Catalog 153, D-E
66. DELILLO, Don. The Body Artist. (London): Macmillan/Picador (2001). The advance reading copy of the British edition. With the publisher's bookplate signed by the author laid in. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon with signature.
67. DELILLO, Don. Love-Lies-Bleeding. NY: Scribner (2005). The uncorrected proof copy of his third published play. Signed by the author. Small nick and faint sunning to spine; near fine in wrappers. Uncommon in proof format and uncommon signed.
68. (DELILLO, Don). "The Engineer of Moonlight" in Cornell Review 5. (Ithaca): (Cornell University) (1979). DeLillo's first play, never produced nor published in book form. He has since gone on to write three other works for the stage, The Day Room, Valparaiso, and Love-Lies-Bleeding. Other contributors to this issue include Peter Klappert, Gordon Lish, William Hjortsberg, Thomas Disch, and others. Two short edge tears to covers; mild sunning; splayed at corners. Very good in wrappers.
69. DEW, Robb Forman. Publisher's Archive for Dale Loves Sophie to Death. NY: FSG (1981). A unique set of publisher's materials for her well-received first novel, winner of the short-lived National Book Award for best first novel. Printer's blues; two sets of long galley sheets; three copies of the dust jacket (folded flat); mock-up of binding. One jacket creased; else all items fine. Presumably this would have been the only such set generated, for the publisher's own internal use.
70. DÍAZ, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. NY: Riverhead Books, 2007. The advance reading copy of his second book, first novel. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. With textual variations between this and the published text. A few small blue spots to top edge and upper foredge; near fine in wrappers. A surprisingly scarce advance copy, perhaps because of the textual changes.
71. -. Same title. (London): Faber and Faber (2008). The advance reading copy of the first British edition. Fine in wrappers. There was no hardcover edition issued in the U.K. and the advance issue is very uncommon.
72. DICK, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle. NY: Putnam (1960). Winner of the 1963 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of the year. An "alternate history" tale in which Germany and Japan have won the Second World War. David Pringle, in Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, says that "it is probably Dick's best work, and the most memorable alternative world tale...ever written." Inscribed by the author to his lawyer and longtime friend: "To Bill Wolfson -- A man incapable of greed. Philip K. Dick/ January 8, 1968." Wolfson was one of Dick's oldest friends, going back to his high school years; he was married to an English teacher of Dick's, Margaret Wolfson, who was the first person to encourage Dick to send one of his stories out for publication, when she received a science fiction story from Dick instead of the homework assignment she had given the class. In later years, Bill Wolfson became Dick's lawyer, and he famously was the person to whom Dick entrusted the manuscript of Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said when Dick was hospitalized and worried about losing it or its being stolen. According to Wolfson's daughter, Dick modeled various characters after her father, giving them names like "Billy Wolf" and "Bill Wolfman." The Man in the High Castle was Dick's first book to receive a major science fiction award. Signed copies are extremely uncommon: we find no record of any signed copies of this title appearing at auction. Even Tim Powers' collection of Philip K. Dick books lacked a signed first of Man in the High Castle, and he had almost all of the other hardcovers inscribed to him by Dick; his copy of High Castle was a book club edition. An excellent association copy of a major, award-winning novel by the writer who revolutionized science fiction in the '50s and '60s, turning it from a genre of robots and spacemen to a vehicle for exploring philosophy, metaphysics and spirituality, and for critiquing society. Spine cocked, small loss of color to the heel, small spot to front flyleaf, not affecting inscription; very good in a very good dust jacket with two tiny edge tears, mild fading to the red of the spine, and light rubbing, mostly at the spine folds.
73. DICK, Philip K. Now Wait For Last Year. Garden City: Doubleday, 1966. Another of Dick's classic mid-60s novels, this one set in the future and involving hallucinogenic drugs and time travel. Inscribed by the author to his longtime friend and later lawyer, Bill Wolfson: "To Bill Wolfson -- A man to be feared as well as admired. Philip K. Dick/ January 6, 1968." Signed books from this period in Dick's career are extremely uncommon. We find no record of any signed copies of this title appearing at auction, let alone an excellent association copy like this. Near fine in a very good dust jacket.
74. DICK, Philip K. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. Garden City: Doubleday, 1974. Second printing. Winner of the 1975 John W. Campbell Award, and finalist for the 1974 Nebula and 1975 Hugo Awards. This copy is inscribed by the author to his lawyer and longtime friend Bill Wolfson on the front free endpaper, filling the page: "to my dear friend Bill Wolfson -- Actually the oldest friend I've got -- Back far into the past, to the '40s. If I hadn't turned the manuscript of this novel over to you, Bill, for safe-keeping, it would not be in print -- it would in fact not even be. Thank you for everything, my friend. With deep respect & affection, Philip K. Dick/ 6/27/74." Dick's relationship with Wolfson went back to his time in high school: Margaret Wolfson, Bill's wife, was an English teacher that Dick reportedly had a crush on; she was also the first person to suggest to him that he send one of his stories out for publication. In later years, Bill, a lawyer, became Dick's lawyer and when Dick was hospitalized in 1971 after his separation from his wife Nancy and their daughter, he gave the rough draft of Flow My Tears to Wolfson for safekeeping: Dick was afraid that the CIA or the FBI was tapping his phone and would break into his house and steal it. In fact, he did suffer a break-in shortly after being released from the hospital, which probably accounts for the intensity and urgency in this inscription. While no manuscripts were taken -- Dick didn't have any others in the house at the time -- he felt that his concern had been vindicated and believed that Wolfson had indeed protected this manuscript from being stolen. A remarkable copy, perhaps the best possible copy of this short of the dedication copy. Offsetting from binder's glue on the endpapers in the joints; bump along upper edges of the covers, still very good in a very good dust jacket. A unique and historically significant copy, detailing an important moment in Dick's biography.
75. DIDION, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking. NY: Knopf, 2005. The advance reading copy of her National Book Award-winning memoir about the sudden death of her husband of 40 years, author John Gregory Dunne. In 2007, the play version opened on Broadway: it was updated to include the subsequent death of her daughter. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon as an advance issue.
76. DILLARD, Annie. Correspondence Archive. c. 1978-1995. A group of letters written to a fellow author. Twelve pieces of correspondence, the majority undated, with the date range gleaned from the postmarks on the postcards. Three autograph postcards signed, seven autograph letters signed, one holiday postcard signed. All concern writing: hers or the recipient's or the inability to write anything or anything more ("working soccer mom, you know"); traveling (India, China, Pennsylvania); writerly advice ("Never say 'prose poems'), etc. A couple touch on the writing of blurbs, which she says she can't do, even for friends, then adds that she does one a year and is booked up. In the end, though, she apparently sends a blurb for his book (not present), apparently because she loved it so much. Some pieces folded for mailing, else fine. For all:
77. (Disney). Stories from Walt Disney's Fantasia. (NY): Random House (1940). Six stories from Walt Disney's landmark movie, with illustrations from the motion picture. Penciled gift inscription facing the title page, dated at Christmas, 1940; slight foxing; near fine in pictorial boards and a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with several edge chips. A fragile book, uncommon in dust jacket.
78. DOCTOROW, E.L. World's Fair. NY: Random House (1985). Winner of the National Book Award. A title in his New York City sequence of historical novels, this one focusing on the World's Fair of 1939. This is the publisher's presentation edition, leatherbound, using sheets of the first edition. Top edge gilt, silk ribbon marker bound in. Signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Never issued for sale, presentation editions like this are usually prepared in tiny numbers by the publisher for a small handful of people associated with the creation of the book. They seldom appear on the market. Trace rubbing to corners; else fine.
79. DOYLE, Roddy. The Commitments. (Dublin): (King Farouk)(1987). The uncommon first edition of Doyle's first book, reportedly self-published under the imprint "King Farouk" after Doyle was unsuccessful in finding another publisher for it. The first printing is said to have been 1000 copies. The book was the first of a trilogy collectively entitled The Barrytown Trilogy. The 1991 film adaptation of The Commitments won four BAFTA awards -- the UK equivalent of the Oscars -- and brought Doyle and the book an unprecedented degree of attention and acclaim; he later won the Booker Prize for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, and is widely considered one of the leading Irish novelists today. Rubbing to covers and edges; dusty foredge; a very good copy in wrappers.
80. DUBUS, Andre. The Lieutenant. NY: Dial, 1967. Bound galleys of his first book and only novel, a story of the peacetime military and the challenges to manhood and honor that its rigid code of morals creates. Dubus said that after he wrote this novel someone introduced him to Chekhov's stories, and he threw away the manuscript of his next novel and began writing short fiction -- becoming one of our most acclaimed and accomplished practitioners, a "writer's writer" who was admired as a model and a mentor by many authors whose fame outstripped his own. 7 1/4" x 10", ringbound, printed on rectos only. Cover sheet partially detached; date and price handwritten at top; prior dampening most noticeable along the spine edge of the rear page. Still about near fine. Laid in is a typed note signed from E.L. Doctorow, in his position as editor-in-chief at Dial, to Wright Morris, soliciting comment. An unusual format for a proof, and a scarce proof: we have never seen another copy of it, nor heard of one; the author himself did not have one in his library. Housed in a custom quarter leather clamshell box.
81. DUFRESNE, John. Lethe, Cupid, Time, and Love. Candia: LeBow, 1994. One of 26 lettered copies, the entire hardcover issue of a title that had a total run of 150 copies. Signed by the author and the illustrator, Dina Knapp. Very near fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
82. -. Same title. New Orleans: Perdido Press, 1994. A trial edition, one of reportedly 10 copies printed by Edwin Blain of Perdido Press for John Dufresne and John LeBow, in preparation for a print run of 176 copies. This edition was never issued: John LeBow issued his own edition later that same year. A fine copy in saddle-stitched wrappers, and signed by Dufresne. With a 2003 letter of provenance laid in from the bookseller who first got the copy from Blain. A scarce, unpublished edition, much more elaborately designed and illustrated than the final published book.
83. DUMAS, Alexandre. Manuscript of "Biens domaniaux - Loi agraire de Rullus. [State Property: The Agrarian Law of Rullus.]" Undated. Nine pages of manuscript, complete, in French, for an article Dumas wrote for an Italian magazine on the uses of state property, and the agrarian laws proposed by the Roman Servilius Rullus. Rome used allotments of state-owned land to both colonize captured territory and as a way of relocating poor citizens away from Rome itself, to lessen the pressure they put on the government for social services and thus remove a possible source of social unrest. The Roman uses of state-owned property underlay much of the way the lands in Italy were ultimately developed, or not developed, which seems to have provided Dumas with the rationale for this article, which he brings into a modern context: at one point he cites Proudhon's statement in the French revolution of 1848 that property itself is a "public offense" and goes on to add that "property is theft" ("La propriété est un délit Public et ce que Mr Proudhon disait dans ce même Paris en 1848 (.) La propriété c'est le vol...").Written on rectos only, in black pen on blue paper, with the subtitle of the piece crossed out and a new subtitle written below it. Signed by Dumas. A substantial manuscript on a significant issue of social philosophy by Dumas, the author of such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Fine.
84. DUNN, Katherine. Geek Love. (n.p.): (M. Kimberly Press/Charles Seluzicki Fine Books)(1989). The limited edition of her third novel, a critically well-received story of a carnival family told in the voice of an albino hunchback dwarf. One of 26 lettered copies, of a total edition of 32. Uses the sheets of the Knopf first edition, bound in black cloth with a hand-colored illustration to the front cover and unique gouache paintings on the endpapers. Signed by Dunn and by the artist, Mare Blocker. Fine in a near fine (dusty) clamshell case. An attractive and extravagant production.
85. DUNN, Katherine. Mystery Girls' Circus and College of Conundrum. Ames Lake/Portland/Washington, D.C.: M. Kimberly Press, 1991. An artist's book, one of 125 copies printed for the National Museum of Women in the Arts as the 1991 Library Fellows Artists' Book, the second volume in that prestigious series. Of each title produced, the artist receives 25 copies and the Library Fellows each receive a copy, leaving only a very small number available for sale. Signed by the author and by Mare Blocker, her collaborator. Elaborately printed and bound, with numerous woodcuts, color illustrations, fold outs, etc. Fine.
86. DUNNING, John. Booked to Die. NY: Scribner (1992). The highly praised first Cliff Janeway bibliomystery by this writer who was also the longtime proprietor of the Old Algonquin Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. Dunning uses his knowledge of the book trade in general, and the Denver book scene in particular, to make this a highly authentic tale that can be read on several levels at once -- a murder mystery, a roman a clef and a treatise on the collecting, buying and selling of rare books. The first printing was a modest 6000 copies and good reviews and excellent word-of-mouth caused the book to be reprinted numerous times, making firsts hard to come by almost immediately after publication. Signed by the author and dated in the month of publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
87. EGGERS, Dave. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. (London): Picador (2000). The first British edition of his first book, if not a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, then at the very least an affecting work of uncommon brilliance, about raising his younger brother after the death of both parents, just weeks apart. Warmly and elaborately inscribed by Eggers to his British editor in the year of publication, with profuse thanks for his work on the book and a drawing of his left hand. As fine an inscription as we've seen on an Eggers book. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
88. EGGERS, Dave. The Wild Things. (San Francisco): (McSweeney's)(2009). A novel based on Eggers' and Spike Jonze's screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are, which was based on Maurice Sendak's classic children's book. This is the silhouette issue (there was also a fur issue). Signed by Eggers. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued.
89. EGGERS, Dave, JONZE, Spike, and the Editors of McSweeney's. Heads On and We Shoot: The Making of Where the Wild Things Are. (NY): (HarperCollins/Warner)(2009). A play-by-play look at the making of the movie based on the Maurice Sendak children's classic, told in the words of all the major participants. Signed by Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay. Three sections: Preproduction, Production, and Post Production, bound in a unique, zig-zagging, back-to-back-to-back "M" shape. Hardcover; fine, without dust jacket, as issued. Uncommon signed.
90. ENSLER, Eve. The Vagina Monologues. NY: Villard (1998). The uncommon hardcover edition of her classic Obie Award-winning play. We have heard both that this edition was issued prior to the trade paperback first edition, and that it was issued in an edition of perhaps 200 copies produced for a performance in Madison Square Garden in 2001. This copy is signed by the author in 2005 with "Vagina Blessings!" Clothbound; faint spot to foredge; else fine, with ribbon marker bound in, in a fine matching cloth slipcase. An attractive production of a scarce edition of this landmark play.
91. EXLEY, Frederick. A Fan's Notes. NY: Harper & Row (1968). His first book, "a fictional memoir" and one of the defining books of the Sixties. Winner of both the William Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel and the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Signed by the author. Sliver of sunning to spine crown; still fine in a fine dust jacket. Uncommon signed, especially in the first printing: most signed copies we have seen have been the second.