Catalog 159, P-S
167. PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1963). His first book, winner of the Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel of the year and the debut of one of the towering American writers of the postwar era. Small lower corner bump, else a fine copy with a rich top stain, in a near fine dust jacket with some light rubbing, but no fading to the gold on the lower spine as is so frequently the case. A very nice copy of a book that seldom shows up in such condition.
168. PYNCHON, Thomas. Against the Day. NY: Penguin Press, 2006. The advance reading copy, issued in limited quantities to sales reps and reviewers. Sales rep's name on title page, as is rumored to be the case on all copies, so that any pre-publication abuses could be traced. Some copies had misprinted pages; this copy appears not to. This copy was given by the sales rep to the reviewer Steven Moore, with a note signed by Moore to that effect laid in. Moore has made several small penciled check marks in the margins (and noted a few typos). A bulky book; slightly cocked; near fine. Together with Moore's handwritten notes for the review (4 pages); his typed review (2 pages); and a copy of The Washington Post Book World (November 19, 2006) in which his review, "The Marxist Brothers," appeared, with small changes from the typed version. A scarce advance copy. We have seen few copies offered for sale, and none since the book first came out; the publisher's attempts to limit its distribution seem to have largely succeeded. A notable copy: Steven Moore is one of the foremost scholars of postmodern American literature, author of two books on William Gaddis and, according to the Post, working on a history of the novel.
169. PYNCHON, Thomas. Inherent Vice. NY: Penguin Press, 2009. The advance reading copy, issued in very limited quantities to sales reps and reviewers. Sales rep's name on title page, again, as is rumored to be the case on all copies, so that pre-publication abuses could be traced. Bump to upper rear spine corner; thus near fine in wrappers. Extremely scarce; this is the first copy we have handled, even though we have had handled the also-very-scarce advance issue of Against the Day a few times. It's possible that this is the scarcer of the two, as it was treated almost more as a novelty -- Pynchon's take on the Hard-Boiled American Detective Novel -- rather than a full-fledged literary event, as his major novels tend to be seen.
170. REED, Ishmael. Typed Letter Signed. 1985. A letter written by Reed in his capacity as a fiction contest judge. Although not stated in the letter, the contest celebrated the 1985 Mark Twain Sesquicentennial and sought a story that captured the spirit of Twain. Reed gives his first, second and third choices, and the points to be assigned each vote, as well as a critique of his first two choices. Signed by Reed. Folded for mailing, else fine.
171. ROTH, Philip. Correspondence Archive. 1967-2009. 37 pieces of correspondence from Roth to another writer. Twenty typed letters signed; 15 typed notes signed; 2 autograph notes signed. Plus an April 27, 1959 invitation from a Houghton Mifflin representative to a party given in Roth's honor on the publication of Goodbye, Columbus, and a copy of a two-page unpublished letter to the editor Roth wrote regarding his fellow writer.
Roth's correspondence begins, "The vagina not the rectum is the entrance to the womb. Aim a little lower," and continues apace for more than 40 years. Along the way Roth touches on Kafka and Bellow, Vonnegut and Erdrich, and Updike ("Just reading [Updike's] Rabbit is Rich. It depresses me that he's so good. He knows everything and has terrific spirit and is also very funny. Maybe I'll try essays for a while, though if you're going to be the best at that, I'll get depressed about that too"). But for the most part, the themes are his own life ("I write, I read, I swim, I take my pills, I sleep, I have a young woman who comes up to visit me on weekends...") and the recipient's life (health and aspirations), random exchanges of friendship ("Drunks with bows and arrows are hunting for deer in the state woods down the road from me. What do I do about that?"), and always the writing: "I'm trying to write a new novel. I keep thinking, 'Why am I making this stuff up? Why do I keep doing this?' I have no real choice, I know, but the whole enterprise does seem awfully dubious" and "People aren't going to remember us for anything, my friend, certainly not for what we write. If that's what I was writing for, I'd call it quits now. I still write to see if I can do it. That's what bugs" and "What I'd like is to find a project that would occupy me for the rest of my life. I can't take finishing things..." Etc.
Through it all, it's the nearly lifelong literary friendship that comes through. On asking his friend and correspondent for his thoughts on his then-most recent work, Roth writes: "What six or seven people think of a book is really all that counts. The rest is how I make my living." A wonderful archive of letters to one of those six or seven people, by one of the giants of contemporary American literature: from the 1990s to the 2000s Roth was doubtless the most highly honored American novelist, winning virtually every major literary award given in this country for fiction, some of them multiple times. Autograph material by Roth seldom appears on the market.
172. SALINGER, J.D. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction. NY: Little, Brown (1963). The first issue of Salinger's fourth and last book, which lacks a dedication page. An exceptionally scarce issue -- some knowledgeable sources have speculated that as few as 20 to 30 copies of this issue were released before they were reissued with a tipped-in dedication page, and later a bound-in dedication. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a tiny closed catch to the spine. Provenance: the Bruce Kahn collection.
173. (SALINGER, J.D.). Three Copies of The Kit Book for Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. Chicago: Consolidated Book Publishers (1942 and 1943). Three copies of The Kit Book, which contains Salinger's first book appearance, the story "The Hang of It." The first copy is the first issue (1942), the state without the head and toe bands. With the first issue mailing box (which is printed in red, black and orange, with 80 cartoons listed rather than the later 96). The book has rubbing to the edges and joints; a near fine copy in a very near fine box, which has been addressed and stamped, although the 3-cent stamp has not been canceled. The original page count has the revised page count stamped over it. The second copy is the second issue book (1943), and is very near fine in a near fine, later issue mailing box, which is red, white and blue, and lists 96 cartoons. The third copy is also the 1943 issue, and is near fine in a red, pink and navy mailing box, with the same text as the red, white and blue issue. This box is near fine, missing a small inner folding tab. An interesting and historically informative group of variant copies: the mailing boxes are quite uncommon in general, and we have never seen one of the red, pink and navy boxes before. For the three:
174. (San Francisco Poetry). DAY, Wesley. On to Me Now. (n.p.): (Self-Published)(n.d.). Self-published poetry from the San Francisco poetry renaissance of the 1950s. Inscribed by the author to Pauline Kael, the former New Yorker film critic who got her start reviewing films on KPFA in San Francisco in the Fifties and managing an art film theater in Berkeley for which she selected the films and wrote the blurbs about them. She was a friend of Robert Duncan in college at Berkeley and later in life, and counted the artist Jess Collins among her lifelong friends. Quarto; near fine in claspbound wrappers. An uncommon artifact of a unique era in American poetry, with distinguished provenance.
175. (San Francisco Poetry). Open Space 8. (San Francisco): Open Space (n.d.)[c. 1964]. An important magazine of the San Francisco poetry underground in the early Sixties. Thirteen issues were published, all in 1964, and contained work by such writers as Michael McClure, Jack Spicer, Ron Loewinsohn, Lawrence Fagin, Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, and others. This issue includes a cartoon by Jess, parodying the "Dick Tracy" comic strip entitled "Tricky Cad," and a small report on the poetry scene by Carol Bergé. 8 1/2" x 11" mimeographed sheets, stapled in upper corner. Owner name to front cover; front cover detached from the staple; several small stains to pages; a very good copy. Scarce: the mimeograph format limited the print run, and the single staple "binding" would have meant that most copies fell apart with handling or over time. It may be worth noting that the owner name on this copy is "A. Cole," and that one "A. Cole" associated with the San Francisco poetry scene of the time was Andy Cole, with whom Richard Brautigan lived at the end of 1963 and whose girlfriend was Michaela Blake-Grand, who later became Brautigan's girlfriend and muse.
176. (Science Fiction). Imagination! (Los Angeles): (Los Angeles Science Fiction Society)(1937-8). A complete run of this science fiction fanzine, published by the Los Angeles chapter of the Science Fiction League, and edited by Forrest Ackerman, T. Bruce Yerke and "Morojo" (Myrtle R. Douglas). 13 monthly issues, from Volume 1, No. 1 in October 1937 to the Anniversary Issue, October 1938. A landmark publication from the classic era of science fiction, the fourth issue includes Ray Bradbury's first published story, outside of his high school newspaper, and published when he was just 17 and still in high school. Later, he had a story published in the September, 1938 issue as well. Other contributors include Robert Bloch, Ackerman, Hannes Bok, H.P. Lovecraft, Henry Kuttner, Richard Matheson, Donald Wollheim, C.L. Moore, and many more. Cover art was done by Bok, Bradbury, Jim Mooney, Malcolm Smith and Ray Harryhausen. A short-lived but important publication; after it folded, the Letters column of it succeeded it as a fanzine, entitled "Voice of the Imagi-Nation" and published by Ackerman and Douglas. Ackerman also lent the young Ray Bradbury $90 to start his own fanzine, Futura Fantasia. Mimeographed productions, in stapled covers. All issues fine. Very scarce: individual issues of the fanzine are very hard to come by; complete runs are practically unheard of. This set has a folder wrapping the first issue, with the title of the fanzine and the ownership name of longtime science fiction collector, and later publisher, Roy A. Squires II. Squires was a pre-eminent science fiction collector for decades, became an important dealer in the field and a specialty publisher. He was friends with virtually everyone in the field, and became the literary executor for Clark Ashton Smith's estate when the author died. He was known for taking meticulous care of his collection, and although only the first issue contains his ownership notation it is likely the entire set comes from his collection. It may be the only complete set extant, particularly in this condition. Only two copies noted in OCLC, and we can find no auction records or dealer listings for it. A highly perishable publication that nonetheless included important content by major writers, including launching the literary career of one of the greatest American writers ever to be associated with the science fiction field, Ray Bradbury. A remarkable set.
177. SHEPARD, Lucius. The Jaguar Hunter. (Sauk City): Arkham House (1987), A review copy of this collection of stories, which won the World Fantasy Award for best collection. Published in an edition of 3194 copies, with illustrations by J.K. Potter. Inscribed by the author to Stanley Wiater: "For Stanley/ Thanks for the 1st intelligent interview I've had in a long while...with admiration/ Lucius Shepard/ '89/ Necon." Wiater's Gahan Wilson-designed bookplate front flyleaf (reportedly the only bookplate Wilson ever designed); faint mottling to boards; near fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in. A nice association copy: Wiater is a three-time winner of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award; Shepard has won most of the major awards in the fantasy and science fiction fields.
178. SHIELDS, Carol. Others. Ottawa: Borealis, 1972. The first book, a collection of poetry, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Stone Diaries. Inscribed by Shields to the Canadian poet and novelist Rosemary Aubert: "For Rosemary/ with thanks for a delightful evening/ Carol Shields." Spine faded, with a little tear to the spine base; near fine in wrappers. A nice literary association copy of an important first book.
179. SMITH, Tom Robb. Child 44. NY: Grand Central Publishing (2008). The advance reading copy of his debut novel, which caused considerable buzz beginning in April 2007 when it was optioned to Fox 2000 for a film to be directed by Ridley Scott. Set in Stalinist Russia, the plot involves a Russian secret police officer who is framed by a colleague for treason and stumbles on a series of child murders which he attempts to solve despite being on the run for his life. Signed by the author. Slight spine roll, else fine in wrappers. Laid in is a printed flyer entitled, "How Do You Solve an Impossible Crime?" Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, a somewhat unusual honor for a thriller.
180. (STEADMAN, Ralph). CARROLL, Lewis. The Hunting of the Snark. London: Dempsey (1975). Signed by Steadman with a drawing (presumably of a Snark) and dated in the year of publication -- the centennial anniversary of the poem's original publication. Steadman has also underlined a phrase in his introduction. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with some fading to the edges and spine. Steadman's wacky, sometimes eerie, illustrations fit remarkably well with the strange, somewhat pointed, humor of Carroll's poem.
181. STEINBECK, John. In Dubious Battle. NY: Covici Friede (1936). A powerful novel of migrant farm workers rising up against landowners. Written at a time when much contemporary fiction was geared toward proletarian aspirations, Steinbeck's novel could have been a mere propaganda piece; instead, it is an exploration of ideals, social protest and social justice, and the relationship of mob behavior to individual values and, as such, still resonates with relevance decades later. Tiny bookstore stamp lower rear pastedown; a fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Provenance: the Bruce Kahn collection. A beautiful copy, and nearly impossible to find in this condition; probably the nicest copy we've ever seen. In a custom clamshell box.