Author's First Books, K-L
225. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
226. KENEALLY, Thomas. The Place at Whitton. London: Cassell (1964). The first edition of the first novel by the Australian author of Schindler's List. Very mild foxing to front endpapers and top edge; faint stain to heel of spine, reflected on verso of jacket; else fine in near fine dust jacket with one strip of rubbing along the front spinefold.
227. KENNEDY, William. The Ink Truck. NY: Dial, 1969. The first book by the author of the acclaimed Albany series, which included the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ironweed. Fine in a near fine dust jacket rubbed on the front panel.
228. -. Another copy. Very near fine in a mildly spine-faded dust jacket with a short tear and light wear to the spine extremities. Signed by the author.
229. KEROUAC, John. The Town and the City. NY: Harcourt Brace (1950). An advance review copy of Kerouac's first novel, written in the style of Kerouac's idol, Thomas Wolfe, and published while Kerouac was still using his given name, John, as opposed to the more casual "Jack" under which his Beat novels were published. Kerouac later dismissed this novel as "dead" but at least one critic called it "an excellent novel in the Wolfeian autobiographic style." While not as self-consciously experimental or as jazz-inspired as his later books, especially On the Road, it clearly shows Kerouac's literary antecedents and the fact that he was a writer before he came to be a cultural icon--a fact that only recently has been fully appreciated by the academic and literary communities. This copy has a Harcourt Brace advance slip tipped to the front flyleaf. The cloth is worn through at the spine crown and two corners; still a better than very good copy in a very good dust jacket with some edgewear at the extremities and corners. Although not an exceptionally scarce book, given that more than 10,000 of them were published, advance copies of the cloth edition are scarce, and in the seven years before Kerouac's second book made an impact, this title had plenty of time to slip into obscurity.
230. -. Another copy, not a review copy. This is a very near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with a small tape-repaired chip at the lower edge of the rear panel and multiple short edge tears, all of which have been internally tape-repaired.
231. -. Same title, the first British edition (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951). This copy is signed on the front flyleaf by beat writer Herbert Huncke, in 1953. Huncke appears in several of Kerouac's novels of the Beat period. Offsetting to endpapers, foxing to page edges; this is a very good copy in a near fine dust jacket which differs in design from that of the American edition and which blurbs Kerouac's second novel on the rear flap: "a novel whose background is the recurrence of the pioneering instinct in American life and its expression in the migrations of the present generation; a book provisionally entitled On the Road." Publisher's mailing list solicitation card laid in. A nice association copy of a scarce edition of Kerouac's first book.
232. KESEY, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. London: Methuen (1962). The first British edition of the author's first book, a pivotal novel of the 1960s, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. This edition is bibliographically significant in that it represents an intermediate state of the text: after the first U.S. edition, the character of "Red Cross Nurse," a woman, was replaced by "Public Relations," a man, in response to a lawsuit. In this edition, two of the three sections that concern the Red Cross Nurse were changed and replaced with cancel sheets that refer to Public Relations. One reference was missed and remains, so this edition is the only one that contains references to two different versions of the same character. Copyright information blacked out on verso of title page, as is often the case with British editions in the U.S.; very good copy in very good jacket.
233. KIDDER, Tracy. The Road to Yuba City. Garden City: Doubleday, 1974. The author's first book, an investigative report on the Juan Corona murders in northern California in the early '70s. Kidder later expressed displeasure with this book and has not allowed it to be reprinted. This copy has remainder spray on the bottom edge of pages, otherwise near fine in dust jacket with a short tear at the top of the front flap fold. Signed by the author. Kidder's second book, The Soul of a New Machine, won the Pulitzer Prize.
234. KINCAID, Jamaica. At the Bottom of the River. NY: FSG (1983). Highly praised first book, a collection of stories, by this Caribbean author. Fine in fine dust jacket.
235. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Bean Trees. NY: Harper & Row (1988). An advance review copy of the author's highly praised first novel, which combines a strong sense of place--the Southwest--humor, and an active engagement with issues of social and political consequence. Fine in fine dust jacket. One of the more sought-after, and elusive, first books of recent years, and especially uncommon in an advance copy.
236. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Some scuffing to rear cover and slight wrinkling on front; spot on foredge. Very good in wrappers. The first trade edition is quite scarce; the proof is considerably more so.
237. KINSELLA, W.P. Dance Me Outside. (n.p.) (Canada): (Oberon) (1977). The author's first book, a collection of Indian stories, this being the scarce hardcover issue. Kinsella won a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award for his novel Shoeless Joe, which was made into the award-winning film Field of Dreams. His other specialty, besides baseball fiction, is a sequence of stories set on a fictional Canadian Indian reserve, with characters who reappear from volume to volume. Kinsella's has created and populated a fictional locale as thoroughly as Faulkner did with Yoknapatawpha County or Gabriel García MÁrquez has with Macondo. Issued simultaneously in softcover and hardcover, the hardcover is exceedingly scarce these days; reportedly only a few hundred copies were done. Label removal abrasions front flyleaf and rear pastedown; else near fine in fine dust jacket.
238. -. Same title, the simultaneous issue in wrappers. Fine.
239. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. His first novel, winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award, basis for the movie Field of Dreams, a North American magical realist baseball novel, with J.D. Salinger as a character, and one of the best-loved books of the past few decades. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with trace wear at the spine extremities. Signed by the author.
240. KITELEY, Brian. Still Life with Insects. NY: Ticknor & Fields, 1989. A short novel that is the author's first book. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
241. KIZER, Carolyn. The Ungrateful Garden. Bloomington: Indiana U. Press (1961). First regularly published book, a collection of poems, by a writer whose work is strongly associated with the Pacific Northwest, and who later won the Pulitzer Prize. This is a fine copy of the cloth issue, in spine-faded but otherwise near fine dust jacket, inscribed by the author in 1963 to poetry editor and anthologist Oscar Williams. A nice association copy of an important first collection.
242. KOSINSKI, Jerzy. "NOVAK, Joseph." The Future is Ours, Comrade. Garden City: Doubleday, 1960. Advance review copy of the author's first book, a pseudonymously published nonfiction account of Russia in the postwar years. Inscribed by the author as both "Jerzy Kosinski" and "Joseph Novak" and dated 1974. Bumped at spine crown but otherwise very near fine in very near fine dust jacket. A very attractive copy of an uncommon book.
243. KRICH, John. Chicago Is. Venice: Legatoria Piazzesi (1976). The author's first book, an excerpt from a novel-in-progress, with an introduction by Studs Terkel. An elaborately produced volume, bound in parchment and letterpress printed on mould-made paper, with an original signed drypoint by Krich bound in. Of a total edition of 170 copies, this is an unnumbered copy sent out as a review copy, with the publisher's review slip laid in. Spine-tanned; else fine without dust jacket, as issued.
244. KUNDERA, Milan. ert. Prague: ( atva), 1967. The true first edition of this Czech author's first book, published in English as The Joke. This story of a young man deformed by a pseudo-socialist society which denied his individuality caused Kundera to be banned from publishing or speaking publicly, and his books to be outlawed. Spine cocked; white cloth uniformly dust soiled, else very good in an about very good, internally tape-strengthened dust jacket. An important novel and a truly rare modern book.
245. -. Same title, the first American edition (NY: Coward-McCann, 1969). Fine in fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author. Books signed by Kundera are remarkably scarce.
246. KURZWEIL, Allen. A Case of Curiosities. NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1992). The author's first book, a novel which earned its author a place on the Granta list. Remainder stripe, else fine in fine dust jacket.
247. LAVIN, Mary. Tales from Bective Bridge. Boston: Little Brown (1942). Her first book, issued in an edition of 999 copies and preceding the British edition, which was winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Light bump to spine base and mild foxing to page edges; a very good copy in a good, spine-faded dust jacket with several spots on the front cover.
248. LAVIN, Mary. The House in Clewe Street. Boston: Little Brown, 1945. Second book, first novel by this American-born writer who grew up in Ireland, which is the setting for most of her writing. This is a wartime book, printed on cheap, pulpy paper. Signed by the author. Front flyleaf corner-clipped; otherwise a near fine copy, in a very good, supplied dust jacket. A quite presentable copy of this first novel by an important author, who is widely considered one of the twentieth century masters of the short story.
249. LEAVITT, David. Family Dancing. NY: Knopf, 1984. The first book, a highly praised collection of stories, by the author of the controversial While England Sleeps, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket with mild spine-fading. Signed by the author.
250. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Light, faint staining to rear cover; near fine in wrappers.
251. LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. London: Heinemann (1960). Advance copy of the first British edition of her first and only book, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was the basis for an Academy Award-winning movie. Name in pencil on front cover, small spot on foredge, and minor spine creasing. Still a very near fine copy in plain brown printed wrappers. A very nice copy of an uncommon issue of this book.
252. LESSING, Doris. The Grass is Singing. NY: Crowell (1950). Advance copy of the first American edition of her first book, consisting of sheets of the first edition bound into a pictorial wrapper that replicates the dust jacket art. Small previous owner's label on second blank; coffee ring on front cover; spine darkened and modestly rubbed. Overall, about very good.
253. LEVIN, Jennifer. Water Dancer. NY: Poseidon (1982). First book, a novel about a long distance swimmer, which was nominated for a PEN/Hemingway award. Remainder mark; else fine in fine dust jacket.
254. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy Fine in wrappers with publication date written on front cover and publisher's information sheet laid in.
255. LISH, Gordon. Dear Mr. Capote. NY: HRW (1983). First book, an epistolary novel written from the perspective of a serial killer. Although this was his first novel, by the time it was published, Lish was already well-known--some would say "legendary"--as an editor and writing instructor, and has been one of the most influential figures of his generation. This copy is fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.
256. LOWRY, Beverly. Come Back, Lolly Ray. Garden City: Doubleday, 1977. First book, a novel, by this Texas author who is originally from Mississippi. This copy is very near fine in a like dust jacket and is inscribed by the author: "For ____ and ____/ at my publication/ party: a heady moment./ Thank you for coming."