Catalog 136, C-E
37. CAREY, Peter. Illywhacker. (Queensland): University of Queensland Press (1985). The true first edition of the third book, second novel, by the author of the Booker Prize-winners Oscar and Lucinda and The True History of the Kelly Gang. This is a massive novel (600 pages) that focuses on an old Australian con man. Winner of the Victorian Premier's Award, the Age Book of the Year, the NBC Award for Australian Literature, and the FAW Barbara Ramsden Award. Also shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Printed on cheap, acidic paper and thus the page edges are darkening; there is also rubbing to the board edges; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
38. CAREY, Peter and LAWRENCE, Ray. Bliss. London: Faber and Faber (1986). The published screenplay of Carey's 1981 novel. Bliss won three awards from the Australian Film Institute -- that country's equivalent to the Oscars -- for Best Film, Best Director (Ray Lawrence), and Best Screenplay (Lawrence and Carey). Owner name; creasing at spine fold; near fine in wrappers.
39. CAREY, Peter. The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith. [London: Faber and Faber (1995).] A piracy, using sheets from the 1995 British paperback edition. Near fine in wrappers. Cheaply produced, as one might expect.
40. (CAREY, Peter). "Contacts" in Under Twenty-Five. (Brisbane): Jacaranda (n.d.)[c. 1966-67]. An anthology of poetry and prose by the youth of Australia, and including Carey's first published story. Carey's piece is identified as being from a novel, but has not been published or collected elsewhere. It precedes his first book, The Fat Man in History, a collection of stories, by seven years. Also includes two poems by Jan Turner-Jones and two stories by Murray Bail, author of Eucalyptus. Musty; light foxing to top edge; owner name; a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with rubbing to the edges and folds and a few stains to verso.
41. CARVER, Raymond. Where I'm Calling From. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1988. The correct first edition of this title, preceding the trade edition. Leatherbound; page edges gilt; with a silk ribbon marker bound in. An attractive edition in the Franklin Library's "Signed First Edition" series, with an interesting introduction by Carver which does not appear anywhere else. Signed by the author. Because Carver died shortly after the publication of this collection, signed copies of this title are uncommon, other than the Franklin Library edition. Carver prepared this volume knowing that he was dying of lung cancer, and many of these stories, although they had been published previously, were revised for this edition and stand as his definitive versions of them. Fine.
42. CHATWIN, Bruce. The Songlines. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1986. The correct first American edition, published by the Franklin Library for subscribers as part of their Signed First Editions series. An attractively designed book, in black leather stamped in brown and gold, in a pattern suggestive of the Australian aborigines' "songlines" that give the book its title. With a special introduction for this edition, which does not appear anywhere else. Signed by the author. Chatwin's signature is uncommon; reclusive while alive, he died three years after the publication of this book, at the age of 49. Fine.
43. CLANCY, Tom. The Hunt for Red October. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press (1984). The author's acclaimed first book, a surprise bestseller that initiated an entire genre -- the "techno-thriller." Clancy's novels, beginning with this one, have been praised for their authenticity, especially with regard to the technology of the intelligence establishment. The subject of this book, which was made into a successful movie, is a submarine hunt, and the state-of-the-art details of contemporary submarine stealth and warfare are drawn with impressive authority, and without bogging down the plot. According to published reports, this was the first book of fiction ever published by the Naval Institute Press, and it is safe to guess that they did not anticipate its huge success. This is a fine copy in a fine dust jacket -- the correct first issue, with no price on the flap and six blurbs on the rear panel. A beautiful copy of this book, seldom found in this condition.
44. CLANCY, Tom. Red Storm Rising. NY: Putnam (1986). His second book, another Cold War techno-thriller. Corners tapped; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple small spots of rubbing.
45. CLANCY, Tom. Patriot Games. NY: Putnam (1987). A prequel to the author's other Jack Ryan books, and the basis for a Harrison Ford movie. This is the second state, with three of the four errors identified in the first state having been corrected. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
46. CLANCY, Tom. The Cardinal of the Kremlin. NY: Putnam (1988). Another Jack Ryan thriller. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
47. CLANCY, Tom. The Sum of All Fears. NY: Putnam (1991). A Jack Ryan thriller that was made into a 2002 movie with Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman. Lower corners tapped; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
48. -. Same title, the limited edition. One of 600 copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
49. COOVER, Robert. The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. NY: Random House (1968). His second novel, a satirical fantasy about an accountant who invents an imaginary baseball league that he owns, and whose every action he controls with a throw of the dice. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
50. -. Another copy. Faint edge-sunning to boards; near fine in a near fine, mildly spine-faded dust jacket with a few tiny edge nicks.
51. CUNNINGHAM, Michael. The Hours. NY: FSG (1998). His highly praised fourth book, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, a rare literary double. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
52. DELILLO, Don. Americana. NY: Pocket Books (1973). The first paperback edition of his first book, originally published in hardcover in 1971. Inscribed by the author: "To ___ ___/ First novel - written in the late 1960s in one small room in the anonymous middle of Manhattan./ Don DeLillo." Owner name inside front cover; spine creased; very good in wrappers. A nice, and revealing, inscription in a not-very-common edition of an important first book.
53. (DILLARD, Annie). Cargoes, Vol. LIII, No. 4. (n.p.): Hollins College, 1967. A collection of poetry and stories edited by Dillard, seven years before her first book, and including her poem "The Boston Poems of Ho Chi Minh." Also includes a story by Lee Smith. Small date on front cover; modest handling and sunning to wrappers; about near fine.
54. DUBUS, Andre. Manuscript and Notes for "The Curse." Undated. The original handwritten manuscript and notes for one of Dubus's most famous, and most widely studied, short stories. Dubus was one of our foremost masters of the short story and the novella and his stories have frequently been compared to Chekhov's for the generosity of heart that accompanies their unflinching examination of his characters' lives. He was also one of the few American writers to bring a serious religious view into their writing: the moral universe of his stories is drawn in terms that preclude escape into callow word-play or facile evasion; and all that his characters encounter, and what they do -- and in some cases don't do -- matters. After a serious accident he suffered when coming to the aid of an injured traveler, a group of Dubus' manuscripts were sold in an attempt to raise money to help defray medical expenses; at the same time, a number of the most prominent writers in the country held a series of benefit readings to raise money as well. Since then, these are the only manuscripts of his to have appeared on the open market.
Dubus wrote longhand into lined, store-bought notebooks, and then revised on the page so that the various versions of a story -- from characters' names, to plot lines, to sentence structure -- are all visible in the earliest, intermediate and finished states. When done, he typed the final versions; the manuscripts themselves, however, show all the elements that go into creating the work and as such give a remarkable view of the artist at work. "The Curse" was Dubus' first story published after his accident. It appeared in Playboy, long a venue for fine literary short fiction, and it involved a fictional situation similar to a well-publicized case of a gang rape at a working class New England bar some years ago. The story is told from the perspective of the bartender, whose silent awareness gives him a complicity he neither wants nor knows how to handle. A painful story, laden with the weight of the moral choices we must make and live with -- even when their scope exceeds our understanding. This notebook also contains "3 1/2 pp of a story I tried to write in the hospital," according to a note Dubus wrote in the front of the volume. Approximately 50 holograph pages, with extensive corrections, revisions and notes in the author's hand on every page. Fine.
55. DUBUS, Andre. Two Drafts of "After the Game" plus other writings. Undated. Two manuscript notebooks, containing two separate drafts, each heavily revised, of the long short story "After the Game" as well as a number of other pieces of writing -- a eulogy for a student killed in a crash, delivered at Bradford College, where the author was teaching; two efforts at an essay about a "Sgt. Barber"; the last portion of his manuscript for the novella "The Pretty Girl"; a Thanksgiving prayer; teaching notes; and other writings. About 185 pages of holograph manuscript and notes. Both volumes fine. Since his death in 1999, two movies have been made from Dubus's writings: the widely acclaimed and award-winning In the Bedroom and We Don't Live Here Anymore.
56. DUBUS, Andre. Photocopied Typescript of "Liv Ullmann in Spring." Undated. Dubus' account of attending a literary dinner seven years after his accident, the terrors and sorrows that accompany that event above and beyond the terrors and sorrows of his regular days, and the redeeming power of the words of Liv Ullmann. Author Tim O'Brien makes a cameo appearance. 10 pp. of photocopied typescript, reproducing holograph corrections and with one correction made on the page. Near fine.
57. DUNNING, John. Booked to Die. NY: Scribner (1992). The highly praised first Cliff Janeway bibliomystery by this writer who was also the longtime proprietor of the Old Algonquin Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. Dunning uses his knowledge of the book trade in general, and the Denver book scene in particular, to make this a highly authentic tale that can be read on several levels at once -- a murder mystery, a roman a clef and a treatise on the collecting, buying and selling of rare books. The first printing was a modest 6000 copies and good reviews and excellent word-of-mouth caused the book to be reprinted numerous times, making firsts hard to come by almost immediately after publication. Signed by the author and dated February 4, 1992, the year of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
58. DUNNING, John. The Bookman's Wake. NY: Scribner (1995). The second Cliff Janeway bibliomystery. Signed by the author in April, 1995, the month of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
59. DUNNING, John. The Torch Passes. (n.p.): (James Cahill) (1998). Second printing of this poem, issued as a limited edition chapbook. Signed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers.
60. EGGERS, Dave. The Unforbidden is Compulsory Or, Optimism. (San Francisco): (McSweeney's) (2004). A "self-contained portion of a larger work." 61 pages. This copy is inscribed by Eggers: "Junior! Thank you so much for your help today. You guys are beautiful." Fine in wrappers. Oddly uncommon.