Catalog 99, I-M
163. -. Same title. NY: Morrow (1985). The publisher's limited edition of this title, issued in beige and brown cloth, in a brown slipcase, in an edition of 250 numbered copies signed by the author. There was also a Book-of-the-Month Club limited edition of this title, in a similar format but with a different binding and a much larger limitation 795 copies. This, the publisher's edition, is considerably harder to find. Fine.
164. -. Another copy. This is an unnumbered copy but still signed by the author; presumably an overrun copy: printers will typically print a handful more books than an order calls for, in case one or a few get damaged somehow. Fine in publisher's acetate dust jacket, without slipcase. The copies that were released to the trade had slipcases; whether this one ever did is uncertain.
165. IRVING, John. A Widow for One Year. NY: Random House (1998). The first American trade edition of his most recent novel. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.
166. -. Same title, the American limited edition (Media: Unicycle Press, 1998). One of 1200 copies signed by the author. Leatherbound. With an introduction by Irving on gender and structure that does not appear in other editions. Fine. At the list price:
167. (IRVING, John). MARK, Mary Ellen. Streetwise. (NY): Aperture (1988). Photographs by Mark of street children in Seattle, documented in the film Streetwise. Introduction by Irving. Only issued in wrappers. Quarto; corners turned; near fine.
168. JACKSON, Shirley. The Lottery. NY: Avon (1949). First paperback edition of Jackson's most celebrated book. Inscribed by the author to writer Bernard Malamud's son, Paul. A significant literary association as Jackson, her husband Stanley Edgar Hyman, and Malamud were all teachers at Bennington College for a time. Jackson was a notably private person, haunted, as her recent biography suggests, by her own private demons; indeed, the subtitle of this book has been changed to "Adventures of the Demon Lover." The brief author's bio in the back of the book claims that Jackson was "a practicing amateur witch, specializing in small-scale black magic." A very scarce signature, especially with a literary association. One page torn and tape-repaired; pages yellowing. Very good.
169. JOHNSON, Denis. Already Dead. (NY): HarperCollins (1997). The uncorrected proof copy. A novel of various existential misfits in northern California. Fine in wrappers.
170. JONES, Gayl. Corregidora. NY: Random House (1975). The author's highly praised first novel. Slight spine slant; else fine in a very near fine, mildly sunned dust jacket. Blurbs by James Baldwin and James Alan McPherson. Jones's latest novel, The Healing, is a finalist for the National Book Award this year.
171. JONES, Thom. Cold Snap. Boston: Little Brown (1995). An advance reading excerpt of the second book, a collection of stories, by the author of The Pugilist at Rest. Prints the title story and three others. Covers splayed; else fine in wrappers.
172. KAYSEN, Susanna. Asa, as I Knew Him. NY: Vintage Contemporaries (1987). The advance reading copy of her first book, published as a paperback original in the Vintage Contemporaries series. Fine in wrappers.
173. KAYSEN, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted. NY: Turtle Bay Books, 1993. The third book by the author of Asa, As I Knew Him, this being a well-received memoir of her encounter with madness and institutionalization as an adolescent. Being filmed with Winona Ryder. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
174. -. Another copy. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
175. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Signed by the author in the month prior to publication. Fine in wrappers.
176. KESEY, Ken. Sailor Song. (n.p.): Viking (1992). The advance reading copy of the first novel in nearly 30 years by the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. Fine in wrappers.
177. KING, Stephen. "BACHMAN, Richard." Rage. (NY): New American Library (1977). A Signet paperback original, the first of several novels King wrote under this pseudonym. Signed by the author as Stephen King. Spine creased from reading, slight edge rubbing; about near fine. Not an especially uncommon book, but signed copies are quite scarce.
178. KING, Stephen. Rose Madder. (n.p.): Viking (1995). The uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
179. KING, Stephen. Bag of Bones. (NY): Scribner (1998). The advance reading copy of his latest novel, which is being positioned by his publisher as more of a mainstream novel and love story than the kind of horror novel the author is most famous for. Blurbs by Anne Rivers Siddons, Gloria Naylor and Amy Tan support this notion, with Naylor explicitly making the case that King has for years been stretching the boundaries of American literature, not just writing formulaic horror novels. Fine in wrappers.
180. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. Animal Dreams. (NY): HarperCollins (1990). The second novel, third book of fiction, by the author of The Bean Trees, among others. Warmly inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
181. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. (NY): HarperFlamingo (1998). The advance reading copy of her latest novel, just released with an official publication date in November. A departure from her earlier books, which were located in the Southwestern U.S., this novel takes place in Africa, beginning in the Belgian Congo in 1959 and spanning three decades. Fine in wrappers.
182. -. Same title. Bound photocopied typescript. Nearly 750 double-spaced pages, reduced to an approximate 6" x 9" format. Velobound; several page corners turned; fine. A scarce, early issue with no mention of publisher or publication information.
183. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Bean Trees. (NY): HarperFlamingo (1998). The first printing of the tenth anniversary edition of her first book, a hardcover issued in February 1998, here used to promote the October 1998 mass market paperback edition by means of an added wraparound band holding a 5 1/2" x 10" fold-out promotional flyer. The book is fine in a fine dust jacket; the promotional items are also fine.
184. KINSELLA, W.P. Scars. (Canada): (Oberon) (1978). His second book, a collection of Indian stories set on the Hobbema Reserve, which Kinsella has populated with some of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction. This is the uncommon hardcover issue, reportedly printed in an edition of only a couple hundred copies. Slight bump to an upper edge; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with a few short edge tears. Signed by the author.
185. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa. (Canada): (Oberon Press) (1980). The scarce hardcover issue of his third collection of stories, the title story of which was the seed for his prize-winning novel Shoeless Joe, the basis for the movie Field of Dreams. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket rubbed at the corners and spine extremities. Signed by the author. An uncommon book which was issued simultaneously in paperback and had a cloth edition reported to be only a few hundred copies like the other Oberon Press hardcovers although this is, by all appearances, the scarcest of them.
186. KINSELLA, W.P. Born Indian. (Canada): (Oberon) (1981). His fourth book, again a collection of Indian stories set on the Hobbema Reserve. This is the issue in wrappers. Near fine, and signed by the author.
187. -. Another copy, unsigned. Near fine.
188. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. His highly praised first novel, winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award and basis for the award-winning movie Field of Dreams. A North American magical realist baseball novel, with J.D. Salinger as a character. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped jacket with trace rubbing at the spine base. Signed by the author.
189. KINSELLA, W.P. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. Toronto: Collins, 1986. The correct first (i.e., Canadian) edition of this title, his second magical-realist baseball novel. Owner name front pastedown; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
190. KUNDERA, Milan. Slowness. (NY): HarperCollins (1996). A specially bound advance hardcover edition of this novel by the author of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Although not called for, this copy is signed by the author. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued, in fine pictorial slipcase.
191. KUNDERA, Milan. Identity. (NY): HarperCollins (1998). A limited edition (limitation not stated) of the first American edition of his most recent novel, with a sheet tipped in signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket that bears the publisher's "Autographed Copy" label.
192. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Fine in wrappers.
193. (LEARY, Timothy). Harvard College Class of 1938 Decennial Report. Cambridge: (Harvard), 1948. Leary's report of ten years out is of being married with children and attending night school to get an engineering degree. Days, he is an assistant engineer at M.I.T., "engaged in developing a glorified computing machine which will work with unimaginable speed. The project's official name is, by someone's whimsy, Project Whirlwind." Precedes his own state of whimsy by more than a decade. Approximately 500 words of Leary's. Fine, without dust jacket, presumably as issued.
194. LE CARRÉ, John. Our Game. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1995. A leatherbound limited edition of this novel of a post-Cold War spy's world as it intersects with the nationalist aspirations of former Soviet countries. Signed by the author. With a special introduction by him for this edition about the genesis of the book. Fine.
195. LE CARRÉ, John. Single & Single. (London): Hodder & Stoughton (1999). The advance reading copy of this new novel, scheduled to be published in 1999. Printed in a numbered edition of 1500 copies (this copy being unnumbered). Fine in wrappers.
196. LE GUIN, Ursula. The Dispossessed. NY: Harper & Row (1974). LeGuin's award-winning masterpiece, "the most thoroughgoing utopian vision in modern SF" (Pringle). One of Pringle's hundred best science fiction novels, this book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, and was a runner-up for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. A serious novel of ideas, using science fiction to explore issues of moral and political significance, including a careful explication of modern trends in libertarian thought and anarchism. Signed by the author. Extremely slight bowing to boards; else fine in a fine dust jacket with a tiny nick at the upper rear spine fold. A very nice copy of an important book.
197. LEHANE, Dennis. Gone Baby Gone. NY: Morrow (1998). The advance reading copy of the author's fourth mystery featuring Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. The first novel in the series, A Drink Before the War, won a Shamus Award. Fine in wrappers.
198. LEONARD, Elmore. The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories. (NY): Delacorte (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of Leonard's Western stories, most of them written in the 1950s, long before he began writing mysteries. Fine in wrappers.
199. LOPEZ, Barry Holstun. Giving Birth to Thunder Sleeping with his Daughter. Kansas City: Sheed McMeel (1978). The author's second book and by far his scarcest. This is a retelling of Native American tales of Coyote the Trickster, subtitled "Coyote Builds North America." Lopez revivifies the myths and legends, restoring their humor and vitality and thus their power and their ability to affect the listener or reader rather than document them in the dry manner of an anthropologist dissecting a "subject." Like Jamie D'Angulo's Indian Tales and Howard Norman's translations of Swampy Cree Indian tales, this book helped to forge the link between the oral narrative traditions of Native American tribes and the realm of written, and printed, literature a fusion that is ongoing and is producing some of the most subtle and energized writings of recent years. Cloth faded at the edges; else fine in very good jacket with a few creases and short tears but less rubbing than usual. A nice copy of a scarce and important book, and signed by the author.
200. LOPEZ, Barry. About This Life. Journeys on the Threshold of Memory. NY: Knopf, 1998. His most recent book, a collection of essays and reflections. Signed by the author on a tipped-in leaf. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
201. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers.
202. MAILER, Norman. Oswald's Tale. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1995. Limited edition of Mailer's nonfiction study of Lee Harvey Oswald, the true first edition, preceding the trade edition. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, silk ribbon marker bound in, and with a special introduction by Mailer for this edition, in which he discusses his gaining access to the Russian KGB files on Oswald. Fine, and signed by the author.
203. MAILER, Norman. The Gospel According to the Son. NY: Random House (1997). The uncorrected proof copy of this novel, written from the perspective of Jesus Christ. Fine in wrappers.
204. MAILER, Norman. The Time of Our Time. NY: Random House (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of an omnibus collection, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Naked and the Dead. "Selections by Mailer of his best work, ingeniously arranged as a literary retrospective." With a foreword by Mailer. Painfully massive, over 1200 pages. Near fine in wrappers. Destined to be scarce: few that are read will likely survive.
205. MAMET, David. The Frog Prince. NY: Vincent FitzGerald, 1984. A beautiful limited edition of this Mamet play, illustrated by Edward Koren, with a signed etching by Koren as frontispiece and four other Koren illustrations tipped in. The book was printed by Wild Carrot Letterpress, with handmade endpapers, in the same year that Mamet won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Glengarry Glen Ross. One of 130 copies signed by the author and the artist. Fine without dust jacket, as issued. An attractive and scarce edition by one of the most highly regarded of contemporary American playwrights.
206. MARKSON, David. Springer's Progress. NY: HRW (1977). The third novel to be published in hardcover by the author of The Ballad of Dingus Magee, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
207. MASO, Carole. Defiance. NY: Dutton, 1998. Her sixth book, a novel, and a departure in its near-conformance to conventional narrative: it is in part a journal written from death row by a female professor who has murdered two of her students during sex. An unrelenting portrayal of the darkness of the cycle of human harm, told in incongruously luminous prose. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
208. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: Viking (1983). Matthiessen's controversial and suppressed book on the conflict between agents of the federal government and members of the radical American Indian Movement in the 1970s, which culminated in a gun battle that left two FBI agents and one Indian dead. Matthiessen argues that the conviction of Leonard Peltier for the agents' death was a miscarriage of justice. His book was the subject of two lawsuits by one of the FBI agents involved in the case and by the former governor of South Dakota which effectively suppressed it for nearly a decade. A Supreme Court ruling declining to hear the case after an appeals court had thrown out the suits on the basis of First Amendment considerations finally allowed the book to be reprinted after nine years of litigation and untold millions of dollars in legal expenses a harrowing experience for the author, his publishers and (one assumes) their insurers; and a sobering example, it hardly seems necessary to point out, of how a legal case can effectively suppress a publication even if the case is, as this one turned out to be, finally deemed to be without merit: Matthiessen's book was effectively removed from its target audience for the crucial window of time during which it was most relevant (and agitation on Peltier's behalf might have had the best chance for success). Mild foxing to top edge; else fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
209. -. Another copy. Warmly inscribed by the author, in part: "with many thanks/ for Leonard [Peltier]/ and kindest regards." Near fine in dust jacket.
210. -. Another copy. Signed by Matthiessen. Board edges nibbled from storage in the author's attic; about near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with rubbing to one corner.
211. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. East of Lo Monthang. Boston: Shambala, 1995. A beautiful book of photographs of the Himalayan Kingdom of Lo, a part of Nepal on the border of Tibet. Text by Matthiessen and photographs by Thomas Laird. Signed by Matthiessen. Quarto; slight corner bump, else fine in a fine dust jacket.
212. MATTHIESSEN, Peter. Lost Man's River. NY: Random House (1997). The uncorrected proof copy of the second novel in the trilogy that began with Killing Mr. Watson, based on a series of events in Florida at the turn of the century and using the novel form to explore the settling and development of that frontier, with an awareness of the ecological implications of that development. This proof contains textual differences from the published version. Fine in wrappers.
213. McCARTHY, Cormac. Suttree. NY: Random House (1979). His fourth book, which many have considered his best, at least until the Border Trilogy (and some even still). A very scarce book, which sold fewer than 3000 copies in the original edition. Faint stain to foredge; near fine in a fine dust jacket. In custom folding chemise and slipcase.
214. McCARTHY, Cormac. Blood Meridian. NY: Random House (1985). His fifth book, a powerful novel of the Old West, based on an actual series of events in 1849-1850 in Texas and Mexico, and rendered with an eye to bringing to life the surreal violence of the time and place. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
215. McCARTHY, Cormac. Cities of the Plain. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of the concluding volume in the Border Trilogy. Very scarce: according to several sources, fewer than 100 copies of this proof were issued. Fine in wrappers.
216. -. Same title, the first British edition (London: Picador, 1998). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
217. -. Same title, the limited edition (New Orleans: B.E. Trice, 1998). One of 300 numbered copies, quarterbound in leather and signed by the author the smallest limitation of any of McCarthy's books (aside from the sold-out deluxe issue of this title). Fine in a fine slipcase.
218. McINERNEY, Jay. Ransom. NY: Vintage Contemporaries (1985). Two states of the advance reading copy of the second book by the author of Bright Lights, Big City, distinguished by the address "Dear Bookseller" atop the publisher's blurb on the rear cover. Both states near fine in wrappers. For both:
219. McINERNEY, Jay. Model Behavior. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of his most recent novel. Fine in wrappers.
220. McMURTRY, Larry. Buffalo Girls. NY: Simon & Schuster (1990). Another of his novels to re-envision the Old West, and re-instill life into some of its mythologized characters: "Calamity Jane" is the heroine of this novel, and Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill Cody are among the supporting cast. Inscribed by the author. Laid in is a typed letter signed, dated in the year of publication, in which McMurtry apologizes for a delay in responding and details several of the obstacles. The letter is folded once, else fine; the book has very slight corner bumping; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
221. MENDELSOHN, Jane. I Was Amelia Earhart. NY: Knopf, 1996. The uncorrected proof copy of her first book. Dampstaining to rear cover; near fine in beige wrappers, an earlier and considerably scarcer state of the book than the more common issue in blue wrappers.
222. MERWIN, W.S. The Folding Cliffs. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of his latest book, a narrative in the form of a single long poem. Fine in wrappers.
223. MICHENER, James. Recessional. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1994. The true first edition of this novel, a limited edition with a special introduction by the author. Leatherbound, page edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. Fine, and signed by the author.
224. MILLER, Sue. Literary Correspondence. c. 1980 and after. Two autograph letters signed; two autograph notes signed; one typed letter signed, each pertaining to her first published story. The first note submits a story to the fiction editor of a small literary magazine, followed by two letters responding to editorial changes and suggestions. Later, when another story is accepted by The Atlantic, Miller writes crediting her correspondent with having gotten her the original exposure that allowed her to be seen by the Atlantic's fiction editor. Miller went on to write The Good Mother, for which she received excellent reviews and which was made into a highly successful movie. An interesting glimpse at a crucial moment in the literary life of a young and promising writer.
225. MILLHAUSER, Steven. The Knife Thrower. NY: Crown (1998). The advance reading copy of the most recent collection of stories by the author of last year's Pulitzer Prize winner, Martin Dressler. Fine in wrappers.
226. MINOT, Susan. Evening. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of the well-received latest novel, just published, by the author of Monkeys and Lust, among others. Fine in wrappers.
227. -. Another copy. One edge tear, else fine.
228. MOORE, Lorrie. Birds of America. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of the newest collection of short fiction by the author of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and Self-Help, among others. One of these stories was the O. Henry Award winner. Near fine in wrappers.
229. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Fine in wrappers.
230. MORRIS, Wright. Man and Boy. NY: Knopf, 1951. The author's sixth book, and fourth novel, which was published to near-universal critical acclaim. Cloth tanned at spine extremities; near fine in a dust jacket that is spine-darkened and edgeworn, thus only good. Inscribed by the author.
231. MORRIS, Wright. The Works of Love. NY: Knopf, 1952. His seventh book, again a novel that received substantial critical praise upon publication. Acidic paper browning somewhat with age, otherwise fine in a mildly sunned dust jacket with a small tear at the crown; about near fine. Warmly and somewhat enigmatically inscribed by the author: "For ____ _______/ Making Delivery/ Santa Claus back soon/ Wright Morris." A nice copy of one of his early novels.
232. MORRIS, Wright. The Deep Sleep. NY: Scribner, 1953. First edition of his sixth novel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Bookstore stamp front flyleaf. Cloth tanned at spine. Very good, lacking the dust jacket. Signed by the author on the title page.
233. MORRIS, Wright. The Field of Vision. NY: Harcourt Brace (1956). After two nominations for the National Book Award for fiction, in 1954 and 1955, this novel won the award in 1957. This copy is fine in a very good, corner-clipped (but not price-clipped) dust jacket, and is inscribed by the author. An attractive copy of his first award winner.
234. MORRIS, Wright. The Territory Ahead. (NY): Harcourt Brace (1958). Nonfiction, an interpretation and appreciation of American literature, from Twain and Thoreau to Hemingway and Faulkner. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author in 1975.
235. MORRIS, Wright. A Bill of Rights, A Bill of Wrongs, A Bill of Goods. (NY): New American Library (1968). Advance review copy of this collection of essays on various topics central to the cultural upheavals of the late 1960s. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
236. MORRIS, Wright. Green Grass, Blue Sky, White House. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1970. One of his earliest Black Sparrow publications, of which there were 1000 copies in wrappers and 200 signed hardcovers. This is a review copy of the issue in wrappers. Near fine, with review slip laid in.
237. MORRIS, Wright. Here is Einbaum. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1973. The hardcover trade edition of this collection of stories; one of 500 copies. This copy is inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine, spine-tanned dust jacket with a small label taped across the spine base.
238. -. Same title, a review copy of the issue in wrappers. Faint strip of edge-sunning; else fine.
239. MORRIS, Wright. About Fiction. NY: Harper & Row (1975). A review copy of this collection of essays on writing and reading. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
240. MORRIS, Wright. Earthly Delights, Unearthly Adornments. American Writers as Image-Makers. NY: Harper & Row (1978). A review copy of this volume of essays on American writers and writing. Fine in a near fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
241. MORRIS, Wright. Plains Song. NY: Harper & Row (1980). Morris' second book to win the National Book Award for fiction. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
242. MORRISON, Toni. Paradise. NY: Knopf, 1998. Bound galley sheets of the latest novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author, published to near-universal praise. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved, has just been made into a movie. 8 1/2" x 11". Tapebound in cardstock and vinyl covers. Fine. A very early state of the novel, preceding the bound proofs.
243. MUNRO, Alice. The Love of a Good Woman. NY: Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of her latest collection of stories. Munro recently won Canada's Governor General's Award, the highest literary honor in Canada, for the third time. Fine in wrappers.
244. MURAKAMI, Haruki. The Elephant Vanishes. NY: Knopf, 1993. The uncorrected proof copy of this collection of stories by the bestselling and award-winning Japanese author. A couple of pages crimped at foredge, otherwise fine in wrappers.