Catalog 148, B
13. BAKER, Nicholson. Human Smoke. NY: Simon & Schuster (2008). The uncorrected proof copy of his latest book, nonfiction: a history of World War II that takes pains to debunk the myths that have grown up around that era and that war and in the process presents a case for pacifism. Small bumps to spine ends; near fine in wrappers.
14. BEAGLE, Peter S. Signed Contract for "Come Lady Death." 1964. Contract with Doubleday to reprint Beagle's story "Come Lady Death" in Prize Stories 1965: The O. Henry Awards. One page, signed by Beagle. Beagle's first novel, A Fine and Private Place, had been published in 1960 to substantial critical acclaim. He later wrote The Last Unicorn, which became a classic in the fantasy genre. Fine.
15. BEAGLE, Peter S. Correspondence File. 1965-1967. Five typed letters signed and three telegrams, plus retained copies, to Harry Sions, an editor at Holiday magazine, which had published an abridged serialization of Beagle's account of a cross-country motor-scooter trip that became his second book, I See By My Outfit. In March 1965, Sions writes to Beagle asking to meet him while in California and Beagle agrees to go into San Francisco with his wife for the meeting. In April, Sions sends a note of gratitude for the time spent. That same month, Beagle writes with plans for a visit to New York (after a stop in Tennessee to check out his brother's voter registration project) and hopes they can get together again. In the same letter, Beagle frets about a projected Burroughs-Genet piece he has written for Holiday that someone at the magazine had done some "flower-arranging" with, adding that he has put things back the way they were and that having someone fool around with his work without consulting him produces symptoms not unlike those of a bleeding ulcer. In the next week, Sions agrees to the meeting in New York and his office writes Beagle looking for Larry McMurtry's address, which Beagle then sends: "He's a hell of a good writer whose previous publisher did about as much for him as the Dauphin Charles did for John of Arc." Later in the month, Beagle telegrams from Tennessee that his arrival in New York will be delayed. The next letter to Sions is not from Peter but from his brother, Daniel, who at Peter's suggestion sends Sions a fundraising pitch for his political outreach project. When Beagle (Peter) writes again in August, it is an urgent appeal for Sions to send telegrams to the mayor of Brownsville Tennessee and the governor of Tennessee requesting that authorities offer protection for a demonstration for school integration that his brother will be attending, at the height of the Civil Rights activism in the South in the 1960s: "The little jerk is supposed to visit us - and my parents - out here late in the month, and I would rather it were not in a pine box." He then switches topics to his reading (Castle Keep; Nostromo); his family life (Enid, kids, eleven cats); and briefly mentions McMurtry and Gore Vidal. Sions does send telegrams to Tennessee, as requested, and copies are included. Beagle then sends Sions a letter of gratitude and writes a little about the limitations of an article he is working on about Tennessee: "All it takes is one phone call from Somerville, and the reality of what he [Daniel] is doing dwarfs the idea of writing about it. But that's what I do." Sions then sends Beagle a thank you for the thanks. Sions' next letter, in 1967, repeats the request from two years earlier that Beagle meet with him in San Francisco, adding, "I hope your driving has improved." In the final letter included here, Beagle agrees: "We'd love to repeat the afternoon of - my God! - two years ago...My driving has improved immensely. It was magnificent last time, so you can imagine what it's like now. As ever, [signed] Peter." And as he has on all but the first of these letters, Beagle has drawn a face in the "P" of Peter. A nice group of letters from the most important period of Beagle's early career (after publication of A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit and while working on The Last Unicorn), which put his writing and activity in a familial, social and political context.
16. BEALS, Carleton. Typescript of a "Provisional Draft of a New Chapter for the Sixth Printing of The Coming Struggle in Latin America." 44 pages, ribbon-copy, carbon copy, and holograph pages, all heavily corrected in Beals' hand. The Coming Struggle in Latin America was published in 1938 and this chapter was apparently prompted by the 1939 Lima Conference attended by 21 western republics. Beals, an important, respected, left-leaning journalist in the Twenties, Thirties and Forties, specialized in Latin America and is perhaps best remembered for tracking down and interviewing Nicaraguan rebel general Augusto Sandino while on assignment for The Nation. He also collaborated with photojournalist Walker Evans on The Crime of Cuba in 1933 -- the first book publication by Evans, who later collaborated with James Agee on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Top and bottom sheets slightly worn, otherwise fine. Titled in Beals' hand. An interesting manuscript, with a remarkable number of changes by Beals, on every page.
17. BECKETT, Samuel. Assez. (Paris): Les Editions de Minuit (1966). Of a total edition of 662 copies, this is one of 450 numbered copies on Velin Cuve B.F.K. Rives paper. Pages unopened; fine in near fine glassine. A nice copy of an attractive production.
18. BELLOW, Saul. The Adventures of Augie March. NY: Viking, 1953. The first edition, first issue of the Nobel Prize winner's third novel, and the first of his three National Book Award winners -- an unprecedented accomplishment in American literature. Signed by the author. Spine darkened; very good in a lightly rubbed near fine dust jacket with a small owner label on the front flap. Possibly a married jacket, given the darkening to the spine cloth.
19. BERRIAULT, Gina and NEUGEBOREN, Jay. Correspondence. (1981-1982). In April of 1981, Berriault writes to Neugeboren to thank him for having suggested that she apply for a Guggenheim Fellowship that she ultimately received: "After I finish my novel...then I will try again to form again some short stories. In the past, when I wrote stories, each one seemed to quicken an idea for another, and that potential always waiting in the wings quickened the life in me, too. It was a beautiful illusion, in a way, like believing you were to be young forever. And now if I can experience that again because of the honor, you are the one most deserving of my gratefulness for the transformation." Neugeboren's retained letter of congratulations is included. In July, Berriault again writes to Neugeboren, this time with praise for his latest book, The Stolen Jew, which she had hoped to review for New West Magazine. Neugeboren's retained letter of thanks is included. In 1982, at the request of North Point Press, Neugeboren writes a promotional blurb for Berriault's The Infinite Passion of Expectation (retained copy included) and Berriault responds with her own letter of thanks, additionally inquiring whether she can use his name again to apply for a second Guggenheim Award and another year of "freedom." A retained copy of Neugeboren's second recommendation to the Award Committee is included. Attached to this recommendation, and stamped "Please Destroy," is a copy of Berriault's "A Statement of Plans," detailing how she would use the additional fellowship year to begin another novel, "the working title for which I have borrowed from Kierkegaard's Crisis in the Life of an Actress. It is about an actress...who has reached the point where self-centeredness has become unprofitable for the deeper self, the artist's spirit..." In all, two typed letters signed by Berriault (one with envelope); one autograph letter signed by her; four retained Neugeboren letters (two to Berriault, one to her publisher at North Point, one to the Guggenheim committee); and Berriault's synopsis of her next planned novel. A nice glimpse behind the scenes at the efforts of a critically acclaimed literary writer to find the funding to continue her work. Berriault's collection of stories Women in Their Beds won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction for 1996. She died in 1999. Neugeboren has published both fiction and nonfiction to substantial critical acclaim. His latest novel, 1940, is a historical novel about Hitler's Jewish family doctor, and has received great praise. The lot is near fine. For all:
20. BIOY-CASARES, Adolfo. A Plan for Escape. NY: Dutton, 1975. The first American edition of a novel first published in Argentina in the 1940s, and one of the pivotal books in the emergence of Latin American literature as a major force in 20th century world literature. Inscribed by Bioy-Casares in 1992, and also signed by the translator, Suzanne Jill Levine. A Plan for Escape is one of Bioy-Casares's two best-known books, along with The Invention of Morel, which was the basis for the French New Wave film Last Year at Marienbad. Bioy-Casares was also famously a frequent collaborator with Argentine novelist Jorge Luis Borges; they published together under the pen name "H. Bustos Domecq." Remainder mark; else fine in a dust jacket with one edge tear at the upper front panel.
21. BLAIS, Marie-Claire. Une Saison dans la Vie d'Emmanuel. Paris: Grasset (1966). The first French edition of the most famous novel by this French-Canadian author, a two-time winner of the Governor General's Award, Canada's most prestigious literary award. Originally published in Canada in 1965. Translated as A Season in the Life of Emmanuel and winner of the French Prix Médicis in 1966. Inscribed by Blais in Paris in 1966. This copy shows a bit of light overall handling; near fine in self-wrappers.
22. BOWLES, Paul. The Sheltering Sky. (NY): New Directions (1949). The first American edition of Bowles's landmark first novel: this copy is from the library of John Clellon Holmes, with his annotation: "Found in the Salvation Army, Providence, Rhode Island on Feb. 19, 1972." Bowles's tale of Westerners abroad in North Africa was one of the seminal novels of the Beat generation. His expatriates, in their search for meaning, their explorations of the North African cultures, and their experimentation with the drugs of northern Africa, were the models for many who followed, more or less, in their footsteps in the 50s and 60s and since. Bowles was considered by many to have been the "father of the Beat generation" -- the established writer and mentor to younger writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac; he introduced William Burroughs to Burroughs' longtime collaborator, artist Brion Gysin. Holmes, for his part, is considered to have written the first Beat novel, Go, which had characters based on Kerouac, Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, and was published in 1952, five years before Kerouac's On the Road. He also wrote an article for The New York Times in 1952, "This is the Beat Generation," the first public use of that name to define that group of writers. Mild top edge foxing; small stain rear free endpaper; near fine in a fair dust jacket with only small chips at the spine ends but splitting along the front spine fold. Underlining to one passage, on page 14: "...the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly...."
23. BOWLES, Paul. The Stories of Paul Bowles. (NY): Ecco Press (2001). A posthumous collection of short stories, the form for which Bowles was most famous, with an introduction by novelist Robert Stone who, like Bowles, has often set his fiction in Third World countries and among people whose cultures, religious practices and even world views are entirely alien to westerners from the industrialized nations. A massive collection, over 600 pages, spanning five decades. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by Stone.
24. (BOWLES, Paul). VETSCH, Florian. Antäisches Kraftfeld. Paul Bowles in Tanger. St. Gallen: Sabon-Verlag (1998). Text in German. Inscribed by both Bowles and Vetsch to Virginia Spencer Carr, Bowles's biographer. Large dampstain to rear cover of dustwrapper, affecting a small part of the front cover and the top edge of the rear blank; text safe. Fine in saddle-stitched wrappers in very good dustwrapper, as described. An uncommon item, especially signed.
25. BRADBURY, Ray. Screenplay of The Martian Chronicles. Undated, c. 1964. A photocopy of Bradbury's unproduced screenplay of his book. This was Bradbury's second attempt to produce a screenplay for this title, and he was again unsuccessful in terms of getting it produced. The 1980 television miniseries was scripted by Richard Matheson, and Bradbury reportedly was disappointed in the outcome and has continued to rewrite his own script over the years. In all, this is an early, unpublished and unproduced version of Bradbury's own adaptation of one of his most famous and iconic novels. 178 pages, bradbound, without covers. Slightly age-toned with a few corner turns; near fine. From the Robert and Diane Yaspan Collection of science fiction and fantasy.
26. BUCKLEY, William F. Typescript and Correspondence Archive. 1984-1990. Original typescript, "Reflections on American Landscape Painting," submitted to Art and Antiques magazine. Seven pages, with several small corrections in an unknown hand, but apparently Buckley's. Undated, but apparently 1984. Together with nineteen pieces of correspondence (typed notes and letters signed; one postcard signed) from Buckley to Jeffrey Schaire, eventual editor of the magazine, spanning more than half a decade of growing friendship. Note: it is likely that some of these are signed "Bill" on behalf of Buckley by Buckley's long-time assistant, Frances Bronson and just as likely, based on content, that some are signed by Buckley himself (i.e. one letter typed from his home rather than from his job and one card of congratulations). The early notes are cordial and complimentary and address Buckley's submission. Buckley and Schaire then exchange books (Buckley sending one of his own; Schaire sending Buckley A Wrinkle in Time). In 1985 Buckley thanks Schaire for a condolence letter on the death of his mother, Aloise Steiner Buckley, and provides a tear sheet of his tribute to her. The next letter sends wishes for Schaire's health. Following this there is a photo of Schaire seated next to Roy Cohn at the National Review dinner for Ronald Reagan (both Schaire and Cohn would eventually die from AIDS). That year and the following year bring an exchange of notes on the possibility of another Art and Antiques submission from Buckley; Buckley presents Schaire with more of his own books; and he sends a congratulatory postcard on A&A being nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 1987 Buckley sends a brief defense of the opening of another submitted piece (not present) as well as a letter of congratulations when Schaire is named editor of the magazine. In the latter years of correspondence, Buckley submits a piece (not present) on another author's behalf, and he sends Schaire condolences on the death of his father. There is also in the lot an undated (florist's?) gift card wishing Schaire "Best Wishes for your Antique Book" and a recommendation from Bronson for Schaire obtaining a coop apartment. Schaire's original file folder is present, as are most of Buckley's mailing envelopes, in addition there are a few envelopes that are without their contents. One letter is a photocopy (not included in above tally); one has a corner chip, not affecting text; the correspondence is otherwise fine. The typescript is fine. For all:
27. BUKOWSKI, Charles. A Bukowski Sampler. Madison: Druid Books (1971). Edited by Douglas Blazek. This is the second edition, revised from the first edition published by Quixote in 1969. This edition includes a novel excerpt, "The Way the Dead Love," previously published in Congress, that was not in the first edition. This copy belonged to Doug Blazek, the editor of the book, and is inscribed (but not signed) by Bukowski: "Slept through Utah, Wyo Iowa/ nothing to see at night anyway/ wrote on a piece of paper, etc/ not sure what it means except I've been breaking up with a woman I've been living with for 4 years, off and on. Lately I've been going out. It's been what fucking crap. Finding sorting through bodies hurting being hurt. What shit." With a self-portrait of Bukowski, bottle in hand, sitting in front of his typewriter. Minor staining and creasing to front cover, and a partially legible (bookstore?) stamp there; very good in stapled wrappers.
28. BURROUGHS, William S. Naked Lunch. Paris: Olympia (1959). The first edition of his second book, one of the all-time great drug novels and a high spot of Beat and postwar American literature -- one of the three key volumes of the Beat movement, along with Kerouac's On the Road and Ginsberg's Howl. This is the first issue, without the New Franc stamp over the original old franc price on the rear cover. Published only in paperback in Paris by Maurice Girodias' important small press, in an edition of 5000 copies (comprising both "issues"), three years before it could be published in the U.S. This copy has a small, narrow stain to the lower corner of the first 20 pages and a couple of incidental bends to upper page corners; a near fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket nicked at the crown. A very nice copy of an important book.