Catalog 137, A
1. ACHEBE, Chinua. Collected Poems. NY: Anchor Books (2004). The uncorrected proof copy of the collected poems of the Nigerian author of Things Fall Apart, widely considered the greatest African novelist of his era and a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Fine in wrappers.
2. ACKER, Kathy. My Mother: Demonology. NY: Pantheon (1993). A novel by the controversial underground writer, based loosely on the relationship between Colette Peignot and Georges Bataille. Acker studied poetry under the second generation of Black Mountain poets and Jackson MacLow, who was linked to the Fluxus movement in the arts. Much of her early work was self-published or published by tiny small presses, and much of it dealt with sexuality and power. She died, at the relatively young age of 52, in 1997. This copy is signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a couple of light scratches.
3. ADAMS, Alice. Listening to Billie. NY: Knopf, 1978. Her third book. Near fine in a near fine, internally tape-strengthened dust jacket. Laid in is an autograph letter signed by Adams to Robert Jones, Editor-in-Chief at HarperCollins. The letter is from 1992 and references Listening to Billie: "I'm so happy that you liked --- Billie. I had such trouble with that book, fights with the editor -- etc. -- but I too have an affection for it -- ." The letter is folded for mailing; else fine, with envelope.
4. ADAMS, Alice. Return Trips. NY: Knopf, 1985. A collection of short stories, some of which first appeared in The New Yorker. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a bit of creasing at the spine base. Laid in are two autograph cards signed to Robert Jones, each dated 1992. The earlier of the two invites Jones for a visit; the later one thanks him for his support during Adams' slow recovery. "Any day now I'll start my new novel -- and then I'll be well." Cards fine; with envelopes.
5. ADAMS, Alice. A Southern Exposure. NY: Knopf, 1995. A novel. Signed by the author: "Love from Alice." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
Gwendolyn Brooks's Copies
6. (African-American). Connection. (Pittsburgh): Oduduwa, 1970. A magazine of African-American poetry, plays and art. From the library of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks has written the name and address of a contributing editor on the title page. An uncommon magazine of the Black Arts movement, this issue dedicated to the spirit of Malcolm X. Fine in stapled wrappers.
7. (African-American). Watu, Vol. III. (n.p.): African Studies/Cornell, 1970. A journal of black poetry and art published by the Africana Studies and Research Center and the Black Liberation Front at Cornell University. The Africana Studies and Research Center was established at Cornell in 1969, in the aftermath of the takeover of Willard Straight Hall, Cornell's Student Union, by a number of black activist students after a cross-burning incident on campus in front of the black women's cooperative. The famous photographs of the leaders of the takeover, heavily armed with rifles and bandoliers of ammunition, was one of the defining images of the late 1960s. Shortly after it was established, the Africana Studies and Research Center was itself burned down. A significant document in the history of race relations on campus in the U.S. Spine staining; near fine in wrappers.
8. (African-American). The Saracen, Vol. 1, No. 2. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1970. Poetry journal from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), a school set up after the Civil War for the education of black freedmen. From the library of Gwendolyn Brooks and with her writing on the front and rear covers. (The front says "Hampton Institute;" the rear is a list of names and associated notations.) Sunned; very good in stapled wrappers.
9. (African-American). LEWIS, Luevester. Jackie. Chicago: Third World Press (1970). A "black children's book" on the issue of gender stereotyping. Illustrated by Cheryl Jolly. Rubbed; near fine in stapled wrappers. Uncommon.
10. (African-American). Rhythm Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Atlanta): (African Expressions), 1970. A magazine "committed to Revolutionary Pan-Africanism," published in Atlanta. Includes an interview from 1964 with Malcolm X and an article on Pan-Africanism by Stokely Carmichael, plus poetry, photographs, fold-out artwork, and more. Staining to outer pages; very good in stapled wrappers.
11. (African-American). Yalodé. Miami: Theatre of Afro-Arts, 1971. A small press journal of African-American women's poetry and art, reproduced by mimeograph. Waterstained edges; good in stapled wrappers. An uncommon journal.
12. (African-American). Watu Wote Na Wajue, Vol. 1. (Chicago): University of Chicago (1972). "An anthology of creative writings by black students at the University of Chicago." Poetry and one short story. Name and address of one of the editors of the magazine on rear cover; near fine in stapled wrappers.
13. (African-American). Confrontation, Vol. 1, No. 3. Athens: Black Studies Institute/Ohio University, 1974. Includes work by Toni Cade Bambara, Chinua Achebe, Julius Lester, Audre Lorde, Amos Tutuola, Alice Walker, and many others. Covers foxed; gutter sliced; good in wrappers. One of the dedicatees of this volume is Gwendolyn Brooks, from whose library this came.
14. AMBLER, Eric. Background to Danger. NY: Knopf, 1937. The first American edition of his second novel, published in England as Uncommon Danger, and one of the handful of spy thrillers he wrote in the late 1930s that helped revolutionize the genre, being both more realistic and more politically aware than earlier efforts in the field had been. Ambler's successful formula became a model for later writers of spy novels, including John Le Carré, who took the realism and realpolitik one step further. Small owner name and address front flyleaf; some sunning to spine, mottling to boards and darkening to endpages; a tight, very good copy in a very good dust jacket with light edge chipping and rubbing to the folds.
15. (Anthology). TQ20. (Wainscott): Pushcart (1985). A huge anthology which was also published as the Twentieth Anniversary issue of TriQuarterly magazine. This is the scarce hardcover issue, published by the Pushcart Press; there was a much more widely distributed softcover issue as well. Contributors include Saul Bellow, Richard Brautigan, Gabriel García Márquez, Stanley Elkin, Jack Kerouac, Leslie Marmon Silko, Vladimir Nabokov, Raymond Carver, Robert Stone, Thomas McGuane, Joyce Carol Oates, Cynthia Ozick, John Sayles, Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff and many, many others -- a virtual who's who of American literary writers over the course of two decades. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
16. (Anthology). The Best American Short Stories 1986. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. Edited by Raymond Carver and with stories by Charles Baxter, Frank Conroy, Ethan Canin, Tobias Wolff, Ann Beattie, Donald Barthelme, James Lee Burke, Thomas McGuane, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, and others. Mild board splaying; else fine in a near fine, slightly sunned dust jacket. Perhaps the most difficult to find volume from the more recent years of the series.
17. (Anthology). Contemporary West Coast Stories. Old Saybrook: Globe Pequot Press (1993). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of 20 stories by writers such as Richard Ford, Robert Stone, Tobias Wolff, Ethan Canin, Joyce Carol Oates, Harriet Doerr, Amy Tan, Evan Connell and others. Spine creased; light overall wear; near fine in wrappers.
18. (Anthology). The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953. NY: Picador (2003). The advance reading copy of this selection of 50 years of the Paris Review, featuring more than 100 writers, divided into the titled categories and introduced by George Plimpton. Contributors include Jack Kerouac, Raymond Carver, David Foster Wallace, William Burroughs, Robert Stone, John Irving, John Updike, John Le Carré, Toni Morrison, and many others. Fine in wrappers.
19. (Anthology). The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003. NY: Anchor Books (2003). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection that was juried by David Guterson, Diane Johnson and Jennifer Egan and includes stories by Tim O'Brien, Denis Johnson, Bradford Morrow, T.C. Boyle, Alice Munro and others. Slight splaying to front cover; else fine in wrappers.
20. (Anthology). The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories. NY: Anchor Books (2004). The uncorrected proof copy. Stories by Lydia Davis, Rick Bass, David Foster Wallace, George Saunders, Christine Schutt, Mark Richard, Aimee Bender and many others. Fine in wrappers.
Signed by Jonathan Safran Foer and 11 Others
21. (Anthology). Sometimes Small Statements Make a Big Difference. Brooklyn: Downtown for Democracy, 2004. A collection of pieces published on the occasion of two readings given in New York on March 25, 2004 as a fundraiser to defeat George W. Bush. This limited edition was given to patrons purchasing $500 tickets. Introduced by Jonathan Safran Foer and including a story, essay, poem, play, or excerpt from a novel-in-progress by eleven other writers: Paul Auster, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, Gary Indiana, Joyce Carol Oates, Susan Sontag, Wendy Wasserstein, Colson Whitehead, Michael Cunningham and Jhumpa Lahiri. An impressive collection of some of the most acclaimed writers working today, both young and old, including several Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners. Nineteen separate 11" x 14" cardstock sheets laid into a printed black box. An elaborate production, never formally offered for sale; each piece, because it is printed on a separate sheet, will no doubt prove to be one of the scarcest "A" items in each author's bibliography. Each contribution is signed by its author. Fine.