Catalog 154, M
101. MALONE, Michael. Dingley Falls. NY: Harcourt Brace (1980). His highly praised third novel. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a small corner chip at the lower front spine fold. Malone's novels have received substantial critical acclaim over the years, but his most commercially successful novel grew out of his career as an Emmy Award-winning television writer for One Life to Live: one of his characters wrote a novel that, when Malone published it (naming both himself and the fictional character as authors), went immediately to the bestseller list.
102. MALONE, Michael. Handling Sin. Boston: Little Brown (1986). Small board edge ding, else fine in a near fine, mildly spine-sunned and lightly edgeworn dust jacket.
103. MALONE, Michael. Time's Witness. Boston: Little Brown (1989). Signed by the author. Reading creases to spine; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
104. MARTEL, Yann. Life of Pi. (Toronto): Knopf Canada (2001). The true first edition of his surprise Booker Prize winning novel, published in Canada in a printing reported to be 5000 copies. Pi is a 16 year-old Indian boy, stranded on a raft with a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
105. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. The Snow Leopard. NY: Viking (1978). His National Book Award-winning volume, recounting a trip to the Himalayas with naturalist George Schaller in the hopes both of encountering a snow leopard in the wild and of coming to terms with his wife's recent death from cancer. Matthiessen combines natural history, personal reflection and an exploration of the Buddhist religion native to the area. His study, and practice, of Buddhism later resulted in his becoming an ordained Zen priest. This copy is inscribed by the author to another National Book Award-winning author in February, 1979. Cloth mottled, foxing to edges of text block; a very good copy in a very good, mildly spine-faded dust jacket with a closed gouge to the lower front panel. An excellent association copy.
106. McCARTHY, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. NY: Knopf, 2005. The advance reading copy of this novel of drugs and violence set in the contemporary Southwest, the film adaptation of which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Spine slant, thus near fine in wrappers; unread.
107. McCARTHY, Cormac. The Sunset Limited. (London): Picador (2010). The uncorrected proof copy of the first British edition of his "novel in dramatic form" that was first published in the U.S. in softcover only by Vintage in 2006 and released the following year by Dramatist's Play Service. An HBO film version is due to be released next year, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommie Lee Jones, and directed by the latter. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon in any advance state, or in any first printing.
108. (McCARTHY, Cormac). PENHALL, Joe. The Road. Beverly Hills: Nick Wechsler Productions/Chockstone Pictures, 2008. Penhall's screenplay based on McCarthy's book. This is "Yellow Draft Version 1," dated February 26, 2008. 112 pages. Bradbound, with "The Road - Yellow #1" written on the spine. Multiple instances of highlighting in text, mostly references to eating people, carrying the fire, or being good guys or bad guys; otherwise fine. Several, although not all, of the highlighted sections were changed by the time the film was completed, so this represents an earlier version of the script than that which appeared in the movies and in the book below.
109. -. Same title. (n.p.): 2929 Productions/Dimension Films, 2009. Paperback original, a perfectbound typescript, produced solely for Academy Award consideration ("For your consideration 2009" printed on the front cover). Fine.
110. McCLURE, Michael. The Adept. NY: Delacorte (1971). Inscribed by the author to another writer, "For ___ ___, naturalist & prose poet, with admiration, Michael." Minor foxing to page edges and endpages; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light wear to the edges and folds. A good literary association.
111. McCLURE, Michael. Solstice Blossom. (n.p.): Arif Press, 1973. Of a total edition of 130 copies, this is an out-of-series copy labeled as an "Artist's Copy" and is signed by McClure and inscribed by Wesley Tanner, who has provided an original water color as frontispiece. One small edge tear; else fine in saddle-stitched wrappers. An attractive and uncommon edition, with a photographic cover by Constance Baxter.
112. McEWAN, Ian. First Love, Last Rites. London: Cape (1975). His first book, a collection of stories. Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award. McEwan, who was something of a literary enfant terrible when these stories were first published, has become one of the most highly regarded British authors -- winner of the Booker Prize for Amsterdam and named by The Times as one of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945." Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
113. McEWAN, Ian. Other Minds. (London): Bridgewater Press (2001). An excerpt from McEwan's highly praised novel Atonement, issued before that novel was published. Of a total edition of 138 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies signed by the author. Bound in quarter cloth and marbled boards. Fine.
114. -. Same title. One of 12 Roman-numeraled copies signed by the author. Bound in quarter Library Calf. Fine.
115. MELVILLE, Herman. Mardi: and a Voyage Thither. Boston: (Page)(1923). First thus, a reissue of his 1849 novel. This edition was published right at the point that Melville's literary reputation was being resurrected. When he died in 1891, he and his work were almost completely forgotten. A biography was published in 1921 which renewed interest in him, and his unfinished novel, Billy Budd, was published in 1924 which, together with the critical reassessment, established him in the American literary pantheon. This copy has a list of available books by Melville tipped to the verso of the half-title, over a printed list of what appears to be the same titles. Foxing to boards and top edge; a very good copy in a very good, unevenly sunned dust jacket with an edge tear at the upper front spine fold. An attractive copy; uncommon in dust jacket.
116. MILLER, Henry. What Are You Going To Do About Alf? (Paris): (Lecram Servant)[1935]. A small, early volume by Miller, self-published with money he earned from Tropic of Cancer. Shifreen & Jackson A10a. "By Henry Miller" has been penned on the first blank, according to the bibliographers by the author himself. Shifreen & Jackson's comment on the first and second editions: "Miller's name is signed in The First Edition but printed in [the] Second." There is no printed author name in this volume. Slight surface soiling; very near fine in stapled wrappers. Approximately 3 3/4" x 5". Because of its size and fragility, one of the scarcest Miller "A" items. The last copy to appear at auction was in 1996.
117. MILLER, Henry. Painting. 1946. Watercolor of vaguely female serpentine figures around a chaotic center, veering toward the abstract as Miller frequently did, but with plenty of recognizable visual components -- a house, a moon, a star, etc. A fairly early painting by Miller: he had been painting since at least the 1930s and in 1943 earned $1400 from the sale of his paintings -- a not-insignificant sum. He had a large number of paintings in a show, presumably for sale, in London the following year. And yet, these days, most of the Miller artwork that appears on the market dates from the 1960s or 1970s, and paintings from the 1940s are uncommon. Signed "Henry Miller - 4/46." 10 1/2" x 11 1/4", matted and framed to 22" x 22 1/2". Fine.
118. MILLER, Henry. To Paint is to Love Again. Alhambra: Cambria Books (1960). An essay on painting by Miller, illustrated with color reproductions of fourteen of his artworks. Issued in a trade hardcover, a wrappered issue, and a limited edition of 50 copies, this is an out-of-series copy of the limited edition and is signed by Miller. Scarce. Trace foxing to page and board edges, one light corner tap; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
119. MILLER, Sue. The Lake Shore Limited. NY: Knopf, 2010. The advance reading copy of her most recent novel. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
120. MISTRY, Rohinton. The Scream. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (2008). The first trade edition of this short story, with illustrations by Canadian artist Tony Urquhart. Fine without dust jacket, as issued.
121. MOORE, Christopher. Coyote Blue. NY: Simon & Schuster (1994). The bestselling author's second book, a comic fantasy in which Coyote, the trickster figure of American Indian religions, is a central character -- a sort of Carlos-Castaneda-meets-Kurt-Vonnegut story. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
122. MORRIS, Wright. Author's Working Copy of Collected Stories, 1948-1986. NY: Harper & Row (1986). Morris' own "working copy," with his ownership signature and notes. Pages detached; pages 249 and forward absent: Morris apparently disassembled the book in order to re-order the stories and create a new selection, titled, or subtitled, by hand, "Origins and Obsessions." His marks to the contents page and with two index cards of notes (written on both sides) laid in. The existent parts, including jacket, are in fine shape. A unique copy, from the author's own library, one Morris likely used to prepare for the 1988 Godine reprint edition of this title.
123. MORRISON, Toni. "The Place of the Idea; the Idea of Place." Princeton: (n.p.), 1996. Morrison's speech, delivered at the 250th anniversary convocation at Princeton on Charter Day, 1996, in her role as the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of the Humanities. Morrison holds forth on the private experience of Princeton (the place of the idea) and its public legacy (the idea of the place). Photocopied computer printout; 12 pages; double-spaced, with notations and corrections in two inks. Stapled in upper corner; binder clasp shadow top edge; near fine. Comparison with Princeton's version of the speech as given reveals subtle changes in phrasing and pacing and offers a glimpse of how what Morrison intended to say differed from what she was moved to say in the moment.
124. (MORRISON, Toni). BERGMAN, Robert. A Kind of Rapture. NY: Pantheon, 1998. "The Fisherwoman" by Morrison, about our relationship to strangers, serves as the introduction to this book of color photographs by Bergman, portraits of people met on the street. Signed by Morrison. An attractive volume, with stunning photographs reportedly taken with simple, amateur equipment. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
125. MORTENSON, Greg and RELIN, David Oliver. Three Cups of Tea. (NY): (Viking)(2006). The first edition of this account of a young Westerner who, in response to kindnesses bestowed on him when he was lost in Pakistan after an unsuccessful ascent of K2, vowed to return to that village and build a school -- a project that led to his founding the Central Asia Institute and to an ongoing effort that has resulted to date in the building of more than 140 schools (mostly for girls) in impoverished regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The hardcover edition has a subtitle that the author did not want and that was changed, at his insistence, on later editions. The book became a bestseller in paperback and has remained on The New York Times Book Review bestseller list for four years at this point. It has also been adapted to a version for young adults and one for children. A remarkable, moving account of one man's commitment to changing the world for the better, and a remarkable story of a book that began in obscurity and has since become a cultural touchstone -- required reading for U.S. (and other) military leaders, as well as inspiring reading for millions of others, over four million copies having been sold, in more than 40 countries. Scarce in the first printing. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
126. MOSLEY, Nicholas. Imago Bird. (Elmwood Park): Dalkey Archive (1989). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition, which was slightly revised from the British edition. The introduction's copyright notice is inked through on the copyright page (and in fact there is no introduction). Fine in wrappers.
127. MOSLEY, Nicholas. Catastrophe Practice. (Elmwood Park): Dalkey Archive (1989). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of these three plays "not for acting" and a short novel. Dalkey Archive, which has prided itself on republishing important, challenging and under-recognized fiction, has published approximately twenty books by Mosley, the most by any author. Fine in wrappers.