Acker, Kathy Kathy Goes to Haiti (Toronto, 1978).
1st edition. Early Kathy, her 3rd trade publication and 7th book. 500 copies printed. Fine in pink and black pictorial wrappers. Acker does her usual rendition of the pissed-off grrrl and proud of it, with graphic sex, spooky voodoo, exotic travel, piston hips, smashed up rules of language, a constant foiling of time and place and every dirty word you've ever heard, all of it titillatingly autobiographical in the distinctive, highly realist, post-modern gangsta style of a rebellious, willful and innovative author. 75

Acker's books have yet to be burned. Maybe that's because they were issued in such small numbers or maybe it's because they've not circulated in overly righteous neighborhoods, but I guess that the troops in the war on joy, fear being poisoned by the fumes.

Austen, Jane Emma (London, 1816).
3 vols. 1st edition. Bound without half-titles in fine full calf, gilt. 1 text page with a tiny chip but that's the only fault. 15,000

Writing at the zenith of her moral vision, Austen spins an ironic social comedy featuring a headstrong, snobbish, intellectually proud, dynamic, rich and beautiful young woman confronted by life's irreconcilable opposites. The author's subtle command and hypnotizing style keep the reader happily surprised by any example of common sense and leave the reader ultimately reminded that the best substitute for experience is being 19.

Barrie, J. M. Peter and Wendy (London, 1911).
1st edition, preceding the look alike but much more common American edition. Signed and briefly inscribed. A fine and brilliant copy in a beautiful, completely unrestored flash of a dustjacket, all you could ever hope for in a 1911 jacket but just to be meticulously precise we'll tell you that the spine is faded a shade, there is a tiny nick at 1 corner and a thin sliver of wear on the back panel, none of which will bother you. Fine full morocco case. 25,000

Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up, made his first appearance in Barrie's The Little White Bird (London, 1902) and he showed up again for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (London, 1906) but they're different stories with different characters and nobody ever reads either one of them because Peter and Wendy (London, 1911) is the novel known around the world, with Wendy, John and Michael Darling, Nana the Newfoundland, Captain Hook, his nemesis the crocodile, Tinkerbell, Tiger Lily, the Mermaids' Lagoon, the Lost Boys and Neverland. Inscribed copies are very scarce, those in unrestored jackets perhaps more so and finding both together in this exemplary condition is worth growing up for.

Barrie, J. M. Peter and Wendy (London, 1911).
1st edition. A fine copy in a fine unrestored dustjacket, the spine slightly faded and with one 1/2" tear at the spine. Every bit as beautiful as the copy above but not inscribed. 10,000

Boccaccio, Giovanni The Decameron,
Containing An Hundred Pleasant Novels (London, 1620).
2 vols. 1st edition in English of the first book of modern fiction. A spectacular copy, complete with the errata leaf. Full morocco, gilt, signed by Riviere. 2 trifling natural paper flaws and a small tear to text repaired else fine condition throughout, with every letter of preliminaries and text absolutely genuine. Written between 1348 and 1353 and here printed in English by Isaac Jaggard, 3 years before he printed Shakespeare's 1st folio. 30,000

The Decameron broke free from all previous literary tradition with, among other inventions, the first collection of stories about common people. The range is a wide one, comic and tragic, serious and satiric, courteous and bawdy, prototypical in mood and manner, always worldly and witty and usually marked by intense realism, praising virtue, wisdom, prudence and generosity. The settings are occasionally fantastic or oriental but most circle the Mediterranean to Italy, Sicily, Corfu, Rhodes, Cyprus, England, France and Spain. Boccaccio is also concerned with restricted spatial reality and drafts, in close detail, internal settings of abbeys, bedrooms, churches, marketplaces, castles and inns and different social classes are shown with their own customs, clothing and language. He draws upon the entire arsenal of medieval rhetoric, realizes the modern paradoxical style and tone and presents a very human world for the first time in literature. Only in the concept of an encompassing framework does he make use of what was known in earlier literature from both the Orient and the West. Here, it is 10 people in 1348, escaping from a plague ridden Florence to the countryside where they spend 10 days, each of them telling a single tale on each of the 10 days, thus 100 stories.

No other set of the 1620 1st in English of both volumes has sold at auction in the last 10 years. The real 1st has been humiliating collectors since the ark docked. The last complete one was the Duke of Roxburghe's copy (Sotheby's, 1812) sold to the Marquis of Blandford (acting as Napoleon's agent) for £2,260, the highlight of a sale where a fine 1st folio Shakespeare brought £100.

Bradbury, Ray The Illustrated Man (Garden City, 1951).
1st edition. Fine in fine dustjacket, looks fresh enough to eat with the red-orange jacket spine not faded, a rare state of survival. Oh yes, $650 copies are out there but beauties like ours aren't.2,000

Bradbury's best book of stories. Better than Something Wicked or Dark Carnival or October Country or Martian Chronicles. Each and every one is highly crafted, and emotion generating (an important quality breakthrough for science fiction). They're bound by the device of a man's tattoo pictures coming alive to tell each of the 18 stories. The Veldt explores a futuristic playroom where children's fantasies lead to their parents death. The Long Rain observes a group of men lost on Venus. In Kaleidoscope the crew of an exploded starship hurl through space to their deaths. And then there's Zero Hour, more horror than not, where a child leads her alien playmate to the attic where her parents are hiding.

Bryant, Peter Two Hours to Doom (London, 1958).
1st edition, preceding the American paperback edition which was titled Red Alert and is often sold as the 1st edition, a tribute to this hardbound London edition, presumably so scarce that its very existence remains esoteric. Near fine in a nice looking, color, pictorial dustjacket (mushroom cloud) with some rubbing to the dark areas and a small chip to the top of the spine. 1,250

Made into a frightening film of Promethean influence defining the cultural nightmare that never came true. But our time juxtaposes guided missiles and misguided men, so keep an eye to the window. When the cows start tunneling it's going to be bad weather.

Burgess, Anthony A Clockwork Orange (London, 1962).
1st edition, 1st binding of black cloth. The medieval dentist of modern classics. Fine in 1st state dustjacket (priced 16s). Nearly indiscernible fading to the spine but a superior jacket without a single nick or tear. Kubrick's 1971 film changed the ending and subsequent editions of the book conform to the film. 5,000

Burroughs, Edgar Rice Tarzan of the Apes (Chicago, 1914).
1st edition. Near fine in dustjacket. Signed and inscribed presentation copy to R. H. Davis who was Burroughs' first publisher and the publisher of Tarzan of the Apes for its first appearance in All Story magazine. The best copy in the world. Fine full morocco case. 145,000

Burroughs, Edgar Rice The Land That Time Forgot (Chicago, 1924).
1st edition. Fine in a fresh, absolutely stunning dustjacket. Presentation copy to his son, signed "Dad" and dated "July 25, 1924." The inscription inserts the boy into the story with a fine drawing of him throwing a mammoth. The earliest inscribed copy of the few known to me. The best copy in the world, uniting inscription and condition. Fine full morocco case. 15,000

Burroughs, William S. The Soft Machine (Paris, 1961).
1st edition of a gloomy look at cybernetics. 1st issue with "NF 15" uncanceled and though all copies of the 1st edition were printed at the same time they were not issued or sold simultaneously. The price was increased sometime after publication day and only those, as yet unissued copies, still in the hands of the publisher, had the increased price stamped on the back, and only those, as yet unsold copies, in bookshops had the price canceled by hand. Fine in fine dustjacket, fresh and perfect with no fading or darkening whatsoever. A splendid copy, 20 times as rare as a near fine copy for 3 times the price, the crux and core of collecting. The second of 3 novels comprising Burroughs cut-up trilogy, more terrifying than a parachute jump into Jurassic Park and seemingly the rarest of the 3 in strictly fine condition. 2,000

Bushnell, Candace Sex and the City (NY, 1996).
1st edition. Her first book. Fine in fine dustjacket. Source of the HBO series. Scarcer than you think it is. 185
New York women from the ground up beginning with their shoes. Is she infatuated? See the pointiness of her toe. Is she overconfident? See the angle of her arch. Is she insecure? See the width of her heel. Is she over you? See the flimsiness of her strap. Style translates throughout. The shine factor (ignore you). The pain factor (marry you). The danger factor (use you). The sleeze factor (dump you).

Byron, George Gordon (Lord) Don Juan (London, 1819-1824).
6 vols. 1st edition, 1st issue. Cantos I to XVI (complete). Nearly fine in original boards and labels, uncut, neatly rebacked long ago. The first volume (cantos I-II) is 4to. Vols. 2-6 (cantos III-XVI) are 8vo. as first published. All half-titles, errata and ads. Vols. 2-6 are large paper copies limited to 1500 each (against 15,000 on small paper). Rare these days with no other complete, 1st issue, large paper set in boards at auction in the last 10 years. 25,000

Byron intended this as a satire and his complex nature finds full and vivid expression. His impassioned love of liberty, his implacable hatred of hypocrisy and his cynical and romantic moods are all reflected in a vast social comedy intershot with the author's inspired and fiery wit. Juan is a young gentleman from Seville who because of an intrigue with Donna Julia is sent abroad by his mother at the age of 16. A shipwreck puts him in an overcrowded longboat where first his spaniel and then his tutor are eaten by the crew. He is cast up on a Greek island where he is returned to life by Haidee, the beautiful daughter of Lambro, a Greek pirate. The pair fall in love but Lambro finds them together and places Juan in chains. Haidee goes mad and dies while Don Juan is sold as a slave to Gulbeyas, sultana of Constantinople. She loves Juan but he falls for one of her harem girls and this so arouses the jealousy of the sultana that he barely escapes with his life, this time to the Russian army which is besieging Ismail. Because of his gallant conduct during the battle, he is sent with a dispatch to St. Petersburg where he catches the eye of the Empress Catherine who, in turn, sends him on a political mission to England. Here Byron intermingles the delights of Don Juan in succumbing to beautiful women with a satirical description of English social conditions. The last canto is especially filled with attacks on the victims of Byron's scorn and enmity but all 16 cantos are riddled with digressions on every sort of subject. In one aside he refuses to mourn the death of the Marquis of Londonberry because there are so many who still mourn his birth. And in today's white noise world, Don Juan still stands tall as a slinky reminder that a man is only as faithful as his options.

Carroll, Lewis Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (London, 1866).
1st edition. This is the real 1st published edition, dated 1866 on the title page but issued in December, 1865. It is preceded only by the 23 surviving copies of the suppressed London issue (dated 1865) which was never published nor sold to anyone. And this 1866 London edition precedes the 1866 American re-issue of those same suppressed sheets by 6 months. Original cloth, some unevenness to the color and a spot of soiling to the corner of the front cover but those are the only faults and this is otherwise a fine copy, with no splits, nicks, chips, tears, wear, repair or restoration, and splits (to the cloth joints) seem inevitable. A rare state of survival for this title, the finest copy I've seen in a decade and perfect copies are like perfect little girls. Everybody's heard about them but nobody knows for sure how to raise one. 60,000

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Chandler, Raymond Playback (London, 1958).
1st edition, preceding the American. Fine in near fine dustjacket. Presentation copy to his real life girl next door, a 20 something fashion designer whom Chandler lusted after, romanced, dated but never bedded, "To Sally [Percival] with love and kisses and whatever else might seem suitable to the occasion. A real natural blonde with gray eyes. What does a man do? Darling Ray." Chandler inscriptions are scarce and almost always terse. This one's long and intimate and a glance at the letters he wrote to her leave no doubt that Chandler was smitten. Fine cloth case. Hints of a replayed murder, Marlowe as cynical narrator, a plotline with more conflicts than a North Korean chef judging a dog show and an inverted Les Miserables subplot starring Betty Mayfield as Jean Valjean. And though this is his last novel, it's still filled with all the characteristic style and wit for which he is a legend. 9,500

"She didn't look like a tramp and she didn't look like a crook. Which meant only that she could be both with more success than if she had."

"The silence fell like a bag of feathers."

"[He] smiled &endash; very slightly. Call it a down payment on a smile."

"She drove beautifully. When a woman is a really good driver she is just about perfect."
-Chandler, Playback

Christie, Agatha The Moving Finger (London, 1943).
1st English edition. Fine (unfaded) in a near fine dustjacket, price clipped, tiny tears at the edges but the reds are red and the greens are green and such copies are not at the end of every finger. 750

(Cinema) Vintage Poster The Perils of Pauline (Eclectic Film Co. 1914).
Striking color pictorial one sheet lithograph, 41" X 27". From the original classic serial by Charles W. Goddard (episode 4). United States Printing and Lithograph Co. Near fine condition, neatly backed. A rare poster, especially next to those from the talking pictures era and it's a valuable one. I've not seen another one sheet from episode 4 but I did see a one sheet from episode 2 that brought $7,500 in 1999. Pauline (Pearl White) evades attempts on her life by pirates, Indians, gypsies, rats, sharks, villains and her dastardly guardian. Her most symbolic plight is being tied to railroad tracks in front of a rapidly approaching train. The sequel has Pauline giving her Visa number, billing address and expiration date to 20 different now defunct and likely desperate dot-coms. Framed. Ex-Camden House, 1985. Ex-Christie's, 2001. 2,250

Clark, Walter Van Tilburg The Ox-Bow Incident (NY, 1940).
1st edition of a seminal western. Fastidiously preserved advance reading copy, fine in wrappers and fine pictorial dustjacket. Cloth case. 1,500

Colder than an ice cream headache with Judge Colt's jury of six, in days passe´ before hangin' meant having nothing to do and facing the music was worse than exercising to it.

Cooper, James Fenimore Precaution (NY, 1820).
2 vols. 1st edition. Rare. His first book, but more important, the first novel by the first successful American novelist. Original plain gray boards, imprinted spine. Fragile paper backstrips and a trifling nick to the blank margin of the vol. II title page restored long ago, still, near fine, uncut, with half-titles, errata leaf and all blanks. Virtually unobtainable in boards, this is the only unimpeachable set I have seen. B. A. L. notes just 3 copies, Yale, Harvard, NY Public and the list of noble collectors who never got (never saw) Precaution in boards reads like a who's who of bookmen rich and famous including, Kern, Hersholt, Stockhausen, Newton, Currie, Epstein, Webster, Slater, Prescott, Hogan, Martin and Manney and this amazing set would leave any one of them mopping like a grounded teenager. 27,500

Cooper, James Fenimore The Pathfinder (NY, 1840).
2 vols. 1st American edition, 1st issue (printing?) of 4 with "Collins" centered in vol. I and no copyright notice, conforming exactly to the deposit copy in the Library of Congress. Priority seems indisputable and there is little doubt that copies of all 4 issues continue to be sold as 1st editions, diminishing the apparent scarcity of the real thing. Slight wear at the corners, spines faded half a shade, else near fine in original cloth and paper labels, an especially nice, unrestored set. Fine half morocco case. The 4th published title (of 5) from Cooper's Leatherstalking saga, and as we cross the bridge from an age of existentialism to an age of irony, here's a shout out to James Fenimore Cooper, author of the earliest series of American novels that anybody still reads for entertainment (the conclusive definition of a classic). 3,000

A tale of the wild and dangerous frontier, a world no longer existing in the northern hemisphere unless you count those places near Russia like Usedtobecalledsomethingelsezicstan.

Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage (NY, 1895).
1st edition, 1st issue. Near fine in dustjacket, minor wear, spine dusty, 2 folds strengthened but a way cool 1895 jacket, finer than usually seen, when seen, which is now almost never. Crane, age 24, writes the first modern war novel, merging realism, symbolism, naturalism and impressionism in a psychological portrayal of fear targeting a haunted creature who typifies all untried men.10,500

(Cuneiform Letter) Ancient Clay Tablet (Mesopotamia, ca. 1800 B. C.).
Administrative tablet of hard clay from the Old Babylonian period (1 3/8" X 1 3/16"). 10 lines of cuneiform letters, 7 on the front, 3 on the back, written in a bold, provincial hand. It lists eight men and their supervisor, delivering a sheep. Fine (grades "extremely fine"), intact and complete, the writing is sharp and clear with almost no wear, exceptional for such a venerable survivor. Sumerian cuneiform is the earliest known form of writing, this tablet being communication roughly equivalent to a modern letter of introduction. The hand of man stretching across the eons for nearly 4000 years. Translation: Har...-Sin (1 sheep from), Belshunu, Iddinia, Arnabum, Mannun-balum-ili, Na..., Ahuya, Wedum-emuqi, Sin-magir, Sin-ishmeanni (authority). 1,250

Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe (Amsterdam, 1727-1742-1735).
3 vols. Early complete edition in French, but how early and how complete is beyond my divination as continental bibliographies for English books are a burlesque. The few sets available for comparison often have different collations or less plates (ours has 21 plates and a map), some repeat the map in all 3 volumes and no reliable details of the printing history are available. Vols. I and 3 have copperplate engraved fleurons, vol. II has the fleuron from a woodcut suggesting it's pirated. That said, here's your warm coal to blow on. This is an amazing set in original French, glazed boards, wear to spines but uncut and unrestored. The bindings all match so were surely purchased together despite different printers and dates and finding a finer set will prove as futile as trying to get high drinking bong water. 3 half calf cases. 3,750

An immortal plotline, still used in science fiction novels with a distant planet replacing Crusoe's island. In a sign that the plot is getting stale, Cuba has sued C. B. S. and its hit show Survivor, claiming that the Cuban government invented the popular island survival game and all 11 million of their citizens have been participating for 4 decades.

Douglas, Lloyd C. The Robe (Boston, 1942).
1st edition. Fine in a nice jacket with just a little wear and fading. Signed, inscribed, presentation copy, appropriately, a Christmas gift from the author. Historical novel about the robe of Jesus, set in a time when religion in Europe was still pure and on the defensive. But the pendulum swings, so the dark ages followed the fall of the western Roman empire and featured a bloody immolation of millions of poor human beings in honor of some pitiless abstraction. Widely unrecognized for the scarce, wartime 1st edition that it is. Fine half morocco case. 3,000

Doyle, Conan The Return of Sherlock Holmes (London, 1905).
1st English edition. Near fine, a superior copy. 13 masterpieces. The rarest book of Holmes stories in this condition. 3,800

Doyle, Conan The Valley of Fear (NY, 1915).
1st edition. Fine. The fourth Holmes and Watson novel, half of it set in America. This NY edition, published Feb. 27, 1915, precedes the London edition, published June 3rd, by 3 months but the chronology versus nationality question is more hermetic than not and the arguments I've heard sound like circus clowns ranting about why they hate birthday party clowns. 875

Doyle, Conan The Valley of Fear (London, 1915).
1st English edition. A fine copy of a delicate and easily worn book, seldom seen these days in such impressive condition. 6000 copies were printed, the smallest print run for any of the London editions after the first 2 books. Compare the 6000 copies of this book to the 10,000 that were printed of The Adventures, The Memoirs and His Last Bow, the 15,000 that were printed of The Return and The Casebook and the 25,000 copies of The Hound. And this edition is even more fragile than its predecessors. And though very good copies are still common, fine copies are both not to be had and inexplicably undervalued. 1,875

Du Maurier, Daphne Rebecca (London, 1938).
Du Maurier's 1st edition page proofs. A neat stack of loose sheets, dated "25 Jun, 1938," with her final, handwritten corrections, deletions and additions in pencil and blue crayon and also some corrections by a proofreader. Rebecca is among the most famous mysteries in all of English literature and was made into a revered film by Alfred Hitchcock. Minor foxing else near fine. Probably the first copy, certainly unique. A format not expected to survive, with good chi on every page. Fine half morocco case. 15,000

A classic masterpiece that subtly subverts the Cinderella, rags to riches theme providing an eerie Gothic narrative. The atmospheric dream described in the opening scene gives a sonorous clue to the grim reality found in the last chapter. The primary characters include the nameless heroine, her introverted husband Maxim de Winter who suffers from an old case of estrogen poisoning, their housekeeper the obsessive Mrs. Danvers, the house, Manderley, a gothic incarnation of grandeur in the modern style and the former wife of de Winter, the now deceased Rebecca who haunts them all and gives her name to the title. There are dozens of great thrillers in 20th century western literature but at the pinnacle of fame there is only one Rebecca and this is the optimum copy of it. We own this with Heritage so you can buy it there if we're too scary.

"He did not look at me, he went on reading his paper, contented, comfortable, having assumed his way of living, the master of the house. And as I sat there, brooding, my chin in my hands, fondling the soft ears of one of the spaniels, it came to me that I was not the first one to lounge there in possession of the chair; someone had been before me, had surely left an imprint of her person on the cushions, and on the arm where her hand had rested. Another one had poured the coffee from that same silver coffee pot, had placed the cup to her lips, had bent down to the dog, even as I was doing."

Fleming, Ian Diamonds Are Forever (London, 1956).
1st edition. Page edges a bit foxed else fine in fine jacket. 3,500

Fleming, Ian Dr. No (London, 1958).
1st edition, 2nd binding with the girl on the cover. Fine in fine 1st state jacket with only pinpoints of rubbing at the corners. 1,250


Fowles, John The Collector (London, 1963).
1st edition of his first book. Signed. Fine in fine jacket. 950

This is the second novel Fowles wrote but the first he published. Remembering to dig the well before he got thirsty, he held a solid draft of The Magus in hand and took an easy year to polish it while basking in The Collector's success. Now the first book's a minor classic and should have major legs, unless book collecting itself is dwarfed by the next insufferable, Japanese, cartoon, toy craze.

Frost, Robert Mountain Interval (NY, 1916).

1st edition, 1st printing with lines 8 and 9 repeated as line 10 on page 88. Fine in near fine dustjacket (light wear at spine tips). The jacket has $1.25 on both the front panel and spine, ads for Frost's books on the front and back panels and blank flaps. 2,750

Contains 30 inveterate, poetic jewels including The Road Not Taken. All 30 have Frost's impeccable ear for the rhymes of speech, his realistic handling of the environment, his way of revealing human nature by means of dramatic events, his sly whimsy, his clear and moral songs of rural democratic joys and his warm philosophy, simple, sure and strong.

Gershwin, George George Gershwin's Song Book (NY, 1932).
1st edition. Fine in a beautiful dustjacket with some minor and invisible strengthening still a fresh and bright jacket and a very scarce one. Signed and inscribed to Wilmot Gordon. Music and lyrics for I Got Rhythm, 'S Wonderful, Swanee and 15 others. Stylishly illustrated by Constantin Alajalov and includes a bibliography of Gershwin's published works. 8,500

There was also a limited, signed edition of 300 but inscribed trade editions are scarcer, particularly in dustjacket. Gershwin was the greatest of all American composers. Among other exploits, he won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to anyone for a musical, approval at a time when it had to be earned, well before America became the giant Twinkie set in the midst of a billion starving people.

Guterson, David Snow Falling on Cedars (NY, 1994).
1st edition. Fine in fine dustjacket. Signed and inscribed presentation copy to Annie Dillard expressing his gratitude for her support and dated in the year of publication. A great modern association copy the likes of which are rarely seen today as such books, when they exist, seldom come to the market but are rather preserved among the recipient's papers and possessions if for no other reason than such successful authors don't need such sums of money. 1,000

Haggard, H. Rider She (London, 1887).
1st edition, 1st issue. The invention of the lost race novel, defining the formula for all that followed, undeniably impactful and faithfully imitated. Magnificent, signed presentation copy to George Saintsbury, dated 29 Dec. 1886, a literary association coupling the best selling author of the day and the foremost literary critic. Inner paper hinges neatly strengthened but that's the only fault and the cloth is fresh and unworn, all one could want in any Victorian presentation copy. And it's the only inscribed 1st edition to sell at auction in 20 years and Dec. 29, 1886, appears to be the earliest known copy of the few that still exist. Fine full morocco case. Ex-Ray Epstein (Swann, $3960 in 1992). 11,000

Haggard, H. Rider Cleopatra (London, 1889).
1st edition. Historical romance made into a lavish film that, during production, bled Fox to near bankruptcy. Small edgetears to 1 plate still a fine, bright copy complete with the tipped in slip and Aug. 1889 ads (not mentioning Cleopatra). 400

Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever and Haggard does capture some of the real Cleo after much minimizing and abuse by historians. Lost your job? Wrecked your car in a fast food line? Blew your marriage to a quick fling? Ruined your best book with a hasty repair? Left your favorite sweater at the movies? Get over it. This is the you ain't heard nothing yet novel, with alternate history suggesting that born in a time other than one dominated by world conquering Roman Generals, Cleopatra might well have ruled Egypt alone, indifferently dismissive of men as little more than the useless piece of flesh at the end of a penis.

Hemingway, Ernest Across the River and Into the Trees (NY, 1950).
1st American edition of his 6th novel. Way cool, signed presentation copy inscribed from one maestro to another, "To mi amigo Ty Cobb, Keep Swinging, Ernest Hemingway, 1951." If you're tired of association copies whose importance needs to be explained, this one needs none. Near fine in 1st state jacket. Fine full morocco case.45,000

Another recasting of the Nick Adams (In Our Time) and Frederic Henry (Farewell to Arms) character, just as well written but this time around it seemed a self-parody to some contemporary critics who, unprepared for new incarnations by a master, toe tagged it at publication with international ridicule heretofore known only towards the French, though the N.Y. Times review justifiably praised it, calling Hemingway, "the outstanding writer since the death of Shakespeare." And the public must have liked it some because Across the River was Hemingway's only No. 1 bestseller and Cobb must have liked it some because this was the only 1st edition, inscribed by Hemingway, remaining in his library.

"Even if it appears to be a mockery of his own fate, it seems to me that his most charming and human work is his least successful one: Across the River and Into the Trees. It is, as he himself revealed, something that began as a story and went astray into the mangrove jungle of a novel. When the book was published the criticism was fierce but misguided. Not only was it his best novel, it was also his most personal, for he had written it at the dawn of an uncertain autumn, with nostalgia for the irretrievable years already lived and a poignant premonition of the few years he had left to live. In none of his books did he leave much of himself, nor did he find - with all the beauty and all the tenderness - a way to give form to the essential sentiment of his work and his life: the uselessness of victory. The death of his protagonist, ostensibly so peaceful and natural, was the disguised prefiguration of his own suicide." -Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, July 26, 1981.

Hemingway, Ernest The Old Man and the Sea (NY, 1952).
1st edition, 1st printing. Fine in fine dustjacket (perfect). The portrait on the back is in blue, championed by the bibliography as the 1st state (preceding the portrait in olive) but priority remains less than certain as any bibliographical confidence is dashed when Hanneman surely goes astray in a rant about "production symbols" during a foggy few lines about this jacket. 3,500

Hemingway, Ernest A Moveable Feast (NY, 1964).
1st edition. Fine in a fine dustjacket. Hemingway's account of his expatriate days around the cafes of Paris where food and company were superb and the only complaint was lack of money. Contrast today when cafes serve chem cream and lab sweet and women with breast implants complain that men don't look them in the eye.275

Ernest Hemingway picked up his pen in a time when verbose authors put on a full suit of literary armor to attack a postcard. He became the master of minimum words and minimum syllables to express a thought provoking, even heartbreaking idea with a style that was as clear as a country creek. In a recent book, no less a figure than Arthur C. Clarke relates the story of some young newspaper reporters who once wagered over who among them could write the deepest story in 6 words. The winner was Hemingway. He wrote: "For sale. Baby shoes. Never used."

Hilton, James Blue Moon
[title later changed to Lost Horizon]
(ca. 1931-1933).
Important, hand corrected, typescript, an early draft, here still entitled Blue Moon. 253 pages with extensive handwritten changes, additions, deletions and corrections by the author and with additional corrections by a proofreader. This is Hilton's bestselling utopia about the search for Shangri-La, the Tibetan paradise whose secret location has always been and is, even today, entrusted only to the Dalai Lama. Ex-The Hilton Collection, and this manuscript was not pretty when we got it. The depression era paper was browned and brittle with tears and chips, but I suffer more than anyone from condition anxiety disorder, so the pages have now had tedious, painstaking and expensive, expert restoration and deacidification and the 253 transmogrified sheets are now supple and in near fine condition. A rare opportunity to own the manuscript of a classic, the single most celebrated modern utopia, but wider than that, one of the best known and worldly famous novels published in the 20th century. 135,000

This manuscript should have been in a British institution long ago. But it was bought in the auction house backwoods of Los Angeles, avoiding the attention of English booksellers who would otherwise, have been on that auction like a dog on a Frisbee, rolled me over, bought the manuscript and stolen my kidney while they were at it. And since I'm whining about aggressive attitudes in the new generation of British booksellers I'll repeat the following.

Ken Lopez shows up at the Pearly Gates and St. Peter asks him, "What is the most courageous thing you ever did?"

"I once saw a book I wanted at a book fair and stood my ground when 3 English dealers converged on the same book."

"Wow," says St. Peter, "When was that?"

Replies Lopez, "Two minutes ago."

(Imprinting Device) Ancient Bronze Seal (Baktria, ca. 150 B. C.).
Striking, Greek seal in bronze. 35mm. (44.34 grams). Flat face engraved with the figure of a hump backed Zebu bull, above it a leaping gazelle, below it a fish, a design hearkening forms seen in the Harappen civilization of the Indus valley. Looped for carrying. A 2100 year old sculptured printing instrument in near fine condition with original brown patina. Ex-C. N. G. No.57. 1,150

Baktria was of Persian founding with its capital city of Baktra at the foot of Mt. Paropamisos. Alexander the Great (356-323 B. C.) conquered and settled the kingdom, leaving some of his Greek mercenaries and disabled Macedonian troops behind when he moved on in 329 B. C. This seal is likely from the reign of Eukratides (171-135 B. C.), the most peaceful and prosperous period in the history of the kingdom, giving rise to a flourishing culture of thought and art. Some antiquities are cool and some are not cool, this being the former, and like pornography, I can't define it but I know it when I see it.

Irving, John The World According to Garp (NY, 1978).
1st edition. Near fine in dustjacket. Transcendent 2 page inscription, "For Hugh Moorhead John Irving. The meaning of life? We are all terminal cases. but I find that no surprise and no cause for cynicism or despair. It's all the more reason to live purposefully and well." Rare inscription, best I've seen, and routine copies are so plentiful they couldn't be hoisted with a forklift. 1,750

James, Henry The Ambassadors (NY, 1903).
1st American edition, 1st binding thematically about parental control and the idea that there's nothing wrong with children that reasoning with them won't aggravate. Among the usual cast of characters is a tested James constant, a girlfriend who changes her man into someone she's no longer interested in. Fine in near fine dustjacket. The jacket's sturdy and survives more frequently than usual for the vintage but it's not common this nice. 1,000

Joyce, James Dubliners (NY, 1916).
1st edition, 1st printing, 2nd issue of Joyce's first book of prose. The 1st printing was 1250 total copies of which 746 were issued in London and 504 were issued in New York, both having the same exact sheets with different title pages. This edition should not be confused with the 1917 American edition which is a reprint. 1 inner paper hinge strengthened but the cloth is fresh and near fine, leaving no doubt that it has had a dustjacket over it all its life. The rare printed jacket has faded from light tan to brown on the spine and has some expert restoration but this is one of the 20th century's rarest major books in jacket and this is a nice looking and genuine copy of it. The printing numbers indicate that the NY issue of the 1st printing should be just as rare as the London issue and our last copy of the London in jacket was $85,000. 18,500

Joyce's Dubliners and Hemingway's In Our Time are the two most influential collections of stories published in the 20th century. This will prove to be the last Dubliners in jacket this inexpensive.

 

(Kennedy) The Piero Della Francesca Trail by Sir John Pope Hennessy (1991).
1st edition. FROM THE PERSONAL LIBRARY OF JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS, WITH HER BOOKPLATE. Signed presentation copy from the author, "To Jackie, a small tribute from John." Fine in fine dustjacket. An illustrated chronological analysis tied to the rediscovery of this Italian master painter. Sir John Pope-Hennessy was a heavy guy. He was Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, then at Cambridge and then at New York University. He was Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, then Director of the British Museum and at the time of this gift he was Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as a friend of Jackie's. From the legendary Sotheby's sale of Jackie's estate. 1,750

Kern, Jerome Good Morning Dearie (NY, 1922).
1st edition. Rare. The best copy in the world. Signed and inscribed, incorporating the printed title, "To Alexander Woollcott, who said he liked [Good Morning Dearie] from his Sincerely, Jerome D. Kern, March 15, 1922." The dedication page reads, "Dedicated to Alexander Woollcott by one of his grateful admirers Jerome Kern." Unique publisher's presentation binding of midnight blue morocco, the dedication repeated in gilt on the cover. The binding neatly restored and rebacked but what's important in pantyhose is what you put into them and the price reflects that it's not a fine copy, so this isn't about condition. A heavyweight book, associating the foremost literary critic of the day and the leading composer (not surpassed by Gershwin until 1923). 10,000

Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (NY, 1962).
1st edition of his first book. Misprint, "fool Red Cross Woman" on page 9, which will or won't prove to be a valid distinction between early and later issues of the 1st edition. Fine in near fine dustjacket, a superior and satisfying copy despite a thin sliver of a nick (1/8" deep) at the top of the spine and though perfect jackets may be available someplace, you'll have to be rendered unconscious by a storm in Kansas to get there. 8,500

The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom, here relevant to specific and previously unarticulated needs felt so extensively in the 1960s that millions of copies were sold. Daring to laugh at the absurdities of mental hospital regimes, the book's hero, Randle Patrick McMurphy, raucous, exuberant and indomitable, sets about liberating his fellow inmates from the institutional constraints they have accepted, personified in the form of Nurse Ratched, a perversion of femininity and an enemy to her own nature. The message is a heavy one, that the agent of change may have to sacrifice himself to his cause and the book remains a striking anticipation of the counter-culture which radicalized America. Surprisingly, the film was a great one winning all 5 major Oscars, best picture, director, screenplay, actress and actor.

Lewis, C. S. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (London, 1952).
1st edition. Inscribed to the dedicatee, Geoffrey Corbett, the model for one of the children in the series, "With Love" and signed "Jack Lewis." Lewis disliked his first name (Clive) and used Jack with his intimates. A chatty, handwritten note signed, to the dedicatee, on an Oxford card (Sept. 1952), is laid in. Near fine in dustjacket with light wear. Fine full morocco case. The only Narnia dedication copy known to exist. 45,000

Lewis, C. S. The Horse and His Boy (London, 1954).
1st edition. The fifth Narnia. The book's nice, the dustjacket has chips at the corners and a little wear at 1 fold. 850

Lovecraft, H. P. The Outsider and Others (Sauk City, 1939).
1st edition of his magnum opus. Fine in fine, 1st state dustjacket with just the slightest rubbing to the spine tips. Contains virtually all of his greatest stories. Only The Shunned House and The Shadow Over Innsmouth appeared earlier in hardcover and both were published in tiny editions that were never widely distributed and sold only to a small group of rabid supporters better known for squatting on their haunches and grooming each other. Both stories are collected here along with 34 others published in hardcover for the first time as well as the essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature. Chronically offered with a buzz-kill, near facsimile reprint of the jacket but this copy is true blue and now seldom seen, especially in this condition. 6,500



Malamud, Bernard The Natural (NY, 1952).
1st edition. Near fine (owner's name erased from pastedown endpaper) in near fine dustjacket (bump at tip of spine). 3,750

Milne, A. A. Winnie the Pooh [and]
_{The House at Pooh Corner} (London, 1926, 1928).
2 vols. 1st editions, 1st issues. Each is 1 of just 20 large paper copies printed on Japanese vellum, bound in the publisher's original full white vellum and signed by Milne and the illustrator, E. H. Shepard (Winnie is No.19 and House is No.5). Rare. Very slight, natural toning to the vellum covers but a fine set, carefully preserved, never read, never even opened and most copies look like they're from the library of the Blair Witch. The rarest limitation, preceding the trade issues by a day and this set is the complete stories as the other 2 books in the series contain only poetry, and the name Winnie the Pooh is not to be found anywhere in the first of them (When We Were Very Young).
Together: 2 vils. 80,000

Milne, A. A. Winnie the Pooh (London, 1926).
1st edition, the trade issue. Fine in fine dustjacket and despite 1 small patch of rubbing this is a fresh and scintillating jacket and the spine's not faded. 8,500

Universally acclaimed with a nearly spotless social record having been banned in only one small public library where anti-pooh piglets squealed that it caused YTD (youthful tendency disorder).

Morrison, Toni The Bluest Eye (NY, 1970).
1st edition. The Nobel Laureate's first book and her rarest. Near fine in a near fine, beautiful, bright and fresh dustjacket with 1 small blemish of rubbing 3/8" X 1/8" effecting portions of 3 letters. Toni Morrison's was a new expression in African-American literature. The Bluest Eye is a whirlwind, the tragic story of Pecola Breedlove whose young life is ruined by poverty, racism, ignorance and violence, but hey, under rough enough circumstances we're all brothers and sisters because these elements will fuck you up no matter what color you are. 4,750

Orwell. George Nineteen Eighty-Four
(London, 1949).
1st edition. Fine in fine green dustjacket (no priority). 5,500

Newspeak, thoughtcrime, plusgood, hateweek and doublethink. Maybe it all happened right on schedule and we just missed it in sleepthrough.

Orwell. George Nineteen Eighty-Four
(London, 1949).
1st edition. Fine in fine red dustjacket (no priority). 5,500

Peter, Sarah Pen in Hand (NY, 1996).
1st edition, one of 125 signed copies. Fine. Complete (all 6 pieces). From the outside in; string, seal, tissue, man's cotton shirt pocket, pen holder and Mont Blanc like fountain pen which opens lengthwise to become a book with 20 literary bon mots, such as Wilde's, "Biography lends to death a new terror." Ingeniously conceived and precisely realized. For the craftsman, how is what. For the mystic, what is how. For Ms. Peter, they are one. 380

Poe, Edgar A. Tales (NY, 1845).
1st edition, 1st printing, 1st issue. The single most important book of short stories in all of American literature. Original wrappers, uncut, very good (looks nice), complete with prelims, all ads and 12 classic stories including The Gold Bug, The Black Cat and the first 3 detective stories ever written, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter and The Mystery of Marie Roget. Tales demonstrates Poe's inspired creation of the modern formula for short fiction he called aesthetic unity, a tight attention to detail and thematic content aimed at persuading the reader of its truth and plausibility and starring, the brilliant but eccentric amateur detective, the original admiring friend who narrates the story, the cases which are puzzling and fantastic, the blundering Police and the dramatically revealed solution at the end, all elements of form so perfectly designed and executed that they are still followed without alteration. A great rarity. 750 printed but the wrappers are so fragile that only 5 other copies survive, 4 in institutions and 1 in private hands (Martin, Sotheby's, 1990, $49,500). Wrappers dusty, 1 tiny corner mended, wear to spine, rear wrap mostly gone (now restored), light foxing, blank, half-title and 1 ad leaf recornered but we're being fussy so don't get distracted. This is America's book of books and since just the example at Indiana (Lilly Library) is in much better condition, actualizing your hallucinations of a finer copy will need the right librarian, keys to the rare book room, rags soaked in chloroform and a trunk lid that won't open from the inside. Poe invents the detective story, a work of genius, the dominating literary invention original to American fiction. 90,000

"Poe's Tales is the greatest volume of short stories ever to appear from the hand of man." -A. S. W. Rosenbach

"The first and greatest, the cornerstone of cornerstones in any reader or collector's guide, the highest of all highspots." -Ellery Queen

Polidori, John The Vampyre (London, 1819).
1st edition, pp. [i-vii] viii-xvi [xvii-xix] xx-xxv [xxvi] [27] 28-84. Original gray wrappers (the only publisher's binding). A little wear at the corners, still extraordinary condition, both inside and out, complete, uncut, partially unopened and never restored. Fine full morocco case. Despite a few minor 18th century appearances, this is the book that gave sucking a bad name, the first fully dressed out vampire in fiction, an immortal creation, saturated with images of epic power and permanently in the bloodstream of our culture. The wrappers are as fragile as sea-monkeys, the bibliography is more confusing than 5 people trying to share a Kit-Kat. This copy is the 1st printing with "almost" misspelled on page 36, the extract set in 24 lines, the title page in the 4th state (the 1st published) preceded, only, by 3 never issued trial states, all of them part of this same 1st printing (4 total copies known). This is the exact book you could have bought in a bookstore on publication day. Worn, imperfect, defective, repaired, rebound or otherwise pulseless copies show up every year or two bringing a few thousand dollars, depending on how long it's been since the life was drained out of them. Copies in wrappers are like immortality, lots of talk but nobody has it. Polidori was Lord Byron's doctor and traveling companion, and was the fifth participant in the famous ghost story session with Byron, his squeeze Claire and the Shelleys (Mary and Percy) and there's plenty of contemporary evidence that Byron was, at least, somewhat involved in writing this book and some contemporary evidence that Polidori was made from one of Byron's ribs. 10,500

(Rackham, Arthur) Romance of King Arthur (London, 1917).
1st edition with numerous line drawings and 16 color plates by Rackham. Fine in a dustjacket with small chips and tears neatly restored, but fresh, integral and rarely seen. A translation of and abridgement from Malory's Mort d'Arthur, the translation excellent, the abridgement maintaining all of the essence. 1,850

Rice, Anne Her Manuscript Diary
(Paris, London, New York, Berkeley and L.A., 1977).
Red cloth, signed twice, 106 handwritten pages (13,000 words in ink). Written during her first ever trip to Europe just following the extraordinary success of her first book, Interview With the Vampire. Her innermost thoughts, never considered for publication, including her reactions to the success of Interview, anger at it being over-edited, pride in seeing hardcover sales climb the bestseller list to No. 4, notes of a conversation with one of her publishers anticipating paperback release, concerns about the screenplay for a future film, a casual reminder to herself that The Feast of All Saints would make a good title, worth saving for a book and ideas for the embryo of a new novel and a handful of short stories. Also, her earliest flashes of becoming rich, disappointment with a visit to Victor Hugo's house, memories of a gray day at The Tower of London, promises she made to herself as she cried at Charles Dickens' grave and a profusion of scenic observations to be used for settings in future novels. The only significant Anne Rice manuscript ever offered for sale and no others seem likely to enter the market. Fine condition. Fine full morocco case. 35,000

It's hard to buy a recognizable manuscript from this vintage if for no other reason than that the authors of books as successful as Interview With the Vampire, don't need the money. As a consequence, ownership is usually clouded and any publicity can bring legal action. Our provenance is solid, but this is unpublished material and the author still holds the copyright. Title is clear and Mrs. Rice has gallantly confirmed our ownership, but the laws of title have more air in them than the head of a super-model so don't mess with her copyright or she may take a reality check and forget that she blessed this.

Sidney, Margaret (Harriet Lothrop) Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (Boston, 1880).
1st edition, 1st issue, 1st printing with "said Polly" as the caption on page 231, etc. A storyline you could pour on a waffle. Fine, no wear, no restoration, bright as a flare, much the finest copy I have seen in 25 years of looking. Fine quarter morocco case. 2.500

These days, 1st editions of Five Little Peppers show up in the auction record no more than once a decade and they're never fine. Even the great Katherine Parsons could only obtain a very good copy and she had the finest, though smallest, collection of 19th century books ever auctioned (Sotheby's, Oct. 6, 1976).

Steinbeck, John Cup of Gold (NY, 1929).
1st edition, 1st binding. of the Nobel Laureate's first book, a historical novel about the pirate Henry Morgan. Fine in scarce 1st issue dustjacket, spine faded, small tears at edges and smaller chips to the spine ends invisibly restored but a fresh enough jacket and the restoration is not extensive. 1537 copies were printed with less than 600 of them sold in this 1st state. 25,000

Steinbeck, John Of Mice and Men (NY, 1937).
1st edition. Fine in fine jacket, exceedingly fresh with no tanning of the jacket's spine whatsoever, a rare state and not one copy in 100 looks like this one. 1st printing. 2,500 copies (pendula, etc.), compared to, for example, 50,000 for Grapes of Wrath. 6,000

Steinbeck consciously wrote this short novel while thinking of it as a play or a film and the dramatic unities, simplicity and exceptional compassion which drove the success of the novel, the play (also 1937) and the film (1939) are apparent throughout.

On the surface this is the story of Lennie Small, a simple minded giant who depends on his friend George Milton to keep him out of trouble. Lennie is falsely accused of rape and the two friends are on the run from a lynch mob. They dream of a small plot of land where they can share a simple life but their scheme of self sufficiency is doomed to failure. Look deeper and the story shows humankind at the mercy of an indifferent fate and touches the Arthurian legend especially in the character of George who moves among the sex-obsessed ranch hands like an unspotted Sir Galahad. His protection of Lennie is loosely chivalrous and their quest for a small holding is like the knight's quest for the grail. Steadfastly emerging as Steinbeck's most loved work, certainly his most widely read among a generation of young readers destined to be tomorrow's book collectors despite an obsession with their degree of denim fade, rainbow hair, derivative tattoos, Nintendo callused hands and facial jewelry reminiscent of bass lures and paper clips in a bad imitation of a living wind chime.

Stevenson, Robert L. Treasure Island (London, 1883).
1st edition, 1st printing, Beinecke's 1st binding of 750 copies with ads dated 7-83. Near fine, clean and beautiful. 22,500

Stoker, Bram Dracula (Westminster, 1897).
1st edition, 1st printing (no ads) and copies with ads are all reprints and buying one is worse than gum in your hair. A very nice, solid copy. Signed blank leaf from a later issue laid in. The shadow, the kiss, the dream, the hunters and the chase. 28,500

Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle Tom's Cabin (Boston, 1852).
2 vols. 1st edition. The first successful use of the novel for propaganda. 1st printing with Jewett's imprint on the spines, all 18 text points as noted in B. A. L. 19343 and only Hobart & Robbins imprint on the copyright page (Rand's imprint was added for the 2nd printing). This Uncle Tom is in original purple cloth. Slight fading of the purple cloth spines to tan and pinpoints of shelfwear at the extreme spine tips but there are no tears or chips, it's clean, and it's never been mishandled or abused. The inside is unexpectedly fresh and clean, with perfect endpapers, only a few spots of foxing (and most sets are foxed to ugly) and this set has never been touched by the restorer. 9,000

Thackeray, William M. The Irish Sketch Book (London, 1843).
2 vols. 1st edition. A presentation copy to W. F. A. Delane, brother of John Delane editor of The Times so perhaps a copy for review. Cloth, bright and near fine, trivial wear at joints and spine tips invisibly strengthened. Fine full morocco case. Thackeray's inscribed 1st editions are among the rarest of major Victorian novelists, this title especially so, with only 1 inscribed set sold at auction this century (Frank Hogan, $425 in 1945, a sale where Frankenstein in boards brought $475 and Byron's Last Will, signed 3 times, sold for $650). 4,000

Fully appreciated in his own time, Thackeray could really write. He was both huge and an innovator, and for 75 years, second in collector appeal only to Dickens among 19th century novelists. But the fashion changes and his unsustainable rank started leaking oil in the 1940s and since then a dozen Victorians have walked right through him. If it's a cycle, he's long on substance and may well rise in a new light to serious esteem. If it's the descending octave he's headed for the landfill of history, to sleep for eternity with the broken crack pipes and unopened junk mail.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings (London, 1954, 1955, 1955).
3 vols. 1st editions. A fine set in fine dustjackets (flawless), that for vol.III the first state with no review blurbs on the rear inner flap. The most valuable trade edition from the second half of the 20th century, and it has been for 25 years, a long run at the pinnicle. 75,000

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings (Boston, 1954, 1955, 1956).
3 vols. 1st American editions (printed in England), early (1st?) issues with the correct dates on all 3 title pages. Vol. I is a little foxed and faded on the spine else near fine. It has an early owner's inscription, Dec. 25, 1954 (publication was Oct. 21). Vol. II varies from Hammond with 1 line of printer's details. It's also a bit faded on the spine and 2 corners are well bumped else near fine. Vol. III is fine. The dustjackets have only minor wear and the first 2 are price clipped but a quite attractive set at yesterday's price.8,500

Travers, P. L. Mary Poppins
(London, 1934).
1st edition. From a variety of binding and jacket colors without priority, ours is fine in yellow cloth and near fine gray jacket, very sharp, with just some trifling specks of wear at the extremities. Rarely seen these days in such sweet condition. 4,250

(Twain, Mark) The Californian (Volumes I-IV, 1864-1866).
4 vols. bound in 2. The original California literary periodical. A nearly complete run, 103 issues, lacking only 1 newspaper in vol. III and a few odd pages (15 1/2" X 10 3/4"). Our set (in lieu of new discovery) is the most complete run of the first 2 years remaining in private hands. Contains 31 early appearances by Mark Twain (including an early version of The Jumping Frog) and more by Brett Harte and others and many individual issues are so rare that decades pass between occurrences at auction or in the trade. Old half calf, worn, the fish wrap is near fine. Californiana of a high water, the ultimate elusive rarity for any Twain collection, and better sets are like Zorro, more legend than fact. Provenance is telling. Ex-Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909, the American author, a beloved and lifelong friend of Mark Twain's and for a time, his secretary). 12,000

Twain, Mark The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Hartford, 1876).
1st American edition, 3rd state of the sheets. Fine condition (perfect), bluer than a smurf. Fine cloth case. 10,000

Printed on laid (not wove) paper and with the front matter paged, Pp. <I-IV> as endpapers, p. <V> half-title, p. <VI> frontispiece. B. A. L. quotes Publisher's Weekly that production began in July, 1876 and suggests 3 printings, but the process was more likely slow and continuous and sheets from multiple states were likely accumulated prior to publication. The first copies were issued on Dec. 8, 1876 and all copies with an 1876 title page (including ours) have Dec. 1876 ads so may have been bound simultaneously. By Jan. 8, 1877 a total of 9,879 had been sold and 1877 reprints have an 1877 title page, and assuming clear priority, it extends over a very short period of time, so what we have here is the very finest of copies as well as an early copy, though it isn't the earliest.

Twain, Mark Huckleberry Finn (NY, 1885).
1st American edition. 1st binding in cloth (page 283 on a stub). Fine, no repair. This copy has the 1st printing points for cloth, so we don't have a dog in this hunt and challenging established bibliography is like dating out of your species, rarely satisfying and devastating if you get caught. But all text corrections were made before page 283 was canceled in Nov. 1884, and copies with later printing points may well have been equally available and randomly issued on publication day in March 1885 so beyond the stub 1st binding there may be no points of issue. 12,500

(Underground Comix) A Collection (R. Crumb, et all, 1966-1972).
150 comix, from various publishers, comprising the best of the best and the narliest of the narly (Down with war! Up with miniskirts!). All are 1st editions, most are the 1st printing. All are fine (the majority grade "very fine"). No restoration. A comprehensive core collection, just what you'd want. Many are unread, set aside at publication. Some came from a distributor who had a widely based standing order, and some came from 2 publishers maintaining unread file copies. The collection is heavy with number 1s, as well as a sprinkling of pre-Zap precursors, the future's irreversibly trucking out of the underground and into the fast lane, and there's always that unparalleled Biblioctopus condition. Tribal shock from the counter culture, so swallow a toad before reading these comix, if you want to be sure of finding nothing still more disgusting before you finish. Ref: Jay Kennedy, Underground and Newave Comix (1982). Together: 5,000

Van Allsburg, Chris Jumanji (Boston, 1981).
1st edition. Fine in a bright dustjacket with 2 small edgetears. Call it a children's book if you like but this one's from the dark side of the sandbox. 750




Verne, Jules De La Terre a La Lune [From the Earth to the Moon] (Paris, 1865).
1st edition (in French), 1st printing with "kniff" on page 11, etc. His third book and among the scarcer of his major novels. Slight foxing, else a fine copy, complete with half-title, contents, errata leaf and 10 page Hetzel ad catalog. The prototype, hard metal science fiction novel and the pattern for all that followed, unsurpassably influential, preceding H. G. Wells by 25 years. French sheep backed boards, gilt titled, ca. 1900. Fine half French morocco case. The most sure of Verne's predictions, anticipating Apollo 8 and man's first journey to and around the moon and back and with many intuitive details including leaving from Florida and returning in the ocean. 3,500

Wilde, Oscar The Picture of Dorian Gray (Philadelphia, 1890).
1st appearance in Lippincott's Monthly magazine. Near fine marred only by a 1/4" chip to the base of the spine but with no repair, white pages, clean covers, spine not brown and copies like this one must have been hidden in the caves of Kandahar because we never see them at auction or in the trade. 4,500

Woolf, Virginia The Common Reader (NY, 1948).
1st edition of both series together (no equivalent London edition). Fine in fine dustjacket, a dazzling copy. Scarce, especially in such condition. Stunning essays that read like little novels. The subjects embrace "Modern Fiction," "The Modern Essay," "The Lives of the Obscure," "How Should One Read a Book?" and a universe of insights on selected authors, many of them women, including, the Bronte sisters, The Countess of Pembroke, Mary Wollstonecraft, Christina Rossetti, George Eliot and Jane Austen. 2500 copies printed (a number more like her books from the 1920s than the 1940s) and even in such fine condition it will still cost you less than a fast food dinner tab for the 3 tenors. 600