Catalog 98, T-Z and Addenda
384. TATE, James. The Route as Briefed. (n.p.: n.p., n.d.). Apparently a proof copy of this prose work by the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning poet; tapebound in cardstock covers. Inscribed by the author to another poet in 1983. Several pages bumped at foredge; near fine. A scarce item and a nice association copy.
Important Association Copy and Footnote to Literary History
385. THEROUX, Paul. Fong and the Indians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. His second book, a novel set in a mythical east African country. This copy is inscribed by Theroux to writer V.S. Naipaul and his first wife: "For Vidia/ & Pat/ with love/ Paul." Near fine in a very good dust jacket torn at the upper front spine fold and internally tape-repaired there. Laid in is an autograph note on British Broadcasting Company stationery, addressed to Vidia apologizing for taking "eighteen years to return this copy of Paul's novel." Theroux and Naipaul met in east Africa in 1966, at about the time and place of the setting of this novel, and their friendship extended over three decades, dating from a time when both were relatively young writers, and neither had achieved the degree of literary renown that both enjoy today, although Naipaul was the older and more successful of the two. Theroux wrote the first full length critical study of Naipaul's work [see below]. An excellent association copy and now a footnote to literary history: the appearance on the market of this book, and another inscribed from Theroux to Naipaul, helped trigger a series of events and exchanges between the two that resulted in the end of their 30-year friendship and a literary scandal revolving around Theroux's soon-to-be-published "attack memoir" about Naipaul and their friendship--Saint Vidia. Excerpts have appeared in The New Yorker and stories about the rift have appeared in journals from the London Times to the Los Angeles Times. Theroux's British publishers have been quoted in those articles as saying that the book, as they had seen it so far, could not be published in the U.K. as is without running afoul of British libel laws, which are considerably stricter than those in the U.S.
While important association copies of modern books are by their nature scarce, a copy such as this, which itself became a factor in the literary history of our time, is of the utmost rarity, and has become "important" in an entirely different way. We can think of no comparable case in recent memory, when a specific copy of a book exerted such an effect on the lives of those involved. Naipaul and Theroux have been two of the most prominent, and most collected, literary authors dealing with aspects of colonialism and its aftermath in the Third World. This title, by virtue of its subject matter and its timing--it was a very early book in Theroux's career and coincided with the time and place of his first meeting with Naipaul--is a remarkable and unique artifact. While the future of Theroux's and Naipaul's relationship now seems destined to be determined by other factors, this volume speaks of a moment in time when two fine young authors first met and established one of the enduring literary relationships of an era.
386. THEROUX, Paul. V.S. Naipaul: An Introduction to His Work. (London): Deutsch (1972). An early book of criticism of Trinidadian author V. S. Naipaul. One of Theroux's two scarcest books, the other being the seldom-seen Murder in Mount Holly. This is the correct first edition, the British, although the book was also published in the U.S. and that edition is extremely scarce as well. Boards slightly bowed; else fine in fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
387. THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. (San Francisco): Straight Arrow Books (1973). Thompson covers the Nixon/McGovern race for the Presidency in his own inimitable style. Near fine in a very good, fold- and edge-rubbed dust jacket. This is the first issue dust jacket, with the white border around the photograph on the rear panel and a $6.95 price on the front flap, and is much scarcer than the later jacket.
388. TYLER, Anne. Your Place is Empty. Concord: William B. Ewert, 1992. A story that originally appeared in The New Yorker. Of a total edition of 100 copies, this is one of 60 numbered copies in wrappers. Signed by the author. Fine. By far, her scarcest "A" item.
389. TYLER, Anne. Tumble Tower. NY: Orchard (1993). A children's book with text by Tyler and illustrations by Mitra Modarressi, her daughter. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author and illustrator. Tyler's first children's book, a nice story with attractive illustrations.
390. TYLER, Anne. A Patchwork Planet. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1998. The limited edition of her most recent novel. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, and with a silk ribbon marker bound in. With a special, though brief introduction by Tyler for this edition, regarding the challenge of writing from the point of view of a young male. Signed by the author. Fine.
391. UDALL, Barry. Letting Loose the Hounds. NY: Norton (1997). The author's first book, a collection of stories. Blurbs by William Kittredge, John Dufresne, Thom Jones and others. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
392. UPDIKE, John. Rabbit, Run. NY: Knopf, 1960. Updike's second novel, which introduced Rabbit Angstrom and began the sequence of novels that will likely stand as his major work, a four-volume series spanning 30+ years. The chronicle of Rabbit Angstrom is a chronicle of America in the postwar era, and Updike has become without question--in large part on the basis of this series--the most collected living American author. This is a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with one edge tear and light rubbing to the edges and folds.
393. UPDIKE, John. The Music School. NY: Knopf, 1966. The uncommon third issue of this book, with page 46 being an integral leaf with the transposed line corrected. Two signatures edge-darkened; near fine in a near fine jacket.
394. UPDIKE, John. Rabbit Redux. NY: Knopf, 1971. Advance review copy of the second book in his acclaimed Rabbit Angstrom sequence. Nominated for the National Book Award. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
395. -. Another copy, not a review copy. Bookplate of the Poets House Library front pastedown; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
396. UPDIKE, John. Pigeon Feathers. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1981. A limited edition of this collection of stories. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine. An unusual volume, which has no title on the spine, or anywhere on the covers, and doesn't fit into the Franklin Library's usual formats of being either signed, or an award winner, and having a new introduction by the author.
397. UPDIKE, John. Rabbit is Rich. NY: Knopf, 1981. The third of his "Rabbit Angstrom" books, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, a rare literary "double." Slight splaying to front board, and the top edge stain has splattered onto the front endpapers, apparently in production; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
398. UPDIKE, John. Roger's Version. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1986. A limited edition and the true first edition; leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Signed by the author. With a special introduction by Updike for this edition in which he discusses the novel's original title (Majesty), research and academia, Hawthorne and heterosexuality. Fine.
399. UPDIKE, John. Rabbit at Rest. NY: Knopf, 1990. The concluding volume in the Rabbit series. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Very near fine in like dust jacket.
400. -. Same title, the limited edition (Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1990). Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. With a special introduction by Updike for this edition. Signed by the author. Fine.
401. UPDIKE, John. Brazil. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1994. The limited edition of this novel that is something of a departure for Updike, being far removed from the familiar suburban milieu of most of his fiction. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. With a special introduction by Updike for this edition. Signed by the author. Fine.
402. UPDIKE, John. In the Beauty of the Lilies. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1996. The true first edition. Leatherbound, page edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine, and signed by the author, with a special introduction by him for this edition. In all likelihood, printed in an edition of about 3000-3500 copies, i.e., a small fraction of the trade first printing, which had an announced first printing of 75,000 copies.
403. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy of the first trade edition (NY: Knopf, 1996). Fine in wrappers.
404. UPDIKE, John. Toward the End of Time. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1997. The limited edition of his most recent novel, published to quite mixed reviews: Margaret Atwood, in The New York Times Book Review, loved it; David Foster Wallace, a self-proclaimed Updike fan, wrote a scathing review of it in The New York Observer. Leatherbound, page edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine, and signed by the author, with a special introduction by him for this edition.
405. (UPDIKE, John). "Two Sonnets Whose Titles Came to Me Simultaneously" in Northern Lights. (n.p.): Palaemon Press, 1983. A collection of fifteen broadside poems by various authors, including Updike, John Ciardi, James Merrill, W.S. Merwin, Howard Nemerov, William Stafford and Mark Strand. Each is 9" x 14" and is signed by its author. One of 55 numbered sets, of a total edition of 75. Fine, in quarter cloth and marbled paper folding chemise, with leather spine label.
406. (UPDIKE, John). A Century of Arts & Letters. NY: Columbia University Press (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of this history of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as told, decade by decade, by Louis Auchincloss, Norman Mailer, Cynthia Ozick, John Updike, Hortense Calisher, and others. Updike serves as editor and provides a foreword, as well as covering the years 1938-1947. Proofs from university presses tend to be done in significantly smaller numbers than those of mainstream trade presses. Quarto; fine in wrappers.
407. URQUHART, Jane. The Whirlpool. (Toronto): McClelland & Stewart (1986). The first novel by this author whose most recent novel, The Underpainter, won Canada's Governor's General Award. Published in wrappers only, as part of the McClelland and Stewart Signature Series. Small spot on foredge; else fine in wrappers.
408. VAN ALLSBURG, Chris and HELPRIN, Mark. Swan Lake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin/Ariel Books, 1989. The "Uncorrected Color Proof" of this notable collaboration, one of the publishing events of the year, linking one of the most prominent contemporary literary authors with one of the most prominent illustrators. This "Proof" is hardbound and outwardly resembles the finished book but prints only until page 13. Signed by both Van Allsburg and Helprin. Very scarce: only a small number of these were done and of those only a tiny handful were ever signed by the contributors. Clothbound; fine without dust jacket, as issued.
409. VONNEGUT, Kurt, Jr. Breakfast of Champions. (NY): (Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence) (1973). Vonnegut's fiftieth birthday present to himself and his characters: the author uses this novel to grant many of his previous characters their freedom (most notably Kilgore Trout who, unable to make it on the outside, returns in later books). Inscribed by the author with several doodles akin to those that he used to illustrate the book. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with trace wear to the crown.
410. WALLACE, David Foster. Infinite Jest. Boston: Little, Brown (1996). The advance reading copy of his most recent novel, published to the kind of practically awestruck reviews that greeted Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow a generation ago: a huge book (nearly 1100 pages) that impressed many critics and readers with its scope and its satirical critique of popular culture as well as with the author's erudition. Fine in wrappers and signed by the author. There were reportedly 1000 copies of this advance issue sent out for promotional purposes.
411. WHITE, Randy Wayne. The Man Who Invented Florida. NY: St. Martin's (1993). The third of his popular Florida mysteries featuring marine biologist, and former spook, Doc Ford. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a few short edge tears and other minor wear at spine crown.
412. WIDEMAN, John Edgar. The Stories of John Edgar Wideman. NY: Pantheon (1992). The complete Homewood stories by this Aftrican-American author, including ten that had not previously been published. Signed by the author. Light corner bumping; else fine in a fine dust jacket. Among other accomplishments: Wideman is the first writer to win the PEN Faulkner Award twice.
413. WIDEMAN, John Edgar. Fatheralong. NY: Pantheon (1994). "A meditation on fathers and sons, race and society." Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author. Nominated for the National Book Award.
414. WILLIAMS, Tennessee. Moise and the World of Reason. NY: Simon & Schuster (1975). A novel by the author of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and others. One of an unspecified number of copies signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a short crease on the front flap fold.
415. WILLIAMS, Tennessee. The World of Tennessee Williams. NY: Putnam (1978). Quarto; heavily illustrated. Edited by Richard Leavitt and introduced by Tennessee Williams. One of 250 numbered copies signed by the author and the editor. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket and slipcase, with errata slip laid in.
416. WILLIAMS, Thomas. The Night of Trees. NY: Macmillan, 1961. A review copy of the reissue of this novel of Leah, New Hampshire, the fictional town in which most of Williams' stories and novels are set, originally published in 1961. With a short introduction by the author for this edition. Two small sticker shadows on the front pastedown; else a fine copy in a lightly rubbed dust jacket. Williams was co-winner of the National Book Award in 1975 and was a longtime friend of, and influence on, such younger New England writers as John Irving and Andre Dubus.
417. WINSLOW, Don. While Drowning in the Desert. NY: St. Martin's (1996). His fifth book, a Neal Carey mystery. A production flaw has caused the text block to obtrude from the binding at the lower edge, otherwise a fine copy in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
418. (WINSLOW, Don). "LLOYD, MacDonald." A Winter Spy. (NY): (Penguin) (1997). A pseudonymous Signet paperback original, a thriller involving a former CIA agent turned private eye. Signed by the author using both names. Fine in wrappers.
419. WINTERSON, Jeanette. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. London: Pandora Press (1985). The first edition of her first book, not published in the U.S. until 1987. Winner of the Whitbread Prize. Only issued in wrappers. Winterson has also received the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This copy has been read: spine slanted and creased, and cover creasing; about very good. Signed by the author. Uncommon. Made into a film by the B.B.C.
420. WINTERSON, Jeanette. Gut Symmetries. London: Granta Books (1997). Her most recent novel, an examination of three sides of a love triangle, inspired in part by the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) of physics. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
421. WOLFE, Tom. The Painted Word. NY: FSG, (n.d.). Long galley sheets, signed by the author and dated November 20, 1976. In original, elaborately hand addressed mailing envelope. With autograph note signed. The sheets are fine; the note folded and near fine; the envelope is torn from opening; elsewhere near fine. An important, scathing essay, which skewered the self-referential world of modern art.
422. WOLFF, Tobias. In Pharaoh's Army. NY: Knopf, 1994. Advance reading copy of the second volume of the author's memoirs, picking up where This Boy's Life left off and following the author to Vietnam, and chronicling his experiences there. Signed by the author. Issued as a promotional piece, given away prior to publication of the hardcover book. Fine in wrappers in publisher's card-stock slipcase.
423. -. Same title, the trade edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
424. WOLFF, Tobias. The Night in Question. NY: Knopf, 1996. The limited advance edition consisting of the title story only. One of 1500 copies signed by the author. Hardbound; fine without dust jacket, as issued, in publisher's wraparound sleeve.
425. WRIGHT, C.D. Translations of the Gospel Back Into Tongues. Albany: SUNY (1982). The simultanous issue in wrappers of this collection of poems. Blurbs by Carolyn Forché, W. S. Merwin, and others. Inscribed by the author to another poet. Fine. A nice association copy.
426. WYATT, Wyatt. Catching Fire. NY: Random House (1977). The author's first novel. Harry Crews blurb, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
427. ZABOR, Rafi. The Bear Comes Home. NY: Norton (1997). Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award. A first novel that had a small first printing in the range of 5000-6000 copies. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
428. ZAPPA, Frank. The Real Frank Zappa Book. NY: Poseidon (1989). Humorous autobiographical work by the noted musician. Inscribed by Zappa. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a long tear on the rear panel.
429. CHEKHOV, Anton. V Sumerkakh. St. Petersburg: A.C. Suvorin, 1895. Later printing of this early collection containing some of Chekhov's first serious work: prior to 1884, his work had appeared primarily in humor magazines. This title was awarded the Pushkin Prize, Chekhov's first significant literary recognition. Alexei Suvorin, who published this volume, was a close friend, who urged Chekhov to aspire to more literary work, like that collected here, than he had been accustomed to. Included in this collection are his famous stories "A Nightmare," "A Calamity," and "Agaf'ya." With this and his later collections, Chekhov not only revitalized but redefined the modern short story form. The highest praise that is given today to a writer of short fiction is comparison to Chekhov. This is a very good copy in contemporary Russian half calf and cloth-covered boards. Inscribed by Chekhov in August, 1900, "in memory of Yalta and our meeting." Books inscribed by Chekhov, the master of the modern short story, are notably scarce.
430. (Fashion). Visionaire, #18. The "Fashion Issue." Landmark issue of this contemporary, yet legendary, fashion magazine. Issue #18 was a "double issue," limited to 2500 numbered copies, each of which came its own handmade Louis Vuitton case, made in Paris. Described by its creators as "somewhere between an art book and a fashion magazine," Visionaire was, and continues to be, a cutting edge journal of the fashion industry, helping to create trends both in fashion and in its presentation that are later incorporated by, and emulated by, the mainstream fashion industry and its normal organs. This is a very fine copy in the original shrinkwrap (opened), with wrap-around band and Louis Vuitton case. Contributors comprise a "Who's Who" of the fashion industry, as well as many younger, lesser known designers and photographers, and copies of this issue have reportedly sold for as much as $5000 (New York magazine).