Catalog 155, M
102. MACDONALD, Ross. The Instant Enemy. NY: Knopf, 1968. An uncorrected proof copy of this Lew Archer novel in the form of comb-bound galleys. A proof with exceptional provenance: it belonged to Anthony Boucher (with "Boucher" in orange pencil on the front cover), one of the seminal figures in the mystery field. Boucher was a co-founder of the Mystery Writers of America and winner of one of the first Edgar Awards that group gave out, for his reviews of mystery fiction. The annual mystery convention, Bouchercon as it is popularly known, is named for him. Some chipping to the top of the plastic binding, and minor creasing and fading to covers; very good. An extremely uncommon proof, and a particularly notable copy of it.
103. MACKENZIE, Compton. Greek Memories. London: Cassell, [1932]. The uncorrected proof copy of this memoir of the author's time in Greece during World War I, during which time he worked for the British intelligence service MI6, eventually becoming the head of the Aegean Intelligence Service. The memoir was suppressed upon publication as a violation of the Official Secrets Act, and Mackenzie was fined. In the book he revealed for the first time the existence of the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) and was highly critical of particular individuals. As a result, he was later placed on MI5's watch list, and his activities were monitored by the British domestic intelligence service. The book was republished in 1939 without fanfare. Spine slant; initials to rear cover; staining and bookstore (?) label to front cover; good in wrappers. Few copies of the 1932 edition survived; proof copies are especially uncommon.
104. MAILER, Norman. The Time of Our Time. NY: Random House (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of this omnibus collection, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Naked and the Dead. "Selections by Mailer of his best work, ingeniously arranged as a literary retrospective." Signed by Mailer and with a foreword by him. Massive, over 1200 pages. Publication date written on spine; slight rubbing to the front spine fold; still fine in wrappers. Uncommon signed.
105. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Raditzer. London: Heinemann (1962). The uncorrected proof copy of the first British edition of his third novel. Signed by the author. Matthiessen is one of the very few authors who has won the National Book Award for both fiction and nonfiction. Of his early novels, Matthiessen has said that he is not happy with them, and would just as soon they not be reprinted or read, although he hasn't gone so far as to prevent his publisher from bringing them back into print. His novel after this one, At Play in the Fields of the Lord, a National Book Award nominee, represented a significant jump from this book in terms of literary accomplishment. The book prior to this, Wildlife in America, started him on the path toward becoming one of our most highly regarded writers of natural history. This short novel, a tale of the sea that is reminiscent of Conrad, dates from an early period in Matthiessen's career and is uncommon even in the U.S. trade edition. This is the only copy of the British proof we have handled. Spine-sunned, else fine in wrappers.
106. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. At Play in the Fields of the Lord. NY: Random House (1965). The advance reading copy of his fourth novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award and filmed nearly thirty years later. A tale of various Americans with widely divergent aims whose actions all have unintended effects on a tribe of Stone Age Amazonian Indians. This was the first fictional treatment of one of the themes that has dominated Matthiessen's writings, both fiction and nonfiction, over the last 50 years -- the impact of Europeans on the environment and the indigenous cultures living in relative harmony with it, from a perspective that combines the political, cultural and spiritual. Page edge foxing, a lower edge stain and some binding-based spine creasing; very good in wrappers.
107. MAXWELL, William. Ancestors. NY: Knopf, 1971. The uncorrected proof copy of his first book of nonfiction, a personal essay and reminiscence. Maxwell is best known for his highly acclaimed fiction, both novels and short stories, and also for being the fiction editor of The New Yorker for nearly 40 years. A fragile, padbound proof in tall wrappers. A few marginal pencil marks. Missing the rear cover, thus only good.
108. McCARTHY, Cormac. All the Pretty Horses. NY: Knopf, 1992. The uncorrected proof copies, all three states, of the first volume of the Border Trilogy, a landmark novel that won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and propelled its author to "instant" literary celebrity -- after nearly three decades of writing well-received literary novels in relative obscurity. The first state proof prints "Volume One of A Border Trilogy" on the front cover. In the second state, the printed subtitle is changed by hand to "Volume One of The Border Trilogy" and a "4" is added to the publication date of May 1992. The third state makes these two changes in print and also changes the text correspondingly on the summary page. All three volumes fine in wrappers.
109. McCARTHY, Cormac. The Road. NY: Knopf, 2006. The uncorrected proof copy of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, basis for the 2009 film. Advance copies of this book have turned out to be extremely scarce; it appears that far fewer of them were distributed than one would expect for a writer of McCarthy's stature. Reading crease to spine; small spots to foredge; near fine in wrappers.
110. McELROY, Joseph. A Smuggler's Bible. NY: Harcourt Brace World (1966). The uncorrected proof copy of his uncommon first book. According to the author, about 200 copies of this advance copy were produced (although we have seen enough copies that we would have suspected the number was higher). Signed by the author. Spine-darkened; cover creased; very good in wrappers. Uncommon signed.
111. McELROY, Joseph. Hind's Kidnap. NY: Harper & Row (1969). The uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author in 1974. An extremely scarce proof; we have never seen another copy of it and McElroy's inscription suggests that he may not have ever seen it either: "To ___ ___/ On first touching/ this green book/ Joe McElroy/ April 26, 1974." Fine in wrappers.
112. McELROY, Joseph. Ancient History: A Paraphase. NY: Knopf, 1971. The uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author. Near fine in tall, padbound wrappers. A fragile format; it is unlikely that more than a handful can have survived.
113. McELROY, Joseph. Lookout Cartridge. NY: Knopf, 1974. The uncorrected proof copy. Inscribed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
114. McNICKLE, D'Arcy. Indian Man. A Life of Oliver LaFarge. Bloomington: Indiana University (1971). The uncorrected proof copy of this biography of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Laughing Boy, which was the first modern novel to popularize a sympathetic view of southwestern Indian tribes and customs. McNickle, a writer of Flathead ancestry and author of one of the early, important novels by a Native American writer, The Surrounded, was particularly well-positioned to recognize and appreciate LaFarge's accomplishment. Glue mark front cover (presumably where the publisher's label has come off), otherwise near fine in tall, clasp-bound wrappers with the publisher's (dreaded) annotation of "mid-list" on the front cover. A scarce state of an important biography.
115. McPHEE, John. The John McPhee Reader. NY: FSG (1976). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection. Includes sections from McPhee's first dozen books, along with an introduction by William Howarth and a checklist of McPhee's writings, which includes a number of unattributed "Talk of the Town" pieces from The New Yorker. Inscribed by McPhee. Some edge sunning, with a crease to the crown; near fine in wrappers. The book itself is surprisingly uncommon, predating as it does McPhee's breakthrough book, Coming Into the Country, which was published in 1977. The proof is considerably scarcer, as one might expect, and is especially uncommon signed.
116. McPHERSON, James Alan. Hue and Cry. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown (1969). The uncorrected proof copy of this African-American author's first book, a collection of stories that defied the mold of late 1960s black writing by refusing to yield to the easy temptation to substitute political diatribe for literary accomplishment and postured anger for real, human feelings. McPherson's second collection, Elbow Room, won the Pulitzer Prize and together these two volumes stand as high spots of African-American writing of the postwar era. Label residue to lower wrappers; else a fine copy. An extremely scarce proof: the only copy we've ever seen.
117. McPHERSON, James Alan. Elbow Room. Boston: Little Brown (1977). The uncorrected proof copy of his second book, a collection of stories that won the Pulitzer Prize. Publication date written on front cover; label removal mark at bottom edges; still fine in wrappers. A scarce proof: books of short stories have generally been considered less saleable by publishers than novels are, with a much lower "upside," and consequently proofs of these volumes have usually not received the kind of distribution that other fiction might get. We have seen copies of this proof only very, very occasionally.
118. (McPHERSON, James Alan and WILLIAMS, Miller, eds.). Railroad. NY: Random House (1976). The uncorrected proof copy of this compendium of pieces on railroads, a number of them written by McPherson, who had originally contracted to write a whole book on the subject, a project which evolved into this one, not altogether to the author's liking, according to his later comments. A small quarto, heavily illustrated, somewhat uncommon now even in the trade edition and scarce in proof form. Fine in wrappers. Published the year before Elbow Room.
119. MEYER, Stephenie. Twilight. NY: Little Brown (2005). The advance reading copy of this pop culture phenomenon, the first in a series of vampire novels that has ushered in the vampire theme as a full-fledged genre unto itself, in literature, film and television. With precursors like Anne Rice's novels and the Buffy movie and television series, Meyer nonetheless brought vampire stories to a new level of public acceptance and relevance. Minuscule shelf wear; still fine in wrappers.
120. MICHAELS, Anne. Fugitive Pieces. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (1996). An advance copy, in the form of ringbound galleys, typeset but reproducing several holograph corrections. Her third book, first novel, which was first published in Canada, and only in wrappers. Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian Prize for Fiction, the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Trillium Prize. Signed by the author. 9" x 11". Fine.
121. MICHENER, James. Tales of the South Pacific. NY: Macmillan, 1947. Folded and gathered sheets of his first book, which won the Pulitzer Prize. With "Publication Date Jan 28 1947" rubber-stamped on the title page. Mild acidification to sheets and a bit of dampening to first blank; a very near fine set, laid into a fair dust jacket, edge-chipped where the edges have overhung the pages, and with wear, rubbing, and chipping to the spine. Extremely scarce: Michener's first book is uncommon even in the first trade printing; we have never seen another set of these sheets or any other prepublication copy. In a custom clamshell case.
122. MOJTABAI, A.G. Mundome. NY: Simon & Schuster (1974). The uncorrected proof copy of her first book, a novel. Warmly inscribed by the author on the front cover: "_____ -/ Wise little book to fall/ into such good hands/ From/ Grace." Near fine in tall, padbound wrappers; a scarce and fragile format.
123. MOMADAY, N. Scott. In the Presence of the Sun. NY: St. Martin's, 1992. The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of stories and poems from 1961 to 1991. An earlier limited edition by Rydal Press printed a portion of this collection. Signed by the author. Publicist's card stapled inside the front cover; fine in wrappers.
124. MORRIS, Wright. About Fiction. NY: Harper & Row (1975). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of essays on writing and reading by the National Book Award-winning author. Text block separating due to drying spine adhesive; thus very good in tapebound wrappers. An unusual format: a small nearly square octavo which suggests that very few copies were done. We have never had another proof copy of this title. Together with a review copy, which is fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
125. MURAKAMI, Haruki. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. NY: Knopf, 1997. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of the magnum opus by this highly praised Japanese novelist, whose influences include Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan. Originally published in Japan as three separate but related books. Near fine in wrappers with the cover art stapled inside the front cover.