Catalog 172

(NY), (Dancey-Davis Press), [ca. 1923]. Lavishly illustrated, 32-page account of Nikita Balieff's Chauve-Souris, aka Moscow's "Bat Theatre," its history, worldwide success, and first tour of America, in 1922, under the direction of F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest. Centerfold by Ralph Barton depicts a Broadway audience of American luminaries, a virtual Who's Who of Americans in the performing arts in the 1920s. Tanning apparent on rear cover; near fine in stapled wrappers. [#034776] SOLD

NY, Simon and Schuster, 1952. The uncorrected proof copy, in the form of stringbound galleys, of this "Dastard's Handbook to Fame and Fortune," a bestselling satire based on Mead's rise from the mailroom to a vice presidency at the advertising agency Benton and Bowles. Adapted by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows into the musical that would have three runs on Broadway, over four decades, with more than 2400 performances, earning nine Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical in its first run, 1961-1965, when it also won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Also the basis for the 1967 film. This proof has textual differences from the published book on, at least, the final page. Also, the cover has "Sheperd" hand-corrected to "Shepherd," as well as editorial notations. Tall (7" x 12"), stringbound galleys, printed on rectos only, with a back cover of cardboard. Small corner chip and a corner crease to the front cover; stray pen marks there; still near fine. Rare. [#034619] SOLD

NY, Knopf, 1971. The uncorrected proof copy of the second book in Updike's highly acclaimed Rabbit Angstrom series. This copy was used by review by Helen Weinberg, likely for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Several dozen underlinings and notations to text by Weinberg, with longer notes on the "rear" cover, which serves as the front cover as the publisher's label was applied incorrectly, upside down on the actual rear cover. Weinberg is also author of the 1970 book The New Novel in America. Her owner name appears above the publisher's label; there is a small chip to the "rear cover"; the spine is slanted. Overall a very good working copy of a scarce proof. [#034906] SOLD

Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978. Roughly 800 words by Updike. In part: "I love my Government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone. My personal ambition has been simply to live by the work of my pen. This is not a very fastidious ambition. If I were aware of large amounts of Federal money available to purveyors of the written words I would attempt to gain access to it and hope to please the administrators of this fund as I hope to please magazine editors and bookbuyers. But I would rather have as my patron a host of anonymous citizens digging into their own pockets for the price of a book..." Modest cover creasing; small joint tear; date stamped to cover. Near fine in wrappers. An interesting and uncommon Updike piece, not available elsewhere. [#034751] $500

(n.p.), (n.p.), [1979]. The Prologue, Introduction, and Chapter One of his unpublished novel about an Indian warrior/Vietnam veteran fighting against a "syndicate of smuggling, drugs, and white slavery to avenge a beautiful pagan girl he once loved," here submitted as a movie script treatment, with a typed letter signed and 4-pages of back story for the "Indian Hawk." Set in Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong. Approximately 60 pages, all photocopy (but for the signature). The book chapters are velobound; the letter and protagonist profile are stapled to the front cover. Edge-creasing to the letter, else fine. [#034907] $200

NY, Knopf/Everyman's Library, (2009). First thus, with a five-page introduction by Robert Stone. This edition also has an introductory chronology of Herr's life and times that doesn't appear in the original edition. Dispatches is the most acclaimed work of reporting of the Vietnam War and was the only book to be reprinted in its entirety in the Library of America's Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1969-1975. Stone admired Dispatches: Herr's time in Vietnam partly coincided with his own, and no other reporter captured the time, place and ambiance the way Herr did -- mostly by letting the voices of the participants tell their stories. Stone reviewed the book for The Chicago Tribune, and an excerpt of his review appeared in later editions as a blurb. Light spotting to front cloth, else fine in a fine dust jacket. [#034778] SOLD

(San Francisco), Auerhahn Press, 1960. One of 500 copies of the legendary Beat poet's first book. Sunned, with some narrow staining near the base of the spine; very good in stapled wrappers. Uncommon. [#034849] $250

Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1950. From the front cover: "The 'mechanical brain' and similar machines can destroy human values or enable us to realize them as never before." One of the seminal books of the cyber age, the book serves as an early warning system, written for the layman, after Wiener's earlier book, Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine. A near fine copy in a very good, mildly rubbed dust jacket with several tiny chips and a few longer, closed edge tears. [#034621] SOLD

(Chicago), (Chicago Paperback House), (1962). The true first edition of his best-known novel, a paperback original that was later revised and re-issued in hardcover, and was also made into a movie. Age-toning to pages, crease near the crown; else near fine. [#034908] SOLD

NY, Simon & Schuster, 2017. A captivating and horrifying account of the courage it took for one woman to get behind the wheel of a car in Saudi Arabia in 2011 (and to post a video to Facebook and YouTube), and the immediate and long-term repercussions she faced for having done so. The ban was lifted the year after this book was published. Signed by the author in the year of publication. Small corner taps, else fine in a fine dust jacket. [#034909] SOLD

London, Faber and Faber, (1970). Inscribed by Figes to her parents: "To Mummy & Daddy with love/ Eva/ 23rd May 1970." This was Figes's first book of nonfiction, a feminist classic published the same year as Greer's The Female Eunuch and Millet's Sexual Politics. An excellent association copy, for the author who wrote (in this book) "...woman is taught to desire not what her mother desired for herself, but what her father and all men find desirable in a woman." Spine- and edge-sunned; a near fine copy, in a supplied, near fine dust jacket. [#034714] $1,000
On Sale: $700

NY, Scribner, (2011). A memoir by the former congresswoman, who was badly injured in an assassination attempt that resulted in six others' deaths, in one of the increasingly numerous examples of political polarization in the U.S. turning into deadly violence. Co-written with her husband, a former astronaut, and a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Signed by both Giffords and Kelly. Copies signed by both authors are considerably more uncommon than those signed by just Kelly. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#034756] SOLD

(London), MacGibbon & Kee, (1970). The uncorrected proof copy of the true first edition (British) of one of the defining books of the second feminist wave, an international bestseller that called out sexual oppression, the idealized female image, domestic servitude, and patriarchal condescension. Greer famously hoped her book would "quickly date and disappear," but much of it is still relevant to the struggles of the fourth (and counting) feminist wave. The plain brown wrappers have some creasing, and there's a small coffee stain on the title label; still near fine. Extremely scarce as a proof. [#034655] SOLD

London, Macmillan, (1969). Early feminism-in-progress: "the first book to take a totally positive approach to single life as a unique, once-and-only experience...," with advice on jobs, housing, friendships, and travel, but also on beauty and dating (including "computer matching"). "Discover yourself and the world before turning fully and realistically to a successful marriage." Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#034911] SOLD

NY, Crown, (1965). The autobiography of "the most renowned woman sculptor of modern times," creator of the Races of Mankind exhibit, commissioned by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in the early 1930s to be "the finest racial portraiture the world as ever seen." Hoffman, who had studied for four years with Auguste Rodin, traveled the world for five years to create the 104 bronze and marble sculptures for the Hall of Man: the exhibit continued for 30 years before being dismantled in the 1960s. A retrospective was done several years ago, while emphasizing the ensuing changes to our scientific and cultural conceptions of race. This copy is inscribed by Hoffman. Staining to the edges of the text block, thus only a very good copy, in a very good, modestly edgeworn dust jacket. Hoffman was also known for her sculptures of dancers, particularly Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova, and for her relief work in the Balkans after World War I. [#034656] SOLD

(NY), Free Press, (1999). A book on media literacy, explaining the ways women are targeted as consumers, by one of the creators of the documentary film series Killing Us Softly. Signed by the author and dated prior to publication. Later released with the title Can't Buy My Love. Kilbourne was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2015. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, with a blurb by Maya Angelou. [#034616] $250

NY, Harper, 1871. Lewis, a temperance leader and early advocate for physical fitness training, developed an exercise system in 1860 and held classes in and near Boston for men, women and children. In this book he uses anecdotes to bemoan the (often learned) weaknesses of women and girls and suggests remedies, such as sun and exercise. Ads for his services and products at the rear. Faint penciled owner name in two places. Mild page foxing and rubbing to green cloth; still about near fine, without dust jacket. [#034757] SOLD

NY, A.S. Barnes, (1940). The first volume "for girls" in the ongoing Barnes Sports Library series, which numbered some 20 titles by this date. (Softball and field hockey followed.) Sections include history of the game, catching and passing, shooting, technique and tactics, offense, defense, and officiating, all clearly illustrated with line drawings and diagrams. Owner name and "Russell Sage College" written on the front flyleaf; small number stamp front flyleaf; a near fine copy in a good, chipped dust jacket. Uncommon in the first printing and in jacket (which seems necessary to identify the printing as Barnes indicated later printings on the jacket flap). It seems doubtful that an earlier book on the subject exists. [#034912] SOLD

NY, Knopf, 1959. "The disarmingly personal story of a woman's adventures in a man's country," this is Parton's account of five years in India, as staff correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and wife of the Times of London correspondent there. This copy is warmly inscribed by the author. A near fine copy in a good dust jacket, close to separating at the rear flap fold. [#034657] SOLD

NY, Dutton, (1925). In this book, "Mrs. Russell...sets forth the gospel of Feminism in its most militant and revolutionary form....She repudiates the idea that women's freedom is to lie only between scholastic knowledge imitating that of men and the conventional acceptance of wifehood and motherhood." Dora Russell was a social activist and progressive who championed women's rights, especially birth control and sexual freedom. She was the second wife of philosopher Bertrand Russell. Small insect hole to the front joint; a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with only small chips at the corners and extremities. [#034913] SOLD

(Washington, D.C.), National Association for Women in Education, (1996). An exploration of gendered experiences in the classroom, from nearly every conceivable angle. This is a follow-up to the 1982 report The Classroom Climate. Co-authored by Sandler, with Lisa A. Silverberg and Roberta M. Hall. This copy is inscribed by Sandler: "To Carol - keep up the good work." Near fine in wrappers. [#034716] $100

West Roxbury, [Self-Published], 1939. A memoir by this native of coastal Massachusetts, who was born in 1851, and died in 1950. Stebbins was born into a sea-faring family, and much of her 50+ page memoir recounts voyages aboard ships bound for Liverpool and New Orleans; around Cape Horn; to Rio de Janeiro, and San Francisco. This copy is inscribed by the author in 1940 to Dr. Chester Mills. Moderate insect damage to the covers near the spine, and edge-sunning to the covers; a very good copy in stapled wrappers. Scarce: 4 copies listed in OCLC. [#034758] SOLD

NY, Free Press, (2010). Traister's first book, about "the election that changed everything for American women," (until it didn't). To be clear, this is about the 2008 election: when the female players included Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Edwards, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Signed by the author, with an added, "Here's to a brighter future." Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with just a small nick at the crown. [#034659] $125

NY, Random House, (2018). The advance reading copy of her bestselling memoir of her journey from her isolated survivalist upbringing in Idaho to Harvard and Cambridge. Fine in wrappers. Uncommon in an advance issue. [#034759] $100

Stewartstown, NH, 1862. August 3, 1862. Edith Harriman writes to a friend, "Isabel," about the Civil War, the ensuant draft, and the draft dodgers heading to Canada. Harriman first apologizes to her friend, saying she's written no letters for two years, and that this season especially comes with much work. And then: "Things up here move very similar, as usual except our friends are not at ease about this bloody war. Probably draufing [sic] will have to be resorted to, or at least at first, and then what will be the result we know not, but we must submit to save the country from ruin, and we be reconciled." She then names some of the men not enrolled and some who have gone to Canada. The remainder of the letter speaks of weather and work and health, and she tells Isabel to come home "if it should be sickly in the city." Three pages, written on two sides of one sheet of paper; folded in sixths. Well-preserved; near fine. [#034914] $300

NY, Lippincott, (1944). A collection of six stories including "Rear Window," the basis for the classic Hitchcock film starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. Also includes the story "Marihuana." A Queen's Quorum title, and a fragile wartime production, printed on thin, cheap paper. The last pages have been roughly opened, and there are a few small spots on the endpages and the front cover. Still a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with small edge chips at the corners and extremities. [#034915] SOLD