Catalog 134, A-B
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Important Association Copy
1. ABBEY, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1975). His most famous novel. A book inspired by, and which in turn helped inspire, environmental direct action, it summarizes Abbey's hatred of the despoilers of the American Southwest, his sympathy for those who would thwart them at any cost and, most important, his appreciation of the natural beauty of the desert -- from the subtleties of its ecosystems to the grandeur of its scale. Inscribed by Abbey to Edward Hoagland in the year of publication: "Dear Ted -- / Herewith the book, as promised. Hope you like it./ Best regards, Ed. A./ Moab Utah 1975." Hoagland is the author of such books as Notes From the Century Before, Red Wolves and Black Bears, The Courage of Turtles, and others. John Updike called him "the best essayist of his generation" and several of his books have become classics of natural history writing. Abbey and Hoagland began a spirited correspondence in 1970 which lasted almost two decades. The two shared an interest in literature and nature, arguing vehemently over the merits of their contemporaries' writings. When Abbey died in 1988, Hoagland wrote the obituary for The New York Times Book Review. Foxing to top edge; boards splayed; a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with a couple small chips. After Abbey learned that in the book collecting market contemporary inscriptions were more highly valued than later ones, he routinely antedated his inscriptions to coincide with the publication dates of his books. This copy, however, has an authentic date.
Author's First Book, Signed
2. BALDWIN, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain. NY: Knopf, 1953. His classic first novel, a story of life in the ghetto which helped instigate a renaissance in black literature in the Fifties and Sixties. Signed by the author. Gift inscription erased from front pastedown and a small sunned spot at heel; very near fine in a very good, lightly spine-faded dust jacket with several small edge chips. A Modern Library and Radcliffe book of the century. An important first book and, because Baldwin lived abroad for most of his adult life, uncommon signed.
3. BALDWIN, James. Giovanni's Room. NY: Dial, 1956. The editorial file copy of his second novel. In part based on Baldwin's experiences as a black American expatriate in Paris, it also explores the themes of sexual identity and sexual awakening that recurred throughout his writings. Signed by the author. "File copy" stamp to flyleaf; a bit of dampstaining to lower edge; near fine in a very good dust jacket with faint dampstaining to lower edge and a couple small chips, including one at the upper front spine fold.
4. BALDWIN, James. Photograph. Undated. A 5" x 7" black-and-white head shot of Baldwin. Movingly inscribed by Baldwin on the verso: "For Marshall Bean: Love is the only reality, the only terror, & the only hope. Love, James Baldwin." Mild creasing to photo; near fine.
5. BEAUMONT, Charles. The Hunger and Other Stories. NY: Putnam (1957). The first book, a collection of eerie stories, by this writer who is best-known for writing for the landmark television series The Twilight Zone in the 1950s and 60s, including some of the most memorable episodes of the series -- "Perchance to Dream," "A Nice Place to Visit," and others. Inscribed by Beaumont in the year of publication: "May 21, 1957/ With very best/ wishes, for Everett Noonan/ Charles Beaumont." Beaumont died in 1967, at the age of 38, and books signed by him are quite scarce. With the Gahan Wilson-designed bookplate of author Stanley Wiater, three time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, on the front pastedown. Foxing to top edge, else fine in a near fine dust jacket with light edge wear and rubbing to the folds.
One of 50 hors commerce copies
6. BECKETT, Samuel. Echo's Bones and Other Precipitates. Paris: Europa Press, 1935. Beckett's fourth book, a collection of poems that was the first book published by George Reavey's short-lived Europa Press, and which Beckett paid Reavey to publish. Reavey started Europa Press in order to print poetry, after being dismayed by the way poets were treated by the mainstream English publishers of the time. He was also, a couple of years later, responsible for Beckett's first novel, Murphy, being published in the U.K., after he had recommended it to Herbert Read. Of a total edition of 327 copies, this is one of 50 copies hors commerce. Covers sunned but crisp; near fine in wrappers.
7. (BECKETT, Samuel). KNOWLSON, James. Samuel Beckett: An Exhibition. (London): Turret Books, 1971. The catalog of an exhibition of Beckett's works held at Reading University Library, with a foreword by A.J. Levanthal. This is the limited edition hardcover, one of 100 numbered copies signed by Beckett. Fine, without dust jacket (apparently there was a clear plastic jacket originally).
8. -. Same title. An unnumbered copy signed by Beckett on the colophon page; with dust jacket: either an out-of-series copy of the limited edition with a trade edition dust jacket or simply a trade hardcover that has been signed. In either case, rare: we've never seen a copy of this signed, other than the limited edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
9. BERRYMAN, John. Autograph Letter Signed. April 1962. Written to Edward Hoagland ("Ted"). Two full pages, on 5 3/4" x 9" paper, written from a Minneapolis hospital. Berryman derides himself for being a poor correspondent, albeit a good friend, and talks about his and Hoagland's marriages, about mutual friend Walter Clemons, and a bit about each one's current writing projects. Berryman was hospitalized for exhaustion, alcoholism and nerves in 1958 and was hospitalized at least once a year for the rest of his life. This letter has good personal content, literary material, and is written to a close friend. It is also, at times, somewhat scattered -- Berryman reports being given drugs to calm him and the resultant disorientation. Together with a carbon typescript of Berryman's 1957 poem "American Lights, Seen from Off Abroad." The letter is fine; the poem, which also runs two pages, is folded in sixths; near fine. Berryman autograph material is uncommon, especially with such revealing content.
Author's First Book, Signed
10. BOWLES, Paul. The Sheltering Sky. London: John Lehmann (1949). The first edition of Bowles's landmark first novel, a tale of Westerners abroad in North Africa, one of the seminal novels of the Beat generation and an influential book in the decades since. One critic commented that Bowles was "a master of cruelty and isolation and the ironies of the search for meaning in an inadequately understood environment." Bowles's expatriates, in their search for meaning, their explorations of North African culture, and their experimentation with the drugs of northern Africa, were the model for many who followed in their footsteps in the 50s and 60s and since -- much as Jack Kerouac's characters in On the Road have provided a model for succeeding generations. Signed by the author. Only 4000 copies of the English edition were printed, and the book went into several printings in short order; the first has become quite scarce in recent years. This copy is sunned on the spine, with minor foxing to page edges and a small bookstore label on the lower pastedown; about near fine in a very good, lightly spine-tanned, price-clipped dust jacket with a little edge creasing and shallow chipping to the spine ends. Trade editions signed by Bowles are uncommon in general; signed copies of his first novel are particularly scarce.
11. BRADBURY, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. NY: Ballantine (1953). Bradbury's most famous book, a collection of two stories and the title novella. The book's title is the temperature at which paper ignites, and posits a society in which all books are banned and those that are discovered are burned. As such, it has become a science fiction classic and also a classic of the literature of oppression and redemption, with repercussions and impact far outside the field of science fiction. Francois Truffaut directed the film version in 1966, his first film in English. One of the early Ballantine hardcovers -- meaning, among other things, that it was issued simultaneously (and primarily) in mass market paperback format and this, the hardcover issue, is scarce. Bookplate (partially abraded) of author Stanley Wiater, a three-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, on flyleaf. Slight rubbing to the board edges; near fine in a very good dust jacket with short tears near the folds, a small chip at the crown and the red "451" faded on the spine. One of David Pringle's 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.
12. BURROUGHS, Edgar Rice. Archive. An extensive archive of over 2500 items including letters, documents, manuscript notes and materials, unique publications, photographs, and movie memorabilia, spanning the writer's entire life and documenting in great detail the period from the 1920s until his death -- an unparalleled collection that is a trove of scholarly research materials as well as a unique collection of original artifacts of the author's life and career. By far the most extensive Burroughs collection in private hands, it includes the only extant copies of many photographs that were destroyed by fire at the Burroughs homestead in Tarzana. The correspondence is heavy with intimate family and pointed business details; the documents and other memorabilia include personal and professional records, manuscripts and notes for Burroughs' wartime publications, and contracts and checks for his stories. The bulk of the collection is arranged chronologically, in 31 large loose-leaf notebooks. The first three cover the years from his birth to the late 1920s, by which time he was a successful and wealthy author. The other 28 cover the period from 1930-1950, documenting these years in great detail in both family and business matters.
Among the notable items in the collection are: the $700 check Burroughs cashed for the first "Tarzan" story, which he has been quoted as saying was the payment that gave him the confidence to continue writing and to make it a career; one of the estimated half dozen original mimeograph prints Burroughs made of his eyewitness account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor; and a typewritten travel journal of a cross-country trip he took with his family in 1916, illustrated with snapshots. Burroughs was particularly fond of camping in the Canyon Country of the Southwest in the early days of the National Parks, and several such trips are recounted here in typescript, with original photos as illustrations. There's also a map of the layout of the first subdivision of the Burroughs ranch, Tarzana, which later became the town of Tarzana, California. There is great breadth and depth in the area of the author's correspondence, including many retained copies of his own letters which help put the replies in unambiguous context. In addition, there are many significant artifacts of the noted writer's work and career: a privately printed volume of memoirs by the author's mother, illustrated by the author's nephew, and inscribed by Edgar at Christmas, 1914; a set of journal notes from his first airplane flight, written while in flight and with drawings of the sights he saw; his file box from Honolulu, in which he filed his war correspondence, as well a field notebook from his time in the Pacific as a correspondent; and much more.
Burroughs remained in close regular contact with his children even after they were grown, and much of their sustained correspondence is preserved in this collection. The letters not only recount factual information about family and other affairs but often veer into philosophical discourse on such subjects as religion, when the father felt a need or desire to clarify his position on a subject with one of the children. When Burroughs divorced his first wife, Emma -- the children's mother -- the rift in the Burroughs family is visible in the strained correspondence. Burroughs' ultimately successful efforts to reconcile the family can be seen in these years, especially when the Second World War throws all personal questions into a much larger context, and both Burroughs and his eldest son, Hulbert, are squarely in harm's way in the South Pacific theater. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Burroughs became actively involved in the question of the postwar fate of the interned Japanese-Americans. Originally a staunch supporter of the policy of internment, Burroughs changed his attitude over the course of the war as he realized the racism infecting such "patriotic" attitudes and strove to separate the security concerns from such prejudices. He became a strong advocate for the rights of Japanese-Americans -- a very public change of posture that can be seen to reflect, in its own way, on the question of racism within the Tarzan novels and other Burroughs writings.
In the late 1920s, and especially in the 1930s when talking movies became standard, the Tarzan character reached a whole new audience, even larger than it had in the popular books. A radio series had started in the late 20s, and a comic strip in the 30s, and the archive admirably documents Burroughs' involvement in these enterprises -- sometimes from a distance, watching the studios compete to outdo each others' Tarzan movies, sometimes as a close critic, such as when he critiques a cartoon series his son Jack has gotten involved in with Bob Clampett, the Warner Brothers artist. He also was involved as a principal, being one of the producers of a movie, The New Adventures of Tarzan, shot on location in Central America in the 1930s, an effort fraught with almost unimaginable hardship and an ambitious attempt at realism at a time when the infrastructure of the Caribbean countries could scarcely support such an enterprise. The logistics and difficulties of the production are in abundant evidence in the archive, and ultimately Burroughs' decision to distance himself from the project in favor of letting the Hollywood studios produce Tarzan movies is documented. Numerous artifacts from the production form a part of the archive, as well as business correspondence relating to the funding of it and the production itself. Also, Burroughs' first meeting with Johnnie Weissmuller -- the most famous of the Tarzan actors -- and meetings with Buster Crabbe and other actors who played the role are documented in letters and photographs.
Burroughs' marriage in 1934 to Florence Gilbert and their move to Hawaii are represented in great detail in the archive, both in letters and photographs. Their social life is shown in stark contrast to the their dwindling funds. Their separation and divorce, when Burroughs could no longer maintain the facade of high living, is documented touchingly: its effect on his state of mind is revealed -- subtly in letters and more tellingly in legal documents; and its effect on his health is revealed in ever-increasing correspondence with doctors, prescriptions for medication, and finally in the accounts of a series of heart attacks that left the writer, after the war, in a state of substantial debilitation.
Burroughs' writing career is also in evidence throughout, albeit obliquely. He mentions the various books he is writing at different times; there are manuscripts he submitted for publication during the war; and the state of his finances is tied closely to his productiveness writing Tarzan stories as well as to the movies' adaptations of them. There are notebooks for one of his novels (Apache Devil) and the original typescripts of much of his war correspondence. There are unpublished interviews from that period, as well as the columns he wrote for a Hawaii paper.
There are also long strings of correspondence with two fans, which show the author's affinity for, and loyalty to, his readers. Both correspondences began when his fans were young and continued through their entire adult lives, until the author's death. Many other fan letters are present in the archive, including a number from noteworthy or famous figures, such as military or political leaders or the occasional celebrity.
Burroughs' ranch, Tarzana, figures prominently in the archive. Artifacts from the period -- photographs; books from Burroughs' library, including his dictionary and the thesaurus he used throughout his writing career -- are included in the collection, as well as a number of other books about him -- the first bibliography, the first biography, the definitive biography, which this collection augments in a number of significant matters.
Burroughs incorporated himself at the height of his success as a writer and in so doing established a precedent for franchising fictional characters that has today become part of the mainstream of literary life and integral to the Hollywood motion picture industry. While he was not the first writer to have his characters appear in numerous other media contexts and commercial tie-ins, he brought a modern-day marketing sensibility to the process that has helped shape the way literary and other intellectual properties are viewed today.
The final chapter of Burroughs' life -- the end of the war, his return from Hawaii, his declining health, his failing finances as paper shortages and strikes limit his ability to publish his books -- is all documented poignantly. The family's reconciliation and reunion is documented, as is the author's continued status as a celebrity, despite his personal hardships.
The popularity of Tarzan is phenomenal: Burroughs is one of the best-selling authors of all time, largely on the strength of the Tarzan series. But even more surprising than its popularity is the longevity of the series and its main character -- a longevity rivaled only, perhaps, by that of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Virtually all of the material present here is unpublished, and unseen by earlier biographers and bibliographers. This archive offers a view of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the man and the writer, that would be impossible to assemble from any other single source today and that will revise Burroughs scholarship when it becomes accessible to researchers and biographers. Please inquire
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