Lumbee, NC: Quetzal-Vihio Press, 1971. First Edition. Contains Bukowski's uncollected poem "the courage is the sun," alongside works by John Fowler, Les Standiford, Terrance Withers, Rochelle Holt, Gerald Locklin, Douglas Blazek, Lyn Lyfshin, and others. Not uncommon institutionally, but seldom found in the trade. Oblong quarto (21.5cm); offset printed sheets..... More
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1915. First Edition. A historic volume - the very first book issued by publisher Alfred A. Knopf - beginning a long tradition of publishing continental literature in translation. The volume collects four of Augier's best-known dramatic works: 'Olympe's Marriage,' 'Monsieur Poirier's Son-In-Law,' 'The House of..... More
Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company, 1903. First Edition. Attractive, well-preserved copy of this early novel by Bacheller, founder of the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States. Scarce in dustjacket. Octavo (19.75cm); maroon cloth, with titling and decorations stamped in gilt and in blind to spine and front cover; dustjacket;..... More
Sacramento: Open Skull Press, 1970. First Edition. Attractive copy of this collection of poems by Blazek, most of them drug-induced or sexual in nature. With early cover art by R. Crumb. One of 200 copies. Quarto (28cm); pale yellow mimeographed sheets, side-stapled and glue into illustrated card wrappers; [60]pp. Light..... More
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1975. First Edition. Bukowski's second novel, following his alter-ego Henry Chinaski through post-WW2 America as he blows through a series of dead-end jobs. Basis for Bent Hammer's 2005 film adaptation, starring Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, and an appropriately sleazy Matt Dillon. Krumhansl 51c. Limited Issue..... More
Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1989. First Trade Edition. Bukowski's novel based on his experiences making the film 'Barfly,' filmed by Barbet Schroeder in 1987. This copy bears a warm, personal inscription to Mina and Sholom "Red" Stodolsky, who operated the Baroque Bookstore in Hollywood, CA from 1972 until his..... More
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1978. First Edition. Attractive copy of this illustrated short story of marital discord, set in a small town in Illinois. For the deluxe issue Bukowski has signed, hand-colored, and extra-illustrated the front cover with different colored markers, a practice he employed with less than a...... More
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. First Edition. Cain's third novel, a story of "the great American institution that never gets mentioned on the Fourth of July, a grass widow with two small children to support" (Hoopes, p.305). Basis for the 1945 film noir directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Joan..... More
New York: Random House, 1965. First Edition. Attractive advance copy of Capote's best-known book, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction, an Edgar Award, and basis for the 1967 Richard Brooks film Starring Robert Blake ad Scott Wilson. First Printing. Octavo (cm); publisher's brick red unprinted wrappers, bound into the..... More
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1950. First Edition. Cleary's first book, written while working as a librarian, in response to the boys in her library searching for books "about boys like us." The first of six books in her Henry Huggins series, which also contained the first appearance of..... More
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1934. First Edition. Wall Street mystery featuring Dr. Hiram Arthur, an engineer-turned-private investigator who serves the upper echelons of Manhattan's financial district. After a financier is murdered in his private office, "wily old Dr. Arthur and his team of voluptuous secretaries tangle with the..... More
New York: Ace Books, Inc., 1963. First Edition. "Frozen sleep seems like a humane way to end unemployment and overpopulation pressures: Send the excess citizens to the future. The government warehouses are filled with bibs when a political fight erupts over whether or not to dispose of them through a...... More
New York: The Library of America, 2007-2008. First Edition. For the first time, each of these books collects the various novels together in this format, destined to be the authoritative editions of Dick's collected works. Four Novels collects The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch..... More
Norfolk, CT: New Directions, [1951]. First American Edition. First Printing, one of 3,500 copies bound from British sheets. Octavo (22.25cm); teal cloth, with titling and rule stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; xx,425,[3]pp. Spine ends gently nudged, tiny tear at crown, with some faint dust-soil along upper board edges; contents..... More
Missoula, MT: S.i., 1983. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author's first letter to Salter, written in response to his appreciation of Ford's Esquire essay "The Three Kings: Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald" (December 1, 1983). Ford expresses his appreciation of the letter, mentioning "I didn't think I'd done much for the Faulkner-Hemingway-Fitzgerald canon..... More
New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1924. Attractive copy of Freeman's first novel, introducing the public to Dr. John Thorndyke, whose scientific approach to detection was something of a departure in the genre during this period. Thorndyke attempts to clear the name of a young man who stands accused of..... More
Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company, 1914. First Edition. An early Freeman mystery featuring Humphrey Challoner, a specialist in criminal anthropology, who after the murder of his wife dedicates his life to the apprehension and punishment of criminals (and by "apprehension and punishment" I mean he murders them, shrinks their..... More
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1972. First American Edition. The Nobel Prize-winning author's third book translated into English, collecting the title story and six shorter works. Not an uncommon title, but scarce as a review copy. Klein E3.a.1. First Printing, a review copy, with publisher's printed slip and a...... More
New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1952. First Edition. Prior to the publication of his first novel, Gault was already a prolific writer for the pulps, publishing more than 300 stories for magazines like Argosy, Black Mask, and Dime Mystery. By the time the 1950's came around, the pulp industry..... More
San Francisco: Cranium Press, [1967]. First Edition. Attractive broadside featuring a beatific Ginsberg holding a pair of tablets, containing the text of his poem "Who Be Kind To," written in 1965 prior to a poetry reading at Royal Albert Hall. Designed by American artist Wes Wilson, best-known for his work..... More
London: Macmillan London Limited, 1975. First U.K. Edition. "An affectionate parody of fairy tales, swashbuckling yarns and traditional fantasy clichés framed as a story within a story. Always knowing and full of intended anachronisms, this Ruritanian romance works equally well for adults and children..." (Barron, Fantasy Literature, 4A-117). A beloved..... More
New York: William Morrow & Company, 1950. First Edition. Goodis's fifth novel, his last one in hardcover before churning out a dozen of the finest paperback originals ever written. Basis for the 1956 Pierre Chenal film 'Section des Disparus' starring Guillermo Battaglia and Amalia Bernabé. Hubin, p.173. First Printing. Octavo;..... More
Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, [1944]. First Hardcover Edition. First hardcover edition of Hammett's "novel" comprised of two stories ("The Big Knockover" and "$106,000 Blood Money") which first appeared in Black Mask in 1927. The Continental Op hunts down the vicious leader of a gang who robbed..... More
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952. A superlative copy of Hemingway's classic novel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953, and generally considered the catalyst for Hemingway winning the Nobel Prize. Basis for the 1958 John Sturges film starring Specer Tracy. Grissom A.24.1.a; Hanneman A45a. First Printing. Octavo..... More
New York: Duell, Sloan, & Pearce, 1942. First Edition. A locked-room mystery (with science fiction elements) set in Los Angeles, the second of two novels Boucher wrote under this pseudonym. Someone is trying to kill science fiction author Hilary Foulkes; Detective Terry Marshall, of the Los Angeles Homicide Squad, and..... More