Catalog 153, S-U
223. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author: "To Martin, from an old friend/ J.D. Salinger/ May 13, 1979." Martin apparently read this copy: mild reading crease and loss of gilt to spine, minor abrasions and small ding to cloth; slight fraying to cloth at crown, and a bit of bleedthrough at the joints: still a very good copy in a very good, supplied dust jacket with very small chips at the upper spine folds and front flap fold. An interesting and significant copy: Salinger's signature is scarce and signed copies of Catcher in the Rye are rare; signed firsts are extremely scarce. Until Salinger died earlier this year, we had not seen a signed first printing of Catcher since the Phoenix Book Shop sold one from Howard Moss's library in 1984 -- a span of more than a quarter century. All (of the few) copies that had turned up were either later printings or book club editions. It is interesting, too, that this is dated 1979 -- some decades after Salinger retreated from the spotlight of celebrity and lived a seemingly reclusive life in a small town in New Hampshire: the date shows that, despite being out of the limelight, Salinger was not averse to signing books for individuals with whom he felt a connection. This copy sheds a small ray of light on the author's well-hidden life over the past 50 years. One of the true rarities of 20th century American literature.
224. SALINGER, J.D. Autograph Letter Signed. December 15, 1963. A fan letter from Salinger to Susan Black, regarding her piece in The New Yorker. "Dear Miss Black - Only to say that my wife and I both thoroughly relished the two-parter on Burglary. I hope you will always do subjects that intrigue you, absorb you. Anyway, congratulations and best wishes. J.D. Salinger." He then adds: "Good writing and good burglary are pretty much alike, maybe you'd agree. I suppose I mean enjoyable writing, relishable writing - 'good' doesn't mean anything very explicit." A nice letter: Salinger was known to be complimentary to, and supportive of, young writers and here he shows an example of that. At the same time, he reflects on writing, and on his own words in that reflection -- a glimpse of the writer as wordsmith. Black won a Pulitzer Prize twenty years later for a book she wrote about a young woman who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, portions of which were also, like her Burglary piece, published in The New Yorker. Written on blue paper, folded for mailing; fine, with a hand-addressed envelope included.
225. SALINGER, J.D. Franny and Zooey. Boston: Little, Brown (1961). His third book, two novellas of the Glass family that first appeared in The New Yorker. Slight spine slant, slight sunning, slight offsetting to front flyleaf; a near fine copy in a very good, mildly toned and rubbed dust jacket with a little wear at the spine extremities.
226. -. Another copy. Penciled underlinings and notes in text; lower board sunned; some handling to foredge of flyleaf: a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with modest surface soiling to the white panels and a few small edge tears and corner chips.
227. SALINGER, J.D. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, An Introduction. Boston: Little Brown (1963). Salinger's fourth and last book, two long stories of the Glass family. This is the third issue, with the dedication page tipped in after the title page. Trace sunning to upper board edge, else fine in a very good, mildly spine-sunned dust jacket with a thin abrasion to the lower spine and an edge tear to the lower rear panel.
228. (SALINGER, J.D.). "The Hang of It" in The Kit Book for Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. Chicago: Consolidated Book Publishers (1942). Salinger's first book appearance, this being the first issue (1942), the state without the head and toe bands. Rubbing to covers; near fine in a near fine, lightly faded mailing box, (printed in red, black and orange rather than the later red, white and blue), which has a revised page count stamped over the original page count. The "2" in the copyright date, which in our experience is always battered, is more clearly visible in this copy than in most other copies of the first issue that we have seen.
229. SALTER, James. The Hunters. NY: Harper (1956). His first book, which was the basis for a 1958 movie starring Robert Mitchum and directed by longtime actor Dick Powell. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with trace rubbing to the lower front spine fold. A beautiful copy of a scarce first novel, and almost never found in this condition, especially signed.
230. SENDAK, Maurice and JARRELL, Randall. The Bat-Poet. NY: Macmillan (1966). Later printing of this 1964 children's book by Jarrell, with illustrations by Sendak. Inscribed by Sendak in 1991, "with pleasure!" Spotting to top stain; near fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket with an internally tape-mended gutter tear and one tiny corner chip.
231. SENDAK, Maurice and SINGER, Isaac Bashevis. Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories. (NY): Harper & Row (1966). Later printing of Singer's first children's book, with illustrations by Sendak. Inscribed by Sendak in 1991. Owner name on verso of front flyleaf; spot to foredge; near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with modest wear to the edges and folds.
232. SENDAK, Maurice. Dear Mili. NY: FSG (1988). The first publication of a newly discovered fairy tale from Grimm, illustrated by Sendak. Warmly inscribed by Sendak "with my best wishes!" in 1991. Quarto; stray pen mark to foredge; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
233. SHAKESPEARE, William. A Midsummer's Night Dream. London: J. Tonson, 1734. The fourteenth separate edition, with many of the thirteen earlier editions being adaptations or musicals, in addition to being scarce. 60 pages plus frontispiece. Modest foxing to text, with browning to the margins of the last two leaves. A very good copy, in plain blue 19th century wrappers.
234. SHAKESPEARE, William. Twelfth Night: or, What You Will. London: J. Tonson, 1734. The fourth separate edition, but it should be noted that the first (1703) and second (1714) editions were adaptations issued under authorship other than Shakespeare, and the third (1720) only borrows a few scenes from the play. 70 pages plus frontispiece. Page 68 mispaged as 67; page 69 mispaged as 68. Mild foxing to text; very good in plain blue 19th century wrappers.
235. (SHAKESPEARE, William). The History of Sir John Oldcastle, the Good Lord Cobham. London: J. Tonson, 1734. The fourth separate edition of this book believed to be authored by Anthony Munday, Michael Drayton, Robert Wilson and Richard Hathaway, with some editorial revision by Shakespeare. The 1600 edition was printed by Valentine Simmes for the bookseller Thomas Pavier; there were two Jaggard/Pavier editions in 1619, which were attributed to Shakespeare. Modest foxing to text block; a very good copy in plain blue 19th century wrappers.
236. SHAW, Bernard. The Devil's Disciple. London: Archibald Constable, 1908. The first separate publication of this play. Bookplate front pastedown and a small "first edition" stamp there. Spine darkening and handling apparent to boards; still about near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
237. SHAW, Bernard. The Quintessence of Ibsenism. Now Completed to the Death of Ibsen. London: Archibald Constable, 1913. First thus, a reissue of Shaw's 1891 essay on Ibsen, with a new preface for this edition and an additional section incorporating the plays Ibsen wrote after 1891 and before his stroke in 1900. Small "first edition" stamp on pastedown; very near fine in a very good, spine and edge-darkened dust jacket with only small corner chips. An important book: Shaw's original essay was his first important connection to the theater, and his commentary on the social realism of Ibsen's plays, versus the stagnant formalism of most Victorian theater, is a landmark of dramatic theory. Scarce in jacket.
238. SHIELDS, Carol. Others. Ottawa: Borealis, 1972. The first book, a collection of poetry, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Stone Diaries. Inscribed by the author to the poet Peter Stevens: "For Peter Stevens - in appreciation for your friendship and help. Carol Shields." A very nice association: Stevens was not only a poet himself but also a contributing editor to the Ontario Review and the poetry editor of The Canadian Forum and the Literary Review of Canada. He was widely known as an advocate of Canadian literature, which the Shields inscription seems to imply. Fine in wrappers. A very nice copy of an important first book
239. SHIELDS, Carol. Keys. (n.p.)[Ottawa]: Magnum Bookstore (1992). A single story, later published in Dressing Up for the Carnival, here printed as Magnum Readings 18, in an edition of 30 copies, of which this is one of 26 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in stapled cardstock covers. Scarce.
240. SHIELDS, Carol. Our People. (n.p.)[Ottawa]: Food for Thought Book Store (1994). A previously unpublished story, here printed as Food for Thought Readings 8, in an edition of 30 copies, of which this is one of 26 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in stapled cardstock covers.
241. STOCKETT, Kathryn. The Help. NY: Putnam (2009). Her first book, a novel about a white woman recording the experiences of black maids in Mississippi in 1962. An unlikely bestseller: the book was reportedly rejected by 50 literary agents and/or publishers prior to getting published, and it has since spent more than a year atop the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. Signed by the author and dated February 7, 2009, three days prior to publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket. The first printing is quite uncommon and signed copies of it considerably more so. This is the earliest signature we have seen on a first printing. The film is scheduled for release next year.
242. -. Same title, the advance reading copy (marked "Uncorrected Proof") of the first British edition. (London): Penguin/Fig Tree (2009). Fine in wrappers. Only published in paperback in the U.K.
243. STONE, Robert. A Hall of Mirrors. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. A review copy of his first book, a novel of drifters in New Orleans in the early Sixties caught up in the web of a quasi-religious political machine. Winner of the William Faulkner Award for best first novel of the year as well as a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award. Signed by the author. Tiny lower corner bump and shelf wear to lower boards; else a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with a touch of rubbing on the rear panel. Promotional author photo laid in, with incorrect publication date. Basis for a film, WUSA (the call letters of the right-wing radio station that figures prominently in the book), starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Anthony Perkins.
244. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Bodley Head (1968). A very uncommon edition, with a single printing estimated to have been 1000 copies. This edition reprints a glowing blurb by Wallace Stegner, Stone's teacher at the Stanford Writing Workshop, with a humorous misprint: instead of printing that "Stone writes like ... someone so high on pot that he is scraping his shoes on the stars," this edition has Stegner saying that Stone was "scraping his shoes on the stairs" -- a very different image, to be sure. Signed by the author. A fine copy in a slightly spine-tanned dust jacket, else fine. A very nice copy, and uncommon signed.
245. STONE, Robert. Dog Soldiers. London: Secker & Warburg (1975). The first British edition of his second novel, winner of the National Book Award and one of the best novels to link the impact of the Vietnam war on American society in the Sixties to the dark side of that era -- the official corruption and the underside of the drug experiences of a generation. An unaccountably scarce edition. Reportedly 2500 copies were printed but it turns up very seldom, far less often than the British A Hall of Mirrors, which is reported to have had a first printing of only 1000 copies. Printed in the U.S. and with a similar binding to the U.S. edition, but with a completely different dust jacket design. This copy is inscribed by the author to his bibliographer, Ken Lopez, "with best wishes." Faint marks on foredges and endpages; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with some of the usual fading to the spine lettering. We've carried this edition only a handful of times over the years. Without question, the scarcest of Stone's trade editions.
246. STONE, Robert. Children of Light. London: Deutsch (1986). The uncorrected proof copy of the true first edition of his fourth novel, the British edition having preceded the American edition by one week. A dark Hollywood novel, with themes from Kate Chopin's The Awakening and King Lear, and one of the best, and most hard-hitting, Hollywood novels since Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. A scarce proof, especially signed.
247. (STONE, Robert). "Starving Birds" in Fiction, Vol. 2, No. 1. NY: Fiction (1973). An excerpt from a novel-in-progress, which turned out to be Dog Soldiers. A bibliographically significant piece, in that this is the only place where Dog Soldiers is identified by the title Skydiver Devoured by Starving Birds. Signed by Stone. Also includes John Lennon, Donald Barthelme, Jerome Charyn, and others. Tall newsprint journal. Fine.
248. TARTT, Donna. Tam-O'-Shanter. NY: Lenox Hill Bookstore, 2004. The first separate appearance of this story that first appeared in The New Yorker. According to the colophon, 250 copies were printed and signed, 200 of which were offered for sale. This copy is unsigned, as have been most copies we have seen or heard of being for sale. Fine in stapled wrappers.
249. THEROUX, Paul. Correspondence Archive. 1995-2005. Correspondence from Theroux to author Lawrence Millman. Eighteen autograph postcards signed; three autograph notes signed (these are written on postcards but not mailed as such); three printed emails. Of the postcards, all but two are printed "Paul Theroux" postcards, which indicate his address (Massachusetts or Hawaii) with a check mark. A good set of correspondence: Theroux provided the introduction for a reissue of Millman's book, Last Places. The lot is fine. For all:
250. THOMPSON, Hunter S. The Proud Highway. NY: Villard (1997). An advance copy, the first issue proof, of Volume One of "The Fear and Loathing Letters," printing Thompson letters from 1955-1967. 8-1/2" x 11" sheets, tapebound in cardstock covers. Slight corner bumps; else fine. There was an advance reading copy of this title in pictorial wrappers, which is common; an uncorrected proof copy in perfectbound white wrappers, which is uncommon; and this issue, preceding both, which is scarce.
251. THOMPSON, Hunter S., STEADMAN, Ralph and VONNEGUT, Kurt. The Curse of Lono Memorial Package. NY: Bantam (1983). The "printer's proof copy" of The Curse of Lono, a book with text by Thompson and illustrations by Steadman, in which the pair are sent to cover the Honolulu marathon for Running magazine. Signed by Thompson and Steadman. Additionally signed by Kurt Vonnegut in 2005; Vonnegut has handwritten his 1983 review on the back inside cover: "Hunter Thompson is the most creative crazy and vulnerable of the New Journalists. His ideas are brilliant and honorable and valuable, the literary equivalent of Cubism. All Rules Are Broken." The proof is in the form of rivet-bound, photocopied 8 1/2" x 11" sheets. Fine. Together with a copy of the first edition signed by Ralph Steadman, which is fine in wrappers, with review material and author photo. Also together with a proof of the jacket of the book and five interior proof pages. Boxed together with ephemera from Thompson's memorial services: an invitation to the memorial in Aspen, CO on March 5, 2005; an invitation to Thompson's August 20, 2005 Owl Farm/Woody Creek memorial blast-off; a peacock feather from Owl Farm; a Gonzo fist sticker; two cocktail napkins printed "Never call 911, this means you. HST." Finally together with a 4 7/8" x 7 1/2" artist proof silkscreen of Thompson by Steadman, signed by Steadman and a 5" x 7" printed proof sheet with a quote by Vonnegut ("Hunter is crazy as a bedbug") signed by Vonnegut. All items ingeniously housed in an intricate Curse of Lono-themed custom clamshell box. A touching tribute and perhaps the ultimate Thompson collectible.
252. (THOMPSON, Hunter). STEADMAN, Ralph and VONNEGUT, Kurt. The Joke's Over. Memories of Hunter S. Thompson. London: Heinemann and Orlando: Harcourt (2006). Two volumes: the first British edition and the first American edition of this memoir of the nearly four-decade Thompson/Steadman collaboration. Each volume is signed by Steadman and dated 2006 and signed by Vonnegut with a self-caricature. Vonnegut provides the foreword. Fine copies in fine dust jackets, housed together in a custom clamshell case made by the artist Joe Petro, who makes several appearances in the text.
253. TOOLE, F.X. Rope Burns. (NY): Ecco Press (2000). The author's acclaimed first book of fiction, published pseudonymously when he was 70 years old. Contains the story "Million $$$ Baby," basis for the award-winning Clint Eastwood film. Signed by the author. F.X. Toole was a pseudonym for Jerry Boyd, a longtime boxing trainer, and this book has been called by some the best boxing fiction ever published. Boyd didn't sign many copies and died before the film was made and the book became famous. Most of the copies that he signed were second printings: signed firsts are extremely uncommon. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
254. -. Same title. The first British edition, and reportedly the true first. London: Secker & Warburg (2000). Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers; there was no hardcover edition in the U.K. Again, quite scarce signed.
255. TRAVERS, P.L. Friend Monkey. NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1971). The second printing of this book by the author of Mary Poppins. Inscribed by Travers in the year of publication: "For ___ ___, thanking her for her interest in my books." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some rubbing to the spine ends and light creases to the lower rear panel and rear flap fold.
256. TREVOR, William. Lovers of Their Time and Other Stories. London: Bodley Head (1978). The uncorrected proof copy. This copy was sent out for review to John Fowles: Fowles' blindstamp appears on the title page and a note to Fowles from the Literary Editor of The Irish Press is laid in. The copy has been read (presumably by Fowles): two spots to front cover; spine slanted with some sunning; pages acidifying. About very good in wrappers.
257. UPDIKE, John. Americana and Other Poems. (London): Penguin Books (2001). The first British edition, which was only issued in wrappers. Signed by the author. Hint of a corner crease; else fine. Scarce signed.
258. UPDIKE, John. My Father's Tears and Other Stories. NY: Knopf, 2009. The uncorrected proof copy of this posthumous collection. Tiny bump to lower spine; Random House email address written on front cover; else fine in wrappers.
259. (UPDIKE, John). The Speaker's Millennium Lecture 2007. (Harrisburg): (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), 2007. Program for Updike's presentation "Reflections on John Buchanan." Buchanan is to date the only U.S. President from Pennsylvania, which was also Updike's home state. Presented at the Hall of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Includes a biographical page about Updike, as well as his poem "Returning Native." Also prints the evening's agenda; the opening remarks of Speaker of the House Dennis O'Brien; and the closing remarks of Randall Miller, the Chair of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. Stapled in cardstock wrappers with the gilt-embossed seal of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania on the front cover and tied with a gold tassel. Shallow crease to the rear cover near the spine; still fine. Scarce ephemeral piece.