Catalog 161, O-Q
121. OWENS, Iris. After Claude. NY: FSG (1973). A novel that has come to be viewed as an underground classic, by a writer who befriended Alexander Trocchi in Paris in the 1950s. A provocative proto-feminist who routinely defied boundaries and conventions, she supported herself writing pornography for Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press under the pen-name Harriet Daimler; the work often centered around rape fantasies. Reportedly she was the only writer Girodias ever asked to "tone it down." Owens died in 2008, and After Claude was reissued in 2010 by New York Review Books, with an introduction by Emily Prager. Signed by the author. Dampstaining to upper rear board edge; foxing to foredge; near fine in a fine dust jacket. Books signed by Owens are scarce.
122. PAGLIA, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson. (n.p.): (Vintage Books)(1991). An advance excerpt of the Vintage paperback edition of this popular and controversial bestseller, first published by Yale University Press in 1990. Contains excerpts from seven sections of the book, which is an analysis and critique of Western culture Signed by the author. Roughly 32 pages; fine in stapled wrappers.
123. PALEY, Grace. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. NY: FSG (1973). The second collection of stories by one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary masters of the short story. Nominated for the National Book Award. Inscribed by the author to Shirley Solotaroff: "Shirley my old pal/ love/ Grace." Fine in a fine dust jacket with a bit of rubbing to the black front panel.
124. PORTER, Eliot. The Place No One Knew. Glen Canyon on the Colorado. San Francisco: Sierra Club (1963). A landmark volume, and a photographic elegy. Seventy-two color plates by Porter, captioned by words from such writers as Loren Eiseley, Wallace Stegner, Frank Waters and Aldo Leopold, among many others. Edited, and with a foreword by David Brower that begins: "Glen Canyon died in 1963 and I was partly responsible for its needless death. So were you." Glen Canyon, the astonishing beauty of which is conveyed in some measure in Porter's photographs, was flooded when the Colorado River was dammed, creating Lake Powell. This copy belonged to activist, actress, author, songwriter, and river runner Katie Lee. Inscribed to her: "To Miss Katie Lee with cheers and sympathy! Sara and Army/ 8/63* (*year of the arm)." On the front endpapers, which feature a map and legend, Lee has written: "Well, WE knew it, & far better than the man who took these pictures, or David who wrote the foreword with much feeling and reason. Katie Lee." She has then, above the legend, written, "Below are the names 'We Three' [Lee, Tad Nichols and Frank Wright] gave the canyons underlined," and 13 places are underlined. In addition, Lee has corrected, on the map and in the legend, the location of Dove Canyon and the name of Little Dungeon Canyon (which she calls "Happy"). At the end of David Brower's foreword, Lee has written: "David and Ann were here this fall." In Eliot Porter's introductory essay, "The Living Canyon," Lee has underlined a number of passages and written comments in the margins, in effect creating a dialogue between Porter and herself. Lee's address label on the front pastedown; her embossed blindstamp on the first blank; and her bookplate on the verso of the first blank. Offsetting to several pages from the inscription; trace rubbing to cloth at corners; a near fine copy, lacking the dust jacket. The Place No One Knew, a heavily illustrated quarto in what was called the "Exhibit Format," was one of the first books published by the Sierra Club's publishing arm, which was founded by David Brower during his tenure as President of the club. Katie Lee has been an environmental activist since the 1950s: in 1953 she became the 175th person to run the Grand Canyon since John Wesley Powell's first run in 1869 and just the third woman. During the decade prior to the damming of Glen Canyon, she ran that part of the Colorado River repeatedly, and she actively protested the damming at the time, to no avail. She was a longtime friend of David Brower. A notable association copy of a book that played an important role in bringing an environmental awareness to a wide audience in the early 1960s. Unique.
125. POWERS, Kevin. The Yellow Birds. [London]: (Sceptre)(2012). The first issue uncorrected proof copy of the true first (British) edition of the author's highly praised first novel. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Guardian Book Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award, and one of The New York Times ten best books of the year. This proof is shot from photo-reduced typescript, bound in light yellow wrappers with three blurbs on the rear panel, by Colm Toibin, Chris Cleave, and Philipp Meyer. Faint handling apparent to covers; very near fine in wrappers.
126. -. Same title, the second issue proof copy of the British edition. (London): Sceptre (2012). Typeset, bound in medium yellow wrappers with a photo of the author on the inside front cover, two blurbs on the front cover and only one blurb (by Philipp Meyer) on the rear cover. Fine in wrappers, with publicity sheet laid in.
127. -. Same title. The advance reading copy of the first American edition. NY: Little Brown (2012). Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers. An uncommon advance issue, especially signed.
128. (Presidential Aspirations). "When Did You Stop Wanting To Be President of the United States?" (n.p.): (Harper's Magazine) (1974-1975). In 1974, Harper's conducted an "unscientific poll of interested parties," to be published in the March 1975 issue, on the subject of when the respondents stopped wanting to be President. Included here are the original, typescript replies of Theodore Sorensen, former Special Counsel (and speechwriter) to President Kennedy; Eugene J. McCarthy, former Minnesota Senator, who ran for President in 1968 (Democrat), 1972 (Democrat), 1976 (Independent), 1988 (Consumer-Progressive) and 1992 (Democrat); Kevin Phillips, Republican Party strategist (later an Independent) and author of The Emerging Republican Majority; and Kevin H. White, Democratic Mayor of Boston. White, over three pages, doesn't answer the question, but rather muses on the institution of the Presidency and the responsibilities inherent in and potential abuses of political office; Sorensen dates his decision to never be President to the birth of his daughter and his desire for privacy. His one-page answer concludes with a plea for "public financing and other campaign reforms" some time in the next three decades (a span that must have seemed adequate at the time). Phillips full-page response blames Johnson, Nixon and his "twerps," and Ford for his disillusionment with the institution. McCarthy, in a 2-page response, doesn't acknowledge giving up being willing to be President and suggests that by 1976 he may even start wanting to be. All the responses are unsigned, copyedited in pencil, and have a brief author bio added in pencil. All have been folded, apparently for mailing. With a (copyedited) cover page typed on the verso of Harper's stationery. The lot is near fine or better. An interesting look at politicians and other prominent individuals with political backgrounds commenting on the institution of the Presidency as well as their own political ambitions or lack thereof.
129. PRIEST, Christopher. An Infinite Summer. London: Faber and Faber (1979). A collection of stories by the award-winning author, including the first of his stories to feature the Dream Archipelago, which appears in a number of his works. Priest has won the James Tait Black Memorial Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the British Science Fiction Association's award for Best Novel four times. This copy is signed by the author on the title page. With an autograph letter signed by Priest to John Fowles laid in, saying Faber was intending to send him a copy but Priest feared it would be misconstrued as a review solicitation, given the strong review Fowles had given a previous book [A Dream of Wessex], so Priest was sending one along himself so that it be received only as "inadequate appreciation for a lot of kind encouragement. You do not even have to read it! (However, if you have the time to glance through "The Negation" you might discover a fingerprint I put in for you...." One may infer Priest means a metaphorical fingerprint, as no actual fingerprint is in evidence. The book is fine in a fine dust jacket, with Fowles' blindstamp on the front flyleaf; the letter is folded to fit in the book, else fine. A nice literary association copy between two highly regarded British writers.
130. PRITCHETT, V.S. Collected Stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1956. A collection of stories by the novelist, critic, travel writer and short story writer. Pritchett was most well-known, and most highly regarded, for his short fiction. He has been compared to Chekhov and in fact also wrote a well-received biography of Chekhov. This is a family association copy, inscribed by Pritchett, "To mother and father with all my love Victor." A couple of incidental turns to page corners; very near fine in a near fine dust jacket with several tiny edge chips. A very nice copy.
131. PURDY, James. Line Drawings. 1991-1993. Nine drawings by James Purdy, novelist and outsider artist, most of them signed. Most are on 9" x 12" sketch book paper.
- Profile in blue marker, 2 lines. Unsigned.
- Profile in blue marker, 2 or 3 lines, with blue dots. Unsigned.
- Single portrait in black marker, 7 or 8 lines. Signed, 1991.
- Three faces, two in profile, in blue marker, 1 or 2 lines. Signed, 1992.
- Double portrait/embrace in black pen, 7 or 8 lines. 8 1/2" x 11" sketch book paper. Signed, 1992.
- Double portrait/embrace in black marker, 5 or 6 lines, 9" x 12", heavier stock paper. Signed, 1992.
- Double portrait in black pen, 11" x 14", heavier stock paper. 5 or 6 lines. Signed, 1992.
- Double portrait/embrace, 18" x 24", 5 lines, in black marker. Signed by Purdy in 1993.
- An 8 1/2" x 11" cover sheet, written in Purdy's hand in black pen, for his story "Brawith by James Purdy." On this page, the drawing is the signature, as the "Purdy" seems to also serve as a rudimentary self-caricature. "Brawith" was published in The Antioch Review in 1994.
The set is rolled; the sketch pages each have a perforated edge; the largest drawing is sunned on the lower edge; else fine.
Purdy was a highly respected novelist and iconic figure in the history of gay literature. Edward Albee famously commented that there was a James Purdy renaissance every ten years, like clockwork. Purdy counted among his close friends Albee (who adapted his early novel "Malcolm" for the stage), Tennessee Williams, and Gore Vidal, who called him "an authentic American genius," and he was praised and admired by such writers as Paul and Jane Bowles, Dorothy Parker, and Dame Edith Sitwell, among many others. His early artistic career was fostered by his relationship with the Chicago artist Gertrude Abercrombie, who was at the center of an artistic circle that included most of the great jazz musicians of Chicago in the 1930s -- Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, and others -- all of them "outsiders" of one sort or another. Purdy would be, for his entire career, an outsider himself and someone who wrote about outsiders. His first book was deemed unpublishable by mainstream publishers in 1956 so he had it privately printed. He chanced to send a copy to Dame Edith Sitwell, who was so impressed by it that she arranged to publish his second book, which had to be printed outside of the U.S. because of censorship laws. Purdy designed the books himself and illustrated them with line drawings like the ones in this group, and over his lifetime he produced an unknown, but large, number of such drawings. This James Purdy collection comes from the daughter of a woman named Elaine Benton: she was the wife of poet and novelist William Benton, and was a neighbor and good friend of Purdy. Their friendship began in 1983 and continued until her death in 1999. They were nearby neighbors in Brooklyn Heights and saw each other almost every day, taking walks in the neighborhood and also working together on Purdy's writings: Benton was the person who would read aloud to him his works-in-progress so that he could hear how his writing sounded and make revisions on the basis of that. When Elaine Benton died, these were left to her daughter. A very good collection of drawings by Purdy, with excellent provenance.