Literature

Asimov, Isaac

Casebook of the Black Widowers.

Garden City, NY : Published For The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1980.

First edition of the third book in Asimov’s Black Widowers series with the publisher’s “With Compliments of Doubleday & Company, Inc.” stamp to the pastedown. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Isaac Asimov on the title page. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by One Plus One Studio.

The Yogi and the Commissar.

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First Danube edition of this classic work by the author of Darkness at Noon. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Karl and Diane from Arthur.” The recipients were Karl Pribram and his wife Diane. Karl as a neurosurgeon and close friend of Koestler who did pioneering work on theContinue reading "The Yogi and the Commissar."

Didion, Joan

Salvador.

New York : Simon and Schuster, 1983.

First edition of this classic work by the award-winning author. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by Joan Didion on the front free endpaper. Fine in a good dust jacket. Jacket design by Lawrence Ratzkin.

Styron, William

The Confessions of Nat Turner.

New York : Random House, 1967.

Signed limited first edition of Styron’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, one of only 500 signed examples. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine slipcase. Housed in a custom half morocco slipcase.

Fleming, Ian

Casino Royale.

London : Jonathan Cape, 1953.

First edition of the first novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example.

McCarthy, Cormac, Edward Dahlberg, Patrick Boyle, Kathleen Raine [Edited by Andrew Lytle]

The Sewanee Review, Volume 73, Number 2 (LXXIII; Spring 1965). [Includes The Dark Waters by Cormac McCarthy].

Sewanee, Tennessee : University of the South, 1965.

Rare journal which contains the first publication of Cormac McCarthy, The Dark Waters; an excerpt from his first novel The Orchard Keeper. Octavo, original wrappers. Signed by Cormac McCarthy on the front panel. In very good condition. Rare and desirable signed, we have never seen another one.

Dickinson, Emily. Edited by T.W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd

Poems by Emily Dickinson: Second Series.

Boston : Roberts Brothers, 1891.

First edition of Emily Dickinson’s second book of poetry. BAL 4656. Octavo, original publisher’s gray and green cloth decoratively stamped in gilt, all edges gilt, facsimile manuscript leaves at front, tissue guarded title page. In very good condition. A nice example.

Heller, Joseph

Something Happened.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.

First edition of this classic work by the author of Catch-22. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Doreen Phelan, With pleasure + good wishes Joseph Heller 5/24/75 Ojai, Pal.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Housed in a custom halfContinue reading "Something Happened."

Porter, Katherine Anne

Ship of Fools.

Boston : Little Brown and Company, 1962.

First edition of this classic bestseller from the Pulitzer Prize winner which dramatizes the rise of totalitarianism in the 1930s in a sweeping story of a transatlantic cruise featuring a cast of unforgettable characters. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Katherine Porter on the half-title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket designContinue reading "Ship of Fools."

Viorst, Judith

Suddenly Sixty: And Other Shocks of Later Life.

New York : Simon & Schuster, 2000.

First edition of this comical work by the author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Small octavo, original cloth, illustrated by Laurie Rosenwald. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “For Helene + Bill with affection + thanks for many years of wonderful break-fasts- Judy.” Fine inContinue reading "Suddenly Sixty: And Other Shocks of Later Life."

Hemingway, Ernest

Winner Take Nothing.

New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933.

First edition of Hemingway’s third collection of short stories. Octavo, original black cloth. Fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco slipcase. A very nice presentation.

Gray, Thomas

The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. [Fore-edge Painting].

London : Bell and Daldy, 1857.

Finely bound collection of the collected poetical works of Thomas Gray decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting of Eton College. Octavo, bound in full straight grain morocco with gilt titles to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting of Eton College. In very good condition. Armorial bookplate.

Faulkner, William

Pylon.

New York : Harrison Smith and Robert Hass, Inc, 1935.

First edition of Faulkner’s explosive novel about a group of Southern barnstormers. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with light rubbing and wear. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box.

McCarthy, Cormac

The Crossing.

New York : Vintage International, 1994.

First paperback edition of the second book in the author’s acclaimed Border Trilogy. Octavo, original wrappers. Signed by the author on the title page, “For Randy, All best wishes, Cormac McCarthy.” In near fine condition. Cover design by Chip Kidd.

Melville, Herman

Omoo.

New York : Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1847.

First edition of this classic Melville work Omoo, the Martin-Manney copy in the rare original wrappers. Octavo, two volumes, original wrappers. Volume 1 with half-title, title-page printed in black and red, and frontispiece map of the Marquesas and Tahiti. Volume 2 with advertisements at rear paginated [xv]-xxiii, [1]-16 (light staining to prelims, lower corner clippedContinue reading "Omoo."

Too True To Be Good, Village Wooing, On The Rocks.

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First edition of this classic work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page on the half-title page, “To Blanche Patch’s friend, Mrs. Frank Kinder, from G. Bernard Shaw 9th Nov. 1934.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom halfContinue reading "Too True To Be Good, Village Wooing, On The Rocks."

Triquarterly 48: Western Stories [Blood Meridian].

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Original Spring 1980 issue of TriQuarterly magazine containing the first excerpt from Cormac McCarthy’s classic Blood Meridian, this being chapter 12, with several textual differences from the 1985 first edition publication. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Boldly signed by Cormac McCarthy at his appearance. In near fine condition. Rare and desirable signed.

Wharton, Edith

The Custom of the Country.

New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913.

First edition of one of Wharton’s finest novels, which tells the story of Undine Spragg, a Midwestern girl who attempts to ascend in New York City society. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition, name to the front free endpaper. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box. An exceptional presentation.

McCarthy, Cormac

Outer Dark.

New York : Random House, 1968.

First edition of the author’s second novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Cormac McCarthy on the front free endpaper. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Muriel Nasser. A superior example.

Shaw, George Bernard

Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch.

London : Constable and Company, Ltd, 1921.

First edition of this collection of plays by the Nobel Prize-winning playwright. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page in the year of publication, “To H.S.S from G.B.S 22nd June 1921.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise box. RareContinue reading "Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch."

O'Hara, John

Appointment in Samarra.

New York : Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1934.

First edition of the author’s first book. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine first issue dust jacket with a few small closed tears, contemporary bookplate to the front pastedown. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise box. A very nice example.

White, Henry Kirke

Remains of Henry Kirke White, with a Memoir of the Author. [Fore-edge Painting].

Glasgow : Printed for Richard Griffin & Co, 1844.

Finely bound collection of the letters and poems of Henry Kirke White. 12mo, finely bound in full morocco elaborately decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of White, all edges gilt, decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting. In very good condition. Ownership inscription. A unique example.

McCarthy, Cormac

Suttree.

New York : Random House, 1979.

First edition of the author’s fourth novel and what many consider to be his finest. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Barbara with love Cormac.” With a photograph laid in of McCarthy with his arms around the recipient and his then wife Ann Delisle. NearContinue reading "Suttree."

Faulkner, William

The Town.

New York : Random House, 1957.

First edition, first state with the 5/57 at the bottom of the front flap of the dust jacket. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author on the title page in the year of publication, “11 Nov 57 Best wishes William Faulkner.” With the publisher’s advance review copy slip dated May 1, 1957 laid in andContinue reading "The Town."