Weekly Sale

(New Rochelle), Elizabeth Press, (1979). Of a total edition of 250 copies, this is one of 100 bound in boards, printed in Italy on Magnani rag paper. This copy is warmly inscribed by the author to Joseph Bruchac in the year of publication, "in deep admiration/ a warm sky always, brother -- ." Fine in publisher's card stock slipcase. [#025310] $200
$130

New Rochelle, Elizabeth Press, (1965). Poetry by a writer of Cherokee-French descent, also known as Gogisgi. This is his first book. Stamped as having belonged to the literary magazine Epoch. Narrow dampstaining to both spine and foredge; thus very good in stapled wrappers. Scarce. [#026836] $60
$30

NY, Pantheon, (1990). The uncorrected proof copy of the third volume in the "Into Their Labours" trilogy, which began with Pig Earth and continued with Once in Europa. Fine in wrappers. [#018531] $20
$10

NY, Norton, (1973). Second printing of the author's first book, a crime novel that was made into the highly regarded film Straight Time. Bunker was a career criminal, who wrote this book while in prison. After getting out, he had a hand in writing the screenplay for the movie, which Dustin Hoffman had purchased the rights to, and he even got a small part in the film. He went on to write a number of novels and scripts, and to maintain a career as an actor. After 1975, he never went back to prison. This copy is inscribed by the author to the novelist Kent Anderson -- "Congratulations and good luck." A nice association copy: Anderson was a decorated Vietnam vet who became a novelist and later a Portland, Oregon, cop, which became the basis for one of his books. Bunker's gritty, realistic crime novels set a standard for crime fiction that Anderson would have been cognizant of as a writer. Fine in a near fine, spine-sunned dust jacket with one short edge tear and a scuff near the crown. Signed copies of Bunker's first novel are extremely scarce. [#030696] $450
$293

Santa Barbara, Capra, 1976. Copy No. 1 of the hardcover issue of Carver's third collection of poems. Of a total edition of 1100 copies, this is one of 100 hardcover copies signed by Carver. Slight evidence of dampness on the first few pages and the lower edge of the text block; near fine without dust jacket, as issued. Illustrated with drawings by Marcia/maris. [#032752] $850
$595

NY, Morrow, 1965. A follow-up to his earlier book about Italy; this one is subtitled "A Spring and Summer in Southern Italy and Sicily." Inscribed by the author twice, once unaddressed, once to Harold and Natalie. Both times, signed "Love -- Bob & Boo [Coates's wife, Astrid]." Fine in a very good dust jacket, rubbed at the edges and folds. [#025971] $175
$114

NY, Norton, (1999). The advance reading copy of the first American edition of this novel that is billed as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest originality mixed with the divine audacity of William Burroughs and Irvine Welsh." Fine in wrappers. [#018056] $20
$10

Denver, 1967. "Washday Detergent." A postcard for a performance of Blue Cheer and Superfine Dandelion in Denver on November 3rd and 4th, 1967. 5" x 7", done by Robert Fried. Art of Rock, #FD D-10. Fine. [#008044] $200
$130

(London), Deutsch, (1960). The first British edition. The introductory blurb has been changed for this edition. Offsetting to endpages and a bit of edge-sunning to cloth; near fine in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket with a small, internally tape-mended chip at the base of the spine affecting the publisher's name. [#016251] $80
$40

San Francisco, City Lights, (1987). Velo-bound page proofs of these stories by women from all over the world about their experiences with war, some in Vietnam, others reaching back prior to World War I or forward to Central America in the 1980s. A powerful collection, published by City Lights and reprinted in 2003 by a university press. Plain cardstock covers. Plastic binding separating at ends. Near fine. Presumably only a very small number would have been printed in this format. [#030869] $200
$130

(New York), Viking, (2000). King's story told in the words of National Book Award-winning author Charles Johnson, and illustrated with photographs compiled by Adelman, many of them his own images. This copy is inscribed by Johnson to another writer, "with deepest admiration for one of America's finest literary treasures," dated in January 2001, and signed "Chuck." A nice association copy of a powerful and impressive book. Quarto; fine in a fine dust jacket. [#029249] $850
$595

London, Jonathan Cape, (1966). The uncorrected proof copy of the first British edition of her first book. Kael revolutionized film criticism with her opinionated, colloquial reviews, her wit, her enjoyment of popular culture, and her impatience with pretentiousness. A generation of admirers and imitators has never quite succeeded in matching the engaging informality and authority of Kael's reviewing voice. A bit of white out inside front cover and penciled name on flyleaf; light foxing; near fine in a very good, proof dust jacket with tape-mended chips at the spine ends. An uncommon book, and an even more uncommon proof. [#024745] SOLD

(Stockholm), Imaginary Worlds, (2001). Keene's virtually unfindable first book, a collection of stories published by a short-lived specialty press in Sweden, whose books were printed in quantities measured in the hundreds. Warmly inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Keene has since gone on to win two Bram Stoker awards, including one for his first novel in 2003, The Rising, an early novel in the zombie craze that has pervaded pop culture in recent years. Bookplate of the recipient, another author, on the front flyleaf. A couple of small spots to the cloth; near fine in a very near fine dust jacket with a couple of tiny nicks along the folds. Laid in is the brochure for Keene's instructional program on Guerilla Marketing. Scarce. [#030739] $850
$595

NY, Random House, (1999). The advance reading copy of this book by the author of House and the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning The Soul of a New Machine, among others. Fine in wrappers. Published to substantial critical praise. [#013691] $20
$10

(Vancouver), (Hoffer/Tanks), (1986). The trade edition of this collection, published by William Hoffer and with illustrations by Carel Moiseiwitsch. Trace edge sunning rear cover; else fine in wrappers. [#029763] $20
$10

NY, Longmans, Green, 1934. His second book, and only novel, a novel of the American Southwest. The first modern novel by an Indian writer to deal directly with questions of "Indianness," the alienation from culture and self provoked by white men's education, and the futile attempt to become assimilated into the dominant culture. This is a review copy, with slip laid in, and a pencilled note on front flyleaf asking that the book be reviewed. Mild spine-fading; a near fine copy, lacking the dust jacket. [#003097] $250
$163

(San Francisco), Sierra Club Books, (1997). The limited edition of this book on the "Legend and Lore of the Great Cat." Copy No. 33 of 500 copies; this copy from Matthiessen's own library. Signed by the editor, Maurice Hornocker. Matthiessen's contribution is an excerpt from his book Tigers in the Snow. Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#032429] $125
$81

Alhambra, Museum Reproductions, (n.d.). Eight unused postcards, each reproducing a Miller watercolor from the 40s or 50s, and each signed by Miller on the verso. The paintings included are: "Val's Birthday Gift," "Deux Jeunes Filles," "Marine Fantasy," "Banjo Self-Portrait," "A Bridge Somewhere," "Girl with Bird," "The Ancestor," and "The Hat and the Man." Previously framed, the frames darkened the back of the cards, but the signatures were protected. The lot is near fine. [#027431] $1,200
$900

(Elmwood Park), Dalkey Archive, (1989). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of these three plays "not for acting" and a short novel. Dalkey Archive, which has prided itself on republishing important, challenging and under-recognized fiction, has published approximately twenty books by Mosley, the most by any author. Fine in wrappers. [#028477] $20
$10

Chicago, University of Chicago Press, (1998). Fine in a fine dust jacket. [#030088] $20
$10

London, Constable, 1930. A satirical two act play about the confluence between big business, monarchy, and democracy. Foxing to text; near fine in a very good, spine and edge-tanned dust jacket with a few edge nicks. [#023613] $20
$10

Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, (1970). A review copy of this play in two acts, his third published book. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with the review slip laid in. Bobbs-Merrill library stamp to the top edge of text block. A beautiful copy, with review slip (giving publication date as September 30, 1970) and the stamp of the publisher's own library. [#027094] $250
$163

NY, Harcourt Brace, (1998). The uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition of her first novel, second book. Fine in wrappers. Her following two novels, Hotel World and The Accidental, were each shortlisted for the Booker Prize. [#027106] $20
$10

(San Francisco), City Lights, (1977). A collection of six essays by Snyder. Signed by Snyder in 1996 and with the 1978 ownership signature of poet Clayton Eshleman. A nice association: the two poets are longtime friends, and earlier that year had given a reading/talk together in Paris, France. Several notes to text in Eshleman's hand, mostly in the first two essays, "The Yogin and the Philosopher" and "The Politics of Ethnopoetics." Mild spine-sunning, else fine in wrappers. [#030817] $150
$98

Newburyport, Wickford Press, 1968. A limited edition of a humorous essay on encounters with (other) famous authors, which first appeared in the New York Times. Number 56 of 250 numbered copies. Issued unsigned, this copy is inscribed by the author in 1997: For ___ ___ and her fabulous collection/ Cheers, John Updike." One of Updike's earliest limited editions, done the same year as Bath After Sailing and The Angels. Although the limitation of this title is larger than either of those, we have encountered it just as infrequently. Faint sunning at the edge of the spine, else fine. [#030849] $1,500
$1,125

NY, Knopf, 1978. The limited edition of this novel about an African political coup, a sharp break from his usual focus on middle- and upper middle-class suburban Americans. Copy number 211 of 350 copies, signed by the author. Trace foxing to foredge, else fine in a very near fine, slightly wavy dust jacket, in a fine slipcase. [#030184] $125
$81

[NY], (Scientific American), (1969). The first separate edition of this physics-themed poem. One of 6200 copies printed as Christmas cards to be issued with W.H. Auden's A New Year Greeting (not present). 24 pages, illustrated. Fine in stapled wrappers. Lacking the cardboard sleeve that combined the two booklets, but in a custom three quarter leather clamshell case from the Praxis Bindery. This copy is inscribed by the author: "For ___/ Merry Christmas 1995/ John Updike [with a drawing of holly leaves and berries]." While the print run of this item was not particularly small, especially when compared with the many limited editions Updike has done, the nature of its distribution -- as a freebie to Scientific American subscribers -- suggests that most copies would have been lost or discarded. [#030850] $2,500
$1,875

1951, 1952, 1970. One typed letter signed, one autograph letter signed, and one autograph postcard signed by the controversial author of Worlds in Collision, Earth in Upheaval, and others. Velikovsky's books suggested that Earth's history was defined more by sudden catastrophes than by slow evolution. They became quite popular during the 1960s, when conventional wisdom of all sorts was being called into question. Each letter is written to a Mr. Tereshchenko: the first refutes two notions in a book by "Beaumont;" the second letter assures the recipient that the second volume of Ages [in Chaos] will be published and is being held up by Velikovsky himself; the third voices intent to send along a 1946 publication and explains that Ages in Chaos grew to a tetralogy. "Beaumont" is William Comyns Beaumont, a British author whom some claimed had advanced the notions put forward by Velikovsky a generation earlier. The first letter is secured across the midpoint fold with tape; very good. The second letter is on airmail paper; folded and opened as designed; else fine. The postcard is fine. Correspondence, or any autograph material, by Velikovsky is quite scarce, especially with significant content. [#023981] $1,750
$1,313

London, Chatto & Windus, 1931. Nathanael West's copy of Huxley's collection of poetry, with West's holograph notes on five of the front and rear endpages. Approximately 250 words, mostly quotes of other writers -- Huxley, Gray, Shakespeare; some light, but most quite serious: "In matters of love it is absurd to stand on your dignity and claim your rights. Such experiences cannot be judged and calculated like a matter of business. One gives as much and as long as one can & one does not bargain. Take what is given to you." West concludes with: "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." The year this book was published, West published his first novel. Later in the 1930s, both West and Huxley were employed as Hollywood screenwriters. West died in 1940 at the age of 37. The provenance of this book leads from West to his brother-in-law, S.J. Perelman, to the writer and bookseller, George Sims, who recounts the circumstances of his purchasing books from Perelman in the early 1970s, presumably including this one. A photocopy of a note from Sims is laid in. Fading to spine, spotting to cloth, short tear to lower front joint; still very good, without dust jacket. Publisher's extra spine label tipped to rear free endpaper. A wonderful glimpse of West's musings and inner life. [#017974] $3,500
$2,625

NY, Knopf, 1998. The uncorrected proof copy of the second book, first novel, by the well-known NPR commentator. Fine in wrappers. [#009552] $20
$10

(Columbia), (Saturday Review), (1983). An article about, and profile of, Kesey, the main subject of which was the news that Kesey was again writing a novel, his first in 20 years. Near fine. [#009588] $20
$10

NY, Hargail Music Press, (1947). Sheet music by Bowles for this Tennessee Williams poem. The two collaborated a number of times during the period prior to Bowles's first novel, The Sheltering Sky (1949), when his primary creative work was as a composer. Miller E40, approximately 1000 copies printed. Broadsheet, folded to make four pages. 9-1/8" x 12-1/8". Tiny corner chips and minor marginal dampstaining; very good. Scarce in the original, although apparently collected in the 1984 Soundings Press edition of Bowles' Selected Songs. [#017988] SOLD