Catalog 107, I-L
185. IRVING, John. The World According to Garp. NY: Dutton (1978). The author's fourth novel, and his breakthrough book, reprinted numerous times, a multi-million copy bestseller and National Book Award winner in its paperback release. Foxing to top edge; spine roll; dampstaining to crown; a very good copy in a good, price-clipped dust jacket with internal dampstaining and tape repairs.
186. IRVING, John. The Hotel New Hampshire. London: Jonathan Cape (1981). The first British edition of his fifth book, the first to follow his critical and commercial success with The World According to Garp. Like Garp, this was also made into a movie. Signed by the author. Faint spotting to top edge; fine in a fine dust jacket.
187. IRVING, John. The Imaginary Girlfriend. (London): Bloomsbury (1996). The first British edition of this title, which was incorporated into the U.S. edition of Trying to Save Piggy Sneed and has had no separate U.S. printing. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
188. IRVING, John. The Cider House Rules. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1985. The correct first edition of his sixth novel, bound in full leather stamped in gilt, with gilt page edges and silk ribbon marker. With a special introduction by the author in which he explains the value of having "bad things" happen in a novel. A fine copy. Signed by the author.
189. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy of the trade edition. NY: Morrow (1985). A bit of creasing, from production, to the spine extremities; else fine in wrappers.
190. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Jonathan Cape (1985). Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
191. -. Same title. NY: Modern Library (1999). The first Modern Library edition, issued to coincide with the release of the film, and with an introduction recapping Irving's writing career. Fine in a fine dust jacket. With a Joseph Heller blurb on the rear panel.
192. IRVING, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1989. The true first edition of what may be Irving's best-loved book (a substantial claim for a book by the author of The World According to Garp), and the basis for the movie Simon Birch. Leatherbound, gilt stamped, with gilt page edges and silk ribbon marker. With a special introduction for this edition that does not appear in the trade edition. Signed by the author. A fine copy.
193. IRVING, John. A Son of the Circus. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1994. The signed limited edition. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in, and a special introduction for this edition by Irving about the ways the novel could have begun and the way it did begin. Signed by the author. Fine.
194. IRVING, John. A Widow for One Year. Media: Unicycle Press (1998). The American limited edition. One of 1200 copies signed by the author. Leatherbound. With an introduction by Irving on gender and structure that does not appear in other editions. Fine. At the list price:
195. IRVING, John. My Movie Business. NY: Random House (1999). A review copy of his latest book, an account of his career involvement with the movies, from working on the screenplay for The Cider House Rules for thirteen years to trying, unsuccessfully, to get his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, made into a film. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip and publisher's promotional material laid in.
196. ISHERWOOD, Christopher. Goodbye to Berlin. NY: Random House, 1939. First American edition of this semi-autobiographical collection of stories and vignettes of the Bohemian society of pre-Hitler Berlin. A Connolly 100 title. Near fine in a good dust jacket with a bit of staining visible on verso, some light, internally tape-repaired edge chipping, and very fragile spine folds.
197. ISHIGURO, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. London: Faber & Faber (1989). His third book, winner of the Booker Prize. Fine in a fine dust jacket. A flawless copy.
198. JONES, James. From Here to Eternity. NY: Scribner, 1951. The author's first book and one of the great novels of World War II, made into a film that won eight Academy Awards and was named one of the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. A nice copy of a book that, because of its bulk and its soft-paper unlaminated jacket, seldom turns up in collectible condition.
199. JONG, Erica. Loveroot. [NY]: [HRW], 1975. Photocopied typeset pages of her third collection of poetry. Inscribed by the author. Together with an autograph note signed transmitting the sheets and thanking the recipient for "the Nabokov books." All items fine in a tattered, hand-addressed, postage due envelope.
200. (KAEL, Pauline). The Citizen Kane Book. Boston: Little Brown (1971). Contains Kael's essay "Raising Kane," first published in the New Yorker, and the film's shooting and continuity scripts, by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. Quarto, heavily illustrated with photographs from the movie, which was selected as Number 1 of the American Film Institute's top 100 films of all time. Slightly edge-sunned, else fine in a near fine dust jacket creased on the front flap.
201. KAFKA, Franz. Amerika. Norfolk: New Directions (1940). The first American edition, translated by Edwin Muir, illustrated by Emlen Etting, and with a preface by Klaus Mann and an afterword by Max Brod. A novel about America by a writer who never set foot in the country, and who is widely considered one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. A fine copy in a very good, spine-sunned dust jacket with very light wear at the spine extremities.
202. KAZANTZAKIS, Nikos. Zorba the Greek. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1953. The first American edition of his most famous novel and the basis for the landmark movie. A fine copy in a very good dust jacket with modest rubbing and light edgewear. A scarce title: most copies of the American edition one sees are from the Book of the Month Club, and true firsts turn up so seldom that many people who wouldn't normally do so mistake the one for the other, simply because finding a true first for comparison is so difficult.
203. (KEROUAC, Jack). JOHNSON, Joyce. Minor Characters. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. Long galley sheets of this well-received memoir by an acclaimed writer and editor who was, at one time, Jack Kerouac's girlfriend and thus one of the "minor characters" at the center of the Beat scene. This is the author's own corrected set of galleys, with her holograph changes throughout. Printed on one side only; folded once, near fine. A unique copy of an important memoir of the Beat Generation, by a writer who has received considerable critical praise as a novelist as well.
204. KERSH, Gerald. Clock Without Hands. London: Heinemann (1949). An early novel by this writer whose work spans a number of genres, and resists easy categorization. The iconoclastic American writer Harlan Ellison, whose work also defies genre boundaries, recently named Kersh as his favorite author. Small label on the front flyleaf and gift inscription on verso; very good in a very good, rubbed dust jacket frayed at the spine crown.
205. KERSH, Gerald. Men Are So Ardent. London: Heinemann (1950). The revised reissue of his first book, initially published in 1936 and exceedingly scarce in the original edition. A bit of foxing to the page edges; near fine in a very good, rubbed and edgeworn dust jacket.
206. KERSH, Gerald. The Thousand Deaths of Mr. Small. London: Heinemann (1951). A novel. A bit of bumping to the lower board edge; near fine in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket with light chipping at the spine extremities.
207. KERSH, Gerald. The Implacable Hunter. London: Heinemann (1961). A novel of the life of St. Paul, by the author of Night and the City, which was made into a memorable film noir in the 1940s. Small smudge to foredge; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
208. KESEY, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. NY: Viking (1962). Kesey's landmark first book, a pivotal novel of the literature of the Sixties, which helped to shape a generation's attitudes on issues of authority, power, madness and, finally, individuality. Made into the Academy Award-winning movie that was number 20 on the American Film Institute's top 100 Films of the Century. The early printings of the U.S. edition contain text that was later excised and changed after a lawsuit was brought against Kesey and his publisher by a woman who was a nurse at the institution which Kesey used as a model for the novel; she charged him with portraying a character that was based on her (and had the same first name) in a disparaging manner. The character was rewritten after the third hardcover printing, and later editions, including the mass market paperback and the "definitive" text in the Viking Critical Library Series, have an alternate character in her place. This copy has evidence of a bookplate removal on the front flyleaf and some spotting to the cloth; very good in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket worn along the top edge, with two small, internal tape repairs. A very presentable copy of a modern high spot that is increasingly difficult to find in collectible condition.
209. KESEY, Ken. Typed Letter Signed. Undated. A two page letter, written to the editor of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at about the time that the book, Kesey's first novel, was being prepared for publication. An interesting letter: Kesey, clearly a neophyte in the ways of publishers and publishing, is writing his editor to thank her for all her help and advice, as he's trying to navigate the realm of agents, publication rights, etc. In an unreferenced but dramatic opening, Kesey writes: "Know you your transgressions are bolted forevor [sic] behind the stubborn steel bars of my ribs, doomed forevor to black silence and at once inshrined [sic] by their own glow of charity. O, that the world should be so cruel as to starve it's [sic] very eyes of the light of your kindness!" Later, in discussing agents, he calls his first one "no worldbeater of an agent or she wouldn't be abulance[sic]-chasing, as it were, like a shyster lawyer" after mentioning that she had approached him after his Saxton award and had persisted in offering to represent him. He asks the recipient to have Sterling Lord write him ("what a name; he sounds like he should be in LA instead of NY"), and then shows his appreciation of the advice she has given him: ". . . have you ever thought of taking on a client and making something from your advice...." Kesey mentions short stories he has ("a large number that have never gone anywhere") and an offer he has received to subscribe to a clipping service, and then he asks the editor if he can write her at home rather than at work: "There is something rather restrictive about writing a person in care of a Press. Makes the person seem rather sexless, like a part instead of an individual," and he goes on to express an interest in knowing her better "as a woman" and invites her to come visit him out west: "I could show you some wild territory this side of the Mississippi. (Was raised in Colorado)." The signature is typed "Ken," but with a four-line holograph postscript initialed "KK." Folded in thirds for mailing; slight overall wear; near fine. An interesting and revealing letter, from early in Kesey's writing career, before the success of Cuckoo's Nest, and written to the editor of the book, who no doubt contributed tangibly to that very success.
210. KINGSOLVER, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. (NY): HarperFlamingo (1998). The advance reading copy of her latest novel. A departure from her earlier books, which were located in the Southwestern U.S., this novel takes place in Africa, beginning in the Belgian Congo in 1959 and spanning three decades. Fine in wrappers.
211. KINSELLA, W.P. Shoeless Joe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. His highly praised, much-loved first novel, winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award and basis for the award-winning movie Field of Dreams. A North American magical realist baseball novel, with J.D. Salinger as a character. Signed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with one tiny edge tear at the lower front corner.
212. KLINKOWITZ, Jerome. Superfiction. (n.p.): (n.p.), (n.d.). Self-produced version of this important defense of contemporary fiction, especially of the variety he feels has been ignored or even critically maligned. A modified version of this was later published in book form. These are photocopied 8 1/2" x 11" sheets, bound with two staples. With the author's ownership label on the front cover sheet. Page edges darkening; near fine. Inscribed by the author in 1975, "For ____/ in appreciation of his/ appreciation of writers/ Best/ Jerome Klinkowitz."
213. -. Another copy. Unsigned.
214. KOSINSKI, Jerzy. Steps. NY: Random House (1968). Kosinski's second novel, and second book published under his own name, after the highly acclaimed The Painted Bird. This title won the National Book Award. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket.
215. -. Another copy. Poets House Library bookplate; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
216. -. Another copy, presumably a review copy: "Courtesy of Antioch Review" stamped on front pastedown; else fine in a near fine dust jacket.
217. LARTÉGUY, Jean. The Centurions. NY: Dutton (1962). The first American edition of this novel about French paratroops in Indo-China and Algeria, written by one of the most experienced French war correspondents in Southeast Asia. Some mild discoloration to the spine cloth; else fine in a near fine dust jacket with a couple short edge tears and light rubbing at the folds. One of the classic novels of the period, and one of the most sought after.
218. LAWRENCE, D.H. Birds, Beasts and Flowers! NY: Thomas Seltzer, 1923. The first edition of this collection of poems, preceding the British edition. Boards faded and mottled; page edges and endpages foxed; about very good in a good dust jacket, with a thumbnail-size chip at the base of the spine, another at the rear flap fold, and one internal tape repair. Still, the presence of the fragile paper jacket at all is remarkable.
219. LE CARRÉ, John. Smiley's People. London: Hodder & Stoughton (1980). The final book in the trilogy collectively entitled "The Quest for Karla," which is widely considered the greatest series of spy novels ever written -- combining a degree of realism with a literary accomplishment that made spying and the covert world of intelligence a metaphor for moral and spiritual inquiry into the place of man in the world, and his fate. Inscribed by the author in March of 1980. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
220. LE CARRÉ, John. Our Game. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1995. A leatherbound limited edition of this novel of the post-Cold War spy's world as it intersected with the nationalist aspirations of former Soviet countries. Signed by the author. With a special introduction by him for this edition about the genesis of the book. Fine.
221. LE CARRÉ, John. Single & Single. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1999. A limited edition of his latest novel. Leatherbound, all edges gilt, with a silk ribbon marker bound in. With an introduction by Le Carré that does not appear in any other edition, and in which he compares this novel to his earlier book, A Perfect Spy. Signed by the author. Fine.
222. LEE, Chang-Rae. Native Speaker. NY: Riverhead Books, 1995. The advance reading copy of the first book by this New Yorker 20 writer. Slight crimp to the top edge pages, seemingly from production; still fine in wrappers. Uncommon.
223. LEHANE, Dennis. Gone, Baby, Gone. NY: Morrow (1998). The author's fourth mystery featuring Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro; winner of the Dilys Award. Faint spot to top edge; else fine in a fine dust jacket. Together with a typed letter signed from January 1997 in which Lehane first agrees to sign a book for the recipient and then asks permission to use his name for a character in the book he is currently working on (Gone, Baby, Gone). Also together with two pages of computer printed typescript, presumably sent at a later date, in which the named character is introduced; with an autograph note signed by the author on the verso. The passages (numbered pp. 76 and 77 on the typescript) were deleted from the book, although the character was retained as one of the book's major figures. And finally together with a typed note signed from March, 1998, thanking his correspondent again and agreeing to send a signed advance copy. All the correspondence is folded, else fine; two envelopes are included.
224. LEVINE, David. The Arts of David Levine. NY: Knopf, 1978. A review copy of this collection of Levine's caricatures and paintings, many of them of prominent literary or political figures. Quarto; fine in a mildly edge-sunned, else fine dust jacket, with promotional sheet and several photographs of Levine's artwork laid in, to be used for promotional purposes. Inscribed by Levine.
225. (LISH, Gordon). Bill Hayward. NY: Paglia Press (1989). Black-and-white photographs of nudes by Hayward. Introduced and inscribed by Lish. Folio. Near fine in wrappers.
226. LOPEZ, Barry. Crow and Weasel. San Francisco: North Point, 1990. A fable in the style of North American Indian tales, beautifully illustrated with water colors by Tom Pohrt. This book was released at Christmas, 1990, marketed as a children's book, and immediately went into later printings. This is the second state, without the gold-stamping on the front cover, which the book's designer had removed while the print run was in progress. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
227. LUDLUM, Robert. The Scarlatti Inheritance. NY: World (1971). The first edition of the best-selling thriller writer's first book. Fine in a near fine printed acetate dust jacket, chipped at the spine extremities. This is the true first, with a printed price on the jacket flap, as opposed to the similar-looking book club edition, which also states "First Printing" but has no price. The acetate jacket, an unusual approach for a mainstream publisher to take, is quite fragile and prone to wear.