Special Editions and Rare Finds
He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident--death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure.
Pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, Kinsey soon realizes that Daggett had an awful lot of enemies. There's the daughter who grew up with a cheating drunk for a father, and the wife who's become a religious nut in response to an intolerable marriage. There's the lady who thought she was Mrs. Daggett--and has the bruises to prove it--only to discover the legal Mrs. D. And there are the drug dealers out $25,000. But most of all, there are the families of the five people John Daggett killed, victims of his wild, drunken driving. The D.A. called it vehicular manslaughter and put him away for two years. The families called it murder and had very good reason to want John Daggett dead.
Deft, cunning, and clever, this latest Millhone mystery also confronts some messy truths, for, as Kinsey herself says, "Some debts of the human soul are so enormous only life itself is sufficient forfeit"--but as she'd be the first to admit, murder is not a socially acceptable solution.
1st edition, 1st printing, ex-lib; dust jacket in protective cover. G/G
1st edition thus; dust jacket protected; edges lightly worn; rear cover toned and lightly soiled; maroon cloth spine over tan cloth; former owner's name in ink on front pastedown; binding good; text clean. G+/G
Sir Rudolf Bing was the General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera for 22 years (1950-72). The New York Times called this book "a witty, arrogant, forthright memoir." (NYT, October 22, 2972)
1st edition. Inscribed by author. Dust jacket in protective mylar cover; spine has some wear and chipping; dark red cloth with gilt lettering on cover and spine; deckled edges; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/G
Maroon cloth with gilt lettering and color illustration inlaid on front cover; binding tight; text clean and bright; in ORIGINAL BOX. VG/VG
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1957. Dust jacket protected; edges worn and creased; rear cover missing 2" near spine; illustrated paper boards over green cloth spine; edges faded and lightly worn; illustrated endpapers; binding good; text clean. G/G-
Random House, 1954. 1st edition; dust jacket protected; edges worn with some loss to head of spine; maroon cloth with three crosses on front cover; unclipped with original price of 4.75; binding good; text clean. G+/G
London: Hanover Gallery, 1971. Accordion-bound paperback artist's book; gouache drawings by William Scott reproduced as part of the 1970-1970 series A Girl Surveyed exhibited at the Hanover Gallery, March-April 1971; fifty copies were numbered and signed - this copy is not numbered or signed. Light smudges on covers; spine creased; interior clean and bright. G
Harper & Brothers, 1952. First printing, as evidenced by the absence of "Grrr" on page 23. Dust jacket protected; light wear to edges, front top corner chipped; price clipped; illustrated paper boards over green cloth spine; decorated endpapers; former owner's name in ink at top of ffep; binding tight; text clean. G+/G
Rockwell Kent's story of his 1918 Christmas spent in the wilderness of Alaska was originally published by the American Artists Group in 1941; this is the First Random House edition, 1983; small hardbound book in slipcase; text and pictures are from Wilderness, A Journal of Quiet Adventures in Alaska, publishd by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Bottom of slipcase separated but intact; book is in near fine condition; gift inscription in ink on ffep; former owner's name in ink on pastedown. G+/G
Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1953. 1st edition; dust jacket protected; top of spine and top edge of front cover missing; edges creased and worn; red cloth; decorated endpapers; binding good; text clean. G+/G-