Catalog 112, N-O
177. NIN, Anais. House of Incest. Paris: Siana Editions (1936). One of 249 numbered copies of the first edition of Nin's second book, first novel, signed by the author. A surreal novel loosely based on Nin's menage à trois with Henry and June Miller and her incestuous relationship with her father. Jack Kahane, publisher of the Obelisk Press -- which had published Miller's Tropic of Cancer two years earlier -- turned down the book, and Nin set up her own imprint, Siana Editions (Anais backward), with the help of Miller, Michael Fraenkel and Alfred Perles. Although the limitation page indicates 249 signed copies, years after publication Nin sold the last hundred copies, unsigned, to American underground publisher Sam Abramson, meaning that fewer than 150 copies of this edition were numbered and signed by Nin. Additionally, this copy is inscribed by the author to the Surrealist painters Yves Tanguy and Kay Sage, with a lengthy excerpt from her then-unpublished, but already famous, diary: "For Kay and Yves/ 'The fear of madness will burn down/ the walls of our secret house and/ send us out into the world seeking/ warm contact.'/ From the diary: In one of Kay's paintings I saw/ the spiral which leads us into/ space, in Yves a desert full of/ small, naked and tender objects./ In both one can breathe one's/ self out of this world in which/ one cannot breathe. Both are/ transparent. There are the bones/ of the already lived in Yves -- / but not death./ In life I see them laughing.../ I love them/ Anais." For three decades, Tanguy was among the most prominent of the Surrealist painters; he exhibited in Paris with Klee, Miro and Arp in 1929; later, in New York, his paintings were exhibited with Man Ray's photographs and still later, they were shown with Dali and Magritte. When he died in 1955, the Museum of Modern Art conducted a retrospective of his work. Kay Sage was also a Surrealist painter whose works were highly regarded (not just by Nin). Tanguy and Sage met in Paris in the late Thirties, presumably at the time this book was inscribed, and they later moved to the U.S. Some light sunning to the spine and edges; a near fine copy with fragments of the original glassine dustwrapper intact. Probably the nicest copy of this large, fragile book we have ever seen, and certainly the best association copy of it we have seen.
178. OATES, Joyce Carol. The Wheel of Love and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1971. The first British edition of her third collection of stories. Inscribed by the author to a novelist and editor of a prominent literary magazine, "with very best wishes," in London in 1971, and signed "Joyce." A nice literary association. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
179. O'BRIEN, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. A novel involving a Vietnam vet who rises to a position of public prominence but carries a secret that threatens to undo his accomplishment. Named best novel of the year by Time magazine. This copy is inscribed by the author to his parents: "To Mom + Dad,/ on your 50th anniversary,/ Love,/ Tim." Slight spine slant; near fine in a dust jacket creased on the front flap; else fine. A wonderful family association copy. O'Brien is the author of the National Book Award-winning Going After Cacciato as well as the acclaimed collection The Things They Carried.
180. O'HARA, Frank. Meditations in an Emergency. NY: Grove (1957). The first major collection of poems by the legendary writer who, together with John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch, was instrumental in defining the "New York school" of poetry in the Fifties, an enormously fertile era in the arts. The New York poets, who became heroes to a later generation in the Sixties and Seventies, created and legitimized a kind of writing free from the cramping constraints of literary strictures, a freedom seized upon by the beat generation and its successors. This is one of 75 copies of the limited edition of O'Hara's book, this copy having been inscribed by the author to noted composer John Gruen, another in the circle of artists on the New York scene in the Fifties, who has written two highly praised memoirs of that period. A remarkable, unique, historic copy of a rare book by one of the most influential poets of a generation. Signatures loosened and binding worn; a good copy in a worn original slipcase, housed in an attractive custom clamshell box. One of the finest association copies imaginable by a poet of the seminal and profoundly influential New York school. Together with a fine review copy of Gruen's book, The Party's Over Now (NY: Viking, 1972), which recounts the time and the events.
181. OLSEN, Tillie. Tell Me a Riddle. London: Faber & Faber (1964). The first British edition of the author's first book, a highly praised collection of stories that later came to be one of the key works in the renaissance of women's writing that accompanied the feminist movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. Inscribed by the author to Seymour Lawrence under the front flap: "For the Lawrence of WAKE who still is / Tillie Olsen/ June 1965." Laid in is an autograph note signed: "This for you personally & your wife who looks/ like my Karla / I hope you can reissue these someday, with other/ pieces / And other books./ TLO/ A scrawled on picture where we met." Included is a 3 1/2-inch square black and white photo of Olsen at her desk ("scrawled on" only on verso). The note is on 4" x 6" paper; paperclip imprint, else fine. The book is near fine in a very good dust jacket with tiny chipping at the extremities. An important first book: Olsen has been widely seen as one of the most important American women writers of the postwar era, and her relatively small body of work has had a disproportionate influence both because of its quality and because of the political reality that there has been so little of it, largely due to the societal double standard imposed on women, who have been expected to subsume their careers, literary or otherwise, to the demands of raising a family, keeping house, etc. Olsen began writing in the 1930s but didn't publish a book for nearly thirty years because of the demands of economic survival. The title story of this collection won the O. Henry Award for the best story published the year it came out and later became one of the most widely taught and anthologized stories of the modern canon. Olsen's hope declared in the above note was realized: Lawrence re-published this book in 1969; he also published her next books.
182. -. Same title. (NY): Delta/(Dell)(1961)[c. 1969]. The third printing of the wrappered reissue of her first book. Warmly inscribed by the author to Annie Dillard in 1974: "In kinship -- and in love for/ your work." With Olsen's signature and address label, and Dillard's ownership signature, beneath which she has added "please return." A rubbed, read, very good copy with a small chip at the lower spine. A wonderful literary association.
183. OLSEN, Tillie. Yonnondio from the Thirties. (n.p.): Delacorte Press/Lawrence (1974). Her first novel, begun in 1934 -- a chapter of it was published in the Partisan Review that year -- and put aside for nearly 40 years while the author raised her four children and attended to the tasks of survival. Inscribed by the author to Seymour Lawrence, her publisher, in part: "For Sam who first endeared himself/ to me as editor of/ 'Wake' years before we met,/ and later as editor and cherisher/ of Katherine Anne Porter..." Fine in a very good dust jacket. Books inscribed by Olsen -- whose handwriting is so tiny as to be almost unreadable -- are quite uncommon, and good association copies are rare.
184. OLSEN, Tillie. Silences. (NY): Delacorte/Lawrence (1978). Nonfiction. An important statement about women writing by one of the most highly praised writers of her generation, whose literary output has been constrained by her need to attend to the other aspects of life that women, far more than men, are expected to take care of, which is one of the themes of the book. With a lengthy inscription by the author to Seymour Lawrence on the front pastedown, in part: "...who brings to publishing the excitement,/ dedication, insistences, passion for perfection, that/ go into writing, into art --/most inadequately inscribed on a shaky/ table in Arcata -- Trinidad -- where/ you risked the clouds in a tiny plane/ to come and hear one of your writers/ read." Spine- and edge-sunned; near fine in a similar dust jacket. An extraordinary inscription in an important book.
185. OLSON, Charles. Causal Mythology. San Francisco: Four Seasons, 1969. A lecture given at the University of California Poetry Conference, July 20, 1965, which includes excerpts from The Maximus Poems. Inscribed by the author to a fellow poet and his wife: "For Vince [Ferrini] and Mary/ my dearest friends/ Charles." Ferrini was a Gloucester poet who was a close friend of Olson's but also a foil for him, and a character incorporated into one of the Maximus letters. Fine in wrappers. A wonderful association.
186. ONDAATJE, Michael. Coming Through Slaughter. (NY): Avon/Bard (1979). The first Bard printing. Inscribed by the author to the poet Ai: "with best wishes and respect to a terrific poet." Small tear to foredge of rear cover, but still near fine in wrappers. A nice association copy.
187. ONDAATJE, Michael. In the Skin of a Lion. (NY): Penguin (1988). The first Penguin edition and first paperback edition of this highly praised novel. Inscribed by Ondaatje to the poet Ai "with love." Fine in wrappers. Again, a nice association copy.
188. OPPENHEIMER, Joel. New Spaces. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1985. The simultaneous issue in wrappers of this collection of poems. Inscribed by the author to the poet Ai in the year of publication. A little dusty; else fine. A nice association copy.