Pablo Picasso was the most influential artist of the 20th century. He is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement. His revolutionary artistic accomplishments brought him universal renown and immense fortune, making him one of the best-known figures of the 20th century art world. Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his long lifetime. The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50,000, comprising 1,885 paintings; 1,228 sculptures; 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs. Picasso’s final works were a mixture of styles, his means of expression in constant flux until the end of his life. From 1968 through 1971 he produced a torrent of paintings and hundreds of copperplate etchings. Only later, after Picasso’s death, when the rest of the art world had moved on from abstract expressionism, did the critical community come to see that Picasso had already discovered neo-expressionism and was, as so often before, ahead of his time.

Description: INSCRIBED & SIGNED BY PABLO PICASSO! Black paper covers with gilt design of a bird, white lettering, with each plate on a separate page, 2 pages of English text. Published on the occasion of the November 1971 exhibition in association with The Weintraub Gallery, New York. Mild edge wear, mild interior foxing. Text block is separating from spine, visible at interior front hinge. Minor wear to wrappers and 2 small creases, otherwise very good. Inscribed to the previous owner and signed with Love, Picasso!

SOLD

Picasso: Histoire Naturelle De Buffon
31 Cancelled Original Copper Plates
Picasso, Pablo

Publisher: Weintraub Gallery, New York, New York
Publication Date: 1971
Signed: Inscribed & signed by Pablo Picasso
Size: 9 & 1/4 inches – square

· Category: Sold ·

Edward Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his macabre pen-and-ink drawings of beady-eyed Edwardian characters. He was first noticed in The New Yorker in 1959. His work has been described simultaneously as both an artist who wrote and a writer who drew. By the age of 20, Edward Gorey was studying French Literature at Harvard where he was befriended by future poet Frank O’Hara, who called Gorey “the oddest person I’ve ever seen”. One thing that Edward Gorey was decidedly fond of was ballet. He spent 30 years attending very nearly every performance by the New York City Ballet. His costume design for the Broadway production of “Dracula” won a Tony Award in 1978. Mr. Gorey also wrote at least 90 books and illustrated 60 others. Gorey left the bulk of his estate to a charitable trust benefiting cats and dogs, as well as other species including bats and insects.

Description: HAND SIGNED AND LETTERD BY EDWARD GOREY. Copy ‘C’ of the 26 lettered copies reserved for the author. Part of the of the deluxe edition, signed by the artist and specially bound, and limited to 100 copies. Hard bound, no dust jacket, and housed in publishers slipcase, as issued. Blue cloth over boards with paste-down title label to spine edge. A Gorey favorite, with fifty numbered cats, pictured in color, and posed in various settings and manners. The original drawings of these cats were done to accompany the limited edition of Amphigorey. Spine edge of blue cloth faded, otherwise very good with interior pages bright and clean.  Some minor soiling and age toning to slipcase, otherwise very good. RARE!

Bookseller Inventory # 32092

Category
Gorey, Edward

SOLD

· Category: Sold ·

Steinbeck based this novella on his own experiences working alongside migrant farm workers as a teenager. The title is taken from Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse”, which reads … “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley“…. or “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.”

Description: True First Edition. Hard bound in dust jacket. First edition / First state. A Covici Friede “sample copy” with the publisher’s stamp to front free end page. Meets points of issue for the true first edition ( Bullet between 8s on page 88) and ( “pendula” on line 21 of page 9 ) $2.00 price to jacket flap. Previous owners name to front free end page. Some wear to edges and corners of boards. Minor age toning throughout. Wear to jacket that shows some minor chipping to corners and one large chip to upper spine edge, otherwise good. Interior clean, binding sound. RARE!

Bookseller Inventory # 60153

Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck, John

SOLD

· Category: Sold ·

Alexander Anderson has long been considered the father of wood engraving in America, being the first in this country to adopt the technique developed in England by Thomas Bewick. Wood engraving produces a finer image than the standard woodcut by working on the denser end-grain section of the wood. Anderson acknowledged his debt to Bewick in 1804 by creating an American edition of Bewick’s A General History of Quadrupeds (1790) with his own re-engraved blocks, adding “some American animals not hitherto described.” A General History of Quadrupeds was really the result of an increasing popular interest in natural history towards the end of the 18th century. Evidence of this interest can be seen by other notable publications at the time such as Gilbert Whiteís Natural History of Selborne (1789) and the wonderful works of Thomas Pennant, whose own General History of Quadrupeds in two volumes, illustrated with fine copper engravings, had first appeared in 1781.

Description: Hard bound in full leather. Stated “First American edition, with an appendix containing some American Animals not hitherto described”. Printed by G. & R Waite, No. 64, Maiden – Lane. 1804.  531 pages with hundreds of woodcuts by Anderson. Wear and deterioration to leather. Front board detached, but present. Missing front free end pages to title page. Minor foxing throughout. Head and tail chipped, with text block and binding tight. A scarce copy of a classic of natural history, and wood block illustration.

Bookseller Inventory # 24322

A General History of Quadrupeds:
The Figures Engraved on Wood, Chiefly Copied from
the Original of T. Bewick, By A. Anderson
Anderson, A.

SOLD

· Category: Sold ·

Christian Dior was arguably the most important fashion designer of the twentieth century. One of a handful of designers who dominated 20th century fashion along with Coco Chanel, Paul Poiret & Yves Saint Laurent. His career was launched in 1947 with his very first collection, in which he introduced the “New Look“. Featuring rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and very full skirt, the New Look celebrated ultra-femininity and opulence. After years of military and civilian uniforms, sartorial restrictions and shortages, Dior offered not merely a new look but a new outlook. While the House of Dior is still a thriving business today, Dior’s untimely death in 1957 left the fashion world without a great dictator of style. Christian Dior designed under his own name for only a decade, but his influence will be felt for many years to come.

TRUE FRENCH FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED BY CHRISTIAN DIOR!
( and signed with his customary “Tian Dior” )

Description: Hard bound with 1/2 jacket wrapped around, as issued. 238 pages with 12 B/W photographs. Text in French. Moire-type pink endpapers. Gray cloth boards with title stamped in black to upper spine edge. Preface de Pierre Gaxotte de l’Academie Francaise. Some minor soiling and wear to edges of cloth boards. Band shows two minor chips, otherwise good. A RARE COPY – inscribed by one of the most influential designers of the last century!

Bookseller Inventory # 19327

SOLD

Christian Dior et Moi
Dior, Christian

Publisher: Editons Amiot-Dumont, Paris
Publication Date: 1956
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Edition: First Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Henry Miller was an American novelist and painter known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of ‘novel’ that is a mixture of autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association. Tropic of Capricorn continues the autobiographical exploration of the self Miller began in Tropic of Cancer, recounting, in his characteristically brutal and forthright style. Banned on grounds of obscenity, copies of Tropic of Capricorn were smuggled into his native country, building Miller an underground reputation.

“I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it: we must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and soul. It may be that we are doomed, that there is no hope for us, any of us, but if that is so then let us set up a last agonizing, bloodcurdling howl, a screech of defiance, a war whoop! Away with lamentation! Away with elegies and dirges! Away with biographies and histories, and libraries and museums! Let the dead eat the dead. Let us living ones dance about the rim of the crater, a last expiring dance. But a dance!” – Henry Miller

Description: Paris: Obelisk Press, 1939. Octavo, original wrappers. Now in custom red cloth clam shell box. First Edition, First issue, with 60 FR price and errata slip. Original wrappers; one of only 1000 copies printed. Some wear and minor chipping to wrappers, otherwise very good. RARE!

Bookseller Inventory # 21756

SOLD

Tropic of Capricorn
Miller, Henry

Publisher: Obelisk Press, Paris
Publication Date: 1939
Binding: Paperback
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: First edition

· Category: Sold ·

Robert Capa was one of the important war photographers of the twentieth century. He was a storyteller par excellence, and the combination of his photographs, and his account of personal adventure, make this one of the most sought after photobooks ever published. It was cited as one of the 101 seminal photographic books of the 20th Century by Andrew Roth. There are halftone photographs throughout, some full-page and others smaller, taken in Europe and North Africa from the summer of 1942 until the end of the war. After covering five wars, Capa stepped on a landmine in Vietnam in 1954 and died at age 41, the first American correspondent killed in Vietnam.

Description: Hard bound with price clipped dust jacket. Orange cloth covered boards, with titles in black. Capa’s account of his experiences as a photographer on the European and North African fronts during the Second World War. General shelf wear to boards, and slight age toning to pages. Interior clean and binding tight. The dust jacket shows wear, tears and large chips. Now protected in clear removable Brodart protective cover. Scarce!

Bookseller Inventory #31651

SOLD

Slightly Out Of Focus
Cappa, Robert

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Publication Date: 1947
Binding:Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Good
Edition: First edition

· Category: Sold ·

Noel Coward was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as the personification of wit and sophistication. Successful as a composer, lyricist, actor, singer, director, novelist, painter he achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well over a dozen musical works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet and comic revues), poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel Pomp and Circumstance, along with a three-volume autobiography. Coward won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 for his naval film drama, In Which We Serve, and was knighted in 1969.

Description: Hard bound with dust jacket. INSCRIBED BY NOEL COWARD on the front free endpage ” For Arnold with love, Noel Coward”. The author’s first novel about The Queen and Prince Philip paying a visit to Samoa. Dust jacket painting by Noel Coward. Edge wear to dust jacket and one small chip, otherwise very good. Interior clean and binding tight.

Bookseller Inventory# 22971

SOLD

Pomp and Circumstance
Coward, Noel

Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: 1960
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Signed: Inscribed by Author
Edition: First U. S. Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Internationally recognized photographer Peter Beard first visited Africa in 1955. After graduating from Yale, he returned to Africa and worked at Kenya’s Tsavo Park, during which time he photographed and documented the demise of over 35,000 elephants and 5000 Black Rhinos. The work done there led to the publication of The End of the Game books.

“When I first went to Kenya in August 1955, I could never have guessed what was going to happen. Kenya’s population was roughly five million, with about 100 tribes scattered throughout the endless ‘wild—deer—ness’ – it was authentic, unspoiled, teeming with big game – so enormous it appeared inexhaustible. Everyone agreed it was too big to be destroyed. Now Kenya’s population of over 30 million drains the country’s limited and diminishing resources at an amazing rate: surrounding, isolating, and relentlessly pressuring the last pockets of wildlife in denatured Africa.” -Peter Beard

Description: INSCRIBED BY PETER BEARD WITH DRAWING. No Jacket, as issued. First printing of the 1977 revised edition published on the occasion of the I.C.P. exhibition in New York.Very good hardback as issued without dust jacket. The gray boards have some sunning and wear. This is a lovely edition of this rare Beard classic & the most difficult Beard title to find SIGNED & INSCRIBED!

Bookseller Inventory #19114

The End of the Game
Beard, Peter H.

SOLD

· Category: Sold ·

Everything is bigger and better in Texas. This statement has never been more convincing than when applied to the color enhanced black-and-white photographs enlarged to heroic proportion, and the exceedingly large outdoor sculptures created by internationally known artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade. Based in Austin, Wade helped define the Texas Cosmic Cowboy counterculture of the 1970s.

Description: HAND SIGNED & NUMBERED BY BOB WADE on the copyright page. LIMITED EDITION #20 of 50 hand made copies. HAND SIGNED LETTER and invoice for the original purchase of the book laid in. 150 individually captioned color xeroxes. Photographs of the artist’s installations & photographs of Texas. Rivet bound in branded leather cowhide with the title and Texas motifs (lone stars, horseshoes, broncos, roses) and a stamped rope border. The final plate is the book in production at a Xerox machine. “This Book is a chronological presentation of my projects about Texas, defined in this context as ideas and attitudes about scale, culture, myths symbols, artifacts, history, customs, food, animals, experiences, kitsch, machismo, cross fertilization, sign systems, tourism, country western music, the picturesque, cowboys, boundries, life and death.” – from the artist’s statement. Some wear to corners of leather. Some minor foxing to page edges and end pages, otherwise very good. Overall a nice copy of a very scarce book by a quintessentially American artist.

Bookseller Inventory # 25900 SOLD

Bob Wade’s Texas
Wade, Bob

Publisher: Daddy-O Productions
Publication Date: 1976
Binding: Bound in Leather
Book Condition: Very Good
Signed: Signed by Author
Edition: First Edition, Limited

· Category: Sold ·

Alvin Lustig is known for his expertise in virtually all the design disciplines, but his most lasting contribution could well be his work in book jacket design. He designed record albums, magazines, advertisements, commercial catalogs, office spaces and textiles. By the time he died at the age of forty in 1955, he had already introduced principles of Modern art to graphic design that have had a lasting influence on contemporary design practice. He was inducted into the Art Directors Club hall of fame in 1986.

“The words graphic designer, architect, or industrial designer stick in my throat, giving me a sense of limitation, of specialization within the specialty, of a relationship to society and form itself that is unsatisfactory and incomplete. This inadequate set of terms to describe an active life reveals only partially the still undefined nature of the designer.” – Alvin Lustig

Description: INSCRIBED BY THE EDITOR Holland R. Melson on the limitation page “The Editor to his Ghost…. Bob”. Hard bound, no dust jacket. Black paper over boards with title in white on spine and portrait of Lustig on front board. One in a limited edition of 600 printed copies. 94 pages. Introduction by Philip Johnson. Collected writings with Chronology, and list Articles. Wear to corners and edges of boards. Minor chipping to spine edges. Some foxing to end pages, otherwise very good. Interior clean and free of marks. RARE!

Bookseller Inventory # 25628

SOLD

The Collected Writings Of Alvin Lustig
Lustig, Alvin; Johnson, Philip

Publisher: Holland R. Melson, Jr.
Publication Date: 1958
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Edition: First Edition, Limited

· Category: Sold ·

Franz Kafka was an influential German-language author regarded as among the greatest writers of the 20th century. The term “Kafkaesque” has entered the English language to describe his unique style. Kafka was born in a middle class, German-speaking, Jewish family, in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He wrote his novels in German while working for an insurance company there. The Trial is his best known work, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote and inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed to neither to him or the reader.

Description: Hard bound in dust jacket. First printing of the First U.S. Edition. Illustrated by Georg Salter. First published in German in 1925, the year following Kafka’s death, by his literary executor and against Kafka’s express wish that all his remaining papers be burned. This title would become one of the author’s most famous works and one partially responsible for turning the author’s name into an adjective. This copy shows some minor edge wear to boards, and slight age toning to end pages. The dust jacket shows a few very small tears, some wear and rubbing, otherwise a near fine copy, with interior clean and binding tight. A rare and sought after book, now considered to be a modern classic.

Bookseller Inventory #30047

SOLD

The Trial
Kafka, Franz

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Publication Date: 1937
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Printing of the First American Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Gilbert & George work together as a collaborative duo, and are known for their distinctive and highly formal appearance and manner and their brightly colored graphic-style photo-based artworks. They began working together in 1967 when they met at St Martins School of Art, and from the beginning, in their films and ‘living sculpture’ they appeared as figures in their own work. The artists believe that everything is potential subject matter for their work, and they have always addressed social issues, taboos and artistic conventions. Gilbert & George have confronted many of the fundamental issues of existence: sex, religion, corruption, violence, hope, fear, racial tension, patriotism, addiction and death.

Description: DARK SHADOW: GEORGE & GILBERT THE SCULPTORS. Signed and Numbered by the Artists. London: Art For All & Nigel Greenwood Inc., 1976. First Edition  8vo. Gilt Embossed red & black Linen Over Boards. Fine / No Jacket – As Issued. 288pp, 128 b&w illustrations.  #233 in a limited edition of 2000 hand signed and numbered copies. This beautifully bound 1976 artists’ book is by British conceptual duo sculpture Gilbert & George. It contains eight chapters entitled “Gordon’s Gin”, “Dark Shadow”, “Broken Hearts”, Bloody Life”, “Balls Bar”, “Bad Thoughts”, “Inca Pisco”, and “Human Bondage” – each of which consists of sixteen pages of text alternating with sixteen photographically based images. A bright and clean copy of this rare and sought after title. (cited on page 153 of Martin Parr and Gerry Badger’s “The Photobook: A History Volume II)  SIGNED AND NUMBERED (233/2000) by Gilbert & George in red, as issued.

Bookseller Inventory #30932

SOLD

Dark Shadow: George & Gilbert The Sculptors
Gilbert & George

Publisher: Art For All & Nigel Greenwood Inc.
Publication Date: 1976, London
Binding: Hard bound, no dust jacket as issued
Book Condition: Fine
Signed: Hand signed in red pen by Gilbert & George
Edition: Limited Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Andy Warhol is arguably the most recognizable artist of the second half of the 20th century! He was a painter, filmmaker and the leading figure of the POP Art movement. Appropriating images from popular culture, Warhol created many paintings that remain icons of 20th-century art, such as the Campbell’s Soup Cans, Disasters, and Marilyns. He was known in the late sixties and early seventies as resident host at his studio, The Factory. Warhol also made several 16mm films which have now become underground classics.

Description: One of the rarest Warhol exhibition catalogs! Paperback 3rd edition, with illustrated color wraps of his flower silkscreens. Published on the occasion of the of the major exhibition of the late artists work  held at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, in 1968. There is no text except for some of Warhol’s most famous quotes. Profusely illustrated with 100’s of b&w photos of his work and superstars, life and work at the factory, & stills and candids from his influential underground films. This copy shows wear to wrappers with a few small tears and one small chip. Damp stain to lower right hand corner, otherwise with interior clean and binding sound. Now protected in removable clear mylar wrapper. Rare and sought after!

Bookseller Inventory #30130

SOLD

Andy Warhol (Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1968)
Warhol, Andy

Publisher: Boston Book & Art
Publication Date: 1970
Binding: Paperback
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: 3rd Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was an English author, feminist, publisher, and is regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society, and probably the best known member of the Bloomsbury Group. In 1917 along with Leonard Woolf she founded the Hogarth Press, which subsequently published Virginia’s novels along with works by T.S. Eliot, Sigmund Freud, and others. Throughout her life, Woolf was plagued by periodic nervous breakdowns and associated illnesses. Though this instability often affected her social life, her literary productivity continued with few breaks until her suicide on 28 March 1941. After the final attack of mental illness Woolf put on her overcoat, filled its pockets with stones, and walked into the River Ouse near her home where she drowned. Woolf’s suicide, like Sylvia Plath’s, have much colored the interpretation of both her work and her life.

Description: Hard bound in dust jacket. First printing of the First U.S. Edition. V. Bell designed dust wrapper. Some wear and age toning to dust jacket that shows chipping to edges. Offsetting from news paper to front end pages, otherwise with interior clean and binding sound. Her second collection, which includes the essays, The Niece Of An Earl, Beau Brummell, Dr. Burney’s Evening Party, How Should One Read A Book, Dorothy Wordsworth and Mary Wollstonecraft.

Bookseller Inventory # 30051

SOLD

The Second Common Reader
Woolf, Virginia

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York
Publication Date: 1932
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Edition: First U.S. Edition

· Category: Sold ·

James Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet. He is considered to be one of the most influential modernist writers of the first part of the 20th century. He will be best remembered for his ground breaking novel Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, perhaps most prominently the stream of consciousness technique he perfected. His fictional universe does not extend beyond Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there; Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city.

Description: Hard bound in original brown cloth with gilt top edge, lettering and decorations to spine and front board. Limited Edition of 800 printed copies, signed by the author, James Joyce on the limitation page! Copy #154 in a hand numbered edition. Preface by Padraic Colum. This copy shows only the most minor shelf wear only. An early published chapter from Joyce’s famous “work in progress” that would later become Finnegan’s Wake. Very Rare!

Bookseller Inventory # 30034

SOLD

Anna Livia Plurabelle
Joyce, James

Publisher: Crosby Gaige, New York
Publication Date: 1928
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No jacket
Edition: First Edition
Signed: Signed and numbered by James Joyce

· Category: Sold ·

Friedlander’s work focuses on the detached images of urban life, store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, and posters and signs all combining to capture the look of modern life. Friedlander’s images of shop windows evoke a certain ambiguity, an oscillation between reflected and actual reality, that invite inspection of the space and the meaning of the image. Similar responses are encouraged by Friedlander’s street photographs, in which shadows of figures (usually Friedlander himself) and other subjects overlap in the photographic image. The projected outline of Friedlander’s body as within the picture frame implies the notion that the photographer can be both behind the camera and in front of it.

Description: Hard bound in blue cloth with silver-stamped front board and spine.  No dust jacket, as issued.  A scarce copy of an early exhibition of Lee Friedlander’s photographs. Published on the occasion of the July 23, 1978 Hudson River Museum exhibition. Some wear and minor sunning to cloth boards, otherwise very good. Interior clean and binding tight.

Bookseller Inventory # 20885

SOLD

Lee Friedlander Photographs
Friedlander, Lee

Publisher: Haywire Press
Publication Date: 1978
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Theodore Roethke was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and teacher. Roethke’s historical significance rests both on his established place in the American canon and on his influence over a subsequent generation of award-winning poets that include Robert Bly, James Dickey, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton. Roethke had close literary friendships with fellow poets W. H. Auden, Louise Bogan, and William Carlos Williams. He taught at various colleges and universities, including Lafayette, Pennsylvania State, and Bennington, and worked lastly at the University of Washington, where he was mentor to a generation of Northwest poets. He was afflicted with bouts of an undiagnosed mental illness. On November 11, 1935, he suffered a breakdown. What occured during that cold night is confusing, but Roethke later described having a “mystical experience” during a walk. After returning to the Michigan State University campus, he caused a scene in the dean’s office and had to be led away to an ambulance. His book, The Waking: Poems 1933-1953 received the Pulitzer Prize in spring of 1954. His next book Words for the Wind, published in 1958, was awarded the National Book Award and the Bollingen Prize. One story has Roethke teaching a class when he learns he’s won the Bollingen Prize. He reportedly announced, “I’ve just won the Bollingen. To the Moon!” .  The Blue Moon Tavern, was one of Roethke’s favorites, in Seattle’s University District. Roethke’s legacy is a diverse and lyrical body of poetry. He could be somber or playful, surrealistic or erotic or romantic, or many of these things at once. One example of this dexterity is his poem, “I Knew a Woman:

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one;
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I’d have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek).

Description: SIGNED & DATED BY THEODORE ROETHKE on the blue front free end page “Theodore Roethke March 31, 1960”. This copy was signed at the March 31, 1960 Poetry Center reading held at the 92nd street YMCA, NYC, in association with The Kaufmann Art Gallery. Hard bound in price clipped dust jacket. Blue cloth boards with title in silver on spine edge. First Edition stated. Roethke’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems. This copy has the Poetry center label affixed to the front fixed end page. A news clip photo of Roethke is affixed to the front free end page. and below a previous owners gift inscription “For Jack on his Birthday, January 22, 1954 – from Hilton”. List of poems read by Roethke at the Poetry Center reading is penciled in on the rear free end page. Some wear to dust jacket that shows minor sunning. Interior clean and binding tight.

A RARE SIGNED COPY OF HIS PULITZER PRIZE WINNING BOOK!

Bookseller Inventory # 29186

The Waking
Roethke, Theodore

SOLD

Title: The Waking
Publisher: Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York
Publication Date: 1953
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Signed: Signed by Author
Edition: 1st Edition

· Category: Sold ·

New York’s Greenwich Village was to become the backdrop for Dawn Powell’s “New York cycle” of books which feature her biting wit mixed with an unflinching, and some times comical look at urban life. From the 1930’s until the 1960’s Powell continued to document New York literary scene as she saw it. The novels in her “cycle” include: Turn Magic Wheel, The Locusts Have No King, The Wicked Pavilion, A Cage for Lovers, and The Golden Spur. The Golden Spur was nominated for the National Book Award, but it failed to win. On March 8, 1963, Dawn wrote in her diary:

“Was told yesterday I had not won the National Book Award. I felt some relief as I have no equipment for prize-winning—no small talk, no time for idle graciousness and required public show, no clothes either or desire for front. I realize I have no yen for any experience (even a triumph) that blocks observation, when I am the observed instead of the observer. Time is too short to miss so many sights.”

Some critics believe that her distaste for pretension associated with self-promotion contributed to Dawn Powell’s lack of commercial success during her lifetime. She avoided the spotlight, preferring to let her work do the speaking for her.

Description: Hard bound with dust jacket. Some wear to edges of boards . Rubbing to dust jacket. Interior clean and binding tight.

Bookseller Inventory # 15769

SOLD

A Cage for Lovers
Powell, Dawn

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 1957
Binding: Hard Cover
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Edition: First Edition

· Category: Sold ·

Slaughterhouse-Five is Vonnegut’s most influential and popular work. It is a satirical novel about the World War II experiences and journeys of a soldier named Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut himself was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, and imprisoned beneath the city of Dresden by the Germans as a POW.  He was there on Feb. 13, 1945, when the Allies firebombed Dresden in a massive air attack that killed 130,000 people and destroyed the landmark of no military significance. Slaughterhouse-Five (or The Children’s Crusade) is not only Vonnegut’s most powerful book, it also stands apart, not unlike Catch- 22, as an eloquent and deeply funny plea against war. The story is told in a nonlinear order and events become clear through various flashbacks (or time travel experiences) from the unreliable narrator who describes the stories of Billy Pilgrim, who believes himself to have been in an alien zoo and to experience time travel. Kurt Vonnegut will be remembered not only for his unusual writing style, but also as a life long Humanist.

Description: Hard bound with dust jacket. First printing stated on the copyright page. Some age toning to dust jacket, that shows some minor sunning to spine edge. Edge wear to dust jacket. One small mark in pen to the margin, otherwise very good, with interior clean and binding sound. The author’s best-known title, the story of Billy Pilgrim’s experience as an American soldier in Europe during World War II. The plot centers on the Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany, in 1945, an event Vonnegut experienced himself during the war.

Bookseller Inventory # 33907

SOLD

Slaughterhouse-Five
Vonnegut, Kurt

Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 1969
Binding: Hard bound with dust jacket
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Very Good

· Category: Sold ·

The 1952 National Book Award winning author James Jones was known for his explorations of World War II and its aftermath. His wartime experiences inspired some of his most famous works, the so-called war trilogy. He witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to his first published novel, From Here to Eternity (1951). The Thin Red Line (1962) reflected his combat experiences on Guadalcanal and Whistle was based on his hospital stay in Memphis, Tennessee, recovering from surgery. James Jones died in 1977 before finishing Whistle. The final three chapters were completed by Willie Morris based on taped conversations with the author and extensive notes he’d already written. Jones expected that his novel would say, “Just about everything I have ever had to say, or will ever have to say, on the human condition of war.”

Description: First Edition – Limited Presentation Edition.  #179 of 1500 Numbered Copies Signed by James Jones. Black boards show some wear. Some minor foxing to page edges, and end pages, otherwise with interior clean and binding tight. The dust jacket shows some wear, foxing and a few small closed tears. The author’s first book & winner of the 1952 National Book Award.  Noted as one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library and a key title in the literature of the Second World War. Adapted into the Academy Award-winning Fred Zinnemann directed film with Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine. A scarce title.

Bookseller Inventory #34067

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From Here to Eternity
Jones, James

Publisher: Scribners
Publication Date: 1951
Binding: Hard Bound
Condition: Very Good
Book Condition: Very Good
Signed: Signed by James Jones
Edition: First Edition, #179 of 1500 Numbered Copies Signed by James Jones!

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John Irving is a National Book Award winning novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. Irving achieved critical acclaim in 1978 after the publication of  his novel The World According to Garp. Since then every one of his novels has gone on to become an international best-seller. Currently John Irving lives in Vermont with his family. He continues to work on his books and screen adaptations. He has proved himself as a ‘comic genius’ of this era and a brilliant storyteller.

Description: SIGNED BY JOHN IRVING on the half title page. Hard bound with dust jacket. 3rd printing of the 1st edition. Some minor shelf wear to dust jacket. Sunning to red letters on spine edge of dust jacket. Some foxing to page edges, otherwise very good with interior clean and binding sound. A scarce signed copy of one of Irving’s most sought after books.

The World According To Garp
Irving, John

Publisher: E P Dutton
Publication Date: 1978
Binding: Hard Cover
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition:Very Good
Signed: Signed by Author

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Henry Miller was an American novelist known for developing a new sort of ‘novel’ that was a mixture of autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, and surrealist free association. Around 1930 Miller moved to Paris where he would live until the outbreak of  WWII. This period was highly creative for Miller, and many of his best known works were written during his time there. In 1940 Miller returned to the United States, settling in Big Sur, California. Henry Miller’s work challenged contemporary American cultural values and was banned in the United States on the grounds of obscenity. His novels were smuggled into the country, building Miller an underground cult reputation. He would go on to become a major influence on the new Beat generation of American writers, most notably Jack Kerouac. Miller also wrote travel memoirs, essays, and was an accomplished painter. It is estimated that Miller painted 2000 watercolors during his life.

Description: SIGNED BY HENRY MILLER! Hand bound hard back copy with green cloth backed paper over boards, & paste down spine label. No dust jacket. #197 in a limited edition of 250 numbered copies signed by Henry Miller. Printed by Mackintosh & Young. Six essays including, “On Seeing Jack Nicholson for the First Time.” A nice copy with only the most minor wear to boards. Scarce!

Bookseller Inventory #30171

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Gliding into the Everglades and Other Essays
Miller, Henry

Publisher: Lost Pleiades Press
Publication Date: 1977
Binding: Hard Bound
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Printing – SIGNED!

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Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with the writer Truman Capote. To Kill a Mockingbird is loosely based on Harper Lee’s observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was only 10 years old. The Novel was immediately successful upon publication, winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961. The New Yorker declared it “skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious.” It has gone on to become one of the best-loved classics of all time, and has been translated into more than forty languages, selling more than forty million copies worldwide. To date, it is Lee’s only published novel, and since its publication, she has granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances. In a rare 2011 interview she was asked why she never wrote again… she was quoted as saying “I have said what I wanted to say and I will not say it again”.

Description: INSCRIBED & SIGNED BY HARPER LEE on the front free end page. Hard bound with dust jacket. 1oth printing of the first edition (stated on the copyright page.) in an 11th printing dust wrapper.  Wear and some minor chipping to corners and edges of dust jacket.  Some very minor foxing to page edges, otherwise very good, with interior clean and binding sound. A  signed copy of the author’s  only novel, now considered an American classic. Rare and sought after!

Bookseller Inventory # 33999

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To Kill A Mockingbird
Lee, Harper

Publisher: J. B. Lippincot
Publication Date: 1960
Binding: Hard bound with dust jacket
Book Condition: Good
Jacket Condition: Good

· Category: Sold ·

Perhaps no one single person has had more widespread influence on the counter-culture of the 20th century, as the now infamous occultist Aleister Crowley.  He was an English born ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry. In 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic. In 1912 he was initiated into another esoteric order, the German-based Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), rising to become the leader of its British branch. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and an individualist social critic. As a result, he was denounced in the popular press as “the wickedest man in the world” and erroneously labelled a Satanist. The Equinox is a series of publications in book form that serves as the official organ of the magical order founded by Aleister Crowley. It is essential reading for the student of Crowley as cross-references to it are found in nearly all his writings.

Description: LIMITED HAND NUMBERED EDITION. #54 of 515 printed copies. COMPLETE 10 VOLUME SET. Hard bound, no dust jackets. Some minor wear and soiling to boards, otherwise very good. Interiors clean and bindings sound. The Equinox is arguably the single most influential journal in modern occultism, and among the most frequently cited journals in the history of western occultism. This edition features detailed supplementary tables of contents to each number. Crowley’s extensive annotations from his personal copies have been collected at the end of the set, along with biographies of the contributors. RARE!

Bookseller Inventory # 36250

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The Equinox: The Official Organ of the A. A.- The Review of Scientific Illuminism, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-10
Crowley, Aliester

Publisher: Samuel Weiser
Publication Date: 1972
Binding: 10 volumes
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: Limited Edition

· Category: Sold ·