Catalog 136, H-J
84. HEANEY, Seamus. Station Island. NY: FSG (1985). Poetry by the Irish Nobel Prize winner. Signed by the author in 1993. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
85. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Three Stories and Ten Poems. (Paris): Contact (1923). One of 300 copies of this unprepossessing first book, which gave little indication of the author's eventual stature as the dean of American literature and one of the most influential writers of the century. After serving in France during World War I, Hemingway returned to Paris in late 1921 with a job as the European correspondent for the Toronto Daily Star. With a letter of introduction provided by Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway met a number of the expatriate writers living in Paris at the time, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Wyndham Lewis, and others. Robert McAlmon, another expatriate writer, had founded the Contact Press by publishing one of his own books in 1922. He arranged to publish Hemingway's poetry and stories even though Hemingway had already delivered the manuscript of In Our Time to William Bird for publication. Because Bird was fitting Hemingway's book into an ongoing series, it was held up at the press for nearly a year. In the meantime, this title was issued by McAlmon's relatively new press, and became Hemingway's first published book. Original wrappers very slightly spotted, but still a crisp, very near fine copy of this fragile volume; partly unopened and thus presumably never read. In custom chemise and clamshell case.
86. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. In Our Time. Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1924. Hemingway's second book, published, as was his first, in Paris, before he ever had a book published in the U.S. Hemingway's book was the sixth and last in the "Inquest" series published by the Three Mountains Press; the titles were chosen by Ezra Pound, and were presented as an "inquest into the state of contemporary English prose." Hemingway's stories were 18 untitled chapters, many of them a single paragraph, and it was on the basis of reading this book that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote to Maxwell Perkins, Fitzgerald's editor at Scribner's, and encouraged him to "look him up right away," adding that "he's the real thing." Perkins later became Hemingway's editor, although the path was somewhat circuitous and when an expanded In Our Time was published in the U.S. in 1925, Boni & Liveright were the publishers, not Scribner's. One of 170 numbered copies, making it the scarcest of Hemingway's titles: Three Stories and Ten Poems, his first book, had had 300 copies printed. Bookplate front pastedown -- a Ralph Fletcher Seymour image imprinted for Helen Hamilton; offsetting to endpages from the binder's glue, as usual, and splaying to boards, also as usual: the book was produced by a wealthy, but amateur, printer, and copies that have survived the eighty years since publication tend to show these particular signs of wear and/or faulty craftsmanship; mild rubbing to spine. Overall, a near fine copy, considerably more attractive than many that have appeared on the market in recent years. In a custom clamshell box.
87. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. NY: Scribner, 1940. A partisan tale of the Spanish Civil War, which Hemingway had covered as a journalist, and which was charged with great portentousness in the days leading up to the Second World War. For Whom the Bell Tolls has been called his most ambitious novel, and it is the one in which his political convictions reveal themselves most fully: he effectively conveys the idea that a people's freedom is worth fighting, and even dying, for. This passionate defense of the ill-fated Spanish Republic was so compelling that 30 years later, under the Franco government, the book was still entirely banned in Spain; copies were smuggled into the country and passed around surreptitiously. A bit of discoloration to the endpages and prelims; mild foxing to the cloth and rubbing to the spine block; a very good copy, lacking the dust jacket.
88. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. NY: Scribner, 1952. The last of Hemingway's books published in his lifetime, a novella that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and earned him, two years later, the Nobel Prize for literature. A short novel that has been characterized as a fable, it deals with a Cuban fisherman's struggles to land a giant marlin that he has hooked, and reflects Hemingway's concern for life as a struggle of man against nature, including his own nature. Upper corners bumped; spine roll; a near fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with some light creases at the upper front corner. A handsome copy.
89. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Jonathan Cape (1952). Slight foxing to endpages; very near fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket with an edge tear at the upper rear spine fold.
90. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Garden of Eden. NY: Scribner, 1986. A posthumously published novel, on which Hemingway had reportedly been working, on and off, during the last fifteen years of his life. It remained unpublished for nearly a quarter century after the author's death. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some sunning to the rear panel.
91. HIJUELOS, Oscar. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. NY: FSG (1989). Hijuelos' second book, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and later the basis for a well-received, Oscar-nominated movie. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a shallow crease at the lower rear edge.
92. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Blessing Way. NY: Harper & Row (1970). His first book, which introduced Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo tribal police and began a series of highly praised and award-winning novels, as notable for their attention to the details of Navajo culture as for their dual-track plotting, where both a Navajo and a Western motive might fit the crime. Despite winning an Edgar Award for his third novel, Dance Hall of the Dead, Hillerman wrote for nearly 15 years in relative obscurity before his commercial breakthrough helped to open up the mystery genre to protagonists of every ethnicity and individual or cultural idiosyncracy imaginable, giving the form a new self-consciousness that has allowed it to take on the exploration of significant social issues. Signed by the author. Trace fading to the cloth at the heel; still fine in a very near fine price-clipped dust jacket with slight rubbing at the spine ends but none of the spine fading that traditionally afflicts this title. A beautiful copy of an important first book.
93. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Fly on the Wall. NY: Harper & Row (1971). Hillerman's second book and one of his only mysteries that is not a Navajo tale. This story is set among political reporters in a fictional state capitol; Hillerman himself had been, according to the publisher, "a longtime political reporter." Signed by the author. Slight spine lean; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing to the spine but no fading.
94. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Boy Who Made Dragonfly. NY: Harper & Row (1972). Hillerman's third book, a children's tale that adapts a Zuñi myth. Illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi. Inscribed by the author: "For Pat & John Ball/ from a grateful recipient of their aid, hospitality and friendship/ Tony Hillerman." John Ball was the author of the acclaimed mystery novel In the Heat of the Night, which won an Edgar Award and was made into an Academy Award-winning movie. He was notably generous to others in the field, serving as something of a mentor to lesser-known writers. An excellent association copy. Small spot bottom page edges (not a remainder mark); trace rubbing to spine ends; still a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with trace rubbing at the spine ends and the front flap corner clipped at the lower edge.
95. HILLERMAN, Tony. Dance Hall of the Dead. NY: Harper & Row (1973). His second mystery featuring Navajo tribal detective Joe Leaphorn. Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel of the Year. Hillerman's tribal mysteries were unprecedented when he began writing them: the closest antecedent -- novels that used the mystery format to explore issues of cultural identity -- were probably the Australian Aboriginal novels of Arthur Upfield. Hillerman's success reinvigorated the detective form and opened it to a new generation of writers featuring detectives who not only plied their trades in different locations but brought to their jobs a much wider variety of qualifications than the tough-but-sensitive he-man types of earlier years. Hillerman's novels are now both critically acclaimed and bestsellers upon publication, with first printings running into the hundreds of thousands. While the size of the first printing of this title is not known, there were probably something like 5000 copies printed, many of which would have gone directly to libraries. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
96. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Great Taos Bank Robbery. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press (1973). Early nonfiction by Hillerman. This is the first issue in gray cloth and in the first issue dust jacket with a single image on the rear panel. Fine in a fine dust jacket and still shrink-wrapped.
97. HILLERMAN, Tony. Listening Woman. NY: Harper & Row (1978). His fourth mystery, again featuring tribal detective Joe Leaphorn, and preceding the point at which Hillerman's novels became bestsellers. Signed by the author. The cheap, pulpy paper is slightly browning with age, as is usual for this title, but still fine in a fine dust jacket.
98. HILLERMAN, Tony. People of Darkness. NY: Harper & Row (1980). The first of Hillerman's Navajo mysteries to introduce Navajo Tribal Police detective Jim Chee. After three mysteries featuring Joe Leaphorn as the main character -- including one which won an Edgar -- Hillerman shifted gears and introduced Chee, a young, more complex and conflicted character. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
99. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Dark Wind. NY: Harper & Row (1982). The second mystery featuring Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
100. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Ghostway. (San Diego): Dennis McMillan, 1984. A novel featuring Jim Chee. One of 300 numbered copies of the true first edition (preceding the trade edition by several months). Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
101. -. Same title, the first trade edition. NY: Harper & Row (1985). Interestingly, the dust jacket mis-identifies all of his earlier Navajo mysteries as Jim Chee novels, although the first several featured Joe Leaphorn as the protagonist. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
102. HILLERMAN, Tony. Skinwalkers. NY: Harper & Row (1986). The first of his books to unite Navajo Tribal Police officers Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Winner of an "Anthony" award at Bouchercon, the annual mystery convention, for best mystery novel of the year, and also winner of the Golden Spur Award for the Best Western Novel, given by the Western Writers of America. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
103. HILLERMAN, Tony. A Thief of Time. NY: Harper & Row (1988). A mystery featuring both Leaphorn and Chee, and winner of the Macavity Award for best mystery novel of the year. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
104. HILLERMAN, Tony. Talking God. NY: Harper & Row (1989). A Chee/Leaphorn mystery, set partly in Washington, D.C., in addition to his usual Southwestern setting. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
105. -. Same title, the limited edition. One of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
106. HILLERMAN, Tony. Words, Weather and Wolfmen. Gallup: Southwestern, 1989. Conversations between Tony Hillerman and Ernie Bulow, with a "Jim Chee" detective story. Illustrated by Navajo artist Ernest Franklin. Of a total edition of 400, this copy is out of series, but like the lettered edition of 26 it is signed by Hillerman, Franklin and Bulow, has an original pen and ink drawing laid in, and is a fine copy in a fine slipcase.
107. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries. NY: Harper & Row (1989). A compendium of his first three Navajo novels, collecting The Blessing Way, Dance Hall of the Dead and Listening Woman. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
108. HILLERMAN, Tony. The Jim Chee Mysteries. (NY): HarperCollins (1990). A similar collection of the first three Jim Chee novels. Collects People of Darkness, The Dark Wind and The Ghostway. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
109. HILLERMAN, Tony. Coyote Waits. NY: Harper & Row (1990). A Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn mystery. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
110. -. Same title, the limited edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
111. HILLERMAN, Tony. Sacred Clowns. (NY): HarperCollins (1993). A mystery novel, again featuring both of Hillerman's Navajo protagonists -- Chee and Leaphorn. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
112. -. Same title, the limited edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a fine slipcase.
113. (HILLERMAN, Tony). "The Great Taos Bank Robbery" in New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 3. (Albuquerque): (U. of New Mexico Press) (1966). An early appearance by Hillerman. Precedes by seven years the publication of his book of the same name, and by four years his first book. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
114. JOYCE, James. Ulysses. NY: Random House (1934). A review copy of the first American edition of the book that redefined the modern novel, and to which all postmodern writing since has been compared. Published on January 25, 1934, the first edition was sold out prior to publication. Sixty-four years later, the Modern Library would name Ulysses the number one book on its list of the 100 greatest English-language novels of the century. The title also appeared in the top ten of the Radcliffe list and the Waterstone's list and on the New York Public Library's Books of the Century. Slight browning to cloth edges, else fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a small stain to the rear panel and three very small chips, one internally tape-mended. Without a review slip, but with a publicity photo of Joyce laid in, having once been clipped to the front flyleaf. We have seen early issues of this book both with and without the designer's name (Reichl) on the front panel: this is the issue without. A very presentable copy of one of the great books of the century which, because of its unlaminated, coarse paper dust jacket, is difficult to find in nice condition.
115. JOYCE, James. Collected Poems. NY: Black Sun, 1936. Including "Chamber Music," "Pomes Penyeach" (first U.S. publication) and "Ecce Puer" (not previously collected). One of 800 numbered copies. Moderate darkening to lower boards; gentle foxing throughout; a very good copy, without dust jacket.