Catalog 156, L
81. LEAVITT, David. Arkansas. Boston/NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. An advance copy, in the form of 8 1/2" x 11" tapebound galley sheets, of this controversial collection of short novellas, by the author of the equally controversial While England Sleeps. One of the novellas in this collection had been slated for publication in Esquire but was pulled when it offended the magazine's editors and/or advertisers; it involved a young man trading term papers for gay sex. An earlier state than the uncorrected proof copy, probably intended primarily for in-house use rather than wide distribution. Fine.
82. LESSING, Doris. Typed Letter, Katter, and The Essential Cat. 1985. Lessing provides the introduction to the first edition (Swedish) of Thomas Wester's book of cat photographs, Katter [Stockholm: Trevi, 1985]. This copy is inscribed by Lessing: "Jane Los - Love from Doris Lessing." Tipped to the front flap is a typed note (unsigned) from Lessing: "My Swedish publisher was at a country fair, saw a handful of photographs of cats on a trestle, chased up the photographer, found an unemployed young man of 21, asked him to take some more photographs, and made a book - here is the book. I wrote a little foreword for it." The recipient has written the date received on the note, and it is folded once to lay in the book; near fine. Katter is fine in a near fine dust jacket. Together with the hardcover issue of the first English-language edition of the book, retitled The Essential Cat [London: Souvenir Press, 1987]. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. Also provided is a paperback English language reissue as a reading copy (now titled Cats) and the first edition of Lessing's own Particularly Cats and Rufus [NY: Knopf, 1991], which is a revision of her 1967 classic Particularly Cats (not included). Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket. For the furry lot:
83. LIPSYTE, Sam. Venus Drive. (NY): Open City Books (2000). The uncorrected proof copy of this paperback original, a collection of stories and the author's first book and the second book by this publisher, which was founded by Robert Bingham and which was an outgrowth of Open City magazine. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.