Catalog 145, A
2. ACKER, Kathy, aka "Black Tarantula." The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec, Parts 1-6. (n.p.): (Self-Published) (1975-1976). 260 pages, published serially by Acker in six parts: "The Case of the Murdered Twerp," "Longing for Better Things," "Stop It, Ted, I Screamed...," "How Love Can Lead Youngsters to Murder," "The Future," and "The Life of Johnny Rocco." Parts 1 and 6 list Acker as the copyright holder; the middle parts use the name "The Black Tarantula." The first section is very good; the other five are near fine or better. Each is in stapled wrappers. Published in a collected edition in 1978. Acker was one of the important literary artists to emerge from New York's underground art scene in the 1970s. Her first books were all self-published, and many of them were sold by subscription. She combined elements of autobiography, pornography, the cut-up techniques that were pioneered by William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, and other experimental forms to create a body of work that consistently defied, and redefined, literary expectations. Her early self-published books are scarce today.
3. ALBEE, Edward. The Man Who Had Three Arms. Chicago: Goodman Theater, 1982. Production material for this play by Albee, which he also directed. Two press releases; two photos from the play, one signed by Robert Drivas ("Himself"); the Goodman Theater magazine, signed by Drivas, Wyman Pendleton ("The Man") and Patricia Kilgarrif ("The Woman"); the program for the play; and a display card. Also includes the magazine In Performance [Chicago: Arts and Leisure Publications, 1982], with a cover story on Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, signed three times by Albee, and an autograph letter signed by Albee, in which he explains that he signed the magazine "once for each arm." All elements fine. Albee is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama, one of the celebrated American playwrights of the 20th century.
4. (Anthology). New World Writing 20. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1962). The uncommon hardcover issue of this literary magazine, which was also published, and more widely distributed, in softcover. Includes a critical piece by Dean Doner on John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom character from Rabbit, Run, as well as an early story by Donald Barthelme, two years before his first book. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with some rubbing to the rear panel.
5. (Anthology). New Plays from the Black Theater. NY: Bantam (1969). A review copy of this collection of eleven plays by African-American writers, edited and introduced by Ed Bullins. Playwrights include LeRoi Jones, Sonia Sanchez, and Bullins himself, among others. This copy is signed by Bullins. Near fine in wrappers, with three pages of publisher's promotional material laid in.
6. (Anthology). The Best American Essays 1989. NY: Ticknor & Fields, 1989. The uncorrected proof copy. Contributions by Joan Didion, Robert Stone, Richard Ford, Julian Barnes, Annie Dillard, William Kittredge, Edward Hoagland, David Quammen and others. Fine in wrappers.
7. -. Another copy. Bump to spine base and scratch to rear cover; near fine in wrappers.
8. (Anthology). Granta 54. The Best of Young American Novelists. (NY): Granta (1996). The issue that highlighted the work of Sherman Alexie, Madison Smartt Bell, Ethan Canin, Edwidge Danticat, Tom Drury, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, David Guterson, David Haynes, Allen Kurzweil, Elizabeth McCracken, Lorrie Moore, Fae Myenne Ng, Robert O'Connor, Chris Offutt, Stewart O'Nan, Mona Simpson, Melanie Rae Thon and Kate Wheeler. This copy is signed by Canin and Danticat. Fine in wrappers.
9. (Anthology). Wild Women. NY: Carroll & Graf (1997). An anthology of previously published stories about "wild" women of one sort or another, mostly written by women but including some written by men as well. This copy is signed by Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Ursula LeGuin, Erica Jong, Kate Wilhelm, Connie Willis, Jane Yolen, Gene Wolfe, Richard Christian Matheson, Greg Sarris, Joe Lansdale and others. Unsigned contributions by Margaret Atwood, Dawn Raffel, Sylvia Watanabe, Bebe Moore Campbell, and others. Slight corner taps; else fine in a fine dust jacket. A unique copy of an interesting and significant anthology, linking writers of various genres around an important theme.
10. (Anthology). Conjunctions. Twenty-fifth Anniversary. (Annandale-on-Hudson): (Bard College) (2006). One of 25 numbered copies signed by the editor Brad Morrow and by 24 Conjunctions contributors (only some of whom appear in this issue): Lydia Davis, Joyce Carol Oates, Carole Maso, Robert Coover, John Barth, Toby Olson, William Gass, Chinua Achebe, Nikki Ducornet, John Ashbery, Rick Moody, Ann Lauterbach, Joanna Scott, etc. Contributors to this volume include: Jonathan Lethem, Jim Crace, Jonathan Carroll, Valerie Martin, John Barth, Gass, Oates, Ashbery, Moody, Lauterbach, Scott, and others. Fine in a fine slipcase. An attractive production of the anniversary edition of one of the leading literary magazines of our time, produced in a tiny limitation and with the signatures of numerous luminaries who have appeared in its pages.
11. (Anthology). The Burned Children of America. (London): Hamish Hamilton (2003). The first British edition of this anthology, first published in Italy, and here with an introduction by Zadie Smith. With contributions by nineteen American writers including Dave Eggers, George Saunders, Jeffrey Eugenides, Rick Moody, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Safran Foer, A.M Homes, Aimee Bender, Myla Goldberg, Jonathan Lethem, Amanda Davis, and others. Only issued in wrappers; slight flex to text block; else fine. No comparable U.S. edition.