Special Editions and Rare Finds

Marty Holland, born Mary Hauenstein, was an American screenwriter and author of pulp novels. Holland began her career as a typist in Hollywood and wrote several short stories for pulps. Her first novel, Fallen Angel, was published in 1945 and immediately adapted into the 1945 film of the same name.

1st edition; dust jacket in protective mylar cover; dj corners clipped; head and tail of spine chipped; edges worn; small area of front cover rubbed; back cover soiled; orange cloth with dark blue lettering on cover and spine; small areas on pastedowns and endpapers show evidence of scotch tape; small bookseller's stamp in upper corner of front facing endpaper; rough cut paper; text clean and bright. G/G

This cult classic of gonzo journalism is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page.  It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.

Illustrations by Ralph Steadman. Popular Library, 1st paperback edition. Some creases; former owner's name in ink inside front cover.

From the legendary journalist and creator of “Gonzo” journalism Hunter S. Thompson comes the bestselling critical look at Nixon and McGovern’s 1972 presidential election.

Straight Arrow Books, 1973, stated first edition. Illustrations by Ralph Stradman.Dust jacket in protective cover; some creases and small closed tears; black boards with embossed image of skull on cover; white lettering on spine; corners bumped; head of spine pulled; top edge foxed; binding good; text clean and bright. G/G

1st edition; pristine dust jacket in protective cover. Fine/Fine

In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls.

The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving, and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.

New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. First edition, first printing ("A"). Dust jacket first state with no photographer's name; price intact; dj in fair condition with chips and tears; head of spine torn. Original tan cloth with red and black stamped spine; endpapers darkened; previous owner's bookplate on ffep; small stain at top of first 3 free endpapers. Binding tight; text clean. G/G-

Nearly 200 years ago, a teenager dreamt of a scientist who experimented with restoring life to the dead. Encouraged by her literary-minded friends, she expanded her fantasy into a gripping story that became the epitome of the Gothic novel. Mary Shelley's suspenseful narrative of a misbegotten monster's revenge resounds with compelling questions about ambition, responsibility, and other issues that continue to enthrall modern readers.

Acclaimed as both the first modern horror novel and the first science-fiction novel, Frankenstein has inspired numerous interpretations. This magnificently illustrated edition features the complete wood engravings by graphic artist Lynd Ward. A master of woodcut technique, Ward combined elements of Art Deco and German Expressionism in his images. His unusual perspectives and dramatic light-and-dark contrasts offer the perfect complement to Shelley's moody masterpiece.

New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1934. White cloth with color illustration on front and black lettering on spine; spine tanned and scuffed; very light fraying at top of spine; covers lightly soiled; endpapers tanned; binding tight; text and illustrations clean and bright. G+

Vividly reminiscent of the goings-on at Sterling Cooper—the late nights, the three-martini lunches, the sex on couches, and, of course, the actual work of plugging products—this is the story of what Madison Avenue was really like in the ’60s. A worldwide bestseller when first published in 1970, this frank, irreverent, and hilarious memoir is a one-of-a-kind cult classic.

1st printing. Edited by Charles Sopkin. Dust jacket in protective cover; gray cloth with yellow lettering on spine; former owner's name stamped on ffep; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG

New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1902. 1st edition. No dust jacket; red blind stamped cloth with gilt lettering on cover and spine; edges frayed; corners bumped; evidence of repair to front hinge; inscription to former owner in ink on ffep; t.e.g.; deckled edges; text clean. G-

Internationally acclaimed as a surgeon and brilliant researcher, particularly in the therapy of shock, Dr. George Crile was one of the dynamic personalities of our time, both in private and professional life. Following his death in 1943, Grace Crile brought together her husband's voluminous autobiographical writings to form this illustrated, two-volume work, adding important sidelights on a distinguished career that included experiences in two wars, travels through Europe and Asia, expeditions to Africa and Alaska, and association with notables in both medical and non-medical fields.

1st edition, inscribed by Grace Crile; 2 volumes; volume 2 has dj in protective mylar cover; dj has many tears, but all text is legible; red cloth with black and gilt decoration on spines; binding tight; text clean and bright.

The Girl with the Golden Eyes contains some of Balzac's most intense observations of 19th Century Parisian society. It tells the story of a beautiful young woman seduced by a servant of a secret society known as "The Thirteen."

This sumptuously-illustrated edition was privately printed at the "Sign of the Peacock" - The Peacock Press, Chicago, 1928. Translated by Ernest Dowson; illustrated by Donald Denton. No dust jacket/slip case; gilt decorated black cloth; edges lightly worn; endpapers tanned; deckled edges; thick paper; each full-page color illustration has a web-patterned gold tissue guard and is followed by same illustration in black and white; binding tight; text clean. G+

Limited edition artist's book; designed, printed, cut and bound by Carol Schwartzott; handset and printed letterpress by John P. Lathourakis of Tabula Rasa Press. Signed by artist and printer; no. 6 of 20 copies; fold-out; in handmade paper slipcase. VG

The Golden Age is a collection of Kenneth Grahame's reminiscences of childhood, notable for their conception of a world where children are locked in perpetual warfare with the adult "Olympians" who have wholly forgotten how it feels to be young - a theme later explored by J. M. Barrie and other authors.

1st U.S. edition, with the date of 1900 on the title page, but with a John Lane Copyright 1899, The University Press U.S.A. on the CR page. 18 black and white plates by Maxfield Parrish; no dj; maroon cloth with gilt design on cover; some shelf wear to top of spine and corners; former owner's bookplates on pastedown; t.e.g.; deckled edges; text clean. VG

American author Stephen Crane began writing early in life, and was already a published author by the age of sixteen. Among Crane's best known works is The Red Badge of Courage, which was influenced by his own experiences in military school and personal contact with Civil-War veterans. Crane died in 1900 at the age twenty-eight of tuberculosis, but had a significant and lasting impact on twentieth-century literature, influencing early modernist writers such as Ernest Hemingway.

Great Battles of the World, published in 1900, is a book in which Crane discusses some of the most famous battles that he researched.

Illustrated by John Sloan. Red cloth, embossed decoration and lettering in gilt and silver on cover; gilt lettering on spine; t.e.g.; small spot on top of fore-edge; hinges weak. G

Don Robertson was a true Clevelander. He was born and raised in Cleveland, and after stints in the Army and one year at Harvard, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University for one year. He then became a reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer (1950-1955 and 1963-1966), The Cleveland News (1957–1959), and The Cleveland Press (1968–1982). He wrote 18 published novels, most of which took place in Cleveland and the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio. Robertson is probably best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (1965), The Sum and Total of Now (1966), and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened (1970). Set in Cleveland between 1944 and 1953, each of the three novels revolves around a major event in the city’s history: the East Ohio Gas explosion, the Indians winning the pennant, and the Korean War. Reviewers compared the trilogy to the works of Mark Twain, Booth Tarkington and J. D. Salinger.

The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened concludes the story of Morris Bird III. Now, at seventeen, he's on the verge of adulthood . . . and he's fallen in love. It's 1952 and the Korean War hangs over his head like a dangling sword, and his prickly, complicated relationship with his cold and silent father has never been satisfactorily resolved. When Morris's own mortality stares him in the face, he learns what it truly means to become a man.

Signed first edition; dust jacket in protective cover; light creasing along bottom of rear cover; flaps scotch-taped to endpapers; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/G+

In real life, Greyfriar's Bobby was a Skye terrier who was made famous in 19th century Scotland for sitting on his master's grave for many years. He became so well known that the Edinburgh authorities built a statue of him. Atkinson's heartwarming 1912 novel is told from the point of view of the dog.

New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1912. First American Edition. Gray-blue cloth with gilt-encircled image of dog on cover; lettering in white, outlined in black, on cover; gilt lettering on spine; no dj; spine worn; covers lightly soiled; front hinge weak; frontispiece with tissue guard; text clean and bright. G

From the cover: "This is not the first time that thieves, murders, smugglers, pimps and whores have invested the pages of a novel. What makes this book unusual is that in it the underworld moves into literature as a legitimate segment of our society. Characters such as Divine, Mimosa, Darling and Gabriel have, hitherto, always appeared in the wrong, under a shadow which completely cut off their humanity from ours. With the publication of THE GUTTER IN THE SKY - the fastest selling book in Europe today - they appear justified in their own light. Chiefly because their author - who stepped out of a lifetime of imprisonment into international literary fame - is one of them and loves them as they are. Genet loves his extravert and intravert, sex-normal and sex-perverted criminals as much as Victor Hugo loved his saints. In the works of Genet the gutter suddenly appears before us in the full bloom of its natural colors."

Philadelphia: Andre Levy, 1955. Dust jacket in protective cover; edges lightly creased; gray cloth with gilt decoration on cover and spine; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/G+

Shirley Jackson's chilling second novel, based on her own experiences and an actual mysterious disappearance

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Waite longs to escape home for college. Her father is a domineering and egotistical writer who keeps a tight rein on Natalie and her long-suffering mother. When Natalie finally does get away, however, college life doesn’t bring the happiness she expected. Little by little, Natalie is no longer certain of anything—even where reality ends and her dark imaginings begin. Chilling and suspenseful, Hangsaman is loosely based on the real-life disappearance of a Bennington College sophomore in 1946.

Shirley Jackson's second novel; 1st English printing, published in London by Victor Gollancz Ltd. Blue cloth, spine faded; head torn; corners rubbed and bent; gutter loose between pages 186-187; text clean. G-

"This is a riotous story which is reasonably mad and as accurate as a Marx brother can make it. Despite only a year and a half of schooling, Harpo, or perhaps his collaborator, is the best writer of the Marx Brother. Highly recommended." Library Journal

"A funny, affectionate and unpretentious autobiography done with a sharply professional assist from Rowland Barber." New York Times Book Review

Bernard Geis Associates, 1961, stated First Printing.  Dust jacket in protective cover; dj has tears and creases; spine tanned; covers soiled and scuffed; edges tanned; blue cloth spine over light blue boards speckled with red and yellow; gilt lettering on spine; spine edges pulled; hinges weak; binding floppy in middle; text and photos clean. G/G-

Don Robertson was a true Clevelander. He was born and raised in Cleveland, and after stints in the Army and one year at Harvard, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University for one year. He then became a reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer (1950-1955 and 1963-1966), The Cleveland News (1957–1959), and The Cleveland Press (1968–1982). He wrote 18 published novels, most of which took place in Cleveland and the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio. Robertson is probably best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (1965), The Sum and Total of Now (1966), and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened (1970).

Although Robertson declares on his title page that Harv is a novel, its first chapter admits that the book is a loose collection of stories. In 40 anecdotes Harv describes the progress of his life from toilet training at age two to the blindness which forces him to return to diapers at age 65. In the meantime, he proposes to a prostitute who befriends him, falls into the grave at a funeral, saves kittens from freezing, and eventually marries the childhood girlfriend who knocked out two of his teeth. Harv frequently combines bawdy humor with nostalgia and tenderness. [Library Journal, 1985]

Cleveland: John T. Zubal, Inc. Publishers, 1985. Signed by author. F/F

Gonzo journalist and literary roustabout Hunter S. Thompson flies with the angels—Hell’s Angels, that is—in this short work of nonfiction.
 
“California, Labor Day weekend . . . early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur. . . The Menace is loose again.”
 
Thus begins Hunter S. Thompson’s vivid account of his experiences with California’s most notorious motorcycle gang, the Hell’s Angels. In the mid-1960s, Thompson spent almost two years living with the controversial Angels, cycling up and down the coast, reveling in the anarchic spirit of their clan, and, as befits their name, raising hell. His book successfully captures a singular moment in American history, when the biker lifestyle was first defined, and when such countercultural movements were electrifying and horrifying America. Thompson, the creator of Gonzo journalism, writes with his usual bravado, energy, and brutal honesty, and with a nuanced and incisive eye; as The New Yorker pointed out, “For all its uninhibited and sardonic humor, Thompson’s book is a thoughtful piece of work.” As illuminating now as when originally published in 1967, Hell’s Angels is a gripping portrait, and the best account we have of the truth behind an American legend.

Second printing; dust jacket in protective cover; some scuffing and small closed tears; black cloth with silver embossed motorcycle and rider design on front cover; red and silver lettering on spine; binding good; text clean. G+/G

New York: Creative Age Press, 1945. 1st edition. Dust jacket in protective cover; head of spine missing 1/2"; closed 2" vertical tear repaired on the inside with tape; edges creased and worn; corners bumped and chipped; tan cloth with turquoise and gilt on cover and spine; cover soiled; maps on endpapers; library stamp on ffep and rear pastedown; binding good; text clean. G/G-

This collection consists of correspondence and related ephemera between Harvey Buchanan, the late Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, and Swiss poet, novelist, and painter Hermann Hesse.

Inventory:

• 6 envelopes/small packets, each containing small, privately printed chapbooks of stories by Hesse, signed by Hesse. Some envelopes/packets also contain small watercolor postcards done by Hesse (1956-1960)
• One small hardcover book, Hermann Hesse: Aquarelle aus dem Tessin, by Zwolf Farbige Bildtafeln (Baden-Baden; Woldemar Klein, 1955). Scarce in this hardcover edition. Dust jacket in original glassine wrapper; signed by Hesse on ffep; postcard signed by Hesse laid in. VG/VG
• One folder of correspondence regarding Buchanan’s translation of Hesse’s "Morgenlandfahrt" and its serialization in Shenandoah magazine (1950-1957)
• Miscellaneous items, including postcard from colleague and preprint of journal article. 

Collection is in cardboard enclosure; all items in Good to Very Good condition.

Very rare first edition of the groundbreaking exposé of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust by journalist Ida Tarbell. This seminal example of muckraking first appeared as a nineteen part serialization in McClure's Magazine and is credited with the hastening of the breakup of Standard Oil, which was found to be in violation of antitrust laws.

New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1904. Two volumes; red cloth; blind stamped on cover; gilt lettering on spine; head and tail of spine beginning to fray; covers lightly soiled; bookplate of former owner on pastedown; text clean and bright. VG

Fourteen short stories capture the quirky and peculiar behavior of horses, both good and ornery. You'll meet buckers, tricksters, and trusted partners: Bearcat is not just a plain crazy hardheaded bucker...but a wise, coolheaded cross between a whirlwind and a ton of brick, Joker is full of old nick and plenty of snorts, and Little Eagle is the seeing eye for a blind cowboy. First published in 1940, Horses I Have Known contains some of Will James' most acclaimed short stories.

World Publishing; Forum Books Edition, 1st printing, 1945; dj protected; top and bottom of spine chipped; top edge chipped; covers lightly soiled and tanned; red cloth with black lettering; water damage to bottom of spine and spine edges of covers; the red color from cloth binding has stained inside bottom of spine of dust jacket; binding good; text clean; illustrated by author. G/G

From the dust jacket: "The vibrant, spirited woman who was married to Ernest Hemingway for fifteen years now gives us the whole story of her life, and of their life, in a book whose concreteness and immediacy make us know--make us understand--how it was. She gives us the person she was: her Huck Finn childhood, growing up in a sunny clapboard house in a small Minnesota town, summering on lakes and rivers with her handsome, iconoclastic, adored father...her years as a reporter (in Chicago, working for the toughest woman's-page editor in the business; in London, for Lord Beaverbrook; in Paris, for Time)...her brief marriage to an Australian newspaperman... Her first glimpse of Hemingway (she's at lunch with Irwin Shaw. Ernest ambles over: "Introduce to me to your friend, Shaw"). And two short meetings later: "I don't know you, Mary. But I want to marry you." ...Their first days in Paris. Mary enthralled by him, yet nervous, "feeling the heat of his exuberance melting my identity away"...Their first fight (Marlene Dietrich pleads for him: "He is good. He is responsible. He's a fascinating man. You could have a good life, better than being a reporter.") ...Their marriage in Cuba...The Finca where they lived their "own special crazy good life" (guests in endless relays, feasts, the halcyon days fishing aboard their beloved Pilar, nonstop talk, nonstop daiquiris)...Their compromises and quarrels and lovings... Ernest at the race track, showering Mary's baffled, puritanical mother with his winnings...Mary, helping as best she could through the turmoils that marked the writings of ACROSS THE RIVER AND INTO THE TREES, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, and A MOVABLE FEAST...."

1st edition; inscribed by author; dust jacket in protective cover; edges tanned; black cloth; pictorial endpapers; binding tight; text clean and bright. G+/G+

John Vassos (1898-1985) was an industrial designer and artist whose designs helped define the shape of radio, television, broadcasting equipment, and computers. He is best known for creating the iconic turnstile for the Perey company, which is still in use in some subway stations. He also designed radios and televisions for RCA.

Vassos gained acclaim as an illustrator before he was an industrial designer, and his iconic subjective illustrations were influenced by cinema and reflected cubist and constructivist, geometrical styles. They were often in black and white gouache (opaque watercolor) and well suited for reproduction in mass media.

Humanities, published in 1934, features his masterful illustrations with text by his wife, Ruth Vassos. 1st edition; no dust jacket; blue cloth with black lettering; front has areas of tanning from sun damage; spine edges frayed; corners bumped; binding good; text clean and bright. G+

Leonard Nimoy, the actor, recounts his experiences acting the role of Mr. Spock, Star Trek's unflappable Vulcan, his reactions to his fame, and his continuing identification with Spock

Del Rey, 1977, first Ballantine Books edition. Mass market paperback.  VG++

Baskin's illustrated essays are his homage to the artists for whom he feels not only kinship but a deep and singular dedication. These are his companions, his exemplars in the lonely agony of creation, and each portrait seemingly imbues him with the attributes of his subject. Written in a style as complex and idiosyncratic as his art, the essays offer Baskin's insights into the spirit and passion of figures from Rembrandt to Eakins, Anne Allen to Paula Modersohn Becker. Though technical details, biographical facts, and quotes from authorities are included, the book is an intense and essentially personal celebration of creativity at times so strangely religious that it might best be described as a book of devotions. Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum Lib., New York (Library Journal, 1988)

1st U.S. edition; dust jacket lightly soiled; spine lightly faded; red cloth with gilt lettering on front cover and spine; edges slightly faded; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/G+

"This is a comedy set in a cemetery, a ribald satire on prejudice. In it Johnny Speight lampoons the dubious logic and unlovely self-interest that lie behind a whole spectrum of British social, religious and political attitudes, ranging from liberal to reactionary. It is both a funny and an uncomfortably accurate play from the author of the television series, Till Death Us Do Part."

Softcover; creased, soiled, spine worn; water damage to bottom inside corner of covers and text; ink and highlighting throughout text; ink notes on inside rear cover; former owner's name in ink on first page. Scarce. G-

Amiri Baraka was a poet and co-founder of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960's. He collaborated with photographer Fundi (Billy Abernathy) to create In Our Terribleness, a poetic-photographic essay that "both re-creates and defines black life for the black reader" (New York Times, February 14, 1971). This unique book combines elements of poetry, photography, and art. As Ron Welborn wrote in the New York Times, "Couched in the language of the streets and intoned with the rhythms of jazz, it is both an expression and evocation of the rudiments of blackness."

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1970. Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Fundi (Billy Abernathy). 1st printing. Dust jacket in protective mylar cover; creased with several tears, some repaired with scotch tape; 1/2" at head of spine missing; corners worn; black cloth with silver lettering on spine; bottom corners bumped; gift inscription facing page 5; all elements intact, including mirror on page 5; text clean and bright. Scarce. G+/G-

William Riley (W.R.) Burnett (1899-1982) was an American novelist and screenwriter, best known for his crime novel Little Caesar, the film adaptation of which was considered to be the first of the classic American gangster movies. Burnett's characters exist in a world of twilight morality — virtue can come from gangsters and criminals, malice from guardians and protectors. Above all his characters are human and this could be their undoing.

Iron Man features tough fighter Coke Mason. He’s got a great left hook, and he can take the punishment. His manager George Regan knows all his strengths and weaknesses—hell, they’ve known each other since they were kids--and uses them to his advantage to get Coke fired up before every fight. Coke is headed for the top. But he’s got one weakness that Regan can’t use—Coke’s love for Rose, his manipulative wife. Rose has Coke twisted around her finger so tight, Coke can’t see straight. But that doesn’t bother Coke. Whatever Rose wants is okay with him. Until suave hustler Paul Lewis enters the scene, with a proposition of his own.

1st printing, published by The Dial Press, New York, 1930; powerful dust jacket by Edna Reindel; dj in protective mylar cover; spine and corners chipped; top edges of dj foxed; blue boards with gilt lettering on spine; spine faded; top front corner has small water stain; inscription on front free endpaper; binding tight; text clean and bright. G/G-

Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, and adventurer. It's Me O Lord is the full autobiography of his exciting life, and it is filled with his incredible illustrations. As an added bonus, a 21-page booklet titled An Index to the Paintings and Illustrations in Rockwell Kent's It's Me O Lord, compiled by Robert Rightmire in 1997 is included with this book.

1st edition; dust jacket in protective cover; some chips and small tears at top edge and corners; front cover has small white and blue splotches on lettering; price clipped; inside front flap has small rust stain; two areas of rust stains on ffep and two areas of rust on rear free endpaper; former owner bookplate on ffep; ink notes made on reare free endpaper; front hinge weak; text clean. G/G

The first book-length biography of James Dean to appear after his death, written by a friend (and former UCLA classmate). Issued simultaneously in both paperback and hardcover. This is the Ballantine Books vintage paperback, 1956, in good condition.

James Branch Cabell (1879-1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles-lettres. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when they were most popular.

His 1921 play, The Jewel Merchants is set in early sixteenth-century Tuscany and explores the moral lassitude and selective ethics of a coterie of businessmen. It's a thoroughly entertaining look at a past culture that is sure to tickle readers' funny bones.

New York; Robert M. McBride & Company, 1921. Limited edition, no. 589 of 1,040. Brown cloth with gilt decoration on cover; spine lettering faded; endpapers tanned; deckled edges; binding tight; text clean. G+

Short stories and poems, and line drawings, often surreal and always nonsensical. The book is notable in that it was the first solo Beatle project in any form.

Simon and Schuster, 1964; in French; illustrated by John Lennon; no dj; cover has photo of John Lennon; spine edges chipped and worn; corners bumped and worn; binding good; text clean and bright. G

New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1946. 1st edition; dust jacket in protective cover; front flap clipped; spine tanned; minor shelf wear to edges; green cloth with gilt decoration and lettering on cover and spine; pictorial endpapers; binding good; text clean. G/G

A first edition with VG dust jacket of one of Henderson's only two novels. George Wylie Henderson was born in 1904 in Warriorstand, Alabama, an unincorporated area of Macon County. He attended the limited and segregated rural school. He went to Tuskegee Institute, where he learned printing as a trade. Henderson moved to New York in the Great Migration and supported himself as a printer for the New York Daily News, also becoming associated with writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Henderson lived in New York City until his death.
Creative Age Press, Inc, NY, 1946. VG/VG

King of the Confessors is Thomas Hoving's gripping account of the extraordinary events surrounding the Metropolitan Museum of Art's purchase, in 1963, of the magnificent medieval carved walrus ivory cross that the Museum calls 'The Cloisters Cross', but Hoving calls 'The Bury St Edmund Cross'.

1st edition; inscribed by author; dust jacket has very minor shelf wear to spine; maroon cloth over beige boards; gilt lettering on cover and spine; binding tight; text clean and bright. G+/G+

From National Book Award-nominated author Edward P. Jones comes a debut novel of stunning emotional depth and unequaled literary power

Henry Townsend, a farmer, boot maker, and former slave, through the surprising twists and unforeseen turns of life in antebellum Virginia, becomes proprietor of his own plantation―as well his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart at their plantation: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love under the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend household, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave “speculators” sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.

An ambitious, courageous, luminously written masterwork, The Known World seamlessly weaves the lives of the freed and the enslaved―and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery. The Known World not only marks the return of an extraordinarily gifted writer, it heralds the publication of a remarkable contribution to the canon of American classic literature.

Inscribed first edition in near fine condition.

The woman whose life story is a demonstration of the power of faith, here makes eloquent plea for the evaluation and perpetuation of faith. ""Faith is thought directed toward good, and like all thought-power, it is infinite"", she says. She defines her conception of God, not a dictator-God, but a God of love and tolerance; she shows how faith can be acquired, and how it is America's responsibility to affirm its existence and to rely on faith to combat a totalitarian world.

New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1940; 1st edition; dust jacket in protective cover; edges chipped and worn; green cloth; edges slightly faded; binding tight; text clean. G+/G-

1st edition; "A King Penguin Book"; King Penguin Books, no. 51, published in 1949. Small hardcover book with illustrated covers; spine intact with slight tanning; corners slightly bumped; 31 pages of text + 16 original colored lithographs. VG

New York & London: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1929. 1st edition; dust jacket in protective cover; edges worn and chipped; price clipped; red cloth with gilt lettering and design on front cover and lettering on spine; head of spine lightly frayed; corners bumped; illustrated endpapers; endpapers lightly tanned from jacket flaps; binding good; text clean. G/G-

Local Color was the third published book by the American author Truman Capote, released in the Fall of 1950. It includes notes and sketches about persons and places, including travel journal-style essays on cities and countries Capote had lived in or visited. 

1st printing. Dust jacket in protective cover; unclipped; edges worn; corners chipped; spine tanned; black cloth over black & white paper boards; corners bumped; endpapers tanned; binding tight; text clean. G+/G

 A lonely river boy with a silver trumpet follows his music through a series of wondrous and strange adventures. Illustrated throughout by Feliks Topolski.

1st edition. Blue cloth with design and lettering in light blue on cover and spine. G+

Singer, a Nobel Prize-winning author, reminisces about leaving his friends in Poland in the 1930's, coming to America to join his brother in New York, and his experiences in this strange new land.

Limited to 500 copies signed by Isaac Bashevis Singer and contains a numbered colored print signed by Raphael Soyer; this is no. 176/500. Maroon cloth in red slipcover; illustrated endpapers; binding tight; text clean and bright; slipcase has three tiny white spots near top of spine. Fine/VG+

Paul Gallico's haunting novel is the saga of a little British traveling circus stranded in Spain.

1st edition; signed by author; dust jacket in protective cover; former owner's signature in ink on half-title; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG

One of the finest American wood engravers of the twentieth century and an outstanding artist of any era, Lynd Ward (1905-1985) created a series of fantastic visual novels. The powerful imagery and psychological intensity of his wordless works have elicited comparisons to the writings of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe, and they have exercised an enormous influence over latter-day graphic novelists.

Mad Man's Drum consists solely of Ward's woodcuts, telling its story through imagery alone.
Ward's hauntingly rendered works have been honored with such prestigious awards as the Library of Congress Award, the National Academy of Design Print Award, the New York Times Best Illustrated Award, the Caldecott Medal, and the Regina Award.

New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, 1930. 1st edition; no dust jacket; black white illustrated boards with black cloth spine; title in paper inset on spine; spine edges very slightly bent; corners bumped; black endpapers; deckled edges; binding tight; text clean. G+

'I was a brash newcomer to it, and yet when I first felt the rhythm of its streets and smelled its ancient smells, I said, 'Of course,' for I was once more in my own place, an invader of what was already mine.'

M.F.K. Fisher moved to Aix-en-Provence with her daughters after the Second World War. In Map of Another Town, she traces the history of this ancient and famous town, known for its tree-lined avenues, pretty fountains and ornate façades. Beyond the tourist sights, Fisher introduces us to its inhabitants: the waiters and landladies, down-and-outs and local characters all recovering from the affects of the war in a drastically new France.

A companion piece to The Gastronomical Me, in this memoir Fisher finds herself alone, older and with two small children to care for, while at the same time discovering a sense of belonging and acceptance. This is an intimate portrait of a place, which is also a self-portrait. As Fisher writes: 'Here before me now is my picture, my map, of a place and therefore myself.'

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1964. 1st edition. Dust jacket in protective cover; edges lightly chipped; spine tanned; purple cloth; edges faded; pictorial endpapers; binding tight; text clean and bright. G+/G