Catalog 147, C-G
35. CANTY, Kevin. A Stranger in this World. NY: Doubleday (1994). His first book, a highly praised collection of stories. Inscribed by Canty to another writer and former teacher. Fine in a very near fine, mildly spine-sunned dust jacket. Laid in is an autograph letter signed with a brief life update. Folded for insertion into the book; else fine.
36. CAPOTE, Truman. A Christmas Memory. NY: Random House [1966]. The first separate edition of this autobiographical story, which has become a Christmas classic. This is the limited edition, one of 600 numbered copies signed by the author. Cloth mottled, still near fine, lacking original acetate dustwrapper. Priced as though also lacking the slipcase, but a worn and damaged slipcase, which did its job protecting the book, is available.
37. CAREY, Peter. Oscar and Lucinda. (Queensland): University of Queensland Press (1988). The true first edition (Australian) of Carey's first Booker Prize-winning novel. Inscribed by the author: "To ___, hope there's enough laughter and love in it. Peter Carey." Slight pulling to text block; spotting to page edges, rubbing to boards and the usual tanning to page edges. A very good copy of a bulky, inexpensively made book, in a near fine dust jacket with mild fading to the spine lettering.
38. CARVER, Raymond. The Window. Concord: Ewert, 1985. One of 15 specially printed copies, on blue-ish tinted paper, of this broadside poem, which was issued in a stated edition of 136 copies. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". Signed by the author. Rare. Fine, with envelope.
39. CHEEVER, John. Typed Note Signed. July 2, 1979. Cheever responds to a letter (here retained) which praised his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection The Stories of John Cheever and inquired about the order of the stories as well as about the amount of alcohol consumed by their characters. Cheever is gracious in his response, explaining that the order of the stories is chronological and that "Drinking to excess has been a problem of mine but I like to think that I have brought some universality to this dilemma." Signed "John Cheever." Written on Cheever's personal stationery. Folded for mailing, with a small upper corner chip, not affecting text. Near fine.
40. CHEEVER, John. John Callaway Interviews John Cheever. Chicago: WTTW/Chicago Public Broadcasting (1981). The transcription of the PBS television broadcast in which Callaway interviews Cheever. 27 pages. Near fine in stapled wrappers. The only publication of this interview, and an uncommon item; we've never seen another copy.
41. CLARK, Larry. Tulsa. (NY): (Grove Press) (2000). Second printing of the Grove reissue of Clark's classic 1971 book of photographs of the underbelly of the small, mid-American city where Clark was born, with an emphasis on the youth subculture of drugs and guns. Signed by Clark. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
42. (CONNELLY, Michael). Dead Man's Hand. Orlando: Harcourt (2007). An anthology of "Crime Fiction at the Poker Table," with contributions by Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, Walter Mosley, Jeffrey Deaver, Alexander McCall Smith and many others. This copy is signed by Michael Connelly, who contributes the story "One-Dollar Jackpot." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
43. CONRAD, Joseph. Five Letters by Joseph Conrad Written to Edward Noble in 1895. London: Privately Printed, 1925. One of 100 numbered copies signed by Edward Noble, who provides a foreword. Top and spine sunned, with foxing to half title; very good in wrappers with a bit of chipping at the upper edge.
44. CONROY, Pat. The Great Santini. London: Collins, 1977. The uncorrected proof copy of the British edition of Conroy's third book, first novel. Padbound, as a text block, stamped "review copy only" on the front and foredge and with publication dates and possible prices on the rear blank. Bookshop stamp from a South African university on summary page. Foredge and top edge foxing, musty; near fine, laid into a near fine, foxed dust jacket with one creased edge tear. The only such copy of the U.K. edition of this title that we have seen.
45. CONROY, Pat. "To describe our growing up in the lowcountry of South Carolina..." San Francisco: San Francisco Examiner/Okeanos Press, 1992. Broadside excerpt from The Prince of Tides. 6 1/2" x 12 1/2". Pinhole top margin; lower corner crease; near fine.
46. CRICHTON, Michael. "DOUGLAS, Michael." Dealing, or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues. NY: Knopf, 1971. A pseudonymously published book by Crichton, written with his brother, Douglas, about a pair of Harvard students who become pot dealers on the side. Made into a 1972 movie that featured Barbara Hershey and introduced John Lithgow. Inscribed by Michael Crichton. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. A comic novel that captures some of the zeitgeist of the Sixties, and uncommon signed.
47. CROWLEY, John. Aegypt. NY: Bantam (1987). A review copy of the first book in an ambitious tetralogy that includes Love and Sleep, Daemonomania, and Endless Things. This title was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and selected as one of David Pringle's 100 best fantasy novels of all time. Recently re-published under its intended original title, The Solitudes. Publicity sheets (no review slip) laid in. Stamped "OK" at bottom edge; lower page corners and publicity sheet touched with coffee (not affecting text); still near fine in a very good dust jacket with a small abrasion to the front panel and chipping to the crown and top edge.
48. DELILLO, Don. White Noise. (NY): Viking (1985). Winner of the National Book Award, an award for which DeLillo has been nominated twice since. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy, and surprisingly uncommon thus.
49. DELILLO, Don. "On February 14, 1989..." (NY): (Rushdie Defense Committee USA)(1994). A flyer issued in support of Salman Rushdie on the fifth anniversary of the Iranian death edict issued against him in response to The Satanic Verses. DeLillo, himself a master of imagining the individual's fictive response to seeping cultural-political forces, asks us to imagine Rushdie's reality. One page folded to make four pages; the text is unattributed to DeLillo on the flyer, but DeLillo was named as author in a letter accompanying the initial distribution, and a photocopy of that letter is included. 450,000 copies of the flyer were printed but few are likely to have been preserved. Fine.
50. DELILLO, Don. Falling Man. NY: Scribner (2007). His 9/11 novel. Signed by the author. This copy was signed at New York's 92nd Street Y; in addition to the usual September/October events flyer, there is a facsimile manuscript page from the novel, printed on the reverse of an author bio, laid in. The book is fine in a fine dust jacket; the promotional materials are folded asymmetrically, else fine.
51. DIDION, Joan. Salvador. NY: Simon & Schuster (1983). A review copy of this extended essay on the civil war in El Salvador, the brutality of which was perfectly captured by Didion's writing, which is imbued with a pervasive sense of dread. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a touch of edge sunning to the rear panel. With author photo and publicity sheet laid in.
52. DI PRIMA, Diane. The New Handbook of Heaven. San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1963. One of 1000 copies in wrappers of this poetry collection, of 1030 total. This copy is inscribed by the author to artist Raphael Soyer "with love and thanks" and signed "Diane." Large stain to one page, affecting the foredge of a couple other pages; else near fine in wrappers.
53. DODGE, Jim. Piss-Fir Willie Poems. (n.p.): Tangram (1998). A suite of poems "offered as an homage to the vernacular of northcoast working people," and an introduction. One of 200 copies. This copy is inscribed by Dodge to another writer and signed "Jim." Fine in saddle-stitched self-wrappers. Dodge is the author of the novels Not Fade Away and Stone Junction as well as the underground classic Fup, about a magical duck. A nice association copy of an attractive and uncommon small press production.
54. DOIG, Ivan. English Creek. NY: Atheneum (1984). His fourth book and the first of a trilogy of Montana novels centering around the fictional McCaskill family and comprising in total a portrait of Montana from the late 19th century to the present. This volume is set in the 1930s. Inscribed by Doig to another Northwest writer: "For ___ ___/ another writer of the sage, purple and otherwise. Best, Ivan Doig." With the ownership signature of the recipient. Spine slightly cocked; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
55. DOIG, Ivan. Dancing at the Rascal Fair. NY: Atheneum, 1987. His fifth book, and the second novel in his McCaskill trilogy, which chronicles the settlement and development of the state of Montana. This volume spans three decades from 1889, when Montana became a state, to the 1920s. Inscribed by Doig to another Northwest writer: "For ___ ___ who came into the country and made Montana his own. In all admiration/ Ivan Doig." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
56. DOIG, Ivan. Heart Earth. NY: Atheneum, 1993. A memoir of the author's boyhood in Montana, prior to the period covered by his award-winning first book, This House of Sky. This copy bears the ownership signature of another Northwest writer. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a light crease on the front panel.
57. DOIG, Ivan. The Whistling Season. Orlando: Harcourt (2006). Warmly inscribed by Doig to another Northwest writer in the month after publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice association copy.
58. DUBUS, Andre. Land Where My Fathers Died. (n.p.): Stuart Wright (1984). His first limited edition, a single story issued in an edition of 200 copies. Dubus was a contemporary master of the short story form and the most accomplished writer of novellas in the U.S.; he was compared on numerous occasions to Chekhov. Clothbound, with paper spine label, issued without dust jacket. Covers splaying slightly, as is common with this title; spine label faded; near fine. Although the edition was done as a signed edition, this copy is not signed -- the only copy we have seen thus.
59. ECO, Umberto. Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press (1984). A review copy of the semiotician's first book after The Name of the Rose. Reviewer's pencilled marginal notes throughout, else a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with a couple small nicks and a corner crease to the front flap. Eco had an unlikely bestseller with his first novel, which was made into a successful movie. The Name of the Rose is a scarce book in the first edition, especially in nice condition, but it is unlikely to even remotely approach the scarcity of this volume.
60. ELIOT, T.S. Triumphal March. London: Faber & Faber, 1931. One of 300 numbered copies of the large paper edition. Signed by Eliot. With drawings by E. McKnight Kaufer. This is No. 35 of the Ariel Poems series. Boards splayed as one often finds with this title; tape marks to endpages from hand-fashioned dustwrapper. Near fine.
61. ELIOT, T.S. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. (NY): Harcourt, Brace (1939). A review copy (so stamped on the front flyleaf) of the first American edition, which had a first printing of only 2000 copies. Owner label front pastedown of Herbert Boyce Satcher, vicar of St. Aidan's Parish mission to Trinity Church of Oxford, on the front pastedown; fine in a near fine, mildly spine-darkened dust jacket with a small tear at the crown. A nice copy, scarce as a review copy.
62. ELIOT, T.S. The Classics and the Man of Letters. London: Oxford University Press, 1942. Text of the Presidential Address delivered to the Classical Association. Later state, with fading "t" on line 6 of the title page. Covers edge-sunned and mildly watermarked; very good in wrappers that are age-darkened and chipped along the edges.
63. FADIMAN, Anne. At Large and at Small. NY: FSG (2007). The advance reading copy of these "familiar essays," mostly on literary subjects. Fine in wrappers. $45
64. FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. (n.p.): Limited Editions Club (1980). One of 2000 copies, illustrated by Fred Meyer and introduced by Charles Scribner III. Signed by Meyer. Fine in a fine slipcase, and including the Limited Editions Club page, with descriptive information on the book and their newsletter, on the Jazz Age. An attractive copy of what has become, over time, one of the scarcer LEC books of this era. Given the huge increase in the price of first editions of this title in recent years, this handsome production of the Stinehour Press is perhaps more attractive than ever.
65. (Floating Island). Floating Island, Vols. I-IV. Point Reyes Station: Floating Island Publications (1976-1989). Four volumes, the entire run, of this journal edited by Michael Sykes and including work by Diane Di Prima, Robert Bly, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Douglas Blazek, Gino Clays Sky, Kate Ellen Braverman, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Joseph Bruchac, and many others. Poetry, prose, photography and art are featured; the first three issues, published from 1976-1983, had a decidedly West Coast, post-counterculture feel: one of the photographers featured was noted for his rock album covers; another photo-essay is titled "Point Reyes Nation." The last issue, published six years later, is not so specifically located and resembles somewhat the magazine DoubleTake that emerged in the 1990s. Quarto volumes, perfectbound. Each volume is signed by Sykes. Rubbing to the first volume, thus near fine; the others are fine in wrappers. A significant magazine, documenting movements in culture and the arts over the course of more than a decade, particularly in the West, and uncommon as a complete run.
66. FORESTER, C.S. The Good Shepherd. London: Michael Joseph (1955). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel about a commander of a US Navy destroyer in World War II, by the author of the Hornblower series and The African Queen, among others. Sunning and handling to covers; modest abrasion to front cover; very good in wrappers, text fine.
67. FORSTER, E.M. A Passage to India. London: Edward Arnold, 1924. The limited edition of the last and most famous novel by one of the greatest British writers of the 20th century. His novels Howard's End and A Room With a View, which were both made into well-received films after his death, exhibit piercing critiques of English manners as they probe the hidden aspects of his characters' lives. A Passage to India is one of the few books to appear on every major list of the top novels of the last century. One of 200 copies signed by the author. Bookplate front pastedown; hinges cracked; handling to boards; a very good copy in a very good, edge-sunned slipcase with some wear along the edges. Uncommon in the slipcase, this copy also has the extra spine label tipped in at the rear, as issued.
68. FRANZEN, Jonathan. The Discomfort Zone. NY: FSG (2006). The advance reading copy of this memoir by the author of The Corrections, which won the National Book Award. A frank and revealing memoir, as the title suggests. Fine in wrappers.
69. GILB, Dagoberto. The Magic of Blood. NY: Grove Press (1994). Second printing of the Grove paperback edition of his first book, a collection of stories, originally published by the University of New Mexico Press in 1993. Signed by the author and with the ownership signature of another author. Fine in wrappers, with the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award Winner and PEN/Faulkner finalist sticker on the front panel.
70. GILB, Dagoberto. The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña. NY: Grove Press (1994). His second book, first novel. Inscribed by the author to another writer, "with great admiration" in the month after publication. A good association copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
71. GORDIMER, Nadine. The Black Interpreters. (Johannesburg): Ravan Press (1973). Subtitled "Notes on African Writing," with one section on fiction and one on poetry. This copy is signed by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Second issue, with passages by Mandlenkosi Langa censored on pages 54 and 60. The poet was supposedly issued with a banning order in October, 1973 and the passages quoting him had to be deleted or the issues pulped: later reports say it was actually Langa's brother Benjamin who had been banned. Owner signature on verso of front flyleaf; mild handling to covers; about near fine in wrappers. A fairly uncommon book in either issue, and quite scarce signed.
72. GRIFFIN, John Howard. Black Like Me. (NY): New American Library/Signet (1961). The "25th Big Printing," as proclaimed on the front cover. Inscribed by Griffin in Texas in 1966: "To our beloved ___ ___, God-sister and friend, in memory of your visit to our home. John Howard Griffin." The recipient was the "God-sister" of both Griffin and Thomas Merton, who shared the French writer/philosopher Jacques Maritain as a Godfather. Covers rubbed, spine-creased, slight foxing; very good in wrappers. A common paperback, but an interesting and significant copy.
73. GRUMBACH, Doris. Lord, I Have No Courage. Worcester: Venerini Publications (1964). Her third book, and first for young readers, presenting the life story of Rosa Venerini, who established a school for women in the early 18th century. Near fine in printed wrappers. According to the Ahearn Price Guide, about 500 copies were produced with a heavy cardboard cover; further according to the Ahearns, they had not seen a copy and this description came from the author, who more recently confirmed that there was no issue in boards. Grumbach also added that this was a project undertaken for money and not a book she views with affection today. Rare.
74. GUTERSON, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. NY: Harcourt Brace (1994). Second printing ("First edition" stated; "B" in the line of letters) of his first novel, a well-written and touching story of a murder trial on an island in Puget Sound in the aftermath of World War II. The evocative prose captures an era, depicting the conflicting sensibilities of the island's Japanese-American community and its white, patriotic fishermen. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award. Inscribed by Guterson to another writer, "a fine and honorable man." With the fine and honorable man's ownership signature. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
75. GUTHRIE, A.B. Jr. A Field Guide to Writing Fiction. NY: HarperCollins (1991). Guthrie died two weeks after this book was published. His business card is stapled to the front blank of this copy, with a note written from Guthrie's wife to another writer: "Bud [Guthrie] wanted you to have this book;" she also thanks him for the "lovely piece" he had written. With the recipient's ownership signature beneath. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
76. (GUTHRIE, Woody). KRONICK, William and HAILEY, Oliver. Bound for Glory. (n.p.): (n.p.) (n.d.) [c. late 1960s]. An unproduced screenplay on the life and times of Woody Guthrie, taken from his 1942 autobiography. Kronick was a TV writer and director, Hailey a playwright. The two collaborated on this script, of which this is at least a second draft: no explicit indication of the draft is given, but several of the pages are marked as replacements for the originals. (The Academy Award-winning 1976 film of the same title was written by Robert Getchell, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay.) Mimeographed sheets, bradbound in pictorial covers; title written on spine. Very good. An unusual, unproduced look at an attempt to film one of the great American autobiographies of the 20th century.