Catalog 170

1977, 1984-1985. Frederic Leopold, brother of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold, was interviewed in 1984 by George Stanley, for a 1985 article in Ducks Unlimited, ostensibly about Frederic Leopold's passion for the preservation of wood duck populations. Included here are copies of correspondence (4 pieces) between Leopold and Stanley; copies of three letters to Leopold from H. Albert Hochbaum (an artist and naturalist who did his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin under the supervision of Aldo Leopold); a copy of the typescript of Stanley's article prior to publication; tear sheets of the published article; a copy of Leopold's 44-page "Wood Duck Nesting Study, 1943-1977"; a note from Leopold conveying all of the above to his daughter Edith, and a note from Edith Leopold forwarding the lot to "Sam." Several of the above bear Frederic Leopold's handwritten notes or comments. A fascinating archive that tells perhaps three different stories: first, there is Leopold's detailed study of the wood duck, via his 44-page synopsis of his 35-year study (claspbound in a blue cardstock binder with typed label on the front cover), complete with a fold-out copy of his handwritten observations in a dozen categories over those years. Second, there is the Duck's Unlimited article, which at multiple turns tries to be about Aldo Leopold, even beginning with the words, "His brother..,." and talking quite a bit about the brothers' upbringing as hunters and outdoorsmen and extolling the ethic of the latter, and the former by association. Third, there is the back story told in correspondence, as Frederic Leopold, with insightful support from Hochbaum, tries to persuade Stanley to accurately reflect in the article his belief in the necessity of "a reduction in our annual kill by hunters," in the face of Stanley's stated need to be "diplomatic" about such views within the publication. There are differences between the advanced typescript provided and the published text, but not those wished for by Leopold. All items near fine. A revealing archive of, in the words of Ducks Unlimited, "the elder statesman of conservation's leading family." [#033347] SOLD

NY, Harcourt Brace, (1994). The uncorrected proof copy of the genre-bending first book by the author of Motherless Brooklyn and the Fortress of Solitude, among others. Signed by the author. Lethem combines a hard-boiled detective story with a futuristic, science fiction setting -- San Francisco, hundreds of years in the future, where genetic manipulations have led to talking -- "evolved" -- animals and other strange effects of advanced technologies. The proof reproduces at least one holograph correction, and the pagination is reproduced holograph. Label with publication date, price, and ISBN number now lifting off the front cover; else fine in wrappers. [#033477] SOLD

NY, Viking, 1956. One of the great writers of The New Yorker, here writing on the subject of boxing. All of the essays in the book appeared in the magazine, and this title is considered one of Liebling's greatest books and one of the finest books on boxing ever. Time selected it as one of the 100 best and most influential nonfiction books written since 1923, the year the magazine was started, and Sports Illustrated at one point called it the best book on sport ever written. Fine in a very good dust jacket with fading to the spine lettering and modest edge wear. [#033478] SOLD

(NY), Signet, (2002). The uncorrected proof copy of this mass market paperback original -- horror fiction, with no fewer than five appearances of Stephen King comments about Little's books on the covers and the inside pages, as well as blurbs or review excerpts by Dean Koontz, Richard Laymon, and others. An unread copy, with a hint of a binding crease to the rear panel, else fine in wrappers. [#033479] $45

NY, TOR/Doherty, (2002). Edited by Lumley and by Stanley Wiater. Of a total edition of 450 copies, this is Copy "P" of 50 lettered copies reserved for the author and publisher, signed by Lumley and Wiater and by Bob Eggleton, who provides the endpaper art. Clothbound; fine without dust jacket, as issued, in a very near fine pictorial cardstock slipcase. From the library of co-editor Stanley Wiater. [#033206] SOLD

London, Cassell, [1932]. The uncorrected proof copy of Mackenzie's suppressed memoir of his time working for MI6, the British intelligence service, during WWI; the book was withdrawn on the day of publication as a violation of the Official Secrets Act. and Mackenzie was prosecuted and fined. In the book he revealed the existence of the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) and was critical of particular individuals. He was later placed on MI5's watch list, and his activities were monitored by the British domestic intelligence service. An edited version of Greek Memories was published in 1939. Mackenzie was knighted in 1952. Spine slant; initials to rear cover; staining and bookstore (?) label to front cover; good in wrappers. Few copies of the 1932 edition survived; proof copies are especially uncommon. [#027408] SOLD

(Pawlet), Banyan Press, (1978). Copy No. 239 of 320 copies, signed by the author. Unmarked, but from the library of Edward Hoagland. Modest prior dampening evident to boards; near fine, without dust jacket, as issued. [#033480] SOLD

(Abingdon), Cemetery Dance Publications, 1998. Fourteen Matheson Twilight Zone scripts, edited and with commentary by Stanley Wiater. Matheson, the author of such novels as Bid Time Return and I Am Legend, was one of the two authors -- Charles Beaumont being the other -- whose scriptwriting set The Twilight Zone apart from other television series of its time and made it a standard against which much television since has been measured. Several of Matheson's scripts have come to be considered classic shows, including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Night Call," adapted from one of the author's own short stories. Wiater's commentary puts the scripts in context, as well as locating Rod Serling's show within the ongoing history of classic horror fiction and film. 500 numbered copies and 52 lettered copies were done; this copy is designated "PC" and is from Wiater's personal library. Signed by Matheson and Wiater. Fine in a fine slipcase. [#033203] SOLD

NY, Citadel, (2009). First thus: originally published in different form in 2007 as The Richard Matheson Companion. A collection of pieces about, or related to, Matheson's work, by a wide range of writers -- from famous authors like Dean Kooontz and Harlan Ellison to Richard Matheson's wife and children. With nearly 150 pages of reference material about Matheson's writings -- bibliographies, filmographies,awards and honors, unpublished and unfinished writings, etc. This copy is inscribed by Stanley Wiater, one of the book's three editors. Fine in wrappers. [#033481] SOLD

(NY), Avon, (1980). A paperback original, horror fiction, with a long opening blurb by Stephen King. Spine crease; near fine in wrappers. [#033482] SOLD

NY, Atheneum, 1970. A book of short prose pieces by the award-winning poet. Inscribed by Merwin to James Tate, with love, in Amherst, in 1996, and with Tate's ownership signature. A nice association between two poets who each won the Pulitzer Prize (Merwin twice) and the National Book Award. Some mottling to cloth; very good in a near fine, sunned dust jacket. [#033298] SOLD

(NY), (Viking), (2006). Two volumes: signed copies of both the advance reading copy and the first printing of the first edition. The first edition is signed by Mortenson; the advance reading copy is signed by both Mortenson and David Relin. Textual differences exist between the advance copy and the first edition. An inspirational, then infamous, account of Mortenson's quest to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan in response to kindnesses bestowed on him by locals while he was lost in Pakistan after an unsuccessful ascent of K2, a quest that led to his founding the Central Asia Institute and to an ongoing effort that has resulted in the building of hundreds of schools. The hardcover edition sold only 20,000 copies; the paperback sold over four million copies in more than 40 countries and stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for more than four years, until, in 2011, author Jon Krakauer revealed on 60 Minutes that Mortenson and Relin had taken liberties with the narrative and, in Mortenson's case, liberties with his financial relationship to the Central Asia Institute. The first edition is signed by Mortenson, who has added the word "Peace!" The advance reading copy is signed by Mortenson and by Relin, who at one point claimed sole authorship of the book, saying it was published with Mortenson as co-author over his objections. Relin committed suicide the year after the controversy broke. The advance reading copy has a mild corner tap and slight cover splaying and is very near fine. The first edition is fine in a fine dust jacket, with a ticket and a program for a Mortenson reading (of the sequel, Stones Into Schools) laid in. Each book has a custom clamshell case. A bestselling story of a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated attempt to achieve peace through education, flawed only by its being more inspirational than true. Note: proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Room To Read, an unassociated organization of similar vision. [#032663] SOLD

NY, Knopf, 2014. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition. A couple tiny corner bends; very near fine in wrappers. The first printing of the U.S. hardcover edition was announced as 250,000 copies; there is no doubt this proof is at least 1000 times scarcer. [#033389] SOLD

Garden City, Doubleday, 1957. The second printing of this short comic novel, signed by Nabokov and dated "21 Jan. 1959 Cornell Univ." With a letter of provenance laid in. Nabokov was notoriously reluctant to sign books, and the letter of provenance tells an interesting story: the purchaser of this book originally bought two copies of Lolita to have Nabokov sign, and Nabokov told him that he had an agreement with his publisher not to sign copies of the book. As a result, he went back to the bookstore and bought two copies of Pnin (one for himself and one for his sister), and Nabokov signed and dated those instead. The commercial success of Lolita -- it had been a bestseller since its publication the previous summer -- allowed Nabokov to leave his job at Cornell. He gave his last two lectures there on January 19, two days before signing this book. Boards somewhat rubbed; near fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple of small stains at the folds, some fading to the spine lettering, and modest edge chipping. The dust jacket is Juliar's variant a, with the code above the price on the front flap. Uncommon signed, and this copy with a small footnote to literary history. [#033207] SOLD

[Lewiston], [Lewiston Tribune], [1931]. Seventeen tales, "as told by Tom Beall to R.D. Leeper." Beall is identified as a one-half Nez Perce Indian who dwells at Lapwai. Leeper's introduction includes a vocabulary of place names and locations that appear in the stories. Scarce: OCLC locates only 11 copies in institutional collections. Rust to staples; else fine in stapled wrappers. [#033512] SOLD

NY, Harcourt, Brace, (1938). "A Navaho Autobiography," which is identified as having been "recorded by" Dyk. Son of Old Man Hat is a Navajo, and the book is written in the first-person. With an introduction by noted linguist Edward Sapir. Written at a time when few reliable memoirs of Native Americans had been published, this was a landmark book that had scholarly credibility as well as Native authenticity. This copy is inscribed by the author: "Margaret Bageley/ with compliments of/ Walter Dyk." Near fine in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket with spine and edge wear and a small orange dot on the spine. Uncommon in dust jacket, and especially so signed. [#033390] SOLD

Des Moines, Amerindic Lore Press, 1959. The true first edition of this novel by Pierre, a chief of the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington state, dealing with the controversial question of "termination" -- the ending of federal control over Indian reservations and the resultant freedoms, and losses, the policy would entail. Later published in a trade edition by Naylor in 1972, this is an apparently self-published hardbound edition, reproduced from typescript, printed on rectos only, stamped "first edition" on the title page. Comparison with the later edition shows this version to represent an early draft. Chief George Pierre died in 2011 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This is only the third copy of this early version of his book we have seen, predating the Naylor edition by 13 years. Tapebound, gilt stamped velour boards. The gilt and velour are both rubbed; the front board is separating at the lower joint; still a very good copy. [#033392] SOLD

Bigfork, Northwoods Press, (1974). The collector's edition of this early book of poetry by a writer of Cherokee heritage. As stated on the colophon (previously tipped to the front flyleaf, but here detached and laid in), "one of 100 numbered copies signed and numbered by the author." This copy, however, is unnumbered and is instead inscribed by the author in 1990. Glue residue on the flyleaf from the colophon; complete loss of gilt to the front cover author and title, although the spine gilt is still present and clear; very good, without dust jacket, apparently as issued. [#033393] SOLD

NY, Spiegel & Grau, (2016). A memoir by the South African-born successor to Jon Stewart, as host of television's The Daily Show, a comedic and satirical take on the daily news that came to be seen as more reliably truthful than most of the news that the show satirized, and became a stalwart base of social criticism in the entertainment industry and the media. Noah, who was born during the apartheid era in South Africa was literally, as the title says, born a crime: it was illegal for his black father and white mother to have sexual relations in South Africa at that time and the book, among many other things, recounts harrowing escapes and efforts to avoid the authorities, who could have removed him from his family. Signed by the author on the publisher's tipped-in leaf. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with a "Signed Copy" label on the front panel. A bestseller, and signed first printings are scarce. [#033213] SOLD

London, Gollancz, 1968. The first British edition of this science fiction novel that was made into a cult film in the 1970s, about a future world where humans' lives are ended when they reach 30 years of age. Also the basis for a short-lived television series, the year after the movie came out. Inscribed by William F. Nolan to the writer Stanley Wiater in 1984. Wiater's bookplate on the front flyleaf; near fine in a near fine dust jacket. [#033483] SOLD

NY, Harcourt Brace, (1952). An advance reading copy of the first American edition of Orwell's personal account of the Spanish Civil War, in which he was wounded. When the book was first published, in England in 1938, Orwell's careful account of the manner in which the Spanish Communists betrayed the Republic, with whom they were nominally allied, contradicted the leftist orthodoxy of the day and the book was largely ignored. This edition, published posthumously in 1952, includes an introduction by Lionel Trilling that didn't appear in the British edition and which puts Orwell's sympathies, and his political transformation, in context. Unbound signatures, with the publisher's label on the front flyleaf, stating "Advance Copy," and noting, by hand, the release date (May 22) and the price of $3.50. The front and rear panels of the original jacket are present, and we have supplied a second jacket, but it too is losing its spine. Near fine in a fair dust jacket. Very scarce. [#033484] SOLD

NY, Knopf, 1984. Her second novel under her own name, following the underground classic After Claude and a career writing pornography for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press under the pen-name Harriet Daimler. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "June 26th 1984/ Roger - Affectionately, Iris Owens." Very good in a near fine dust jacket, with blurbs by Terry Southern, Doris Lessing, Frank Conroy, and others. Owens' signature is uncommon. Together with an uncorrected proof copy; near fine in wrappers. [#033350] SOLD

Dorchester, Dorset County Chronicle Office, 1866. A 20-page treatise on the importance of physical exertion at a par with and in support of mental exertion, and in the service of health, morality, and future generations. The author, "S.," relies heavily on a paper written by the Scottish gymnast Archibald MacLaren, who had opened a gymnasium in Oxford that included women and children and who, more than 100 years before Title IX, wrote: "Let the same provisions be made for girls' as for boys' schools -- a provision for every kind of play time and leisure, for all seasons and states of weather..." The author addresses associated costs, the need for ventilation, the limitations of wardrobe, the importance of food, and all manner of sample games and appropriate activities (skipping, rowing, botanical rambles...). A small book, with a recent cloth binding, and a former library book, but one from the Dorset County Library, i.e. in the same county as publication, which likely explains its survival, as we've located no other copies. Dorset Library labels; modest foxing to text; near fine. An early and prescient look at issues of gender equity that are still vexing to many societies, including our own. [#033352] SOLD

Boston, Lee and Shepard, (1881). The author, who taught gymnastics at Smith College, uses the work of Dr. Dio Lewis, an early advocate of physical culture, as a foundation, with the purpose of producing a small and affordable exercise book for women. 91 pages, plus advertisements, covering "free gymnastics," wand exercises, ring exercises, dumb-bells, percussion, "mutual help" exercises, bean-bags, and marching, as well as appropriate dress and music. 4-3/8" x 6". Owner name on front free endpaper; some wear to the cloth; first gathering loosened; a very good copy without dust jacket, presumably as issued. Frequently reprinted, this first edition is scarce. Smith College was founded only ten years prior to this book's publication. An early volume in the history of publications addressing women's health and fitness. [#033395] SOLD

[Berkeley], Maidu Press, [c. 1973]. "A Maidu Free Poem" broadside of the title poem of Piercy's 1973 collection. This version has one small change from the book version published in 1973 (there were several more changes in later versions). The edition of this broadside is unstated, but the broadside is marked as "1/ ." The only other Maidu Free Poems we are aware of are a 1971 Gary Snyder broadside, "Swimming Naked in the Yuba River," and "I Saw the Green Yuba Flow" by Franco Beltrametti. The Snyder was done in an edition of 200 copies; OCLC records two copies of the Beltrametti. The Maidu Press was the creation of two of Snyder's neighbors and friends, Steve Sanfield and Dale Pendell, both of them poets living on the San Juan Ridge, as Snyder was. This broadside reproduces calligraphy by Snyder, according to the Snyder bibliography. The presence of a blacked out mistake in the last line of the first stanza and the backward limitation (the copy number specified but not the number of copies, rather than vice versa) combine to suggest this is a trial copy or an unused or proof copy. We have no evidence that the edition was ever done: the Piercy bibliography lists no Maidu Press publication and OCLC shows no copies held in institutional libraries. A scarce, virtually unknown collaboration between Piercy and Snyder, both of them major American poets of the postwar era, and both associated with the counterculture of the 1960s and beyond. 8-1/2" x 11", on heavy orange paper. Shrinkwrapped with a board backing. Fine. [#033353] SOLD

NY, Poetry in Public Places, ca. 1979. Six poetry broadsides from the series "Poetry in Public Places," made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. Subway-sized, 28" x 11"; i.e., designed to be placed in the advertising space on New York subways, above the windows. Each designed by Sherwin Harris. The six included here are: "The Morning Glory" by Raymond Roseliep; "Heavy Acquisition" by Edward Dorn; "Astronomical Lesson for Acme, Wyoming" by Charles Levendosky; "Herds" by Robert Hedin; "The Rent in the Screen" by Howard Nemerov; and an untitled poem by Jason Hwang. Dampstaining to the lower left corner of each, mostly affecting just the margins; a very good or better lot. An ephemeral effort to bring poetry into people's daily lives and at the same time an opportunity for poets, including a number of young ones, to get their work in front of a much larger audience than they might have otherwise. [#033322] SOLD

NY, Third Press, (1973). The scarce hardcover issue of the novelization of Polanski's 1972 film, with still shots from the film. Stamp of another author on the front flyleaf; mottling to boards; very good in a very good dust jacket. [#033485] SOLD

NY, Random House, (2001). Apples, tulips, marijuana, potatoes. In his third book, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and How To Change Your Mind, among others, examines the relationship between humans and four domesticated plants. This copy is inscribed by Pollan in the year of publication: "6-11-01/ For Warren, Fellow bumblebee. Michael Pollan." The thesis of the book is that these domesticated plants may be viewed as using us -- humans -- as an evolutionary strategy in the same way that flowers use bumblebees to spread their DNA, helping to ensure the species' survival; Pollan's recognition of the recipient's and his own identities as "bumblebees" likely refers to this idea. Laid in is a review of the book, directions to the library in St. Paul where Pollan was appearing, and what seem to be two pages of Warren's handwritten notes on the evening. Fine in a fine dust jacket, which features blurbs by Richard Ford, Bill McKibben, Edward Hoagland, and Alice Waters, among others. Uncommon in the first printing, especially signed. [#033486] SOLD

NY, Beech Tree Books, (1985). The uncorrected proof copy of one of the most highly praised first novels of its time -- a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for a book of "considerable literary achievement." Publication date written on front cover; near fine in wrappers. An uncommon proof, and an important debut. [#911113] SOLD

NY, Morrow, (1991). The uncorrected proof copy of his third novel, a dazzling display of verbal pyrotechnics which once again earned him high praise, award recognition, and comparisons with the best of the postmodern writers such as Pynchon. Like his first book, a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Winner of Time magazine's Book of the Year award. Publication date written across front cover; fine in wrappers. Laid in is an announcement of a printing error that resulted in strings of letters and numbers appearing at the bottom of more than 100 pages. [#911885] SOLD