Special Editions and Rare Finds
New York: The Lotus Society, 1929. Limited edition, no. 486/500. Green cloth spine over gilt paper boards with design in orange and dark green; spine faded; thick paper with deckled edges; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG
1st edition; inscribed by author on ffep; dust jacket protected; front of dj creased; binding tight; text clean. VG/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. In The Asphalt Jungle, published in 1949 and made into a movie in 1950, the most perfectly masterminded plot falls apart as each character reveals a weakness.
1st UK edition, published by Macdonald & Company, London, 1950; dust jacket in protective mylar cover; top edge shelf-worn; black cloth with gilt lettering on spine; endpapers very lightly tanned; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG
Offering a unique perspective and unusual insight into modern Japan and its wartime past, Audrey Hepburn's Neck is also a shrewd study of cross-cultural obsessions, and of erotic, romantic and familial love.
The American author Alan Brown crosses both racial and cultural lines to tell his story through the eyes of a young, handsome Japanese cartoonist, Toshiyuki ("Toshi") Okamoto, who traces his strong attraction to Western women bock to his ninth birthday, when his mother took him to see Audrey Hepburn in the movie "Roman Holiday."
Leaving behind a sad, silent childhood -- which was spent living in two rooms above the family noodle shop on an isolated peninsula in the far north of Japan -- Toshi moves to Tokyo to pursue his career. There he falls under the spell of three Americans: his best friend and confidante, the generous and extroverted Paul, a gay advertising copywriter who has plenty of his romantic mishaps with Japanese men; Jane, his glamorous but emotionally unstable teacher at the Very Romantic English Academy, with whom Toshi has a hazardous sexual affair; and, finally, the lovely and talented composer, Lucy, with whom Toshi falls in love.
The novel deftly moves back and forth between present and past, as Toshi explores his unhappy childhood, the reasons behind his mother's unexplained abandonment when he was eight years old, and her move to a seaside inn across the peninsula. As the novel draws to a close, tragic events, both public and personal, bring past and present together, revealing the painful truth of Toshi's parents' lives during World War II, and a secret in Toshi's own past that, in the end, gives him the strength and knowledge to confront the future.
1st edition, signed by author. Fine/Fine
Macmillan, 1955. 1st edition thus; dust jacket protected; spine toned; green cloth; endpapers and text lightly toned; binding good. G/G
New York: The Dancey-Davis Press, [1923]. 4to. La Chauve-Souris (French: The Bat) was a touring company that originated in Moscow and expanded to Paris during the early 1900s. Directed by Nikita Balieff, the revue performed songs, dances, and sketches, and toured the United States and Europe. Colorful wraps, some creases and light wear. Very scarce. G
NY: Rinehart & Co. Inc., 1951. 1st edition; dust jacket protected; edges worn; large vertical crease on both front and rear covers; loss to head of spine; unclipped - original $3.00 price on flap; stain on rear flap and rear free endpaper; black cloth; corners bumped; binding good; text clean. G/G-
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950. Inscribed by authors on ffep; gift inscription in ink on ffep also; dust jacket protected; edges lightly worn; pictorial cloth; binding good; text clean. G+/G