Catalog 119, S
260. SALINGER, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Salinger's classic first book, a coming-of-age novel that has influenced successive generations of young people with its adolescent hero's rejection of the "phoniness" of the adult world around him combined with the authenticity of his voice. A hint of foxing to the top edge and the upper right corner of the front panel of the dust jacket and very mild tanning to the jacket spine; still a fine copy in a fine, unrestored dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. One of the nicest copies of this title we have seen offered for sale in the past several years, during which time most fine copies in fine dust jackets turn out to have had restoration to the jackets, in order to make them more attractive. Fine copies without restoration are increasingly uncommon.
261. -. Another copy. Slight offsetting to endpages and foxing to foredge; light lower corner bumps; near fine in a dust jacket that has had a small amount of professional restoration.
262. SALINGER, J.D. Nine Stories. Boston: Little Brown (1953). Salinger's second book and first collection of short fiction, which some consider even more accomplished than his landmark novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and which was issued in an edition only half as large (5000 copies vs. 10,000 for Catcher). These stories helped establish Salinger permanently in the pantheon of American postwar writers, and his continued publication of short stories in The New Yorker over the next decade cemented his reputation. This copy has virtually none of the typical edge-darkening to the page signatures that occurs as a result of the different paper stocks used for different signatures, some of it notably more acidic than the rest. A small sticker on the rear endpaper indicates this copy was de-acidified in 1990. Overall, a fine copy in a dust jacket that has a small stain at the crown and is internally tape-strengthened at the spine extremities; near fine, without the fading to the spine that commonly afflicts this title. A much-nicer-than-usual copy. In a custom box.
263. SALINGER, J.D. The Complete Uncollected Short Stories of J.D. Salinger. (n.p.): (n.p.) (n.d.). [c. 1974]. Unauthorized, bootleg compilation of Salinger's previously published but uncollected short stories. Two volumes. This is the second issue: Volume 1 perfectbound and Volume 2 in illustrated wrappers and including the story "Go See Eddie." Salinger initiated a lawsuit to suppress this publication, which was successful, although the settlement acknowledged the legitimacy, after a certain period of time, of single, used copies of the collection being sold. Upper spines bumped; thus near fine copies.
264. SALINGER, J.D. Twenty-Two Stories. (n.p.): (Train Bridge Recluse) (1998). A later edition of the pirated stories that first appeared together in the two-volume piracy The Complete Uncollected Short Stories in 1974. (Actually, only the later issues carried 22 stories; the first issue lacked "Go See Eddie.") This is a one-volume piracy, in plain blue wrappers and with a wraparound band listing the contents. Fine. The first piracy was actively suppressed by Salinger's lawyers, and this one has recently come under fire from his legal staff. Such editions are the only way to collect, and read, Salinger's uncollected stories other than searching out the 22 different periodicals in which they first appeared.
265. SALZMAN, Mark. Iron & Silk. NY: Random House (1986). His highly acclaimed first book, a personal account of a trip to China to study with a martial arts master, and one of the more perceptive accounts by a Westerner of both contemporary China and of the traditions that underlie it. Made into an improbably well-received movie, in which the author played himself and the martial arts master with whom he studied also played himself. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
266. SARTON, May. The Annealing. Cambridge/Nelson: Privately Printed (n.d.)[c. 1959]. A broadside poem, 8" x 11-3/4"; printed in green on cream paper. Top edge sunned with several small edge tears; near fine. Uncommon.
267. SCOTT, Paul. Six Days in Marapore. Garden City: Doubleday, 1953. The second novel by the author of The Raj Quartet. Scott's first novel, Johnnie Sahib, was published in 1952. Like most of his fiction, this novel is set in India during the postwar period that saw the transition from being a British colony to achieving independence. Light corner bumping; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
268. SCOTT, Paul. The Birds of Paradise. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962. Another novel set in India. Gift inscription in pencil on front flyleaf; else fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
269. SCOTT, Paul. The Corrida at San Feliu. London: Secker & Warburg (1964). Unlike most of his other fiction, this novel is set in Spain and deals with bull-fighting as well as writing itself, by focusing on the unfinished manuscripts of a novelist who dies at the outset of the book. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with mild tanning of the spine lettering.
270. SEBALD, W.G. The Emigrants. London: Harvill Press (1996). The unaccountably scarce hardcover issue of the first English-language edition of his second book. Sebald's latest novel, published shortly before he died in a car crash in December, 2001, recently won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. He had been gaining critical acclaim steadily over the past ten years for a series of books that were haunting meditations on European history in the 20th century and in their execution unlike anything else written on the subject. This copy is virtually pristine: very light corner bumping, otherwise fine in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful, unread copy of a scarce and important book, which some consider his best work.
271. SETTLE, Mary Lee. Blood Tie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Her National Book Award winner which, unlike her many historical novels, is a contemporary story set on a remote Turkish island. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
272. SETTLE, Mary Lee. Charley Bland. NY: FSG (1989). A novel by the author of the Beulah Quintet, which has been called the finest series of historical novels in American literature. This is a contemporary love story, set in the author's native West Virginia. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
273. SMILEY, Jane. Catskill Crafts. NY: Crown (1988). The first book of nonfiction by this award-winning novelist -- profiles of a number of craftspeople, heavily illustrated with examples of their work. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
274. SMILEY, Jane. Ordinary Love & Good Will. NY: Knopf, 1989. Two novellas. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
275. SMITH, Patti. Witt. (NY): Gotham Book Mart, 1973. Second printing of this volume of poetry by the writer/rock singer long associated with the New York underground of the late 1960s and 70s. The cover photograph of the author is by Robert Mapplethorpe. Signed by the author on the front cover; near fine in wrappers.
276. SMITH, Thorne. The Bishop's Jaegers. Garden City: Doubleday Doran, 1932. A comic novel about a Bishop and four other travelers on the Staten Island Ferry who find themselves shipwrecked and stranded in a nudist colony. Satire, leavened with a dose of sexual innuendo, by the writer who was perhaps the best-known American humorist during the late 1920s and 30s until his untimely death of a heart attack in 1934 at age 42. Illustrations by Herbert Roese. Top stain faded; else fine in a slightly edgeworn dust jacket with a couple of small stains on the rear panel; about near fine.
277. SMITH, Thorne. Rain in the Doorway. Garden City: Doubleday Doran, 1933. A comic novel of an ordinary man who is pulled through a doorway on a dismal New York street and enters a whole new life, free of his inhibitions and destined for love and adventure. Mild fading to spine cloth; else fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket with chipping to the spine extremities and one internally tape-replaced chip to the rear panel.
278. SNYDER, Gary. Songs for Gaia. (Port Townsend): Kah Tai Alliance (1979). A poetry collection, printed in an edition of 300 copies, signed by the author. Snyder, a Beat poet who figured prominently in the novels of Jack Kerouac, has become in the last three decades one of the foremost exponents of an ecologically conscious "literature of place." His collection, Turtle Island -- which took its title from a Native American name for planet Earth -- won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1975. This collection, similarly, takes its title from the name of a Greek goddess who in recent years has been associated with the scientific hypothesis that views the Earth as a single, self-regulating organic entity rather than as a collection of largely independent, randomly organized closed systems. Cloth covered boards; fine without dust jacket, as issued. With prospectus laid in.
279. SONTAG, Susan. Death Kit. NY: FSG (1967). The second novel by the National Book Award-winning writer who was also a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1990. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with one edge tear and a small patch of lamination peeling.
280. SONTAG, Susan. I, Etcetera. NY: FSG (1978). Review copy of this collection of short fiction. Slight splaying to front board; else fine in a fine dust jacket with review slip and photo laid in.
281. SONTAG, Susan and HODGKIN, Howard. The Way We Live Now. London: Cape (1991). The first trade edition of this volume which combines a story by Sontag from The New Yorker, of friendship and AIDS, with a series of fold-out color engravings by Hodgkin. Apparently precedes the American edition. Fine in self-wrappers.
282. SPIEGELMAN, Art. Maus. NY: Pantheon Books (1986). The author's acclaimed historical novel of the Holocaust written in comic strip form. An amazingly effective book, a huge commercial success, and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, an unprecedented accomplishment for a comic art novel. Inscribed by the author in 1996, with a drawing of the main character of the book. Slight scratch to rear panel; trace rubbing at folds; very near fine in self-wrappers. There was no hardcover issue of this title, and the first printing is quite uncommon, especially signed.
283. STONE, Robert. A Flag for Sunrise. NY: Knopf, 1981. The uncorrected proof copy of his third novel, which many consider his best book, a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award and winner of the L.A. Times Award for best novel of the year. A dark tale of a small Central American country in upheaval, and the lives of a group of Americans whose different backgrounds and connections to the action intersect alarmingly and tragically. Signed by the author. Light edge and corner creasing; near fine in tall wrappers.
284. SYNGE, John M. A Few Personal Recollections, with Biographical Notes by John Masefield. Churchtown, Dundrum: Cuala Press, 1915. One of 350 numbered copies of this small, attractive edition printed at the Cuala Press, which was founded by Elizabeth Yeats, sister of W. B. Yeats. Pages uncut; offsetting and tape shadows to endpapers from homemade dust jacket; a near fine copy.