Catalog 154, U-V
221. UPDIKE, John. Getting the Words Out. Northridge: Lord John, 1988. One of 250 numbered copies, of a total edition was 300. Signed by the author. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
222. UPDIKE, John. Upon Becoming a Senior Citizen. (n.p.): Tamarack Press, 1997. A broadside of a poem that first appeared in the New Yorker. Of a total edition of 126 copies, this is designated in print as a "Sample Copy." 22" x 15". According to the DeBellis/Broomfield bibliography, copies of this "sample" issue were distributed to writers to announce Tamarack's start of business. This copy was purchased from the library of author Robert Stone, who did not remember the circumstances of his acquiring it -- suggesting that it had, in fact, been sent unsolicited to him, as the bibliographers suggest. Fine.
223. (UPDIKE, John). TALLENT, Elizabeth. Married Men and Magic Tricks: John Updike's Erotic Heroes. (Berkeley): Creative Arts Book Co. (1982). A study of sexuality in the novels and stories of John Updike, which precedes Tallent's own novel and story collections. There was both a hardcover and a simultaneous softcover issue of this book; this is the uncommon hardcover issue. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
224. (UPDIKE, John). THURBER, James and WHITE, E.B. Is Sex Necessary? (NY): Perennial (2004). First thus, the 75th anniversary edition of Thurber and White's classic, here issued with an introduction by Updike. This edition only published in wrappers. The first printing was reportedly 10,000 copies and it has gone into multiple printings since then. Fine.
225. VELIKOVSKY, Immanuel. Correspondence. 1951, 1952, 1970. One typed letter signed, one autograph letter signed, and one autograph postcard signed by the controversial author of Worlds in Collision, Earth in Upheaval, and others. Velikovsky's books suggested that Earth's history was defined more by sudden catastrophes than by slow evolution. They became quite popular during the 1960s, when conventional wisdom of all sorts was being called into question. Each letter is written to a Mr. Tereshchenko: the first refutes two notions in a book by "Beaumont;" the second letter assures the recipient that the second volume of Ages [in Chaos] will be published and is being held up by Velikovsky himself; the third voices intent to send along a 1946 publication and explains that Ages in Chaos grew to a tetralogy. "Beaumont" is William Comyns Beaumont, a British author whom some claimed had advanced the notions put forward by Velikovsky a generation earlier. The first letter is secured across the midpoint fold with tape; very good. The second letter is on airmail paper; folded and opened as designed; else fine. The postcard is fine. Correspondence, or any autograph material, by Velikovsky is quite scarce, especially with significant content. For the three:
226. VIDAL, Gore. Romulus. NY: Grove Press (1966). The Broadway adaptation by Vidal, together with Friedrich Duerrenmatt's original "Romulus the Great." Signed by Vidal. Fine in a near fine, rubbed dust jacket with a creased edge tear at the upper front panel. Uncommon signed.
227. VIDAL, Gore. Weekend. (NY): Dramatists Play Service (1968). A little-known two-act play by Vidal. This copy includes a sheet laid in printing three dialogue changes to be made to the text, in response to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Covers heavily edge-sunned; thus very good in stapled wrappers. Note: a later issue of this title was issued perfectbound, in 1996. Scarce.
228. (Vietnam). BROOK, Peter, et al. US. London: Calder and Boyars (1968). A review copy of the hardcover issue of "Playscript 9:" text and photographs of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of US, an antiwar play about Vietnam. An interesting collage of material related to the production, including numerous photographs and artwork from Vietnam, in addition to the script of the play and photos of the production. Foxing to top edge; else fine in a rubbed, very good dust jacket with a couple faint stains on the spine. Review slip laid in. Very uncommon in hardcover, especially as an advance copy. A revealing period piece, an example of "engaged" theater, and involving a number of important figures in the theater in the 1960s.
229. (Vietnam). DENNIS, Charles. Stoned Cold Soldier. London: Bachman & Turner (1973). His first book, a satirical novel that was only published in England. Inscribed by the author on November 21, 1973, in part: "To my little brother, who also became grist for my mental machinery and helped to make a sizable contribution to an important part of this book." Signed, "Love, Charlie." Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a short tear at the upper rear spine fold. An excellent copy of an uncommon Vietnam novel by this Canadian author, playwright and actor.
230. (Vietnam). FLOYD, Bryan Alec. The Long War Dead. (NY): Avon (1976). An intended dedication copy of this book of poems written as epitaphs to the dead of an imaginary company. Simple, direct, and moving. Published as a paperback original by the most literary of the mass-market publishers, and later reprinted in a trade paperback by Permanent Press. Several of the poems were included in the anthology Unaccustomed Mercy, but the complete text is difficult to find in any edition and scarce in the true first. This copy is inscribed by Floyd, in part: "To Joe Monda [?], friend and example/ 15 Mar 76/ Bryan Alec Floyd/ P.S. Your name was supposed to appear (with Ken McClean's) on the following dedication and thank you page -- I wrote it long hand. What the printer couldn't read, he left out. It's coming back in the second edition." Floyd continues what amounts to a short autograph letter signed on the rear inside cover, which includes the information that this book is to be the first in a trilogy, and that he is "now finishing a collection of short stories." Rubbing and crease to spine; very good in wrappers. A significant copy of an important book.
231. (Vietnam). GROOM, Winston. Better Times than These. NY: Summit (1978). The first book by the author of Forrest Gump, this was one of the self-consciously "big" novels of the Vietnam War -- in the style of such World War II novels as The Naked and The Dead and From Here to Eternity. Signed by the author. Remainder stamp and one tiny corner bump; else fine in a very good dust jacket with several small edge chips and the usual rubbing caused by the lack of lamination.
232. (Vietnam). HALBERSTAM, David. Ho. NY: Random House (1971). A short biography of Ho Chi Minh by one of the preeminent reporters covering the Vietnam War. Halberstam won a Pulitzer Prize for his early book on Vietnam, The Making of a Quagmire, and his book The Best and the Brightest has become the definitive, standard history of the individuals who were the architects of both the war and American foreign policy in general in those years. Signed by the author. The front free endpaper has been excised in this copy, otherwise fine in a near fine dust jacket with a tiny nick to the front flap fold that has been needlessly tape-strengthened on the verso. Uncommon signed.
233. (Vietnam). MARLANTES, Karl. Matterhorn. Berkeley/NY: El León Literary Arts/Atlantic Monthly (2010). The first El León/Atlantic Monthly edition of his first novel, after an initial El León print run of 1200 that was bought up by Atlantic Monthly when they agreed to a 60,000 copy print run. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. One of the most highly praised novels of the Vietnam war, reportedly over 30 years in the making.
234. -. Same title, the earlier state advance reading copy (labeled "Unedited Bound Manuscript"), and with the title Some Desperate Glory. Signed by the author. Textual variations exist between this version and the later state advance reading copy entitled Matterhorn. Reportedly Grove printed 150 copies with this title and then opted to go back to the original title and destroyed almost all the copies. The author received two, and at least one other -- this one -- escaped destruction. Fine in wrappers.
235. -. Same title. The later state advance reading copy, (labeled "Uncorrected Proof"), with the Matterhorn title. Fine in pictorial wrappers.
236. (Vietnam). MAYER, Tom. The Weary Falcon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of short stories by a writer who went to Vietnam twice, in 1966-67 and again in 1969, both times as a reporter. Mayer had published a well-received collection of stories seven years earlier, and he had been a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford's writing program, which had also graduated such writers as Larry McMurtry, Robert Stone, Ken Kesey, Tillie Olsen, Wendell Berry, and others. Short, potent stories of the war, and one of the most accomplished, and least common, of the literary offerings on Vietnam. Spiralbound proof, printed from galley sheets. Covers unevenly sunned, with a few small stains to the rear cover; very good. The book itself is somewhat uncommon, having been published at the height of public antipathy toward the war. The proof is rare.