Weekly Sale
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Note: Sale prices are net prices -- no further discounts apply.
All books are first printings of first editions or first American editions unless otherwise noted.
(n.p.), MCA Universal, (1990). 22" x 34" poster advertising the release of the videocassette of the 1989 movie based on the 1975 book by Ron Kovic. Folds in eighths to a promotional booklet entitled "He Was Strong/ He Was Proud." Slight wrinkle; near fine.
[#030867]
$60$30
(DI FELICE, Annalisa; KUNZ, Anita)
(AMIS, Martin; McGUANE, Thomas; BARNES, Julian; KINSELLA, W.P.; BROOKS, Gwendolyn)
1989. A promotional poster for the annual Toronto literary festival, which each year since 1980 has brought together some of the best writers of contemporary world literature. This is one of only a handful of copies signed by all or most of the year's participants, approximately 48 signatures. Signed by: Bharati Mukherjee, Nobuo Kojima, Jamaica Kincaid, Julian Barnes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Susan Fromberg Schaffer, William Jay Smith, Mordecai Richler, Joan Chase, Murray Bail, Deirdre Bair, Alice Wexler, Thomas McGuane, Desmond Hogan, Martin Amis, Hella Haasse, Alice Adams, Norman Sherry, Gabriele Eckart, Hans Joachim Schadlich, Friedrich Christian Delius, Caryl Churchill, W.P. Kinsella, Roy Heath, Nissam Ezekiel, Ruth Rendell, Kjartan Flogstad, Michael Coren, Pia Tafdrup, Louise DeSalvo, Hugo Loetscher, and many others. From the collection of the promoter of the festival, Greg Gatenby. Designed by Annalisa Di Felice and Anita Kunz. 18-1/2" x 25-1/2". Fine.
[#029748]
$1,000$700
BARTH, John
Garden City, Doubleday, 1966. Signed by the author. A bit of bubbling to pastedowns; else fine in a near fine, mildly spine-sunned, near fine dust jacket. H18 code on last page of text.
[#911337]
$160
$104
$104
BAXTER, Charles
(NY), New Rivers Press, 1974. The scarce hardcover issue of his second book, a collection of poetry. The total edition was 600 copies, of which only 200 were issued in cloth; 400 were issued in wrappers. Well-known these days as a writer of fiction and of essays on fiction, Baxter didn't publish his first novel until 1987, seventeen years after his first book (Chameleon) and thirteen years after this title. Inscribed by the author in 1982. Fine in a slightly rubbed, else fine dust jacket.
[#911007]
$650$455
BEATTIE, Ann
Worcester, Metacom Press, 1981. The hardcover issue. The first separate appearance of this short story, which first appeared in Antaeus. Of a total edition of 276 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies, signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#911362]
$250
$163
$163
BELL, Madison Smartt
(Brussels), (Fondation Europeenne pour la Sculpture), (1997). Bell provides a bilingual (English/French) fable as introduction to the catalog of work by Jean de la Fontaine: in 1997 the Luxembourg artist had installed his "Love of Camping" in a Brussels park. Number 452 of 500 numbered copies. Fine in stapled wrappers. A scarce piece by Bell, attractively illustrated.
[#917040]
$150
$98
$98
(BLATCHFORD, Robert as "Nunquam," ed.)
Manchester, Clarion, 1892. Two issues of the Socialist paper, the "Christmas Number" and the "Summer Number." Bound together (despite being different sizes). The binding is stained and worn and there is foxing to the endpages, but it has done its job protecting the issues, which are near fine. Scarce: one copy of the Summer Number found in OCLC.
[#600045]
$250
$163
$163
(Nature)
BOERKER, Richard H. D.
Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, (1945). Boerker studied forestry at Dartmouth and Yale and received a Masters of Science in Forestry from the University of Michigan, going on to work for the U.S. Forest Service in California, Wyoming, and Colorado. This book argues for replacing the concept of "conservation" with "forest restoration for multiple use, with human welfare as the ultimate object." Signed by the author, "Yours, R.H.D. Boerker." Owner name and date (August 1945) written above. Illustrated with photographs. Foxing to endpapers and bump to spine base; a very good copy in a good dust jacket with wear at the spine ends and along the rear flap fold. A scarce, early publication on this subject, produced during wartime. Uncommon in the original edition or in jacket, let alone signed.
[#036520]
$500$325
(Native American)
COCHRAN, Martin
Tahlequah, Cherokee Bilingual Education Program, 1972-1973. A brief (approximately 16 pages, including illustrations) biography of the world champion archer and inductee of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame. Signed by Thornton. Uncommon: we found no copies listed in OCLC. A simple, comb-bound production. Near fine.
[#036637]
$300$195
COOKE, James Aaron
1993. An apparently unproduced screenplay. Cook self-published Rent a Family as a novel in 2010. Claspbound photocopy in plain covers; near fine.
[#030537]
$40
$20
$20
DARLING, Louis
NY, William Morrow, 1965. Winner of the 1966 John Burroughs Medal; a book about the life of herring gulls on an island off the Maine coast. Illustrated with photographs and drawings by Darling, and with a foreword by Roger Tory Peterson, whose recommendation of Louis and Lois Darling to Rachel Carson had resulted in the Darlings illustrating Silent Spring in 1962. An uncommon first edition. Slightly musty; near fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple of small edge chips on the rear panel.
[#035124]
$125$81
(Poetry)
DISCH, Thomas M.
(n.p.), (n.p.), 1970. A collection of sonnets by Disch and Marilyn Hacker, and by Hacker and Charles Platt. "There are no sonnets by Charles and Tom because Marilyn can't drive." This copy is inscribed by Disch in 1988. Precedes Hacker's first regularly published book, Presentation Piece, which won the National Book Award and was the Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets, by four years. Fine in stapled wrappers, with a cover illustration by Platt. Uncommon.
[#035040]
$450$293
DRABBLE, Margaret
(London), Warren Editions, 1974. The first separate appearance of a piece that appeared in the Sunday Times in 1973, in which Drabble shares her self-conscious delight in raising children. One of 150 copies privately distributed for the publishers "to celebrate the birth of Daisy Victoria Gili." 4-1/2" x 5-1/4". Fine in self-wrappers. Scarce.
[#024844]
$150$98
DUBUS, Andre
NY, Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of his last book, his second collection of essays. Dubus was best known as a short story writer, and his last collection of stories was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996. He won the Rea Award for the Short Story in 1991 and a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1988. He was the father of the acclaimed novelist and memoirist Andre Dubus III. Signed by the author. Fine in wrappers.
[#021063]
$115$75
(Photography)
EVANS, Walker, and FONVIELLE, Lloyd
(NY), Aperture, (1979). A volume in Aperture's History of Photography series. This copy is inscribed by the screenwriter Lloyd Fonvielle, who provides the introduction, to film critic Pauline Kael, in 1981. The introduction comprises the entire text of the volume, other than the appendices; the rest of the book reproduces Evans's photographs, without caption. Light foxing to prelims; near fine in boards, without dust jacket, as issued.
[#035974]
$350$228
FORD, Richard
(n.p.), (n.p.), 1988. A 120-page screenplay by Ford for a 1991 film adaptation that he did from stories in his collection Rock Springs. Signed by Ford. An unknown number of copies were produced, but Ford signed seven of them at a reading in 1990. Photo-reproduced sheets on 3-hole paper. In this copy, page 120 was typed on a different typewriter than the first 119 pages. Bound in a flexible blue binder; fine. The film was directed by Michael Fields and starred Dermot Mulroney, Lili Taylor, Sam Shepard and Valerie Perrine.
[#911202]
$1,000$700
FRAZIER, Charles
(n.p.), Twenty-Third Avenue Books/First Choice Books, 1997. A broadside excerpt from Frazier's novel, produced on the occasion of a reading by the author. Copy "A" of 26 lettered copies. 9-1/2" x 16-1/2". Signed by the author. Fine.
[#912583]
$500
$325
$325
(Poetry)
GARCIA LORCA, Federico
Mexico, Editorial Seneca, 1940. The most famous poem by the prominent Spanish poet, who was killed by fascists during the Spanish Civil War. This is the first Spanish-language edition, published a few weeks after the bilingual edition done in the U.S., and the first illustrated edition, with four original drawings by the author, two of them printed in color. Two owner names and a comment in the prelims; tape shadows to the endpages; upper and lower edge tears at the front joint. A good copy in wrappers, with less of the darkening and chipping that frequently afflicts the wrappers of this title.
[#035642]
$750$525
GARLAND, Alex
(London), Faber and Faber, (2004). A limited edition with text by Alex Garland and woodcuts by Nicholas Garland. Of a total edition of 310 copies, this is number 289 of 250 numbered copies (#s 51-300) signed by both Garlands. Folio, 17" x 12"; fine in slipcase.
[#914498]
$160
$104
$104
GELBER, Jack
NY, Hill and Wang, (1972). The uncorrected proof copy of this play by the author of The Connection, who is also known for his association with The Living Theater, an experimental theater group. Notes in text and name of Richard M. Buck on cover. Very good in tall wrappers. Uncommon.
[#018598]
$50
$25
$25
(Economics)
GILDER, George
[NY], [Harper's Magazine], 1978. One full 36 page draft, plus 30 earlier draft pages, of Gilder's 1978 article for Harper's Magazine, here provisionally titled "The Riches of Risk: An Essay on the Feasibility of Freedom." Together with a typed letter signed by Gilder to Lewis [Lapham], discussing the article and saying he will have a later draft the following week. Gilder's published article was quoted at length in Jack Kemp's book An American Renaissance: A Strategy for the 1980s, and Gilder's 1981 book, Wealth and Poverty, became a best-selling cornerstone for advocating the supply-side economics that defined the Reagan administration. Massive changes in evidence throughout: many cross-outs, deletions and emendations, some cut-and-taped. Condition: a working copy, messy by design, thus still near fine. An historic essay.
[#035843]
$500$325
GOGARTY, Oliver St. John
Baltimore, Contemporary Poetry, 1944. A collection of poems, one of 1000 copies. A nice association copy, inscribed by the author to a painter, the wife (for a time) of a poet. A fine copy in a worn dust jacket severed at the spine. A fragile wartime book.
[#016232]
$250$163
(GOODALL, Jane)
NY, Holt Rinehart Winston, (1965). Goodall's first book appearance: the uncorrected proof copy (divided into two volumes), of this collection of field studies of monkeys and apes, edited by Irven DeVore of Harvard University. Includes (in the "second half"), "Chimpanzees of the Gombe Stream Reserve," a nearly 50-page report by Goodall, on observations she made between June 1960 and December 1962, covering topics such as locomotion, communication, group structure, socialization, mating, nesting, grooming, feeding, tool use, and of course, tool-making. Goodall, despite lacking formal education at the time, had arranged a meeting with anthropologist Louis Leakey in 1957, and (after deflecting his advances) she became his assistant/secretary. In 1960, after Leakey had sent Goodall to London for a crash course in primates, he sent her to Tanzania to study chimps. (Tanzania, unwilling to allow Goodall to travel alone, required that she have a companion: Goodall brought her mother.) By year's end, Goodall had observed chimps not only using tools for feeding, but creating tools for this purpose, causing Leakey to write to her in a telegram: "Now, we must redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as humans." Two volumes (stamped "first half" and "second half") in tall, comb-bound green wrappers. The proof does not include Goodall's images. Business card of an editor at Holt, Rinehart and Winston stapled to the front cover of the first volume; each volume is near fine. Goodall's pioneering work on the Gombe chimpanzees continues to this day and is the longest continuous study of any animal in their natural habitat in history.
[#035126]
$750$525
HANNAH, Don
Toronto, Playwrights Canada, (1990). Inscribed by the author to Pauline Kael in the month of publication: "Pauline -With many, many thanks. All the best, XO/ Don Hannah/ July, 1990." This is the third play by the award-winning Canadian playwright, who had been a film reviewer before writing for the theater. Upper spine bumped, still near fine in wrappers.
[#034551]
$45
$23
$23
(Native American)
JOHNSON, Helen W.
Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office/Department of Agriculture, 1969. Edge-sunned; very good in stapled wrappers. A report on poverty among Native Americans, both on and off reservations, in the 1960s. Interestingly, the Native American population of the U.S. in 1960 is pegged in this report as being approximately 552,000; the current Native American population is 5.2 million, a tenfold increase over a span of time in which the country as a whole doubled its population.
[#035861]
$75$38
JUSTEMA, William
San Francisco, Fields Book Store, [1979]. A survey of the titles that had influenced or entertained him. Inscribed to Pauline Kael, with an autograph letter signed laid in telling Kael how much she is missed and urging her to see a Margarethe Mather exhibit in NY. Fine in stapled wrappers, with mailing envelope.
[#035494]
$125$81
(KAEL, Pauline)
NY, Partisan Review, 1938-1979. An incomplete run of 60 issues, spanning five decades. From the estate of film critic Pauline Kael. Provenance available, but the direct evidence is that 1) Kael has excised her contribution from the Summer 1963 issue, and the cover says "clipped" in her hand; 2) Kael has written her name on the Summer 1967 issue and added praise inside at the Stephen Spender article; and 3) a postcard to Kael from Jack Hirschman is laid into the Fall 1967 issue. General condition: two issues from the 1930s (Jan and May 1938), good only; eleven issues from the 1940s (Spring 1945, Winter 1946, July/Aug and Sept/Oct 1947, Feb, May, July, Oct 1948, March, July, Dec 1949), all very good but for Sept/Oct 1947 which has heavily ink-stamped covers; 21 issues from the 1950s (July/Aug and Nov/Dec 1950, July/Aug and Sept/Oct 1951, May/June, July/August, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec 1952, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec 1954, Spring and Fall 1955, Fall 1956, Winter, Spring and Summer 1957, Spring and Summer 1958, Spring, Summer and Fall 1959), all in very good condition; 20 issues from the 1960s (Spring and Fall 1960, March/April 1961, Winter, Spring and Summer 1962, Spring, Summer and Fall 1963, Spring and Fall 1964, Winter and Summer, 1965, Summer 1966, Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 1967, Winter and Summer 1968), all about very good but for those excised pages mentioned above; six issues from the 1970s (Winter 1971-72, Winter 1973, 1973 #2, 1974 #2 and #4, 1979 #2), all very good, but for the final three issue, which each bear a series of names on their covers that are partially crossed out. Will ship at cost.
[#036222]
$1,500$1,125
KENNNEDY, John F
(n.p.), (n.p.), ca. 1961-1963. A portrait of a smiling Kennedy, presumably taken during his years as President. Inscribed by Kennedy: "To Bill/ with very best wishes/ John Kennedy." From the estate of Doris Dana, the partner and translator of Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. We were presented with the possibility that the inscription was to William Carter, Chief of the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, but any connection he may have had to Kennedy, decades earlier, is lost to us. 8" x 10". Two pinholes to top margin, marginal tear to top edge; half-inch tear on right side; light creasing and minor edge wear; very good.
[#036417]
$3,500$2,625
KESEY, Ken
(Prague), Odeon, (1979). A Czech edition. A little edge-toning; near fine in a very good, rubbed dust jacket with light edge creasing.
[#023513]
$40
$20
$20
LANDESMAN, Fran
(London), Sun Tavern Fields, (1992). Inscribed by the author to Robert Stone and his wife, with "much love." Fine in wrappers.
[#033797]
$50
$25
$25
LAPCHAROENSAP, Rattawut
(NY), (One Story), (2004). His first solo appearance in print, a story that was later included in his collection Sightseeing. Published as Issue 46 of One Story. Lapcharoensap was named as one of Granta's best young American novelists, despite the fact that his one book to that point was a short story collection. Fine in stapled wrappers and signed by the author.
[#913211]
$125
$81
$81
(Poetry)
LAVIN, S.R.
Williamsburgh, Heron Press, 1971. Copy No. 168 of 200 numbered copies. Nine poems by Lavin illustrated with woodcuts by Bruce Chandler, who also designed and printed the book. Folio, 12" x 16", in light brown cloth boards with gilt-stamped red leather spine label. Small, 1" mark at upper board edge; else fine, without jacket, as issued.
[#035608]
$125$81
LEUCI, Robert
NY, St. Martin's, (1997). Inscribed by the author to Robert Stone and his wife, in the year of publication, "dear friends that I miss seeing." Fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#033751]
$75
$38
$38
MERTON, Thomas
(n.p.), (Jubilee), (1959). An offprint from Jubilee of an article Merton wrote on Pasternak following Pasternak's being awarded (and declining) the Nobel Prize for Literature. Oblong quarto; roughly a dozen pages. Mild, even acidification and a few small creases near the spine. Near fine in stapled wrappers. Dell'Isola lists the Jubilee appearance, but makes no mention of this offprint. OCLC locates only three copies.
[#030126]
$250$163
NICHOLS, John
NY, Holt Rinehart Winston, (1981). The third book in his New Mexico trilogy. Signed by the author. Slight edge sunning; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
[#036595]
$75$38
NICHOLS, John
NY, David McKay, (1965). His first novel. Some loss to spine lettering and modest handling to boards; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with one short edge tear on the upper front panel.
[#911784]
$175
$114
$114
(Nature)
NIJHUIS, Michelle
(NY), Norton, (2021). Conservation history over the centuries, as seen through the lens of species protection. Inscribed by the author. Small nick to foredge and upper front board; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#036645]
$150$98
PETTIT, Emily
[Hadley], Flying Object, [ca. 2012]. A broadside poem, with an illustration by Rachel Glaser. Approximately 10" x 18". Although issued in an edition of 100, this is apparently a publisher's proof or overrun copy and is unnumbered, and unsigned. Rolled for shipping; near fine.
[#035223]
$50
$25
$25
PINTAURO, Joe
NY, Broadway Play Publishing, (1990). A play by this poet, playwright, essayist and novelist. His novel Cold Hands was chosen as New York Times Notable Book. Inscribed by the author: "Tony [Harvey] -- Thanks for lunch. Joe." Near fine in wrappers.
[#026853]
$40
$20
$20
PLIMPTON, George
NY, Atlantic Monthly, (2000). An epistolary mystery about a missing pet problem advice columnist. Illustrated by Edward Koren. Inscribed by the author to Peter [Matthiessen] and his wife; signed, "love, George, with an added "Happy New Year!!" Fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#032515]
$300$195
PYNCHON, Thomas
(n.p.), (n.p.), ca. 1989. A photocopied typescript of an early draft of Pynchon's first novel after Gravity's Rainbow: a span of seventeen years had passed by the time Vineland was finally published. 519 double-spaced pages, with textual variations from the published version. This version of the manuscript reportedly dates from a period about a year before the book was published in February, 1990. It represents a version of the text that is markedly different from that which was published and is an exceptional rarity in that regard. Pynchon reportedly insisted that no proofs or advance reading copies be done of this title, and the only printed pre-publication states that exist are a handful of f&g's (folded and gathered sheets) of the first edition and copies of the published edition that had a promotional sheet inserted. This version of the manuscript, which Pynchon apparently rewrote considerably, was never produced in printed form. From the very first sentence to the very last sentence, there are major, substantive differences between this draft and the text of the published volume. Reportedly, five copies of this draft were photocopied, double-sided, and bound with a cardstock cover; we know of four copies of these loose sheets, printed on rectos only, which presumably would have preceded the double-sided bound copies. This set shows signs of having been read: the top sheet is slightly creased and worn, and the edges of the pages are a bit dust-soiled and slightly rough. Overall, the condition is near fine. We sold this set in 1999 and bought it back this year: no copies have been made of it, by our buyer or ourselves. While only a photocopy, this is doubtless the most textually significant Pynchon item we have ever seen offered on the market, and copies of this draft are likely to be scarcer than any of the proofs of any of Pynchon's other books. Basis for the acclaimed 2025 Paul Thomas Anderson film One Battle After Another, by consensus the most successful film adaptation to date of a Pynchon novel.
[#036650]
$10,000$7,500
RICE, Anne
Toronto, Knopf, 2002. The first Canadian edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#035467]
$40
$20
$20
RICE, Anne and PEROZICH, Faye
[Wheeling], Innovation, (1991). The hardcover issue of the first collected edition of Innovation's twelve-part graphic novel based on Rice's second book in her Vampire Chronicles, adapted by Perozich and painted by Daerick Gross. Very slight bump to top edge, still fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#035611]
$150$98
RICH, Nathaniel
NY, MCD/Farrar Straus Giroux, (2019). Rich's searing recounting of the 1980s -- the decade when we almost stopped climate change, and how it all derailed. Expanded here from a 2018 article in The New York Times Magazine. Signed by the author. Some toning to page edges and a bit of fading to the boards; near fine in a fine dust jacket. Uncommon signed.
[#036408]
$275$179
(Democracy)
ROTH, Zachary
NY, Crown, (2016). The subversion of democracy via gerrymandering, judicial activism, "Citizens United" and the rise of Super PACs, restrictive voting laws passed at the state level, etc., as seen from the politically pivotal year of 2016. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
[#036573]
$150$98
SCHALLER, George B.
San Francisco, Sierra Club Books, (2007). A retrospective collection of pieces from Schaller's life in the field, with a new introduction by the author for each chapter. Warmly inscribed by Schaller in 2009: "To Catherine and Bill/ with deep gratitude for many years of friendship." Fine in a fine dust jacket, with blurbs by a virtual Who's Who of environmental writing: Peter Matthiessen; Jane Goodall; Bill McKibben; and Edward O. Wilson. Schaller, among many other accomplishments and activities, accompanied Matthiessen on the trip documented in the National Book Award-winning, The Snow Leopard.
[#036480]
$300$195
SMITH, Charlie
NY, Dutton, (1987). A review copy of this collection of poetry. Mild age toning to pages, else fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip, author photo and promotional pages laid in.
[#916868]
$100
$65
$65
STONE, Robert
[various], [various], 1967-1997. From the author's own library: eight various editions of his first book. Includes a later printing of the first edition (1967, Houghton Mifflin hardcover) and seven paperbacks: five first printings (Fawcett 1968; Ballantine 1975; Houghton Mifflin 1981; Penguin 1987; Mariner 1997) and two later printings (Picador and Penguin, both 1987). All copies from the '80s and '90s are fine or near fine; the hardcover and the Ballantine are very good; the 1968 paperback ("Now the major Paramount picture WUSA") is a poor copy, barely held together with a dozen pieces of tape, but with Paul Newman on the cover.
[#033840]
$250
$163
$163
TATE, James
(n.p.), (Self-Published), (ca.1990s). Not to be confused with the 1999 collection of the same name, this is only the title piece, tapebound in printed cardstock covers. Unmarked, but from the author's library. Uncommon. Near fine.
[#034403]
$100$65
THOMAS, Lewis
NY, Viking, (1979). His second collection of essays, after The Lives of the Cell won two National Book Awards in 1975. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a short, closed edge tear to the upper front panel.
[#036205]
$250$163
VIZENOR, Gerald
Minneapolis, Nodin Press, (1984). His sixth book of haiku. Inscribed by the author to Joe Bruchac. Mild sunning; near fine in wrappers. An excellent association copy.
[#025797]
$150$98
WATERS, Frank and BRANCH, Houston
(NY), Farrar Straus, (1948). A historical romance. Waters' second collaboration with Branch, after River Lady. Waters is better known for his novels and nonfiction about the American Southwest, and in particular Native Americans, than for his historical fiction collaborations with Branch. Handling apparent to boards, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with shallow edge chipping.
[#035048]
$100$65
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