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Catalog 273: Holiday Miscellany
between the covers
between the covers
rare books
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BETWEEN THE COVERS RARE BOOKS CATALOG 273: HOLIDAY MISCELLANY
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Cover art by Tom Bloom. © 2025 Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc.
table of contents
Independent Online
Booksellers Association
LITERATURE ..................................... 3
POETRY .........................................23
CHILDREN ......................................31
DRAMA ..........................................35
MYSTERY .......................................38
FANTASY & HORROR .....................40
NON-FICTION .................................42
ART ................................................46
CUISINE .........................................50
FILM ...............................................52
MUSIC............................................54
PHOTOGRAPHY .............................58
SPORTS .........................................62
SEXUALITY ....................................64
literature • 3
1 Edward ABBEY
The Monkey Wrench Gang
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott (1975)
$1200
First edition. Remainder stripe on bottom page edges and shallow
abrasion on the verso of the front fly, an otherwise bright, near fine
copy in a nice, very good dust jacket with modest rubbing and wear,
several very small tears and nicks, and a tiny unobtrusive stain at the
spine base. Signed by the author on the front fly: “Ed Abbey.” Abbey’s
novel about individuals trying to preserve the western environment
through anarchist tactics has become a cornerstone of environmental
literature, and is likely to be the book for which he is best remembered.
Scarce signed. [BTC#608533]
2 Honoré de BALZAC
(Boris ARTZYBASHEFF, Ralph BARTON)
Droll Stories: Thirty Tales by Honoré de Balzac
[New York]: The Heritage Club (1939)
$2800
Translated from the French by Jacques Le Clercq. With illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff. Extra illustrated
with color plates by Ralph Barton taken from a limited edition of Droll Stories published by Boni &
Liveright in 1928. Bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in green morocco over boards, with pictorial designs
stamped in color on both boards and the spine, inside gilt tooling, all edges gilt. Bookplate of Saul Shapiro
on the first front fly leaf. Very slight sunning at the spine, a fine copy in a maroon goatskin wrapper with
interior silk pastedowns, yapped edges and the title lettered in gold on the spine; housed in a slipcase in
quarter maroon goatskin and cloth. There is a light corner stain on the silk pastedowns on the inside of
the maroon goatskin wrapper (not affecting the book), thus near fine overall. A rare edition with extra
illustrations by Ralph Barton, in an exceptional Sangorski and Sutcliffe signed binding. [BTC#429291]
Sangorski and Sutcliffe Binding
3 Samuel BECKETT
Watt
New York: Grove Press (1959)
$25,000
First American edition. Quarter cloth gilt and papercovered boards. Fine,
issued without printed dust jacket. This is copy number 2 of 4 numbered copies
marked hors commerce and Signed by Beckett (presumably Beckett was given
copy number 1). Additionally, this copy is Signed by the founder and owner of
Grove Press, and is noted as being from his personal library: “From the library of
Barney Rosset - Grove Press. Barney Rosset, Nov. 6, 1991.” The limited edition
consisted of 30 specially bound hardcover copies: 26 lettered copies, and four
hors commerce copies. It is hard to overestimate the importance of Rosset in
promoting the publication of important out-of-the-mainstream literature and
especially in the careers of Beckett, Kerouac, Burroughs, and Ginsburg. A rare
book in this state. [BTC#468983]
One of Four Copies
LITERATURE
4 • literature
4 Winifred BLACK
Dope: The Story of the Living Dead
New York: Star Company 1928
$200
First edition. Foreword by Fremont Older. Near fine in an attractive, very good or better dust jacket with
light edgewear and a little toning on the spine. Uncommon in jacket. [BTC#532497]
5 R.D. BLACKMORE
Perlycross: A Tale of The Western
Hills. In Three Volumes
London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company
1894
$1500
First edition. Three volumes. Small octavos. Publisher’s blue cloth stamped in gilt, lightly
printed decorative endpapers. Spines slightly darkened and rubbed, modest rubbing at the joints
and spine ends, a few corner tips have slight wear or a gentle bump, endpapers and title pages
slightly toned, near fine overall. A handsome, well-preserved bright set. Sadleir 230; Wolff 539.
[BTC#515852]
6 Jorge Luis BORGES
Fictions
London: Jupiter / John Calder (1965)
$1000
First Jupiter edition. Edited with an introduction by Anthony Kerrigan. 12mo.
Buenos Aires bookseller ticket and owner name on half-title, as well as a couple of
passages neatly marginally bracketed in ink. Very good and with general wear, and the
spine rubbed at the joints with some light vertical creasing. Signed by Borges on the
half-title, more legibly than some
of the signatures he made as his
vision began to fail. The collection
that brought Borges international acclaim. (N.B. The owner
signature is that of poet and longtime Foreign Services agent
Niles Bond, and giving location as São Paulo.) [BTC#598594]
7 Catherine Drinker BOWEN
The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634)
Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press / Little, Brown and Company (1956)
$500
First edition. Front cover a trifle sunned in the shape of the
jacket title, still easily fine in a bright, very good dust jacket
with small edge chips and tears, a tiny bit of loss at the flap
folds, and the yellow lettering a bit sunned. Briefly Inscribed
by Bowen on the half-title, and signed by her again on the
title page. A nice copy of this National Book Award winner.
[BTC#601079]
LITERATURE
literature • 5
8 Morley CALLAGHAN
A Broken Journey
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1932
$350
First edition. Offset on endpapers from jacket flaps, still fine in slightly age-toned near fine dust jacket.
“The strange story of the love of a young lawyer for the beautiful daughter of one of his clients, of his
brother, and of her mother, and of the curious flight of the lovers into the Canadian wilds, and all that
befell them there, is told with a restraint which forcibly brings into the reader’s attention the silent,
psychological undercurrents which motivate their peculiar destiny” - from the dust jacket. Callaghan was
a Canadian novelist, and TV and radio personality. [BTC#515960]
9 Robert CARSON
The Revels are Ended
Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company 1936
$2000
First edition. Slight page toning and owner name on the
front free endpaper else near fine in an about very good
dust jacket with chips, tears, and toning. Debut novel
by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of A Star is
Born in 1938. Scarce in jacket. [BTC#600762]
10 Raymond CARVER
Cathedral
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1983
$700
Uncorrected Proof. Spine a bit sunned, else near fine. Signed by Carver and dated in the year of publication.
An excellent collection of stories, considered by many the author’s best. [BTC#532287]
11 Geoffrey CHAUCER,
Rockwell Kent
Canterbury Tales Rendered Into Modern
English
New York: Covici Friede (1934)
$300
First trade edition. Translated by J.U. Nicolson. Illustrated by
Rockwell Kent. Tall octavo. Slight foxing on page edges else
fine in fine dust jacket with a touch of soiling. Prospectus for
the book laid in, with “Compliments of R.R. Seely.” Scarce in
this condition. [BTC#533053]
12 Paulo COELHO
The Alchemist
(New York): HarperSanFrancisco (1993)
$600
Uncorrected proof. Translated by Alan R. Clarke. Spine lightly sunned else fine in French-folded wrappers
with Coelho’s name misspelled on the front cover. The first edition print run was only 50,000 copies,
remarkable since the book would go on to reportedly sell 150 million copies worldwide. Although not
marked in any way, this copy is from the library of Charlotte Zolotow, editor and publisher at Harper’s
celebrated children’s books department. [BTC#599668]
LITERATURE
6 • literature
13 (Charles DICKENS)
The Dickensian: A Magazine for Dickens Lovers, and Monthly Record of The Dickens Fellowship –
Volumes 1 through 100 (lacking a single issue)
London: Chapman & Hall Ltd., for the Dickens Fellowship 1905-2005
$6500
Periodical. Vol. 1, Number 1 through Vol. 100, Number 3. 464 consecutive issues, lacking only Vol. 15, No. 1 (from 1919). A combination of single
issues and 17 bound volumes with wrappers and ads bound in at the rear. Single issues with light wear and soiling, many with a brief inked note on
the cover and (mostly later issues) with occasional cover stamp or internal inked checkmarks or marginal bracketing, some spines sunned, a couple
of outliers with moderate wear or loss at the spine, overall near fine. The bound volumes with some wear and soiling, a couple of owner signatures or
bookplate and several volumes heavily sunned, overall the bindings are very good and sound and the magazines are bright and fresh. Also included are
separately printed indexes for Volumes 68-100 (1972-2004; volume number and year inked on cover, occasional interior checkmarks). A remarkably
large and well-preserved collection of this magazine for Dickens lovers, spanning 100 years of scholarship. [BTC#517731]
14 Paul Laurence DUNBAR
Folks from Dixie
New York: Dodd, Mead and Company 1898
$350
First edition. Illustrations by E.W. Kemble. Brown cloth
stamped in gilt with pictorial paper onlay on front board.
Neat contemporary pencil gift inscription dated “Christmas
1898” on front flyleaf, boards just a trifle rubbed, very near
fine. A much nicer than usual copy of this collection of dialect
tales; the pictorial onlay is often quite rubbed, this one is
largely untouched. [BTC#605973]
15 Nora EPHRON
Wallflower at the Orgy
New York: Viking Press (1970)
$225
First edition. Tiny spot on the foredge and topedge, else fine in fine dust jacket. Subtitled on the jacket:
“On Location with Mike Nichols, Helen Gurley Brown, Ayn Rand, Craig Clairborne and The Others.”
Author’s first book. [BTC#610732]
LITERATURE
literature • 7
16 William FAULKNER
Sanctuary
New York: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith (1931)
$6000
First edition. Near fine with light rubbing at the foot of the spine and the front hinge expertly repaired in a
nice, near fine dust jacket with tiny nicks at the crown, very slight age-toning on the white portions of the
spine, and the front flap fold internally strengthened professionally with Japanese tissue. Filmed in 1933 as
The Story of Temple Drake with Miriam Hopkins in the title role. Both the book and film were controversial
and the latter was banned for several years. A fresh and attractive copy. Connolly 100. [BTC#67057]
17 William FAULKNER
Intruder in the Dust
New York: Random House 1948
$7500
Second printing. Fine in fine dust jacket. Signed by Faulkner
on the front fly. A beautiful copy of this novel about murder
and the mass mind, the popularity of which was instrumental
in gaining Faulkner the Nobel Prize. Basis for the 1949
Clarence Brown film. Despite a lack of stars, this was considered one of the most powerful films about
racial prejudice ever made. Because of his agreement with his publisher to signed numbered limited
editions, Faulkner was notoriously reluctant to signed trade editions of his books, even for his closest
friends. As such, this signed edition is a rarity. Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. [BTC#565528]
18 Edna FERBER
Show Boat
Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company (1926)
$2000
First edition. Small octavo. 398pp. Publisher’s quarter dark blue cloth and checkered orange,
yellow and navy paste-paper boards. Spine cocked with lettering faded, crease on front cover
and wear at the edges of the boards, good or better, lacking the unprinted tissue jacket. One of
1000 copies especially bound for presentation only. Inscribed in ink on the front free endpaper:
“Dear Fay, I haven’t one of these myself - and that’s what I think of you. Edna Ferber, September,
1926.” Basis for the musical of the same name. [BTC#607865]
19 Edna FERBER
Giant
Chicago: Sears Readers Club (1952)
$3000
Book club edition. Octavo. 447pp. Publisher’s black cloth boards, spine lettered in silver. Toning on the
pastedown from the binder’s glue, thin strip of loss at the crown, and a couple spots of wear at the edges,
else near fine in very good dust jacket with the spine a bit toned and moderate wear at the edges, including
small tears and nicks, particularly at the crown. With a long Inscription to actress Mercedes McCambridge
on the front free endpaper: “In Texas, dear Mercedes McCambridge, when they want someone to move
they say, ‘come alive!’ No one had to say that to you. You came alive as Luz the moment I saw you,
Ma’am. Edna Ferber, August 1955.” This was signed just after Ferber’s visit to the set of Giant in late July
1955. Mercedes played Luz Benedict, the sister to Rock Hudson’s character Brick, and was nominated
for an Oscar for her performance upon the film’s release the following year. A wonderful association.
[BTC#607877]
LITERATURE
8 • literature
Happy 100th Anniversary
20 F. Scott FITZGERALD
Original Photograph of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Inscribed with the Epigraph from The Great Gatsby on the
Mount and Dated Just Weeks Before Publication
$275,000
Platinum-toned gelatin silver photograph. Image size approximately 3¾"
x 5¾". Housed in a contemporary folding card mount which folds to
approximately 4½" x 7½". The photograph has a small ink mark offset
from the inscription facing the image, and almost invisible rubbing,
but is still easily fine. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and green full
morocco gilt clamshell case gilt.
An image of Fitzgerald seated at his writing desk, with pen in hand poised
over paper, staring intently at the camera. On the inside front cover of
the cardboard folder, Fitzgerald has written the Epigraph for the book
that appears on the title page of the first edition of The Great Gatsby, and
which foreshadows vital elements of the novel:
“Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too
Till she cry: ‘Lover, gold-hatted, highbouncing lover,
I must have you!’
from The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Capri, March 1925”
The epigraph in the book is attributed to Thomas Parke D’Invilliers, a
fictional character from author’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, and an
alter ego of Fitzgerald himself, who appealed to his more poetic nature.
The epigraph poem foreshadows the lengths and extremes to which
Gatsby will go to in order to attract the attention of his lost love, Daisy
Buchanan.
Fitzgerald inscribed and dated this photo just a few weeks before the
publication of The Great Gatsby on April 10th, 1925. An exceptionally
deep and rich image of Fitzgerald. Anecdotally this image was printed in
the June 1921 issue of the magazine The World’s Work in the publisher’s
effort to promote their new author, but we have never seen another
vintage physical example, and certainly never seen one inscribed.
An absolutely iconic image of F. Scott Fitzgerald, with a direct and
immediate connection to the high point of his literary career, and with a
direct relationship to one of the acknowledged greatest of American novels.
Unique. [BTC#604991]
LITERATURE
literature • 9
21 F. Scott FITZGERALD
This Side of Paradise
New York: A.L. Burt Company (1920) [but 1923, as per Bruccoli]
$650
Reprint of the first edition (see below) and the first American edition published by any publisher
other than Scribner’s. Slight sunning on the boards caused by a few chips on the jacket, near fine in
chipped good or better dust jacket with a tape repair near the crown. Bruccoli A. 5.1.n (who refers
to this as one of the “observed further printings within the first edition”). This edition precedes
the better known Grosset & Dunlap reprint by 14 years. [BTC#608185]
22 F. Scott FITZGERALD
The Great Gatsby
London: Chatto & Windus (1926)
$5000
First English edition. Rebound in handsome modern pale blue morocco with turndowns, titled
and ruled in gilt, with raised bands, and decorative endpapers. Fine. A rebound copy of the much
rarer first English edition of an American classic with, according to various sources, as few as 1500
to 3000 copies printed versus 20,870 of the American edition. Fitzgerald’s perception of the lack
of support he received from his English publishers was the source of great consternation to him.
According to one source: “On 15 June 1925, William Collins, Fitzgerald’s English publisher for
This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and Damned, turned down The Great Gatsby, declaring
that ‘to publish The Great Gatsby would be to reduce the number of his readers rather than to
increase them.’” An attractive rebound copy of this rarity. Connolly 100. [BTC#600255]
23 F. Scott FITZGERALD
Tender Is the Night
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1934
$20,000
First edition. Tiny early new bookstore label (from Charles Lauriat in Boston) on front fly, else
a particularly fine and bright copy in a handsome very good or better first issue dust jacket with
older professional restoration, particularly at the spine ends and spine folds with the slightest
touch of the usually endemic spine fading. The first issue of the jacket is particularly scarce.
Fitzgerald had all but fallen off the map when this, his last completed novel, was issued. A portrait
of expatriates on the French Riviera, it was supposedly based on Gerald and Sara Murphy but
is just as likely based on the Fitzgeralds themselves. The 1962 film version by Henry King, the
last of his many films adapted from literary novels, featured Jason Robards and Jennifer Jones. A
solid, handsome copy of an increasingly desirable book. Connolly 100. [BTC#601464]
LITERATURE
10 • literature
Dedication Copy
24 Peggy GADDIS as Georgia CRAIG
Perry Kimbro, R.N.
(New York): Arcadia House (1950)
$1500
First edition. Fine in attractive near fine dust jacket with a modest scrape on the spine where a small
label was removed. Levelheaded registered nurse is in shock when the doctor that she had set her cap for
marries her sister; she leaves to work in a small mountain community
called Pinelands (reminiscent and probably modeled on western North
Carolina), where she works with a gruff doctor and undergoes her own
“romantic convalescence.” The Dedication Copy, Inscribed: “To ‘Miss
Susie’ - with best wishes from ‘a sincere admirer.’ ‘Georgia Craig’ (alias
‘Peggy Gaddis’ et al).” The printed dedication reads: “To Leota Foreman,
(more widely known and loved as ‘Miss Susie’) with admiration and
esteem.” A very scarce title. [BTC#429932]
25 Gabriel GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
Innocent Eréndira and Other Stories
New York: Harper & Row (1978)
$2500
First American edition, and first English-language edition. A fine copy in fine dust jacket. Signed and
dated by García Márquez on the half-title and dated in 1987. [BTC#516115]
26 Gabriel GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
Crónica de una muerte anunciada
[Chronicle of a Death Foretold]
(Bogota, Columbia / Tlacoquemecatl, Mexico: Editorial
La Oveja Negra / Diana 1981)
$2000
First edition, wrappered issue, for
distribution in Mexico, bound with
sheets of the Columbian edition,
with Diana imprint on both
covers, published simultaneously
in Columbia, Mexico and Spain.
Glossy pictorial wrappers. Text
in Spanish. Small soil mark and
surface abrasion on rear cover, pages a little toned, about
very good. Inscribed by García Márquez on the front fly in the year of publication: “Para Nate,
de su Amigo, Gabriel. 81.” Klein A18.a.3.b. [BTC#516167]
27 Gabriel GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
Of Love and Other Demons
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1995
$500
Uncorrected galley proof of the first American edition. Translated from the Spanish by Edith
Grossman. Quarto. 149pp. Printed and paginated rectos only. Publisher’s clear acetate front
cover with plain black paper rear cover, with taped spine as issued. Reproduction of the glossy
cover art for the trade edition affixed to interior of cover. “Second pass dupe 2/7” inked on first
leaf. A fine copy. [BTC#516122]
LITERATURE
literature • 11
28 Joseph HANSEN
[Archive]: Letters to His Editor about his
novel, A Smile in His Lifetime
and Other Books
New York, Los Angeles: 1978-1985
$2500
A collection of 13 letters totaling 31 pages from author Joseph
Hansen to his editors Natalie Chapman and Richard Seaver
at Holt, Rinehart & Winston between 1978 and 1985. Some
toning and creasing thus very good of better. The letters discuss
his process, thoughts on artwork and book presentation,
and what he’s currently working on. A recurring topic is the
book A Smile in His Lifetime, a non-mystery novel Hansen
had an endowment to write but was looking for more money
and interest from Holt. The book concerns homosexual
relationships and Hansen writes, “There are only two first-rate
novels about homosexuality I know - Our Lady of the Flowers
by Jean Genet, and A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood.
Of course I’m crazy as hell, but I have to think A Smile in His
Lifetime stands a chance of making the total three. I hope
you agree.” In another letter he describes Smile as “the most
important piece of work I have ever done.”
The letters include edits and responses to Chapman’s questions
after reading various manuscripts. Hanson can be critical of
artwork and reprint covers of his novels, writing, “Why must
every writer of male homosexual novels in the USA be packaged
as if he were Gordon Merrick, and had written his book only
for gay readers. I don’t have to tell you that it is for heterosexual
readers that I write. They’re the ones who need my message.”
He walks through his vision for the cover of his novel Skinflick,
down to the font, “what I do like is the typeface chosen for the
title – though I want the title to be one word, not two. The
type is arresting and memorable.” The longest letter includes 10 pages of extensive notes on edits for A Smile in His Lifetime, noting page numbers,
changes, explanations, and passages to be removed.
An interesting look at an author’s process and his relationship with his editor. [BTC#602733]
29 Ernest HEMINGWAY
A Farewell to Arms
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1929
$4500
First edition, first issue in first issue dust jacket. Neat contemporary owner name on front fly, spine
label a little toned, and a couple of smudges on the front board, else near fine in a nice, near fine
dust jacket with a bit of uniform overall age-toning and a couple of tiny tears, but with almost none
of the usual fading on the blue portion of the spine found on almost all copies. A nice unrestored
example of Hemingway’s classic story of love and war, arguably his masterpiece, and certainly one of
the highspots of 20th Century literature. Connolly 100. [BTC#598888]
LITERATURE
12 • literature
30 James HILTON
The Story of Dr. Wassell
Boston: Little, Brown 1943
$650
First edition, preceding the English edition. Endpapers foxed else near fine in near very good dust jacket
with some modest chips and tears. Signed by both James Hilton and the subject of the book, Dr. Corydon
Wassell. Based on Wassell’s heroic stance against orders to not save the wounded during the Japanese
invasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Basis for
the Cecil B. DeMille-directed film starring Gary Cooper.
This copy also bears the contemporary signature of actor John
Burton, who appeared in several films either scripted by Hilton
or based on his novels, including Lost Horizon, Mrs. Miniver,
and Foreign Correspondent (though he was not in The Story of
Dr. Wassell). [BTC#91752]
31 Marjorie JOAD
Original Correspondence from
Marjorie Joad of the Hogarth Press
to Lytton Strachey with
accompanying Invoice
Richmond, Surrey: The Hogarth Press 1923
$2000
One quarto sheet, and one folio ledger sheet, both on
Hogarth Press stationery, each dated in 1923. Each is
folded as mailed, tiny tears, near fine. The first sheet is
a Typed Letter Signed from Marjorie Joad, Hogarth
Press Manager, dated 11/2/1923 to Lytton Strachey at
Tidmarsh, Pangborne, asking him to settle his book
bill, so they can close their annual books. The second
is a larger ledger page listing six books purchased by
Strachey, including The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot, Poems
by G.H. Luce, Clive Bell’s The Legend of the Monte della
Sibilla or le Paradis de la Reine Sibille, Roger Fry’s Living
Painters, Alice Lowther’s When It Was June, and one other.
[BTC#602787]
The First Modern
Latin American Novel
32 (Latin American)
Mariano AZUELA
Los de Abajo [The Underdogs]
El Paso, Texas: Imprinto “El Paso del Norte” 1916
$15,000
First separate edition. Small octavo. 143pp. Printed wrappers. Cover professionally reattached and
some minor paper conservation has been performed, acidic paper toned, title page with a bit of
marginal loss, a well-preserved copy of an extremely fragile and important publication, one of the
most important novels of the Mexican Revolution and a forerunner of the Latin American Boom.
First serialized in an El Paso newspaper, it was also printed in this paperback edition. It was then
forgotten for almost a decade and was not translated into English until 1929; it is now considered a
classic. A well-preserved copy of this extremely fragile work, printed on acidic paper by a small-town
newspaper. A true rarity. Housed in a custom four-fold chemise and clamshell case. [BTC#535828]
LITERATURE
literature • 13
33 James JOYCE
Ulysses
Paris: Shakespeare and Company 1922
$80,000
First edition, trade issue. Thick quarto. Original printed blue wrappers
titled in white. A bit of rubbing at the edges of the spine and spine
ends, but a lovely near fine copy, with NO RESTORATION or repair.
Housed in an older half-morocco clamshell case, with modest wear.
Ulysses was published in an edition of 1000 copies, this is one of 750
copies of the trade issue on vergé à barbes paper. There were also 100
signed copies (numbered 1-100), and another 150 large paper copies
(numbered 101-250). This is copy #843 (the trade issue was numbered
between 251-1000).
According to the publisher Sylvia Beach’s meticulously kept notebook
records, this copy was one of two dozen copies that were sold to “Miss
Weaver (on sale)” on and around March 3rd, 1922. Harriet Shaw Weaver
was probably Joyce’s greatest supporter. An indication of Weaver’s
support for Joyce was that he inscribed copy #1 of Ulysses to her: “To
Harriet Weaver in token of gratitude James Joyce 13 February 1922.”
That copy now resides in the National Library of Ireland.” Copy #2 was
inscribed to Sylvia Beach.
Weaver published the literary journal The Egoist, and along with the
support of her literary editor, Ezra Pound, championed the publication
of the young Joyce. Weaver serialized A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man in The Egoist in 1914, and when he couldn’t find a publisher for
Ulysses Weaver tried to serialize it in The Egoist. However, because of its
controversial content, it was rejected by all the printers she approached.
Along with Beach she arranged for it to be printed abroad in France.
Upon Joyce’s death, Weaver paid for his funeral and acted as his executor.
A novel that is widely regarded as the magnum opus of the 20th Century,
and certainly one of the most important modern novels, this stream-of-
consciousness epic routinely tops lists of great books. Upon publication
many copies of the book were smuggled into the United States, often
rebound, compounding the scarcity of the already somewhat ungainly
volume, often with the wrappers having been removed or otherwise
perished. All copies of the first edition are desirable, those in original
wrappers, and especially those that are unrestored, are particularly so.
Connolly 100. [BTC#604973]
LITERATURE
14 • literature
Inscribed to His Biographer’s Family
34 Norman MACLEAN
A River Runs Through It
Chicago: University of Chicago 1976
$8500
First edition. Slight rubbing, very good or better in very
good dust jacket with tiny nicks, a short tear on the
front panel, and some overall soiling and wear. This copy
Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: “Chicago
May 5, 1976. To the Swiss Family Roberts, from Aiken,
South Carolina and Clinton, Montana and in-between
stopovers such as the University of Chicago. From Norman
Maclean at one of the stopovers.” John and Peg Roberts
of Aiken, South Carolina were close friends of Maclean’s
through their son, who lived near Maclean’s summer home
in Montana. Their daughter, Rebecca McCarthy, who
attended the University of Chicago at Maclean’s suggestion
and with his mentorship, continued the family’s friendship
with the author, and is herself the author of Norman
Maclean: A Life of Letters and Rivers (University of Washington Press, 2024).
An important copy of one of the most sought-after titles in recent American fiction, two long
interrelated stories of a family for whom “there was no clear line between religion and fly-fishing.”
Published by the press as a favor to a retiring professor, the book became a surprise success, first
gaining readership through word-of-mouth recommendations and eventually necessitating many later printings, illustrated, and gift editions. Basis
for the Robert Redford film. Inscribed copies have become very uncommon, especially with significant associative interest. [BTC#604400]
35 Peter MATTHIESSEN
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
New York: Random House (1965)
$250
First edition. Fine in fine dust jacket wrapper with one tiny tear. National Book Award nominee
and basis for the 1991 film directed by Hector Babenco, with a nice ensemble cast that included
Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, Tom Waits, and Kathy Bates. An
exceptional copy, usually found quite soiled. [BTC#532455]
36 William MAXWELL
Over By the River
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1977
$450
First edition. A bit of offsetting on the front fly from a
clipping, and a little foxing on the spine, overall about
near fine in price-clipped near fine dust jacket. Inscribed
by Maxwell to noted author Jean Stafford: “Jean from
William with love, as always. (Brookie did the jacket.
Isn’t it darling?) September 1977.” Brookie was William
Maxwell’s daughter. [BTC#608526]
LITERATURE
literature • 15
37 W. Somerset MAUGHAM
A Collection of 21 Pieces of Correspondence to his American Editors at Doubleday, 1950-1963
St. Jean-Cap Ferrat, [France], and others: 1950-1963
$8500
“The book arrived to-day, and it looks to me as though
you have all made a very good job of it.”
Archive of correspondence consisting of small octavo or letter-size
sheets, most typed on Maugham’s Villa Mauresque stationery (one in
manuscript) and averaging 4-5 lines. Each letter is Signed or Initialed by
Maugham in ink. Many of the letters with later (secretarial?) annotation,
mostly in pencil, occasional pin/staple holes and marginal chips, some
tanning, very good and sound.
An interested collection of notes and letters from English author and
playwright W. Somerset Maugham to George Jenks Shively and Ken
McCormick, his American editors at Doubleday. The letters cover the
period 1950 to 1963; six are addressed to McCormick and the rest
to Shively. Of particular interest are references to the publication of
Maugham’s books Maugham’s Choice of Kipling’s Best (1953), Points of
View (1959), and Selected Prefaces and Introductions (1963). Much of it
revolves around the sending and receipt of proofs, contracts, copyrights,
etc., but of his lengthy introduction to the Kipling anthology, Maugham
writes that it “was not only a matter of reading Kipling’s stories all over
again, but also of reading everything of importance that had been written
about him.” In two letters, dated 1952 and 1953, he discusses charges of
plagiarism brought against him. One references the suit brought against
him by Konrad Bercovici, claiming that Maugham’s “The Verger” was
based on one of Bercovici’s stories; it is mentioned on p.545 of Ted
Morgan’s Maugham: A Life. (Maugham in the letter present here: “It looks
to me as though the story were as old as the story of Jacob and Esau.”)
Maugham seems to be quite happy with the work of his American
publishers. Upon receiving a copy of The Art of Fiction (1955), he writes:
“The book arrived to-day, and it looks to me as though you have all made
a very good job of it.” In 1962 Maugham writes of another publication:
“I have no general instructions. I leave the whole thing in your very
capable hands.”
Shively was a senior editor at Doubleday and Company, as well as the
author of two novels. In an 1975 article in The New York Times on
Ken McCormick’s retirement, he is described as “possibly the dean of
American editors.” (The article also notes that he worked his way up from
bookstore clerk to Editor-in-Chief.) McCormick on Maugham: “I was
actually Maugham’s editor after World War II, although it’s ridiculous to
say ‘edit’ because Maugham’s stuff was so impeccable.”
An interesting collection of correspondence with Maugham’s American
editors over more than a decade. A detailed list is available. [BTC#577328]
LITERATURE
16 • literature
Unpublished portrait of
Cormac McCarthy
38 (Cormac McCARTHY)
Cynthia FARAH
[Photograph]: Portrait of Cormac McCarthy
[Circa 1985]
$3500
Gelatin silver portrait photograph. Measuring 8" x 10". Image size 4½" x 6½". Neatly and
archivally mounted in 11" x 14" card mat. Signed by the photographer (“Cynthia Farah”) on
the mount beneath the image. Fine. McCarthy is pictured from chest up with a surprisingly
beatific smile. According to the website The McCarthyist, compiled by Umberto La Rocca,
this is an unpublished portrait of McCarthy: “…taken in the second half of the 80s in El
Paso by Cynthia Farah Haines, photographer, writer and Cormac McCarthy’s friend. It was
not included in her book Literature and Landscape [1988] which collects 50 portraits of
southwestern writers and was saved in the Cynthia Farah Photograph Collection Writers of
the Southwest held at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.” Reportedly Farah didn’t
publish the McCarthy image in her book because of her close friendship with him, and her
awareness of his desire for privacy. Provenance on request. [BTC#598493]
39 (Carson McCullers)
Lousie DAHL-WOLFE
Inscribed Photograph of
Carson McCullers
April 1941
$9500
Sepia-toned gelatin silver photograph of Carson McCullers
taken by Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Measuring 7¾" x 8".
Professionally matted and framed. Unsigned by Dahl-Wolfe.
Although several very similar images of McCullers in identical
clothing are known to have been taken, with one session in
Paris, this particular image was captured by Dahl-Wolfe in
April 1941 with McCullers posing against a rocky outcropping
in Central Park. Fine.
A lovely image of a young and gamine McCullers in a man-
tailored shirt with her arms stretched behind her head.
Inscribed by McCullers to David Diamond: “For David
with Pride and tender Love. Carson.” Diamond was one of
the preeminent American composers of his generation. In the
early 1940s Carson McCullers and her husband Reeves met
and both fell in love with Diamond. Diamond’s interaction
with the couple is touched on in The Lonely Hunter: A Biography by Virginia Spencer Carr, which details some of the relationship. McCullers also left
many details of their sexual and emotional ménage a trois in her fiction, both in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and The Member of the Wedding, as she did
in her unfinished autobiography. The role he played in her personal, emotional, and professional life was unquestionably of the highest significance.
As mentioned, other similar images of McCullers from this session are known, but this particular image appears to be an otherwise better work. A
beautiful image, with a fascinating association. [BTC#608376]
LITERATURE
literature • 17
40 Herman MELVILLE
”Bartleby, the Scrivener” [story in] Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of
American Literature, Science, and Art. Vol. II. July to December, 1853
New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 10 Park Place 1853
$450
First printed appearance. Octavo. pp. [i-iii] iv-vi, [1], 2-690. Light green decorative cloth, gilt spine,
cream-yellow endpapers. Binder’s ticket on front pastedown: “E.A. Fuller Book-binder, Burlington, Vt.”
Contemporary ink owner name on front free endpaper. A handsome ex-library copy with small paper
bookplate lightly tipped onto the front pastedown (easily removable) and blind-embossed stamp on title
page. Spine lightly sunned, wear at the corners and spine at foot and crown, light dampstain at the foot of
the gutter and to the foredge margin of pp. 546-552, near fine. Includes the first appearance of Melville’s
celebrated novella serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December issues (pp. 546-
557; 609-615). A pleasing, clean and tight copy. [BTC#432357]
41 Joyce Carol OATES
Them
New York: Vanguard Press 1969
$800
42 S.J. PERELMAN
Crazy Like A Fox
New York: Random House (1945)
$2000
First edition. A bit of toning on the boards
else near fine in a near fine dust jacket
with a faint crease on the spine - likely the
jacket was folded into the book and is thus
otherwise especially fresh. Inscribed by
Perelman to Albert Hackett and Frances
Goodrich: “To Frances and Albert, this
tired tissue of absurdities to demonstrate
to what lengths hunger can drive a middle-
aged man. Love + kisses, Sid Perelman. July
11, 1944.” Hackett and Goodrich were
married collaborators on many plays and
screenplays. They won a Pulitzer Prize for
their play adapted from The Diary of Anne
Frank, and received Oscar nominations for
their screenplays for The Thin Man, After the
Thin Man, Father of the Bride, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. They also co-wrote the screenplay
for It’s a Wonderful Life and several other films. A considerably nicer than usual copy of the author’s
sixth book, a cheaply produced wartime volume, with a significant association. [BTC#533529]
First edition. Fine in fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author.
The author’s fourth book and breakthrough novel, published
in a small print run when the publisher had given up on Oates
as a commercially successful author. A superior copy of this
National Book Award-winning novel. [BTC#596823]
LITERATURE
18 • literature
43 Dawn POWELL
25 Original Drawings
$25,000
Collection of 25 original drawings by Dawn Powell, consisting of 20 or 21
almost fully realized drawings, and an additional five sketches. Sizes vary, but
most are approximately 9" x 11", with a few smaller or larger. All are in pen
and ink except for one relatively small watercolor. Seventeen of the completed
drawing and two of the sketches are on loose sheets of paper; three of the
completed drawings and three of the sketches are in a spiral bound sketchbook.
None are signed. Condition varies from about fine to good with tears and small
chips at the extremities.
All but a couple of the sketches are captioned, most displaying Powell’s own
brand of humor. Subjects include a series of three, captioned “Man takes
woman for weekend,” showing his various methods of seduction: dragging by
her hair, shoving her into a bar, etc. Another is a drawing of Powell’s longtime
drinking companion and reputed lover Coburn Gilman, apparently with
delirium tremens drawn with jagged lines captioned, “Gilman with shakes.”
Another is a drawing of a silly-looking hunter captioned, “My father was the
best skunk hunter in Minnesota.” A few are set in Paris - including a French
boulangerina politely addressing an American in French, but with Powell’s translating it into insulting English. Another is apparently set at the Yaddo
artists’ colony, as people flee a swarm of mosquitoes with a sign on the portal stating “Yaddists Go Home!” A couple of drawings feature a creature
named Shug, apparently a dog. There is a series of three about the torture of hospital beds, another of a man nailing his wife’s feet to the foot of the
bed, apparently with her approval. The two loose sketches are of Thurberesque nude women drawn on pages that include a few lines of her typed
manuscripts. An unparalleled accumulation of Powell’s drawings, from the effects of Coburn Gilman. [BTC#584242]
LITERATURE
literature • 19
Dawn Powell’s Own Copy
44 Dawn POWELL
The Story of a Country Boy
New York: Farrar & Rinehart (1934)
$8500
First edition. Rebound by the publisher in full black
morocco gilt. Dawn Powell’s own copy with her ownership
Signature, and a printed parchment slip laid into the book
stating: “With the compliments of - Stanley M. Rinehart, Jr.
/ John Farrar / Frederick R. Rinehart.” It was a tradition with
some mid-Century American publisher to present their
authors with a specially bound copy of each of their new
books as they were published.
A novel about the evolution of a “self-made man” from
humble country bumpkin to a pretentious captain of
industry, by this satirical, proto-feminist novelist who
has after some time in obscurity been rediscovered. Basis
for the 1935 film Man of Iron directed by William C.
McGann, and featuring Barton MacLane and Mary
Astor. Gore Vidal, whose critical essay helped restore her fame, called Powell a better satirist than Twain
and said she was “our best comic novelist.” Ernest Hemingway once told her she was his “favorite living
novelist” – although she was not averse to poking fun at Hemingway himself, which she did in her
novel, The Wicked Pavilion. Novelist Lisa Zeidner, in a review of the Tim Page biography of Powell in The New York Times Book Review, said that “she
is wittier than Dorothy Parker, dissects the rich better than F. Scott Fitzgerald, is more plaintive than Willa Cather in her evocation of the heartland
and has a more supple control of satirical voice than Evelyn Waugh, the writer to whom she’s most often compared.” Powell was an archetypal free
spirit, living much of her life in Greenwich Village, taking – and flaunting – lovers frequently although she was married, and mercilessly skewering
the postures and foibles of an array of New York types, from bohemian artists to wealthy tycoons. A unique copy. [BTC#584042]
45 Jean STAFFORD
Children Are Bored on Sunday
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (1953)
$400
First edition. Very faint toning at the edges of the boards, still fine in
near fine dust jacket with tiny nicks and tears, mostly at the spine ends.
Nicely Inscribed by the
author: “To Ann who is
a garden in bloom and
the most beloved girl
in the U.S. of A. Jean.”
[BTC#608460]
46 Jean STAFFORD
Elephi
New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy (1962)
$350
First edition. Illustrated by Erik Blegvad. Small octavo. Fine in a very slightly
spine-toned else fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author: “For Alfonso
Ossario from Jean Stafford.” Ossorio was a Filipino-American abstract
expressionist artist. [BTC#608562]
LITERATURE
20 • literature
Signed by John Steinbeck
47 (John STEINBECK)
Fleur Cowles, edited by
Flair - Volume 2, No. 1, January 1951
(London: Cowles Magazines, Inc.) 1951
$2500
Periodical. Quarto. 120pp. Heavily illustrated. Cover with a
split and a bit of loss at the spine, staples somewhat oxidized,
modest interior toning, very good. Signed by John Steinbeck,
editor Fleur Cowles, and contributor William Ward Beecher.
The final issue of this very interesting magazine, sent by editor Fleur Cowles along with a
warm Typed Letter Signed to artist William Ward Beecher to commemorate the collaboration.
Fleur has Signed the magazine on the first page. Beecher allowed the use of a black and white
reproduction of a Steinbeck-themed trompe l’oeil painting to illustrate the article “Tortilla B Flat:
A Serenade to John Steinbeck Composed on the Typewriter,” by Eddie Condon (also illustrated
with a portrait of Steinbeck by Robert Capa). A note in Beecher’s hand laid in says: “N.B. this
copy autographed by Fleur Cowles is also signed by John and me-,” and indeed Steinbeck has
signed above the painting and Beecher beneath it. Also laid in is a Typed Letter Signed from a
Flair employee to Beecher, asking him to sign an agreement to reproduce the artwork.
A 2001 letter from Steinbeck’s son Thom, written to supply details about sitting for a portrait by
Beecher, called the artist a family friend and that his father “maintained an abiding fascination for Beecher’s work through the years. A half-dozen
examples of the artist’s best canvases still brighten our house in New York.” A nice association. [BTC#530781]
John Fowles’ Copy
48 Harriet Beecher STOWE
The Minister’s Wooing
London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co. 1859
$350
First English illustrated edition with illustrations by Phiz, book issue (also issued in parts). With
a one-page Preface by Stowe not present in the American edition. Coated brown endpapers.
Contemporary (likely publisher’s) half brown leather with marbled papercovered boards and red
morocco spine label gilt. Corner and boards rubbed, a sound, near very good copy. A look at New
England life in the 18th Century. English novelist John Fowles’ copy with his Signature dated in
1963. BAL 19406 (noting what is likely this binding). [BTC#597177]
Inscribed to Robert Penn Warren
49 William STYRON
Admiral Robert Penn Warren and The Snows of Winter: A Tribute
Winston-Salem: Palaemon Press (1978)
$1500
First edition (a second or “new” edition was issued in 1981). Afterword by James L. West III.
Slim octavo. Sewn wrappers with applied printed cover label. A trifle foxed, a very thin strip
of tanning along the bottom edge of the wrappers, a near fine copy. Copy L of 26 lettered
copies (of 276 total) Signed by Styron on the limitation page, this copy additionally Inscribed
to Robert Penn Warren using his nickname: “To my dear friend Red - this profound and
poetic utterance is presented with proud and abiding affection. —Bill.” A brief speculation
by Styron on the course of Warren’s life if he had pursued his youthful ambition to become a
naval officer. An excellent association between two major American novelists. [BTC#594666]
LITERATURE
literature • 21
51 Peter TAYLOR
A Woman of Means
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (1950)
$600
50 Tiffany THAYER
The Cluck Abroad
Garden City: Doubleday Doran 1935
$500
First edition. Some sunning on the green cloth, else fine in about very
good dust jacket, sunned at the spine with a few small chips and tears,
and scuffed near the foot. Inscribed by the author to his aunt: “For
Dear Old Bethel, the best little chaperone a father ever had. From her
nephew, Beezie! Tiffany Thayer. 6/21/35.” Novel by the idiosyncratic
author featuring a beautiful librarian, the “cluck” of the title, who goes
abroad, finds romance and adventure, and wises up. Jacket art appears to
be unsigned but might likely be by Boris Artzybasheff. [BTC#608213]
52 Mark TWAIN (Howard PYLE)
Saint Joan of Arc
New York and London: Harper & Brothers (1919)
$475
First edition. Small quarto. Illustrated with four tipped-
in color plates by Howard Pyle, and with decorations
by Wilfred J. Jones. Publisher’s black cloth over boards,
with a color illustration on paper mounted on the
front cover within a gilt-blocked border, gilt-lettered
spine. Bookplate on front pastedown else fine in near
fine printed dust jacket with very shallow chipping
at the spine ends. A beautifully designed and printed
edition, with all four-color plates by Howard Pyle in
fine condition. [BTC#600626]
53 Robert Penn WARREN
Blackberry Winter
(Cummington, Massachusetts): Cummington Press 1946
$1250
First edition. Illustrated by Wightman Williams. Small octavo. Clothbacked papercovered boards with
printed paper spine label. A bright, fine copy a trifle rubbed at the spine tips and with a faint scuff on the
rear cover, lacking the unprinted white paper dust jacket. One of 280 numbered copies (50 signed lettered
copies were also issued). A beautiful copy of this nicely produced, handprinted short story. [BTC#594671]
First edition. Fine in fine, very lightly rubbed dust jacket with two tiny tears.
Inscribed by Taylor: “For Louise Shelley with all best wishes. Peter.” Taylor’s
second book and first novel, one of his scarcer works, and exceptionally
uncommon in this condition. A superior copy. [BTC#608178]
LITERATURE
22 • literature
54 Eudora WELTY
Mariage au Delta [Delta Wedding]
Paris: Gallimard (1957)
$750
First French edition. Fine in printed wrappers and about fine unprinted publisher’s
glassine dust jacket. One of 41 copies printed on Lafuma-Navarre; this is one of 35
numbered copies (there were also 6 lettered copies hors commerce). Inscribed by the
author: “For George Bixby with good wishes, Eudora Welty. May 25, 1972.” The
recipient George Bixby was the publisher of the Albondocani Press, which published
Welty’s essays A Pageant of Birds and A Sweet Devouring. [BTC#613799]
55 Oscar WILDE
Di balade fun Reding-turme
[The Ballad of Reading Gaol]
New York: Farlag “Die Feder” 1925
$350
Presumed first Yiddish-language edition. Translated by Aharon Karlin. Octavo. 32pp. Text in Yiddish,
bound and paginated in the Yiddish style. Stapled printed wrappers with a bit of tanning and edgewear,
page edges a trifle foxed, and the last few leaves with a small faint stain near the spine base, very good. The
lower wrap prints a publisher’s advertisement for a couple of “Die Feder” titles, as well as their monthly art
and literary magazine The Pen. Very uncommon. [BTC#607516]
56 Virginia WOOLF
A Room of One’s Own
London: Hogarth Press 1929
$7500
First edition. 12mo. 172pp. Contemporary penciled owner name of the son of a noted American Art collector
on the front fly and a tiny Gotham Book Mart ticket on the rear pastedown. A touch of foxing on the topedge,
toning on inside of both flyleaves and some barely visible discoloration on the boards, near fine in very good
dust jacket with sunning and light general dust soiling, a tiny stain at the bottom of the spine, shallow chip at
the crown and a few nicks and tears at the corners. An attractive copy of an important title, the delicate pink
jacket is generally found well-worn. [BTC#614806]
57 Richard YATES
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness
Boston: Little, Brown and Company (1962)
$950
First edition. Octavo. 230pp. Sunning along the spine, near fine
in very good or better dust jacket with toning at the spine, 2" tears
at bottom of the spine and front flap, along with some edgewear.
Inscribed by Yates at a writer’s conference: “For Miriam Rugel
Stern - with Eleven Kinds of best wishes. And good luck. Richard
Yates. Bread Loaf, Vt. Aug. 25, 1962.” Stern was an O. Henry
Award-winning short story writer who served as a contributing
member of Bread Loaf. [BTC#608667]
LITERATURE
poetry • 23
58 (John ASHBERY)
[Broadside]: John Ashbery: First New York Appearance
in Five Years. Reading From his Own Work
Monday Sept 16th 1963
[New York]: The Living Theatre 1963
$1000
Promotional broadside. Designed by “E.S.” Measuring 8½" x 11". Printed in
black on thin paper. Very faint horizontal crease and a tiny bit of toning, still
fine. A broadside advertising a 1963 reading by John Ashbery at New York City’s
The Living Theatre on 6th Ave. at 14th St. It was on this visit to New York that
Ashbery, who was living in France at the time, would visit Andy Warhol’s studio
at the invitation of poet and Warhol assistant Gerard Malanga. When Ashbery
moved back to New York in 1965, Warhol threw him a big party at the Factory,
and Ashbery would sit for one of Warhol’s famous “Screen Tests” that same
year. We have been unable to locate another copy. [BTC#517178]
59 (Basil BUNTING)
[Broadside]: Reading Their Poetry at the
Guggenheim Museum… Basil Bunting
at 8:30 o’clock March 23, 1967
The Academy of American Poets
New York: The Academy of American Poets / The Guggenheim Museum
1967
$350
Broadside. Measuring 10¼" x 17". Old horizontal fold (slightly
misfolded), modest wear, very good or better. A simple but nicely designed
poster advertising Bunting’s 1967 reading at the Guggenheim Museum.
[BTC#600893]
POETRY
24 • poetry
60 Cid CORMAN
Subluna: Songs by Cid. Twelve Poems Written During 1943-1944
(Dorchester, Massachusetts: The Author 1944)
$5000
First edition. 12mo. [19]pp. Stapled printed wrappers. Staples a bit rusted, modest age-toning on the
wrappers, mostly along the edges of the thin spine, a couple of small, light smudges, else near fine. Cid
Corman’s rare first book; he notes on the copyright page: “Brochure designed, planned, and typed by the
author.” At the time Corman self-published this title, he and his high school friend Nat Hentoff were
running poetry events at public libraries, and together they started what purported to be the country’s
first radio program devoted almost solely to poetry (This Is Poetry, Boston, WMEX 1510). Corman was
a prolific, even sometimes ubiquitous, poet, but he was equally influential, particularly after he founded
the magazine Origin in 1951, which was associated with the Beats, the Black Mountain poets, and the
Objectivists. OCLC locates nine copies of this title. Over the past 30 years only a single copy has been
recorded at auction, and we could find mention of no other copies recorded in commerce online and
elsewhere. A rare book. [BTC#609575]
61 E.E. CUMMINGS
[Shellac Record]: E.E. Cummings Reading from His 50
Poems (The National Council of Teachers of English)
[No place]: The National Council of Teachers of English [circa 1940-42]
$250
Original 10" 78rpm shellac record. Produced by Walter C. Garwick. Some
light wear and scratches on both sides, still very good, lacking the original
sleeve, instead housed in a very good cardboard sleeve for A Purple Pageant
with a label affixed to the front cover indicating the actual record. Features
Cummings reading four poems from his collection 50 Poems: Numbers 13,
29, 33, and 42. An uncommon record released by The National Council of
Teachers of English. We have only been able to find one other image of this
record, and that copy differs from ours in two ways: 1) The other record’s
label has black print instead of gold print and 2) Ours has a typo in which
the publisher’s name is spelled “Duall” (rather than “Duell”) leading us to
believe ours was an earlier pressing. OCLC locates only eight holdings. The
sleeve, though not connected to this record, belongs to another uncommon
10”, with no listings on Discogs and no holdings in OCLC. [BTC#594257]
62 Edwin Denby, edited by
Aerial: A Collection of Poetry
New York: Eyelight Press 1981
$1600
First edition. Illustrated by Yvonne Jacquette. Quarto. 60pp. Illustrated
wrappers. Fine. This issue Signed on the front fly by 22 contributors
(in order of their appearance): Joe Brainard, Bernadette Mayer, Eileen
Myles, Trevor Winkfield, Ron Padgett, Rudy Burckhardt, John Yau,
Carter Ratcliff, Ted Greenwald, Edwin Denby, John Ashbery, Bill
Berkson, Anne Waldman, Vicki Hudspith, Reed Bye, Clark Coolidge,
Maureen Owen, Kenward Elmslie, Vincent Katz, Peter Schjeldahl, Ann
Lauterbach, and Yvonne Jacquette. [BTC#531615]
POETRY
63 Kenneth FEARING
Collected Poems of Kenneth Fearing
New York: Random House (1940)
$550
First edition. Blue clothcovered boards titled in silver on the spine. Endpapers lightly toned
else fine, lacking the dust jacket. Inscribed by the author: “With best regards to Newton Arvin,
Kenneth Fearing.” Proletarian poetry by Fearing, perhaps best known for his noir mystery The
Big Clock. Arvin was a respected literary critic who was an early mentor to Truman Capote.
[BTC#608568]
64 Seamus HEANEY,
Derek WALCOTT, Jorie
GRAHAM, Frank BIDART,
Stephen DUNN, Lucie
BROCK-BROIDO, C.D
WRIGHT and others
A Sheaf for Melissa
[Medford, Massachusetts]: Arrowsmith
Press 2007
$4500
Portfolio of broadsides. Cover illustration
by Rikki Ducornet. Edited by Askold
Melnyczuk and Rosanna Warren.
Collection of 23 broadsides, many
illustrated, measuring approximately
12" x 18" and each laid into a printed
bifolium. Fine. One of only 26 sets
of broadsides featuring previously
unpublished poems with each Signed
by the poet, including: “The Baler” by
Seamus Heaney; “Perhaps it exists…”
by Derek Walcott; “Oh popularity, you
are” by Lyn Hejinian; and “Waiting” by
Jorie Graham. The other poets are C. D.
Wright, Robert Pinsky, Stephen Dunn,
Sinan Antoon, Frank Bidart, Lucie
Brock-Broido, Michael Collier, William
Corbett, Stuart Dischell, David Ferry,
Melissa Green, Fanny Howe, George
Kalogeris, Gail Mazur, Maureen McLane,
Jennifer Moxley, Lloyd Schwartz, Tom
Sleigh and Rosanna Warren. A beautiful production, produced in a particularly small run. [BTC#517416]
Portfolio of 23 Signed Broadsides
poetry • 25
POETRY
65 Geoffrey HILL
Collected Poems
(London): Andre Deutch (1986)
$650
First hardcover edition, limited issue. Small quarto. Leather and marbled papercovered
boards. Royal blue spine sunned to an olive color else fine in very lightly edgeworn, about
fine slipcase. Copy 68 of 112 numbered and Signed copies. (The book was first published
as a paperback in 1985.) Housed in a fine custom maroon cloth-covered clamshell case
with the title and Hill’s facsimile signature in gilt. [BTC#533074]
66 Leigh HUNT
Foliage, or, Poems Original
and Translated
Philadelphia: Littell and Henry, and Edward Earle.
W. Brown, printer 1818
$850
First American edition. 16mo. 156pp. Original
printed papercovered boards. Small attractive
bookplate of Caroline Maria Hewins on the front
pastedown, spine ends worn down a little but a
handsome near fine copy in the fragile boards.
Poems to Byron, William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb,
Shelley, and John Keats, as well as translations of
Homer and others. Very uncommon in boards.
[BTC#429818]
Inscribed to Gwendolyn Brooks
67 Ted JOANS
A Black Manifesto in Jazz Poetry and Prose
London: Calder & Boyars (1971)
$1200
First edition, wrappered issue. A trifle musty, wrappers and page edges foxed, a bit of wear near the spine,
very good. Beautifully Inscribed to poet Gwendolyn Brooks on the title page: “to Sister Gwen who was
already there, before mass Black consciousness begin [sic] / with brotherly love and action Ted Joans
71.” With Joans’ Rhino stamp on the first page. Issued as
Signature Series 8. A lovely association. [BTC#613703]
68 Philip LEVINE
Selected Poems
New York: Atheneum 1984
$300
26 • poetry
First edition. Fine in very good dust jacket with modest sunning at the spine and
a crease on the rear flap. Advance promotional material laid in. Signed by Levine
on the title page, and Inscribed to fellow poet Donald Justice on the half-title:
“Gainesville Nov. ‘85. For Don, with me from the start. Phil.” [BTC#596814]
POETRY
Unpublished Volume of Poetry with a
Paul Landacre Bookplate
69 (Paul Landacre). William HOLLOWAY
La Poule À L’encre or The New Dunciad: A Satire
Margate: Printed by W. J. Clarke 1903
$1200
First (only) edition. Thin octavo. 32pp. (Custom?) green cloth gilt. Important literary agent Howard
Moorepark’s Paul Landacre-designed bookplate, and Mooreparks’ initials stamped on the front board.
Inscribed to Moorepark: “Moorepark, Esq. with the author’s compliments.” Additionally two letters are
bound in; one to Holloway from Messers Sands & Co., Publishers in Edinburgh, laying out the terms
by which they would publish this volume of poetry (mostly financed by the author), along with a copy
of Holloway’s derisive reply, rejecting the terms, in a reasonably amusing manner. The letter from Sands
suggests that this was a trial printing of a small portion of the manuscript. No copies located in OCLC or
any other repository that we could identify. [BTC#601259]
Inscribed to Geoffrey Hill
70 Michael LONGLEY
An Exploded View
Poems 1968-72
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1973
$1500
First edition. A fine copy in near fine dust jacket very lightly faded on spine.
Inscribed by Longley to poet Geoffrey Hill: “For Geoffrey Hill - every best
wish- Michael Longley. Belfast, 3. viii. 73.” The poet Donald Hall, in his Los
Angeles Times review of another title by Longley states: “Michael Longley’s ‘The
Weather in Japan’ is the best book I have read this year and, although I have
admired him for some time… [it] shocked me into understanding that the
poet I had admired had quietly become — along with Seamus Heaney, say,
and Geoffrey Hill — a contemporary who should endure over the life of our
language.” A fine association copy. [BTC#516956]
71 Robert LOWELL
For the Union Dead
New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux (1964)
$4000
First edition. Slightest sunning at the edges of the boards, else
fine in price-clipped else about fine dust jacket. From the library
of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Peter Taylor with his small
ownership Signature on the front fly. Additionally Inscribed
by Lowell to Taylor, (using his nickname, “Cal”): “P.T. – with
love from Cal.” Lowell and Taylor were very close friends and
colleagues and were influential on each other’s careers. They
were roommates at Kenyon College where they studied under
Allen Tate and John Crowe Ransom. A premier mid-Century
American literary association. [BTC#608144]
poetry • 27
POETRY
28 • poetry
72 Nikolay NEKRASOV
Послъднія пъсни: стихотворенія
[The Last Song: Poems]
St. Petersburg: A. A. Kraevskaya Baseynaya 1877
$750
First edition. Text in Russian. Rust colored boards stamped in blue and gilt. Coated endleaves with thin
splits at the gutter (but sound) and adjacent leaves tanned, a couple of leaves with tiny corner creases,
near fine. Nekrasov was a poet, writer, critic, and publisher, whose poems about the plight of the Russian
peasantry made him a hero in liberal circles of the Russian intelligentsia of the mid-nineteenth century. A
handsome copy of the final book published in the poet’s lifetime, in decorative cloth. [BTC#551278]
73 (Charles OLSON, Robert
CREELEY, Kenneth REXROTH,
Paul BLACKBURN, et al.)
Black Mountain Review 2
Black Mountain, North Carolina:
Black Mountain College 1954
$1000
First edition. Octavo. Perfectbound decorated wrappers. A
trifle soiled, very near fine. The second issue of this important
progressive literary and art journal with contributions by
Charles Olson, Irving Layton, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert
Creeley, Paul Blackburn, Toda Tomoya, Irving Layton,
Douglas Woolf, Kizu Toyotaro, Lucy Lapp, and Ronald
Mason. Scarce. [BTC#600628]
74 Kenneth PATCHEN
First Will & Testament
Norfolk, Connecticut: New Directions (1939)
$2500
First edition. Tall octavo. Corners bumped and a little frayed, particularly the bottom corners, the
usual modest toning on the endpapers, a very good copy, in a clean very good dust jacket with a
bit of chipping at and near the crown. One of 800 copies of the first edition of Patchen’s second
book, a collection of poetry. Inscribed by Patchen to another influential American poet and novelist:
“for Kenneth Fearing. Kenneth Patchen.” Fearing
was a major (and now unduly neglected) author of
proletarian poetry during the Depression Era, and
was often identified with the American Left. He is
now probably best known for his suspense novel The
Big Clock, which has reportedly never been out of
print, and has been filmed on several occasions. It is
certainly likely that the pacifist Patchen would have
been anxious to have this volume of poetry in the
hands of the highly regarded Fearing. A notable
association. [BTC#609606]
75 Saint-John PERSE
(T.S. ELIOTT, translated by)
Anabasis
London: Faber and Faber 1930
$950
First edition. Small quarto. Green cloth gilt. Fine in fine unprinted glassine dust jacket and toned and
rubbed, about very good card slipcase. Copy number 274 of 350 numbered copies Signed by T.S. Eliot.
A very nice copy. [BTC#603593]
POETRY
Wonderful Dragon Device on Spine
76 Winthrop Mackworth PRAED
The Poetical Works
New York: Redfield 1853
$450
First edition. Octavo. Measuring 5½" x 7½". 311pp. Pale yellow endpapers. Publisher’s cloth
ruled in blind and with a wonderful spine decoration in gilt of a dragon with two demons
perched on his tail. Neat contemporary gift inscription, slight wear at the joints else a lovely and
pleasing near fine volume. [BTC#606310]
77 Sun RA
The Immeasurable Equation
5626 Morton Street, Philadelphia: Sun Ra 1980
$4500
First edition thus. Octavo. 66, [2]pp. Illustrated.
Printed on several colors of paper stock. Stapled
printed wrappers. A bit misfolded and stapled,
wrappers slightly toned near the spine, else
near fine. Inscribed by the author:
“To Beven & Greg From Sun Ra.” Originally
published in 1972 with 60 pages, this version
seems decidedly more DIY in its nature, and
seems like it was produced in considerably smaller
numbers. OCLC locates little more than a half-
dozen records of this version. [BTC#606010]
78 Adrienne RICH
A Change of World
New Haven: Yale University Press 1951
$1000
First edition. Foreword by W.H. Auden. Fine in fine dust
jacket. One of only 551 copies of the author’s first commercially
published book. A fresh and lovely copy. [BTC#532488]
79 Leslie SILKO
Laguna Woman
Greenfield Center, New York: The Greenfield Review Press
1974
$600
First edition. Octavo. 35pp. Illustrated reproducing
drawings by Leslie Marmon Silko and Aaron Yava. Stapled
tan pictorial wrappers designed by the author. A fine copy.
Silko’s first book. Her father was Laguna and her mother
was “born in Montana and her family came from a Plains
Indian tribe…” as per Silko’s autobiographical note at the
conclusion of the text. Scarce. [BTC#532462]
80 W.D. SNODGRASS
After Experience
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers (1968)
$250
First edition. Slight sunning on the boards else fine in fine dust jacket with
slightest toning on spine lettering. Inscribed by Snodgrass to fellow poet Donald
Justice: “for Don and Jean. It’s great to be with you again! De.” [BTC#600513]
Inscribed to Donald Justice
poetry • 29
POETRY
81 Dylan THOMAS
The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
(New York): New Directions (1953)
$4000
First edition. Octavo. 199pp. Some evidence on the front pastedowns
where this volume was recased, general toning on the front and rear
flyleaves, along with a thin line of offsetting to each from an old jacket
protector, near fine in near fine dust jacket with tiny tear on the rear flap
and a bit of light edgewear, mostly limited to the spine ends. Signed by
the author and dated in May of 1953, on his third (of four) tours of the U.S. (April 21 to June 3, 1953), a
few months before his death. Signed copies have become very uncommon. [BTC#612258]
Inscribed to Carson McCullers
82 Louis UNTERMEYER
Selected Poems and Parodies
New York: Harcourt, Brace (1935)
$1000
Revised edition (originally published in 1911). Near fine in rubbed and chipped, good dust jacket. Warmly
Inscribed by the author to Carson McCullers: “for Carson, remembering Bach, badinage, cool plunges in
Texas Falls, hot arguments at Treman, + the first reading of a story which is an event! Louis. Bread Loaf.
August 1940.” Treman refers to Treman Cottage at Bread Loaf. Untermeyer (and occasionally Robert
Frost) oversaw the poetry sessions at the Bread Loaf writer’s colony, where McCullers attended at the
urging of her editor in 1940, soon after publication of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Untermeyer and Frost
were the most prominent literary figures that McCullers had yet met, and as a result of their interaction
and friendship at Bread Loaf, Untermeyer provided the sole blurb on the dust jacket of her second book
Reflections in a Golden Eye, utilizing the full rear panel. A significant association. [BTC#608191]
83 W.B. YEATS
Brief Autograph Note
Signed (“W.B. Yeats”)
Coole Park, County Galway: [circa 1898?]
$3750
One leaf folded to make four pages. Written on the first page only by Yeats. Old folds from
mailing, older discoloration, likely a tape shadow, in the lower right margin affecting no text.
Yeats writes on the Coole Park stationary of his close friend Lady Gregory, with whom he
frequently stayed. We do not know the recipient of the note, and our date for the letter is an
estimate.
The note addresses a project that Yeats failed to participate in. We could find nothing definitive
about the Encyclopaides to which Yeats refers. In any event a curiously intriguing, mildly
mysterious, and seemingly relatively early letter. [BTC#609655]
30 • poetry
POETRY
children • 31
84 L. Frank BAUM, words by
Alderta N. HALL, music by
[Sheet Music]: There Was a Whale
(From The Songs of Father Goose)
Music Supplement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Sunday, Sept. 16, 1900
Chicago: Geo. M. Hill Co. 1900
$1500
First edition thus. Pictures by Wm. W. Denslow. Folio. Single bifolium making
four pages. Ink writing in the lower margin of the front and back covers, edgewear
including some tears, one partially affecting the music though it remains perfectly
legible, and soiling at the exterior, still a very good copy of this fragile publication. For
voice and piano. A scarce piece. OCLC locates only a single holding. [BTC#602083]
85 (Book Collecting)
A.S.W. ROSENBACH
Early American Children’s Books with
Bibliographical Descriptions of the Books
in his Collection
Portland: The Southworth Press 1933
$650
First edition. Foreword by A. Edward Newton. Quarto. Quarter
morocco and illustrated paper over boards. Two tiny pinhead
sized rubs at the base of the spine, else fine in near fine cardboard
slipcase with printed title label. Copy 521 of 585 on Worthy
Aurelian paper Signed by Rosenbach. This copy from the library
of Nicholas Basbanes, noted author on rare book collectors and collecting, with an invoice from another bookseller laid in and made out to him.
[BTC#429669]
86 Katherine DUNN
Attic
New York: Harper and Row (1970)
$500
First edition. Quarto. 134pp. Hint of sunning at the topstain else fine
in near fine dust jacket with sunning on the spine. Inscribed to her
editor: “For Charlotte, with love and Gratitude [underlined] as you
damn well Know! Katherine Dunn.” From the library of Charlotte
Zolotow, editor and publisher at Harper’s celebrated children’s books
department, and acclaimed author of over 65 children’s books. She is
credited for her contributions to the Children’s Liberation Movement,
which believed the rights and emotional concerns of children be
recognized and treated as equal to those of adults. Author’s first book,
and with a wonderful association. [BTC#598931]
CHILDREN
32 • CHILDREN
87 Grace GREENWOOD, edited by
[pseudonym of Sarah J. Lippincott]
The Little Pilgrim. Volumes 1-3
Philadelphia: Leander K. Lippincott and Sarah J. Lippincott (1854-56)
$3600
Periodicals. Three volumes bound in one. Each volume consists of 12 monthly,
eight-page issues: January 1854 (Vol. 1, No. 1) – December, 1856 (Vol. 3, No. 12).
Plus, one “Supplement” dated January 1854. Folios. 96; 96; 96pp. All illustrated
throughout with wood engravings. Stitched in linen over flexible yellow card covers.
Some fraying at the edges of the covers, front card cover has a vertical split, one leaf
has moderate chip at foredge (causing loss of a few words on several lines of text
at foredge only); several issues are partly split along the old horizontal center folds
and three issues (October – December, 1855) are split in half along the horizontal
center folds (causing slight loss to text in a few instances); good or better overall with
scattered small stains and short tears.
An important early children’s magazine, co-published by Sarah Lippincott and her husband Leander,
and edited by Sarah (under the pseudonym Grace Greenwood). She was also a frequent contributor.
A complete run of the first three volumes, including the scarce Supplement. An abolitionist and
advocate for women’s rights, Sarah Lippincott was one of the first women in the United States
to become a newspaper correspondent. Among the original contributions included in the first
three volumes are “Rope-Walk” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Icebergs,” a poem by Lydia H.
Sigourney, and “Barefoot Boy” by John Greenleaf Whittier, as well as contributions by Hans Christian
Anderson, James Wall, Katherine Gordon, Mary Howitt, Eliza L. Sproat, and Lucy Larcom.
An uncommon early children’s magazine, one of the first published in America. Scarce in the trade.
OCLC locates only one holding of the first three volumes. [BTC#517610]
Joseph Kennedy, Jr.’s Copy
88 (Joseph P. KENNEDY, Jr.)
Washington IRVING
Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company (1924)
$3500
Reprint. Illustrations in color by Edna Cooke. Line drawings by Felix O.C. Darley. Spine a little
sunned and the lettering a bit rubbed but readable, a very good copy. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.’s copy
with his bookplate and juvenile pencil signature (“Joe Kennedy”). Kennedy was the oldest of the nine
Kennedy siblings and was considered the scion of the family. His death in WWII propelled his brother
John F. Kennedy into the family’s political leadership role. It also prompted JFK to write a memoir of
his brother, As We Remember Joe. A very uncommon signature. [BTC#350270]
89 Patricia
MacLACHLAN
Sarah, Plain and Tall
New York: A Charlotte Zolotow Book / Harper & Row (1985)
$2500
First edition. Fine in a very good dust jacket with fading on the spine
and edges, tiny tears, and a clip on the front flap. Warmly Inscribed by
the author to her editor, the author, Charlotte Zolotow: “For Charlotte
- foster mother of this book. With gratitude and love, Patty.” Winner of
the 1986 Newbery Medal. Basis for the 1991 made for television movie
starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken. [BTC#598761]
CHILDREN
90 Robert C. O’BRIEN
(pseudonym of Robert Leslie CONLY)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
New York: Atheneum 1971
$7500
First edition. Illustrated by Zena Bernstein. A touched cocked
and with neat ink owner name, near fine in near fine dust jacket
with some creases at the flaps, a few small perimeter tears and
light edgewear, mostly at the spine ends. Winner of the 1972
Newbery Award, with the sticker on the front panel. Inscribed
by the author: “To Robert Singer / Robert C. O’Brien.” The
author’s real name was Robert Leslie Conly. He was a staff writer for National Geographic and wrote under
a pseudonym as the magazine frowned on its writers doing outside work. Thus, Conly did little to promote
the book, making signed copies of this, an already uncommon first edition, exceptionally difficult to
obtain. Basis for an excellent animated film, The Secret of NIMH. [BTC#613172]
91 G. ORR CLARK, Helen HYDE
The Moon-Babies
New York: R. H. Russell 1900
$1000
First edition. Verses by G. Orr Clark. Full-page plates by Helen
Hyde. Oblong quarto. 48pp. Quarter cloth and pictorial paper-
covered boards. Extremities a little rubbed, else a near fine,
bright copy. OCLC locates eight copies. The artist Helen Hyde
also illustrated Jingles from Japan and Christmas in California.
[BTC#515980]
“Race prejudice is put into the heart of
a child. It is not a natural product.”
92 Lucy W. PEABODY
Just Like You: Stories of Children of Every Land,
A Picture on Every Page
Boston: M. H. Leavis (1937)
$850
First edition. Small quarto. 186pp. Heavily illustrated from photographs of children around the
world. Orange cloth stamped in black. Bright and fine in fine dust jacket with a tiny bit of wear
and soil. A beautifully preserved copy of this uncommon children’s book that promotes peace and
racial harmony (with a religious element) through the stories of children from 15 different nations.
Peabody was an author and Baptist missionary. She founded the children’s magazine Everyland and
authored a series of short books called the “Just Like You” series. This book is a collected version in
boards and a dust jacket of the “Just Like You” series that were originally issued in wrappers (many
copies of which were “worn out by childish handling,” as the jacket puts it). A beautiful copy of a
book written to introduce children to new cultures and show them that “children from every land
are ‘just like you.’” OCLC locates only three copies of this collected edition. [BTC#606363]
children • 33
CHILDREN
93 Mary RODGERS
Freaky Friday
New York: Harper & Row (1972)
$1250
First edition. Pictorial boards illustrated by Edward Gorey. Fine in good
or better price-clipped dust jacket (reproducing the Gorey illustration
on the front cover) with a couple of parallel creased tears and some light
soiling on the spine. Signed by the author. Additionally laid in is a warm
Typed Letter Signed from 1996, to close friends (Larry and Rose) and
asking: “Remind me to avoid show biz.. what a pail of snakes!” The
first novel by Rodgers, daughter of the composer Richard Rodgers,
and the basis for the film which featured Barbara Harris and Jodie
Foster as a mother and daughter who magically switch personalities.
The letter is likely a reference to Disney’s later television movie re-
make with Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann. Reprinted many
times, the first edition is very uncommon, especially signed and with the jacket. [BTC#604832]
94 Antoine de SAINT-EXUPÉRY
The Little Prince
New York: Reynal & Hitchcock (1943)
$2700
First edition, first issue, preceding the French edition. Translated by Katherine Woods. Octavo. 91pp.
Salmon-colored boards and correct publisher’s address on the front flap. Small neat gift inscription,
corners lightly bumped and the cloth of one corner rubbed bare, near fine in very good, typically
toned dust jacket with a bit of loss at the bottom of both flaps, small stain on the front panel and wear
on the edges, including tears at the spine ends. An enduring children’s classic, the first issue is scarce.
[BTC#613182]
95 (Maurice SENDAK)
Charlotte ZOLOTOW
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
New York: Harper & Row (1962)
$2500
34 • CHILDREN
First edition in first issue dust jacket priced
“$2.95” and with no Caldecott sticker on
the front panel. Illustrated by Maurice
Sendak. Oblong small octavo. Fine in fine
dust jacket with a tiny tear at the crown.
This copy from the library of the author
Charlotte Zolotow, editor and publisher at
Harper’s and acclaimed writer of over 65
children’s books, Inscribed by Sendak to
Zolotow’s grandson along with a drawing
of Mr. Rabbit. A wonderful association
copy of the 1963 Caldecott Honor Medal-
winning book. [BTC#601034]
CHILDREN
drama • 35
96 (James DEAN, Geraldine PAGE)
Ruth and Augustus GOETZ
[Broadside]: The Immoralist
New York: Royale Theatre
$2500
Broadside. Measuring 13¾" x 21¾". Screenprinted on stiff
cardstock. Near fine with a touch of rubbing and foxing on
the rear, as well as a touch on the bottom edge. A handsome
and vividly colored poster for the 1954 production of
The Immoralist which debuted on February 8th, 1954 at
the Royale Theatre in New York. The play was adapted
from the André Gide novel by Ruth and Augustus Goetz
and starred Tony Award-winner Geraldine Page, Louis
Jourdan, and James Dean, at least initially. The production
proved especially difficult for Dean, who was fired during
rehearsals until Page, in his defense, threatening to leave
as well. As fate would have it, Dean’s performance on the
final night of previews so impressed director Elia Kazan
that he offered Dean the lead role in his forthcoming
film, East of Eden. While not signed by Dean, the poster is
Signed by Page, Joudan, Charles Dingle, Phillip Pine (who
replaced Dean), and several other cast members. While
the production was a moderate success, running for just
under 100 performances, it’s now most noteworthy for
launching the career of Dean, an icon of American cinema.
[BTC#606100]
97 T.S. ELIOT (Gerald MURPHY)
The Family Reunion
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (1939)
$750
First American edition. Octavo. 131pp. Black cloth gilt. Small tape and
paper label remnant at the bottom of the spine, front hinge restored, about
very good lacking the dust jacket. From the library of Jazz Age artist and
central figure of the American Lost Generation in France, Gerald Murphy,
with his signature on the front free endpaper: “Gerald Murphy / New York
/ 1941.” The only book we’ve handled with Murphy’s ownership signature.
[BTC#428994]
DRAMA
36 • DRAMA
Inscribed to Tony-Winner Marian Seldes with TLS
98 Tony KUSHNER
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Part One: Millennium Approaches
London: Royal National Theatre / Nick Hern Books (1992)
$3000
First edition, a paperback original (preceding the American edition). Part One only. Interior tanned, wrappers with light wear and one corner crease,
a very good or better copy. Inscribed to Tony Award-winning actress Marian Seldes on the title page: “To Marian w/ love & admiration Tony.” Seldes
had performed in the New York debut of Kushner’s play A Bright Room Called Day in 1991.
Laid in is an excellent 1992 Typed Letter Signed from Kushner to Seldes that accompanied this book. Kushner writes that he has been wanting
to send a copy, “and even more so after your amazing and much-appreciated words of encouragement on the phone machine.” The letter gives
a Brooklyn address, but at the time of writing Kushner was in Los Angeles
working on Part Two of his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play. He
writes that the process is going well, and then of the 1992 riots that rocked
the city: “The occupation armies have just gone home, but the devastation is
horrific-- all the more so for being confined exclusively to the places where
the non-wealthy live.” He writes approvingly of the Juilliard production of
Millennium Approaches before closing the letter with “Again, I’m very happy
you liked it… Much love, Tony.”
An important association copy of Kushner’s epic, award-winning play, basis
for the 2003 HBO miniseries of the same name, starring Al Pacino, Meryl
Streep and Emma Thompson. [BTC#602012]
99 Archibald MacLEISH
[Broadside]: The Poets’ Theatre Presents
2 Plays by Archibald MacLeish:
“This Music Crept By Me Upon The Waters”
and “The Trojan Horse”
Agassiz Theatre, Radcliffe
[Cambridge, Massachusetts]: The Poets’ Theatre [1953]
$850
Broadside. Measuring approximately 11" x 14". Silkscreened in four colors
on thin cardstock. Modest bumping at the corners, a bit of faint staining, tiny
pinholes at top and bottom edges, very good or better. With a pencil sketch of a
mandolin on the unprinted verso in an unknown hand. A handsome broadside
from Cambridge Massachusetts’ legendary Poets’ Theatre, advertising a 1953
showing of two one-act plays by MacLeish. [BTC#532093]
DRAMA
100 Arthur MILLER
All My Sons
New York: Reynal & Hitchcock 1947
$2500
101 Eugene O’NEILL
Strange Interlude
New York: Boni & Liveright 1928
$475
First trade edition. Slight bump at the topedge of some pages else just about fine in a beautiful, fine
dust jacket. The jacket has an older custom cloth dust jacket (with leather spine label gilt), which has
served its purpose in keeping the jacket immaculate. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama, it included
many innovative stage techniques including stream-of-conscious soliloquies and asides. Basis for the
1932 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and featuring Norma Shearer and Clark Gable; also directed
for television by Herbert Wise in 1988 with a splendid cast headed by Kenneth Branagh. A lovely copy.
[BTC#605968]
Barrett H. Clark’s Copy
102 Edward SHELDON
Romance
New York: Macmillan Company 1914
$350
First edition. 12mo. 232, [7 ads] pp. Blue cloth gilt. Spine dulled with
modest wear at the corners and spine ends, frontispiece plate with two
small abrasions on the recto and the adjacent pages foxed, an otherwise
bright, very good copy. Barrett H. Clark’s copy with his bookplate on
the front pastedown and tiny owner signature on the front fly; on the
following page Clark has tipped-in a halftone portrait of Sheldon and a clipped Signature. Clark was an
exceptionally important figure in modern American drama: aside
from authoring many books, he served as the longtime literary
editor for the drama publisher Samuel French. A nice association:
Sheldon is one of the subjects of Clark’s memoir-of-sorts titled
Intimate Portraits. Publisher’s complimentary copy with a rather
elaborate perforated stamp on the title page. Basis for two early
films, the second starring Greta Garbo. [BTC#591843]
103 Anton TCHEKHOV
A Bear
New York: Moods Publishing Co. 1909
$1500
First American edition. Translated by Roy Temple House. 12mo. 32pp. Stapled printed buff wrappers.
Modest age-toning, and a little wear on the thin paper spine, else near fine. Issued in “The People’s Library
of International Dramas” series. Published in Russia as Medved. Scarce. [BTC#594872]
drama • 37
First edition, first printing. Moderate overall soiling on the boards, very good
in very good dust jacket with three internally repaired tears and a little light
wear at the crown. Signed by Miller. Miller’s first play (after a novel and a
nonfiction book) and the basis for the 1948 film noir starring Burt Lancaster
and Edward G. Robinson. Scarce title. [BTC#533166]
DRAMA
38 • MYSTERY
Inscribed to “a kindred spirit in the
greatest game”
104 John DUNNING
Booked to Die
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1992
$500
First edition. A bit of modest discoloration along the bottom edge of the front
cover and topedge faintly spotted else fine in a trifle worn, about fine dust jacket
with the tiny, light interior stain at the bottom of the upper fold. Very nicely
Inscribed to a collector: “To Susan - A kindred spirit in the greatest game—the
book hunt. Thank you and may all your firsts be true firsts - Here’s to great
books! John Dunning.” Dunning has also Signed the half-title using a different
pen. A nicely inscribed copy of the first Cliff Janeway bibliomystery, one of the
most eagerly sought after mysteries of the 1990s. [BTC#608268]
105 Dashiell HAMMETT
The Maltese Falcon
New York: Grosset & Dunlap (1931)
$1000
Grosset and Dunlap reprint, using sheets from the seventh Alfred A. Knopf printing. Fine in attractive,
very good dust jacket with one small internal repair and a light dampstain on the rear panel. A relatively
attractive alternative to the rare and expensive true first edition. [BTC#501236]
106 Fergus HUME
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
New York: J.S. Ogilvie Company [circa 1890]
$650
Early American edition. Illustrated wrappers. Pages
brown and slight wear at the spine, faint pencil note
on front wrap, otherwise a bright and fresh near fine
copy. Hubin lists the first American edition as Munro
in 1888, but both Munro and Ogilvie were printers
of piracies, and attributions of dates are speculative.
We attribute the date here to a cursory look at the
other titles advertised. At any rate, a scarce edition.
[BTC#530787]
107 Gypsy Rose LEE
The G-String Murders
New York: Simon & Schuster 1941
$750
First edition. Modest scuff on rear board else near fine in a good dust
jacket with several small nicks and tears and some internal tape repairs.
Inscribed by the author: “Greetings! Gypsy (author) Rose Lee.” Murder
in the world of burlesque purportedly written by the internationally
known stripper whose life was the basis for the musical and film Gypsy,
but was really written by Georgiana Craig a.k.a. Craig Rice. The first
of two mysteries attributed to this author, and the basis for the William
Wellman film Lady of Burlesque, featuring Barbara Stanwyck as the
stripper/detective. [BTC#608454]
MYSTERY
mystery • 39
108 Alfred Henry LEWIS
Confessions of a Detective
New York: A.S. Barnes 1906
$250
First edition. Red decorative cloth stamped in white and
gilt. Owner name, a little overall wear, very good or better.
Queen’s Quorum 36. [BTC#607819]
109 Sara PARETSKY
Indemnity Only
New York: The Dial Press (1982)
$400
First edition. Fine in about fine dust jacket with a hint
of corner wear. Sara Paretsky’s first book, introducing
private detective V.I. Warshawski. A splendid copy.
[BTC#608753]
110 Arthur B. REEVE
The Radio Detective
New York: Grosset & Dunlap (1926)
$400
Photoplay edition, and first edition thus, novelized by
Reeve from his own story. About fine in fine dust jacket.
Decorated with stills from the film. The jacket illustration
was painted from a scene from the film. [BTC#606540]
111 C.A. “Tod” ROBBINS
The Unholy Three
New York: John Lane Company 1917
$6500
First edition. Fine in lovely near fine example of the
dust jacket with a tear on the rear panel, tiny nicks at
the extremities, and with old tape repairs professionally
removed leaving shadows on the inside of the jacket.
Housed in an attractive, albeit loosely fitting clamshell
case. Creepy crime novel about a team of circus freaks:
Tweedledee, a little person; Hercules, the strong man; and
Echo, the ventriloquist, who commit heinous crimes. Filmed
twice by MGM, as a silent in 1925 and remade as a talkie
with Lon Chaney as Echo and Henry Earles as Tweedledee
in both versions. Victor McLaughlin played Hercules in the
silent version, Ivan Linow in the talkie. Earles reprised his role
in the classic Tod Browning cult film Freaks, based on the
Robbins story “Spurs” that was clearly derivative from The
Unholy Three. Rare in jacket, and rarely seen in this condition.
[BTC#392972]
112 Jim THOMPSON
The Alcoholics
New York: Lion (1953)
$475
First edition. Paperback original. Pages modestly toned, slightest rubbing on the wrappers, but the spine
uncreased, a fine copy. A hardboiled novel set in a sanitarium for alcoholics where “an evil woman prowls the
dark halls… .” One of the scarcest Lion Library titles, in excellent condition. [BTC#608302]
MYSTERY
40 • fantasy & horror
114 Robert JORDAN
The Eye of the World
New York: Tom Doherty (1990)
$450
Advance Reading Copy. Small quarto. Illustrated wrappers. Corners with tiny bumps, a few tiny nicks
at the spine ends and along the edges, a bit of rubbing along the bottom page edges, near fine overall.
The first book in “The Wheel of Time” series. [BTC#605920]
113 Cynthia ASQUITH, edited by
Shudders
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1929
$500
First American edition. Octavo. 268pp. Orange cloth decorated in black with silhouettes of bats.
Some scuffing at the bottom of the pages else near fine. An anthology of “Nightmare Tales” edited
by Asquith, with contributions by her, E.F. Benson, Arthur Machen, Walter de la Mare, Elizabeth
Bowen, M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, W. Somerset Maugham, and others.
[BTC#545512]
115 Stephen KING
Carrie
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company 1974
$3000
First edition, with correct gutter code (“P6”). Fine in very good or better dust jacket with 1" tear at
the bottom of the front panel, small chip at the crown, and a number of small creases and tears at the
corners. A more than presentable copy of Stephen King’s elusive first book, the basis for the Brian De
Palma film with Sissy Spacek and John Travolta. [BTC#608673]
116 Stephen KING
‘Salem’s Lot
Garden City: Doubleday 1975
$3200
First edition with the correct gutter code (“Q37”) and in the correct (see below) second state jacket with
$7.95 and “Father Cody” misprinted on the front flap. Small bookseller ticket on rear pastedown and
touch of wear at the spine ends, near fine in very good dust jacket with tape repair to two tears on the
front panel, rubbing at the spine ends and moderate general wear at the edges, including small nicks,
tears and creases. The so-called first issue dust jacket was printed with a price of $8.95 but the publisher
decided it was too expensive, so the price was clipped and they were repriced $7.95. A handful of the
original unclipped jackets were later discovered in storage by Doubleday, but remain extremely rare.
Basis for the genuinely scary Tobe Hooper television movie which, with additional footage, was released
theatrically overseas. [BTC#608711]
FANTASY & HORROR
fantasy & horror • 41
117 (H.P. LOVECRAFT)
“The Shadow Out of Time” [story in] Astounding Stories
June 1936, Volume XVII, Number 4
New York: Street & Smith 1936
$1500
Magazine. Cover by Howard V. Brown. Octavo. 160pp. Perfectbound in wrappers. Tiny, thin tears
at foredge margin of pages, light rubbing on the spine with nicks at the ends, near fine. This issue
features the first appearance of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s final stories, “The Shadow Out of Time,”
considered one of his best, with interior artwork by Howard V. Brown. Additional contributions from
Nat Schachner, Warner Van Lorne, Stanton A. Coblentz, Chan Corbett, Ross Rocklynne, Spencer
Lane, Jack Williamson, and John W. Campbell, Jr. [BTC#608523]
119 Andre NORTON
The Beast Master
London: Victor Gollancz 1966
$400
First English edition (the American edition was published in 1959). Fine in slightly rubbed, very near
fine dust jacket with a touch of toning on the spine letters. Probably the most popular book by the
“Grand Dame of Science-Fiction” (the Cleveland-born author assumed a male name to better sell her
works), a sword and sorcery epic that was the uncredited source for the less-than-classic but mildly
amusing 1982 film The Beastmaster, with Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, and Rip Torn, and the television
series it spawned. A nice copy of a very scarce edition. [BTC#573336]
118 Anne RICE
The Queen of the Damned
New York: Alfred A. Knopf / Ultramarine Publishing Co., Inc. 1988
$850
First edition, limited issue. Quarter red morocco and papercovered boards. Fine.
Copy number 2 of 124 copies (of a total edition of 150) with an original lithograph
frontispiece Signed by the artist,
Ron Walotsky, and Inscribed by
Anne Rice. The third installment in
The Vampire Chronicles, basis for
the film starring Stuart Townsend
and singer Aaliyah, who died in
an airplane crash before the film’s
release. [BTC#430673]
FANTASY & HORROR
120 (Architecture)
(Frank Lloyd WRIGHT). Vernon D. SWABACK
The Art and Philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright - Two Volumes
Scottsdale, Arizona: Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture / The Frank Lloyd Wright
Foundation 1967 and 1968
$4500
A collection of two bound volumes of the seminar The Art and Philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright,
taught at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in 1967 and 1968 by former Wright
apprentice Vernon D. Swaback. Quartos. 90pp. and 157pp. Illustrated from photographs and
drawings. Photomechanically reproduced sheets. Fine in boards and gilt letters. Each volume
was limited to four copies, with the originals being gifted to Mrs. Wright. The volumes are
accompanied by an Autograph Note Signed and an Autograph Letter Signed from Swaback
to Horizon Press Publisher Ben Raeburn. The letter and note are also fine. Accompanied by
two very good copies of a Guggenheim Museum souvenir books for an exhibition of Wright’s
Usonian House.
Swaback became Wright’s youngest apprentice in 1957. Following the architect’s death in 1959,
Swaback was named Director of Planning for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and would serve
as the CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation for 20 years. These volumes lay out a course of
study taught at Taliesen West in Arizona that, he writes, is not to “elaborate on the educational system
employed or to comprehensively illustrate the subject matter covered. It is rather a glimpse into one
specific area of the Taliesen
education.” The seminars,
composed of a small group of new and established architects, studied various
Wright projects, stirred conversation about “organic architecture,” featured
discussions with both Wright’s wife, and son-in-law William Wesley Peters,
and included a number of design exercises and field trips.
Also interesting is Swaback’s four-page letter to Raeburn, an apparent
confidant, with whom he openly and honestly discussed his thought on the
current state of the Wright Organization. He references the organization’s
competing “positive” and “negative” forces, as he saw it, as well as his own
doubts and anxiety about leading, teaching, and truly understanding Wright’s vision: “I tell my students that the only thoroughly honest attack for
a young architect is the venture in the unknown and to know what it means to feel at a loss as to how to proceed. That seems like a hell of a sense of
direction but maybe for a follower of Frank Lloyd Wright - the most difficult achievement is to inventory what he truly doesn’t know.”
An interesting collection of material related to transitional period following the death of
Wright and the establishment of his legacy by his family and most ardent supporters. We
could not locate any copies of these volumes in OCLC or online. Rare and possibly unique.
[BTC#606096]
42 • non-fiction
121 (Architecture)
Owen JONES
The Grammar of Ornament
London: Bernard Quaritch 1868
$1000
Early reprint, folio edition. Folio. 157pp., illustrated with 112 chromolithographic plates.
Publisher’s light purple cloth over beveled boards, stamped in gilt on front cover and spine, all
edges gilt. Skillfully re-cased with floral patterned endpapers. Boards slightly bowed, spine a little
darkened and rubbed, some fraying at the spine ends and corner tips, the color lithographic title
page has a small round closed center tear, a very good copy. An excellent early reprint of the 1856
classic of Victorian design and chromolithographic illustration. [BTC#603754]
NON-FICTION
123 (Economics)
Milton FRIEDMAN, Anna Jacobson SCHWARTZ
A Monetary History of the United States 1867-1960
A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, New York
Princeton: Princeton University Press 1963
$2250
First edition. Thick, tall octavo. 860pp. Green cloth lettered in gilt. Fine in partially price-clipped near fine
dust jacket with a number of short tears. A very nice copy of an inordinately important work on monetary
policy, history, and economics. [BTC#610549]
122 William FLOYD, director
Peace Patriots
Love of Country: Opposition to War
(New York): Peace Patriots [circa 1929]
$400
First edition. Folio sheet folded to make four pages, measuring approximately 8½" x 11" closed.
Old horizontal fold with short splits on both ends, final leaf with a corner crease and tiny corner
chip, modest soiling on blank final page, a very good example of a relatively delicate production.
With the two (unused) petition slips present.
The first leaf prints text by the Peace Patriots, signed in type by 78 members and William Floyd,
Director. (Prominent names include Julia Ellsworth Ford, May E. Woolley, William Floyd,
Laura Puffer Morgan, John Dewey, and Upton Sinclair, as well as various ministers and bishops,
professors, authors, editors and publishers, lecturers, attorneys, and philanthropists.) The
conjugate leaf prints two petitions, to be sent to the President via the Peace Patriots, titled “Naval
Armistice” and “Individual Opposition to War.” The text begins: “The United States having
agreed with other countries that the settlement of international disputes shall never be sought
except by pacific means, it becomes a patriotic act for her nationals to support their Government
in its renunciation of war. Therefore, we, descendants of early American patriots, call upon all
loyal citizens to express their approval of the new Peace Pact, and their opposition to any action
inconsistent with its terms.” OCLC seems to locate two copies (LOC, Yale). [BTC#517489]
125 (New York)
Lee MORTIMER
New York Behind the Scenes: The Only Uncensored, Unofficial Guide Book to
New York that Gives You the “Low-Down” on the Things You Really Want to Know
New York: Ajax Publishing Company 1939
$500
First edition (stated). Octavo. 67pp. Illustrated. Stapled illustrated wrappers. Fine. Very attractive guidebook
that includes hints to find nudes, naughty novelties, advice on soliciting prostitutes, gambling, etc., as well
more prosaic advice of interest to visitors. Very scarce. OCLC locates only a single copy of a fourth edition.
[BTC#432436]
124 (Medical)
Jack Dunn TROP
You Don’t Have to be Sick!
New York: The Julian Press (1961)
$350
First edition. Octavo. 231pp. Fine in near fine dust jacket with
small scrape, a few tiny tears and some nicks at the spine ends.
Jack Dunn Trop was a producer of the Hopalong Cassidy films,
but suffered a series of worsening health issues until he discovered
a road to better living though the natural heath movement,
eventually cofounding the American Natural Hygiene Society
in 1948. This book describes that journey, promises to reveal
“nature’s secrets” and claims to expose the “cults and fads
masquerading as modern science.” A beautiful copy of a book
usually missing its dust jacket. [BTC#611618]
non-fiction • 43
NON-FICTION
126 (Religion)
St. Francis ASSISI
[Calligraphy on Vellum]: The Song of
Brother Sun
[Circa 1920s-30s?]
$2500
Calligraphic manuscript on vellum. Slim small
quarto. Full leather with copper clasps and velveteen
endleaves; Manuscript on six vellum pages including
one illustration and five decorative initials. Binding
rubbed at the corners and spine ends, copper clasps
with a bit of oxidation and binding a touch loose at
the central opening, sound and very good or better.
A very nice calligraphic manuscript on vellum, an
abridged and slightly adapted version of Cantos
CXIX and CXX from Brother Leo of Assisi’s The
Mirror of Perfection. [BTC#600812]
First Novel Written by a Computer
127 (Science)
David BENEDETTI
Social Climax Text:
A Computer-Written Novel Programmed by David Benedetti
[San Francisco]: David Benedetti 1982
$12,000
Square octavo. White and green-lined computer sheets with string-tied punch
holes along the left margin and the printing date and time in the upper left corner
(“3/29/81 12:45:10”). Hand titled in black marker on the cover and subtitled in
black ink below. This copy appears to be a variant of the only other copy we’ve
handled, which included an introduction not present here (referenced below). This
copy instead is Signed and numbered on the last page by the programer (“#16
David Benedetti”) and lists the total number of words and lines of text. Very good
or better with light foxing on the wrappers, a touch of edgewear and creasing at
one corner.
Quite possibly the first novel entirely “written” by a computer, based on a program
created by David Benedetti. He was at the time a system analyst and researcher
working at Southern Pacific Transportation Company in San Francisco, and the
author of two books: The Internal Weather (1971) and Nictitating Membrane (1976).
As Benedetti explains in the introduction (found in the variant copy): “To say that this
work was written by a computer means just that: I did not change one word of the output, add to it, or subtract anything from it. You see it just as
it came printed out as the result of running ‘a job’ on an IBM 370/158 computer. I supplied the computer with a list of 1,088 words and a program
designed to pick words from the list and place them into sentences and paragraphs.”
He goes on to discuss the establishment of grammar rules, how word meaning did not play a part in their placement, and that while “objective
writing” was his goal, he readily admits an unavoidable bias due to the group of words being those he personally selected. He also acknowledges that
this experiment “can also be thought of as a further extension of the ‘cut up’ technique … being pushed to one of its limits.”
Beneditti closes that introduction with examples from the text of striking originality and profound normalcy. He states that while the program was
limited to 10,000 words, it surprisingly did not get as repetitious as expected, and he speculates on the potential of including the entire dictionary
in further experiments.
The Policeman’s Beard Is Half Constructed, published in 1983, is credited as the first novel by a computer, based on a program written by William
Chamberlain and Thomas Etter. This work predates that effort by a year and is virtually unknown with OCLC locating three other copies. Given
the unique format and DIY aesthetic, we suspect very few copies of Social Climax Text were produced and far fewer have survived. [BTC#606119]
44 • non-fiction
NON-FICTION
non-fiction • 45
128 [Sir Walter SCOTT]
[Publisher’s Bindings]: The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte,
Emperor of the French
With a Preliminary View of The French Revolution
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey 1827
$600
First American edition. Complete in Three Volumes. Tall octavos. Bound into
publisher’s purple cloth over boards with printed spine labels. Each with a
contemporary owner signature (“A. Green 1827”) and two later owner signatures
(one has neatly penciled what appears to be a translation of the title page’s Latin
epigram). Each volume with eight pages of publisher’s ads dated June, 1827 bound
in before the text, and Volume III with an appendix and two-page errata bound in
the rear. Bindings heavily sunned and worn, Volume I lacking the first leaf (appears
to be a blank) and the upper hinge is weak but sound, Volume II lacking the final
two leaves (almost certainly blanks), text foxed throughout, a sound, good or better
set, presumably very uncommon in this state. [BTC#606362]
130 Hunter S. THOMPSON
Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga
New York: Random House (1967)
$1500
First edition. Octavo. 278pp. Hint of ink offsetting at the
inside rear edges else fine with the spine lettering and front
board illustration like new, in bright about fine dust jacket
with a small indentation at the spine but with none of the
typical sunning at the red lettering. Author’s first book, and
one of the nicer copies we’ve handled. [BTC#603663]
131 (Women, African-American)
Joy KENNEDY
The Neurotic Woman’s Guide to Nonfulfillment
New York: Viking Press (1976)
$350
First edition. Octavo. 198pp. Fine in near fine dust jacket with small tear at the top of front panel, light
edgewear and a touch of toning at the topedge. An uncommon book on dating by the sister of Civil
Rights activist and radical feminist, Florynce Kennedy. [BTC#610875]
129 (Presidential)
John HERSEY
(John F. Kennedy)
[Offprint]: “Survival"
Pleasantville, New York: The Reader’s Digest Association
August, 1944
$500
Offprint. 12mo. [6]pp. Decorated stapled self-wrappers.
Offprint of an article condensed from The New Yorker.
Impossibly ephemeral offprint about Lieutenant John F.
Kennedy and his ordeal on PT-109. [BTC#429289]
NON-FICTION
46 • art
132 R.O. BLECHMAN
Six Pieces of Original Cover Art for Story Magazine [With] Complete Run of All 42 Issues (Autumn 1989 -
Winter 2000)
(Cincinnati: F&W Publications 1989-2000)
$9500
Six original covers for Story magazine, dating between 1990 and 99, along with three additional pieces: two unused covers, one to commemorate
magazine’s fifth anniversary, and an early draft of one of the included covers. Each was composed with marker or watercolor, one with a photocopied
central image. All nine artworks are in fine condition; one has a
tissue overlay with production notes (not shown). Accompanying
the art are Blechman’s copies of the magazine’s 42-issue run, for
which he illustrated all but two of the covers; for those two he has
noted in ink on a post-it note the artists (Edward Koren and David
Goldin). Each issue is a tall octavo in illustrated wrappers. Very
slight wear, overall near fine.
According to the magazine’s website, Story magazine was originally
founded in 1931 by Martha Foley and Whit Burnett and for many
years was one of the most prestigious venues for literary short
stories. That iteration of the magazine ceased publication in 1967.
In 1989, Lois Rosenthal reconstituted the magazine as a quarterly,
publishing until 2000. During that time the magazine published
many important literary writers and was a two-time winner of
the National Magazine Award for fiction. This run represents the
complete output of the Rosenthal decade.
A nice selection of Blechman’s whimsical art and his personal set
of the magazine. A list of the nine cover artworks is available.
[BTC#446578]
ART
art • 47
133 CHRISTO
The Accordion-Fold Book for The Umbrellas,
Joint Project for Japan and U.S.A.
San Francisco: Bedford Arts, Publishers (1991)
$450
First edition. Photography by Wolfgang Volz. Foreword and Interview by Masahiko
Yanagi. Folio. Illustrated papercovered boards. [16], 7, [4]pp. Illustrated in color with an
eight-panel, accordion-style plate printed on both sides. Fine in publisher’s clothcovered
clamshell box. One of 400 numbered copies Signed and dated by Christo, and with two
large swatches of blue and yellow umbrellas fabric tipped-in. [BTC#515940]
134 Julian de MISKEY
[Original Watercolor]: The New Yorker
Magazine Cover for August 30, 1930
$7500
Original cover illustration for the August 30, 1930 issue of The
New Yorker. The image is matted to 13¼" x 19" and framed
to 20" x 28". The printed cover of the issue is affixed to the
rear of the frame, and reveals that the original image is faded,
but is otherwise about fine. A nautical recreation scene where
vacationers disport themselves at sailing, motorboating, skiing,
drinking, seaplaning, and other water sports. [BTC#364627]
ART
135 (Andy WARHOL, Milton Glaser, Paul Davis,
Seymour Chwast, John Alcorn)
Your Columbia Records Personnel
Library. [Five Volume Set]
[New York]: Columbia Records (1962)
$6000
First edition. Five volumes in decorated slipcase. The
individual volumes were illustrated by Andy Warhol,
Milton Glaser, Paul Davis, Seymour Chwast, and
John Alcorn. Square 24mos. Each volume in stapled
pictorial wrappers. Spine very slightly sunned on two
volumes else about fine housed in a near fine slipcase
with light rubbing. Reid Miles was the art director
for Your Columbia Records Personnel Library, a set
of company booklets instructing new employees on
Columbia Records corporate benefits. Each are illustrated by a different designer, with
Miles commissioning Andy Warhol to design the booklet “Major Medical Expense Insurance.” According to one source, after seeing Warhol’s
illustrations of cats in medical situations, Columbia rejected his work because the cat imagery was “too fey,” and the Warhol booklets were destroyed,
with Push Pin Studio’s Seymour Chwast called upon to design a replacement titled “Hospital and Surgical Insurance.” This is one of the rare sets
with Warhol’s illustrated booklet present.
The five volumes in this collection are: “Your Future is Sound with
Columbia Records” with the cover and six additional uncredited
illustrations by John Alcorn; “Major Medical Expense Insurance” with
the cover and five additional uncredited illustrations by Andy Warhol;
“Hospital and Surgical Insurance” with the cover and five additional
uncredited illustrations by Seymour Chwast; “Columbia Records 1960
Pension Plan” with the cover and five additional uncredited illustrations
by Milton Glaser (and one additional bearing his signature in print); and
“Life Insurance” with the cover and two additional uncredited illustrations
by Paul Davis (and with three bearing his signature in the illustration).
A rare complete five-volume set of booklets that includes the rejected,
early artwork from Warhol showcasing his fascination with cats. We are
aware of only one other copy of this set that has been sold in the trade.
OCLC locates no copies. [BTC#611708]
136 Andy WARHOL
Ladies and Gentlemen
Presentazione di Janus
(Milano): Mazzotta (1975)
$1000
First edition. Text in Italian. 282pp. Illustrated from color photographs. Pictorial
wrappers. Creases on the spine with a couple of tiny nicks at the crown, near fine.
Printed text (in Italian) by James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes,
Angela Davis, Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and many
others. Warhol’s series of screenprints titled Ladies and Gentlemen was commissioned
by Italian art dealer Luciano Anselmino to create portraits that honor New York’s
drag community. The portraits are composed of Black and Hispanic drag performers
from the The Gilded Grape in Greenwich Village, including drag queen, activist,
and LGBTQ+ rights pioneer Marsha P. Johnson. On the focus of gender role play
Warhol stated: “I wonder whether it’s harder for 1) a man to be a man, 2) a man to
be a woman, 3) a woman to be a woman, or 4) a woman to be a man. I don’t really
know the answer, but from watching all the different types, I know that people who
think they’re working the hardest are the men who are trying to be a woman. They
do double-time. They do all the things: they think about shaving and not shaving, of
primping and not primping, of buying men’s clothes and women’s clothes. I guess it’s
interesting to try to be another sex.” Scarce in the trade. [BTC#612080]
48 • art
ART
art • 49
137 Alan WATTS
[Original Art]: A “Miniature Art Gallery”: Calligraphy on a Folding Napkin
(1973?)
$7500
Ink calligraphy on a paper napkin. Measuring approximately 16¾" x
8½". Professionally framed to 24" x 16". Calligraphy in both Japanese
and Chinese. Ink a touch sunned with a slight greenish tint, about fine in
fine frame. Inscribed along the right margin: “This miniature art gallery
is for [Marina?] - from Alan.” The date 1973, the year of Watts’ death,
has been penciled near the inscription.
A delightful “miniature art gallery” of calligraphy by Alan Watts, inked
onto a folding napkin - a properly ephemeral choice, nicely preserved.
Watts partitioned the napkin into 21 sections with a light line and filled
each with calligraphy in both Japanese and Chinese, as well as a couple
of small drawings.
We are not Zen scholars, but several of the translations made to the best
of our ability: “Tao follows nature”; “The tao is very tao”; “Ice moon”;
“Flower branches grow from short to long”; “Form is empty”; “Spring
grass grows wild” (we have seen one book inscribed by Watts where he
writes this in Japanese); “Self-mind is Buddha”; “I don’t know”; and
“Observe the heart and see the great road.”
Alan Watts (1915-1973), author of The Way of Zen (1957) and The Book:
On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966), was born in England
and was a resident of California from the early 1950s. An articulate and
influential author who helped popularize the ideas of Eastern religions
in the West through his books and radio broadcasts, Watts lived for a
time on a houseboat in Sausalito and was the model for Edgar Barefoot
in Philip K. Dick’s last novel, The Transmigrations of Timothy Archer
(1982). We have not been able to determine the identity of the recipient
(Marina? Maxine?) but a rather extraordinary piece of art nevertheless.
[BTC#599971]
ART
50 • cuisine
138 (African-American)
Frances M. HASSELL, edited by
Reflections of an African American Kitchen
Memphis, Tennessee: Hassell House 1984
$600
First edition. Octavo. 190, [1] pp. Illustrated vignettes. Illustrated wrappers in printed, spiral binding.
Near fine. Mostly healthy recipes for African-Americans compiled by the Universal Life Insurance
Company in Memphis. Very scarce. Note: This is the 1984 edition (not the re-issue of 1994). The
Jemima Code pp. 173-174. [BTC#604826]
139 (Asian and Indian)
Irma Walker ROSS
Recipes from the East
Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company (1955)
$500
First edition. 12mo. Spiral-bound illustrated wrappers. 90pp. Illustrated. Modest wear, with light soiling,
as little creasing, and tiny tears, very good. A collection of Asian (and Indian) dishes that can be prepared
“from material readily available to the American housewife.” [BTC#531457]
140 James A. BEARD and Sam AARON
How to Eat Better for Less Money
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts (1954)
$200
First edition. 317pp. Slight toning on the boards else near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket
with a toned spine and shallow chips at the crown. [BTC#532036]
141 (Candy)
Mary Elizabeth HALL
Candy Making Revolutionized: Confectionery from Vegetables
New York: Sturgis & Walton Company 1912
$500
First edition. Octavo. 154pp. Color frontispiece and five additional plates. Four-page order form laid
in. Printed cloth. Fine in a nice, near fine printed dust jacket that is slightly shorter than the book,
likely as issued, with modest toning and small tears. Very uncommon, and one assumes rare in jacket.
Not in Cagle. [BTC#606530]
CUISINE
cuisine • 51
143 (Cocktails)
Charles S. WARNOK
Giggle Water: Including Eleven Famous Cocktails of the Most Exclusive Club of
New York. As Served Before the War When Mixing Was an Art
New York: Charles S. Warnok (1928)
$2000
First edition. Octavo. 152pp. Near fine with a touch of bumping at the spine ends and a hint of
offsetting at the pastedown in good dust jacket with chipping at the edges, tears along the spine, and
moderate creasing at the perimeter. A Prohibition Era-cocktail book with chapters on brandies, cordials,
“house-made gin,” various homemade wines and drinks (“plain and fancy”), and 11 famous cocktails
(Bronx, Astor, Bacardi, Clover, Dry Martini,
Perfect, Cooperstown, Chris, Martini, Liberty,
and Manhattan), plus a 10-page index. This
copy also includes a handwritten receipt for
“Chicago Home Brew” that takes up the
entirety of the front flyleaf. An uncommon
book, particularly in jacket. [BTC#603713]
144 (Eudora WELTY)
Symphony League of Jackson
The Jackson Cookbook
Jackson, Mississippi: (Symphony League of Jackson 1971)
$400
First edition, first printing. Foreword by Eudora Welty. Spiral-bound illustrated wrappers.
298pp. First and last pages a little toned from interacting with the stiff card wrappers, and a
little light rubbing and wear on wraps, near fine. [BTC#574985]
142 (Cocktails)
Jean LUPOIU
Cocktails [Inscribed, with a WWII Association]
Paris: Les Oeuvres Françaises 1938
$600
First edition. Cover design by the Swiss artist Géa Augsbourg. 16mo.
Measuring approximately 6½" x 4½". 181pp. Many illustrated ads.
Clothbacked boards. Cloth and boards moderately worn with some toning
and soil, slightly cocked, very good with the interior clean. Inscribed in
English by the author over his frontispiece portrait: “For Cap. Jacobs with
the compliments of the author. Jean Lupoiu 6/10-44.” Captain Jacobs
seems to have sent this home as a gift, possibly to a sweetheart. His lengthy
note on the front endpaper establishes the connection between the soldier
and the barman: “I met Mr. Lupoiu on my initial visit to Paris. He is a
whole sale liquor dealer + salesman + has been all over the world including
the states in that capacity. Was in his apartment several times + met his
wife. Was treated to some exceptionally fine liquors + liqueurs which of
course I did not appreciate. He was very kind to us + we reciprocated by obtaining for him something he
needed but could not get without our help.” He ends by stating that the French is rather simple, but “since
cocktails can be dynamite, wait until I get home + we can experiment
together.” A charming little book. [BTC#545318]
CUISINE
52 • film
145 James R. CAMERON
Motion Pictures with Sound
Manhattan Beach, New York: Cameron Publishing Company (1929)
$125
First edition. Octavo. 393 + ads pp. Illustrated from photographs. Blue cloth gilt. Spine gilt a trifle dull
else about fine in near fine dust jacket with small nicks at the extremities. Scarce in jacket. [BTC#532994]
146 Charlie CHAPLIN
My Trip Abroad
New York: Harper & Brothers (1922)
$750
First edition (“B-W” code). Octavo. 155, [3] pp.
Illustrated plates. Pictorial papercovered boards. Foxing
mostly confined to endpapers, near fine in near fine
dust jacket with a very faint stain and a little soiling. A
particularly nice copy of this title. [BTC#535718]
147 Kyle CRICHTON
Total Recoil
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company 1960
$250
First edition. Jacket art by Irma Selz. Octavo. 308pp. Fine in very good or better dust jacket with
sunning at the spine, a touch of wear at the edges and a sliver of toning on the rear panel. A collection
of anecdotes and thoughts on various literary and entertainment figures (D.H. Lawrence, Danny Kaye,
Carol Lombard, Eugene O’Neil, William Faulkner) encountered by Kyle Crichton while at working at
Scribner’s under Max Perkins, Colliers Weekly,
and while adapting his play into the film The
Happiest Millionaire. Despite a long career,
Crichton is today remembered best for his
book, The Marx Brothers. A lovely copy of a
surpassingly uncommon title. [BTC#611272]
148 (Thomas A. EDISON)
[Small Broadside or Handbill]: Coming!!! Stupendous Attraction!
Mr. and Mrs. John E. Sloane…in the exciting, exhilarating,
throbbing and vibrating Feature Film entitled “As We Were”
will open… June 17, 1924 under the direction of Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas A. Edison at Glenmont, Llewellyn Park…
South Orange, [New Jersey]: Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Edison 1924
$85
Printed flyer or handbill. Approximately 6" x 9". Printed rectos only. About fine. Handbill for
the premiere of a now “lost film,” hosted by the producers, the Edisons. We could find little
about the presumably silent film. [BTC#599730]
FILM
film • 53
152 William STYRON and Richard
YATES
William Styron’s Lie Down in Darkness: A Screenplay
Watertown: Ploughshares Books 1985
$800
151 Marguerite G. ORTMAN
Fiction and the Screen
Boston: Marshall Jones Company (1935)
$350
First edition. Edited by Lewis Worthington Smith. Octavo. 148pp. Illustrated. A trifle rubbed at the
bottom of the boards else fine in very good or better dust jacket with small nicks and tears. An early
history of classic works of fiction that were adapted to the silver screen, with a discussion of the campaign
of the Legion of Decency, a Catholic group which identified objectionable content in films. Scarce,
especially in jacket. [BTC#532506]
150 Margaret MAYORGA, edited by
One Reel Scenarios for Amateur Movie-Makers
New York: Samuel French (1938)
$225
First edition. Fine in about fine dust jacket with a couple of tiny nicks. Front panel illustration of
Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid. A collection of short screenplays intended for amateur
filmmakers, illustrated with stills from amateur film groups (which apparently once operated much
as local theatre groups do today), special effects, and some stills from professional films (Chaplin and
Eisenstein). Unusual. [BTC#533038]
149 John HUSTON
Humphrey Bogart
Los Angeles: The Seiler Press 1957
$1250
First edition. 12mo. [8]pp. Tipped-in frontispiece portrait of Bogart. Fine, issued without dust jacket. Text
of Huston’s eulogy of Bogart, delivered at the memorial service in Beverly Hills, January 17, 1957. Huston
collaborated with Bogart on several notable films including the classics The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of
the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, and The African Queen. Very scarce. OCLC locates two copies. [BTC#36671]
First edition. Introduction by George Bluestone. Fine in fine
dust jacket. One of 50 copies Signed by both Styron and Yates. A
screenplay by Yates based on Styron’s novel. [BTC#429686]
FILM
54 • music
153 Lord BYRON, words by
I. BRAHAM and I. NATHAN, music arranged
by
[Sheet Music]: My Soul Is Dark: From the Hebrew
Melodies
New York: Wm. Dubois [circa 1817 - 1818]
$500
Early American edition, possibly first. Folio. Single bifolium making four
pages. Foxing throughout, notched and worn along the fold from once
being bound within an album, light dampstaining along the top corners
of the front cover affecting the pages throughout, and a small tear on the
foredge affecting both pages, still a very good copy. For voice and piano.
This piece is from a collaboration between Lord Byron and composer
Isaac Nathan (who initially studied to be a rabbi), originally published as
a collection of songs in 1815 under the title “Hebrew Melodies.” Nathan
claimed that the tunes were derived from ancient Jewish temple music,
though apparently this is largely untrue, with most being derived from
European folk songs that over time came to be used in synagogue services.
The “I. Braham” credited above the music is actually a popular Jewish singer
from the time, John Braham, whom Nathan allegedly convinced to lend his
name to the project in exchange for half the profits. Once published, the
work caused a bit of a backlash for Byron due to the pronounced prejudice
against the Jewish people in England, with some reviewers criticizing Byron
for working on the project (Byron not being Jewish himself). OCLC locates
only two holdings of this piece. [BTC#602018]
154 John CAGE, Erik SATIE,
and others
[Handbill or Small Broadside]:
Mewantemooseicday
6 A.M. - Midnight +40. November 21, 1969.
University of California, Davis Campus,
Department of Music & Committee of
Arts and Lectures
Davis, California: University of California,
Davis Campus, Department of Music & Committee of
Arts and Lectures 1969
$400
Handbill or small broadside. Measuring 11" x 8½". Printed
in two colors. Faintest vertical crease else fine. According to
an article on the UC Davis blog, the November 1969 event
was the brainchild of musician and faculty member Stan
Lunetta and UC Davis grad student John Dinwiddie, with
assistance from UC Davis music professor Larry Austin. Of
particular note is the premiere performance of John Cage’s
“33 1/2,” which included setting out a dozen phonographs
and nearly 250 records with no instructions; the audience
could play the records, creating the piece. Cage also gave a lecture titled “How to improve the world (you will only make matters worse).” Also, Erik
Satie’s piece “Vexations” was played 840 times (!), beginning at 6am and ending after midnight.
In addition to the aforementioned participants, the handbill also advertises performances by Ashley, Woodbury, Lee, Salkinds, California Time
Machine, and Riener. A 50th anniversary production inspired by Mewantemooseicday, and using the same title, was held in 2019 in venues across
Glasgow, Scotland. A cool and very uncommon handbill for an important musical event; UC Davis notes in the article that they possess a copy, but
we have been unable to locate any other copies in OCLC or the trade. [BTC#584243]
MUSIC
155 Langston HUGHES, Toy Harper,
and La Villa Tullos
[Sheet music]: This Is My Land
[and] Founding Fathers
New York: Musette Publishers, Inc. 1945
$1500
First edition. Folio. Two nested bifolia making eight pages. Light offsetting
throughout, soiling to the exterior, and a horizontal crease along the center
from being folded, still a very good and complete copy. For voice and piano. The
front cover shows an illustration of the continental United States, including
the Baja California peninsula. The songs are patriotic and celebratory. “This
Is My Land” describes what each state contributes to the country, “Texas
has its cattle ranches. / Potatoes come from Idaho. / Golden grain in both
Dakotas. / Iron is made in Ohio.” And in “Founding Fathers” we are told
of significant people in United States history: Christopher Columbus, the
Pilgrims, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Betsy Ross; included in this
list are the American people themselves with the song concluding, “Who
carries on democracy? / It’s up to you and me.” La Villa Tullos was a classically
trained harpist whose musical legacy seems to exist primarily in a single 1944
film of her performing “Swanee Swing,” and Toy Harper was a dress designer
from Harlem and an old friend of Huges’ family; in his biography of Hughes,
Milton Meltzer describes Toy and her husband, a musician named Emerson
Harper, as “like adopted aunt and uncle to him.” A rare piece, OCLC locates
only a single holding (Library of Congress). [BTC#606466]
music • 55
156 (Louis JORDAN)
[Inscribed Promotional Photograph]: Louis Jordan and
His Orchestra
New York: General Amusement Corp. 1943
$3000
Gelatin silver photograph. Measuring 8" x 10". Jordan’s name and agency
printed in lower margin. Fine. Inscribed in the lower right corner: “To Mr.
W. A. Graves. Hope you enjoy our music. How Bout that? Louis Jordan.
8/3/43.” From a small cache of images inscribed to an otherwise unidentified
W.A. Graves (who apparently was also known as “Zenith”). Jordan began his
career in the 1930s playing in Big Bands and evolved in the 1940s to create
jump blues, increasing his popularity and gaining him the title of “King of
the Jukebox.” His work is now recognized as one of the basic pillars upon
which rock and roll music was built. [BTC#589205]
MUSIC
56 • music
157 (Ozzy OSBOURNE)
[Large Broadside]: 1999 MTV Video
Music Awards Show Poster
[New York: MTV Productions 1999]
$4500
Large broadside. Measuring 39½" x 79½".
Full-color inkjet image mounted on black
foamcore with four punch holes used for
displaying, as issued. Very good or better
with moderate edgewear, including a tear at
one corner, some edges of the images slightly
pulling away from the mount, and remnants of
velcro, tape, and labels on the back; the image
itself appears fine but for one light scuff only
visible at an angle. An original poster created
for 1999 MTV Video Music Awards that hung
outside the Metropolitan Opera House at
Lincoln Center in New York City. While a half
dozen such images were created for the event by
noted Rolling Stone photographer Mark Seliger
(Janet Jackson as Cleopatra, David Bowie as
Mephistopheles, Chris Rock as Rigoletto),
only a few were produced in this larger format,
with Ozzy Osbourne as Pagliacci being one of
those chosen for prominent display at the main
entrance. As this is one of only two that were
produced for the show, both a wonderful image
and amazing artifact of MTV at its cultural
peak. Shipping at cost. [BTC#546300]
MUSIC
music • 57
158 Terry SOUTHERN, Michael COOPER
The Early Stones: Legendary Photographs of a
Band in the Making 1963-1973
New York: Hyperion (1993)
$950
First paperback edition. Text by Terry Southern. Photographs by Michael Cooper.
Foreword and commentary by Keith Richards. Oblong quarto. Glossy illustrated
wrappers. Slightest rubbing, still fine. Inscribed by Terry Southern: “To grand guy
Bob and ultra-fab Bonnie, with all best wishes, Terry S.” Very uncommon signed.
[BTC#532466]
159 (Leo THEREMIN)
[Magazine]: Science and Invention. December 1927
New York: Experimenter Publishing Company 1927
$275
Periodical. Quarto. pp. 681-776. Perfectbound in illustrated wrappers. Very good or better with
creases, a few tears and some rubbing, but with a bright cover and white pages. This issue features
a cover story on the Theremin, a then-newly-created “hands free” musical instrument created by
Russian scientist Leo Theremin, that produced musical tones “never heard before by the ear of
man.” The article discusses how the instrument works and how it can be played, eventually, they
speculate, in coordination with a number of additional machines to create an electronic orchestra.
[BTC#606001]
160 Virgil THOMSON
Virgil Thomson
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1966
$450
First edition. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a couple
of small tears. Laid in is an invitation to a cocktail party
for Thomson’s 80th birthday. Inscribed by Thomson to
Tony Award-winning actress Marian Seldes: “for dear
Marian Seldes ever her admirer. Virgil T. NYC 23 Nov.
66” (the same day as the party). [BTC#602440]
MUSIC
161 Very Uncommon Double Image Daguerreotype with
Two Different Portrait Views of the Same Man on a Single
Quarter Plate
[Circa 1850-55]
$4500
Quarter plate daguerreotype of a well-dressed, perhaps 30-something man, shown seated
in two similar poses: in one he is hatless, in the other be-hatted, but otherwise identically
dressed. In each image he wears the same gold ring which has been tinted, and there
appears to be very subtle tinting of his shirt front and cheeks. Measuring approximately
3" x 4½", housed in an oval mat, protector, and molded leather case with original metal
hooks, and an orange cut velvet pad. Unexamined out of the case, but the image and
frame appear to be very near fine, possibly professionally cleaned and re-sealed; the
leather case is splitting at the seam, and is probably a candidate for reinforcement. We
could find no obvious identification of either the subject or the photographer, but the
case and protector suggest a date of about 1850-55. While “double image” dags, where
one side of the plate is masked and then a second near identical image is repeated on the
same plate are occasionally encountered, examples such as this, with two different poses
of the same subject on a single plate appear to be rare. Clear and bright, and overall very
near fine. A terrific image. [BTC#606221]
162 Daguerreotype of a Gold Miner
[California?: circa 1856]
$4500
Sixth plate daguerreotype. Matted with preserver in original embossed leather case lacking
the original velvet or plush pad inside the front cover. Image measures approximately 3" x
3¼". Image is fine, front cover detached but present, and is thus good only. A wonderfully
composed image of a seated young man with crossed arms and legs, wearing a miner’s shirt,
and with a gold necklace and gold chain. Subtle and tasteful pink tinting on his hands
and face, and with the gold jewelry finely and tastefully highlighted. Inside of the case has
writing that is likely a name and the notation “1.00” (presumably the cost of the dag), but
it is covered by a light wash of varnish, and it is unclear to us what the name might be. Our
date suggested by the mat and preserver on the dag. Gold mining portraits often displayed
gold jewelry, and with the subject wearing a typical mining shirt. [BTC#588301]
163 Berenice ABBOTT
Photographs
New York: Horizon Press 1970
$850
First edition. Foreword by Muriel Rukeyser.
Introduction by David Vestal. Quarto. Slight sunning
at the edges of the boards, small repair on front
hinge, very good or better in very good dust jacket
with shallow loss at the crown, some faint toning,
and a modest crease. Inscribed by Abbott to her
publisher Ben Raeburn of the Horizon Press: “For
Ben, Pearl, Ricky - Family Royale. LOVE, Berenice.”
[BTC#609017]
58 • photography
PHOTOGRAPHY
164 (Hawaii)
Ed BRACHT
[Photo Album]: “Scenes of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Islands
May-June-July-Aug. 1906"
$3500
Quarto. Stapled flexible paper wrappers with “Photographs” printed in gray on front
wrap. Hand-lettering in white on front wrap a bit rubbed, small tears on some leaves,
near fine. Album of Ed Bracht’s trip to Hawaii, containing 36 large format images of
various sizes ranging from 3½" x 4½" to 7½" x 9½", each image captioned in white
album ink. Housed in a custom cloth clamshell case, with morocco spine label gilt.
Images depict indigenous island life including flower vendors and lei girls, a luau at a
native home, children, a poi pounder, Chinese and Japanese families, a mixed-race boy
(captioned “Negro Chicken Thief”), cliff divers, a tarro plantation, and ends with an
interesting image of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco dated after the fire in May
1908. An organized and aesthetically pleasing illustrated travel narrative. [BTC#383774]
photography • 59
PHOTOGRAPHY
60 • photography
165 (Japanese Interpreter)
Sixth Plate Ambrotype Portrait of Tateishi Onijiro,
a Samurai and Interpreter on the First Official
Japanese Diplomatic Visit to the United States
1860
$12,500
Sixth plate ambrotype of the 17- or 18-year-old samurai and interpreter Tateishi
Onijiro. Image measures approximately 2¾" x 3¼" in an oval mat, protector,
and pressed paper or card case lined with original clasp, and orange cut velvet
pad (with some wear, where a label, since peeled away, had apparently identified
the subject; happily, other portraits of Onijiro exist to verify his identity). The
image is exceptionally clear and sharp, unexamined out of the original case,
possibly professionally cleaned and resealed. Onijiro is depicted in traditional
samurai dress, seated beside a table with a vase of flowers, holding a flower in
one hand, his katana (sword) in the other; and with his wakizashi (small sword)
at his waist.
Commodore Perry visited Japan with the Black Fleet in 1853. In 1858 Japan
entered into a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States. By
1860 Japan was ready to move into talks with the U.S. and entered into their
first diplomatic venture in two centuries, with a party of 74 accompanying
three samurai ambassadors. They visited San Francisco, Washington, D.C.,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, where they were feted, met with
President Buchanan to sign the Treaty, and had a poem written about them
by Walt Whitman. The 1860 visit included Onojiro, the youngest member of the party, as a secondary interpreter. His smiling and cheerful
countenance, youthful good looks, and apparent charisma (in contrast to the older, more dour, and dignified samurai), made him a favorite of the
crowds, particularly the women. He was referred to by his childhood nickname, Tommy, and a song, The Tommy Polka, was written to capitalize on
his celebrity. Rare. [BTC#606226]
Mapplethorpe’s First
Published Photo
166 Robert MAPPLETHORPE
Gay Power – Volume 1, Number 16
May 1970
$4500
Newspaper. Folio. 23pp. Newsprint wrappers. Toned with tiny tears
along the spine and the foredge, very good. This copy of “New York’s first
homosexual newspaper” is notable for its cover image from controversial
photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, which may be his earliest published
photo – The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York could not
identify any earlier published Mapplethorpe photos. The image is a
reproduction of a collage titled “Bull’s Eye” that was produced during his
final year at the Pratt Institute of Design where he studied graphic arts,
and this printing predates his first one-man show held at Stanley Amos’s
gallery in the Chelsea Hotel on November 4, 1970. Mapplethorpe started
taking his own photos to use in collages instead of using images from books
and magazines because “it was more honest.” He received his first Polaroid
camera in 1970, the same year as this image. OCLC locates no copies.
[BTC#346220]
PHOTOGRAPHY
169 (Joe WRIGHT)
[Wire Service Photo]: “Joe Wright to Attempt to Break
Moto Cycle Speed Record Today"
London: Keystone May 15, 1933
$300
Gelatin silver photograph. Measuring 8" x 6". Stamped with Keystone wire
service stamp on verso, along with printed snipe or caption explaining the
image. [BTC#589781]
168 Aaron SISKIND, Ann BANKS
Harlem Document: Photographs 1932-1940
Aaron Siskind
Providence, Rhode Island: A Matrix Publication (1981)
$1500
First edition, hardcover trade issue (there was also a limited and signed issue). Text
from Federal Writers Projects edited by Ann Banks. Foreword by Gordon Parks.
Oblong octavo. Fine in very slightly worn very near fine dust jacket. Inscribed
by Siskind to his close friend and publisher of the Horizon Press, Ben Raeburn
and his wife: “To Pearl & Ben, precious friends. Aaron. 12/12/81.” Horizon
published Siskind’s breakthrough book Aaron Siskind: Photographs (1959), as
well as Aaron Siskind Photographer (1965), and Bucks County: Photographs of
Early Architecture (1974). An important association. [BTC#608903]
167 Man RAY
[Photograph]: T.S. Eliot
[London: 1935]
$14,000
Gelatin silver photograph. Measuring 5" x 6¼". Tipped onto thick off-white card
stock at the topedge, which itself is tipped onto a folder of the same material. The
verso of the photo is blank and a loose piece of tissue guard is laid in. A photograph of
Eliot from the right side capturing him in a three-quarter view dressed in his typical
natty tie and jacket with a pocket square. Fine.
The photograph comes from the library of Donald Gallup, who was Eliot’s friend
and bibliographer, and who served as the curator of the Yale Collection of American
Literature. On the outside of the folder, Gallup has made two pencil notes. The first
explains: “T.S.E. told me, this photograph was made in London by Man Ray in the
late ‘30s. Virginia Woolf and others were photographed by Man Ray on the same
visit to England. DCG 27 may’47.” It is followed by an additional note: “BUT Man
Ray’s Paris Portraits 1921-1939 by Timothy Baum, lists a photo from the same series
([BTC#35) as 21b.” Whether the photo was taken in London or New York, Gallup
was unsure, but another photograph from the same session in which Eliot looks
directly into the camera, sold at auction in 2014 and stated: “T.S. Eliot worked for
the London publishers Faber & Faber and Man Ray photographed him at his office
on 23 January 1935.”
No matter the place of origin, an intense and arresting photograph of this influential
poet who help usher in American modernism. [BTC#608061]
photography • 61
PHOTOGRAPHY
62 • sports
170 (Baseball)
Harry ELLARD
Base Ball in Cincinnati: A History
Cincinnati, Ohio: [The Author] 1908
$3000
Second edition, revised. 277pp. A lovely, fine copy. One of the most desirable baseball history books,
centered around the origins of the Cincinnati Red Legs. Rare, especially in this condition. [BTC#49726]
172 (Baseball Fiction)
Ring W. LARDNER
You Know Me Al: A Busher’s Letters
New York: George H. Doran 1916
$1200
First edition, with first issue points and first issue brick-colored cloth with gilt lettering. Owner name,
address, and note (“I read this book”) on front endpapers, else a fresh and fine copy lacking the rare
dust jacket. The quintessential baseball book, written in the form of letters home from a smart-alecky
ballplayer to his best friend. Reprinted innumerable times – the book is uncommon in the first edition.
This is the nicest unjacketed copy we’ve seen. [BTC#605491]
173 (Basketball)
John McPHEE
A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of Princeton’s Bill Bradley
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (1965)
$3000
First edition. Fine in a fresh, very good or better dust jacket with only a modest bit of the usually
pervasive spine fading and a couple of tiny nicks and
tears. Inscribed by Bill Bradley, the subject of the
book, to a Princeton classmate: “For Ron ‘65 from
Bill Bradley ‘65.” Additionally Inscribed by another
Princetonian, John McPhee, to the same recipient:
“for Ron [-] with all best - John McPhee at Jadwin
Gym 2005!” A nicer than usual copy of the author’s
fragile first book, with nice inscriptions by both the
author and subject. [BTC#569176]
171 (Baseball)
Frank GRAHAM
Lou Gehrig: A Quiet Hero
New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (1942)
$1000
First edition. Neat owner name and a tiny bookstore label,
both on front fly, else near fine in very good dust jacket with a
crease tear on the front panel, very small nicks and tears, and
two internal tape repairs. The first edition is very uncommon,
especially in jacket. [BTC#605370]
SPORTS
sports • 63
174 (Football)
Knute ROCKNE
Two sheets of coach
Knute Rockne’s hand-
written football plays
Notre Dame: University of Notre
Dame Athletic Association
[circa 1920s]
$14,000
Two sheets, each measuring 8½"
x 11". Paper toned, each with an
old horizontal and vertical fold, a
few bumps and small tears along
the edges, one sheet with two tiny
holes along the folds as well as a
brief ink note on the verso, very
good overall.
Two sheets of football plays by
legendary Notre Dame coach
Knute Rockne, written in his
hand on his official University of
Notre Dame letterhead, with the
final two entries on the first sheet
referencing plays on the second sheet. The second sheet includes a depiction of the famous Notre Dame Box formation, as well as passing plays,
which Rockne played a major role in developing in football. Historian largely attribute Notre Dame’s 1913 defeat of Army to the incorporation of
the previously seldom-seen forward pass; quarterback Charlie Dorais repeatedly threw the ball downfield to end Knute Rockne, leading the team to
a 35-13 victory. Rockne would go on to become Notre Dame’s head coach in 1918. During 13 years as head coach, Rockne led Notre Dame to 105
victories, 12 losses, five ties and three national championships. For nearly 100 years, Rockne has held the highest all-time winning percentage (.881)
for a major college football coach. After leading Notre Dame to back-to-back national championships, his time in the game was cut short when he
was killed in a plane crash in 1931.
A rarely seen insight into the play-making mind of the man regarded by many as the greatest college football coach, and one of the most important
figures in the history of the game. [BTC#606308]
Inscribed to Babe Ruth
175 (Golf)
H.B. MARTIN
What’s Wrong With Your Game
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company 1930
$2500
First edition. Illustrated from drawings. Very slight
sunning at the bottom of the boards and tiny, very
faint stains on the first couple of pages, else fine
lacking the dust jacket. Warmly Inscribed by the
author to the all-time baseball great: “To Babe Ruth
who one day may be as great a golfer as he is a ball
player, from the author, H. B. Martin.” Attractively
illustrated instructional volume. An especially nice
copy, with a great association. [BTC#437097]
SPORTS
64 • sexuality
178 Mary Ware DENNETT
Who’s Obscene?
New York: The Vanguard Press (1930)
$400
First edition. Octavo. xxxiii, 281pp. A trifle bumped, still bright and fine with the red topstain
vivid, in a toned, very good dust jacket with short chips and tears; the publisher has canceled the
$2.00 price and a $2.50 price remains.
In 1915, Dennett self-published The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People, written
as an educational booklet for her sons. In 1929 the book caused Mary Dennett to face a federal
indictment for obscenity, violating the Comstock Act of 1873, which stated that no information
regarding sex, birth control, or abortion could be circulated in the mail. This book describes “The
full background of that case, of the devious machinations of federal agents and of the fetid motives
behind the trial…,” in addition to printing the pamphlet in full. Dennett was a women’s rights
activist and pioneer in the areas of birth control, sex education, and women’s suffrage. A handsome
copy, uncommon in jacket. [BTC#604690]
Don’t Lead the League in STD!
176 (Baseball?!)
[Cover Title]: Base Ball 1938
Chicago: City Health Institute 1938
$400
Edition unknown. 12mo. [48]pp. Stapled self-wrappers. Front wrap with
baseball illustration; rear wrap with White Sox and Cubs’ schedules’ for 1938.
Cheap newsprint pages toned a bit, modest stains mostly on front wrap, a good
copy. The first dozen pages consist of a street guide to Chicago, which helps to
disguise what the remainder of the book is: a guide and advertisements devoted
to treatments, cures, and facilities that deal primarily with venereal diseases,
mostly aimed at men, but with some advice or ads targeting women. According
to the opening text: “This handy book has secretly and without embarrassment
helped many discouraged men to vigorous health and happiness… .” A
cleverly disguised guide to what ails you, plus a handy baseball schedule for the
Chicagoan. OCLC appears to locate no copies. [BTC#604156]
177 (Henry GUZE, associate editor)
The Journal of Sex Research. Volume One, Number One -
Volume Six , Number One (lacking two issues)
New York: The Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, Inc. 1965-1970
$2500
Octavos. A near consecutive run of 17 issues, lacking only Vol. 5, Nos. 1 & 4. Stapled printed
blue wrappers. Ownership signature and/or stamp of Dr. Henry Guze, associate editor of the
pioneering Journal in all but the first issue, slight sunning at the spines, a couple of very minor
flaws on a couple of issues, overall near fine. Guze, a psychotherapist who died in July of 1970, was
also one of the cofounders of The Society for the Scientific Study of Sex. Most of the issues print
articles on a single or closely related topic or topics, such as “Contraception and Abortion” (Vol.
1, No. 2), “Teenagers” (Vol. 2, No. 1), “Forbidden Relations” (Vol. 2, No. 3), “Transvestivism -
Transsexualism” (Vol. 3, No. 2), “Margaret Sanger Memorial Issue (Vol. 3, No. 4), “Homosexuality
and Prostitution” (Vol. 4, No. 3), and “Gender Disorientation” (Vol. 5, No. 2). [BTC#459411]
SEXUALITY
