Catalog 142, R-T
202. RANKIN, Ian. The Flood. (London): (Orion) (2006). First thus, a paperback reissue of his first published book, with a new 7-page introduction by the author for this edition. Never formally offered for sale. Fine in a fine dustwrapper which prints the beginning of Rankin's introduction. An uncommon format -- paperback in dust jacket -- for an advance copy and, by all appearances, scarce.
203. (RANKIN, Ian). "Billy Bone" in End of Story. (Glasgow): BBC Scotland (2004). A contest book, printing partial stories by eight authors, issued in an edition of 20,000 copies and hidden about the United Kingdom, where those who found them could finish one of the stories for a chance to become part of a televised writing contest. 17,000 entries were received, which were narrowed to a shortlist of a half dozen stories per author, with the author choosing the best ending to his or her story. The eight authors included are Rankin, Joanne Harris, Alexei Sayle, Sue Townsend, Fay Weldon, Shaun Hutson, Marian Keyes and Ed McBain. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon; never formally circulated in the book trade.
204. ROBBINS, Tom. Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates. NY: Bantam (2000). The uncorrected proof copy. Text reproduces several small copy-editor's corrections. Fine in wrappers. Unaccountably scarce; this is the first copy we have seen, despite looking for it since prior to publication.
205. ROBINSON, Frank M. The Power. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott (1956). The author's first book, a combination of supernatural science fiction and noir thriller, one of the first books to marry the two genres and, as a result, a classic in its field. Foxing to endpages and pages edges; near fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple scratches to the rear panel, rubbing to the spine folds and a couple short, closed edge tears. A very nice copy of an important book, subtitled "A Novel of Menace."
206. ROBINSON, Marilynne. Housekeeping. NY: FSG (1980). Her first book and her only novel until the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead. Housekeeping won the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award, a Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award, and was the basis for a well-received movie; also recently named one of the best works of American fiction of the last quarter century in a survey by The New York Times Book Review. Light foxing to top edge; very near fine in a very near fine, mildly edge-foxed dust jacket.
207. -. Same title. Trial dust jacket only, (no book) with title and spine lettering in yellow. Folded at the rear spine fold; else fine.
208. RODGERS, Richard and HAMMERSTEIN, Oscar. Oklahoma! NY: Random House (1943). The first, and one of the most famous, collaborations between this pair, whose musicals won 34 Tony Awards, 15 Oscars, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, and numerous other awards. Owner bookplate front pastedown; cloth and bottom edge faintly stained, with very slight foredge foxing; very good in a very good dust jacket with dampstaining along the rear spine fold. Uncommon, especially in the dust jacket, which is quite fragile and wears easily.
209. ROETHKE, Theordore. Sequence, Sometimes Metaphysical. Iowa City: Stone Wall Press (1963). A limited edition, with woodcut illustrations by John Roy. Number 82 of 330 numbered copies; the first 60 were signed by author and illustrator. A handsome letterpress production, this is a fine copy in a near fine slipcase.
210. ROOKE, Leon. A Good Baby. NY: Knopf, 1990. The first American edition of this novel by the North Carolina-born writer who has lived in Canada for several decades and is widely considered one of Canada's most prolific and respected authors. Signed by the author in the month of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket with fading to the spine lettering.
211. ROTH, Philip. Zuckerman Unbound. NY: FSG (1981). The limited edition of this novel, one of 350 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a near fine, slightly scuffed, slipcase.
212. ROTH, Philip. Zuckerman Bound. NY: FSG (1985). The Zuckerman trilogy: The Ghost Writer, Zuckerman Unbound and The Anatomy Lesson. With a previously unpublished epilogue, an 84-page novella entitled "The Prague Orgy." Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "June 1985/ For Gladys & George -- / All my best -- / Philip." This is the issue in wrappers; there was a tiny hardcover edition done, mostly for libraries. Recipient's address stamp on front flyleaf and inside the rear cover; else fine.
213. ROTH, Philip. The Counterlife. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1986. The limited edition, which is the true first edition, with a special introduction by the author, consisting mostly of notes Roth wrote to himself during the time he was working on The Counterlife. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine. Voted one of the best works of American fiction of the last quarter century in a survey conducted by the New York Times Book Review. Of the 22 titles named in that survey, Roth was the author of six.
214. ROTH, Philip. Operation Shylock. NY: Simon & Schuster (1993). A review copy of this winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and Time magazine's Book of the Year; also voted one of the best works of American fiction of the last quarter century in the New York Times Book Review survey. Fine in a dust jacket with one short, closed edge tear, else fine, with review slip laid in.
215. ROTH, Philip. American Pastoral. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. The uncorrected proof copy of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Roth's four books published in the 1990s collectively won the Pulitzer, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pen/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Award, an unprecedented accomplishment in American letters. This title was voted one of the five best works of American fiction of the last quarter century in the New York Times Book Review survey. Fine in wrappers.
216. ROTH, Philip. Novels 1973-1977. (NY): Library of America (2006). The advance reading copy (marked "advanced uncorrected proofs") of the third volume of the projected eight-volume edition of Roth's collected works. This volume collects The Great American Novel, My Life as a Man and The Professor of Desire. Only Roth, Eudora Welty, and Saul Bellow have had their complete works preserved by the Library of America during their lifetimes. Lower rear corner tapped; else fine in wrappers.
217. (ROTH, Philip). "Salad Days" in Modern Occasions, Vol. 1, No. 1. (Cambridge): Modern Occasions, 1970. A 20 page story, inscribed by Roth in 1989 at his contribution. Mild sunning; near fine in wrappers.
218. ROTHENBERG, Jerome. A Seneca Journal. (NY): New Directions (1978). A collection of poems by the founder of Alcheringa, a literary journal of ethnopoetics. Inscribed by the author to poet Amiri Baraka in 1979. An excellent association between Rothenberg, whose poetry and magazine helped publicize ethnic poetry and bring it into the mainstream, and Baraka, one of the most highly praised African-American poets of the postwar era and also the founder of Totem Press, which published a number of the Beat poets whose work formed the underpinnings for Rothenberg's journal. Fine in wrappers.
219. RUSH, Norman. Mating. [NY]: Knopf, 1991. Advance copy of his first novel, second book, consisting of the first 99 pages of photocopied typescript, tapebound together with a note to the sales reps which serves as the cover and the publisher's fact sheet with selling points ("brilliantly funny" has been downgraded to "witty"). The typescript reproduces a number of holograph changes, making this an early version of the text. An unusual, early view of a National Book Award winner; recently voted one of the best works of American fiction of the last quarter century in the New York Times Book Review survey. 8 1/2" x 11". Fine.
220. (RUSH, Norman). Bad Moon Rising. NY: Harper & Row (1973). An anthology edited by Thomas Disch and with two stories by Rush: "Riding" and "Fighting Facism," which precede his first book by 13 years. Signed by Rush twice, once at each contribution. Other stories by Disch, Gene Wolfe, Marilyn Hacker, Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Kate Wilhelm, Ron Padgett and others. Label removal shadow front pastedown; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
221. (RUSH, Norman). "The Writing Life" in Earth, Stars, and Writers. Washington: Library of Congress, 1992. Collects the talks given by the three winners of the 1991 National Book Awards: Rush, Philip Levine, and Orlando Patterson. Signed by Rush. Fine in wrappers.
222. RUSHDIE, Salman. Midnight's Children. London: Jonathan Cape (1981). The first British edition of Rushdie's second book, winner of the Booker Prize and the first book in his ambitious sequence of novels of the Muslim world, which culminated in The Satanic Verses and the death sentence that was imposed on him by Muslim fundamentalists. The American edition is the true first; the British edition is the more desirable edition for "following the flag," and it is also considerably scarcer than the U.S. edition, with 2500 copies printed. This title was later named the outstanding title among all the Booker Prize winners -- the so-called "Booker of Bookers." Signed by the author. A hint of foxing to the bottom page edges; still fine in a fine, unfaded dust jacket.
223. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Wizard of Oz. (London): BFI Publishing (1992). Rushdie's small book on The Wizard of Oz. Rubber stamp on the title page indicates that this is a publisher's file copy. Issued only in paperback, this copy has a faint clip imprint to the front cover; else fine in wrappers.
224. SEDARIS, David and Amy. The Book of Liz. (NY): Dramatists Play Service (2002). A play co-written by David Sedaris and his sister, who played the title role in the first production of it. Signed by David Sedaris. Near fine in wrappers.
225. (SEDARIS, David). MANTELLO, Joe. The Santaland Diaries and Season's Greetings. (NY): Dramatists Play Service (1998). Sedaris' classic adapted for stage by Mantello. Signed by Sedaris. Fine in stapled wrappers.
226. (SEDARIS, David). Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules. NY: Simon & Schuster (2005). An anthology, edited and introduced by Sedaris as a benefit for 826NYC, an offshoot of the Dave Eggers empire, which offers tutoring and writing workshops to kids inside a Superhero Supply Store in Brooklyn. Authors include Alice Munro, Richard Yates, Jhumpa Lahiri, Patricia Highsmith, Lorrie Moore, Dorothy Parker, Joyce Carol Oates, Flannery O'Connor, Amy Hempel, Jincy Willett, Charles Baxter and others. This copy is signed by Sedaris. Only issued in wrappers; fine.
227. SIGAL, Clancy. Weekend in Dinlock. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. The author's first book, an account of the young American author's visits to a Yorkshire coal-mining town. Sigal left America to get away from the witch-hunts of the 1950s, and he established a relationship in England with Doris Lessing, which is described in her autobiographical novel The Golden Notebook. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a rubbed, near fine dust jacket.
228. SPANBAUER, Tom. Boise Broadside 1. Boise: Observer Books, 1976. A broadside poem, preceding his first book by a decade. Limitation not stated, but numbered (45) and signed by the author. 11" x 15". Spanbauer is a gay writer whose 1991 novel The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon tackled the subject of homosexuality in the Old West and is considered a cult classic; these days he is well-known for his Dangerous Writing workshops. Rolled; near fine.
229. STERN, Richard G. In Any Case. NY: McGraw-Hill (1962). The third novel by a writer who has been called "the best American writer of whom you've never heard" and "was almost famous for not being famous." Stern won the Medal of Merit from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an award given out only once every six years. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with mild edge-darkening.
230. STEWART, Jon. Naked Pictures of Famous People. NY: William Morrow (1998). A review copy of Stewart's first book, a collection of humorous stories and vignettes that has been compared to Woody Allen's writings. Stewart has since become a cultural superstar as host of "The Daily Show," a satirical news show that, according to a recent poll, was the most popular source of news among college-age youth. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a signed note from the publisher laid in.
231. STYRON, William. Shadrach. Los Angeles: Sylvester & Orphanos, 1979. An attractive limited edition. Of a total edition of 330 copies, this is one of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. A bit of loss to gilt lettering, else fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
232. STYRON, William. A Tidewater Morning. NY: Random House (1993). Three tales derived from his youth. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
233. TROCCHI, Alexander. Cain's Book. NY: Grove Press (1960). The limited edition of this landmark of drug literature, a book linking the fiction of the Beat era with the literature of the Sixties. Copy No. 1 of only 10 numbered copies signed by the author on a colophon tipped in to the hardcover issue. The hardcover edition of Cain's Book is itself very scarce: most copies were issued in softcover. The limited edition is extremely rare; we have never seen another copy, and as Copy #1, this is the best possible copy of it. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
234. TYLER, Anne. Amateur Marriage. (n.p.): Knopf, 2004. An advance copy, in the form of bound photocopied typescript. 8 1/2" x 11", double-spaced, printed on rectos only. Green cardstock covers with Knopf logo; tapebound; fine. An early issue of the book, preceding bound proofs or advance reading copies.
235. (TYLER, Anne). American Fiction. (NY): Carol Publishing (1990). The uncorrected proof copy of this anthology of the "Best Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Writers," as judged by and introduced by Tyler. Fine in wrappers.