Uncorrected Proofs/Advance Copies, A
Edward Abbey Corrected MS and Proof Sheets
2. ABBEY, Edward. Author's Corrected Sheets for Confessions of the Barbarian. A set of corrected manuscript sheets for the small Capra volume, Confessions of a Barbarian, which was an excerpt from the book later published as The Fool's Progress. Consists of a 14-page "Editor's Introduction" in which Abbey recounts his first meeting with "Henry Lightcap," the narrator of the novel, plus photocopied typescript paginated from 1 to 74. Pages 32 & 33 and 46 & 47 are missing, which is noted by an editor on a laid in card. The sheets reproduce numerous holographic changes in Abbey's hand, with words, phrases and sentences being crossed out, written over and added to -- thus providing a view of an earlier state of the text than that finally published. Accompanied by an ALS from Abbey, submitting the sheets with corrections and giving alternate titles that can be used. He also mentions that he "may end up calling the novel The (or A) Fool's Progress -- another title you can use if you wish. Together with a set of final page proofs, with Abbey's earlier corrections incorporated and one final change in an editorial hand. The letter is dated March 1, 1986; the page proofs are dated March 28. A rare glimpse of an Abbey work-in-progress, with the author's original text and revisions in full view.
3. ACKROYD, Peter. English Music. NY: Knopf, 1992. Uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this novel by the award-winning author of First Light and Hawksmoor. Fine in wrappers.
4. ACKROYD, Peter. The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. NY: Talese/Doubleday (1995). Advance reading copy of this historical novel based on a series of murders in London in the 1880s. By the award-winning author of Chatterton, among others. Fine in wrappers.
5. ADAMS, Richard. Watership Down. NY: Macmillan (1974). Uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of this fable about rabbits that became both a surprise bestseller and an acclaimed literary parable. Published well after the British edition, which is an extremely scarce book, this American proof includes two pages of review excerpts from the U.K. reviews as well as a publisher's letter proclaiming it a "major literary work." Near fine in wrappers.
6. AGNON, S.Y. A Book That Was Lost. NY: Schocken (1995). Uncorrected proof copy. A posthumous collection of stories by the Polish Nobel Prize winner (1966). Fine in wrappers.
7. AKSYONOV, Vassily. Generations of Winter. NY: Random House (1994). Uncorrected proof copy. The latest novel by a Russian author who was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1980 for his writing; this is touted by the publisher as one of the first major post-Soviet Russian novels, a multi-generational family saga. Fine in wrappers.
8. ALGREN, Nelson. The Last Carousel. NY: Putnam's (1973). Pad-bound uncorrected proof copy of this collection of essays by the author of The Man With the Golden Gun, among others. Near fine in wrappers. Fragile and uncommon: pad-bound proofs are bound like pads of paper, with a separate front cover, spine and rear cover; because the covers are not a single, integral "wrapper" they tend to come loose in this type of binding and detach or get lost altogether. Pad-bound proofs are among the most perishable of the formats that have been at one time typical for binding these advance copies.
9. ALVAREZ, A. Hers. NY: Random House, 1975. This is the uncorrected proof copy of the American edition. Fine in wrappers and inscribed by the author nearly two months prior to publication.
10. AMIS, Kingsley. The Russian Girl. (n.p.): Viking (1994). Uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition. A comic novel by the author of Lucky Jim and the Booker Prize- winning The Old Devils. Fine in wrappers.
11. AMIS, Martin. The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America. London: Cape (1986). Uncorrected proof copy of this collection of Amis's witty, acerbic essays about America -- his first book of nonfiction, and a book that earned him a reputation as a humorous and insightful commentator on the U.S. Fine in wrappers.
12. AMIS, Martin. London Fields. London: Cape (1989). Advance reading copy of his seventh novel, a fantasy of the near future. Fine in wrappers.
13. -. Another copy. Fine in wrappers and signed by the author.
14. ANGELL, Roger. The Summer Game. NY: Viking (1972). Uncorrected proof copy of one of the classics of the literature of baseball. Angell, a fiction editor for The New Yorker, brought a new level of literary accomplishment to sports writing with this book. Reviewer's name on front cover; slight spine slant; near fine in wrappers. A landmark volume, quite uncommon in proof form.
15. (Anthology). Ellery Queen's Crookbook. NY: Random House (1973). Uncorrected proof copy of this collection of 25 stories from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Isaac Asimov, Patricia Highsmith, David Morrell, and others. Spine-cocked; very good in wrappers.
16. (Anthology). Writers at Work. The Paris Review Interviews. (n.p.): Viking (1984). Uncorrected proof copy of the sixth book in this series. Interviews with Vonnegut, Garc¡a M rquez, John Gardner, Nadine Gordimer, Elizabeth Bishop, Tennessee Williams, Bernard Malamud, and several others. Fine in wrappers.
17. (Anthology). Sudden Fiction. American Short-Short Stories. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 1986. Uncorrected proof copy of this landmark anthology of short-short stories by writers such as Updike, Cheever, Paley, Carver, Peter Taylor, Tobias Wolff, T.C. Boyle, Jayne Anne Phillips, Barthelme, and others. The standard introduction to the form, and a staple on college reading lists for the last several years. An uncommon proof. Fine in wrappers.
18. (Anthology). Imagining America. NY: Persea Books (1991). A "sampler" derived from uncorrected proofs, and featuring seven of the anthologized stories. Included are Grace Paley, Oscar Hijuelos, Paule Marshall, Amiri Baraka and others. One slightly bent corner; else fine in wrappers.
19. (Anthology). Northern Lights. NY: Vintage (1994). Uncorrected proof copy. A selection of writings from Northern Lights Magazine, with many of these pieces appearing here in book form for the first time. With an introduction by Louise Erdrich and contributions by Gretel Ehrlich, William Kittredge, Marilynne Robinson, Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams, Jim Harrison, Simon Ortiz, Linda Hogan, and many others. Fine in wrappers.
20. (Anthology). The Best American Short Stories, 1994. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Advance reading copy. Edited by Tobias Wolff, with stories by Sherman Alexie, Robert Olen Butler, Thom Jones, Stuart Dybek, Tony Earley, Chris Offut, Barry Hannah, and others. Fine in wrappers.
21. (Anthology). Home. NY: Pantheon (1995). Uncorrected proof copy of this collection of eighteen essays, with each author writing about a single room. Among the contributors are Jane Smiley, Susan Power and Richard Bausch. Allan Gurganus provides the afterword. Fine in wrappers.
22. (Anthology). The Best American Short Stories 1995. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Uncorrected proof copy of this collection edited and introduced by Jane Smiley. With work by Thom Jones, Don DeLillo, Kate Braverman, Ellen Gilchrist, Joy Williams, Gish Jen, Jamaica Kincaid, and others. Fine in wrappers.
23. (Anthology). Modern American Memoirs. (NY): HarperCollins (1995). Uncorrected proof copy of this just-published collection of excerpts from 20th century memoirs, co-edited by Annie Dillard. Authors include Barry Lopez, William Kittredge, Reynolds Price, Tobias Wolff, Wallace Stegner, Harry Crews, and others. Most of the pieces are excerpted from other books, but the Barry Lopez and William Kittredge contributions are original. Near fine in wrappers.
24. APPELFELD, Aharon. Unto the Soul. NY: Random House (1994). Uncorrected proof copy. A novel by one of the foremost Israeli writers. Fine in wrappers.
25. ATWOOD, Margaret. Good Bones and Simple Murders. NY: Doubleday (1994). Advance reading copy of the first American appearance of these stories and sketches, which first appeared in Canada in two separate volumes, published in 1983 and 1992, thus a bibliographically significant edition, this being an early state of it. Fine in wrappers.
26. AUEL, Jean M. Clan of the Cave Bear. NY: Crown, 1980. Uncorrected proof copy of the first volume in this bestselling series. An advance reading copy was issued in pictorial wrappers but this, the proof, is far scarcer. Although the movie that was made from this book bombed, the book itself was widely praised for the thoroughness of the historical research that underlay it. Light general wear; very good.
27. AUEL, Jean M. The Plains of Passage. (NY): (Crown) (1990). Uncorrected proof copy of the fourth book in the enormously popular "Earth's Children" series, which began with Clan of the Cave Bear. Fine in wrappers.
28. AUSTER, Paul. The Music of Chance. NY: Viking (1990). Uncorrected proof copy of this novel by the author of "The New York Trilogy." Fine in wrappers, with publisher's promotional letter laid in.
29. AUSTER, Paul. Mr. Vertigo. (n.p.): Viking (1994). Advance reading copy of this novel. Fine in wrappers.
30. AUSTER, Paul. Smoke and Blue in the Face. NY: Hyperion (1995). Uncorrected proof copy of this paperback original, printing text by Auster for the two Wayne Wang movies, plus the short story that inspired Smoke, an interview, and the actors' notes for Blue in the Face along with Auster's commentaries. Fine in wrappers.