Catalog 142, K-L
118. KESEY, Ken and WILSON, S. Clay. An Archive Relating to Dust Jacket Art for Demon Box. Circa 1986. A small archive pertaining to an effort to have S. Clay Wilson, the noted underground comix artist, do artwork for the dust jacket of Kesey's collection Demon Box. Includes the original wraparound artwork by S. Clay Wilson, a single sheet, 12 1/4" x 20", with Wilson's elaborate illustration, which incorporates a number of the characters, incidents and locales that appear in the various short pieces that comprise the book. Kesey has written his critiques and comments in 20 places on the sheet, making suggestions, requesting changes, clarifying characteristics he wants the illustration to embody, etc. His comments add up to more than 170 words in holograph ("...duck supposed to be more like Donald..." "... girl supposed to be bone-colored and bony, titless and wiry..." etc.). Also included is an early letter from a Viking editor to Wilson, giving some original suggestions for the artwork; a typed letter signed by Kesey that apparently accompanied the artwork when he returned it with comments; and then an autograph letter signed by Kesey to Wilson dated a week later, with which he encloses a "foldover" abbreviation of a xerox copy of Wilson's artwork, as a suggestion for how to modify the overall approach. The project never came off, and the tone of the letters suggests why. In the earlier letter, Kesey writes, in part, "...Use my suggestions if you want... or try a whole new shot. You just don't want this version going out. It's too static, too dead..." Later, presumably in response to the answers his letter elicited from Wilson, he writes "... I can't throw the pass & run interference both. You gotta do it, the cover I mean. Better. And fast. Just don't stew about it. Do it over. Like I had to do some of those stories over, five, ten, fifteen times..." Without knowing the full details of what happened, it's easy to see that, at first, the Viking rep gives Wilson great leeway to create the art; Kesey critiques the artwork at length requesting large numbers of changes and perhaps inhibiting the artist's signature style ("... don't throw in gratuitous rattlesnakes swastikas nipples puke slobber shit piss stink etc. Save it for the comics. This is the cover of a book -- my book, about my life and farm and family..."); Wilson apparently balks at the changes or, at least, at the vagueness of the degree of control that either he or Kesey would be having over the artwork in the last degree. As it turned out, Wilson's art was completely abandoned, apparently at a late date, and the final published book had a very plain geometric design on the front and a photograph of Kesey on the back. Together with a review copy of the published book [NY: Viking, 1986]. The artwork has one crease from folding; all other materials are fine. A revealing glimpse of two key artists -- in different fields -- of the 1960s working together, or trying to, and a glimpse of a great dust jacket that never happened.
119. (KESEY, Ken). Album Cover for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Soundtrack. (Berkeley): (Fantasy Records) (1975). The gatefold cover for the long-playing record of the soundtrack of the award-winning movie made from Kesey's novel. The cover illustration is of Jack Nicholson, who played the main character in the movie -- Randall Patrick McMurphy -- and won an Academy Award for it. Kesey has signed the album cover, written a facetious comment and marked up Nicholson's image in orange magic marker. Included with the album cover is a long letter from the person for whom Kesey signed it, detailing the circumstances of the occasion. Kesey was known to have despised the choice of Nicholson for McMurphy, having envisioned the character as a burly, larger-than-life heroic figure -- a lumberjack type -- and the complete opposite of the small, wiry Nicholson. He had thought of Gene Hackman as a likely candidate for playing McMurphy. The signing took place when Kesey was touring in support of his novel Sailor Song in 1991, and the markings that he drew on Nicholson's face mimic the makeup Nicholson used when he played The Joker in the 1989 movie Batman. Kesey has also written one of The Joker's most famous quotes from the movie: "Wait'll they get a load of me!" A humorous, spur of the moment creation by a writer who was known for such impromptu performances. The album cover is lightly rubbed and worn at the edges (and without LP); overall about very good. Unique.
120. (KESEY, Ken). Spit in the Ocean #7. (NY): Penguin Books (2003). A posthumous tribute to Kesey, edited by Ed McClanahan and with a foreword by Gus Van Sant. Contributions by Robert Stone, Larry McMurtry, Hunter Thompson, Tom Wolfe and many others. Also two contributions by Kesey. Signed by McClanahan, Ken Babbs, Eileen Babbs, Zane Kesey, Patricia Mackey, George Walker, David Stanford and Wavy Gravy. Only issue in wrappers. Fine.
121. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. Another America. Otra America. (Seattle): Seal Press (1992). A bilingual edition of poetry. This is the simultaneous issue in wrappers. Inscribed by the author: "For ___, my belated twin, citizen of the other America. Thanks for helping to bring me home. Feliz cumpleaños, cariños. Barbara Kingsolver." Fine.
122. KITTREDGE, William and KRAUZER, Steven. "ROUNTREE, Owen." Cord. NY: Ballantine Books (1982-1986). Nine volumes in this series of pseudonymous Westerns, issued as paperback originals. The series, co-written by Kittredge, one of the preeminent contemporary western writers of both fiction and nonfiction, and novelist Steven Krauzer, focuses on an outlaw named Cord and his female partner, Chi, in the latter years of the 19th century. Included are: Cord, The Nevada War, The Black Hills Duel, Gunman Winter, Hunt the Man Down, King of Colorado, Gunsmoke River, Paradise Valley, and Brimstone Basin. Each volume is signed by both Kittredge and Krauzer. Cord, The Black Hills Duel and Gunsmoke River are slightly spine-faded; otherwise the set is fine. Complete sets in fine condition are difficult to assemble these days, especially signed.
123. KOSINSKI, Jerzy. "NOVAK, Joseph." The Future is Ours, Comrade. London: Bodley Head (1960). The first British edition of the author's first book, a pseudonymously published nonfiction account of Russia in the postwar years, predating his first novel, The Painted Bird, by five years. Inscribed by the author as "Jerzy Kosinski" for Hugh Moorhead in 1982. Moorhead was a Philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University who wrote to 250 authors to ask them what they thought the meaning of life was, and then published their answers in a depressing book that suggested nobody had much of a clue. Stripe at bottom page edges; very good in a very good dust jacket chipped at the upper front spine fold.
124. LAWRENCE, D.H. Typed Letter Signed. March 9, 1917. Written to Harriet Monroe, editor of Poetry magazine. In the first paragraph, Lawrence discusses the editing of and payment for a poem and rather humbly offers to submit several more ("If you want any more poems from me, which I don't suppose you do, will you tell me."). The second paragraph begins with the weather (spring, sunshine) and then waxes metaphorical and metaphysical: "I am confident we can find the Blessed Isles, if we go about it the right way. We must find the Blessed Isles, at least catch sight of them rising up in the distance, before we die. It is our business." Signed, D.H. Lawrence. One page, folded for mailing; Moore's response stamp to one corner; near fine.
125. (LE CARRÉ, John). CORNWELL, David. Typed Letter Signed. 1967. One page, dated 20th November. Cornwell writes that he and Ann enjoyed the recipient's poem, and that he had had to give up his tour half way across Canada "because it really became too much for me" but notes that he and his wife appreciated the hospitality the recipient had shown when he visited. Cornwell invites the recipient and his wife to visit if/when they come to England. Signed "David." Folded in thirds for mailing; one faint cup ring over the address; near fine.
126. LE CARRÉ, John. The Little Drummer Girl. NY: Knopf (1983). The publisher's presentation edition, leatherbound, using sheets of the first American edition. Top edge gilt, silk ribbon marker bound in. Signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. A novel of the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the covert aspects of terrorist and anti-terrorist activities on fronts often far-removed from the Middle East itself. Very slight scuffing to leather; else fine. Extremely scarce: such presentation editions are usually prepared in very small quantities (sometimes as few as two copies) for people involved with the book's creation. They seldom appear on the market, and we have never seen one of this title offered for sale before.
127. LE CARRÉ, John. A Perfect Spy. NY: Knopf (1986). The publisher's presentation edition, leatherbound, using sheets of the first American edition. Top edge gilt, silk ribbon marker bound in. Signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Sunning to spine; near fine. Again, scarce.
128. LE MAY, Alan. The Searchers. NY: Harper (1954). The western classic, and the basis for the John Ford film starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, one of the defining films of the genre and one of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. This is a later printing of the hardcover issue, used as an advance copy of the Popular Library paperback edition, as stated on a label tipped to the front flyleaf. Signed by the author. Name stamp lower page edges; offsetting to endpages; near fine in a very good, foxed and spine-faded dust jacket with several small chips and edge tears. An uncommon issue of this book, apparently prepared as a signed edition by the paperback publisher, probably in small quantities for potential buyers of large numbers of the paperback.
129. (LEONARD, Elmore). Hombre. (n.p.): Twentieth Century-Fox, 1967. Press kit for the film version of the first major commercial movie success to be derived from a Leonard novel. Includes an 8" x 10" color glossy of the star, Paul Newman, signed by Newman, fine; and a 10" x 8" black-and-white glossy of Leonard, signed by Leonard, also fine. Also includes one-sheet, 14" x 22", creased at top, near fine; lobby card, 14" x 11", fine; 12-page pressbook, with one excision from the "scene mats" page, thus very good in illustrated cardstock covers; an additional, abridged pressbook, also with excisions. For all:
130. LEROUX, Gaston. The Secret of the Night. NY: Macauley Company (1914). The first U.S. edition of this mystery novel by the author of The Phantom of the Opera, which had been published three years earlier. Faint tape shadows to front pastedown; slight shelf wear to cloth; near fine in a very good dust jacket, featuring wraparound artwork by H. Richard Boehm, with rubbing to the folds and rear panel, a bit of loss to the crown and a couple internally-mended edge tears. Scarce in dust jacket.
131. (LISH, Gordon). GARDNER, John. The King's Indian. NY: Knopf, 1974. Gardner's first collection of short stories, this copy having been inscribed by noted editor and writing teacher, Gordon Lish: "To the dearest of them all, William Henderson, my friend. Gordon Lish (I didn't buy this book)." Dated in the month of publication. Henderson is a writer and editor, most notably of the Pushcart Press series of anthologies, and Lish, of course, the most prominent editor of the '70s and '80s -- particularly noted for the number of short story writers he nurtured, both as an editor and in his writing workshops. Very good in a dust jacket that is spine-sunned and mildly edgeworn.
132. (LOPEZ, Ken). "Some Thoughts on the Maturing of the Rare Book Market" in Book Talk. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 2006. An anthology, edited by Robert Jackson and Carol Rothkopf, of talks and essays delivered under the auspices of FABS (The Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies). Other contributors include Tom Congalton, Priscilla Juvelis, John Crichton, Roger Stoddard and Geoffrey Smith, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by Ken Lopez, if desired.
133. LOWELL, Robert. Land of Unlikeness. (Cummington): Cummington Press, 1944. The first book by the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author, published in a limited edition by Harry Duncan at the Cummington Press. This is one of 224 copies of a total edition of 250. Inscribed by the author to Stanley Hyman, literary critic and husband of author Shirley Jackson, "with great respect." An excellent literary association: Hyman, in addition to being Jackson's husband, was himself an esteemed critic as well as a staff writer for The New Yorker. Light spotting to boards and tanning to spine; very good, lacking the plain tissue dust jacket. A nice association copy of an uncommon first book.