Catalog 141, S-Z
238. SALINGER, J.D. Franny and Zooey. Boston: Little, Brown (1961). The third book by the author of The Catcher in the Rye, two novellas that originally appeared in The New Yorker. Owner name on pastedown under front flap; thin strip of darkening lower flyleaf; else a fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
239. SALINGER, J.D. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, An Introduction. Boston: Little Brown (1963). Salinger's fourth and last book, two long stories of the Glass family. This is the third issue, with the dedication page tipped in after the title page. Very slight spine lean; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
240. SANDOZ, Mari. The Tom-Walker. NY: Dial Press, 1947. Second printing. Inscribed by the author: "For Martha Deane: for her appeals today that we face reality, and the implications of mankind's obsession with the weapons of self-destruction. Gratefully, Mari Sandoz/ December 9, 1947/ this study of America in three post war periods: Civil War, and World Wars I and II." "Martha Deane" was the radio persona of Mary Margaret McBride. Sandoz has also written on the front flap: "Theme of book omitted in this blurb. Sorry. MS." Front hinge starting; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
241. SCHUYLER, James. The Morning of the Poem. NY: FSG (1980). His Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication with "love" and signed "Jim Schuyler." Fine in a fine, slightly dusty dust jacket.
242. (Scottish Writers). Clocktower Press. (Orkney): Clocktower Press (1990-1996). Ten volumes, a complete run, from this important and influential Scottish small press. Includes Booklet number 5, Past Tense by Irvine Welsh, the first book by the author of Trainspotting, published in an edition of 300 copies. The stories in Past Tense were later incorporated into Trainspotting. Welsh also appears in Booklets 6 and 8, which had limitations of 500 and 300, respectively. Other authors featured in this series include Janice Galloway, Booker Prize winner James Kelman, Duncan McLean, John Aberdein, David Crystal, Brent Hodgson, Alison Kermack, James Meek, and others. Volumes 2, 4 and 10 are signed by McLean, Kermack and Aberdein, respectively. There was one Clocktower card, by Duncan McLean, issued in 1994 in an edition of 25 which is not included. An important collection, and one that would be difficult to assemble from scratch at this point. All volumes are fine in stapled wrappers.
243. SHEPARD, Sam. Curse of the Starving Class. NY: New York Shakespeare Festival, 1977. Photocopied script, which reproduces holograph changes to the text; designated as "Version A/June 20, 1977." A play from the most productive period of Shepard's career as a playwright: he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for Buried Child and his classic True West was written in 1981. Fine in a near fine binder, with one month's production/rehearsal schedule laid in.
244. SHEPARD, Sam. Savage Love. NY: New York Shakespeare Festival, 1979. Photocopied script, designated as "Version A/Oct. 11, 1979." An early version of this one-act play, which was changed substantially before it was published. Fine in a near fine binder.
245. SIMON, Neil. Promises, Promises. NY: Random House (1969). The play by Simon based on the Wilder and Diamond screenplay "The Apartment." Another in the string of highly successful plays in the Sixties by Simon, who also wrote Barefoot in the Park, Plaza Suite and The Odd Couple, for which he won a Tony Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
246. SMITH, Ali. It Don't Mean a Thing. (London): Birkbeck University, 2004. The text of Smith's William Matthews Lecture, a riff on language using the words in the sentence "It don't mean a thing." Signed by the author. Fine in stapled wrappers. Two of Smith's novels, Hotel World and The Accidental, have been Booker short-listed; The Accidental won the Whitbread Award.
247. (SMITH, Zadie). CARROLL, Lewis. Through the Looking Glass. (London): Bloomsbury (2001). First thus, with illustrations by Mervyn Peake and an introduction by Zadie Smith, who finds the book to be a seminal element in British humor, foreshadowing not only P.G. Wodehouse but Monty Python. This copy is signed by Smith. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
248. SNYDER, Gary, WELCH, Lew and WHALEN, Philip. Three Poem Broadsides. (San Francisco): (Four Seasons Foundation) (1963-1964). Three broadsides: Gary Snyder's Nanao Knows, Lew Welch's Step Out Onto the Planet, and Philip Whalen's Three Mornings. Each reproduced by photo-offset from the author's own calligraphy and printed in an edition of 300 copies on the occasion of a reading by the three poets at Longshoreman's Hall, San Francisco, June 12, 1964. [McNeil A7.] 9 1/2" x 12 1/2"; each signed by its author. Snyder, Welch and Whalen first met when they attended Reed College, a progressive school in Oregon; the friends later became three of the most influential poets of the Beat generation. Rolled, else fine. An important set. For all:
249. SNYDER, Gary. Typed Note Signed. May 9, 1996. An aerogramme to Diane di Prima, written from Japan, agreeing to something, with the exception being that she leave off the "respectfully yours." Snyder adds: "the cherry blossoms having departed for the Other Shore, the azalea blossoms send back their answer." He closes: "yours fraternally in the workers & peasants struggle." Folded in fourths for mailing, and mildly edgetorn in opening; very near fine. A wonderful association between two of the most important poets of postwar America.
250. SOLZHENITSYN, Alexander. The Love-Girl and the Innocent. Later printing of the American edition of this play. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. Books signed by Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize winner and author of The Gulag Archipelago, are decidedly uncommon.
251. (STEADMAN, Ralph). KERR, Gordon. You Can't Get to East Kilbride from Here: Poems 1968-2003. (n.p.): Steam Press, 2003. A limited edition of poems by Kerr, extensively illustrated Ralph Steadman. One of 50 numbered copies signed by Kerr and Steadman. Halfbound in mohair Ashai cloths. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
252. -. Same title. One of 10 lettered copies signed by Kerr and Steadman and housed in a clamshell box with the silkscreen print "An Evening with Ted Hughes" signed by Steadman. Silkscreen printing by Petro III Graphics. Fine.
253. STEINBECK, John. The Pastures of Heaven. NY: Covici-Friede (1932)[c. 1935]. First edition, fourth issue, with the Covici-Friede imprint. When it was first issued, in 1932, The Pastures of Heaven was Steinbeck's first novel to focus on his native California, the subject of most of his best writing. When Pascal Covici published Tortilla Flat in 1935, it was the first time Steinbeck had enjoyed commercial success with his fiction, and Covici bought up the unsold sheets of Steinbeck's earlier novels -- Cup of Gold, Pastures of Heaven and To A God Unknown -- and reissued them in 1935 and 1936. Covici became not only an ardent supporter of Steinbeck but a lifelong friend. When his own publishing house failed during the Depression, Covici took a position as senior editor at Viking, and Steinbeck followed him there. Even mottling to cloth; near fine in a very good dust jacket with two long internally tape-mended tears on the rear panel.
254. STEINBECK, John. The Long Valley. NY: Viking, 1938. A collection of stories. Published a year before The Grapes of Wrath, The Long Valley had a first printing of 8000 copies. A bit of darkening to the joints and to the page signatures at the foredge; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a slight loss of crispness to the top edge. A very attractive copy of an early book, one that is considerably less common than any of his later volumes of fiction.
255. STEINBECK, John. The Grapes of Wrath. NY: Viking (1939). The greatest novel by this Nobel Prize winner, one of the greatest American novels ever, and the great American novel of the Depression era. Steinbeck fused social consciousness with literary artistry in a particularly American and individualistic way, refusing to allow his writing to become doctrinaire the way a large number of the proletarian novelists of the Thirties did; the body of Steinbeck's work has stood the test of time considerably better than that of most of his contemporaries, especially those who tackled the same social issues that he did. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and the basis for an Oscar-winning film in 1940. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket with a speck of rubbing to the spine. An exceptionally nice copy of a book that shows wear readily, usually in the form of fraying and/or sunning. This copy has neither of those flaws and is crisp and bright and is exceedingly scarce thus. One of the nicest copies we've ever seen of this book.
256. STEINBECK, John. The Moon is Down. NY: Viking, 1942. A short novel published during the war and essentially a piece of propaganda art. This is the scarce issue in maroon cloth. There are numerous variants of the first edition of this title, probably having to do with the fact that it had a large first printing and more than one printer was needed to produce the entire edition. This is one of the later issues, without the "bullet" on page 112, but one of a tiny minority of the first printing that is not bound in blue cloth. An unusual variant of an otherwise somewhat common book. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light edge wear.
257. -. Same title. (NY): Dramatists Play Service (1942). The first issue (12 mm.) of the play version, adapted by Steinbeck from his novel; near fine in spine-tanned wrappers. Scarce: only 1250 copies were printed.
258. STEINBECK, John. Cannery Row. NY: Viking, 1945. The second issue, in yellow cloth, of Steinbeck's homage to the people of Monterey county, where he was born and where he spent much of his life. Minor darkening to cloth, else fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy.
259. STEINBECK, John. Burning Bright. NY: Viking, 1950. Slight spine lean, else fine in a near fine, rubbed dust jacket.
260. STEINBECK, John. The Log from The Sea of Cortez. NY: Viking (1951). The narrative portion of Steinbeck's earlier volume, The Sea of Cortez, together with a previously unpublished prefatory section, "About Ed Ricketts" -- his friend Ricketts having been the scientist with whom Steinbeck took his trip, and who died in 1948. A fine copy in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
261. STEINBECK, John. Sweet Thursday. NY: Viking, 1954. Light lower corner taps; very near fine in a near fine, mildly edgeworn dust jacket with some light pencil markings at the upper edge of the rear panel.
262. STEINBECK, John. Once There Was a War. NY: Viking, 1958. One of the scarcer books from the latter part of his career, a nonfiction book that had a first printing of only 10,000 copies. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple small spots of rubbing and a bit of dampstaining on verso.
263. (STEINBECK, John). HAMMERSTEIN, Oscar. Pipe Dream. NY: Viking, 1956. The full text and lyrics of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday. Very mild edge and spine sunning; else fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket.
264. STONE, Robert. A Hall of Mirrors. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. His first book, a novel of drifters in New Orleans in the early Sixties caught up in the web of a quasi-religious political machine. Winner of the William Faulkner Award for best first novel of the year as well as a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award. Signed by the author. Slight shelf wear to cloth, else fine in a near fine, lightly rubbed dust jacket.
265. STONE, Robert. Dog Soldiers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1974). His second novel, winner of the National Book Award and one of the best novels to link the impact of the Vietnam war on American society in the Sixties to the dark side of that era -- the official corruption and the underside of the drug experiences of a generation. Basis for the Karel Reisz film Who'll Stop the Rain, with Nick Nolte and Tuesday Weld, Nolte's first leading role. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
266. THEROUX, Alexander. Watergraphs. Boston: Base Canard (1994). The first edition of this short story about an autograph expert who makes the find of a lifetime at an obscure auction. With a hilarious "note on the type" appended. Of a total edition of 116 copies, this is one of 15 Roman numeraled copies, designed by Bruce Chandler and printed on handmade paper at The Heron Press by Daniel Keleher. Signed by the author. With a Fritz Eichenberg woodcut title vignette, representing Theroux's personal bookplate, created for him as a gift by Eichenberg and never before published. Bound in quarter leather at the Harcourt Bindery. The first book published by Base Canard, "the fledgling publishing wing" of Lame Duck Books. Fine, without jacket, as issued.
267. THOMPSON, Jim. Nothing More than Murder. NY: Harper & Brothers (1949). His scarce third novel, and the last hardcover he published before moving on to a career of writing pulp paperbacks, some of which, like The Killer Inside Me, have become classics of the hardboiled noir genre. Thompson has enjoyed a renaissance of popularity in the years since his death, and a number of his books have been made into movies, including The Grifters, The Getaway, and the French film Coup de Torchon. Trace wear to the cloth edges; a very near fine copy in a (possibly supplied) very near fine dust jacket that presents as perfect owing to some small and very well-executed touch ups to the black spine.
268. TREDINNICK, Mark. The Land's Wild Music. San Antonio: Trinity University Press (2005). Tredinnick writes of encounters with Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Peter Matthiessen and James Galvin and explores how the landscape of each writer's home territory influences his or her writing. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
269. TYLER, Anne. A Visit with Eudora Welty. (Chicago): (Pressworks) (1980). A short essay, which first appeared in The New York Times Book Review. Limited to 100 copies, none of which were for sale, although speculation has it that the actual number was somewhat higher. This copy is signed by the author. Fine in saddle-stitched self-wrappers.
270. UPDIKE, John. The Carpentered Hen. NY: Harper & Brothers (1958). His first book, a collection of poems, published in an edition of 2000 copies. Inscribed by the author: "For ___ ___/ this rare old book soon to be out in a new edition! Best, John Updike." Trace foredge foxing; else fine in a fine, first issue dust jacket with minuscule wear to the crown.
271. UPDIKE, John. Your Lover Just Called. (Middlesex): Penguin Books (1980). The first British edition of this collection of related stories first published in the U.S. in 1974 as the paperback original Too Far to Go. Seventeen stories and a foreword by Updike; seven of the stories had never been collected in book form prior to the U.S. publication. Small abrasion front cover; else near fine in wrappers.
272. (UPDIKE, John). In Memoriam: Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977. NY: McGraw-Hill (1977). A small memorial volume, with Updike being one of the six contributors. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
273. VONNEGUT, Kurt. You've Never Been to Barnstable? Barnstable: Crane Duplicating Service (1966). The first separate appearance of this essay, printed as a Christmas greeting for friends of Crane Duplicating Service. This piece first appeared in Venture Magazine in 1964 and was collected under a different title in Welcome to the Monkey House in 1968. Two sheets folded to make eight pages; light upper corner crease; else fine. Rare. We understand that there was no copy of this in the Vonnegut archive when it was sold to the Lilly Library.
274. VONNEGUT, Kurt. One Great Novelist of the 70's Writes About Another: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. on Joseph Heller's Something Happened. (n.p.): Ballantine Books, 1974. The first separate appearance of Vonnegut's review of Something Happened from the New York Times Book Review. "This is black humor indeed -- with the humor removed." Printed by Ballantine to promote the paperback release of Heller's book. A small, 8-page pamphlet; fine in stapled wrappers. Scarce.
275. VONNEGUT, Kurt. On Mark Twain, Lincoln, Imperialist Wars and the Weather. (Nottingham): (Spokeman Books) (2004). Vonnegut's 2003 remarks given at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, in which he speaks well of Twain and Lincoln and less well of American Conservatives. Fine in illustrated stapled wrappers. Uncommon.
276. (VONNEGUT, Kurt). Ruler. Indianapolis: Vonnegut Hardware Co., (n.d.). Complimentary wooden ruler given out by the Vonnegut Hardware Company, which was founded by Vonnegut's great-grandfather. Signed by Vonnegut in 2006 in silver ink with the added words: "I worked here." 12", several stains; very good. Also serves as an "Indiana Legal Length Fish Gauge" and as such bears, at inch 7, the prescient word: "Trout."
277. WELCH, Lew and ROBERTS, Chris. Supermarket. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1965. Sheet music, 9 1/4" x 13", reproducing the authors' hand-lettered lyrics and music. One small edge tear; lower half has blended dampstaining, not affecting legibility; very good. Published in Ring of Bone. An exceedingly scarce and fragile "A" item -- in effect a Welch broadside poem that has been set to music.
278. WELCH, Lew. Graffitti [sic]. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1965. Sheet music, 9 1/4" x 13", again reproducing the author's holograph -- not to mention his misspelling. One small edge tear; lower half has blended dampstaining, not affecting legibility; very good. Published in Ring of Bone, where the title is spelled correctly. Scarce.
279. WELTY, Eudora. In Black and White. Northridge: Lord John, 1985. Photographs by Welty, with an introduction by Anne Tyler. One of 400 numbered copies, of a total edition of 500 copies. Signed by Eudora Welty and Anne Tyler. Quarto; fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
280. (WELTY, Eudora). Happy Birthday, Miss Welty. (Athens): (Hill Street Press) (1999). A fold-out timeline of Welty's literary life, published to accompany Writers' Reflections Upon First Reading Welty, honoring her 90th year. A fine piece of ephemera.
281. WHITE, E.B. World Government and Peace. NY: F-R Publishing, 1945. A pamphlet, the first separate appearance of selected "Notes and Comment" that were published in The New Yorker from 1943 to 1945, unattributed as usual. All of them bear on questions of the war, and the underlying issues of nationalism and divergent political interests. With a knack for the witty and revealing metaphor, and the pithy quote, White dismantles much of the overblown political rhetoric of the day, in favor of a common sense approach that would seem radical if it were not phrased so simply and felicitously. A pink "R" on the front wrapper and splitting from the bottom fold; near fine in stapled wrappers. A very scarce White "A" item; we have never handled another.
282. WHITE, E.B. An Answer from White. (Champaign): (Printed at the Sign of the Rolling Stone) (1969). A single sheet, folded twice, reprinting White's hilarious and touching reply to a doctoral student who used White's writing as the subject of his thesis. A scarce "A" item. Hint of an upper corner bump; else fine.
283. WHITE, E.B. Natural History. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1985. A single sheet, folded once, printing a poem written for his wife, Katharine White, in 1929 opposite a photograph of the author by Jill Krementz. Published in an edition of approximately 500 copies on the occasion of White's death. A small tear at the top of the fold, carefully repaired with archival tape; else fine.
284. (WHITE, E.B.). JONES, Roy E. A Basic Chicken Guide for the Small Flock Owner. NY: Morrow, 1944. Includes an illuminating introduction by White. White had been writing for The New Yorker since 1929, and writing essays for Harper's in a column entitled "One Man's Meat" between 1938 and 1943. In 1939 he had moved from New York to Maine, and his writings tended to cover rural issues thereafter, albeit often with universal implications, as in the case of his classic children's book, Charlotte's Web. Printed to wartime standards, this is still a fine copy in a fine dust jacket. An uncommon White appearance; we've never seen one before.
285. WILDE, Oscar. The Ballad of Reading Gaol. NY: Dutton, 1928. First thus, with illustrations by John Vassos. Inscribed by Vassos. Edges sunned and corners tapped; a very good copy, lacking the dust jacket.
286. WILLIAMS, Terry Tempest. The Open Space of Democracy. Great Barrington: Orion Society (2004). Collects three essays first published in Orion magazine, illustrated with paintings by Mary Frank. Only issued in wrappers. Fine.
287. (WILLIAMS, Terry Tempest). "The Colorado Plateau, Utah" in Three Essays. (n.p.): The Nature Conservancy, 1993. One of 500 copies of this collection of three essays: Williams' essay plus "The Adirondack Mountains, New York" by Bill McKibben and "The San Pedro River, Arizona" by William Least Heat-Moon. Handsewn in saddle-stitched handmade papers. Crease across lower front cover; else fine. An attractive and uncommon limited edition of these essays by three of the most highly respected nature writers working today.
288. (WILLIAMS, Terry Tempest). SPALDING, Blake and CASTLE, Jennifer. With a Measure of Grace. (Santa Fe): Provecho Press (2004). Tales and recipes from Hell's Backbone Grill, a Buddhist-based restaurant in the predominantly Mormon town of Boulder, Utah. With an introduction, "Prayer Flags in the Desert," by Terry Tempest Williams. Photographs by Eric Swanson. Quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket. An interesting and attractive book.
289. WOLFF, Tobias. The Liar. (Vineburg): (Engdahl Typography), 1989. A limited edition of this story. The entire edition consisted of 200 numbered copies, of which the first 50 were signed by the author. Although this is one of the later 150 copies, it is inscribed by Wolff. Slight foxing to pastedowns; else fine in a fine dust jacket. An attractive production.
290. (WOLFF, Tobias). Beethoven Symphony No. 9. (London/NY): (Decca/Penguin) (1999). A CD of Beethoven's Symphony as performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1972 and issued here with an introductory note by Tobias Wolff. Fine. An uncommon Wolff appearance in print.