Movie Catalog, L
247. LANG, Daniel. Incident on Hill 192. London: Secker & Warburg (1970). The first British edition of Lang's award-winning book, originally titled Casualties of War, a nonfiction account of the kidnapping, rape and murder of a Vietnamese girl by four American soldiers, which originally appeared in The New Yorker. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Uncommon. Filmed almost two decades later by Brian de Palma, with a David Rabe screenplay.
248. -. Same movie. Press Kit and Lobby Cards for Casualties of War. Los Angeles: Columbia Pictures, 1989. Publicity packet for this highly praised Brian de Palma film, based on Daniel Lang's book recounting a true incident from the war. Containing production information, credits, biographies of the major members of cast and crew, and still photos for publicity. Near fine. Together with seven lobby cards for the movie, with color stills of stars Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn. 14" x 11". Fine. For all:
249. LAWRENCE, T.E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Garden City: Doubleday Doran, 1935. The first American edition of Lawrence's masterwork, filmed as Lawrence of Arabia, with Peter O'Toole in the title role. Winner of seven Academy Awards and number five on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 Films of the Century. A very good, spine-darkened copy, lacking the dust jacket.
Proof Copy of the Greatest Spy Novel Ever Written
250. LE CARRÉ, John. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. London: Hodder & Stoughton (1974). The uncorrected proof copy of the first edition of the book that some consider the greatest spy novel ever written, and the first in Le Carré's three book sequence collectively called The Quest for Karla. LeCarré redefined the spy genre, and his Karla trilogy elevated it to the realm of literature. This title was the basis for a BBC television production, with Sir Alec Guinness starring in the role of George Smiley. LeCarré, who worked in Britain's secret service, established the spy novel as a vehicle for looking at the other kinds of mysteries and secrecies which infuse our lives; the profession of spy became a metaphor for the way an individual must conduct his life in a dangerous world that is often not what it seems. After the BBC production, Le Carré was quoted as saying he could never write another novel about Smiley, because Alec Guinness' performance had defined the character for him so thoroughly that he could not re-imagine him without thinking of Guinness. Near fine in a very good dust jacket.
251. LE CARRÉ, John. The Little Drummer Girl. NY: Knopf (1983). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition. A novel of the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the covert aspects of terrorist and anti-terrorist activities on fronts often far-removed from the Middle East itself. The film, directed by George Roy Hill, starred Diane Keaton and Klaus Kinski. Near fine in wrappers.
252. -. Another copy of the proof. "P.C" (Press Copy) markings on cover and first blank; very good in spine-faded wrappers.
253. -. Same title, the British trade edition (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1983). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
254. -. Same movie. MANDEL, Loring. The Little Drummer Girl. Burbank: Warner Bros., 1983. Third draft screenplay, dated 7/11/83. Together with a second copy which has revisions inserted on pink sheets dated 8/4/83. Both are claspbound photocopied sheets, the later set in cardstock covers. Fine. For both:
255. LE CARRÉ, John. The Russia House. NY: Knopf, 1989. The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition, this being the second issue proof in cream-colored wrappers and 350,000 as the announced printing size for the novel. Adapted for the screen by Tom Stoppard, and starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. Fine in wrappers.
256. LEDERER, William J. and BURDICK, Eugene. The Ugly American. NY: W.W. Norton (1958). One of the early books on Americans in Vietnam, covering the same people and events as Graham Greene's The Quiet American, but from a different viewpoint. Made into a not-very-successful film that starred Marlon Brando. The book was a huge bestseller, reprinted numerous times and distributed through BOMC; it became so much a part of the culture that its title became a buzzword for a certain kind of American approach in the Third World -- albeit one which was used in a manner somewhat different from the authors' intentions. An extremely common book, but quite scarce in the first printing. Very good in a very good, edge-chipped, first issue dust jacket (blurb by "John T.[sic] Marquand").
257. LE DUC, Violette. Thérèse and Isabelle. NY: FSG (1967). The first American edition of this short novel of a love affair between two schoolgirls, which was excerpted from the author's groundbreaking and bestselling autobiography, La Bâtarde. Made into a film in Germany in 1968. As a result of its sensitive treatment of a lesbian affair (a rare subject in those days), the film became a staple on the art house circuit over the following decade as the fledgling women's consciousness movement gained ground. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Original Artwork for an Award-Winning Novel & AFI-100 Film
258. LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. [London: Heinemann, 1960]. The original painting by Fratini for the dust jacket of the first British edition of Lee's first and only book, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and one of the best-selling and best-loved books of the postwar generation. Tempera on board; image size 13 1/2" x 16", nicely matted and framed. Apparently discontent with the drab, indeed nearly non-existent art on the U.S. jacket, Heinemann commissioned a considerably more evocative painting of Atticus Finch, shielding his two children from an angry mob of his fellow townsmen. The original painting, several times larger than the finished jacket, did not reduce particularly well, and the painting is of far higher quality than its representation on paper. The 1962 film won an Oscar for Gregory Peck and Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay. Robert Duvall made his film debut as "Boo" Radley. One of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century.
259. LE MAY, Alan. The Searchers. NY: Harper (1954). The basis for, initially, the John Ford film starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, one of the defining films of the genre and one of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a number of very small chips at the spine extremities. A nice copy of a western classic.
260. LEONARD, Elmore. Mr. Majestyk. (NY): Dell (1974). Paperback original, published to coincide with the release of the movie starring Charles Bronson, for which Leonard wrote the screenplay. Minor rubbing and minimal corner creasing, small initials on cover; near fine in wrappers.
261. 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. Very scarce in an advance issue. The British film, which starred Karen Black, was filmed in Zambia and released in the U.S. as Killing Heat.
262. LOVELL, Jim and KLUGER, Jeffrey. Lost Moon. Boston & NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. The advance reading copy of the story of the ill-fated fifth mission to the moon. Memorably filmed as Apollo 13 by Ron Howard, with Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon. Slight crease to rear cover; else fine in wrappers.
263. LOWRY, Malcolm. Au-Dessous du Volcan. (Paris: Corrêa, 1950). The first French edition of Under the Volcano. Lowry's classic, one of the great books of twentieth century literature, filmed by John Huston. This tale of a British consul (Albert Finney in the film) drinking himself to death in the shadow of Mexico's twin volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl -- legendary mountains which are themselves inextricably bound into Mexican history and myth -- is a powerful moral parable: the exotic, lawless and majestic land of Mexico finds a fatal correlate in the unexplored regions of a civilized man's heart. A few years after the book's publication, Lowry died in his sleep after drinking heavily. Under the Volcano was his last book published during his lifetime. This edition has a preface by Lowry written in 1948 not included in the earlier English-language editions. Pages browning with age, but still a very good copy in original wrappers. Inscribed by the author to novelist David Markson, a close friend during the last years of his life: "To David Markson/ with kind regards/ from Malcolm Lowry. June 20th 1951." A particularly good association copy: Markson's master's thesis, in 1952, was on Under the Volcano and was the first critical assessment of it after the original reviews; Lowry's biographer, Douglas Day, called Markson's thesis "still the best study of the novel's symbolism." Twenty-five years later Markson published the first book-length critical study of the novel, entitled Malcolm Lowry's Volcano - Myth, Symbol, Meaning. In the interim, one of Markson's own novels, Going Down, was published to substantial critical acclaim and to comparisons with Lowry's masterpiece. Lowry's inscriptions are extremely scarce; only a handful have turned up over the years, always to close friends or relatives. This is as fine a literary association as one could hope for with this book, one of the best possible. A very nice copy of his greatest book, seldom found signed or inscribed. In custom clamshell box.
264. -. Same title, a review copy of the American reissue (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1965), with an introduction by Stephen Spender. Fine in a rubbed, near fine dust jacket. A nice copy, and scarce in an advance issue.