an undergraduate at Victoria College, sometime between 1957 and 1961. Atwood's first book was published in 1961 just after she graduated, when she was 22 years old, and thus this item precedes her first book.
298. BURROUGHS, William S. "Nagual Art." Undated. Burroughs, the author of Naked Lunch, Soft Machine, and numerous other works that helped define the Beat generation and redefine the psychedelic novel, also worked in the visual media from the early 1950s on, experimenting first with collages and later with what he called "nagual art" -- art infected by chance, which had the possibility of giving the viewer access to what Burroughs called a "port of entry," an access to a different universe or a different way of seeing our own. In writing, Burroughs adopted the "cut-up" technique, with Brion Gysin, to achieve similar ends: a final product that was, in part, a product of chance or, at the very least, forces beyond the artist's direct control and manipulation. Oil and perhaps spray paint. 17 1/2" x 23". Signed by Burroughs. Fine, framed. One of the most evocative Burroughs paintings we've seen.
299. CUMMINGS, E.E. "Fourth Dimensional Abstraction." Undated, circa 1920. 24" x 19 1/2", oil on canvasboard. Brilliantly-colored abstract of intersecting planes showing Cummings' concern with color theory, as well as the innovative ideas of the time regarding multiple dimensions beyond the three visible, physical dimensions. Cummings first drew attention as an abstract artist, and his early abstract paintings are among his most sought-after. Influenced by cubism, Vorticism, and the Fauvists, he exhibited at the Independents exhibitions of 1918 and 1919 and won support from the likes of cubist painter Albert Gleizes. Cummings' early abstract paintings seldom show up on the market.
300. DURRELL, Lawrence. "Harbor at Lesbos." (1958). An impressionistic, panoramic painting of the harbor and the surrounding hills of the Greek island of Lesbos. Durrell spent a number of years living on the island of Corfu, also in Greece, and his travel writings are renowned for their evocative sense of the what he called the "spirit of place." In 1957, he had settled in the south of France, had published the first volume -- Justine -- of what would be his masterwork, "The Alexandria Quartet," and he had also published Bitter Lemons, set in Greece. Throughout Durrell's writing career, the Mediterranean has been the greatest source of his inspiration, this artwork epitomizing his sense of attraction and connection to the beauties of that place -- i.e., its spirit. Watercolor and pastel. 19 1/2" x 25". Signed "Larry."
301. KEROUAC, Jack. "Bird-Dog and Butterflys." Undated [c. 1956-57]. A painting by Kerouac (oil and acrylic?) of a small dog surrounded by butterflies. 7 1/4" x 6". Titled by him and signed "Jean-Louis Kérouac." Former tack holes to corners of artwork; else fine, matted. A nice example of Kerouac's artwork, which had a boldly expressionistic flourish, often applied to a romantic or even sentimental subject matter.
302. PLATH, Sylvia. Self-Portrait. A 19" x 25" self-portrait by Plath, executed in pastels. Undated, but probably from the late 1940s, based on her hair style, comparison with photographs from the period, etc. The portrait was presumably done from a photograph, as the subject is looking away from the artist. Plath is known to have done at least one other self-portrait on this scale, now located in the collection of the Lilly Library at Indiana University. Plath's mastery of the craft of portraiture is limited: her anatomy is far from perfect; but her intent to capture the essence of her subject is boldly realized not only in the outer depiction of her hairstyle and nondescript clothing, but more importantly in the intensity of the gaze captured by the artist. Plath's portrait would be remarkable if it contained only her eyes, which look askance with a combination of intensity and vulnerability that seems to perfectly embody the artist herself. We have never seen such an artwork by this author offered on the market in the past: all of Plath's significant works having been long institutionalized. Once creased near the lower edge, apparently to display the image without showing the hands; small red stamp lower left corner; else fine. Matted and framed to 23 1/4" x 30". A stunning view of the literary artist as revealed by herself as a visual artist. Unique. NOTE: Frieda Hughes and Warren Plath have said they believe the subject of this portrait to be Arden Tapley, a friend of Sylvia's in high school. We have not been able to verify this, and the portrait came directly from Plath's mother to the collector from whom we bought it via the bookseller who handled the sale of Plath's papers, and was identified by these sources as a self-portrait. Since this information seems to have originated with Aurelia, who kept close track of Sylvia's work, we are reluctant at this time to dispute it.
303. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Free at Last! Lexington: Petro III Graphics, 2004. The "Freedom Portfolio," hand printed by Joe Petro and featuring text and artwork by Vonnegut: one print of Vonnegut himself, one print of the story of Trout's birdcage, and ten prints, in ten separate colors, of the birdcage. Signed by Vonnegut with a self-caricature under the printed line "Free at Last." Issued in an edition of only 15 numbered copies. In printed folding chemise, wraparound birdcage band and clamshell case. Fine.