Catalog 160, B
1. BARNES, Julian. Cross Channel. London: Jonathan Cape (1996). A special limited edition of this collection of stories, prepared in honor of Barnes' 50th birthday. Number 50 of 50 numbered copies. Signed by Barnes. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine. Two copies appeared at auction 15 years ago, and none since. Barnes won the Booker Prize in 2011.
2. BELL, Madison Smartt. Double Tongue. (n.p.): Blue from the Death Editions, 1990. An artist's book with text by Bell and illustrations by Jean de la Fontaine, the first of several collaborations between the two. One of 39 numbered copies signed by both the author and the artist. Unusual text by Bell: short vignettes linked by subject matter relating to deception and misunderstanding, with illustrations linked by the image of a double tongue -- a visual analogy. Thirteen unbound folios plus colophon laid into self-wrappers, the whole inserted into ribbon-tied cloth envelope. 10" x 13". Fine.
3. BROWN, Larry. Facing the Music. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy of Brown's first book, a collection of stories. Reportedly, only about 30 copies of the proof were done. Brown, who was from Mississippi, was the first writer to twice win the Southern Book Award, the major literary award given out by the Southern Book Critics Circle. Inscribed by Brown to Thomas Verich, Special Collections Archivist at the University of Mississippi: "For Tom Verich/ I'm glad you liked these stories in my first book and I wish you a long and happy life. All best, Larry Brown/ Oxford, MS." "Due July 5" written on front cover; corner crease; near fine in wrappers. A nice association copy of a rare proof by an author who received wide critical acclaim and was just achieving wide public recognition when he died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 53.
4. BROWN, Larry. Two Typescripts of Joe. ca. 1991. Two variant photocopied typescripts, loose pages, double-spaced. The earlier draft is 297 pages (missing page 120), reproducing several holograph corrections (mostly name changes). Pages 96-163 are printed on a different paper stock; mild edge wear; near fine. The second typescript is a later draft, at 413 pages (an increase in page count partially explained by a change of font size). Significant textual differences between the two drafts, and further differences between the later draft and the published text. The later draft is warmly inscribed by Brown on the title page in 1991 to Dudley Jahnke, a friend and publishing professional and, according to the inscription, "a best bro." Joe, Brown's fourth book and second novel, published by Algonquin Books in 1991, was his breakthrough book, establishing his reputation as a powerful and gritty writer of the realistic school, with elements of the Southern Gothic tradition of Flannery O'Connor and Harry Crews. His dark vision of contemporary Southern culture earned him comparisons to William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy, and his troubled and inarticulate working class characters earned him comparison to Raymond Carver. A rare glimpse of one of his major works, showing the development of the work through multiple drafts, and with an inscription to a close friend and aide in navigating the world of publishing. A couple corner creases, else fine.
5. BUKOWSKI, Charles, The Wedding. San Pedro: Brown Buddha Books, 1986. The first issue of this limited edition printed to celebrate the August 18, 1985 wedding of Bukowski and Linda Lee Beighle. The entire edition was only 40 copies, each illustrated with eleven tipped in original photographs of the wedding by Michael Montfort, known for his photographic collaborations with Bukowski, among his other work. This first issue is distinguished by the inclusion of the photograph of the bride kneeling to repair Bukowski's trousers and her surname misspelled on the colophon. Signed by both Bukowski and Montfort. According to the colophon, this copy belonged to Julie Curtiss Voss, mentioned by Bukowski in the text as assistant to John Martin, Bukowski's publisher and best man. Martin, the publisher of Black Sparrow Press, began publishing Bukowski in the mid-1960s and by the 1990s he had dozens of his titles in print. While this title was not issued by Black Sparrow it is likely that Martin arranged the details of its publication: it was designed by Barbara Martin and handbound by Earle Gray, as most of the Black Sparrow editions were. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued. A nice association copy of a scarce item in the Bukowski canon.
6. BURKE, James Lee. Crusader's Cross. Gladestry: Scorpion Press (2005). One of 15 lettered copies of this Dave Robicheaux novel, reserved for private distribution. Signed by Burke and by Robert S. Reid, who provides a foreword that appears only in this deluxe limited edition. Quarterbound in leather; fine.
7. BURKE, James Lee. Typescript of "The Convict." 1985. Burke's original typescript of "The Convict," as submitted for publication in the Summer 1985 issue of The Kenyon Review and then collected as the title story for his collection published by Louisiana State University Press the same year. Ribbon copy typescript, with approximately a dozen holograph corrections in the author's hand. 20 pages, double-spaced, stapled in upper left corner; fine. With Burke's name hand-written on the cover sheet, presumably by an editor, and the issue of Kenyon Review that it appeared in also handwritten there. "The Convict" is a watershed story in the career of Burke, who is now one of America's most popular and respected writers -- award-winning and commercially successful. His early career was more difficult: three novels in the 1960s and early 70s received good critical reviews but sold poorly and by 1985 Burke had not published anything for 14 years other than an obscure paperback original about the Alamo. When LSU Press published The Convict and a year later published his novel The Lost Get Back Boogie,they received substantial critical attention, in part because of LSU's having published the Pulitzer Prize-winning Confederacy of Dunces a couple of years earlier. Burke received widespread acclaim and shortly thereafter, in 1987, published the first of his Dave Robicheaux mystery novels. The third book in the series won an Edgar Award as the best mystery of the year, and since then his books have been bestsellers upon publication and are generally considered to be among the most highly literary novels in the mystery genre. This typescript represents a pivotal moment in the writer's career.
8. BURROUGHS, William. Typed Letter Signed to John Berendt. 1965. Burroughs responds to Berendt, future author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, who had written to Burroughs in his capacity as Associate Editor at Esquire Magazine, inquiring as to whom Burroughs would like to have portray him in a hypothetical film biography. In a typed paragraph, Burroughs chooses himself. In part: "A writer has no life story apart from his writing so any biography of a writer is fictional. Proceeding from this proposition I cast myself as myself in a biographical film since I write my own biography as I go along..." A short typed letter signed by Burroughs serves as a cover letter, sent by air post from England with Burroughs saying he has been traveling and hopes he has not missed the deadline. More than 150 words total; two pages, folded for mailing, stapled in the upper corner; fine. With hand-addressed air mail envelope.
9. BURROUGHS, William S. and WILSON, S. Clay. Collaborative Archive: Letters, Illustrations, Books. 1979-1991. In the early 1980s, Burroughs collaborated with S. Clay Wilson on the German editions of Cities of the Red Night [Die Stadte der Roten Nacht, Frankfurt: Zweitausendeins, 1982] and The Wild Boys [Die Wilden Boys, Frankfurt: Zweitausendeins, 1980]. This archive includes:
- correspondence related to this and other collaborations between Burroughs and Wilson, as follows: from 1979 to 1982, six items from the publisher to Wilson; from 1979 to 1985, three items from Burroughs' associate James Grauerholz to Wilson; and from 1985 to 1995, eleven items from Burroughs to Wilson. The earlier items, from the publisher and from Grauerholz, generally solicit drawings, convey approval for ideas, and give progress updates. The later items, from Burroughs himself (one typed note signed; four autograph postcards signed; six autograph cards signed), are more personal, frequently conveying gratitude for a gift or appreciation of Wilson's work. In one, Burroughs (according to a pencil note by Wilson, he is referring to The Chequered Demon) says "vintage Clay Wilson hilarious, horrible disgusting as life itself...Its fine its swell itsa gawdy taste of Hell." In another, in a card picturing a unicorn, Burroughs asks, "Did you see the Barnum & Bailey unicorn? I suspect it to be a goat." Several of the cards are holiday cards, and in one Burroughs wishes "All the best for 1986 and the time remaining to us all." In the last two items, Burroughs thanks Wilson for, respectively, the Graham Greene stories and for a cat book. He also complains about the heat: "Over 100 now for a week. Can't do anything but sit in my air conditioned house." This last card is signed "Bill Burroughs." All of the Burroughs' correspondence items (excepting the postcards) have envelopes; one of the postcards is near fine; the others are fine; many depict Burroughs' artwork.
- three original pen-and-ink S. Clay Wilson illustrations for the German edition of Cities of the Red Night. Wilson was one of the group of artists who gained exposure in the underground comix of the 1960s counterculture. After R. Crumb, he is probably the best known of that group, and his images are almost certainly the most extreme: all of the underground comic artists sought to break barriers and defy convention, and Wilson's images are densely packed and full of overt sex and violence to a nearly unthinkable degree. In this he was very much like Burroughs, whose verbal imagery sought to shatter all barriers, preconceptions and hypocrisies; the collaboration between the two of them seems in retrospect to have been inevitable. These drawings were displayed at the Los Angeles County Art Museum in the show "Ports of Entry: William Burroughs and the Arts," which sought to convey the influence Burroughs has had on visual arts. Extraordinary images, and probably the best illustrations ever of Burroughs' writings. Burroughs himself appears as a character in one of the images. Two of the images are 5 1/4" x 9", the third is 5 1/4" x 10"; all three are matted and framed to approximately 16" x 19". Also together with the original layout and lettering for the title page of the book: three hand-lettered sheets and one printed sheet.
- a trial edition of the German edition of The Wild Boys, rejected by Wilson, who was displeased with the endpapers, signed by Wilson; Wilson's own copy, bound in Niger goat and snakeskin, signed by Wilson and inscribed by Burroughs to Wilson. and the first German edition, signed by Burroughs and Wilson. Wilson's copy is fine in a custom folding chemise; the other tow have a bit of edge-rubbing and are otherwise fine in the publisher's slipcases.
- the German edition of Cities of the Red Night, signed by Burroughs and Wilson. Fine in slipcase.
A unique archive of an exceptional collaboration. 10. BURROUGHS, William S. "Nagual Art." Undated. Burroughs, whose Naked Lunch, Soft Machine, and numerous other works helped define the Beat generation and redefine the psychedelic novel, also worked in the visual media from the early 1950s on, experimenting first with collages and later with what he called "nagual art" -- art infected by chance, which had the possibility of giving the viewer access to what Burroughs called a "port of entry," an access to a different universe or a different way of seeing our own. In writing, Burroughs adopted the "cut-up" technique, with Brion Gysin, to achieve similar ends: a final product that was, in part, a product of chance or, at the very least, forces beyond the artist's direct control and manipulation. Oil and perhaps spray paint. Signed by Burroughs. 17 1/2" x 23". Fine, framed.
11. BURROUGHS, William. The Golden Triangle - The Gold Heart. 1988. An original Burroughs painting, which became part of the Seven Deadly Sins exhibition at The Writer's Place, Kansas City, Missouri, in 1993. Acrylic and spray paint on poster board: a gold triangle and heart spray-painted against a background acrylic image of black, blue and gray. Signed by Burroughs. 20" x 32". Mounted and framed to 24" x 36". Fine.