Catalog 160, C-F
13. CROWLEY, John. Manuscript Review of Nicholson Baker's The Fermata. 1994. Crowley's handwritten review of Nicholson Baker's The Fermata, which was published with the title "Naughty, Naughty Boy" in the 2/20/94 Washington Post. A five-page, handwritten, much-corrected manuscript on yellow-lined paper. Folded once to fit into the uncorrected proof of Baker's novel, which is also included [NY: Random House (1994)]. Crowley's notes on two pages of the proof; near fine in wrappers. An interesting pairing: one of our greatest writers of fantasy (Aegypt; Little, Big) on one of our more popular literary sexual fantasists. Crowley's papers are housed at the University of Texas's Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, and manuscripts of his seldom appear on the market.
14. CRUMB, R. Zap Comix, No. 1. (n.p.): (Apex)(1967). The rare first printing of the first issue of the archetypal underground comic magazine of the Sixties, which featured the most noted comic artists -- R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Rick Griffin, and a host of others -- and some of the most memorable characters: Mr. Natural, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Wonder Wart Hog, etc. This first issue of Zap was done completely by Crumb. The first printing was printed by Beat poet and collagist Charles Plymell, in a print run stated at 5000, in a comic reference guide, and at 1500 by Pam Plymell, Charles's wife. Mild acidification to pages as is inevitable for all copies of this comic; one stray 1/4" pen mark lower outer corner; else fine in stapled wrappers. The grading of comic books uses different standards than grading books; according to comic standards, this copy would be in the range of "Very Fine/Near Mint" (approximately 9.0 on a scale of 10) and possibly better. A 9.4 copy of Zap #1 brought $26,000 at auction in 2010; copies in significantly lesser condition than this one have regularly sold for over $5000. Zap #1 belongs to that rarified group of comics that ushered in a new era: Action Comics #1, which introduced Superman, sold in December 2011 for $2.1 million and Amazing Fantasy #15, a Holy Grail for comics collectors as the first appearance of Spider-Man, is currently valued at around $100,000 in comparable (9.0) condition. Many comic collectors and dealers have speculated that the $26,000 Zap #1 brought at auction will look inexpensive in the future, based on its rarity, importance, and condition, if the underground comic prices catch up to mainstream comics. The comparison of the Spider-Man comic with Zap is appropriate in that they both date from the 1960s, whereas Action #1 dates from the 1930s. An attractive copy of the most recognizable underground comic of the 1960s, seldom found in this condition.
15. CUMMINGS, E. E. Marion Morehouse. Undated. A stylized portrait by Cummings of Marion Morehouse, renowned New York model and Cummings' third wife -- and a frequent subject of the artist's work. Cummings, one of the best-loved American poets of the 20th century, was also a prolific visual artist: he considered writing and painting to be his "twin obsessions," and he exhibited his work in the annual Society of Independent Artists shows from 1916-1927 and was the art editor of the Dial magazine, the pre-eminent Modernist literary journal in the U.S., in the 1920s. In 1933 he published a book of his artwork in a limited edition. Called CIOPW, it took its title from the media he used in his art: charcoal, ink, oil, pencil and watercolors. In his early years he emphasized abstract painting; from the 1930s on he tended toward representational images, albeit with a range of inventive palettes, as this painting shows, and which some have compared to his inventiveness with words and poetic forms and structures. 9" x 11 1/4", oil on cardboard. In fact, this is painted on the underside of the top of a box that held typewriter paper -- a linking of his twin obsessions.
16. CUMMINGS, E.E. Tree on Shore. Undated. A landscape painting by Cummings of a colorful tree on the shore of Silver Lake in New Hampshire, where the Cummings family had a summer home. In the background is Mount Chocorua, one of the most frequent subjects of Cummings' artwork. The use of a bright and vivid palette is reminiscent of Matisse, Kandinsky, and the Fauvists, all of whom have been cited as influences on Cummings as an artist. Thematically and as a composition, this image also owes a debt to Cezanne, one of Cummings' great idols as a painter and an influence, as he said, on both his and other Modernist writers' poetry and fiction by virtue of his providing "a new way of seeing things." In Cummings' work one can almost see an echo of Cezanne, with Cummings' frequent and varied depictions of Mount Chocorua echoing Cezanne's repeated returns to Mont Saint-Victoire as a subject for his paintings. 8 3/4" x 11 1/2", oil on cardboard; again, painted on the underside of the cover of a box of his typewriter paper.
17. DICK, Philip K. A Scanner Darkly. Garden City: Doubleday, 1977. One of Dick's best books, and one of the greatest drug novels of all time. Admirably filmed by Richard Linklater with Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder. Dick's novel is set in southern California in 1994 -- the "near future" at the time the book came out -- and concerns drug use, paranoia, the loss of identity, and the shifting nature of reality. Dick himself had been a heavy user of drugs in the 1960s and early 1970s, and he claimed that everything in this novel were things he had seen or experienced firsthand. Signed by the author. Remainder speckling to lower edge of text block and some light smudges to the boards, otherwise a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with some specks to the rear panel. A nice copy, and seldom found signed.
18. DOCTOROW, E.L. Drinks Before Dinner. NY: Random House (1979). His first play. Inscribed by Doctorow to Raymond Carver. Doctorow and Carver appeared together at PEN International in 1986, and as editor of Best American Short Stories 2000, Doctorow selected work by Carver. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
19. DOCTOROW, E.L. World's Fair. NY: Random House (1985). The publisher's presentation edition of Doctorow's National Book Award-winning novel. Leatherbound, using sheets of the first edition. Signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Top edge gilt, silk ribbon marker bound in. Never issued for sale, presentation editions like this are usually prepared by the publisher for a small handful of people associated with the creation of the book. They seldom appear on the market. Trace rubbing to corners; else fine.
20. ELIOT, T.S. Typed Letter Signed. 1935. Two pages from Eliot to literary critic F.O. Matthiessen ("Matty"), written "to put in a good word for the boy," Alfred Satterthwaite, at the behest of Satterthwaite's step-father, John Cournos. Satterthwaite was applying "for a scholarship on some foundation in which you [Matthiessen] are in a position of authority." Eliot puts in what good words he can ("although my knowledge of him is very meagre") and then switches subjects to Matthiessen's book, which, although unnamed, would have been The Achievement of T.S. Eliot: "Your book seems to have been earning commendations here, except from the critics in whose eyes the subject matter is enough to damn it. It is impossible for me to regard such a book objectively. All I can say is that I hope that much of what you say is true. By the way, that is a good point about Rose La Touche. Was that pure inspiration, or did we ever mention the subject in conversation?" He closes with a brief note about Ted Spencer and Bonamy Dobree. The letter is signed, "T.S. Eliot." Nice literary and biographical content. On Criterion stationery, with staple holes to the upper left corners, and folded in fourths for mailing; near fine. Mailing envelope included.
21. ELLROY, James. Original Manuscript of L.A. Death Trip [aka Blood on the Moon]. (Los Angeles): (n.p.) 1981. The first draft of the manuscript of the Blood on the Moon, Ellroy's third published book and his first to be published in hardcover, here titled L.A. Death Trip. 424 pages, original typescript, with some cut-and-paste emendations throughout. Inscribed by Ellroy on one of two title pages (with another unused title, Because the Night, crossed out) in which the author identifies this typed manuscript as a "precursor" to Blood on the Moon and specifies the time period in which it was written. Together with an autograph letter signed, one page, addressed to "Deborah" on Mysterious Press stationery, in which Ellroy calls this "the real live, genuine, cold-blooded 1st draft of Blood on the Moon - my 3rd novel. As you will be able to tell, the book needed work - I did it, and the revised edition met the eyes of the world. This edition meets only your baby blues... so I hope you dig it." Casual comparison with the published book indicates that the author did in fact rewrite the book dramatically: the story remains the same but the writing has been overhauled. Blood on the Moon was published by Mysterious Press, and was the first book in what came to be called the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy. The second book took the title of one of the unused titles here -- Because the Night. Ellroy has since become one of the acknowledged masters of American noir fiction: his book American Tabloid was named Time magazine's best novel of the year in 1995; Blood on the Moon was made into the movie Cop in 1988, starring James Woods, and became something of a modern noir classic; his screen adaptation of his novel L.A. Confidential became one of the great works of modern film noir in Hollywood. An early draft of the manuscript of an early book by one of the leading writers of hardboiled fiction in America today. Unique.
22. ESHLEMAN, Clayton and HEEBNER, Mary. Deep Thermal. Santa Barbara: Simplemente Maria Press, 2007. A suite of six numbered pigment prints signed by Heebner, with poetic responses to the images by Eshleman. One of 26 numbered copies signed by the author and the artist. An unusual collaboration: the two shared an interest in the cave art of the Upper Paleolithic period as well as other interests, including the poetry of Pablo Neruda, and they developed a correspondence that included not only letters but images and art. Eshleman used one of the images for the cover of one of his books of poetry. 13" x 17" broadside sheets, laid into portfolio. Fine.
23. FORD, Richard. Bright Angel. (n.p.):(n.p.) 1988. A 120-page screenplay by Ford for a 1991 film adaptation he did from stories in his collection Rock Springs. Signed by Ford. An unknown number of copies were produced; Ford signed seven of them at a reading in 1990. Photoreproduced sheets on 3-hole paper. In this copy, page 120 was typed on a different typewriter than the first 119 pages. A fine copy, bound in a flexible blue binder. The film was directed by Michael Fields and starred Dermot Mulroney, Lili Taylor, Sam Shepard and Valerie Perrine.
24. FORD, Richard. Independence Day. London: Harvill (1995). An advance copy of the first British edition, with printed text on the front cover that indicates that the "text is not the final version," and, in fact, this text does seem to be an earlier state than that of not only the British trade edition but the U.S. edition as well. The text does seem to match that of the British advance reading copy. Tapebound sheets in printed cardstock covers. Signed by the author. Approximately 8 3/8" x 11 3/4". Photoreproduced name on front cover; dusty rear cover; else fine. An uncommon view of an early state of the text of Ford's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
25. FORD, Richard. Women with Men. (New Orleans): (B.E. Trice)(1997). Ford's editor's copy of the limited edition (and true first edition) of this collection of three novellas. This copy has printed on the colophon "Gary Fisketjon's Copy" and shares its design with the lettered issue: signed by Ford; quarterbound in leather. Fisketjon edited Ford at Vintage (The Sportswriter) and Atlantic Monthly Press (Rock Springs, Wildlife) before bringing Ford with him to Knopf for the trade edition of this title and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day, among others. Ford thanks Fisketjon in print in Rock Springs and Independence Day. A notable association copy and presentation issue of this book. Fine in a fine slipcase.
26. FORD, Richard. Privacy. (n.p.): (Grenfell Press)(1999). One of 35 numbered copies of the first separate appearance of this story that first appeared in the New Yorker. An elaborate and elegant production with etchings by artist Jane Kent. Signed by Ford and Kent. Unbound folios, 10 1/4" x 15 1/2", laid into the publisher's clamshell case with tissue guard protecting each of the etchings. Fine.
27. FOWLES, John. The Magus. London: Blazer Films, 1967. Fowles' screenplay for the 1968 film of his second novel, a near-fantasy set on a Greek island and involving a young expatriate Englishman who is drawn into the fantastic designs of a self-styled psychic. The film, with Anthony Quinn, Michael Caine, Candice Bergen and Anna Karina, gained a cult following in the Sixties. The cast included two of the best-known male leads of their time (Quinn & Caine), an up-and-coming young actress who had been nominated for a "Most Promising Newcomer" Golden Globe two years earlier (Bergen), and Anna Karina, a staple in the films of French avant garde director Jean-Luc Godard. The director was Guy Green, a former cinematographer, and while the material may have been a bit much for Green, whose previous movies had been more straightforward than the complicated, partly fantastic plot that Fowles' novel presented him with, the film was nominated for a British Academy award for cinematography. This script bears the name of David Harcourt and has revision sheets dated September 4, 7 and 12, and November 25, 1967. Harcourt is listed as a camera operator on a production schedule (laid in) dated August 15, 1967. Also laid in is the shooting schedule for November 11. These sheets are torn and sunned, but the script itself is near fine and claspbound in very good red covers. An early, complete piece of writing by Fowles, and likely the scarcest item in his bibliography. It is Fowles' only screenplay to have been produced, and we have never heard of another copy turning up.