Catalog 106, L
158. LAGERKVIST, Par. Evening Land. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1975. An advance copy of this bilingual edition of poetry, co-translated by W.H. Auden and not published until after both Auden's and Lagerkvist's deaths. Ringbound galley sheets, reproducing numerous editoral markings in the Swedish text. The segment above the window in the front cardstock cover is absent; near fine. A poorly manufactured proof, which we suspect is an indication of its having been done in very small quantities.
159. LASDUN, James. The Silver Age. London: Cape (1985). The author's first book, a highly praised collection of stories, published in the U.S. under the title Delirium Eclipse with a slightly different collection of stories (one story omitted from the British collection). Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
160. -. Same title, the first American edition (Delirium Eclipse). Fine in a fine dust jacket.
161. LASDUN, James. Three Evenings. NY: FSG (1992). The first American edition of his second collection of stories which includes, among other stories, "Snow" from his first U.K. collection. Remainder mark; else fine in a fine dust jacket.
162. LAWRENCE, D.H. Pansies. London: Privately Printed (1929). First "definitive" edition of this collection of poems by the author of Women in Love and Lady Chatterly's Lover, among others, who was one of the most controversial literary figures of his time: Lawrence challenged the contemporary taboos for the description of romantic love and sexual activity, and as a result much of his most famous writing was banned and had to be printed privately. It was not until three decades after Lawrence's death, in fact, that Lady Chatterly's Lover could be published unexpurgated in England and America. Pansies was published the year after a volume of Lawrence's collected poems had been issued, and it was first published in England by Martin Secker in July, 1929, but Lawrence himself had to arrange to print this unexpurgated edition in August. This is one of 50 numbered copies bound in full leather and signed by the author, the smallest limitation of any of the various issues of this title. Foxing to the leather and tanning to the spine; otherwise a near fine copy, lacking the glassine dust jacket, in a slipcase with some cracks at the joints but still about very good. The survival of the fragile slipcase at all is remarkable. Roberts A47d.
163. LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott (1960). Her only book, a huge bestseller which was reprinted dozens of times upon publication, won the Pulitzer Prize, was selected for two different book clubs and was made into an Academy Award-winning movie. It has sold several million copies in the decades since, never going out of print. While hardcover copies abound because of the numerous printings and book club editions, the first edition (which has been estimated at having been 5000 copies) is not only very scarce, it is virtually impossible to find in collectable condition due to a number of factors: a large percentage of copies of the first printing went to libraries; the dust jacket is unlaminated and printed in dark ink, which tends to rub and show the white paper through the ink; and, because it is one of the best-loved books in American literature, copies tend to have been read, handled, passed around, and re-read -- and show the wear and tear of such use. This copy has a thin strip of sunning to the lower boards edges and the page signatures are darkening at varying rates; a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with a couple short edge tears and the usual rubbing along the edges and folds. One of the nicest unrestored copies we have seen in years. (Most copies of this title that turn up in presentable condition have had their dust jackets restored by paper restoration experts; this copy is, as they say, unsophisticated, i.e., unrestored.) A very attractive copy of one of the high spots of postwar American literature.
164. LEWIS, Sinclair. Our Mr. Wrenn. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1914. His first book under his own name, after the 1912 Hike and the Aeroplane by "Tom Graham." Lewis, the author of such classics as Babbitt, Main Street, Elmer Gantry and Arrowsmith, all published in the 1920s, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1930, the first American writer to win that award. Modest overall handling; near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
165. LEWIS, Sinclair. The Job. NY: Harper & Brothers (1917). His third book under his own name. Front hinge weak, abrasion to front flyleaf, dampstaining to lower boards; about very good, lacking the dust jacket.
166. LEWIS, Sinclair. Kingsblood Royal. NY: Random House (1947). The limited edition of one of his lastbooks, a novel of race relations that anticipated some of the social issues of the 1950s and 60s. This is one of 1050 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in a mildly edge-sunned slipcase. A very attractive copy of one of the two signed limited editions that Lewis published in his lifetime.
167. LEWIS, Sinclair and SCHARY, Dore. Storm in the West. NY: Stein and Day (1963). A World War II allegory in the form of an American western movie that was never filmed. With an introduction by Schary. Small bookplate of an important private collection on front pastedown; fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy; scarce thus.
168. LOWELL, Robert. Life Studies. NY: Farrar, Straus, Cudahy (1959). Lowell's fourth book, a collection of poems and an autobiographical fragment; winner of the National Book Award. Fine in a price-clipped, black dust jacket with some rubbing; about near fine.
169. LOWELL, Robert. The Old Glory. NY: FSG (1968). A review copy of the revised edition of this trilogy of plays written in verse. The first play in the trilogy has been expanded significantly from its original publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip and promotional photo laid in.
170. LOWELL, Robert. Notebook 1967-68. NY: FSG (1969). A review copy of this collection of poems, which was a National Book Award finalist in 1970. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
171. LOWELL, Robert. Notebook. NY: FSG (1970). A review copy of the revised and edition of Notebook 1967-68, considerably expanded from its original publication. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
172. LOWELL, Robert. For Lizzie and Harriet. NY: FSG (1973). A review copy of this thin volume, containing some of the poems from Notebook, revised and re-ordered. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip laid in.
173. LOWELL, Robert. Selected Poems. NY: FSG (1977). The revised edition of this selection chosen by the author from his earlier volumes of poetry. First published in 1976, this copy has review material from the earlier edition laid in. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with an edge tear on the front flap fold.
174. LOWELL, Robert. Day by Day. NY: FSG (1977). The uncorrected proof copy of the last book published in Lowell's lifetime. Faint dust soiling; else fine in wrappers.
175. LOWELL, Robert. The Oresteia of Aeschylus. NY: FSG (1978). The uncorrected proof copy of a posthumously published play, which Lowell "translated" from other translations, in an attempt to recapture what he imagined the initial impact of the play would have been to its original audience. Fine in wrappers.
176. LOWRY, Beverly. Correspondence Archive for Emma Blue. 1976-1979. The publisher's file for Lowry's second novel. Includes 19 letters from Lowry to her editor (16 typed letters signed, one typed letter unsigned, one typed note signed, one autograph note signed). The sequence begins in the period before the publication of her first novel, Come Back, Lolly Ray, and continues through the writing, revision and publicity for Emma Blue. Also included in this file are 37 typescript pages with revisions to the novel (originally titled Eunola's Own) and 25 pages of revised typescript for Lolly Ray. Together with 4 black and white publicity photos of Lowry, xeroxes of two promotional questionnaires, a publicity handout, and two published reviews. Lowry's letters are extremely detailed with revisions to her text; feelings about those revisions; ideas for promotion; opinions on the work of her contemporaries; and life details affecting her writing. Most of the letters are signed with a "B;" three bear additional doodles depicting the author's mood. Many of the letters have the pencilled markings of Lowry's editor in response to suggestions made by the author. The elements in the archive are generally fine. A nice archive by this Texas writer, who has been praised for both her fiction and her nonfiction. For all:
177. LOWRY, Malcolm. Typed Letter Signed. November 5, 1947. Written to "Dear old Hoffman," Lowry's friend, fellow writer and literary critic Hoffman Hayes. Six short paragraphs entreating Hayes to use his influence to help the course of Margie's (Lowry's wife - Margerie Bonner's) novel, published the month prior to this letter to virtually no critical response. In part: "...it was about the last book Maxwell Perkins took: he spoke highly of it to me and was in correspondence with her on the subject when he died...Opinions may differ on the Horse [Horse in the Sky], I think it is a magnificent piece of work, to which a certain naivete of facade seems to add rather than detract: but certainly it deserves to be taken seriously, as an Aeschylean tragedy (even if panned.) ... I have not hesitated to ask you to use your influence to direct it to someone intelligent if you can, for whether you like it or not, all this is clearly an injustice. She is a serious American writer, and any serious and written work these days deserves criticism." Signed "Malcolm." One page, folded in sixths for mailing; else fine. Together with a copy of Bonner's novel (NY: Scribner, 1947), her third, after two mysteries. A fine copy in a very good dust jacket. The book is dedicated to Lowry, and the letter is a plea for justice in publishing, or at least in reviewing, from the year in which his own masterwork, Under the Volcano, was published. Autograph material by Lowry is extremely scarce.