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Catalog 160, K

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38. KELLER, Helen. Typed Letter Signed. September 22 [1902]. Written to Mr. [William V.] Alexander, editor of Ladies Home Journal, who had requested a series of articles from Keller that were later published as The Story of My Life. Keller humbly thanks Alexander for payment for the last article; in part: "I only wish I could have made the story of my life more worthy of the generous praise it has received...It has meant a great deal in my life, and in Miss Sullivan's too -- the thought of the happiness that she says my compliance with your request has brought her is sweeter even than the thought of the kindness shown me in the letters that come constantly from old friends long silent and new friends whose words go to the heart..." Two 5" x 8" pages, typed with blue ribbon and signed "Helen Keller." A very early letter by Keller, preceding her first book, with exceptionally good content. Fine.

39. KENNEDY, Jacqueline and FARRELL, James T. Typed Letter Signed. 1983. A letter from Jackie Kennedy, written in her capacity as editor at Doubleday, rejecting three poems by the late James T. Farrell. Secretarially typed, but signed in full as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A very courteous rejection, in which she says she was "extremely moved" by the "lovely" poems, for which she found no support from the sales department. Folded for mailing, one small spot not affecting text; else fine, with envelope. Farrell's three poems ("Unremembering Dreams," "Summer Moving Wind," and one untitled), apparently still unpublished, are also included; the poems are in holograph and each is signed by Farrell. Farrell, best known for the Studs Lonigan trilogy, died in 1979; in 1963, following the assassination of John Kennedy, one of Farrell's poems was inserted into the Congressional Record.

40. KEROUAC, Jack. Galleys of Big Sur. NY: Farrar Straus Cudahy (1962). The galley sheets of one of the last books in Kerouac's semi-autobiographical series, which he called "The Duluoz Legend." Kerouac, who died in 1969 at the age of 47, published only three more books after this: Visions of Gerard; the novella-length Satori in Paris; and Vanity of Dulouz. This book, in which Kerouac is again represented by his alter-ego, Jack Dulouz, chronicles Duluoz's success as a young novelist and his subsequent attempts to escape from the burden of celebrity and fame, in part by hiding out in Big Sur and in part by drinking heavily. By the end, Duluoz is a severe alcoholic and suffers what amounts to a nervous breakdown, just as Kerouac himself did. By 1962 Kerouac was a shadow of his former, life-affirming self, was bitter about what he viewed as others' attempts to exploit his story and his work for their own ends, and was drinking heavily nearly all the time. Big Sur tracks the arc of Kerouac/Duluoz's literary success and celebrity and his mental and physical deterioration and descent into alcoholism with the same kind of honesty and directness Kerouac brought to his other work. In the book, Duluoz rebounds from his breakdown; it's not clear that Kerouac himself ever did. 78 pages, 7" x 22", folded once. Shallow edge chipping; near fine. Extremely scarce: the number of sets of galleys that were pulled could probably be counted on one's fingers; we've never seen another set before.

41. KEROUAC, Jack. Visions of Gerard. NY: Farrar Straus (1963). A volume in Kerouac's fictionalized autobiographical series -- the Legend of Duluoz. Inscribed by the author: "To Jamie/ the Angel/ from Jack Kerouac." With a "compliments of the Author" bookplate above the inscription on which someone -- presumably Kerouac -- has typed "who says Hullo Jamie" below the word "Author." Jamie was the son of Kerouac's former college buddy Ed White, who was fictionalized as Tim Gray in On the Road. Ed and Kerouac were introduced by White's roommate, Hal Chase, who also introduced Kerouac to Neal Cassady. Kerouac and Ed kept up a correspondence from 1947, the year after they met, to 1969, the year Kerouac died, exchanging nearly 90 letters and postcards over the course of their friendship. White was apparently the first person Kerouac wrote to in 1949 when his first novel, The Town and the City, was accepted for publication. Glue bleeding through bookplate, not affecting the inscription on the flyleaf; a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with several short edge tears, reinforced on the verso at the spine heel. A wonderful inscription, reflecting not only a longtime friendship -- and a multigenerational one at this point -- but also Kerouac's innate sweetness.

42. KEROUAC, Jack. Signed Check to the I.R.S. 1963. A check made out to the Internal Revenue Service, from the month Visions of Gerard was published, in the amount of $300. Drawn on the account of John L. Kerouac and Gabrielle Kerouac (Kerouac's mother) at Security National Bank of Long Island, dated September 9, and hand-numbered as check no. 141. Signed, John L. Kerouac, which is noteworthy in that after the publication of On The Road, Kerouac nearly always signed his name "Jack." Presumably, in this case he had to sign the check using his name as it appeared on his tax return. The background of the check has a lighthouse theme; there are the usual cancellation markings, not affecting signature. Previously folded in half; else fine.

43. KING, Stephen. The Stand. NY: Doubleday (1978). An early novel by King. This copy belonged to King's English Professor at the University of Maine, Burton Hatlen, who wrote a critical work on King's The Shining; he was one of the three dedicatees of King's novel The Long Walk, written as Richard Bachman and published the year after this book; and King mentions Hatlen in his book On Writing. Hatlen apparently read the book closely: he lists the pages that have typos; his underlinings and comments begin a couple of hundred pages into the book and continue sporadically until the next to the last page, and his marginal comments respond to the text as well as putting it in context. At one point he cites "Gollum and Smeagol," Tolkien's fictional character, for comparison with one of King's characters. This copy has also been signed by King. A bulky volume, published by Doubleday in a cheap binding. Indentation to the spine; otherwise near fine in a very good dust jacket with several small chips and edge tears. A wonderful association copy, with a letter of provenance laid in.

44. KING, Stephen. Salem's Lot. (Wheat Ridge): Centipede Press (2004). Published in an edition of 405 copies, this is one of one of only 25 Roman-numeraled copies printed on mouldmade Saunders Waterford paper and bound in Chieftain Goatskin and enclosed in a traycase of Japanese cotton. Only 15 of the Roman-numeraled copies were available for sale, the remainder being reserved for the author, photographer and the Press. This is number XIII. Signed by King and Uelsmann. A huge and elaborate limited edition of his second novel, first published in 1975 and here issued in a deluxe edition that includes the text of the original novel, two short stories related to it that were originally published in King's collection Night Shift, over 50 pages of material deleted from the original version, and a short introduction and a 1999 afterword by the author. Illustrated with seven full-page photographs by Jerry Uelsmann, an avant garde photographer renowned for his photomontage, whose work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other institutions. The book is approximately 10" x 13" and more than 4" deep, and weighs over 13 pounds. Probably the most elaborate limited edition of King's work ever published, and the smallest limitation of any of his books that have been offered for sale, as far as we are aware. A virtually impossible King title to locate or obtain. A fine copy, in fine traycase.

45. KNOWLES, John. A Separate Peace. London: Secker and Warburg 1959. His classic and influential coming of age novel. Inscribed by Knowles: "To ___ -- the editor who saved my first article for Holiday, here is my first book, which will have to save itself -- With affection, Jack." Knowles had written an article for Holiday about Phillips Exeter Academy, which he attended in high school, and it received high praise, leading him to take a job as an assistant editor at the magazine. When A Separate Peace, a novel based on his time at Exeter, was published to great acclaim, Knowles was able to leave Holiday to pursue writing full time. Filmed once theatrically (in 1972 with Parker Stevenson) and twice more for television. Tape ghosts to the rear endpages and general modest foxing, otherwise a near fine copy, with the recipient's signature on the front free endpaper; in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with shallow chipping to the crown. A nice inscription and a significant association copy of a his scarce first novel.

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