Blood for a Stranger

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1942

FIRST EDITION of Jarrell's first book, SIGNED and INSCRIBED BY JARRELL.

Octavo. Original red cloth, original dust jacket. Cloth clean, dust jacket very good with minor wear at spine heel and slight toning at spine. Signed and inscribed by Jarrell on the front free endpaper. Custom cloth clamshell box.

$1,200

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The Twenty-Seventh City

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY FRANZEN on front free endpaper. Jonathan Franzen’s first novel has been compared to Richard Powers, David Foster Wallace, and Don DeLillo “for its labyrinthine plot, its manipulation of multiple viewpoints, and its use of systems theory” (ibid.). Octavo, original half-cloth over boards. original dust jacket. Book near-fine with slight lean, dust jacket fine.

$250

You Can't Win

“The tone of the ‘beat’ world, as Burroughs first perceived it, chimed with the world of Jack Black.” –James Campbell, This is the Beat GenerationFIRST EDITION of Black's influential autobiography; with the extremely rare original dust jacket. This book is often hailed as the first "Beat " book.The memoir of a notorious thief, vagabond, and ‘honorable’ outlaw, You Can’t Win was a bestseller upon its publication in 1926. It would become a favorite book of William S. Burroughs (whose "Junkie" is modeled after it) and with its depiction of a free, loose, nomadic lifestyle, become one of the most influential works for the Beat movement. Burroughs claimed that, in his representation of the dying days of the Wild West, Jack Black “has recorded a chapter of specifically American life that is now gone forever,” a way of life that Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and others would try to adapt and re-create for their own generation. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom box. Early owner signature on front endpaper. Book fine, dust jacket shows wear at spine, with large chip at tail. Scarce in dust jacket.

$7,500

Wessex Tales

FIRST EDITION, 1/634 COPIES, IN THE PUBLISHER'S CLOTH BINDING.Two volumes. Octavo, original green cloth with gilt spine titles. Edges uncut. Light wear to cloth at oints and extremities, corners slightly bumped, spine somewhat cocked. Elegant bookplate at front pastedowns. Cloth clean and bright, text clean. An excellent copy housed in custom slipcase and chemise.

$2,500

The Recognitions

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY GADDIS on front free endpaper: "Martin / Cove ab homine (ut?) / unius libri (The Recognitions) / (and with every best wish.) / (ergo / (I mean, a child among / you taking notes / W. Gaddis".“As the most important precursor of many postmodernist novels about travel or movement, The Recognitions signals a change in the function of travel in fiction that is echoed in later nonfiction about travel... Since its appearance in 1955, Gaddis’ first novel has been in and out of print, initially ignored or misunderstood but subsequently praised as a central work of contemporary American fiction" (Alison Russell, Crossing Boundaries: Postmodern Travel Literature).Original cloth, original dust jacket; custom half-morocco box. Book fine, dust jacket near-fine with very minor edgewear.

$2,500

Sleeping by the Mississippi

Pre-publication edition, SIGNED by Soth. Number 26 or 30 numbered copies. With original Inkjet prints bound into cloth covers. Gilt stamped brown cloth with an original photograph mounted on front cover. Fine copy.

$12,000

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

LIMITED EDITION, 1/1000 COPIES. Folio. Two volumes. Original paper wrappers printed in red and black. Original glassine. Complete with 14 plates by Alastair. An outstanding set with light wear to glassine wrappers.

$400

Islands in the Sky

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of one of Clarke's earliest works. A near fine copy in the original dust jacket; moderate wear at spine ends, lightly soiled, rubbed. Overall a very appealing copy.

$475

Watt

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, number 19 of only 100 specially bound numbered copies. In 1942, "After spending several weeks on the run [from the Nazi's], [Beckett and his future wife Suzanne] lived out the rest of the war in the little village of Roussillon in the Vaucluse, where Beckett wrote his extraordinary novel Watt, partly as a stylistic exercise and partly in order to stay sane in a place where he was cut off from most intellectual pursuits. Written in English, it was a daring linguistic experiment and, because of its strange subject matter as well as its manner, was not published until 1953" (DNB). Octavo, half-cloth over boards. Spine a bit faded (as usual).

$375

The Naked and the Dead

FIRST EDITION of Mailer's masterpiece, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY MAILER TO PAUL BARTEL: "To Paul, with the best / recollections of / how he came forward / with the best / advice for Chapter Five / Salutations / Norman Mailer / Feb '92." Written when Mailer was just twenty-five, The Naked and the Dead is one of the classic novels of World War II. Both a critical and commercial success (it remained at the top of The New York Times best-seller list for eleven weeks), it launched Mailer's career and remains one of the most influential American novels of the century. Paul Bartel was a writer, actor, and director best known for his 1982 film, Eating Raoul. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket; custom box. An outstanding, fine copy, extremely rare in such good condition.

$7,000

Waiting for Godot

FIRST UK EDITION, translated from the French by Beckett. “Voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century in a British Royal National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists… Beckett's naked play about two tramps waiting for Godot has tapped into our 20th-century public consciousness. It seems to express our deepest fears and our deepest knowledge of ourselves and our predicament” (Norman Berlin). “The first production of Beckett's own English translation, directed by Peter Hall, was staged at the Arts Theatre Club in London in August 1955. Kenneth Tynan's and Harold Hobson's reviews made it into an intellectual hit which has since been regarded as having transformed the British stage” (Dictionary of National Biography). Preceded by the first edition (1952, in French) and the first American edition (1954).Octavo, original mustard cloth, original dust jacket. Book near-fine with slight lean; dust jacket with light edgewear, toning to top of rear panel.

$750

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

FIRST EDITION, with the twelve-line errata and two cancels. In 1773 Johnson, then sixty-four, set off with Boswell, aged thirty-three to tour the Hebrides and visit Boswell's ancestral home."The publication of Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) marked an important moment in Scottish travel literature, despite the less than favourable impressions conveyed... Johnson declared that 'All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own, and if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it', but found Scotland to be much worse than expected. Nevertheless, he single-handedly enhanced Scottish tourism, securing the peripheral areas of Britain as eligible destinations for travellers."–The Cambridge Companion to Travel WritingOctavo. Contemporary full calf. Bookplate. Skillful repairs at spine ends, clean throughout. A lovely copy. From the library of distinguished Johnsonian and bibliographer William B. Todd.

$3,000

American Photographs

FIRST EDITION, with the original dust jacket. Inscribed and presented by the legendary Hugh Edwards, one of the most influential curators of photography in America. Edwards was one of the first curators to grant Evans solo exhibitions and is credited with elevating the Art Institute of Chicago’s department of photography to world class status.The identity of the recipient, Bobby Evans, is unknown. The inscription includes a lengthy quotation from Thomas Wolfe’s Of Time and the River.Small quarto, original black cloth, original dust jacket. Book near fine with a light spotting to a some plates, dust jacket very good; spine slightly toned; some wear with loss at spine head. A very good copy with a distinguished provenance.

$3,800

JARRELL, RANDALL