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Catalog 164, B

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8. BAKER, Nicholson. A Box of Matches, with Matches. (London): Chatto & Windus (2002). The advance reading copy of the first British edition of this novel whose span of time is the time is takes the narrator to use a box of matches. Fine in wrappers. Together with a Chatto & Windus promotional book of matches with the author and title (and the pet duck) printed on the front cover. All matches present; fine. A bit of promotional cost-saving involved perhaps, as the novel turns on a box of matches rather than a book, though to be fair the first one or two matches in the story are taken from a book, but that was near empty at the start of the tale, hence the box. In any event, an uncommon Nicholson Baker promotional item (that can not be mailed internationally nor by air domestically).

9. (BALDWIN, James). "Peace On Earth" in Magpie, Spring 1940. [Bronx]: Dewitt Clinton High School, 1940. Baldwin's first appearance in print, a 4-page story in his high school literary magazine about four friends, three of them black, in a trench at war, waiting to be sent into action. Precedes his first book by 13 years. Baldwin was 15 years old when this story was published, and he was on the staff of Magpie as well as a contributor to it. Also includes several poems and a story by Richard Avedon, who was also on the staff of the magazine. In 1964, Avedon and Baldwin collaborated on a book, Nothing Personal, a volume of social commentary with photographs by Avedon and text by Baldwin. At that point the two had been friends for a quarter century; they both went on to be acclaimed as representing the pinnacle of their respective arts. The New Yorker recently referred to Baldwin as "the American Orwell," citing Baldwin's 1960 essay on "the ugly dynamic between white police officers and young black men in the neighborhood where he grew up" in a "Talk of the Town" piece about recent controversial, and fatal, encounters between police and black youths, using Baldwin's piece to provide a perspective that spans more than half a century. Small chips to yapped edges; very good in stapled wrappers. An early, extremely scarce publication by one of the leading African American writers of the 20th century, and a volume that documents the friendship between Baldwin and Avedon going back to their high school years.

10. (Basketball). KNIGHT, Bob. Let's Get a Good Shot. Walden: Robert M. Knight, 1969. The first book by "Bobby" Knight, the legendary basketball coach and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. At the time he retired, Knight was the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history. His teams won the national championship three times and he was named national Coach of the Year four times. He also coached the U.S. national team to an Olympic Gold Medal in 1984. This book was written while Knight was coaching at Army, before he took the job at Indiana where he earned most of his honors, including 11 league championships and eight league Coach of the Year awards. Knight's 1976 Indiana team, which won the national championship, was the last major college team to go undefeated for a full season. Knight was also a controversial figure, famous for his temper: on one occasion he threw a chair across the court during a game; and Hall of Fame player Larry Bird dropped out of school and quit basketball for a time rather than play for Knight. 28 numbered pages; several scuffs to covers. Owner name, a high school basketball coach at the time, inside both front and rear covers. Very good in stapled wrappers. Scarce.

11. (Basketball). KNIGHT, Bob. Quickness, Reaction, Practice Planning. Walden: Robert M. Knight, 1970. Knight's second book, written the year before he left the coaching job at West Point to become head coach at Indiana, where he won three national championships and became a legend in his own time. When Knight retired from coaching he had won more games than any other college coach. Since then he has been surpassed by two other coaches, one of whom, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University, was a player for Knight at West Point. 23 numbered pages; owner name inside both front and rear covers, else fine in stapled wrappers.

12. BEACH, Marion "Tumbleweed." Come Ride With Me. Chicago: DMAAH (1970). Poetry by an African-American woman from Alabama who was a social activist in the South and with American Indian groups. Warmly inscribed by "Tumbleweed" to well-known writer and activist Walter Lowenfels: "To Walter Lowenfels who the Indians of the Chicago Indian Village shall be forever indebted to." With a two-page signed manuscript poem, "The Theft of Two Continents," folded and tipped inside the front cover. Light staining to covers; very good in stapled wrappers.

13. BELLOW, Saul (and FOWLES, John). Herzog. (London): Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1964). John Fowles's copy of the first British edition of Bellow's Herzog, the Nobel Prize winner's second book (of three) to win the National Book Award. Fowles' bookplate front flyleaf. Foxing to page edges; a very good copy in a very good dust jacket.

14. (BOWLES, Paul.) Liner Notes for Black Star at the Point of Darkness. Brussels: Sub Rosa, 1990. The liner notes for a CD of spoken word recordings by Bowles, music composed by him, and music he recorded, composed and performed by others. The text of the liner notes is by Randall Barnwell, who produced the recording. Inscribed by Bowles to his biographer, Virginia [Spencer Carr], "with love," in 1994. Liner notes only, no CD. Fine.

15. BOWLES, Paul. Signed Poster for Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider. (n.p.): First Run Features [1994]. Poster for this 1994 documentary about Bowles by Catherine Warnow and Regina Weinreich that was filmed in Morocco and features Allen Ginsberg and Ned Rorem, among others. Bowles talks about his life and work and his marriage to Jane Bowles, and he reads from his own works in the film. He also composed much of the music used as the soundtrack. Inscribed by Bowles to his biographer Virginia [Spencer Carr], "with love." 24" x 37 1/2". Framed; fine. Very uncommon, especially signed, with a good association.

16. BOWLES, Paul. Inscribed Cardboard Cutout. (n.p.): (n.p.)(n.d.). Approximately 17" x 10" cardboard cutout of Bowles standing, smoking. In black and white but for a blue scarf. Inscribed twice by Bowles, once in Tangier and once in Atlanta, each time to Mary Robbins, Bowles's hostess when he traveled to the U.S. for surgery in 1994 and partner of Bowles's biographer, Virginia Spencer Carr. A few small abrasions on the back, perhaps where a cardboard stand attached. Near fine.

17. (BOWLES, Paul). Transatlantic Review 16. (London): (Transatlantic Review)(1964). Includes "The Oven," translated by Bowles from the Moghrebi of Driss Ben Hamid Charhadi. Signed by Bowles in 1997 in Tangier, at his contribution. Title page detached and laid in; sunning to spine. Good in wrappers.

18. BRADBURY, Ray. Fragments. Colorado Springs: Gauntlet Press, 2005. A chapbook of nine one-page pieces by Bradbury, reproduced from typescript, with illustrations by him reproduced for each piece. The pieces are fragments of nine unfinished Bradbury short stories dealing with the Halloween theme. Some are just a paragraph or two, others are longer. The chapbook was issued by Gauntlet to purchasers of their 2005 deluxe limited edition of their reissue of Bradbury's classic The Halloween Tree, along with ancillary materials. Donn Albright, who compiled and edited the collection, selected these pieces for printing, with Bradbury's consent. Fine in stapled wrappers.

19. BRAUTIGAN, Richard. A Confederate General from Big Sur. NY: Grove Press (1964). His first novel, after several small press poetry collections. Signed by Brautigan, with a drawing of a trout, and dated September 11, 1966. Brautigan's writings influenced an entire generation and, although he fell out of literary favor for a time -- culminating in his suicide in 1984 -- there was a resurgence of interest in his writings as he came to be seen as an American original whose whimsy, sensitivity and humor uniquely epitomized his time. Confederate General was issued by maverick publisher Barney Rosset, whose Grove Press had recently released long-banned works by such writers as Henry Miller, D.H. Lawrence, and William Burroughs, and who had published the Beat writers successfully, most especially Jack Kerouac. Brautigan's book did not find its target audience readily, and Grove, which had planned to publish his next novel, Trout Fishing in America, canceled the publication. Slight offsetting to the endpages and a little bit of foxing to the top edge; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with some top edge creasing to the rear panel.

20. BRAUTIGAN, Richard. Trout Fishing in America. San Francisco: Four Seasons, 1967. Third printing of Brautigan's breakthrough book, which established his unique writing style and sensibility and for the first time earned him a wide audience. Signed by Brautigan and dated March 13, 1969. With the 1969 ownership signature of writer and poet Charles Bell, creator of "Symbolic History," multimedia presentations on the history of Western Civilization. The Four Seasons edition went through several printings totaling 35,000 copies, an enormous number for this publisher but a tiny fraction of the more than 2 million copies the book has sold overall since being reprinted by major trade publishers. Slight rubbing, else fine in wrappers. A very nice copy of a book seldom found in this condition, and very scarce signed, especially in the original publisher's edition.

21. BUCK, Pearl S. Of Men and Women. NY: John Day (1941). The first book of nonfiction -- "an inquiry into the basic scheme of American living" -- by the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Good Earth, among many other books. Inscribed by the author to legendary Philadelphia bookseller Mabel Zahn: "For Mabel Zahn, with my sincere regards, Pearl S. Buck." Zahn worked for 70 (!) years at the venerable Philadelphia bookstore, Sessler's, and for the last several decades she was the head of the rare book room at Sessler's, and thus in regular and close contact with the generation of collectors that included Huntington, Morgan, Folger, Widener, etc., and became a well-known and prominent personage in that circle. Small stain at spine crown corresponding to a jacket chip there; very good in a very good, spine-tanned dust jacket with very minor edge loss.

22. BUKOWSKI, Charles. Shakespeare Never Did This. (San Francisco): City Lights Books (1979). A book of nonfiction, recounting Bukowski's trip to Europe, illustrated with numerous photographs by Michael Montfort. Inscribed by Bukowski: "For Silvana -- Happy #50, Beautiful One. Charles Bukowski [with self-caricature and bottle]." With the address label of director Barbet Schroeder on the inside front cover, along with a coffee splot that has been circled, labeled "Authentic!" and signed, Barbet. Laid in is an autograph note signed from Schroeder to Silvana presenting this book as her birthday gift. Schroeder directed Bukowski's Barfly in 1987, in addition to interviewing him and directing The Charles Bukowski Tapes the same year. A near fine copy of the issue in wrappers.

23. (BUKOWSKI, Charles). AMIDEI, Sergio; FERRERI, Marco; FOUTZ, Anthony. Tales of Ordinary Madness. Rome: (Nuova Stampa)[1981]. The screenplay by Amidei, Ferreri and Foutz (in English) for the 1981 film based on Bukowski's stories. Bukowski's collection Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness was published in 1972; there wasn't a collection entitled Tales of Ordinary Madness until 1983. Ben Gazzara starred in the well-received film, which won a number of awards in Italy where it was made: the screenplay won a David di Donatello award, roughly the equivalent of the Oscar, and Marco Ferreri also won a Best Director David, as well as a Golden Goblet and Silver Ribbon for Best Director, Italy's other major cinema awards. This copy is signed by Bukowski on the front cover. Velobound, with gray cardstock covers and a typed label on the front cover. Near fine. Scarce: we have never encountered another copy of it, let alone a copy signed by Bukowski.

24. BURKE, James Lee. The Lost Get-Back Boogie. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1986. After publishing three novels in the late Sixties and early Seventies, Burke went 15 years without having a novel published in hardcover, until LSU -- which had recently had great critical and commercial success publishing John Kennedy Toole's posthumous, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces -- published this. Critical reception was immediate and extremely positive, and the following year Burke had the first book in his award-winning Dave Robicheaux mystery series published by a major New York publisher. It can rightly be said that this was his breakthrough book. A complimentary and prophetic dust jacket blurb by novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler bears repeating: "James Lee Burke has one of the most self-assured, supple and enchanting voices in modern fiction. And he makes us see through a character's surface to his soul, a rare and wonderful thing. The Lost Get-Back Boogie is a splendid novel, and I hope it wins Burke the wide audience he deserves." It began the process, and the Robicheaux series secured that readership. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine jacket.

25. BURROUGHS, William S. Naked Lunch. Paris: Olympia (1959). The first edition of his second book, one of the all-time great drug novels and a high spot of Beat and postwar American literature -- one of the three key volumes of the Beat movement, along with Kerouac's On the Road and Ginsberg's Howl. This is the first issue, without the New Franc stamp over the original old franc price on the rear cover. Published only in paperback in Paris by Maurice Girodias' important small press, in an edition of 5000 copies (comprising both "issues"), three years before it could be published in the U.S. This copy belonged to the author Peter Matthiessen, who co-founded The Paris Review in 1953 and bears his ownership signature. Slight foredge foxing and minor sunning to the spine and rear panel; near fine in a very good dust jacket with just a few small edge chips.

26. BUSCH, Frederick. Harry and Catherine and Typed Postcard Signed. NY: Knopf, 1990. A well-received novel by a highly praised writer. Warmly inscribed by the author in the month after publication: "Dear Irene [Wanner], friend of my youth, good writer, good potter, good chum - Love, Fred/ 4/90." Laid in is a typed postcard signed to Wanner, from six years prior, in which Busch congratulates her on getting into Ploughshares and offers to "write about you to Dorland, if they ask." Busch also has fine things to say about his early publisher, Godine: "I love Godine for much. They did Invisible Mending marvelously, & ditto Too Late American Boyhood Blues, due out from them in August..." The book is near fine in a near fine dust jacket; the postcard is fine.

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