Movie Catalog, I-K
202. -. Same title. The advance reading copy. The first printing of Garp was reported at 35,000 copies; none of Irving's previous books had sold even 5,000 copies, with one of them having had sales under 2000. Irving switched publishers for this book, and his new publisher decided to promote the novel heavily. After issuing two sets of proofs in small numbers for early readers and reviewers, Dutton printed this advance reading copy for wide distribution to the book trade. It worked in bringing attention to Irving's novel, which became a bestseller and National Book Award finalist (it won a watered-down version of the "American Book Awards" the next year as a paperback reprint). Since then, Irving's books have had six-figure first printings and his reputation as one of the major novelists working in America today has been secure. The publisher's risk, in producing such a large first printing, and their marketing efforts -- including creating this advance copy -- played no small part in this transformation. Light foxing and slanting; near fine in wrappers.
203. -. Same title, the first British edition (London: Gollancz, 1978). Erasure abrasions to front flyleaf; near fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket.
204. IRVING, John. The Hotel New Hampshire. NY: Dutton (1981). An uncorrected proof copy of the author's fifth book, made into a film with Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster. Again, the combination of humor with tragedy marks both book and film. This is a later issue proof, with pages 1A and 1 tipped in, in that order. There is both an earlier typeset state of the proof and a rare, first issue proof shot from typescript.
205. -. Same title, the trade edition. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with one tiny edge tear. A nearly pristine copy.
206. IRVING, John. The Cider House Rules. NY: Morrow (1985). Fine in a fine dust jacket. Not a movie yet, but apparently in production. This novel of an abortionist in Maine in the early part of this century was filmed locally last year but has not been released yet.
207. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof of the first British edition (London: Cape, 1985). Near fine in wrappers.
208. IRVING, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1989. The true first edition of what may be Irving's best-loved book (a substantial claim for a book by the author of The World According to Garp). Basis for the movie Simon Birch, which, in one of the more unusual adaptations of a literary work, borrowed the opening scenes of the novel intact and then changed the story and characters fairly dramatically thereafter. Irving reportedly gave his blessing to the film, but did ask that it not use the same title as the book, and that it indicate that it was "inspired by" the novel rather than based on it. Still, it ended up as perhaps the most poignant adaptation so far of an Irving novel -- a movie that manages to convey the characters with immediacy and affection in spite of, or because of, their quirks and to render the tragedies that befall them nearly as stunning as they were in print. Leatherbound, gilt stamped, with gilt page edges and silk ribbon marker. With a special introduction for this edition which does not appear in the trade edition, and signed by the author. A fine copy.
209. JACKSON, Shirley. The Lottery. NY: Farrar Straus, 1949. Her second, and most famous book, a collection of stories, including the title story -- a chilling classic of contemporary fiction that, when first published in The New Yorker, elicited more comments and letters than any story they had ever printed. In it Jackson exposes the dark underside of a society that is excessively concerned with appearances of normalcy, while in fact acting out a primitive, hideous, horrific ritual. Ownership signature of longtime editor and bibliophile, William Targ, dated in March of 1949. Dampstaining to the board edges; very good in a supplied, price-clipped dust jacket with several small abrasions on the spine. Made into a TV movie in 1996, with an undocumented (but vividly remembered) release in the public school system decades earlier. Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House, was the basis of a 1963 Robert Wise film as well as a remake this summer produced by Steven Spielberg.
210. JHABVALA, Ruth Prawer. Archive for The Householder. December 14, 1961 -May 22, 1963. Correspondence between Jhabvala, her agent Diarmuid Russell, and the producer Ismail Merchant of Merchant-Ivory Productions, negotiating the process of bringing Jhabvala's novel to the screen. The film was directed by James Ivory (his first fiction feature) and was released in 1963; Jhabvala wrote the screenplay. Included are four typed letters signed by Jhabvala and two telegrams from her, all to her agent; eight letters (one autograph) signed by Merchant and one telegram, to Jhabvala's agent; one typed note signed from Merchant to Jhabvala; and a handful of the retained copies of letters from the agent to both parties. The lot provides an interesting glimpse of the process and of Jhabvala's learning curve. Jhabvala in 1961: "There is a young Indian film producer who seems to be very much interested in doing a film of The Householder... I know nothing about him... I would help with the dialogue." In 1962: "Please let me know what I should charge for the screenplay. I seem to be doing this, so far, completely singlehandedly. [Merchant and Ivory] are both very keen and enthusiastic - but also very docile. They have blindly said yes to everything I have suggested, which seems very suspicious to me...very restful, but not altogether reassuring." Later that same month: "We are all thrilled and excited...I finished the screenplay within 11 days... There is absolutely no one except us three to say what is to be done and what not... Those two dynamic young men have gone back to Bombay now... An astrologer has already been consulted and great things are promised to the two young men for the year '62." The following month, in the continued absence of a contract, she directs her agent: "Tell him you are surprised that he is not yet further advanced in his preparations, considering how before he was in such a tearing hurry that he drove your client - i.e., me - to the edge of a nervous breakdown... Make it a strong letter, with all sorts of veiled threats in it: let him feel that we are by no means eager to sell... like a good Indian, I can tell them nothing of this to their face." Also included here is an unsigned, undated carbon of the contract. Most of the letters are written on thin, airmail paper and have suffered inconsequential edge tears; the agent's retained carbons have darkened with acidification. Since this venture, Jhabvala has been involved in numerous Merchant-Ivory projects including, notably, their production of her Booker Prize-winning novel, Heat and Dust, and their adaptations of E.M. Forster's novels, Howard's End and Room with a View, for both of which she wrote Oscar-winning screenplays. The lot is near fine. For all:
AFI-100, Eight Academy Awards
211. JONES, James. From Here to Eternity. NY: Scribner, 1951. The author's first book and one of the great novels of World War II, made into a film that won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Deborah Kerr, with Best Supporting Actress and Actor Oscars going to Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra. One of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. Top corners lightly bumped and some slight wear; near fine in dust jacket.
212. KAUFFMANN, Stanley. A World on Film. NY: Harper & Row (1966). A collection of film criticism spanning the years 1958-1965, a particularly rich period in the history of movies, by the reviewer for The New Republic, one of the leading critics of his time. Inscribed by the author. Slight shelf soiling to lower outer edges of pages; fine in a near fine dust jacket.
213. KAUFFMANN, Stanley. Figures of Light. Film Criticism and Comment. NY: Harper & Row (1971). A review copy of this collection of his film reviews and comments, from the years 1967-1971. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket with one tiny edge tear.
214. KAUFFMANN, Stanley. Living Images. Film Comment and Criticism. NY: Harper & Row (1975). The hardcover edition of this collection of film reviews, criticism and essays, 1970-1974. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
215. -. Same title, the simultaneous issue in wrappers. Also inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Fine.
216. KAYSEN, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted. NY: Turtle Bay Books, 1993. The advance reading copy of 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. Rumored to become a film with Winona Ryder. Fine in wrappers.
217. KAZAN, Elia. Typed Letter Signed. June 9, 1989. Written to an editor at Art & Antiques magazine, declining to write an article on rugs. In part: "At the moment I'm just too busy writing a novel, right smack in the middle of it, and can't think of anything else since I'm also preparing a long film which necessitates my going on location to Greece, Turkey and France." Kazan received an honorary Oscar in 1999 for lifetime achievement in film directing, an honor met with protest over his having named eight friends as Communists in 1952 when testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. On personal stationery, 7 1/4" x 10 1/2". Folded in thirds for mailing; two small smudges where corrections have been made to the text; else fine. Envelope included.
218. KENEALLY, Thomas. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. (Sydney): Angus and Robertson (1972). A novel by the Australian author of the Booker Prize-winning Schindler's Ark, which was later made into the award-winning film, Schindler's List. This book -- based on an historical incident in Australia at the turn of the century involving an Aboriginal uprising against racist oppression -- was also made into a well-received, albeit quite grim, movie. Keneally won the Miles Franklin Award -- Australia's highest literary honor -- in both 1967 and 1968. This novel won a Heinemann Award from the Royal Society of Literature in Great Britain in 1973. Inscribed by the author. Top edge foxed; near fine in a very good dust jacket with several edge tears and "Jimmie" misspelled as "Jimmy."
219. -. Same title, the first American edition (NY: Viking, 1972). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
AFI-100, Seven Academy Awards
220. KENEALLY, Thomas. Schindler's Ark. London: Hodder & Stoughton (1982). The true first edition of the book that became Schindler's List when published in the U.S., and which was the basis for the Steven Spielberg film that earned seven Academy Awards and was ranked number nine of the American Film Institute's Films of the Century. The book won the Booker Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Great Britain. Keneally is Australian and his books are usually published there first; in this case, however, the U.K. edition precedes even the Australian edition. This title had more than a decade to disappear before the movie came out and renewed interest in it. Although we don't have any figures for the print run of the first edition, it came at a point in Keneally's career when he would likely have been considered by his publisher a "mid-list" author -- one whose books would be well-received and reach a small, cultured audience, but had little commercial potential. Normally publishers cut back both the print runs and the advertising budgets for authors who seem to have proven to have limited commercial appeal, a self-reinforcing process that often ends up creating the situation that an author's scarcest books are those from the middle or latter part of his or her career. In short, this appears to be a scarce book, and probably is, for reasons that make sense from a publishing perspective. Very near fine in a near fine dust jacket with some scratches to the lamination.
221. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy of the British edition. Fine in wrappers.
222. -. Same title, the first American edition, titled Schindler's List (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1983). A few top page edges crimped as though from a clasp; hence near fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
Richard Gere's Copy of The Cotton Club
223. KENNEDY, William and COPPOLA, Francis. The Cotton Club. NY: Totally Independent, 1983. Revised shooting script dated October 16, 1983. Collaborative effort by Coppola and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Kennedy for Coppola's film on the famous Harlem night club during the Harlem Renaissance. 111 pages on 3-hole punched paper, an original, not a copy, bound with two rivets in pink paper wrappers. Kennedy was brought into this tumultuous project well after it was underway. Together with an earlier, "revised working draft" (San Francisco: Sentinel Bldg. Corp, n.d.) listing Coppola only as author. A secretarial hand identifies this as actor Richard Gere's copy of the Coppola filmscript. The two scripts together present an opportunity to view the development of an ambitious and complex project and, in this case, a chance to take note of the changes brought into the film by the addition of an author of Kennedy's stature and accomplishment. The Gere copy is near fine; the October 16 version has a stained and torn cover sheet and is otherwise near fine. For both:
224. (KENNEDY, William). Ironweed. (NY/Los Angeles): (Taft/Barish/Tri-Star) (1987). Publicity packet for the award-winning Hector Babenco film, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and based on Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Kennedy also wrote the screenplay. Included are an 18 page informational brochure and fifteen black-and-white publicity photos from the set of the movie. Items fine, in near fine cardstock folder.
225. -. Same title, the novel (NY: Viking (1983). Uncorrected proof copy of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and the third book in his acclaimed "Albany sequence." Ironweed became a bestseller, was reprinted many times, and was made into a well-received movie. Fine in wrappers.
226. KEROUAC, Jack. Pull My Daisy. NY: Grove (1961). The first printing, only issued in wrappers. Kerouac provides the text for a film by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie. Illustrated with photographs from the film, which starred, among others, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Larry Rivers and Gregory Corso. One corner lightly creased; very near fine in wrappers. A very nice copy of an increasingly difficult book to find, especially in collectible condition.
AFI-100, Winner of All Five Major Oscars
227. KESEY, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. NY: Viking (1962). Kesey's landmark first book, a pivotal novel of the literature of the Sixties, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. Made into the Academy Award-winning movie with Jack Nicholson; positioned at number 20 on the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was the first film since It Happened One Night in 1934 to sweep all five of the top Oscars -- Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Nonetheless, Kesey has repeatedly expressed displeasure with the film, reportedly even asking at one point that any mention of his name be removed from the credits. He has been said to have been working on his own film adaptation of the novel at various times over the years. The early printings of the U.S. edition contain text that was later excised and changed after a lawsuit was brought against Kesey and his publisher by a woman who was a nurse at the institution which Kesey used as a model for the novel; she charged him with portraying a character that was based on her (and had the same first name) in a disparaging manner. The character was rewritten after the third hardcover printing, and later editions, including the mass market paperback and the "definitive" text in the Viking Critical Library Series, have an alternate character in her place. This copy has one small spot on the cloth and a bit of fading to the extreme top edges; near fine in a very good, moderately edgeworn dust jacket that exhibits fading at the front spine fold, as though the book has been reversed on the shelf to prevent sunning to the spine.
228. KING, Stephen. The Shining. Garden City: Doubleday (1977). King's third novel, made into a memorable film by Stanley Kubrick that starred Jack Nicholson. Large glue stains on front flyleaf, presumably from a bookplate that is no longer present; otherwise a near fine copy in a dust jacket with light rubbing and edgewear; about near fine. King's early novels were published by Doubleday, in editions of a few thousand copies (compared to a million or more, these days). At the time, Doubleday was notorious for the cheapness of the paper and bindings used in their trade editions, which often resembled the cheap book club editions issued by clubs that Doubleday itself owned. As a result, most copies that have survived are in poor condition.
229. KING, Stephen. The Stand. NY: Doubleday (1978). Another of King's early novels published by Doubleday, in a remarkably cheap binding. A fat volume, fine in a fine dust jacket, and extremely scarce thus. Made into a TV mini-series in 1994, starring Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald, for which King wrote the screenplay.
230. KING, Stephen. The Dead Zone. NY: Viking (1979). King's fifth novel, sixth book, the basis for the well-received David Cronenberg movie, which features a remarkable performance by Christopher Walken as the main character -- a disabled school teacher who discovers that the accident that crippled him also gave him the power of "second sight." Slight indentation to spine; still very near fine in a dust jacket with a shallow scratch to the lamination on the rear panel. Inscribed by the author and dated 1982.
231. KINSELLA, W.P. Dance Me Outside. (Canada): (Oberon) (1977). The hardcover edition of the author's first book, a collection of stories set on a Canadian Indian reserve. In a series of books, Kinsella has used an actual locale and populated it with fictional characters to create as memorable a sequence of tales as Faulkner did with Yoknapatawpha County or Gabriel García Márquez with Macondo. According to the author, who has kept close track of his bibliography, only 250 copies were issued of this title in hardcover, 50 of which went to Canadian libraries. Faint edge-spotting; else fine in a near fine dust jacket and signed by the author. Basis for a 1994 Canadian film that received high praise (and was later favorably compared to Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals), but which received little distribution in the U.S.
232. -. Same title. This is the issue in wrappers. Trace rubbing to folds; else fine.
233. -. Another copy of the issue in wrappers. Near fine.
234. -. Same title, the first American edition (Boston: Godine, 1986). Remainder mark; else fine in a very good dust jacket.
235. KIRKWOOD, James. Some Kind of Hero. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell (1975). A novel of a returning Vietnam POW, by one of the creators of the award-winning musical A Chorus Line. Made into a movie with Richard Pryor. Signed by the author. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
236. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
237. -. Same movie, the press kit. Promotional information, cast and credits, and stills. Folder slightly worn; contents fine.
Signed by Anonymous
238. KLEIN, Joe. "Anonymous." Primary Colors. NY: Random House (1996). The pseudonymous, anonymous novel closely based on Clinton's Presidential campaign; filmed by Mike Nichols, with John Travolta and Emma Thompson in the roles based on Bill and Hillary Clinton. The question of the identity of the book's author became the hot issue among Washington insiders as soon as the book was published and continued unabated until a sleuthing reporter from the Washington Post identified Klein by the handwriting on a marked set of galleys. The subsequent scandal became an issue of "journalistic ethics" -- Klein was a columnist for Newsweek at the time and had flatly denied writing the book, as had his superiors at the magazine -- and resulted in Klein leaving Newsweek and taking a position at The New Yorker. The first printing, while not small, was immediately sold out and the book was reprinted numerous times, becoming a huge bestseller. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
239. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. While copies of the first edition are scarce, the proof is decidedly more so, and this is the only copy we have seen that is signed by the author: "Best wishes/ Anonymous/ JK." Fine in wrappers.
240. KOCH, C.J. The Year of Living Dangerously. (Victoria): Nelson (1978). The correct first edition (Australian) of this novel of Indonesia during the Sukarno uprising of the Sixties. Winner of The Age Book of the Year Award and the National Book Council Award for Australian Literature. Made into a memorable film by Peter Weir, with Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt, who won an Oscar for playing a male character. Owner name; light shelf wear to cloth; several pages opened incautiously; near fine in a spine-faded, near fine dust jacket. Signed by the author. Quite scarce in the original edition, especially signed.
241. KOSINSKI, Jerzy. Being There. NY: HBJ (1970). A review copy of the third book by the author of The Painted Bird and the National Book Award-winning Steps. Adapted for the screen by Kosinski and filmed by Hal Ashby, with Peter Sellers and Shirley Maclaine. Inscribed by the author in 1974. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
242. KOTZWINKLE, William. E.T. The Book of the Green Planet. NY: Putnam (1985). A review copy of the sequel to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, based on a story idea by Steven Spielberg, who directed the original. Kotzwinkle also wrote the novelization of the original film. Fine in a near fine jacket, with review slip, photo and promotional literature laid in. Uncommon now.
243. KOVIC, Ron. Born on the Fourth of July. NY: McGraw-Hill (1976). One of the first of the personal accounts to come out in the aftermath of the war, and one of the angriest. Of all the memoirs prompted by experience in Vietnam, this one still resonates with a bitter irony that has not been surpassed, and is a vivid reminder of the human costs of that war. Oliver Stone won an Oscar as director; he also co-wrote the screenplay with Kovic, who was played by Tom Cruise. This is a review copy with a letter laid in from a McGraw-Hill editor (and novelist herself). Near fine in a very good, edge-chipped dust jacket.
244. -. Another copy. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket rubbed on the front panel.
245. KRABBÉ, Tim. The Vanishing. NY: Random House (1993). The first American edition of this book that was the basis of two films, one Dutch and one American, both of which were directed by George Sluizer, and neither of which was faithful to the book's true ending. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Uncommon.