modern firsts
THE SHUDDERS: A Thatcher Colt Police Mystery
New York and Toronto: Farrar and Rinehart, (1943). First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Publisher's cloth in original dust jacket. Jacket mildly toned with some edgewear including some creasing around spine. Faint touches of dampstaining along bottom edge of rear panel. Price-clipped. Foxing and dampstaining to cloth. Interior generally bright and clean.....
I WOULD STEAL HORSES
Niagara Falls, NY: Slipstream, 1992. First Edition. Wraps. 8vo. Saddle-stapled cream wraps, very faint stain to outer edge of front cover. Small corner crease. Else clean, bright interior. About near fine. INSCRIBED on title page: "for Jay -- / Don't let them steal your horses. / Friends, / Sherman /.....
FOOL'S MERCY
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Maroon cloth with gilt stamped titles, in pictorial dust jacket. Very good in like DJ. INSCRIBED by Allen at FFEP. Light touches of sunning to jacket; mild soiling; two tiny chips. Book's spine moderately cocked. Pages bright and clean throughout. Good and.....
GOING TOO FAR ENOUGH: American Culture at Century's End
Washington DC and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, (1994). First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Quarter silver cloth over black boards. In pictorial dust jacket. Very good in like DJ. INSCRIBED by Allen to title page in the year of publication. Additional ALS from publisher laid in. Light curl to jacket edges. Mild.....
THE FAITHFUL NARRATIVE OF A PASTOR'S DISAPPEARANCE
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue paper covered boards, gilt title lettering to spine. Mild shelf rubbing to unclipped jacket, else bright, clean, unmarked. Clean first of a New York Times notable book of 2001. 277pp.
THE GIRL WITH THE ROSEWOOD CRUTCHES
New York: McBride, Nast & Co., 1912. First edition thus. Hardcover. 8vo. Red pictorial cloth. Minor bumping to spine ends and corners; sparse toning/foxing to pages. About near fine. 267pp. Early work featuring an independent and successful disabled protagonist, first serialized in 1908. A first-person narrative, ostensibly by an anonymous.....
TOLD IN THE MARKETPLACE
London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd., 1935. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Black cloth boards in pictorial dust jacket. Substantial chipping and loss to corners of front and rear panels; spine sunned and jacket toned/soiled. Boards bumped and lightly scuffed at spine ends and corners. Pages toned. Small red and gold bookplate affixed.....
THE SIZE OF THOUGHTS: Essays and Other Lumber
New York: Random House, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Green cloth spine over green boards, in dust jacket. Spine sunned. Minor edgewear. Near fine in very good plus jacket. 355pp. Collected essays and journalism, including Baker's 1994 piece on the destruction of library card catalogs.
THE ANGEL ON THE ROOF: The Stories of Russell Banks
(New York): HarperCollins, (2000). First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Black boards in pictorial dust jacket. Fine in a near-fine DJ. INSCRIBED by Banks on title page. Hint of a crease to jacket rear panel. Interior bright, crisp, and clean throughout. 506pp. Collection of thirty-one stories by the American author.
THE SEA
New York: Knopf, 2005. First American edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Near fine in like DJ with just trace shelfwear. Overall, bright, clean, sharp, and sound. First American edition of this Booker Prize winning novel.
STARING AT THE SUN
London: Jonathan Cape, (1986). First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Black imitation cloth in pictorial dust jacket. Near fine in like DJ. Trace rubbing to jacket and boards; hint of mustiness to book. Interior bright, clean throughout. Good and sound. 195pp. First edition/printing of this early novel by the author of THE.....
CRUDDY: An Illustrated Novel.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Near fine in like jacket. Touches of shelfwear. Else clean, bright, and sharp. DJ unclipped. Illustrated novel from the acclaimed artist., the proported diary of a troubled sixteen-year-old.
AMATEURS
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Orange cloth boards in pictorial dust jacket. Spine sunned; minor edgewear. SIGNED on ffep. Very good plus overall. 183pp. Mid-career collection of Barthelme's short stories, including "Porcupines at the University" and "The Captured Woman."
CITY LIFE
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1970. First Edition. hardcover. 8vo. Orange cloth boards in dust jacket. Mild edgewear; spine sunned; pages toned. SIGNED on title page. Very good plus overall. 168pp. Barthelme's third short story collection.
COME BACK, DR. CALIGARI
Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1964. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Purple cloth boards in pictorial dust jacket. Mild edgewear, toning to jacket and interior pages. Very good plus overall. SIGNED on ffep. 183pp. Barthelme's first collection of experimental short stories.
OVERNIGHT TO MANY DISTANT CITIES
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1983. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue gilt-stamped boards in dark blue dust jacket. Front flap price-clipped. Light edgewear and bumping. SIGNED on half-title page. Very good plus in like jacket. Collection of short stories. Barthelme's twelfth book.
PRESENTS
Dallas: Pressworks, 1980. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Marbled boards with brown cloth spine, stamped in gilt. Minor edgewear and rubbing to boards. Edition of 350 numbered and 26 hors de commerce lettered copies, of which this copy is letter X. SIGNED at colophon. Very good plus. 22pp. Illustrated throughout with.....
THE SLIGHTLY IRREGULAR FIRE ENGINE: Or The Hithering Thithering Djinn
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971. First Edition. Hardcover. 4to. Green cloth boards in pictorial jacket, spine and top edges sunned. Pages faintly toned. First printing in second state dust jacket, with National Book Award sticker to front cover. Near fine in very good jacket. Barthelme's first book for.....
UNSPEAKABE PRACTICES, UNNATURAL ACTS
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Copper-stamped black cloth boards in pictorial dust jacket. Mild edgewear and scuffing; faint dampstain to rear panel of jacket. Pages lightly toned. Very good plus in very good jacket. Collection of Barthelme's short stories, including the widely-anthologized "The Balloon.".....
A Relative Stranger: Stories
New York: W W Norton, 1990. First Edition. Quarter Cloth. 8vo. SIGNED by author to handsome bookplate. Jacket and book have light shelfwear. Small spot of binding glue to front board. Otherwise, bright and clean throughout. Binding tight. Attractive. From the author of Feast of Love, this collection of short.....
THE MATING CALL
New York: Harper & Brothers, (1927). First edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Cloth. Near fine in very good jacket. Book has just traces of shelfwear. Else sound, bright and sharp. Jacket has a crease to the spine and another to front panel. Minor rubbing, edgewear. Else an uncommonly well-kept example. A shell-shocked.....
THE LOST ONES
New York: Grove Weidenfeld, (1972). First American edition. Wraps. 8vo. Printed wraps. Very good plus; mild toning to wraps' edges. Interior bright and clean with hint of toning. Good and sound. 62pp. First Evergreen paperback edition simulatneous with hardcover. A story by Beckett, translated from his own original French.
THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS
New York: The Penguin Press, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. Small 4to. Black boards in photographic dust jacket. Near fine in like DJ. SINGED by Berendt to title page. Trace of dust/soil to flaps and page edges. Otherise sharp: bright, clean throughout. Good and sound. 414pp. Berendt's tale of Venice, in.....
SECRETS, GOSSIP & SLANDER
New York: Reed Books, 1984. First Edition. Wraps. 8vo. Trade paperback original. 234pp. An easily very good copy, with minor stains and creasing. Published by Ishmael Reed's publishing company, SECRETS caused something of a literary scandal at the time as this academic novel (in the tradition of Randall Jarrell's NOTES.....
THE SYMBOL
New York: Random House, (1966). First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth in photographic dust jacket. Near fine in a very good DJ. Warmly INSCRIBED by Bessie at half title. Light corner nicks and small tears, mild edgewear; trace toning to jacket. Interior clean and bright throughout. Binding sound. 305pp. Handsome.....