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Movie Catalog, B

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24. BACH, Richard. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. (NY): Macmillan (1970). The deluxe edition of one of the most popular examples of the pop literature of the time -- a huge bestseller that went into dozens of printings. As a small, cult item, the book enjoyed considerable counterculture respect as a follow-your-own-muse fable. Its enormous commercial success provoked a scornful backlash that was aided by a rather insipid film version a couple of years later. This edition is bound in leather (or "leatherette"), slipcased and signed by the author. From the sheets of the sixteenth printing. A fine copy in a near fine slipcase.

25. -. Same title. [n.p.: n.p., n.d.]. A Taiwanese piracy. Bound into this edition is the text of a Time magazine article about the book. Taiwanese bookstore label rear free endpaper; some soiling and cracking to boards; signatures starting. A good copy in a very good dust jacket with one very small edge chip.

26. BALLARD, J. G. Empire of the Sun. London: Gollancz, 1984. The first issue proof of this Booker Prize-winning autobiographical novel, by a contemporary master of postmodern fantasy and science fiction. Basis for the award-winning movie, which was adapted for the screen by Tom Stoppard and filmed by Steven Spielberg. This proof is shot from word-processed typescript, rather than being typeset. Reportedly, only about 30 copies were prepared thus. Near fine in wrappers.

27. -. Same title, the second issue proof. A fine copy, signed by the author, in a dust jacket wrinkled from where it overlays the proof. Arguably Ballard's most important book, and certainly his most widely acclaimed and accessible.

28. BANKS, Russell. Affliction. NY: Harper & Row, 1989. The second of Banks's novels to be filmed, this one resulting in an Oscar for James Coburn as the grandfather, with powerful performances by Nick Nolte and Willem Dafoe as well. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.

29. -. Another copy, fine in fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author.

30. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

31. -. Same title, the advance reading copy. Bumped at spine crown; near fine in wrappers.

32. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Shot from the author's typescript sheets and reproducing a number of holograph corrections, particularly near the end of the book. Near fine in wrappers.

32. BANKS, Russell. The Sweet Hereafter. (NY): HarperCollins (1991). The advance reading copy of this well-received novel about a small country town coming to terms with its grief. The first of Banks's wrenching, sometimes bleak, novels to be filmed. Fine in wrappers.

33. -. Same title, the trade edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

34. BEAGLE, Peter S. The Last Unicorn. NY: Viking (1968). A modern classic of fantasy, adapted for the screen by Beagle, and made into an animated film. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.

35. BEATTIE, Ann. Chilly Scenes of Winter. Garden City: Doubleday, 1976. Her first novel, which was first released with the film title Head Over Heels, with John Heard and Mary Beth Hurt, and later re-released with the novel's title. Trace wear to cloth at spine extremities; else fine in a very good dust jacket with a small spot of rubbing on front panel, minor wear to the spine extremities, and a short tear at the upper front flapfold. A reasonably nice copy of a not-very-well-made book.

36. BEINHART, Larry. American Hero. NY: Pantheon (1993). The advance reading copy of the author's fourth book, a combination satire-thriller by an award-winning mystery writer, which posits the theory that the Gulf War was a deliberate creation of the Bush reelection campaign -- a staged event to bolster an incumbent President's sagging fortunes. Basis for the popular film Wag the Dog, whose title has become a part of the contemporary political vernacular. Written with the kind of streetwise savvy for which the author is known; extensively documented with footnotes to convey credibility; and cynically humorous, as a good Washington novel should be. Fine in wrappers.

37. BERENDT, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. NY: Random House (1994). A highly praised literary nonfiction portrait of Savannah, Georgia, a surprise bestseller for over two years, going through dozens of printings, and later the basis for a movie. The first edition is somewhat uncommon and certainly represents a minuscule percentage of the total number of copies printed to date. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a corner crease on the front flap.

38. -. Same title, a later printing. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

39. BERGER, Thomas. Little Big Man. NY: Dial, 1964. The author's third and most famous novel, a tragicomic history of the American West, which was immortalized on film with the work of Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway. This copy is inscribed by the author to Seymour Lawrence: "To Seymour Lawrence/ republisher of this novel/ and great friend to the/ career of/ Thomas Berger." Fifteen years after this novel was first published, Lawrence -- who was by then Berger's publisher -- reissued it, an extremely uncommon event in contemporary American publishing, usually reserved for bestselling classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird or The Grapes of Wrath. Despite the good reviews, the film, and a second printing, Little Big Man was very definitely not a bestseller, and its winning of the Richard and Hilda Rosenthal Foundation Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters -- given for a work that, while not being a commercial success, is nonetheless a substantial literary achievement -- is an explicit acknowledgement of that fact. Fine in a slightly spine-faded dust jacket worn at the crown and rubbed at the folds; still about near fine, and better than most copies that turn up of this fragile title. A great association copy of an important American novel which is nonetheless not as famous as the film that was based on it.

40. BERGER, Thomas. Neighbors. (NY): Delacorte/Lawrence (1980). A dark comedy, and a film vehicle for Saturday Night Live alumni John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd. This is the publisher's copy, specially bound: leatherbound with raised bands, gilt stamping and marbled endpapers. There is no indication of how many copies might have been done, but in all likelihood there would have been very few -- possibly only two: one for the author and one for the publisher. Fine.

41. -. Another copy, the trade edition. Fine in very near fine dust jacket.

42. BERRIAULT, Gina. Women in Their Beds. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint (1996). A story collection by a writer who consistently receives the most lavish praise from critics and other writers but who has remained until fairly recently relatively unknown to a large segment of the reading public. This collection won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, and the Rea Award for the Short Story, catapulting the author to a degree of literary celebrity unprecedented in her 40-year writing career. Includes the story, "The Stone Boy," made into a well-received movie with Robert Duvall and Glenn Close. Fine in a fine dust jacket and inscribed by the author in 1997.

43. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.

44. BOGDANOVICH, Peter. Who the Devil Made It. NY: Knopf, 1997. The uncorrected proof copy of a collection of interviews by award-winning film director Bogdanovich with 16 other directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Lumet, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang and George Cukor. A listing of each director's films, along with brief biographical notes, accompanies each interview. The proof does not have the photographs that appeared in the final book. Fine in wrappers.

45. BORGES, Jorge Luis and BIOY-CASARES, Adolfo. Los Orilleros and El Paraíso de los Creyentes. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada (1955). Two collaborative filmscripts by Borges and his longtime friend Bioy-Casares, himself an author of considerable renown in Latin America. Borges has been called the greatest writer to not win the Nobel Prize, and it has been said that his failure to be awarded that prize diminished the prize, not the author. Bioy-Casares, while not as internationally known, nonetheless was one of the leading writers in the literary renaissance that began in Buenos Aires in the 1920s, and laid the foundation for the modern "boom" in Latin American literature. His short novel, The Invention of Morel, was the basis for the film Last Year at Marienbad, directed by Alain Resnais and one of the key films of the French New Wave in the early 1960s. Moderate page foxing; a very good copy in wrappers rubbed at the folds.

46. BOULLE, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. NY: Vanguard Press (1963). First edition of this novel by the author of The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Made into one of the more memorable movies of the 1960s, scripted by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame and starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell. Previous owner's name on front pastedown under front flap. Top stain and crown cloth faded; else near fine in like jacket with faded spine-lettering and some wear at crown. Overall, a tight, attractive copy.

47. BOYLE, T. Coraghessan. The Road to Wellville. (n.p.): Viking (1993). The advance reading copy (marked "advance uncorrected proofs") of this elaborate, satirical historical novel based on the life of Dr. John Kellogg, a turn-of-the century health crusader and inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes (along with "peanut butter...[and] some seventy-five other gastrically correct foods"). Fine in wrappers. Basis for the film with Anthony Hopkins.

48. BRADBURY, Ray. The Illustrated Man. Garden City: Doubleday, 1951. One of the classics that established Bradbury as the preeminent literary science fiction writer of his generation. A collection of short stories, each related to a tattoo on the "illustrated man" of the title. Basis for the moderately well-received movie with Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom, one of the few attempts to translate a series of essentially unrelated short stories into a coherent single film. One lower corner bumped; otherwise near fine in a very good dust jacket with several edge tears and some creasing. Still, a remarkably nice example of one of the cheaply made Doubleday genre books of the period, and an attractive copy of a science fiction classic.

49. BRANDO, Marlon. Jericho. Los Angeles: Brown, Kraft, 1988. A photocopied screenplay about the Colombian drug trade and the U.S. war on drugs, by the noted actor, star of A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, The Godfather, and Last Tango in Paris, among many others. Labeled "Second Draft." So far unproduced. Bound in plain green wrappers; near fine.

50. BROOKS, James L. Broadcast News. NY: Vintage Books (1988). The uncorrected proof copy of Brooks's screenplay, here presented with scenes that did not make the final cut in the movie he directed, which starred Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Jack Nicholson (Nicholson had won an Oscar for his performance in Brooks's first directorial effort, Terms of Endearment, for which Brooks also wrote the screenplay). Fine in wrappers.

51. BROWNLOW, Kevin. The Parade's Gone By... NY: Knopf, 1968. Interviews and photographs form the basis of this history of the industry during the era of silent films. Quarto, heavily illustrated. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.

52. BRYAN, C.D.B. Friendly Fire. NY: Putnam (1976). A nonfiction work, made into an Emmy-winning television movie. Friendly Fire chronicles the radicalization of a patriotic Midwestern family after their son is killed by "friendly" (i.e., U.S.) fire and they try to get the details from a balky government seemingly more interested in protecting those responsible, but still living, than in honoring the dead. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

53. -. Same title (n.p.): (Marble Arch) (1979). Dialogue continuity script for the television screenplay based on C.D.B. Bryan's nonfiction account. Writer's credits given to Fay Kanin. Claspbound photocopied sheets; first page creased, otherwise near fine. An important book, and a landmark film, for its depiction of the tide that turned mainstream political opinion in the U.S. against the war effort in Vietnam.

54. BUKOWSKI, Charles. Barfly. Fribourg: Love Productions, 1980. An "original screenplay" by Bukowski for the film that was eventually released under this title, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway, with an appearance by Bukowski. This copy is identified as a "New Draft/Jazz Soup Version," to distinguish it from earlier drafts. Signed by Bukowski. Eventually, the final screenplay was published in both a trade and a limited edition. A bibliographically interesting state of this script, and an important Bukowski item. Photocopied pages; claspbound in edge-sunned cardstock covers. Near fine, in a custom clamshell box. We have also seen a copy of this version in gilt-stamped, black vinyl covers.

55. BURGESS, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. London: Heinemann (1962). The uncorrected proof copy of the true first edition of his alarming and controversial view of a future beset by violence, technological excess and authoritarianism, made into the classic film by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. Modest spine and corner creasing; mild edge-sunning. Small edge tear on first blank. A very good copy of a scarce and fragile state of this novel of societal breakdown that was influential even before Kubrick made his film. One of the American Film Institute's 100 Films of the Century.

56. BURKE, James Lee. Heaven's Prisoners. NY: Holt (1988). The second novel in the award-winning Dave Robicheaux mystery series, and several years later the basis for the movie with Alec Baldwin and Mary Stuart Masterson. Fine in a fine dust jacket, and signed by the author.

57. BURROUGHS, William S. The Naked Lunch. Paris: Olympia (1959). The first edition of his second book, one of the all-time great drug novels and one of the "big three" volumes of the Beat movement (with Kerouac's On the Road and Ginsberg's Howl). Published only in paperback in Paris by Maurice Girodias' small press, in an edition of 5000 copies, three years before it could be published in the U.S. This copy has the "New Price" stamp on the rear panel, for which the bibliographer gives no priority but which can be presumed to have been done shortly after publication. Very slight spine creasing; else a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with two very short tears at the spine crown and minuscule wear at the spine extremities. A beautiful copy, completely unfaded on the spine and bright and fresh all over. A high spot of postwar American literature, bravely filmed by David Cronenberg in the early 1990s.

58. -. Same title, the first American edition. NY: Grove Press (1959)[c. 1962]. Naked Lunch was not published in this country until three years after its original publication in Paris, and then only after a number of high-profile literary figures argued its case as a novel of great literary merit and import. It was published by the maverick publisher Barney Rosset, of Grove Press, in a tiny edition of 3500 copies -- a smaller number than was done of the very scarce French edition in 1959. This copy has a very slight bump to the spine crown and a small faint spot on the foredge; otherwise fine in a near fine dust jacket with trace rubbing at the corners. A very attractive copy, signed by the author.

59. BURROUGHS, William, SOUTHERN, Terry and STERN, Jacques. Junky. NY: L'Automatique, 1977. The unproduced screenplay based on Burroughs' first novel and on Stern's The Creation of Adam -- the only attempt we're aware of to bring Burroughs' novel to the screen, and preceding the filming of Naked Lunch by 14 years. Bradbound in vinyl covers. Signed by Southern on the title page. Southern was responsible for a number of the most high-profile screenplays of the 1960s that had an underground, or countercultural, edge -- including Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider and Candy -- and he would have been a natural selection to bring Burroughs' first great drug novel to the screen. Minor wear to covers; else fine. Extremely uncommon: we've never heard of another one offered.

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