Alexander Rare Books Literary Firsts & Poetry 234 Camp St
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CATALOG EIGHTEEN Spring 2009 Alexander Rare Books Literary Firsts & Poetry 234 Camp St. Barre, VT 05641 All items are American, Canadian or British hardcover first printings unless otherwise stated. All fully returnable for any reason within 14 days, authenticity guaranteed. Offered subject to prior sale. Shipping is free in the US; elsewhere at cost. VT residents please add 6% sales tax. PayPal (most credit cards) through my website or by electronic invoice, and checks accepted. Libraries billed according to need. I am always interested in buying collectible poetry, signed literature, and books by and about Vladimir Nabokov. Visit AlexanderRareBooks.com for the latest arrivals. INDEX: Broadsides & Art p. 1; Fiction p.3; Little Magazines p. 5; Poetry p.6; Fine Press Books nos. 1, 5, 9, 56, 57, 82, 85, 86, 105, 111, 112, 113 & 119. (Photos are not to scale.) Broadsides & Art 1) [Blinn, Carol J.] [Donald Hall]. Prospectus for RIC'S PROGRESS; BOOKS UP MY SLEEVE: Hidden Treasures from Warwick Press. Easthampton, MA: Warwick Press, 1996. Prospectus for Hall's RIC'S PROGRESS, essentially a small broadside; a 16 pp. catalog for Warwick Press, with price list and small dealer's discount sheet. All nicely printed. Scarce. $25.00 2) [De Pol, John]. BEGINNINGS OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA. NY: The Hamilton Div./Security-Columbian Banknote Co., [circa 1959]. Eight wood engravings by John De Pol, each sheet about 8 1/2 x 11 inches, in printed portfolio. Keepsake distributed by The Hamilton Division of the Security-Columbian Banknote Company of New York. Commissioned by the Erie Natural Gas Company of New York to appear in the report "Oil in Pennsylvania" by H. Edward Wolf on the eve of the centennial of the founding of the oil industry in PA. Printed from the original blocks. Light wear to portfolio, else fine. $100.00 3) Dylan, Bob. TARANTULA. [N. P.}: [N.P.], [1971]. Small broadside (7 1/2" x 5 1/4"), attractively printed on heavy tan woven paper. Nine lines from TARANTULA beginning "aretha - known in gallup as number 69 - in....; below is printed "from TARANTULA " "FREE". Presumably, published in conjunction with Macmillan's publication of Dylan's novel. Macmillan also produced a button pin for promotional use. Rare: OCLC shows three copies. Minor creasing, essentially fine. $350.00 4) Ford, Richard; Jay McInerny; Neal Stephenson; Robert Olmstead; Richard Russo et al. VINTAGE PROMOTIONAL POSTERS. NY: Vintage Contemporaries, 1984 and after. A set of promotional posters in the original solid plastic frame with the Vintage Contemporary Logo. Intended for bookstores, the poster as each new book was released could easily be replaced in the frame. A number of the books promoted were issued as paperback originals: McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City (shared with McGuane's Something To Be Desired); Russo’s Mohawk; Stephenson’s The Big U (these first three also were all first books); The Sportswriter. Also, Don DeLillo backlist, Susanna Kaysen's first novel Asa ..., Vintage Departures, and one poster "Best of a New Generation" listing eight titles including Ray Carver's Cathedral; Generally in near fine condition, the edges with some handling, but the original colors are bright. Comes with two frames which are somewhat scratched, the cardboard backing (which has four holes for hanging) worn/cracked but serviceable. 9 posters. Various designers, all colorful, some iconic. Posters approx. 18 by 23 1/2. It is unlikely many of these posters would have survived in what is nearly a complete set of the earliest books in the series. $300.00 2 AlexanderRareBooks.com (802) 476‐0838 alexanderbooks@charter.net 5) Graves, John; John De Pol . SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BIRDS. Dallas: Chama Press, 1991. Prospectus with eight woodcut engravings (one in green the rest B&W) for chapter headings and the double-spread title page, all by De Pol, two signed, one in full, one with his last name, and the rest with his characteristic "D". Thus all the interior artwork with prospectus of an edition limited to 330 copies. Prospectus (there are in fact two) folded, else fine, in plain folder. $100.00 (Double-spread title page below) 6) Hilbert, Ernest; Robert James Algeo. ALL OF YOU ON THE GOOD EARTH. Upper Montclair, NJ : Wolfe Editions for Temporary Culture, 2008. First edition. Oblong illustrated broadside (measures 15 by 11 inches). Signed and limited, one of 50 copies (52 total) printed; this one of a smaller number signed by both poet and artist. Hilbert's poem commissioned by science fiction publisher Temporary Culture for a New Year's greeting refers to Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman's signing off at year's end in 1968, after describing viewing for the first time the earth rising over the moon's horizon: "Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God Bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth". Algoe's accompanying art is is a punch-card not unlike that IBM would have used around the time of the mission. The card if processed would deliver a line from Bob Dylan's song "Abandoned Love". A well-conceived artistic production, and a lovely broadside letterpress printed on fine paper, bottom edge untrimmed. Top edge lightly creased, else fine. Ernest Hilbert is among other things the editor of Contemporary Poetry Review. This broadside precedes the poet’s recently released first collection Sixty Sonnets (which I highly recommend), and is not included in that volume. $45.00 7) Leibovitz, Annie. PHOTOGRAPHS. NY: Pantheon/Rolling Stone, 1983. A poster (15 1/2 x 20 inches) signed by Leibovitz; produced by the publisher to promote the photographer's first major book. Reproducing in full color the iconic cover photo of Meryl Steep in white paint, signed boldly in black marker. Fine, minor signs of handling (shipped rolled). Ephemeral piece, most ending up pinned on bookstore walls, very scarce on the market. $195.00 8) LOLITA LOBBY POSTER. Mexico: Cinema International Corp., 1962 . Original lobby poster for the Stanley Kubrick movie LOLITA starring James Mason, Sue Lyon and a classic turn by Peter Sellers as Quilty. Screenplay credited to Nabokov, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. With five classic images from the movie including Lo in heart-shaped glasses. In Spanish, from Mexico. Color lithograph. (Approx. 12 1/2" x 16".) Fine. $45.00 9) [Moser, Barry]. BARRY MOSER AT HERITAGE OF THE GRAPHIC ARTS. Northampton, MA: Hampshire Typothetae, 1979. First edition. Small keepsake (4 x 2 3/4 in.): On the occasion of an address by Barry Moser, original woodcut by Moser on Shizuoka Vellum, loose inside brown paper folder of Fabrianao Romo; printed by Harold P. McGrath. Fine. Scarce ephemeral piece. $25.00 Also see item # 12 10) Oates, Joyce Carol. LEAVE-TAKING, AT DUSK. Roslyn Harbor, NY: Stone House Press, 1983. First separate printing. 41 x 30 cm. Illustrated broadside poem. With a John De Pol wood engraving. One of 150 signed (by the poet) and numbered copies (#134), of which 115 were for sale. Hand-printed in two colors on Mohawk Superfine Text paper by M. A. Gelfand. Fine with minor handling. (Brody, Stone House checklist p. 62)) $100.00 3 11) Smith, William Jay. JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR. Roslyn, NY: Stone House Press, 1988. First edition (originally published in POETRY). 41 x 31 cm. Illustrated broadside poem, with a wood engraving by John De Pol. Printed in two colors. One of 135 copies signed (by the poet) and numbered copies (#34), of which 100 were for sale. Fine, with minor handling. (Brody, Stone House checklist number 88.5) $50.00 12) Updike, John. DOWN TIME. Concord, NH: William B. Ewert, 1997. Broadside poem, approx. 11 1/2" x 13". The original relief engraving by Barry Moser was printed directly from the block. Of a total edition of 90 copies printed by John Kristensen at Firefly Press, this is one of 30 on Twinrocker Yale paper. Signed by Updike and Barry Moser. A beautiful broadside with a subtle image of a Salmon's "slick effortful flipping". Fine. $200.00 13) Updike, John. UPON BECOMING A SENIOR CITIZEN. NY: Tamarack Press, 1998. Large illustrated broadside measuring approx. 14 1/2. x 22 inches. Printed in black and green on heavy white stock by Michael & Winifred Bixler. Designed by Herb Yellin. Illustration by Robert Bainbridge. One of 26 lettered copies signed by Updike. (Total edition: 126; the 100 copies on different paper.) Fine copy of a lovely broadside. $250.00 Fiction 14) Boyd, William. STARS AND BARS. L: Hamish Hamilton, 1984. The author's fourth book, third novel and the first set in America where Boyd has spent considerable time mostly working on films. A 1988 film by Pat O'Connor from the author's script; the first of his novels to be made into a film. The acidic paper browned, as always, otherwise fine in a lovely dust jacket. $50.00 15) Carver, Raymond. FURIOUS SEASONS and Other Stories. Santa Barbara: Capra/Noel Young , 1977. Trade paper issue of this early collection of stories. 110 pp. Light, but uneven sunning, cocked, else fine and tight.$85.00 (Also see item nos: 54 & 55) 16) De Bernieres, Louis. CORELLI'S MANDOLIN. NY: Pantheon, 1994. An Advanced Reader's Edition in a paper slipcase, signed and dated by the author. An attractive promotional piece that helped make his fourth novel (after three that had marginal sales at best) a bestseller in the States. Very fine copy still in original plastic wrap. $100.00 17) Jin, Ha. THE BRIDEGROOM. NY: Pantheon, 2000. The Advanced Reader's Edition in matching card slipcase, signed on the front free end paper.