Arbuckle Bros.; Arbuckle Coffee Company (Producer)
Arbuckle Bros.: "illinois" Original Lithograph

Imprint: New York City, NY, Arbuckle Bros., 1915
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 1 pages. Scarce Arbuckle Coffee Company Americana collectible item. A fine color lithograph (with original color) of "Illinois". One of the most beautiful vintage lithographs of its kind ever produced. The print image measures 2.7 X 4.7 inches. It is professionally matted by Charles Edwin Puckett Rare Books & Antiquities on acid-free Crescent 100% Rag Mat Backing. Eminently suitable for framing and display. Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity that is neatly pasted on the back. The print is now scarce. Presents Arbuckle Bros. "Illinois" original color lithograph. "This colorful miniature map of Illinois was produced by Arbuckle Coffee Company as an incentive to purchase their coffee. The area, population, major cities, towns, and rivers are identified. The surrounding views depict workers 'Watch Making' and 'Agricultural Machinery' " (Charles Edwin Puckett). "These Map Cards are from a delightful series issued in 1889 by the Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Company. The firm was founded by John and Charles Arbuckle of Pittsburgh and became the most famous coffee producer in the world. Their most famous promotional program involved issuing several series of small, colorful trading cards, one of which was included in every package of Arbuckle's Coffee. These series included cards with sports, food, historic scenes, and maps. The latter cards included not only a map, but also small pictures illustrating the peculiarities of the industries and scenery of the region depicted. The Arbuckle Map Cards proved so popular when first issued in 1889 that the firm came out with a second, updated series in 1915. This series is at once the most interesting, instructive, and artistic. Every card is a study in itself, and affords an object lesson for both young and old. These cards are a delight, containing informative maps as well as wonderful scenes of the area mapped" (The Philadelphia Print Shop). One of the most beautifully detailed artworks produced by Arbuckle Bros. An absolute "must-have" item for Americana collectors. This original color lithograph of "Illinois" is now collectible. This is one of very few copies still available online, is professionally matted and eminently suitable for framing and display, and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. A scarce piece thus. 1 original color lithograph. A fine Americana collectible. (SEE ALSO OTHER ARBUCKLE BROS. ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPHS IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 19911.

$US 50.00

Arnold, Eve; Kerstens, Hendrik; Mann, Sally; Mark, Mary Ellen; Opie, Catherine & Other Photographers
Portrayal Betrayal: Photographic Portraits From The Permanent Collection Santa Barbara Museum Of Art

Imprint: Santa Barbara, CA, Santa Barbara Museum Of Art, 2012
Edition: First Edition

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 144 pages. Retrospective Exhibition Monograph. One of the most important and most beautiful photographic collections of its kind ever published. The first and only edition. Published in a tiny print run as a softcover original only. Published on the occasion of the landmark retrospective exhibition of the same name held at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 2012. Presents "Portrayal Betrayal". One of the most insightful Modernist perspectives on portraiture. The Modernist definition of the portrait is a "model/subject complicated by the photographer". If so, the history of photographic portraiture has been a continuous aggression towards the subject, with the former's unwitting yet often willing, cooperative, and even indulgent consent. Betrayal goes both ways: The cover features Paula, Hendrik Kerstens' daughter, whom he has made his sole, obsessive subject, photographing her and no one else throughout his career. Kerstens' single-mindedness may have enslaved him but not his daughter, a serene and luminous presence in every portrait, who has mesmerized viewers. An absolute "must-have" title for photography book collectors. This title is now collectible. This is one of few copies of the Exhibition Monograph still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with tritone and color plates. Some of the greatest photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PHOTOGRAPHY RETROSPECTIVE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG: "THROUGH THE LENS: THE LOWE ART MUSEUM"; "ESSENCE: TWENTY YEARS 1979-1999 GALERIE ZUR STOCKEREGG"; "DUST BREEDING"; AND "TWENTY: FRAENKEL GALLERY") . ISBN 0899511147.

Stock number: 19250. ISBN: 0899511147

$US 20.00

Ashbery, John
Notes From The Air: Selected Later Poems

Imprint: New York City, NY, HarperCollins Publishers, 2007
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 365 pages. Retrospective collection of poems. One of the most important literary events of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in one handsome volume, John Ashbery's "Notes From The Air: Selected Later Poems". One of the very best introductions to the work and achievement of Ashbery. "Spans ten major collections by one of America's most visionary and influential poets. Chosen by the author himself, the poems represent John Ashbery's best work from the past two decades. While Ashbery has long been considered a powerful force in twentieth-century culture, 'Notes from the Air' demonstrates clearly how important and relevant his writing continues to be, well into the twenty-first century. Many of the books from which these poems are drawn are regularly taught in university classrooms across the country, and critics and scholars vigorously debate his newest works as well as his classics. He has already published four major books since the turn of the new millennium and although 2007 marks his eightieth birthday, this legendary literary figure continues to write fresh, new, and vibrant poetry that remains as stimulating, provocative, and controversial as ever" (Publisher's blurb). "Recklessness is what makes art beautiful" (John Ashbery). The first living poet to be honored by the Library of America in 2008, John Ashbery died on September 3, 2017 at the age of 90. An absolute "must-have" title for John Ashbery collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by John Ashbery. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Regarded by Harold Bloom as the greatest American poet of our time. Winner of every major American poetry prize as well as the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Robert Frost Medal. One of the greatest poet/translator/artist of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN ASHBERY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0061367176.

Stock number: 17602. ISBN: 0061367176

$US 100.00

Atwood, Margaret
Good Bones And Simple Murders

Imprint: New York City, NY, Doubleday, 1994
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 164 pages. The author's twelfth work of fiction. Landmark collection of the author's brilliant "odds and ends". The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Margaret Atwood's "Good Bones And Simple Murders". A collection of thirty-five short pieces: Parables, monologues, prose poems, and fairy tales. One of her most brilliantly conceived books. An absolute "must-have" title for Margaret Atwood collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the Booker Prize in 2000 for "The Blind Assassin". One of Canada's national treasures and one of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MARGARET ATWOOD TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0385471106.

Stock number: 8917. ISBN: 0385471106

$US 20.00

Aubert, Brigitte (Translated by David L. Koral)
Death From The Woods

Imprint: New York City, NY, Welcome Rain Publishers, 2000
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 279 pages. The author's breakthrough mystery novel. One of the most sensational literary debuts of our time. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Brigitte Aubert's "Death From The Woods" in a felicitous English translation. Her masterly mystery novel. "Elise Andrioli has been left blind, mute, and quadriplegic after a terrorist bomb explosion in Northern Ireland. Back in the small suburb outside Paris where she lives, Elise leads a solitary life except for the contact that she has with her caretakers. However, a series of grisly local murders has shaken the residents. Young boys have been disappearing only to be discovered a day later, dead and horribly mutilated. One morning, while waiting in her wheelchair outside a supermarket, Elise is approached by a small girl named Virginie, who confides that she was present when 'Death From The Woods' murdered Michael, a boy reported missing several days earlier. Later that afternoon, Michael's death is confirmed on the local news. There are plenty of twists and turns in this crisply translated story, and readers, far from feeling sorry for Elise, will find themselves cheering on this gutsy woman as she uses her remarkable intellect to keep herself out of danger and bring the murderer to justice" (Otto Penzler). An absolute "must-have" title for Brigitte Aubert collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed (initialled) and inscribed in blue ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Bien cordialement [Cordially], BA". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. There is no recipient named. This title is now collectible. This is one of few such signed copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condiiton: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the equivalent of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, in 1997 for "Death From The Woods". One of the most brilliant French mystery/thriller writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 1566491096.

Stock number: 10734. ISBN: 1566491096

$US 30.00

Auster, Paul; DeLillo, Don; King, Stephen; Parameswaran, Rajesh & Other Contributing Writers
Granta Magazine Issue #117: Horror

Imprint: New York City, NY, Granta/Grove/Atlantic Press, 2011
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 256 pages. Rare Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Rajesh Parameswaran, and Granta Magazine collectible item. A pristine copy of the Granta Magazine #117 Autumn 2011 Issue, signed by all three authors. "Autographed Copy" round green sticker pasted in front. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Contributions by various authors, a Who's Who of contemporary literature headlined by Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Stephen King, and Rajesh Parameswaran. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "Granta Magazine Issue #117: Horror". A landmark Issue, devoted to the horror genre. "It haunts us; it stalks us; it shapes us. It creeps into our dreams and if we allow it, can plague our ponderings of the future. The same monsters that lived under our childhood beds can reappear, alive and toothsome, in our adult lives. And perhaps most frightening of all: Without reason or apology, one person's fancy is another person's torment. Granta 117 takes a stab at understanding the phenomenon that is horror. Stephen King writes of a retired judge who pays repeated visits to a patch of sand capable of predicting human mortality. Don DeLillo climbs into the head of a moviegoer-turned-stalker. Joy Williams writes of a father with a grown son even stranger and less stable than he suspects. Rajesh Parameswaran presents us with a tiger who narrates its own escape from a zoo and its subsequent terrorizing of a neighborhood while Daniel Alarcon explores the phenomenon of staged, high-camp blood baths" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, and Rajesh Parameswaran collectors. This Autographed Copy of the Magazine Issue is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on their respective Contributions by Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, and Rajesh Parameswaran. They signed on the pages themselves, not on a tipped-in page. The authors, who are close friends, made a one-time-only appearance in New York City to launch the Issue. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such multi-signed copy of the Granta Magazine Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: We are not aware of any other title in which Auster's and DeLillo's signatures appear together in the same volume. A rare signed copy thus. Some of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PAUL AUSTER AND DON DELILLO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1905881363.

Stock number: 20463. ISBN: 1905881363

$US 70.00

Auster, Paul (Author); Sante, Luc (Contributor) & Frieder, Blickle (Photographer)
Paul Auster's New York

Imprint: New York City, NY, Henry Holt And Company, 1997
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 97 pages. Commemorative Retrospective Keepsake. Retrospective collection of excerpts from the author's works, with accompanying photographs. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. The book was exclusively distributed to the trade only and not commercially sold to the public. There is no ISBN. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Walter Hellmann: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial hard covers, which feature a wraparound photographic reproduction of New York City's skyline, and gilt titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Text by Paul Auster. Introduction by Luc Sante. Photographs by Frieder Blickle. Maroon satin ribbon marker. Printed on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper in Germany to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "Paul Auster's New York". Excerpts from the writer's outstanding body of work, all of them set in New York City, beautifully interspersed with evocative blue-toned photographs by Frieder Blickle. Paul Auster's breakthrough, "The New York Trilogy", established him as one of the iconic writers of his generation. Although he spent a long time in Europe as a struggling writer and translator, his oeuvre is permeated by what we fondly call the "New York state of mind", a place turned into an inner landscape, something one also finds in the work of such other artists as John Ashbery and Woody Allen, among others. "Paul Auster's New York can sometimes be a forlorn and lonesome strand, sometimes a carnival complete with party hats, but at any extreme it always radiates a singular, occult beauty" (Luc Sante). An absolute "must-have" title for Paul Auster collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Paul Auster. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online command as much as $175 because the keepsake is rare. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PAUL AUSTER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 080505667X.

Stock number: 21532. ISBN: 080505667X

$US 50.00

Auster, Paul (Editor/Contributor) & Numerous Contributing Writers
I Thought My Father Was God And Other True Tales From Npr's National Story Project

Imprint: New York City, NY, Henry Holt And Company, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 383 pages. Collection of true stories. One of the most important literary events of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents "I Thought My Father Was God". One of the finest collections of true stories, gathered by NPR and culled by Paul Auster, who contributes an Introductory Essay. "Finally! A bathroom-book worthy of Pulitzer consideration: The one- to three-page stories gathered in this astonishing, addictive collection are absolute gems. In 1999, novelist Paul Auster and National Public Radio's 'All Things Considered' asked listeners to send in true stories to be read on-air as part of the National Story Project. Auster received more than 4, 000 submissions. The 180 best are published here. The result is an archive of facts, a museum of American reality. Auster is particularly interested in stories that 'defy our expectations about the world, anecdotes that reveal the mysterious and unknowable forces at work in our lives'. Accordingly, a vast number of the stories involve incredible, stranger-than-fiction coincidences: A pendant lost in the ocean off Atlantic City that is discovered 10 years later in a Lake Placid antique shop. The missing pieces of a china set handpainted by the author's grandmother that mysteriously surface at a flea market. A man who turns purple and dies just after being told to 'drop dead'. Others, while not as improbable, are no less powerful: An anecdote about a ruined birthday cake leads one contributor to muse that fighting is 'an intimate gesture reserved for the people close to you'. A small boy's realization that his mother has pawned her wedding ring so that she can buy him a school uniform serves as the knockout of one of the collection's stories. The renaissance in autobiographical writing, the accessibility of these captivating stories, and this title's appeal to all sorts of readers make this an ideal book" (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for all readers and collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Paul Auster. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Some of the most enthralling true stories of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PAUL AUSTER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0805067140.

Stock number: 18944. ISBN: 0805067140

$US 30.00

Avedon, Richard (Photographer) & Thurman, Judith (Contributor)
Made In France

Imprint: San Francisco, CA, Fraenkel Gallery/Distributed Art Publishers, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 56 pages. Retrospective collection of photographs, presented as an Artist Book. Avedon's stunningly beautiful homage to France, the country that gave him his big break. Limited Edition of 5000 copies. The first and only edition. The Limited Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Richard Avedon and Jeffrey Fraenkel: Oversize-volume format. A uniquely oversize book that reproduces the engraver's prints. Pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and embossed on the linen spine, as issued. Photographs by Richard Avedon. Essay by Judith Thurman, one of the best pieces ever written on the photographer in particular and fashion/lifestyle photography in general. Printed in quadrotone on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect, reproducing the images and their accompanying notations so uncannily and faithfully it is as if you are looking at the original itself. In publisher's green plastic wrappers. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Richard Avedon's "Made In France". His ground-breaking photographs for French haute couture, the most advanced fashion culture ever conceived, realized, and globalized. "Stands as an important re-discovery of a central body of work in the career of one of the world's best-known and most beloved photographers. The Avedon images, presented here for the first time, were made in Paris for 'Harper's Bazaar' during the 1950's. What is particularly special about this presentation is that the images are being reproduced to the exact scale of the engraver's prints made for Avedon by Master Printer Andre Gremola, are uncropped, on their original mounts, with all of the artist's notations on both front and back. Thus, they provide a remarkable portrait of the working methods of one of the most influential fashion photographers in history. With this body of work, which includes Avedon's iconic 'Dovima with Elephants, Cirque d'Hiver, 1955', Avedon broke radical new ground in the history of photography" (Publisher's blurb). Avedon documented the singular moment during which France, decimated and demoralized by the Second World War, was striving (rather effortlessly, in retrospect) through fashion (and the arts, including photography) to find her voice - and cement her preeminent cultural status. "And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible" (Richard Avedon). An absolute "must-have" title for Richard Avedon collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the Back Page by Avedon. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page or bookplate, as many copies were. This title is a great photography book. This is one of few such signed copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online command more than $1000 and way, way more, as in more than $10000. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with quadrotone plates. One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RICHARD AVEDON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 188133712X.

Stock number: 21632. ISBN: 188133712X

$US 1,000.00

Babel, Isaac (Translated by Peter Constantine); Babel, Nathalie & Ozick, Cynthia (Contributors)
The Complete Works Of Isaac Babel

Imprint: New York City, NY, W. W. Norton & Company, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 1076 pages. Definitive collection of the author's oeuvre. One of the greatest literary collections of our time. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a Slipcased Hardcover Edition. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by W. W. Norton: Regular-sized volume format. Hard boards with gilt titles on spine, as issued. Text by Isaac Babel. They are definitively translated with complete Notes by Peter Constantine, one of the finest translators into English of Russian literature. Edited by Nathalie Babel, his daughter. Introductory Essay by the great American novelist and essayist Cynthia Ozick. Matching pictorial hard board slipcase. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents "The Complete Works of Isaac Babel" in their definitive English translations. "A literary event of extraordinary dimensions: The first single-volume edition of all of Isaac Babel's work". "Born in Odessa, Russia, in 1894, Babel had a great appetite for life and a profound aptitude for expression. He wrote vivid, ironic stories about his hometown's rascally Jewish underworld. Then, after courageously joining the notorious Red Calvary on the Polish front, he wrote scorchingly candid stories about the atrocities committed by this outlaw force and the horrific suffering of his fellow Jews. Astonishing in their bloody yet lyrical intensity, these tales of man's madness and brutality made Babel famous and cost him his life when Stalin ordered his execution in 1940. A crucial voice of the Soviet debacle and the war against the Jews, and an enigmatic, compelling man, Babel will finally reach the international readership he deserves, thanks to this revelatory and comprehensive collection. This volume chronicles Babel's life and presents his complete stories, including his final works, iridescent and wrenching fiction rooted in his childhood; the unforgettable diary of his time with the Cossacks; plays; screenplays; and other writings. Here is Babel whole, a compassionate and uncompromising artist who grappled with good and evil, and from terror, distilled beauty" (Publisher's blurb). First heralded in the English-speaking world by Lionel Trilling through his great, pioneering essay, Babel's reputation (like Bruno Schulz's, with whom he has nothing in common other than his being a Jew; all things considered, that is more than enough) has grown with age. A brilliant contemporary writer like Ha Jin is inconceivable (by his own admission) without Isaac Babel's timeless achievement. An absolute "must-have" title for Isaac Babel collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Slipcased Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. . ISBN 0393048462.

Stock number: 21789. ISBN: 0393048462

$US 100.00

Badiou, Alain (Translated by Cecile Winter And Steve Corcoran)
Polemics

Imprint: London, England, Verso Books, 2006
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 340 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. One of Alain Badiou's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United Kingdom. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. There is NO American Edition. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Alain Badiou's "Polemics" in a felicitous English translation. His political and philosophical essays. "Brilliant reflections, demolishing established opinion and dominant propaganda, and re-orienting our understanding of events from the Kosovo and Iraq Wars to the Paris Commune and the Cultural Revolution. With the critical insight and polemical bravura for which he is renowned, Badiou considers the relationships between language, judgment, and propaganda, and shows how propaganda has become the dominant force" (Publisher's blurb). His approach is part mathematical (Candor's Set Theory), part rationalist (Analytic Philosophy), and part poetic (Continental Philosophy). Radical (in the best sense of the word) and all-encompassing, Badiou's oeuvre towers over all of contemporary Continental philosophy as a grand Romantic gesture in a manner not seen since Sartre. An absolute "must-have" title for Alain Badiou collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First British Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest philosophers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ALAIN BADIOU AND GILLES DELEUZE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1844670899.

Stock number: 18233. ISBN: 1844670899

$US 30.00

Baldessari, John (Artist/Photographer) & Various Contributors
John Baldessari: Brick Bldg, Lg Windows W/xlent Views, Partially Furnished, Renowned Architect

Imprint: Bielefeld, Germany, Kerber Verlag, 2009
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 140 pages. Exhibition catalog presented as an Artist Book. Limited Edition, as stated. Published as a hardcover original only, the limitation is not stated. The Limited Edition is now scarce. An austerely elegant production by John Baldessari: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Art by John Baldessari. Essays by various contributors. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Germany to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the exhibition/installation of the same name held at Museum Haus Lange Krefeld from March 1 through July 19, 2009. Presents John Baldessari's "deconstruction" of yet another cultural artifact and sacred cow. This time, it's architecture, and it's no less than the legendary Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe. "Commissioned to produce an installation for Mies van der Rohe's Museum Haus Lange, John Baldessari decided to 'rub the building up the wrong way' with humorous interventions" (Publisher's blurb). Haus Lange was temporarily "violated" by Baldessari, to make us aware of the pompous solemnity not just of van der Rohe's building, but of all imposing buildings. If he did this in Chicago, he would not have escaped unscathed, or alive. John Baldessari has spent his entire artistic life making us aware of, commenting, reflecting, and refracting acutely on modern life, however ordinary, harmless, and banal such life may appear to be. He restores to art and culture the simple, raw, and elemental power they used to have in our lives. Particularly with Modernist art and aesthetics, Baldessari renews a sense of the human scale that he believes we may have irretrievably lost in our relentless quest for "Progress". He makes us aware that the pervasive idea of life-as-art or life-as-"lifestyle" is not just unbearably pretentious, it is downright offensive to our innate humanity. An absolute "must-have" title for John Baldessari collectors. This title is a contemporary art classic. This is one of few copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. 140 plates. One of the greatest artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN BALDESSARI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 386678306X.

Stock number: 17915. ISBN: 386678306X

$US 40.00

Ballard, J. G.
Chronopolis And Other Stories

Imprint: New York City, NY, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1971
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 320 pages. The author's debut collection of short stories. Now considered a late-modern classic. Review Copy of the First Hardcover Edition. Review Material laid-in. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. There is no British Edition. The book collects the early stories J. G. Ballard first published in various publications in the United Kingdom. There is no ISBN. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in its Review Copy format, J. G. Ballard's "Chronopolis And Other Stories". Sixteen pioneering and ground-breaking short stories that immediately established the author's reputation and even more important, re-invented the science fiction and fantasy genres, then regarded as un-serious, mere sub-genres. "A man of towering imagination and genius at handling the most intricate of plots. A collection to savor and re-read" (Publisher's blurb). "One of the most intelligent voices in contemporary literature" (Susan Sontag). J. G. Ballard died on April 19, 2009 at the age of 78, the last of the great visionary writers of our time. An absolute "must-have" title for J. G. Ballard collectors. This is a Review Copy. The Review Material is laid-in. It is very boldly and beautifully signed in blue pen on the title page by J. G. Ballard. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great collection. As far as we know, this is the only such signed Review Copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. J. G. Ballard's "The Day of Creation" was selected as one of the "One Hundred Best Novels of Modern Fantasy" by David Pringle. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER J. G. BALLARD TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 22105.

$US 250.00

Banks, Russell
The Angel On The Roof: The Stories Of Russell Banks

Imprint: New York City, NY, HarperCollins Publishers, 2000
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 506 pages. Massive retrospective collection of short stories. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in one compleat volume, Russell Banks' "The Angel On The Roof". Some of the finest short stories ever written in our time. "Russell Banks offers readers an astonishing collection of thirty years of his short fiction, revised especially for this volume, enhanced by the inclusion of nine new stories that are among the finest he has ever written. As is characteristic of all of Banks' works, these stories resonate with irony and compassion, honesty and insight, extending into the vast territory of the heart and the world, from working-class New England to Florida and the Caribbean and Africa. Broad in scope and rich in imagination, affirms Russell Banks's place as one of the masters of American storytelling" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Russell Banks collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by Russell Banks. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RUSSELL BANKS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0060173963.

Stock number: 10342. ISBN: 0060173963

$US 50.00

Banville, John
Mrs. Osmond

Imprint: New York City, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 2017
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 370 pages. The author's seventeenth novel. One of John Banville's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly copies that are signed on a tipped-in page. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Presents John Banville's "Mrs. Osmond". His very own sequel to Henry James' "The Portrait of A Lady". "Thoroughly Banville's story: The narrative inventiveness, lyrical precision, and surprise of his language, the layers of emotional and psychological intensity, the subtle, dark humor. When Isabel arrives in Italy along with someone else, the novel takes off in directions that James himself would be thrilled to follow" (Publisher's blurb). "A Master whose prose gives continuous sensual delight" (Martin Amis). An absolute "must-have" title for John Banville collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (shortly after publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "John Banville 17.XI.2017 New York". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page, as copies available online are. Banville's signature is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. This title is now collectible, and will become a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and post-publication dated copy of the First American Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Booker Prize for "The Sea" in 2005. One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0451493427.

Stock number: 21697. ISBN: 0451493427

$US 70.00

Barney, Matthew
Drawing Restraint Volume Iv: "drawing Restraint 9" & "drawing Restraint 13"

Imprint: New York City, NY, John McWhinnie@Glenn Horowitz Book Editions, 2007
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. Unpaginated. Artist Book. The fourth volume in Matthew Barney's continuing "Drawing Restraint" Series. Limited Slipcased Edition of 50 numbered and signed copies. Should not be confused with the Limited Edition of 1000 copies. There is no ISBN. The Limited Edition is now rare. An exquisite production by Matthew Barney and Jerry Kelly: Regular-sized volume format. Japanese raw silk cloth boards with metallic-silver titles embossed on spine, as issued. Art and text by Matthew Barney. Black hardboard slipcase. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Matthew Barney's "Drawing Restraint Volume IV". New work that is part of "Drawing Restraint 9". "There are two chief aspects to Barney's work: One is his creation of sculptural objects and physical ordeals. The other is his performances, which incorporate the objects and ordeals. The performances are complex rituals that symbolically enact processes of artistic creation and personal transformation. Since its inception, the Drawing Restraint Series has united these two aspects of Barney's work. Barney's exquisite drawings are surrealistic evocations of the film's nautical setting, Japanese ceremonies, and aquatic transformations. The book also contains the first published images from Barney's latest project, Drawing Restraint 13, which he filmed at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in the Spring of 2006, and publicly screened for the first time at his San Francisco retrospective in the Fall. The film shows Barney's continuing interest in dramatic encounters involving Westerners coming into contact with Japan. He plays General MacArthur in a performance that draws upon two historically significant moments from the late stages of World War II. The first is the landing on the beaches of the Philippines, a moment that established MacArthur's legend as he reclaimed territory for the United States earlier conquered by Japan. The second is MacArthur's acceptance of the articles of surrender from Japanese officials on board the USS Missouri, the ceremony that ended the war. Drawing Restraint Volume IV incorporates the best traditions of fine press printing. Facsimiles of drawings and letters are printed in LetterPress on Japanese paper and accompanied by lush duotone plates" (Publisher's blurb). Barney-become-MacArthur recalls the artist's interest in the fluidity of gender role-playing, which is pronounced in his early work and central to "Cremaster". If there is a symbol of masculinity at its most self-conscious, imperious, and flamboyant, it has to be General Douglas MacArthur. It is precisely because of these qualities that MacArthur is, willy-nilly, evoking femininity at the same time. MacArthur was a beautiful man, and so is Barney, whose transformation as MacArthur is utterly convincing. An absolute "must-have" title for Matthew Barney collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Slipcased Edition, indicated/numbered as such in black pen on the title page itself, and is very prominently and beautifully signed in pencil by Matthew Barney. This title is a contemporary art classic. This is one of few copies of the Limited Slipcased Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American artists of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MATTHEW BARNEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 13835.

$US 500.00

Barney, Matthew
Matthew Barney: Cremaster 2

Imprint: Minneapolis, MN, Walker Art Center, 1999
Edition: First Edition

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. Unpaginated. Artist Book. Now considered a contemporary classic. The first and only edition. The fourth installment in the "Cremaster" Cycle. Except for "Cremaster 1", all of the other installments are presented in mixed-up sequence. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Matthew Barney: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial softcovers, as issued. Art by Matthew Barney. There is no text. Aquamarine translucent plastic slipcase. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Matthew Barney's "Cremaster 2". A climactic moment in the "Cremaster" Cycle, and the latter's most erotic installment. The kinship between Utah murderer Gary Gilmore and escape artist Harry Houdini frames tantalizing, dreamy riffs on the desolation of the American West and the clash between machismo and female domination. Utah is called the "Beehive State", which Barney seizes on visually with swarming bees, dripping honey, interiors suggesting honeycomb, and the Queen Bee gown worn by Gilmore's grandmother during a sexual encounter with Houdini. Barney's explicit tableaux of sexual intercourse show the male organ (his own) to be merely an instrument for female fecundity. Part of the "Cremaster" Cycle's originality lies in the fact that it exists in virtually all conceivable media. The five films, the five Artist Books, performance art, individual exhibitions, sculptures, photographs, drawings, and storyboards have all been shown to the public and are all considered by Barney to be integral to his unique project. His Wagnerian, "all-over-the-place" epic scale and staggering ambition have baffled just about everyone: Film critics cannot comprehend the films and collectors think the Artist Books either supersede or have been superseded by the Exhibition Catalog. All of this misses Barney's point, which is that "Cremaster" exists in myriad forms, the only way he feels he could do justice to his subject. "Cremaster" is nothing less than his vision of the creative process, the destruction of nature, and the cycle of life through the "lens" of American culture. Strange, complex, and visually exhilarating, "Cremaster" appropriates everything hungrily, promiscuously, and triumphantly: History, autobiography (Barney appears in the works, unabashedly naked in many of them), popular culture, Freud, Mormon lore, rock music, classic films, arts and artists throughout Western history, and ancient mythology to create a dreamily hypnotic landscape that "reflects" on gender, sex, ritual, power, violence, seduction, beauty, creation, destruction, renewal. As is now well-known, the cremaster is the muscle that raises or lowers the testicles, depending on temperature, fear or external stimulation. An absolute "must-have" title for Matthew Barney collectors. This title is a contemporary art classic. This is one of few copies of the First Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare copy thus. One of the most brilliant American artists of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MATTHEW BARNEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0935640649.

Stock number: 13803. ISBN: 0935640649

$US 50.00

Barry, Dave (Author) & O'Brien, Jerry (Artist/Illustrator)
All The Dave Barry You Could Ever Want: Four Classic Books In One

Imprint: New York City, NY, Rodale Books, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 375 pages. Retrospective collection of previously published books. The single best introduction to the satirical humor and insightful writing of Dave Barry. The first appearance of the titles in this Omnibus Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Rodale Books: Regular-sized volume format in wide oblong shape. Glossy pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Text by Dave Barry. Illustrations by Jerry O'Brien. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents, in one handsome volume, "All The Dave Barry You Could Ever Want". Four certified classics by America's funniest newspaper columnist: "Dave Barry's Guide To Marriage And/Or Sex", "Babies And Other Hazards of Sex", "The Taming of the Screw", and "Claw Your Way To The Top: How To Become The Head Of A Major Corporation In Roughly A Week". Especially in these surreal time of severe economic confusion and turmoil, Dave Barry's solicitous advice is not just relevant, it is essential. An absolute "must-have" title for Dave Barry collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Dave Barry. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Edition Thus/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the finest humorist/writers and an American national treasure. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAVE BARRY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 11027.

$US 30.00

Barry, Dave
Dave Barry In Cyberspace

Imprint: New York City, NY, Crown Publishers, 1996
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 215 pages. Retrospective collection of pieces on subject, presented as a User's Manual. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents "Dave Barry In Cyberspace". Whether you're a computer whiz or a computer nerd. "This tongue-in-cheek guide to computing by humorist Barry has enough byte to keep you entertained. Looking like a user's manual, complete with section tabs and a mock Glossary, it offers a wryly skeptical tour of the digital world with outrageously irreverent commentary on word-processing applications, software installation and use, Windows 95, Comdex trade shows, technical support services, and much more. Computer-phobes will instantly relate to Barry's spoof, which taps into the residual anxieties lurking even in computer sophisticates. Along with a brief history of computing from cave walls to virtual reality, Barry chats on the Internet, eavesdrops on a cybersex session, and visits selected weird World Wide Web sites. He never loses sight of his big target and lets loose with enough volleys to remind us that, despite all the hype, a computer is just a machine 'that operates on simple principles that can be easily understood by anybody with some common sense, a little imagination, and an IQ of 750' " (Publishers Weekly). "How to buy and set up a computer? Step One: Get Valium" (Dave Barry). An absolute "must-have" title for Dave Barry collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Dave Barry. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest humorist/writers and an American national treasure. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAVE BARRY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0517595753.

Stock number: 11019. ISBN: 0517595753

$US 30.00

Barthes, Roland (Translated by Richard Howard)
Roland Barthes By Roland Barthes

Imprint: New York City, NY, Hill And Wang, 1977
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 186 pages. The author's second autobiographical writing. One of the greatest books of the 20th century. The second book in the final and greatest work by Roland Barthes, the trilogy that he began with "A Lover's Discourse: Fragments" (1977) and concluded with "Camera Lucida: Reflections On Photography" (1980, published posthumously in English in 1981). The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Roland Barthes' "Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes" in a felicitous English translation. Profoundly personal confessions about his life. The book is by, of, and most important, FOR the author himself. Since that sounds like the "tell-all" memoir (which it is not), it is important to clarify what Barthes' book is: A revelation, in the coolly detached French/Continental intellectual mode, where every (concrete) detail is intimately described in order to amplify a larger (abstract) idea. It is, to borrow Sartre's inimitable phrase, "the observer in the act of observing". "Never before has Barthes spoken so freely, so joyously, precisely when he speaks so strictly, so severely about 'him'. Barthes is first and foremost, a writer, a man for whom the imaginative manipulation of language affords the means of life, the justification of his existence, the articulation of his identity" (Richard Howard). Discretion, elegance, and subtlety set Barthes' book apart from the vulgar memoir, especially of the Anglo-American kind. The more Barthes tells us about himself, the more distant he becomes, to himself and to us, his readers. The more Barthes reveals to us, the more we realize how little we can ever really know him (or ourselves). So why bother to write and to read? Answer: To liberate oneself from the limits of formal writing in order to re-invent writing as a work of the highest achievement. Therein lies his book's and trilogy's greatness and wisdom. An absolute "must-have" title for Roland Barthes collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. The greatest European culture critic of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ROLAND BARTHES TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0809082454.

Stock number: 16150. ISBN: 0809082454

$US 100.00

Bataille, Georges (Translated by Bruce Boone) & Lotringer, Sylvere (Contributor)
On Nietzsche

Imprint: New York City, NY, Paragon House, 1992
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 200 pages. The author's book-length account on subject. One of Georges Bataille's greatest books. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Georges Bataille's "Sur Nietzsche" in a felicitous English translation. Written in the final months of the Nazi Occupation of France. Its translation into English almost fifty years later is a landmark event. Nietzsche's reputation suffered by association with Hitler, who appropriated his work posthumously (as he did Richard Wagner's music though not incidentally as Wagner was a confirmed anti-Semite). "Written in order to cleanse the German philosopher of the stain of Nazism, more than a treatise on Nietzsche, the book is a work of ethics in which thought is put to the test of experience, and experience is pushed to its outermost limits. At once personal and political, it was written as an act of war, its publication contingent upon the Nazi defeat. The result is a poetic, philosophical, and harrowing record of life during war. Haunted by the recognition that existence cannot be at once autonomous and viable, Bataille yearns for community from the depths of personal isolation and transforms Nietzsche's 'will-to-power' into his own 'will-to-chance'. Includes all of 'Memorandum', a selection of passages from Nietzsche's works edited and introduced by Bataille. Features the Notes and Annotations from the French edition of Bataille's Complete Works" (Publisher's blurb). As a treatise, "On Nietzsche" is an anomaly: It consists of fragments, aphorisms, sayings, mini-stories, quotations, poems, and other unclassifiable literary forms that, in effect, pay homage to its great philosopher/subject's own literary style. Best-known for "The Story of The Eye", perhaps the greatest and most influential erotic/literary-pornography title (that even Harold Bloom regards as canonical), the Surrealist writer's theoretical and polemical genius is in full force: "Breaks with traditional literary forms to tell us what has never been told before" (Michel Foucault). An absolute "must-have" title for Georges Bataille collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century on one of the greatest philosophers of all time. A fine copy. . ISBN 155778325X.

Stock number: 20584. ISBN: 155778325X

$US 50.00

Baxter, Charles
Shadow Play

Imprint: New York City, NY, W. W. Norton & Company, 1993
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 399 pages. The author's second novel. One of Charles Baxter's finest achievements. Advance Reader's Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with the regular trade edition. Published in a tiny print run as a softcover original only. An austerely elegant production by W. W. Norton: Regular-sized volume format. Glossy pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Unlike most Advance Reader's Editions, the production is full-sized, like a regular hardcover. Text by Charles Baxter. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Charles Baxter's "Shadow Play". A masterly achievement. "We have the satisfaction of having been immersed in a beautifully rendered and fully imagined world" (The New York Times Book Review). Charles Baxter has been heaped with praise, from being "our John Cheever" to "the ultimate writer's writer". "Shadow Play" has been called the twentysomething's "Catcher In the Rye": "What Salinger was to me at 16, Baxter is at 29. A mature examination of an adult's life in an ordinary town, written in an extraordinary fashion". "In his quiet cosmic wonderment, Baxter is the equal of John Updike and Anne Tyler at their largest and best" (John Berendt). An absolute "must-have" title for Charles Baxter collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Charles Baxter. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the Advance Reader's Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Grant, the Guggenheim Foundation Grant, and the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Writer's Award. Finalist of the National Book Award in 2000 for "Feast of Love". One of the greatest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER CHARLES BAXTER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 1514.

$US 30.00

Beattie, Ann
Park City: New And Selected Stories

Imprint: New York City, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1998
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 478 pages. Retrospective collection of short stories. Advance Reader's Edition/Limited Slipcased Edition of 500 copies. Precedes and should not be confused with the regular trade edition. The Limited Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Alfred A. Knopf: Regular-sized volume format. Blue hard boards with matching blue cloth overboards and gilt titles embossed on the spine, as issued. Glossy illustrated slipcase featuring a detailed reproduction of Lincoln Perry's dazzling semi-abstract painting. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Ann Beattie's "Park City". Some of Ann Beattie's finest and most representative short stories, written over a twenty-five year period and at the peak of her powers. In addition, the first eight stories appear in book form for the very first time, showing the trajectory of her career as one of the most influential and iconic American writers of our time. "Beattie's prose has always been crisp, smart, with just a touch of the smart-aleck to it, and she can be remarkably funny. Her often nameless narrators tell their tales in the modulated tones of people for whom not wearing one's heart on one's sleeve is a religion" (Alix Wilbur). The typical criticism about Ann Beattie is that she writes for the intellect. Since anti-intellectualism is a proud American cultural/intellectual tradition, her work will always have to settle for a relatively small but intensely loyal following. Just as her mentor, Raymond Carver, is a writer's writer whose influence broadened as his work filtered through popular culture, several of Ann Beattie's stories became the basis of Hollywood films that were seen by millions of people who have never heard of her. Not everyone wants wisdom from reading (nor wisdom itself), many writers included, whereas the central theme of Ann Beattie's oeuvre is precisely the epiphanic, wistful yet biting quality of the subtlety called wisdom. An absolute "must-have" title for Anne Beattie collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black pen on the publisher's tipped-in page by Ann Beattie. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the Limited Slipcased Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ANN BEATTIE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 067945506X.

Stock number: 15719. ISBN: 067945506X

$US 40.00

Beattie, Ann
The Accomplished Guest: Stories

Imprint: New York City, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 2017
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 275 pages. Retrospective collection of short stories. One of the most important literary events of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Presents Ann Beattie's "The Accomplished Guest". Thirteen new short stories by its American Master. "When I read Beattie's stories, I think of Chekhov's. When I read Chekhov's stories, I think of Beattie's. Both are writers for the ages. Chekhov suggested that every day imposes a precarious mood, and we either submit to the point of damage, or we struggle to transcend it, trying to gain some equilibrium, and even discover a little happiness. Beattie's characters are adept at both" (Howard Norman). An absolute "must-have" title for Ann Beattie collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (on the day of publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Ann Beattie 6/13/17 NYC". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the Souvenir Announcement of the launch event during which her signature was obtained. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and publication-day dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ANN BEATTIE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1501111388.

Stock number: 21478. ISBN: 1501111388

$US 30.00

Beauchamp, Monte (Founder/Editor/Designer/Artist) & Various Graphic Artists
Blab World No. 2

Imprint: San Francisco, CA, Last Gasp Of San Francisco, 2012
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 128 pages. Anthology of graphic art. One of the best collections of Blab World's remarkable graphic art ever published in our time. Review Copy. Review Material laid-in. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Monte Beauchamp's "Blab World Volume 2". Some of the most advanced narrative graphic art of our time, gathered by the Blab World Founder in perhaps its single most representative selection. "Defies description: Neither book or magazine, it is obviously a work of art. Founded in 1986 by graphic designer and art director Monte Beauchamp, Blab World has evolved from a digest-sized comics magazine into a beautifully printed keepsake: A hardcover anthology of art, illustration, articles, profiles, found graphics, cartoons, and sequential art. Comic Book Stories: 'Adolf's Aberration' by Nora Krug; 'Dispatches From Oblivion' by Greg Clarke; 'The Great Sea Serpent of Brazil's Parahiba River' by Mark Todd; 'Liderc' by Andrea Dezso; 'Visitation' by Peter Kuper; 'The Vexing Thing Upstairs' by Denis Kitchen; and 'Leftovers' by Sergio Ruzzier" (Publisher's blurb). Supplemented with Essays, including an irreverent tribute to Robert Crumb, the Resident Genius of underground graphic art. "The New Yorker for Mutants" (Los Angeles Reader). An absolute "must-have" title for Monte Beauchamp and Blab World collectors. This is a Review Copy. The Review Material is laid-in. It is very boldly and beautifully signed, dated (shortly after publication), and inscribed in black pen-marker by the Blab World Founder: "11/12/2012 For Paul, Blabingly yours, Monte Beauchamp". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Beauchamp could not resist adding a fabulous drawing of a semi-mythical animal (which bears a strong resemblance to a rabid dog in its last legs, its ears erect, and its infected tongue sticking out) that fills up the whole page. The recipient, Paul Berlanga, who is named, is an important Chicago-based artist and photography expert. This title is a graphic art classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, publication-year dated, and inscribed copy (with large drawing) of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. Some of the most brilliant American graphic artists of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0867198508.

Stock number: 22140. ISBN: 0867198508

$US 80.00