Catalog 119, P
205. PAINTER, Charlotte. Who Made the Lamb? NY: McGraw-Hill (1965). A memoir and reflection on the author's experience with pregnancy and childbirth, which became an important volume in the movement toward natural childbirth in the 1960s. Recently reissued in a new edition. Fine in a very good dust jacket with chipping at the spine crown and several small nicks to the rear spine fold.
206. PAINTER, Charlotte. Seeing Things. NY: Random House (1976). An innovative novel illustrated with photographs by Lloyd Patrick Baker, which skewers the New Age movement. Trace edge sunning to boards; else fine in a very good dust jacket with modest edge wear and a small scuff at the lower rear spine fold.
207. PALEY, Grace. Living. (n.p.): Toothpaste/Bookslinger, 1979. Broadside measuring approximately 10" x 13", printing a prose excerpt from Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. Printed in black and brown on brown, textured paper, on the occasion of the author's giving a reading at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Of a total edition of 151 copies, this is one of 26 lettered copies signed by the author. Fine.
208. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Before the Brave. NY: Random House (1936). His first book, a collection of poems published in an edition of 2000 copies. Ownership signature of poet Ronald T. Johnson. Near fine, lacking the dust jacket but with the flap text laid in.
209. PATCHEN, Kenneth. First Will & Testament. Norfolk: New Directions (1939). His second book (Morgan A2), printed in an edition of 800 copies. Spine and edge-sunned cloth; near fine, lacking the dust jacket.
210. PATCHEN, Kenneth. The Teeth of the Lion. Norfolk: New Directions (1942). His fifth book, a collection of poems, issued as a Poem-of-the-Month selection by New Directions. Attractively printed. This is one of 500 hardcover copies; there was a simultaneous issue in wrappers. Offsetting to endpages and a bit of darkening to boards; near fine in a good dust jacket chipped along the spine and the edges. The jacket is remarkably fragile and seldom is preserved even as well as this is.
211. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Cloth of the Tempest. NY: Harper & Brothers (1943). His sixth book, and the first to introduce his poems-in-drawings technique, a unique approach to linking his poetry and artwork. The first printing was 2000 copies. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
212. -. Same title, the second edition. (NY): (Padell) (1948). One of 2500 copies. The contents are the same as the first edition, with the exception of a three page poem reproducing Patchen's holograph which did not appear in the earlier edition. Spot to top stain; else fine in a very good dust jacket with several short tears.
213. PATCHEN, Kenneth. An Astonished Eye Looks Out of the Air. Waldport: Untide Press (1945). First edition, second issue, lacking Patchen's handwritten limitation notice. Only about 30 copies of the first print run survived. This is one of 1950 copies of the second issue. Printed in a conscientious objectors' camp on December 31, 1945. None were offered for sale. Stamp (possibly "ex libris") torn from half-title page; label worn at spine; very good in stapled wrappers.
214. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Outlaw of the Lowest Planet. London: Grey Walls Press (1946). First edition, a collection which had no corresponding U.S. edition, selected and introduced by David Gascoyne and with a preface by Alex Comfort. Fine in a near fine, spine-darkened dust jacket.
215. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Sleepers Awake. (NY): (Padell Book) (1946). The "black paper" edition of this volume of experimental prose by Patchen -- ostensibly a "novel" but with dramatic visual art and typography to shatter the reader's expectations of conventional prose, something Patchen did with his painted poems and books and continued in various ways throughout his writing career. This edition was printed in June, 1946 in an edition of 148 numbered copies signed by the author. Not noted by Morgan, the bibliographer, who lists the first trade edition as December, 1946. A couple of faint white streaks to rear red boards; else fine, without dust jacket, as issued. A handsome copy of an extremely limited edition of one of Patchen's most ambitious works.
216. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Pictures of Life and Death. (NY): (Padell) (1946). 26 poems, done in an edition of 2500 copies with the cover design by Patchen. Sticker abrasion front flap, light rubbing to folds; near fine in self-wrappers.
217. PATCHEN, Kenneth. They Keep Riding Down All the Time. (NY): (Padell) (1946). Fine in stapled wrappers and mildly sunned dust jacket. An attractive copy of a fragile book.
218. PATCHEN, Kenneth. See You in the Morning. NY: Padell (1947). Patchen's only conventional novel. Text block shaken; some spotting to cloth; very good in a very good dust jacket with internally tape-mended edge tears.
219. -. Same title, A demain, mon amour... (France): Gallimard (1950). The first French edition. Pages uncut; label removed lower spine; small tears at spine folds; still near fine in wrappers.
220. PATCHEN, Kenneth. The Dark Kingdom. (NY): (Ganis & Harris) (1948). The second edition of his fourth book, first published in 1942. Fine in a very good dust jacket rubbed at the corners and folds.
221. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Red Wine and Yellow Hair. NY: New Directions (1949). Near fine in a good, surface-soiled dust jacket with a couple long, internally tape-repaired edge tears and a small chip in the front panel.
222. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Fables and Other Little Tales. Baden: Jonathan Williams, 1953. The issue in wrappers, apparently mis-identified by the bibliographer as having been bound in red cloth. Jointly designed by Jonathan Williams and Patchen and printed in an edition of 450 copies, published as Jargon 6 by Williams. Near fine in a price-clipped dust jacket that apparently was originally glued to the wrappers but has come apart at the top of the spine, while still adhering at the heel. A crisp, attractive copy.
223. PATCHEN, Kenneth. The Famous Boating Party. (NY): New Directions (1954). Faint foxing to title page and even fainter offsetting to endpages; very near fine in a mildly spine-tanned, near fine dust jacket.
224. PATCHEN, Kenneth. When We Were Here Together. (Norfolk): New Directions (1957). Poetry and prose poems, these being all the new poems Patchen had written since the publication of Red Wine and Yellow Hair in 1949. Rubbing to spine tips; else fine in a near fine, mildly dusty dust jacket.
225. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Poemscapes. Highlands: Jonathan Williams, 1958. Published as Jargon 11, one of 1500 copies. Near fine in stiff self-wrappers.
226. PATCHEN, Kenneth. The Love Poems of Kenneth Patchen. San Francisco: City Lights (1960). A volume in City Lights' important Pocket Poets series. This is the scarce hardcover issue, reportedly one of 300 copies bound in red cloth. Fine, without dust jacket, apparently as issued.
227. PATCHEN, Kenneth. But Even So. (NY): New Directions (1968). Picture-poems, reproduced in black-and-white. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
228. PATCHEN, Kenneth. The Collected Poems of Kenneth Patchen. (NY): New Directions (1968). A massive collection of poems spanning his entire career. Spotting to foredge, trace rubbing to cloth; near fine in a near fine dust jacket with the lamination starting to peel at the crown.
229. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Kenneth Patchen: Painter of Poems. Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art (1969). The catalog of this exhibition of Patchen's artwork and painted poems, reproducing a number of Patchen's works, several in color. Covers and folds rubbed; text and reproductions clean; very good in wrappers.
230. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Hallelujah Anyway! Grand Forks: University Art Gallery, 1974. Exhibition catalog for a showing of Patchen's paintings and painted poems, several of which are reproduced in this volume, some in color and others in black-and-white. Upper spine lightly bumped; else fine in stapled wrappers. Uncommon production for a show at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.
231. PATCHEN, Kenneth. Patchen's Lost Plays. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1977. Posthumously published plays "Don't Look Now" and "The City Wears a Slouch Hat." A near fine copy of the issue in wrappers.
232. (PATCHEN, Kenneth). The Outsider 4 & 5. (Tucson): (Loujon Press) (1968-69). Extravagantly produced double issue of this avant garde underground literary magazine, which published many of the Beat and counterculture writers in the 1960s when they were still far outside the mainstream. Contains a nearly fifty-page "Homage to Kenneth Patchen" by writers such as Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller, Brother Antoninus, Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, among others, and includes an interview with Patchen. Tape shadows on pastedowns from the original tape that held the fragile rice paper dust jacket in place; otherwise fine in a chipped and torn dust jacket.
233. (PATCHEN, Kenneth). Tribute to Kenneth Patchen. (London): Enitharmon (1977). Patchen eulogized by William Everson, Diane Di Prima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Hugo Manning, Jonathan Clark, Diane Wald and others. Of a total edition of 960 copies, this is one of 60 numbered hardbound copies. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
234. PELECANOS, George P. A Firing Offense. NY: St. Martin's (1992). His first book, a mystery novel featuring Nick Stefanos and depicting with gritty realism the underside of Washington, D.C., away from the politicians and white collar commuters. Signed by the author. One of the most interesting new arrivals in the hard-boiled detective genre -- a worthy successor to Jim Thompson and David Goodis -- and one of the most sought after first mysteries of recent years. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a patch of light rubbing on the front panel.
235. PELECANOS, George P. Shoedog. NY: St. Martin's (1994). His third novel, and some think his scarcest, a departure from the Nick Stefanos series. Signed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket nicked at the lower rear spine fold.
236. PERCY, Walker. The Moviegoer. (NY): Popular Library (1962). The first paperback edition of Percy's first book, which won the National Book Award for 1962. Signed by the author and additionally inscribed by Percy in 1989 -- a birthday inscription for the recipient in which Percy writes "Happy 37th birthday - Hope you know more than I [at] that age," and signed "Walker." Faint spine crease; else fine in wrappers.
237. PERCY, Walker. Going Back to Georgia. (n.p.): University of Georgia, 1978. The text of Percy's Ferdinand Phinizy lecture at the University of Georgia. 18 pages, an edition that apparently received limited distribution and the first publication of this text. It was later included in his collection Signposts in a Strange Land, published in 1991. Stapled wrappers. Foredges dampstained and mottled; thus only good, although the text is preserved. Uncommon.
238. PERCY, Walker. Bourbon. Winston-Salem: Palaemon Press (1979). The first separate edition of a work that first appeared in Esquire in 1975. Limited to 230 copies signed by the author, of which this is one of 30 presentation copies hors commerce and is additionally inscribed by Percy. Fine in saddle-stitched self-wrappers.
239. PERON, Eva. La Razon de mi Vida. [Buenos Aires]: Peuser [1952]. The school edition of this putative autobiography of "Evita," the wife of Argentine dictator Juan Perón and probably the most significant female figure in Argentine, if not Latin American, history. The book, the title of which translates as "The Account of My Life," was ghostwritten for Evita by a journalist, Manuel Penella de Silva. When he presented his version to her, she loved it. However, when she showed it to Juan, he objected strenuously to various portions of it, and had several other writers delete and rewrite whole sections of it, particularly those that referred to Evita's views on women and feminism. The resulting book was nonetheless declared a national treasure, numerous editions were done, from the most plain copies for the masses to deluxe leatherbound editions for the elite. It became mandatory reading in Argentina's schools -- thus the existence of this "School Edition" -- and helped create and perpetuate the myth of Evita, who is still one of the best-loved figures in Argentine history. In general critics have concluded that this book represents Eva as she would like to have been seen, and would like to be remembered, more than as she was. This copy is signed by the author and additionally inscribed to Dora Perón, the niece of Juan -- an excellent family association copy. Moderate foxing; very good in pictorial boards.
240. PERRY, Thomas. Island. NY: Putnam, 1988. The uncorrected proof copy of the fourth book by the author of the Edgar Award-winning The Butcher's Boy, among many other highly praised thrillers and mysteries. Near fine in wrappers.
241. PERRY, Thomas. Dance for the Dead. NY: Random House (1996). The second novel in Perry's well-received sequence featuring Jane Whitefield, a Native American woman whose specialty is in helping people in danger to disappear. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
242. PERRY, Thomas. Blood Money. NY: Random House (1999). A review copy of the fifth novel in the Jane Whitefield series. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket, with review slip, photo, and promotional material laid in.
243. PLATH, Sylvia. Three Women. (n.p.: n.p., n.d.) [Oakland: c. 1970-75]. The first American edition, a piracy, of this poetic dialogue in the voices of three women -- a wife, a girl, and a secretary. With a Kathe Kollwitz artwork reproduced on the front cover. One short edge tear; else fine in oblong stapled wrappers.
246. PLATH, Sylvia. Among the Narcissi. [Ashington]: MidNAG [Mid-Northumberland Arts Group] (n.d.) [c. 1971]. Broadside poem, illustrated in three colors by Birtley Aris. 16-1/2" x 23-1/2" on poster paper. One of 300 copies printed reportedly. Rolled; else fine.
245. PRICE, Reynolds. Learning a Trade. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998. A book on Price's writing career, and on becoming a writer in general, based on the author's journals spanning the years 1955-1997. With an effusive Kurt Vonnegut blurb on the rear panel of the jacket. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket and an uncommon book to find signed.
246. PROULX, Annie. Making the Best Apple Cider. (Charlotte): Garden Way, 1980. The first book (we think) by the future Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning author of The Shipping News. Before turning to fiction, Proulx wrote a number of books for the Rodale Press, mostly nonfiction of a how-to variety. 32 pages; one edge mildly sunned; else fine in stapled wrappers.
247. PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. London: Jonathan Cape (1973). The uncorrected proof copy of the first British edition of Pynchon's magnum opus, winner of the National Book Award and the William Dean Howells Medal. Not noted in Mead and in our experience considerably scarcer than even the scarce U.S. proof. This copy belonged to and is signed, in 1974, by Julian Barnes, author of Flaubert's Parrot and England, England, among many others. The signature precedes Barnes's first published book by six years. Barnes's bookplate inside front cover; rear cover creased; else fine in a spine-faded near fine proof dust jacket.