Catalog 134, C-H
14. CARVER, Raymond. At Night the Salmon Move. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1976. Carver's third collection of poems, and his second book to be issued by Capra. There were two issues -- a signed limited hardcover issue of 100 copies and a wrappered issue of 1000 copies. This is the hardcover issue; a fine copy, without dust jacket, as issued, and signed by the author.
15. CARVER, Raymond. Two Poems. (Salisbury): Scarab (1982). This is the complete publisher's archive for this edition, Carver's first limited edition after his first brush with commercial success. Four typed letters signed by Carver and one autograph note signed, along with photocopies of the four poems he sent for consideration for inclusion, apparently the only copies received by the publisher from Carver. These bear minor differences from their final published form. Also included in the archive is the publisher's final letter to Carver, sending the books to him for his signatures (and his comments) and instructing him which to keep. Carver got the first 25 copies of the edition for his own use, plus an unspecified number of the 17 overrun copies. Together with one of 75 numbered copies offered for sale, signed by the author. Numbers 1-25, reserved for the author's use, were signed on the title page. All copies numbered 26-100 we have seen, this one included, were signed by the author on the title page and again on the colophon. Most Carver manuscript material is institutionalized and few archives exist, even for so small a publication as this. All items fine, with mailing envelopes.
16. CHATWIN, Bruce. In Patagonia. London: Jonathan Cape (1977). Chatwin's first book, an idiosyncratic nonfiction account of a journey to Patagonia -- with historical vignettes interspersed with personal accounts -- the publication of which put the author at the forefront of contemporary travel writers. Fine in a very good dust jacket with lamination creasing to the front panel, a tiny bit of dampstaining on verso and a small chip at the corner of the heel.
Signed by Bruce Chatwin
17. CHATWIN, Bruce. The Songlines. (London): London Limited Editions (1987). A limited edition of Chatwin's fourth book, and by general consensus his best -- a "novel of ideas," as the publisher puts it, of Australian aborigines, and the questions about man that arise from the vast gulf that separates the culture of contemporary, Western civilized man from that of the wandering tribes of Australia, whose "dream tracks" or "songlines" delineate both a physical and a psychic and historical geography. One of 150 numbered copies signed by the author. A scarce edition, much more uncommon than the American signed Franklin Library edition, which had a print run numbering in the thousands. Fine in glassine dustwrapper.
18. -. Same title, the first American trade edition. Viking: Sifton (1987). Signed by the author. Fine in a spine-sunned, else fine dust jacket. Books signed by Chatwin, who died at an early age and was not especially accessible while he was alive, are uncommon.
19. CHATWIN, Bruce. The Attractions of France. (London): Colophon Press, 1993. A posthumously published limited edition of a story by Chatwin found in his papers after his death. Reproduces one page of corrected manuscript in facsimile. Of a total edition of 211 copies, 176 were bound in wrappers, 26 were lettered hardcovers, and this is one of only ten Roman-numeraled hardcover copies signed by Chatwin's widow, Elizabeth. Fine.
20. CUMMINGS, E.E. Reclining Nude. Undated. 16" x 13". Oil on wood. Framed. A portrait of Cummings' wife, Marion Moorhouse, reclining on a bed in a position reminiscent, presumably deliberately, of Goya's "The Naked Maja." Goya's painting was considered scandalous in its day, in a way that some of Cummings' artwork -- especially his erotic paintings of strippers, lovers, and sensuous nudes -- were in his own time, or at least he seems to have intended them to be. A stylized image, foreshortening perspective and thus alluding to Cummings' origins as an abstract, rather than realist, painter. Fine. Letter of provenance provided.
21. CUMMINGS, E.E. Girl with Green Hair. Undated. 17" x 21". Pastels. Framed. A half-length figure, executed in pastels, and borrowing from Cubism in its perspectives. Undated, but apparently from the early part of Cummings' career, probably the 1920s, when his artwork was still very explicitly associated with modernist and abstract movements. Fine. Signed by Cummings on the lower right with his stylized "EEC" signature. Letter of provenance provided.
22. FAULKNER, William. The Hamlet. NY: Random House, 1940. The limited edition of the first book in the Snopes trilogy, which is considered one of Faulkner's great accomplishments. One of 250 numbered copies signed by the author, and one of the smallest limitations of any of Faulkner's signed editions: only Go Down, Moses (100 copies) had a smaller run, while a couple of other titles were issued with the same limitation. The later volumes of the Snopes Trilogy had much larger limitations, but because of the size of the print run of The Hamlet, there can be no more than 250 sets of the trilogy that could be assembled in the signed limited issue. Hints of foxing to the endpages and spine; still a fine copy, with the top gilt still bright and the gilt stamping on the spine still clear and unworn. Lacking the (rare) original glassine dust jacket.
Faulkner's Scarcest Signed Limited Edition
23. FAULKNER, William. Go Down, Moses and Other Stories. NY: Random House (1942). The limited edition, and the smallest limitation of any of Faulkner's signed limited editions by a considerable margin: one of only 100 numbered copies signed by the author. Faulkner intended this as a novel, or sequence of related stories, and later, trade editions removed the phrase "and other stories" from the title. A bit of foxing at the hinges; still fine. A "stopper" in most serious Faulkner collections and rare in any condition, let alone fine. In a custom quarter leather clamshell box.
24. FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. NY: Scribner, 1925. Fitzgerald's third novel and, by consensus, his masterpiece -- one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. This is the first issue, with "sick in tired" on page 205. Library name handwritten on front pastedown; a very good copy with the spine gilt still bright and easily readable, lacking the rare dust jacket.
Association Copy of Howl
25. GINSBERG, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights (1956). The first issue of the first trade edition of Ginsberg's first regularly published book, printed in an edition of 1000 copies and in print continually since then, with the total number of copies now in the hundreds of thousands. "Howl" has been called the most important American poem since Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." This copy belonged to the sculptor Manuel Neri and his wife Marilyn (Meim) Vangelatos Neri, co-owners of the Six Gallery in San Francisco, where Ginsberg first read "Howl" in October, 1955. This copy is signed by Meim on the copyright page and bears the ownership signature of Marilyn and Manuel Neri on the verso of the dedication page. Some faint foxing and a shallow scratch to the front cover; still, very near fine in stapled wrappers. A significant association copy of a work that defined the new poetic aesthetic that came to be associated with the Beat movement.
Stanley Mouse Drawing for a Grateful Dead Album Cover
26. (Grateful Dead). MOUSE, Stanley. Ice Cream Boy. (n.p.): (n.p.), [1972]. Original sketch for the cover of the Grateful Dead's album "Europe '72," first titled "Overthere." 8-1/2" x 11". Shows an early version of "Ice Cream Boy" -- -who became an iconic figure after the album came out -- and the original title, which is written above the figure as "OVERTHERE" (one word) and below him as "OverThere." In this pencil sketch, "Ice Cream Boy" has spiky hair, which was changed in the final version. An early and significant sketch of a key icon of one of the most enduring rock bands of the 1960s, by an artist who was at the forefront of the renaissance of graphic poster art that took place in San Francisco in the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition to numerous posters, Mouse also designed and drew the cover for Workingman's Dead, the first Grateful Dead album to achieve significant commercial success. Several light (coffee?) stains, one corner torn; very good. Signed by Mouse.
Review Copy of the True First Edition in Dust Jacket
27. GREENE, Graham. Brighton Rock. NY: Viking, 1938. A review copy of the true first edition of this early novel, the first by Greene to have an explicitly Catholic theme. The U.S. edition came out in June, 1938; the U.K. edition was published in July. The book, Greene wrote, started out as a detective story and the first 50 pages still retain some of that, but in the end the novel -- an "entertainment," in Greene's words -- deals with metaphysical questions and the conflict between good and evil, as embodied by the gangster Pinkie and the heroine Ida Arnold. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with trace edge wear and the wraparound band (split) stating this is an advance copy. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone book and a Waterstones book of the century. Extremely scarce in fine condition, and especially so with the wraparound band still present.
28. HAMMETT, Dashiell. The Glass Key. NY: Knopf, 1931. The fourth of his hardboiled detective novels, the immediate successor to The Maltese Falcon. Hammett invented the modern hardboiled detective novel, paving the way for Raymond Chandler and others to mine this distinctly American genre. Partially abraded gift inscription front pastedown; mild spine tanning; near fine in a very good dust jacket with small edge chips at the corners and spine ends and rubbing at the folds. All of Hammett's detective novels are uncommon in dust jacket. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone book.
29. HARRISON, Jim. The Theory and Practice of Rivers. Seattle: Winn Books, 1986. The hardcover edition of this collection of poems, illustrated by Montana artist Russell Chatham. This edition was limited to 350 copies, of which half were supposedly sold with a portfolio of five relief prints by Chatham. This copy is accompanied by a portfolio of prints, but numbered as one of 40 "AP" (Artist's Proof) copies and is otherwise indistinguishable from the 175 copies. The book is signed by the author; fine in a fine slipcase. The prints, approximately 14-1/2" x 18" and suitable for framing, are also fine, and signed by the artist. Although the stated limitation was 175 copies issued with the suite of prints, we have never seen another offered for sale, and suspect that the edition was never issued as stated. One of the scarcest Harrison items, and a notable collection of prints by Chatham, who is among the most highly regarded artists of the American West working today.
30. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Men Without Women. NY: Scribner, 1927. Hemingway's second collection of stories, published the year after the success of The Sun Also Rises. This is the first issue book in the first issue jacket, without any reviews on the front panel. The entire first printing was 7650 copies; the first issue comprised 5450 of those, according to the bibliography. Includes several of Hemingway's most well-known, and often-anthologized, stories, including "The Undefeated" and "The Killers." Top stain a bit dull, minor handling to boards; a very near fine copy in a very good, spine-tanned jacket shallowly chipped across the crown. A nice copy of this early and important Hemingway collection.
31. HERR, Michael. Dispatches. NY: Knopf, 1977. The uncorrected proof copy. Herr, reporting for Rolling Stone and Esquire from Vietnam, was -- along with such now-legendary figures as Tim Page, Sean Flynn and Dana Stone -- among the first of the young writers to bring the sensibilities of the 1960s and the conventions of the New Journalism to the "first rock-and-roll war." Herr sent back a riveting series of dispatches, legendary at the time and now viewed as classics of war reporting. His pieces, written largely in the words of the grunts (GIs) he visited, shattered the official picture of an orderly progression to the war and helped define the "credibility gap" that made Vietnam war reporting so different from that of earlier conflicts. Fine in tall wrappers, with a note about Nelson Algren on the front cover and an "H" written on the bottom page edges.
32. HESSE, Hermann. Steppenwolf. NY: Henry Holt (1929). The first American edition of the Nobel Prize winner's classic novel of the dark side of an artistic personality. The book is very near fine; the jacket only good, with several small edge chips and longer edge tears, internally tape-mended. An important book that seldom turns up in any dust jacket at all. Hesse was rediscovered in the U.S. by the Beat writers of the 1950s and the 1960s counterculture; most of his books deal with individuals struggling to reconcile the physical and spiritual dimensions of their lives, and he infused many of his novels with elements of eastern religious philosophy and mysticism. Steppenwolf is a darker novel than most of his, and it apparently arose out of despair at the failure of his marriages and his attempt to drown that despair in alcohol and socializing in the bars and dance halls of Zurich; as such, the tenor of the novel is bleaker than usual, the possibilities for redemption more elusive.
Signed, with a Drawing, by Hermann Hesse
33. HESSE, Hermann. Narcissus and Goldmund. Berlin: G. Fischer Verlag (1930). The first edition, in German, of one of Hesse's major novels, which chronicles the unlikely friendship between a monastic ascetic and a sensual existentialist who is determined to live life to the fullest. In contrasting the two approaches to life's mysteries and human yearnings, Hesse ultimately sees the paths as complementary, each approach augmented not only by the other's but, more importantly, each individual enriched and fulfilled by the bond of friendship in a way that their solitary paths do not provide. Inscribed by the author beneath a full page drawing of a tree, on a page mounted to the front flyleaf. Slight fading to spine cloth; else fine in a near fine jacket with a slightly tanned spine and a couple of tiny nicks.