Catalog 161, K-L
76. KEROUAC, Jack. The Town and the City. NY: Harcourt Brace (1950). His first book, a novel published seven years before On the Road and the only book Kerouac published using his given name, John, rather than the more casual "Jack" under which his Beat novels were published. Inscribed by Kerouac in the year of publication to the mother of his friend Ed White ("Tim Gray" in On the Road): "To Mrs. White -- The wonderful mother of my wonderful friend/ Thanks for everything, and the most gracious hospitality in your home/ From yr. admirer and absorbéd guest/ Jack Kerouac/ June 4, '50/ Denver." A notable association copy: Ed White was, in some ways, Kerouac's best friend, according to Speer Morgan, who edited for publication the correspondence between the two. They exchanged letters from 1947 to 1969, the year Kerouac died. White was reportedly the first person Jack wrote to when The Town and the City was accepted for publication, and he is credited by Kerouac as being one of his most important and formative literary influences by virtue of his suggestion that Kerouac carry around a notebook and "sketch words" as they occurred to him, encouraging him to take a more spontaneous approach to writing than before, and not treat it as a laborious effort to achieve a "literary" effect. By following White's advice, Kerouac virtually re-invented American fiction, or at least opened up a new range of possibilities, giving it the kind of free form and flow that he had associated with jazz music. Front flyleaf excised (inscription on next blank); small bump at lower board edge; a few spots to top stain; else a very near fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with just trace rubbing at the extremities. In custom folding chemise and gilt stamped, full morocco slipcase.
77. -. Another copy. This copy is signed "John Kerouac." An early signature, as he later signed his books "Jack Kerouac," after the success of On the Road. Kerouac later dismissed this novel as "dead": he came to consider the carefully crafted style to be artificial, and in opposition to the more free-flowing, jazz-inspired, improvisational writing of On the Road and his later books. The Town and the City is a partly autobiographical novel and as such can be viewed in the context of Kerouac's later books, which together comprised the "Duluoz sequence" -- a series of semi-autobiographical narratives which he considered to be the literal truth of his life, altered into "fiction" by the demands of publishers. While The Town and the City is not as self-consciously experimental as On the Road, it shows Kerouac's literary antecedents -- it is reminiscent of Thomas Wolfe -- and gives a clear indication that he saw himself as a writer long before he became a cultural icon. Some fading to the top stain, light corner bumps; near fine in a very good dust jacket with creasing to the rear panel and several edge tears, including a narrow 1 1/2" tear to the upper rear flap fold.
78. -. Another copy. This copy is inscribed by Allen Ginsberg to John Montgomery: "See Sweet Levinsky in the Night/ Allen Ginsberg/ for John Montgomery/ Hello Mirror/ June 30 74." Ginsberg's alter-ego in the book is "Leon Levinsky." Montgomery appears, along with Ginsberg, in Desolation Angels ("Alex Fairbrother") and The Dharma Bums ("Henry Morley"). The timing of the inscription coincides with Ginsberg's founding of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa. Front flyleaf corner-clipped, with a ".10" price there, not affecting inscription. California Air Force Base stamp on rear pastedown; rear hinge tape-strengthened; light stain to top edge; fading and wear to covers; a good copy, lacking the dust jacket but with the jacket flaps tipped to the front pastedown. An excellent association copy, linking two figures from the Beat movement, and from Kerouac's fiction, in a well-used copy of Kerouac's first book, published well before the Beat movement had achieved its own identity.
79. KESEY, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. NY: Viking (1962). Kesey's landmark first book, a pivotal novel of the literature of the Sixties, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. A uniquely decorated copy, fully marbled by Kesey on the front and back covers, spine, and page edges and signed "Kesey" in block colored letters on the front flyleaf. A year before Kesey died, a collector sent him a group of books asking him to sign them, and in particular for Cuckoo's Nest to do something "special." Kesey, who had been experimenting with marbling, and could not, one imagines, have missed the similarity between the bookish art and the psychedelic art of the 1960s counterculture that he had helped to create, marbled the entire book, on all sides. We only know of one other book he did this to: a paperback of the same title, for the same collector. This is the only clothbound book we know of that he treated this way, and it is a startling artifact, bearing virtually no traces of the familiar binding, but rather presenting a whorling, flowing image, predominantly in red, white and pink. Tape shadows to flyleaf; a very near fine, and unique, copy in a near fine, first issue (Kerouac blurb) dust jacket, with tape shadows to flaps, hairline cracks to the colors, but very little of the usual fading. Possibly the only such copy in existence.
80. KESEY, Ken. Sometimes a Great Notion. NY: Viking (1964). Kesey's second novel, an ambitious saga of a logging family in the Pacific Northwest which was voted number one on a list of "12 Essential Northwest Works" by a panel of writers in 1997. Basis for the film Never Give an Inch, directed by Paul Newman and starring Henry Fonda. Very good in a first issue dust jacket ("Hank Krangler" photo credit) with tape shadows on the front and rear flaps. Signed by Kesey on the front free endpaper in orange and blue.
81. (KESEY, Ken). STRELOW, Michael, ed. Kesey. Eugene: Northwest Review Books (1977). A collection of writings by Kesey, including facsimiles of manuscript portions of Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion as well as other short pieces, with Introductions by Malcolm Cowley, on Kesey's time at Stanford, and John Clark Pratt, who edited the Viking Critical Library edition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This copy apparently belonged to Kesey, with his ownership signature, address and phone number on the half-title. With marginal notes in an unknown hand throughout the text and on the inside rear cover about Kesey and his work. An interesting copy, given the provenance -- Kesey's own library at some point.
82. (KESEY, Ken). ALLEN, D. Totem Poles of the Northwest. Surrey, B.C./ Blaine, WA: Hancock House, 1977. Short monograph (32 pages) on totem poles of Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state, heavily illustrated with color photographs. This was Ken Kesey's copy, with his ownership signature and phone number on the first page. Kesey used the book when he was researching and working on his novel Sailor Song, which is set in an Alaskan village and which has a highly imaginative totem pole decorating the front panel of the dust jacket of the first edition.
83. KINSELLA, W.P. Dance Me Outside. (Canada): (Oberon)(1977). The hardcover edition of his first book, a collection of stories. According to the author, who has kept close track of his bibliography, only 250 copies were issued of this title in hardcover, about 50 of which went to Canadian libraries. Light foxing to edge of text block; else fine in a near fine dust jacket foxed on the verso. An extremely scarce issue of Kinsella's first book.
84. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa. (Canada): (Oberon) (1980). The scarce hardcover issue of his third collection of stories, the title story of which was the seed for his prize-winning novel Shoeless Joe, the basis for the movie Field of Dreams. An uncommon book which was issued simultaneously in paperback and, like other Oberon Press hardcovers, had a cloth edition reported to be only a few hundred copies. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a bit of rubbing -- less than usual -- and a crease along the lower edges of the front and rear panels. A very attractive copy of an uncommon book.
85. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. His highly praised, much-loved first novel, a North American magical realist baseball novel, with J.D. Salinger as a character. Winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award and basis for the award-winning movie Field of Dreams. Signed by the author. Foxing to the edges of the text block; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a bit of foxing to the rear spine fold.
86. KUNSTLER, William M. Trials and Tribulations. NY: Grove Press (1985). A memoir by the celebrated radical lawyer, written in prose and verse. In the early 1960s Kunstler defended the "freedom riders" of the Civil Rights movement for the American Civil Liberties Union and later he gained renown, and notoriety, for defending the Chicago Seven, and members of the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground, and the American Indian Movement. This copy is inscribed by the author: "To Virginia Dunwell - the first sale in Al's supermarket on August 29, 1985. Bill Kunstler." Also signed by Kunstler's two young daughters who assisted him at this signing at the grocery store in Boiceville, NY, owned by a friend of Kunstler's. This is the simultaneous softcover issue; very good in wrappers. Laid in is a photocopy of an article about the signing written by Dunwell for The Woodstock Times.
87. LANSDALE, Joe R. The Magic Wagon. Garden City: Doubleday, 1986. A Double D Western set around the turn of the 20th century, and Lansdale's first book to be published in hardcover. Inscribed by Lansdale to fellow writer Stanley Wiater: "For Stan, Hope you enjoy your ride on [The Magic Wagon]. Thanks for the Fangoria interview. Joe R. Lansdale." Wiater's Gahan Wilson-designed bookplate front flyleaf; small scrape to rear board; foxing to top edge; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a few edge nicks. Wiater's interview with Lansdale appeared in a 1990 issue of Fangoria. A nice inscription and association, and one of the author's scarcer titles.
88. LEIBER, Fritz. Our Lady of Darkness. NY: Berkley (1977). A fantasy novel that won the World Fantasy Award and was co-winner of the British Fantasy Award. Also selected by David Pringle as one of the hundred best fantasy novels. This copy is signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Slightly musty, otherwise near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate of horror writer Stanley Wiater on the front pastedown.
89. LEVIN, Ira. Rosemary's Baby. NY: Random House (1967). Reportedly the bestselling horror novel of the 1960s, and the basis for Roman Polanski's Academy Award-winning film adaptation -- one of the signature movies of the late 1960s. Bookplate of horror writer Stanley Wiater front flyleaf; near fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket. Laid in is an autograph note signed by Levin: "Hope you enjoy "Deathtrap" too. Sincerely, Ira Levin." The note is written on what was the title page of a 1968 Dell edition of Rosemary's Baby.
90. LEWIS, Sinclair. Arrowsmith. NY: Harcourt Brace (1925). The limited edition of Lewis' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, an award Lewis declined. This was the third book in the string of critical and commercial successes Lewis enjoyed in the 1920s, following Main Street and Babbitt and preceding Elmer Gantry and Dodsworth. In 1930, Lewis became the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is number 327 of 500 numbered copies signed by the author. A little offsetting to the hinges and a horizontal crease to the spine label, otherwise a fine copy in what appears to be the original acetate dust jacket, in a supplied slipcase, which follows the design of the original. One of the most attractive copies of this edition that we have seen.
91. LOVECRAFT, H.P. The Dunwich Horror and Others. Sauk City: Arkham House, 1963. A posthumous collection of stories by the horror master, published by the publishing company that took its name from the fictional New England city where many of his stories are set. One of 3000 copies. Bookplate (partially abraded) of horror writer Stanley Wiater on front flyleaf; a near fine copy in a fine dust jacket. A very attractive copy.
92. (LOVECRAFT, H.P.). Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Sauk City: Arkham House, 1969. Stories by Lovecraft and a dozen other writers based on Lovecraft's horror creation, Cthulhu. Writers include Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Block, Robert E. Howard, Henry Kuttner, Brian Lumley, J. Ramsey Campbell, Colin Wilson and others. Some of the pieces are original; others are first book appearances; others are reprinted form earlier collections. Bookplate of Stanley Wiater on the front flyleaf; small spot to front board, else fine in a fine dust jacket. One of 4000 copies.