Catalog 153, K-L
134. KEROUAC, Jack. The Subterraneans. NY: Grove (1958). The second printing of Kerouac's first novel to be published after the success of On the Road. Made into a movie with Leslie Caron in 1960, which attempted to capture the hipster life on film. Clothbound; small gouge to lower spine, dusty top edge; near fine in a very good, mildly rubbed dust jacket with slight edge wear and three small and unnecessary pieces of tape on verso. An important Kerouac book, which is almost impossible to find in dust jacket. A nice copy of a Kerouac rarity.
135. KESEY, Ken. Sometimes a Great Notion. London: Methuen (1966). The first British edition of his second and most ambitious novel, about a logging family in Oregon, and embodying the individualistic values that helped Kesey to become a counterculture leader and icon. Tipped to the front flyleaf is a typed tribute by Kesey to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Book Store: "If the important revolutionary events could be charted across the past decade there would be a decided tributation indicating this little shop in North Beach a fountainhead." The sheet is signed "Ken Kesey." The book is fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a lift to the lamination at the front gutter. Unique.
136. (KESEY, Ken). WASSERMAN, Dale. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (n.p.): (n.p.)(n.d.)[1970-71]. Mechanically reproduced typescript of the Dale Wasserman play based on Kesey's landmark first book, a pivotal novel of the literature of the Sixties, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. Wasserman originally adapted Kesey's 1962 novel for the stage in 1963. Kirk Douglas had bought the rights to the book, but couldn't convince Hollywood to make the film. Instead, he starred in the short-lived Broadway adaptation of it. In 1971, Lee Sankowich directed this version of the play in an off-Broadway production starring Danny DeVito, William Devane and Olympia Dukakis. The show had a record-breaking five-year run, the success of which led directly to the decision to produce the film version. Kirk Douglas passed along the production rights to the film to his son Michael, who became producer of the Hollywood version -- although enough time had passed that Michael considered himself too old to play the lead, and he gave the role to Jack Nicholson, who won one of the film's five Academy Awards. This version, by Wasserman, who won a Tony Award for Man of La Mancha, is 114 pages, printed on rectos only, and bradbound in embossed studio covers. The Samuel French acting edition was published in 1974. Near fine. Scarce.
137. KING, Stephen. Typed Note Signed. May 28, 1981. A typed note to another author agreeing to read his book in galley form and to consider offering a dust jacket blurb, with the caveat that he has recently been singled out by the New York Daily News for doing too many blurbs and that he is cutting back to protect his credibility. Signed in full. A nice letter, indicative of King's well-known generosity toward other writers, and also suggestive of the incipient fame that would soon engulf him: in 1981 his books had just begun being bestsellers upon publication. From there forward he would achieve a degree of celebrity seldom seen by writers in this country, and probably not surpassed by any writer anywhere until J. K. Rowling gained fame for the Harry Potter series. Folded for mailing; else fine.
138. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Bean Trees. NY: Harper & Row (1988). Her highly praised first novel, which combines a strong sense of place-the Southwest-humor, and an active engagement with issues of social and political consequence. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A very nice copy of an important and influential first book.
139. KINSELLA, W.P. Scars. (Canada): (Oberon) (1978). The hardcover issue of the second book by the award-winning author of Shoeless Joe, a collection of Indian stories set on the Hobbema Reserve in western Canada. Signed by Kinsella. The print run for the hardcover issue of this title is unknown, but Oberon books from the same era have been known to have had printings of only a few hundred copies, most of which would have gone to libraries. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with slight wear to the spine ends. Uncommon in hardcover, especially signed.
140. KOSINSKI, Jerzy. The Art of the Self; Steps; and Kosinski's Resumé. NY: Scientia-Factum, 1968. A copy of The Art of the Self, a pamphlet containing short pieces relating to Kosinski's National Book Award-winning novel Steps. Inscribed by the author. Edge-sunned; near fine in stapled wrappers. Together with the first edition of Steps [NY: Random House (1968)], which is fine in a fine dust jacket. And also together with a copy of Kosinski's resumé from 1970, amended in the author's hand, the facts of which roughly corresponding to the biographical sketch at the rear of The Art of the Self, with the omission of his 1965 work Notes of the Author. Folded in thirds; edge-sunned with a small edge chip; near fine. A unique combination of items pertaining to Kosinski's writing career after the success of The Painted Bird and before the scandals that later plagued him after his celebrity, culminating in his suicide. For all:
141. L'AMOUR, Louis. Archive. 1934-1935. Eleven typed letters signed (eight 1-page letters; three 2-page letters); two typescripts (1 page and 5 pages) and two partial typescripts (both 2 pages); plus an issue of Four Arts, a short-lived arts journal in the 1930s, focusing on Drama, Music, Art, Literature.
All letters are written to Arthur Purtill, the editor of Four Arts magazine. The correspondence begins with a cold call letter of introduction, pitching himself and an article on poetry and propaganda. L'Amour takes pains to represent himself as knowledgeable and informed in contemporary literature, a self-identified "radical" but not affiliated with any "party, code, or creed" -- at a time when left-leaning politics and "proletarian" literature were very much in vogue. He details his background: "I am twenty-six years old, have devoted my past ten years to wandering about over the world, and have worked as a seaman, miner, lumber-jack, longshoreman, itinerant laborer, deep-sea diver, tourist guide, reporter, sportswriters [sic], pugilist (both amateur and professional), actor and about everything in the books." He adds that "Writing is my profession, and while a beginner, I do rather well." The second letter accepts the offered terms of publication; by the third letter, L'Amour is critiquing the magazine, in addition to listing his theater credits and offering Four Arts a series of articles called "Prophets of Darkness." In following letters he goes into detail about the now-accepted series, as well as successfully pitching a book reviewing series. Throughout the correspondence, L'Amour updates the editor with his successes elsewhere and states his intent to help Four Arts become successful enough so that he might get paid for his contributions.
In addition to the eleven letters, the included typescripts are: "Views and Reviews," 1p., which reviews Of Time and the River by Thomas Wolfe and The Pumpkin Coach by Louis Paul; "Prophets of Darkness: Huysmans," 5pp., on reading Joris Karl Huysmans' Against the Grain; "A Thread of Realism," 2pp., (incomplete), on Walt Whitman; and "Prophets of Darkness: Edgar Allan Poe," 2pp., (incomplete), pp. 6-7 only of an essay on Edgar Allan Poe. This latter typescript, though incomplete, runs approximately two paragraphs longer than the version eventually published in Four Arts IV [Cleveland: Four Arts, 1935], which is included here.
An interesting look at the early days in the career of one of the most popular writers of all time: at the time of L'Amour's death in 1988 he had 105 books in print that had sold cumulatively over 225 million copies. In these early days, in the midst of the Depression when work and money were scarce, he was publishing in every venue he could and in every genre he could: all of these letters and writings precede his first published fiction in 1935, and precede his first published book, a collection of poetry, by more than four years. A number of the letters have Purtill's holograph notes indicating how he responded to the letter from L'Amour. A historically significant archive by a writer who, by the time he died, had been awarded two of the highest honors given to a private citizen in the U.S.: the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
142. LEARY, Timothy. Typescript of My Growing, Admiring Friendship with My Very Own Cancer. June 12, 1995. Six page typescript (computer printout) in which Leary muses about the causes of the prostate cancer he was diagnosed with in January, 1995, discussing taboos about death and conspiracies against ejaculation. Inscribed by Leary on June 16, 1995: "To my dearest Pal/ Nelson [Lyon]/ Timothy." Lyon was a friend of Leary's as well as a longtime friend of Terry Southern and William Burroughs, among others. An original, unpublished manuscript, touching on both Leary's own personal situation and the larger questions of life and death, with a warm personal inscription to a close personal friend. Leary died in May of the following year. One vertical fold; several small water spots on page one; a small stain in the upper margins. Near fine. Unique.
143. LE CARRÉ, John. The Naive and Sentimental Lover. London: Hodder & Stoughton (1971). The uncorrected proof copy of his first novel to depart from the espionage genre, a book that he later said was his own personal favorite of his books, but which enjoyed considerably less popular success than his spy stories. Small ink name and date on front cover; minor sunning and creasing to spine; near fine in wrappers. Scarce in collectable condition.
144. LEONARD, Elmore. Escape from Five Shadows. [Boston]: Houghton Mifflin, [1956]. The uncorrected proof copy of the third of his extremely scarce Westerns, which preceded his first mystery novel by over a decade and his first bestseller by over two decades. 7" x 11" ringbound galley sheets, printed on rectos only. The label affixed to the cardstock cover gives a publication date of 1955 (the book was actually published in 1956) and, in pencil "May 1." Also in pencil on the front cover label is written "The Westerners"— an alternate title? An indication of the genre, for marketing purposes? The covers show some extremely slight creasing; but still a remarkably fine copy, with the covers crisp, the fragile plastic ring spine intact. An extremely scarce item: we have never seen another proof copy of any of Leonard's Westerns offered for sale, and Houghton Mifflin was not even doing bound proofs for all its titles routinely at that time. There were probably only a couple of dozen of these produced and, given the format and fragility of this item, it's unlikely that many others have survived, if any. In a custom quarter leather clamshell box. Probably the rarest Elmore Leonard item we have handled, or seen.
145. LETHEM, Jonathan. Christmas. (n.p.): Moe's Books, 2003. A broadside excerpt from "Holidays," printed as a year-end greeting. 11" x 8 1/2". Fine. "Holidays" was published in Crank! in 1996. Lethem worked at Moe's for five years while writing his first book.
146. LETHEM, Jonathan. Chronic City. (London): Faber and Faber (2009). The advance reading copy of the first British edition, which was only published in paperback. Several tiny edge nicks; near fine in wrappers. An uncommon advance copy.