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Catalog 154, W-Z

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237. WATTS, Alan W. The Way of Zen. (NY): Pantheon (1957). Written in the Fifties and popularized in the Sixties: Alan Watts's books became standards of the counterculture and provided many with their first introduction to Oriental and mystical religions -- including their relationship to the psychedelic experience. This copy is inscribed by the author to Mai-Mai Sze, a Chinese artist and author whose landmark book on Chinese art, The Tao of Painting, was published by the Bollingen Foundation a year earlier, in 1956. An excellent association copy. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with mild sunning to the spine and edges.

238. WELCH, Lew and ROBERTS, Chris. Supermarket. (n.p.): (n.p.), 1965. Sheet music, 9 1/4" x 13", reproducing the authors' hand-lettered lyrics and music. One small edge tear; lower half has blended dampstaining, not affecting legibility; very good. Published in Ring of Bone. An exceedingly scarce and fragile "A" item -- in effect a Welch broadside poem that has been set to music.

239. WERFEL, Franz. Hearken Unto the Voice. NY: Viking, 1938. The first American edition of this novel by the Austrian author of The Song of Bernadette, among others. Warmly inscribed by the author: "To Edith A. Snow dedicated from my heart by Franz Werfel." Snow was a translator of Werfel's poetry. Minor foredge foxing and offsetting to hinges; very good in a very good dust jacket with mild edge wear. Books signed by Werfel, one of the major modernist European authors of the first half of the last century, are scarce.

240. WEST, Nathanael. The Day of the Locust. NY: Random House (1939). The author's classic novel of Hollywood, a scathing satire based on his own experiences as a screenwriter and for which he received something approaching literary immortality. His last novel published in his lifetime: West was killed with his wife in a car accident in 1940, apparently after becoming distraught upon hearing of F. Scott Fitzgerald's death, and failing to notice a stop sign. The Day of the Locust remains the crowning achievement of his career, and a novel with influence far beyond the author's overall modest output during his short career. A bit of darkening to spine cloth and endpages, likely from the binder's glue; a near fine copy in a near fine, lightly rubbed dust jacket. One of the nicest copies we've ever seen of this book, which is notorious for its spine fading and the bright red of the jacket being badly rubbed.

241. WHARTON, Edith and PARRISH, Maxfield. Italian Villas and Their Gardens with Autograph Letters Signed. NY: Century, 1904. The first and only edition of this nonfiction volume, heavily illustrated with photographs, drawings, and 26 full-color plates by Maxfield Parrish. This copy has a three-page autograph letter signed from Edith Wharton tipped in, written to Mrs. Sage, who, along with her husband, were friends of Maxfield Parrish and collectors of his paintings. Wharton's letter is a gracious response: apparently Mrs. Sage had indicated that Wharton's book had been a great help to her and that she was sending Wharton a Piranesi etching of Villa d'Este as a thank you. Also tipped-in is a two-page autograph letter signed from Parrish, written in his elegant, calligraphic hand, and referring to four of his paintings that the Sages own and that Scribner's wanted permission to reproduce. The book has been extra-illustrated, presumably by Mrs. Sage, with images of Italian villas, including a large image of Villa d'Este on the front free endpaper. The owner's small, tasteful bookplate adorns the front pastedown. A unique copy of this beautiful book, with a history of personal connections to the author and illustrator.

242. WILBUR, Richard. Things of This World. NY: Harcourt Brace (1956). Poetry, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Signed by William S. Burford, with a few of his notes in the text. A notable copy: Burford, Amherst College class of 1949, was a good friend of James Merrill, Amherst '47, and of Wilbur, Amherst '42, and is himself an award-winning poet. Small stain front flyleaf; near fine in a very good dust jacket with some rubbing, sunning and wear.

243. WOLFF, Tobias. In the Garden of North American Martyrs. NY: Ecco (1981). The scarce first issue of the author's first collection of short fiction, with the dust jacket with a "$14.95" price. The price was lowered to $10.95 prior to publication and the later jacket was printed with the lower price. Signed by the author. Faint foxing to cloth; near fine in a near fine, lightly spine-tanned dust jacket with a closed edge tear at the upper front spine fold.

244. WOLFF, Tobias. The Barracks Thief. NY: Ecco Press (1984). His third book, a novella, about three paratroopers waiting to be shipped to Vietnam. Winner of the PEN Faulkner Award. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with the slightest fading to the spine lettering.

245. (Women's Correspondence). Starter Collection. Nine first editions, each title a collection of the correspondence between two women with a close personal friendship; in most cases, at least one of women is famous, most frequently as a writer. As follows, in order of publication:

  • Touchstones: Letters Between Two Woman, 1953-1964 [the letters of Patricia Frazer Lamb and Kathryn Joyce Hohlwein]. NY: Harper & Row (1983). Edited by Lamb. Fine in a fine, very slightly spine-faded dust jacket.
  • Darlinghissima: Letters to a Friend [the letters of Janet Flanner and Natalia Danesi Murray]. NY: Random House (1985). Edited by Murray. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a corner crease on the front flap.
  • Dorothy Thompson & Rose Wilder Lane: Forty Years of Friendship, Letters 1921-1960. Columbia: University of Missouri Press (1991). Edited by William Holtz. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
  • Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964. Boston: Beacon Press (1994). Edited and signed by Martha Freeman (daughter of Dorothy): "June 24, 1995/ I'm so pleased to be able to share all of the stories these letters tell with you." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
  • Between Friends: The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy, 1949-1975. NY: Harcourt Brace (1995). Edited and with an introduction by Carol Brightman. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
  • A History of Having a Great Many Times Not Continued To Be Friends: The Correspondence Between Mabel Dodge & Gertrude Stein, 1911-1934. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press (1996). Edited by Patricia R. Everett. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
  • Empty Without You: The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok. NY: The Free Press (1998). Edited by Roger Streitmatter. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
  • I'll Stand By You: The Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner & Valentine Ackland. (London): Pimlico (1998). Edited by Susanna Pinney. Fine in wrappers.
  • Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Separated (For a Year) By an Ocean [the letters of Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery]. NY: Vintage (1999). Edited by Liftin and Montgomery. Fine in wrappers.

The letters in these nine books span the years 1911-1975. They are first and foremost a study in women's friendships, often from inception to one women's death. They are also a study in the women's then off-the-record responses to the changes in their lives and, in aggregate, to their roles over the course of the century. Lastly, without intending it, they are a study of the vanishing art of letter writing. For the collection:

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