Catalog 169

Los Angeles, Self-Published, 1942. A highly charged self-published novel of race relations, the author's first book. "Review Copy," as noted on the front cover. Modest sunning and handling; about near fine in printed white wrappers. Offsetting to pp. 14-15 where the review by P.A. Malone (still present) was laid in, which calls it a "much-needed publication" and declares that "this work may go down in history as a great social document -- to rank side by side with the works of the world's great masters." [#033020] SOLD

(Tucson), Dennis McMillan, 1996. The trade edition, in a trial dust jacket. Signed by the author. This particular copy of the long-awaited second novel by the author of Sympathy for the Devil has a different photograph on the rear panel of the jacket than the published edition, one showing a night-time storefront with a sign advertising "Liquor, Guns & Ammo," which later became the title of another of Anderson's books. The jacket flaps lack copy. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with creasing to the top edge. Rare, possibly unique. [#030672] $500

NY, Persea Books, (1991). The uncorrected proof copy of this multicultural anthology of American fiction of the 20th century. More than three dozen contributors: signed by contributors Bharati Mukherjee, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gish Jen, Richard Bausch, Oscar Hijuelos and Helena Maria Viramontes. Fine in wrappers. [#032999] $175

Santa Fe, Clear Light, (1992). The limited edition of this collection of pieces on Indian tribes and the history of their relationships with the United States government. Contributors include such notable Native American writers as Vine Deloria, Jr., John Mohawk, Oren Lyons, and others. From the library of Peter Matthiessen, who provides the foreword. Copy 18 of 300 numbered copies. Signed by eight contributors, including Vine Deloria, Jr. Matthiessen is not included among the signers. Copy 18 of 300 numbered copies. Leatherbound, fine but for the contributor's page adhering to the rear cover, a production flaw. In a fine slipcase. A contributor's copy of an uncommon edition. [#032419] $400

NY, Living Theater, 1952. The program for the performance of Ashbery's first play, at the Cherry Theatre in New York in August, 1952. Precedes Ashbery's first book, Turandot and Other Poems, by a year. Directed by Judith Malina, co-founder of the Living Theatre, with casting and costumes by her husband, Julian Beck, the other co-founder, who also plays Theseus in the play. Not listed in Kermani's bibliography. Bound back to back with the program for Alfred Jarry's Ubu the King. 8 pages, including covers. Stapled wrappers. Fragile, but near fine. Very early Ashbery, and quite early also for the Living Theatre, which was founded in 1947 and came to prominence in the 1950s. [#033153] SOLD

1971. From the estate of Pauline Kael. An original Avedon print, titled and signed by the artist in 1971. Richard Avedon began his career as a fashion photographer in 1945, and he came to be known as the preeminent contemporary American portrait photographer. This image, of the one-time lovable Little Tramp posing as the Devil on his last day in the U.S., is one of Avedon's most famous, and one of the most famous images of Chaplin. Chaplin, who had long sought teenage girls as his lovers and wives, was hounded by years of persecution for his sexual proclivities and his left-leaning views. In 1944 he was involved in a high-profile scandal when he was indicted on charges involving a young actress he had brought to California and, although he was exonerated on all counts, the negative publicity began a series of events culminating in his voluntary exile from the U.S. eight years later. In addition, the FBI had stepped up its investigations of him as a result of his public statements in support of Russia and Soviet Communism. In 1952, when Chaplin left for England to promote his film "Limelight," the U.S. Attorney General used the opportunity to revoke his re-entry permit (Chaplin had never been an American citizen) unless Chaplin agreed to even more scrutiny of his private life. Chaplin opted to settle in Switzerland with his third wife, Oona O'Neill (daughter of Eugene O'Neill). This Avedon image is the final image of Chaplin in America and a pointed reference to his demonization by the American press and government. Pauline Kael's first film review, in 1953, was of Chaplin's "Limelight." She didn't like it, and it launched her career. 19-3/4" x 15-3/4". Fine. [#017958] $6,000

Cambridge, Granta, (1989). The first British edition of his highly praised first book, which examines to great effect the minutiae of a few moments in the life of an ordinary office worker. Signed by the author on a publisher's bookplate affixed to the front flyleaf. Trace top edge foxing, else fine in a fine dust jacket. [#033154] $75

(n.p.), (n.p.), (n.d.). A broadside of this short ode to bears by Beekman, whose collection of poems by the same name was issued by Pennyroyal Press in 1984, with two wood engravings by Barry Moser. Although Moser is unnamed here, this appears to be one of those engravings. This copy is signed by Beekman and dated 1990. 14" x 17", matted and framed to 18-1/2" x 21-1/2". Fine. In addition to being a poet, Beekman also translated the 17th century naturalist Rumphius' Ambonese Herbal, published by Yale in six volumes in 2011. [#033155] SOLD

Buenos Aires, Sur, (1937). Borges' translation of Woolf's 1928 epic transgender classic. Sur's founder, Victoria Ocampo, had found a friend and kindred spirit in Woolf and had Borges translate several of Woolf's works for publication, even before Sur published Borges' own works (El Jardin de Senderos Que Se Bifurcan in 1942 and Ficciones in 1944). This copy is signed by Borges on the title page. From the library of Donald Yates, Borges' translator and longtime friend. Pages browned; first blank detached; cocked, with wear to edges and joints. A very good copy in wrappers, with distinguished provenance. Uncommon, especially signed, and particularly with a good literary association. [#033000] SOLD

[Syracuse], (Syracuse University), May 1930. Bowles, listed as a guest author from the University of Virginia, contributes a three-page essay on poetry entitled "Blue Vowels." There is also a biographical paragraph listing his previous appearances in print in the U.S., in Mexico, in Belgium, in France, and in Monaco, and saying that he is planning to establish a magazine of his own in 1931. General wear; very good in stapled wrappers. Scarce: not listed in Miller's bibliography. OCLC locates only six institutions with copies of this issue. [#033156] SOLD

NY, Grove Press, (1964). A review copy of his first novel. 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 epitomized his time. Small spot to foredge, small tap to crown, and mild fading to board edges; still near fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket with shallow chipping to the crown. Uncommon as an advance copy. [#026689] SOLD

(Chicago), (Literary Times-Cyfoeth), 1965. "Overlooked" poems by Bukowski: a self-selected collection of thirteen poems published in magazines but never previously collected in book form. With a "foreward" [sic] by the author. One of 500 copies, Bukowski's only self-published book. Stapled wrappers; near fine. [#033001] SOLD

Cambridge, Harvard, (1933). The freshman yearbook for Burroughs' class. Includes a photograph of William Seward Burroughs at 19 years old. One of Burroughs' classmates was James Laughlin, who founded New Directions publishing company in 1936 -- each of the two playing important but disparate roles in shaping the American literature of the next half century. Rubbing to joints; play in the binding; owner name front flyleaf and a few pencil check marks next to some photos. A very good copy. [#033002] SOLD

NY, Atlantic Monthly, (1996). Her first book, a collection of her "Sex and the City" columns for The New York Observer, which humorously recounted her own and her friends' dating experiences. Later adapted into the popular and long-running television series, and further adapted to two (so far) movies. However, prior to the title's and the author's fame and celebrity, the book reportedly had a modest first printing of 5000 copies. Signed by the author: "For a good time, read this book! [Heart] Candace." Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#033158] SOLD

(Paris), Falaize, (1952). An out-of-series copy of this bilingual edition of 3000 numbered copies of Wilde's poem, printed here with Camus' "L'Artiste en Prison," which delineates Wilde's journey from themes of ideal beauty to existential suffering. Inscribed by Camus (in French): "to Sylvestre,/ a remembrance of Iguape/ and with the friendly thoughts/ of Albert Camus." While context does not give explanation to the reference to Iguape, one of Camus' last stories, "The Growing Stone" -- the final story in Camus' last collection, Exile and the Kingdom -- is set in Iguape, Brazil. It has been said that this story is the clearest manifestation of Camus' ideals: in it, the protagonist sacrifices himself to help a friend, and behaves morally despite his own understanding of the absurdity of the world. Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, the year Exile and the Kingdom was published, and the Prize committee cited his "clear-sighted earnestness [which] illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times." As best we can tell, this is the first appearance in print of "L'Artiste en Prison," which was translated into English and published in Encounter magazine two years later. A very near fine copy in French wraps. Books inscribed by Camus are uncommon; the author died in 1960 in a car accident, at the age of 46. [#030104] $3,750

Baltimore, Friends of the Land, 1951. Five pages of text by Carson, reprinted from the second half of the chapter "The Birth of an Island" from The Sea Around Us. There is also a three-page review of the book, which The Land names as its Top Choice from the current publishing season of books on the relationship of Man and the Land: The Sea Around Us went on to win the National Book Award and a John Burroughs Medal; the documentary based on the book won the Academy Award. Spine rolled; light vertical creasing to cover and several pages; one penciled check mark next to the date on the cover; very good. [#033003] SOLD

Baltimore, Friends of the Land, 1951. Five pages of text by Carson, reprinted from the second half of the chapter "The Birth of an Island" from The Sea Around Us. There is also a three-page review of the book, which The Land names as its Top Choice from the current publishing season of books on the relationship of Man and the Land: The Sea Around Us went on to win the National Book Award and a John Burroughs Medal; the documentary based on the book won the Academy Award. Spine rolled and nicked; a few water spots to dulled covers; still very good in wrappers. [#033004] $85

NY, Simon and Schuster, (2014). A book by the former President of the U.S. focused on the systematic discrimination against, and oppression of, women and girls around the world. Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, long after his term as POTUS. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#033005] SOLD

NY, Knopf, 1978. A massive volume, which includes all the stories from five of his six previous collections (The Way Some People Live -- his first book, which he declined to reprint during his lifetime -- being the exception) as well as four stories that had never previously appeared in book form. Signed by the author. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and, in its later paperback release, the National Book Award. Foxing to top edge, inadvertent turns to some lower page corners, slight push to spine; still near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a short, closed tear at the crown. [#033159] SOLD

NY, Pantheon, (1964). Winner of the 1965 National Book Award for Arts and Letters. Inscribed by the author to Peter [Matthiessen] and his wife, "with love & thanks" in 1965. A good association copy: Matthiessen would win his first National Book Award the following year, for At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Clark was married to Robert Penn Warren, himself a National Book Award winner, at the time she published this book. Very good in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket. [#032460] $250

NY, Simon & Schuster, (1996). Her first book, written while she was First Lady in the Bill Clinton White House. Signed by Clinton on the publisher's tipped-in leaf. Mild foxing to top edge, and dampstaining near the lower spine, mostly visible on the verso of the jacket: near fine in a near fine dust jacket. [#033160] SOLD

London, Bodley Head, (1999). A young adult novel set in Shakespeare's England, by the author of acclaimed sequence of novels collectively entitled The Dark Is Rising. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#033161] $75

1950. Written to the editor of the San Francisco literary magazine Gryphon, in its first year of publication, poetically requesting advance proofs, prompt publication, and retained copyright. The last line reads: "? If so, please let me know. Good luck anyhow." Signed, "E.E. Cummings." Cummings has also handwritten his Patchin Place, NY City return address on the front. Water droplets to the return address; a tape shadow across the text; otherwise near fine. The Fall 1950 issue, Gryphon 2, did feature a Cummings poem, entitled "Poem." [#033006] $375

NY, Painters and Sculptors Gallery, 1932. Small flyer (one sheet, folded to make four pages) for a show that ran the month of December, 1932. An entertaining biography of Cummings covers most of the inner pages, bearing the notation "from Anthropos or the Future of Art." Anthropos, a one-act play by Cummings, was not published as a book until 1944, but the play did appear, in 1930, in Whither Whither, or After Sex What? The brief biography ends by reporting that Cummings "was buried alive in Harvard (1912-15)." A bit of top edge creasing; one horizontal fold; very good. [#033007] $200

(NY), Grenfell Press, 1983. Copy No. 78 of 125 copies. Signed by Guy Davenport. An assemblage about the life of sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, with twelve drawings by Davenport and five reproductions of Gaudier pen and ink drawings. One of 115 copies bound in quarter morocco with printed Fabriano paper over boards. Mild sunning to the spine and rear board; near fine. With publisher's prospectus for a forthcoming book laid in. [#033162] $1,500

ca. 1965. The first draft typescript of Dick's story "Faith of Our Fathers," published in 1967 in the collection Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison. 39 pages, on onion skin paper, with Dick's holograph corrections throughout. Together with both the manuscript page and the carbon of page 43, representing the final page of Dick's second draft (which was longer than the first draft after emendations). Nearly 100 changes evident in Dick's hand, plus his handwritten insertion of the title after the typing. Dick would change the ending once again prior to publication. This manuscript, and the additional sheets, were given to Ray Nelson by Dick during their collaboration on The Ganymede Takeover in 1966. In 1986, Nelson gave the pages to Dick's widow, Anne Dick. That mailing envelope is included. Several years later, Anne Dick gifted the manuscript to PKD scholar Sam Umland, from whom it came to us. Anne Dick's autograph note signed to Umland is included. All items, except the mailing envelope from Nelson to Anne Dick, are fine. "Faith of Our Fathers" was nominated for the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. Since his untimely death at age 53 in 1982, Philip K. Dick has gained the reputation he sought throughout his life -- that of a writer who transcended the science fiction genre. His works are seen as social commentary as much as genre fiction, and his struggles with drugs and with altered states of consciousness -- to the point where reality itself was in question -- have been seen as metaphors for the predicament of humanity in the modern era: alienated, deceived by our leaders and our politics and our religions, and grasping for some measure of understanding in a hall of mirrors. Many of Dick's manuscripts have been institutionalized, and manuscript material by him seldom shows up on the market. [#033008] SOLD

1978. A full-page typed letter signed from Dick to Hazel Pierce, author of the Philip K. Dick Starmont Reader's Guide (1982), in which Dick directs her how to get permission to quote from his work; agrees to meet with her; confesses the project appeals to his vanity; and divulges that a speech of his to which she apparently has access was intended for a French audience, and "When I write something for France, or am interviewed by the French, I always make startling claims which I can't back up, knowing that French scholarship does not require the empirical validation of the Anglo-Saxon world's methodology." Included is the original mailing envelope: Dick has written his phone number on the back. Pierce's reply is included, in which she sent Dick a 3-page chronology of his life for correction and an additional page of 14 questions for him to answer, in a fill-in-the-blank style. Dick's handwritten corrections and responses, approximately 30, are included. For example, he fills in the last names of his wives, some significant dates, answers that the Western writer Will Cook was an influence on his writing, and notes that his work in progress is "VALIS." This chronology was included in Pierce's guide, which was published shortly after Dick's death. The letter appeared in Dick's Selected Letters. Stray pen mark on the text of Dick's letter; mailing folds and mild age-toning; otherwise the lot is fine. A notable piece of what might be called Dick-iana. Unique. [#033009] $5,000

[NY], [HBJ], [(1978)]. Ivan Doig's own set of page proofs of his first publication for the general book trade. Signed and titled by Doig on the dedication page (the first sheet present) and with several corrections in his hand. Numbered to 314 pages, printed on rectos only; roughly 7" x 9" sheets, in a 3-ring binder. With a signed letter of provenance from Doig, on his stationery, attesting to the set as being from his archives and with his corrections. A memoir of growing up in Montana with his father and grandmother, This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind was voted one of the five best books ever written on Montana; it won the Christopher Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Doig also received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association. Tape to copyright page and a few paper clips scattered throughout; else a fine set. A unique copy of a modern classic, with impeccable provenance. [#030111] $2,500

Boston, National Association of Settlements, 1928. Published the month after Earhart's first transatlantic flight, as a passenger (or, in her terms, "baggage"); the flight nonetheless made her famous, brought her celebrity endorsements, and helped fund her flying career, allowing her to quit the job she had here, as a social worker at Boston's Denison House. This issue of Neighborhood prints Earhart's answers to a questionnaire she had filled out at the Boston Conference of the National Federation of Settlements, and clearly shows thoughtfulness of response, with an awareness of the work as being undervalued and underpaid, and a clear sense that, although one can find meaning and purpose within social work, one (she) can certainly also find it in other realms. There is also a piece about Earhart, by Marion Perkins, describing seeing Earhart off on the day of the flight; and an unattributed write up dedicating this issue to Earhart and to Graham Taylor. Prints a photo of Earhart in flying garb. Jane Addams contributes a piece on Taylor. Stapled wrappers; handling apparent to covers, with tiny edge chips. A very good copy, documenting the waning stages of Earhart's earthbound working life. [#033163] SOLD

NY/San Francisco, Knopf/McSweeney's, 2014. The uncorrected proof copy of this Eggers novel, built entirely of a conversation between the protagonist and his kidnapped astronaut. Fine in wrappers, with a Knopf Canada label on the rear cover that changes the contact information printed beneath, as well as the publication date and price. [#033164] $100