Jasmin, Paul
California Dreaming: Photographs By Paul Jasmin

Imprint: Gottingen, Germany, Gerhard Steidl Druckerei Und Verlag/Edition 7L, 2010
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 160 pages. Retrospective collection of color photographs. One of the most beautiful photography books of our time. Advance Signed Copy. 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. A brilliant production by Dimitri Levas: Oversize-volume format. Black cloth boards with titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs and text by Paul Jasmin. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper by Steidl in Gottingen, Germany to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Paul Jasmin's "California Dreaming". His third collection of photographs of his beloved Los Angeles, as embodied by the young people who are irresistibly drawn to it. His new collection is restrained and subdued; Jasmin's focus is on the beauty of the male and female face and body (rather than full-frontal nudity). All of the models were students at the Art Center College of Design Pasadena (batch 2005 through 2009), where Jasmin has taught photography for a very long time. In other words, Jason Wilder, the subject on the cover, and all of the other beautiful young men and women in the book aspire to be artists, designers, and photographers themselves, working behind the camera rather than posing in front of it. As with "Hollywood Cowboy" (2002) and "Lost Angeles" (2004), these pensive images may very well be the first and only time we shall see them as the attractive and unbearably sexy youth that they all are. The title is from the anthem-song by The Mamas And The Papas, and begs the question: What does it mean as far as these portraits of youth are concerned? "I always tell my students that they have to develop a rich fantasy life and have a highly active imagination. California is an alluring place, but I look at Hollywood as a state of mind; it's all in the imagination. Our culture today is crammed full of celebrity imagery, Photoshop reality, digital enhancement, and I for one am not buying into it. It is when I see the faces of the models and students and aspiring artists who pass through my life that I long to photograph them. That is my fantasy life. They keep me dreaming" (Paul Jasmin). What a life. An absolute "must-have" title for Paul Jasmin collectors. This is an Advance Signed Copy, and it is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Paul Jasmin. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Bruce Weber and Sofia Coppola hosted a pre-launch reception for the book, in New York City, in December 2010. The book was released in 2011. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy 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. 100 color plates supplemented with vintage photographs from Paul Jasmin's personal archives. One of the finest American artist/photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PAUL JASMIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3869300302.

Stock number: 16175. ISBN: 3869300302

$US 200.00

Jenner, Caitlin (Author); Bissinger, Buzz (Co-Author) & Afanador, Ruven (Photographer)
The Secrets Of My Life

Imprint: New York City, NY, Grand Central Publishing, 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. 320 pages. The author's landmark memoir. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly copies that are signed on a tipped-in page. Published in a regular first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. "Autographed Copy" round white sticker pasted in front. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Caitlin Jenner's "The Secrets of My Life". As celebrity memoirs go, a cut above the trashy rest. That's surely because of journalist-par-excellence Buzz Bissinger's helpful (and indeed, indispensable) "co-authorship": The book reads like Bissinger's literate and stylish reportage yet somehow is still unmistakably in Caitlin (nee Bruce) Jenner's voice. This fact is not noted in the press and social media, which makes one wonder if many commentators, professional and amateurs alike, ever really bothered to read the book, which is well-written. No expense was spared either: The production values are exemplary, starting with the glamorous portrait of Jenner on the DJ Cover by Ruven Afanador, the brilliant New Yorker Magazine resident photographer. Like her or not (it will always be a hung jury, it is safe to assume, and for all kinds of social, ideological, and religious reasons, some of them valid), Caitlin Jenner is undeniably a ground-breaking global icon. That's because of who she was and what she is today: The ultimate All-American-handsome Olympian turned drop-dead-gorgeous MTF transgender (at 67 years old, as of 2017). After all, Jenner is NOT the first American transgender celebrity. That honor probably belongs to Chaz (nee Chastity) Bono, son of Cher. No offense, but who cares about Chaz? The only other major figure who clearly suffered from severe dysphoria was the late great Michael Jackson, who badly wanted to be white, cultivated a "male-veering-towards-female", androgynous persona, but was always held back by his own inner turmoil and extreme social pressure. Would her critics, and they are legion, have felt better if Jenner ended up like Jackson rather than blossomed triumphantly, and at a relatively late age, as Caitlin? "Charts her journey with affecting candor: Decades of distressful dysphoria as an Olympic champion and Reality TV patriarch, and the excruciating, exhilarating odyssey to her renewed identity in the spotlight" (Vanity Fair Magazine). An absolute "must-have" title for Caitlin Jenner fans/collectors. This Autographed Copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the half-title page by Caitlin Jenner. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page, as almost ALL other copies available online are. The publisher flooded the market with the latter. Except for the book launch, Jenner did NOT sign copies in person. This comes with a pristine copy of the Souvenir Annnouncement of the event during which her signature was obtained. This title is a national bestseller, and an instant collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such title-page signed copy 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 vintage photographs and archival materials. The world's most famous transgender celebrity/icon. A fine copy. . ISBN 1455596752.

Stock number: 21385. ISBN: 1455596752

$US 50.00

Jin, Ha
A Free Life

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

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 660 pages. The author's fourth novel. 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 Ha Jin's "A Free Life". His first "American" novel. "Newcomers to the United States, Nan Wu and his wife, Pingping, have just brought their six-year-old son, Taotao, from China, so that they can all begin a free life in the West. Unsure but optimistic, the Wu family sets out on an uncharted journey through contemporary America in search not only of financial stability but also a sense of belonging, the tantalizing heart of the American Dream. Luminous, deeply moving, giving us both a bracingly intimate portrait of one family and a brilliant rendering of the vast, surprising, and challenging new homeland they discover together" (Publisher's blurb). Began in 2000 on a Guggenheim Fellowship, the novel has taken Ha Jin eight years, off and on, to write. At almost 700 pages, it is his longest work to date. It is also Ha Jin's second breakthrough, as a Chinese expatriate, a writer, and dare one say it, a human being: Ha Jin came to the United States as an adult barely able to speak English. He still has difficulty speaking it and has said that the main impetus for writing is the opportunity it affords him to sit down and write and re-write, edit and re-edit, and start all over again if necessary until he is satisfied with the result. He uses his acquired language as a storyteller and poet of the first rank who bears witness to the collision between personal experience (in all its pain, beauty, and complexity) and the arbitrary suffering that History, Fate, and Destiny inflict upon all human beings, whether they be powerful or powerless. His sympathy for every human being in all his or her particularity is unsurpassed among contemporary American writers. "Reading Ha Jin is like falling in love: You experience anxiety, profound self-consciousness, and an uncomfortable sensitivity to the world, and somehow it's a pleasure. Like the best writers, Ha Jin sneaks emotional power into the plainest sentences" (The New Yorker Magazine). An absolute "must-have" title for Ha Jin collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed and dated (in the month and year of publication) in black pen on the title page by the author: "Ha Jin 11/04/07". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page or bookplate. Laid-in is a copy of the Souvenir Program of the event itself, "Ha Jin: A Free Life", during which the signing was held. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed and publication-month dated 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 were damaged in transit by the publisher and have serious flaws even if they are New. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for "Ocean of Words". Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award For Short Fiction for "Under the Red Flag". Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award in 1999 for "Waiting". One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HA JIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0375424652.

Stock number: 12665. ISBN: 0375424652

$US 50.00

Jin, Ha
Nanjing Requiem

Imprint: New York City, NY, Pantheon Books, 2011
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / Second Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 310 pages. The author's fifth novel. One of the finest novels of our time. The First Hardcover Edition in its Second Printing. 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 Ha Jin's "Nanjing Requiem". As a matter of necessity, the novel that Ha Jin's journey as an immigrant Chinese-American writer in the English language inexorably led to. The Rape of Nanjing is one of the defining events of modern China. To make it the subject of a novel (beautifully called a "requiem") is to take on the ultimate challenge for a writer whose work melds poetic lyricism with Tolstoyan grand narrative. "Delivers glimpses of the massacre in all its reeling madness: The young woman who is driven insane by her manifold violations; the ways violence can smite the spirit even when the body is spared; the sight of 'shells bursting in the air like black blossoms'. Ha Jin gives us a poignant twist in the fate of the narrator Anling, whose grown son just happens to be in Tokyo taking a Japanese wife when all hell is being unleashed in his homeland" (The Washington Post). "His is a concern with precision, honesty, and direct description; the restraint is deliberate. Though his subject is deeply disquieting, Ha Jin does not set out to shock. The power of his prose lies not in any self-indulgent flourish but in its far-reaching resonance" (Open Letters Monthly). An absolute "must-have" title for Ha Jin collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed and dated (on the day of publication) in blue ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Ha Jin 10/25/2011". The book was officially launched at BookCourt Brooklyn. Although it hosted the launch event, the store did not get copies of the book's first print run for Ha Jin to sign because it isn't big like Barnes & Noble. His "date-ing" (in addition to his signature) nevertheless makes this collectible for collectors who want a copy from the book launch event (and is dated as such). This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and publication-day dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/Second Printing available online and is in fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for "Ocean of Words". Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award For Short Fiction for "Under the Red Flag". Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award in 1999 for "Waiting". One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HA JIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0307379760.

Stock number: 16985. ISBN: 0307379760

$US 30.00

Jin, Ha
The Bridegroom

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

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 225 pages. The author's third 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 print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Ha Jin's "The Bridegroom". Possibly his best collection. At first, the comparison with Isaac Babel, the greatest Russian short-story writer of the 20th century, seemed overblown. But with his third collection, Ha Jin should now put all doubts to rest about his mastery of the form. Indeed, with his ability to evoke mood, convey feeling, and capture the meaning of an ephemeral moment, Ha Jin is probably "wired" more as a short story writer (and poet) than anything else. The weight of history impinges upon his characters, often unbearably so, but the historical canvas never overwhelms what is most gripping about any story, the destiny of every particular human being or as Harold Bloom once put it, "every particular human suffering, which is the true subject of literature". He uses his acquired language as an incomparable storyteller and poet of the first rank who bears witness to the collision between personal experience (in all its pain, beauty, and complexity) and the arbitrary suffering that History, Fate, and Destiny inflict upon all human beings, whether they be powerful or powerless. His sympathy for every human being in all his or her particularity is unsurpassed among contemporary American writers. "Ha Jin profoundly understands the conflict between the individual and society, between the timeless universality of the human heart and constantly shifting politics of the moment. With wisdom, restraint, and empathy for all his characters, he vividly reveals the complexities and subtleties of a world and a people we desperately need to know" (Award Citation, National Book Award). "Reading Ha Jin is like falling in love: You experience anxiety, profound self-consciousness, and an uncomfortable sensitivity to the world, and somehow it's a pleasure. Like the best writers, Ha Jin sneaks emotional power into the plainest sentences" (The New Yorker Magazine). An absolute "must-have" title for Ha Jin collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Ha Jin. 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. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for "Ocean of Words". Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award For Short Fiction for "Under the Red Flag". Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award in 1999 for "Waiting". One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HA JIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0375420673.

Stock number: 6602. ISBN: 0375420673

$US 30.00

Jin, Ha
Under The Red Flag

Imprint: Athens, GA, University Of Georgia Press, 1997
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 207 pages. The author's second collection of short stories. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. 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 print run as a hardcover original only by a University Press. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Ha Jin's "Under The Red Flag". One of his landmark, defining works. Ha Jin has seamlessly and eloquently melded historical fact with personal experience. His short stories have been compared to the works of Isaac Babel, the greatest Russian short-story writer of the 20th century. The weight of History impinges upon his characters, often unbearably so, but the historical canvas never overwhelms what is most gripping about any story, the destiny of every particular human being or as Harold Bloom once put it, "every particular human suffering, which is the true subject of literature". Ha Jin came to the United States as an adult barely able to speak English. He still has difficulty speaking it and has said that the main impetus for writing is the opportunity it affords him to sit down and write and re-write, edit and re-edit, and start all over again if necessary until he is satisfied with the results. He has begun and abandoned works that he has lost count of in the process. But he has learned the language to the point that he is now regarded as one of its living Masters. He uses his acquired language as an incomparable storyteller and poet of the first rank who bears witness to the collision between personal experience (in all its pain, beauty, and complexity) and the arbitrary suffering that History, Fate, and Destiny inflict upon all human beings, whether they be powerful or powerless. His sympathy for every human being in all his or her particularity is unsurpassed among contemporary American writers. Ha Jin opted to remain in the United States, teaches at Boston University, and is a naturalized American. "Ha Jin profoundly understands the conflict between the individual and society, between the timeless universality of the human heart, and constantly shifting politics of the moment. With wisdom, restraint, and empathy for all his characters, he vividly reveals the complexities and subtleties of a world and a people we desperately need to know" (Award Citation, National Book Award). An absolute "must-have" title for Ha Jin collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by Ha Jin. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page, as copies available online are. 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. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for "Ocean of Words". Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award For Short Fiction for "Under the Red Flag". Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award in 1999 for "Waiting". One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HA JIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0820319392.

Stock number: 1309. ISBN: 0820319392

$US 50.00

Jin, Ha
Wreckage

Imprint: New York City, NY, Hanging Loose Press, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 111 pages. The author's third collection of poems. One of the most finest poetic achievements of our time. The collection was published in three editions simultaneously. So all of them are true First Editions: The Limited Edition of 100 numbered and signed copies (in red cloth boards), the Limited Edition of 400 copies (in blue cloth boards, un-numbered and un-signed), and the Softcover Trade Edition. All three editions are now scarce. Presents Ha Jin's "Wreckage". Poetry-as-remembrance. "Numerous rocks of Chinese history are overturned in the star novelist's third collection, usually revealing darkness and decay. The book begins with poems about Yu The Great who, according to legend, devised a drainage system when the Yellow River flooded its banks around the 20th century BC, wreaking havoc on the land and its people. Even when 'caged in high dikes', its threat is not forgotten: 'Who can keep the river up/in the clouds forever? '. The notion that disaster is always just around the corner pervades the collection though its components read less like poems than terse mini-fables stitched loosely together to form a tapestry of sacrifice and suffering. Violence comes from without and within, in the form of attacks by so-called barbarians as well as the capriciousness and brutality of emperors and bureaucrats. The heinous treatment of women is a recurrent theme, from a concubine mutilated and thrown into an outhouse pit ('Human Pig') to a gruesome account of foot binding ('A Young Girl's Lament'), in which it is observed how 'the toes curl in like dead caterpillars. /Who would think they belong to a human being? ' " (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for Ha Jin collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Ha Jin. 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 Softcover 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 or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for "Ocean of Words". Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award For Short Fiction for "Under the Red Flag". Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award in 1999 for "Waiting". One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HA JIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1882413970.

Stock number: 12660. ISBN: 1882413970

$US 20.00

Joaquin, Nick
Tropical Baroque: Four Manileno Theatricals

Imprint: Queensland, Australia, University Of Queensland Press, 1982
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 224 pages. Retrospective collection of plays. The first appearance of the titles in a Hardcover Omnibus Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original and as Volume 19 of the Queensland University Press' now-legendary "Asian and Pacific Writing" Series. The second such volume to be devoted to the author, the first being "Tropical Gothic: Selected Stories" (Volume 1). Introduction by both the General Editors and Jeremy Beckett, an Australian scholar on Philippine and Asian literature. Glossary of Philippine terms appended at the beginning. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in Australia to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in one collectible volume, Nick Joaquin's "Tropical Baroque". Four of Nick Joaquin's finest and most representative plays. "A Portrait of The Artist As Filipino", the greatest Philippine play in English, "Tatarin", "Fathers and Sons", and "The Beatas". Despite the very uneven quality of his oversize body of work, Nick Joaquin remains one of the most provocative, most insightful, and most universal Philippine writers of our time. While it obviously helps to have an understanding of the historical and cultural context behind his works, the works themselves are about history and context albeit in the author's highly idiosyncratic and Baroque-flamboyant style. Joaquin is both a Universalist and a Nationalist. His central insight is that every modern culture is "Creole", none more so than his beloved Philippines. His stubborn resistance to attempts by well-meaning nationalists to purify the Philippine "soul" of foreign influences is now universally regarded as having been right all along. By way of contrast, one need not look very far indeed: Pol Pot imagined and implemented a Cambodian "purification" project (as did Mao's Cultural Revolution), with catastrophic effects, a tragedy and barbarism of genocidal proportions. A National Artist, Joaquin will be remembered for one masterly novel, "The Woman Who Had Two Navels" (first published in its entirety by The Partisan Review in 1959), the essays in "Culture and History" and "A Question of Heroes", his short stories, and these four plays. An absolute "must-have" title for Nick Joaquin collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. As far as we know, this is the only 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 copy thus. One of the greatest Philippine writers in English of the 20th century. A fine copy. . ISBN 0702216437.

Stock number: 8167. ISBN: 0702216437

$US 40.00

Johnson, Diane
Le Mariage

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

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 322 pages. The author's ninth novel. 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 Diane Johnson's "Le Mariage". A delicious treat. The sequel-of-sorts to "Le Divorce", the bestseller that belatedly and deservedly established Diane Johnson's international reputation. Continues the author's piquant observations of domestic bliss and sorrow in a novel that is replete with interesting characters, enchanting settings, and the most intricate plot turns: Hostage taking, murder, and most rewardingly, erotic encounters of the most delicious kind. An absolute "must-have" title for Diane Johnson collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue pen on the title page by Diane Johnson. 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 scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0525945180.

Stock number: 1476. ISBN: 0525945180

$US 30.00

Johnson, Denis
The Laughing Monsters

Imprint: New York City, NY, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 228 pages. The author's eighth novel and eleventh work of fiction. 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 Denis Johnson's "The Laughing Monsters". What fuels the demands and mysteries of literature. "The wreckage is what essential writers particularize, and Denis Johnson's interests have always been in wreckage, both individual and universal. Addresses the vanishing present, a giddy trickle-down of global exploitation and hubris, the farcical exploits of cold dudes in a hard land" (The New York Times Book Review). "It would be hard to find a better American writer, at the level of the sentence, than Johnson" (Boston Globe). Denis Johnson died on May 24, 2017, and despite a fairly long and brilliant career, it is a premature loss. An absolute "must-have" title for Denis Johnson collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black pen on the half-title page by Denis Johnson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page, as copies available online are. 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. Winner of the National Book Award in 2007 and Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for "Tree of Smoke". Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son" was selected by the panel of New York Times writers, critics, and editors as one of the Top 20 most important works of American fiction of the last 25 years. One of the greatest American writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DENIS JOHNSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374280592.

Stock number: 19163. ISBN: 0374280592

$US 150.00

Jones, Edward P. (Author) & Chan, Amos (Photographer)
Lost In The City: Stories

Imprint: New York City, NY, William Morrow & Company, 1992
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 250 pages. The author's breakthrough debut 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 rare. Presents Edward P. Jones' "Lost In The City". His sensational debut. A beautifully produced book (by Stephanie Tevonian), the book interperses Edward P. Jones' fourteen stories with full-page, black-and-white portraits and urban landscape photographs by Amos Chan. "Beautifully and economically written, the stories are filled with revealing details of poverty and degradation, and yet the protagonists are survivors who look to find hope and meaning in their lives. The haunting, grainy black-and-white photographs add to the real atmosphere and reveal the underlying grit portrayed so evocatively in the prose" (Library Journal). An absolute "must-have" title for Edward P. Jones collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Edward P. Jones. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. It comes with a pristine copy of the Souvenir Program of the event during which his signature was obtained. 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. It is the single most beautiful signed copy we have ever seen. 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 PEN/Hemingway Award in 1992 for "Lost In The City: Stories". Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2003 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2003 for "The Known World". Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2004. "The Known World" was selected by The New York Times panel of writers, critics, and editors as one of the Top 20 works of American fiction of the last 25 years. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER EDWARD P. JONES TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0688115268.

Stock number: 17235. ISBN: 0688115268

$US 150.00

Jonze, Spike (Screenwriter/Director); Eggers, Dave (Co-Screenwriter) & Sendak, Maurice (Author)
Heads On And We Shoot: The Making Of "where The Wild Things Are"

Imprint: New York City, NY, HarperCollins Publishers/McSweeneys, 2009
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. Unpaginated. Pictorial book-length account on subject. One of the best books on film adaptation and film-making ever published. 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 Spike Jonze's "Heads On And We Shoot: The Making of 'Where The Wild Things Are' (With Complete Screenplay) ". His ground-breaking film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved classic, together with the film itself on two discs. The lavishly produced book is presented in three parts, accordion-style: a) "Heads On And We Shoot", which describes the actual making of the film, with drawings, original artwork, reference materials, and photographs; b) the Screenplay by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, interspersed with Interviews and film stills; and c) "Post-Production", which consists of special effects, brilliantly reproduced on the page. "The film incorporates the most dynamic elements of voice performance, live-action puppetry, and computer animation into a live-action adventure story that captures the magic of the book, and takes it to a new dimension. In order to preserve the realistic nature of the film, 'The Wild Things' was not created digitally. Instead, Spike Jonze brings these characters to life in the form of physical suits built by the Jim Henson Company. These creatures, operated by a suit performer, interact with the live actor playing Max on set in front of the camera. After principal photography was finished, CGI was used to make the creatures completely life-like and convincing" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Spike Jonze, Maurice Sendak, and Dave Eggers collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in metallic-silver pen-marker on the front free endpaper by Spike Jonze. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. It comes with a pristine copy of the double-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo set, also very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in matching silver pen-marker in front by Spike Jonze. This title is a film classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing with signed double-disc set available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, pristine beauties. A rare signed set thus. Three of the most brilliant American artist/writers of our time. A fine collectible set. (SEE ALSO DAVE EGGERS' "THE WILD THINGS" TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0061645567.

Stock number: 15403. ISBN: 0061645567

$US 200.00

Josephson, Kenneth (Artist/Photographer); Wolf, Sylvia; Grundberg, Andy & Lipscomb, Stephanie
Kenneth Josephson: A Retrospective

Imprint: Chicago, IL, The Art Institute Of Chicago, 1999
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 185 pages. Retrospective Exhibition Monograph. One of the pioneering books on the photographic art of Kenneth Josephson. The First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The true First Edition has a different cover image compared to all other subsequent printings. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by the Art Institute of Chicago: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Edited and curated by Sylvia Wolf. Essay by Andy Grundberg. Chronology and Interview with Stephanie Lipscomb. In publisher's original plastic wrappers. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Chicago to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark retrospective exhibition held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. Presents "Kenneth Josephson: A Retrospective". Some of his finest images in one handsome volume, the basis of ALL subsequent volumes on the life-work of an American Master Photographer, particularly "The Light of Coincidence: The Photographs of Kenneth Josephson" (2016). "For over 50 years, Josephson has been using photography to explore ideas about how we view reality. Formally trained under Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, Josephson taught at the School of The Art Institute Chicago (SAIC) from 1960 to 1997. During his career, he produced an impressive array of work, ranging from stunning black-and-white prints to striking assemblages to humorous Polaroids. He has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. A retrospective of his many experiments and inquiries into the nature of photography, including several extensive Series, and other pieces being published for the very first time. Framed by informative essays. The result is not only an exciting explication of Josephson's endless curiosity, but also an important discussion of photography as a modern, flexible, and fully expressive artistic medium" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Kenneth Josephson collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Kenneth Josephson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Edition/First Printing/First State Cover available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: The true First Edition has a different cover image. Copies available online are subsequent printings even if they are not indicated as such. A rare signed copy thus. 117 plates. One of the greatest artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KENNETH JOSEPHSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0865591784.

Stock number: 20288. ISBN: 0865591784

$US 100.00

Josephson, Kenneth (Artist/Photographer) & Lynch, Mary Ann (Contributor/Essayist)
Kenneth Josephson: The B & W Magazine Cover Retrospective

Imprint: New York City, NY, B & W Magazine, 2010
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 109 pages. Rare Kenneth Josephson collectible item. A pristine copy of B & W Magazine/Black & White Magazine For Collectors of Fine Photography, signed by Kenneth Josephson. September 2010 Issue. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only. There is no ISBN. The Magazine Issue is now scarce. Pictorial softcovers, which feature "Matthew" on the cover, and titles in front and on the spine, as issued. The main piece by Mary Ann Lunch is a retrospective appreciation of the artist/photographer's body of work, accompanied by photographs, beautifully reproduced. Printed on glossy stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "Kenneth Josephson". Some of his finest images, in a brilliant appreciation by the essayist/photography expert Mary Ann Lynch. "For over 50 years, Josephson has been using photography to explore ideas about how we view reality. Formally trained under Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, Josephson taught at the School of The Art Institute Chicago (SAIC) from 1960 to 1997. During his career, he produced an impressive array of work, ranging from stunning black-and-white prints to striking assemblages to humorous Polaroids. He has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. An exciting explication of Josephson's endless curiosity, but also an important discussion of photography as a modern, flexible, and fully expressive artistic medium" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" collectible, not just memorabilia, item for Kenneth Josephson collectors. This copy of B & W Magazine is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen by Kenneth Josephson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. 15 plates. One of the greatest artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KENNETH JOSEPHSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 21539.

$US 30.00

Josephson, Kenneth (Artist/Photographer); Travis, David (Contributor) & Daiter, Stephen (Publisher)
Matthew

Imprint: Chicago, IL, Stephen Daiter Gallery, 2012
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 55 pages. Memorial collection of photographs. One of the most beautiful art photography books of our time. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original. There was, simultaneously, a Softcover Edition. Both editions are now rare. An austerely elegant production by Stephen Daiter Gallery and Kenneth Josephson: Oversize-volume format. Gray cloth boards with photographic reproduction of "Matthew" pasted in front and metallic-silver titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Kenneth Josephson. Text by David F. Travis. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Kenneth Josephson's "Matthew". Portraits of his first-born son Matthew, taken from birth through childhood. Matthew died in a tragic car accident at the age of 17. Josephson never again photographed his two other children (who appear with their brother in some of the portraits, and are now adults) after that. "The beauty of this body of work is that it combines the personal and the universal, the private and the public, art and life, the intellectual and emotional, the present and the past, in a very effective and moving manner. What these pictures make clear is the interconnectedness of it all: Living, loving, nurturing, creating, experimenting, seeing, thinking, and remembering" (David F. Travis). "Matthew" (the Cover Image) was selected by John Szarkowski as one of the iconic photographs of our time in "Looking At Photographs" (1973), his ground-breaking and immensely influential selection of 100 photographs from the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) Permanent Collection. An absolute "must-have" title for Kenneth Josephson collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the title page by Kenneth Josephson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy 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 photographic plates. One of the greatest artist/photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KENNETH JOSEPHSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0984574948.

Stock number: 21279. ISBN: 0984574948

$US 150.00

Josephson, Kenneth
The Bread Book

Imprint: Austin, TX, University Of Texas Press, 2016
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 20 pages. Collection of photographs, presented as an Artist Book. One of the most important Conceptual art photography books of our time, in a New Edition. Limited Edition of 250 signed copies. Published as a softcover original only that will not be reissued once all of the copies are sold. An austerely elegant production by Kenneth Josephson and Only Photography Press: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover, as issued. Photographs by Kenneth Josephson. There is no text. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Berlin, Germany to the highest standards. The photographer himself has said that the production quality is superior to the original edition in the way that it captures the tonal nuances which, of course, is the whole point of the book. Without DJ, as issued. Re-presents, in a Limited Edition format, Kenneth Josephson's "The Bread Book". Pioneering Conceptual art photography at its Minimalist best, long before Minimalism itself became a full-fledged and dominant movement. "A deceptively simple object - photographs of the fronts and backs of ten slices of bread with no accompanying text - this Artist Book raises questions about the nature of photography and its ability to transform an object into an idea or concept while creating yet another object: The book itself. The result of this act of transformation is that the original loaf no longer functions as a loaf of bread, but as a self-contained book that considers the ideas of sequence and illusion" (Publisher's blurb). "A monument of the photobook. It's the book itself that is the work of art, not the individual images. Like most of the best Conceptual photography, the idea is devastatingly simple on the surface yet infinitely complex when you look beyond the surface" (Gerry Badger). Originally published in an edition of 1800 copies, "The Bread Book" has been out-of-print for a very long time. Here it is, in a production that Kenneth Josephson himself regards as definitive and superior to its original realization. An absolute "must-have" title for Kenneth Josephson collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Edition. It is very prominently and beautifully signed in gold pen-marker on the Back Cover by Kenneth Josephson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Josephson signed a handful of copies in gold (instead of silver pen-marker), making this copy more collectible. This title is a late-modern art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such gold-marker signed copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online command between $150 and $500. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 20 plates. One of the greatest artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KENNETH JOSEPHSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1477312005.

Stock number: 21457. ISBN: 1477312005

$US 50.00

Josephson, Kenneth (Photographer); Badger, Gerry & Warren, Lynne (Contributors)
The Light Of Coincidence: The Photographs Of Kenneth Josephson

Imprint: Austin, TX, University Of Texas Press, 2016
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 332 pages. Exhibition Monograph. The "summing-up" book on the photographic art of Kenneth Josephson. 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. An austerely elegant production by the University of Texas Press: Oversize-volume format. The book weighs 6 pounds. Black cloth boards with metallic-silver titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs by Kenneth Josephson. Essays by Lynne Warren and Gerry Badger. Printed in tritone on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary, and even more important, the images are reproduced to the same size as the original prints. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark exhibition of the same name held at the Stephen Daiter Gallery Chicago from April 1 through June 4, 2016. Presents "The Light of Coincidence: The Photographs of Kenneth Josephson". A sumptuous retrospective on a great photographer. Preceded only by the eponymous volume published by the Art Institute of Chicago 17 years ago, in 1999, here is the definitive retrospective of his body of work. "One of the foremost Conceptual photographers in America. Since the early 1960's, Josephson has championed the photograph as an object made, not taken, by an artist pursuing an idea. Using innovative techniques such as placing images within images and including his own body in photographs, Josephson has created an outstanding body of work that is startlingly contemporary and full of ideas that stimulate the digital generation: Ideas about the nature of seeing, of reality, and of human aspirations, and about what it means to be a human being observing the world. Beautifully reproduces representative selections from 'Images Within Images'. Places Josephson's art in historical context, from his early studies with Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan at the Institute of Design and with Minor White at the Rochester Institute of Technology to his mature work (which shares affinities with that of Conceptual artists such as Cindy Sherman and Ed Ruscha) and to his shaping influence on generations of students at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where he taught for over thirty-five years" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Kenneth Josephson collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, dated (before publication), and inscribed in black ink-pen on the half-title page by the photographer: "1 April 2016 Dear Paul, Thank you for all the support and encouragement given to me. I am so happy to have the opportunity to work with you. I value this very much, Ken" [Kenneth Josephson's famous nickname]. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, Paul Berlanga, who is named, is the important Chicago-based artist/painter and photography expert. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the Opening Night Souvenir. This title is an instant art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, pre-publication dated, and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. It is the best signed copy we have ever seen. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with tritone plates. One of the most important artist/photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KENNETH JOSEPHSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1477309381.

Stock number: 21063. ISBN: 1477309381

$US 150.00

Judt, Tony
Ill Fares The Land

Imprint: New York City, NY, The Penguin Press, 2010
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 240 pages. The author's book-length account on contemporary politics, history, and social justice, and the last book published in his lifetime. One of the greatest books 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 Tony Judt's "Ill Fares The Land". His final masterpiece. It is that very rare thing, a necessary and timeless book that he was determined to write and finish despite his terminal illness, and was thankfully published shortly before his death on August 6, 2010. "I want to thank Tony Judt for defending with such clarity, eloquence, and passion the concept of social democracy. He identifies the failures of the New Left that have allowed the ideology of The Right (wealth accumulation and privatization) to dominate the political conversation. The tremendous gains of the 20th century - The New Deal and The Great Society - are being systematically gutted and destroyed. He shows how the rise in inequality between the rich and everyone else is leading to a sick, uneducated, and often imprisoned underclass. He then argues that the values of equality and a belief that the public sphere is an important and effective way to solve problems are cut out of the public debate. A deeply moving work that should be read by every citizen" (Amanda Henk). Judt was the unlikely intellectual link between the two great strands of modern political and social philosophy: The Anglo-American tradition, whose iconic figure is George Orwell, and European "Continental" philosophy, whose greatest figure remains Hannah Arendt. It is therefore fitting that during his brief yet extremely productive life, he was honored with both the Hannah Arendt Prize (in 2007) and George Orwell Lifetime Achievement Award (in 2009), the only such figure so recognized. Judt's most controversial thesis is that despite its dark past and the many problems it faces today, Europe has survived and flourished, a model of social harmony, peace, and prosperity: "Neither America nor China has a serviceable model to propose for universal emulation. Few would have predicted it 60 years before, but the 21st century might yet belong to Europe" (Tony Judt). An absolute "must-have" title for Tony Judt reader/collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few 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 copy thus. One of the greatest thinkers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER TONY JUDT TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1594202761.

Stock number: 18153. ISBN: 1594202761

$US 20.00

Junger, Sebastian
A Death In Belmont

Imprint: New York City, NY, W. W. Norton & Company, 2006
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 266 pages. The author's third nonfiction account. 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 Sebastian Junger's "A Death In Belmont". His speculative narrative on the "Boston Strangler". "Bessie Goldberg was strangled to death in her home in Belmont, a Boston suburb, in March of 1963, right in the middle of the Boston Strangler's killing spree. Her death has not been associated with the other Strangler killings because Roy Smith, a black man who was working in Goldberg's house that day, was convicted of her murder on circumstantial evidence. But another man was working in Belmont that day: Albert DeSalvo, who later confessed to being the Boston Strangler. He was doing construction work in the home of Sebastian Junger's parents. Could DeSalvo have slipped away and killed Bessie Goldberg? Junger's taut narrative makes dizzying, hairpin turns as he considers all the evidence. He also reviews the more familiar case for and against DeSalvo being the Strangler as there are serious questions about his confession. This perplexing story gains an extra degree of creepiness from Junger's personal connection to it" (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for Sebastian Junger collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, dated (on the day of publication) and inscribed ("lined") in black pen on the title page by the author: "May 1, '06 Is that conceivably something you might do? Sebastian Junger". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. There is no recipient named. The inscription is the last sentence of the book. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, publication-day dated, and inscribed 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 COPY OF THIS TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0393059804.

Stock number: 9750. ISBN: 0393059804

$US 50.00

Kadare, Ismail (Trasnlated by Jusuf Briuoni and Barbara Bray)
The Palace Of Dreams

Imprint: New York City, NY, Arcade Publishing, 2011
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 210 pages. The author's eighth book to be translated into English. One of the greatest novels of our time. Special "Collector's Edition" of 1500 copies. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the regular trade edition. They have the same ISBN. The Limited Edition sold out shortly after publication and is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Arcade: Regular-sized volume format. Red cloth boards with gilt titles embossed on the cover and spine and photographic reproduction of Samuel Beckett neatly pasted in front, as issued. Text by Ismail Kadare. Printed on 100 gsm Chinese Yulong Cream paper, with cream ribbon marker. Without DJ, as issued. Presents, in an elegant collectible format, Ismail Kadare's "Nepunesi ipallatit te endrrave" in a felicitous English translation. Allegorical novel whose achievement is on the same level as Saramago's. "The mysterious Palace of Dreams stands at the heart of a vast but fragile Balkan empire. Inside, workers assiduously sift, sort, classify, and ultimately interpret the dreams of the Empire's citizens. The workers search out Master Dreams that will provide clues to the destiny of the Empire and its Sultan. Powerfully imagined and beautifully written" (Publisher's blurb). Before its collapse, Albania was the reclusive Communist state of the West, Europe's North Korea, that is, totalitarianism at its most absurd, barbaric, and paranoid. Ismail Kadare has made it his Borgesian mission to write her history through literature that has universal significance. An absolute "must-have" title for Ismail Kadare collectors. This copy is one of the Collector's Edition, indicated as such above the Copyright Page. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Collector's Edition 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 rare copy thus. Regarded by eminent scholars and critics as one of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ISMAIL KADARE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1611453275.

Stock number: 17907. ISBN: 1611453275

$US 30.00

Kafka, Franz (Translated by Mark Harman)
The Castle: A New Translation Based On The Restored Text: The Schocken Kafka Library

Imprint: New York City, NY, Schocken Books, 1998
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 328 pages. New translation of the author's novel. One of the greatest novels of the 20th century. 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 and as part of the now-legendary Schocken Library Series. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Franz Kafka's "Das Schloss" in what is widely regarded as the definitive translation in English. Amended, corrected, and realized seventy-two years after its publication in the original German (1926). Published at the end of the 20th century, Mark Harman's translation is an achievement of the highest order and honors Kafka in our chaotic, confused time. "He is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison with him" (Vladimir Nabokov). "Kafka discovered the hitherto unknown possibilities of the novel, and it is thanks to him that the very notion of the novel is not the same as it was before" (Milan Kundera). An absolute "must-have" title for Franz Kafka collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing/First-State DJ still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are subsequent printings (which feature a different DJ). A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER FRANZ KAFKA TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0805241183.

Stock number: 21991. ISBN: 0805241183

$US 70.00

Kalfus, Ken
A Disorder Peculiar To The Country

Imprint: New York City, NY, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 237 pages. The author's second novel. Now considered a contemporary cult 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 Ken Kalfus' "A Disorder Peculiar To The Country". Joins an exponentially growing number of literary works inspired by 9/11, and is worthy of the best among them thus far. "Like their country, Marshall and Joyce Harriman, a Brooklyn Heights couple, are at war. They are one year into an impossibly bitter divorce, and their hatred for one another has acquired the intensity of something historic, tribal, and ethnic. When Joyce watches the destruction of The World Trade Center, she is seized by a great gladness because Marshall works on the eighty-sixth floor of the South Tower. But he escapes to fight another day in the apartment that neither will relinquish. Kalfus skewers the pieties surrounding 9/11, but having set his black comedy in the shadow of that national trauma, he charts the powerful sway that world events briefly held over the lives of individual Americans" (The New Yorker Magazine). "Now you know what it's like to live in history" (Ken Kalfus). An absolute "must-have" title for Ken Kalfus collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Ken Kalfus. 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. Finalist for The National Book Award in 2006 for "A Disorder Peculiar To The Country". One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KEN KALFUS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0060501405.

Stock number: 11126. ISBN: 0060501405

$US 30.00

Kalfus, Ken
Thirst: Fiction By Ken Kalfus

Imprint: Minneapolis, MN, Milkweed Editions, 1998
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 205 pages. The author's debut collection of short stories. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with the Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only by a small fine press. The First Edition is now scarce. It is in pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and spine. The back features blurbs by David Foster Wallace, Stuart Dybek, and Robey Wilson. Printed on thick archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Ken Kalfus' "Thirst". Short stories "to give to people who piss and moan about the unpromising future of American fiction". "Ken Kalfus is an important writer in every sense of 'important'. There are hip, funny writers, and there are smart, technically innovative writers, and there are wise, moving, and profound writers. Kalfus is all of these at once, and the stories in 'Thirst' manage simultaneously to delight, impress, provoke, and redeem" (David Foster Wallace). A brilliant debut, a promise fulfilled and a prodigious achievement sustained in Kalfus' three other books. An absolute "must-have" title for Ken Kalfus collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Ken Kalfus. 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 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 signed copy thus. Finalist for The National Book Award in 2006 for "A Disorder Peculiar To The Country". One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER KEN KALFUS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1571310185.

Stock number: 12403. ISBN: 1571310185

$US 30.00

Kanengiser, William
William Kanengiser: Rondo Alla Turca: Brouwer Mozart Handel Head

Imprint: San Francisco, CA, GSP Recordings, 1991
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 1 pages. Rare William Kanengiser collectible item. A pristine copy of his "Rondo Alla Turca: Brouwer Mozart Handel Head" CD recording with GSP Recordings, signed by William Kanengiser. One of William Kanengiser's finest achievements. It is one of the most important CD recordings of our time. The first release of the CD. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent releases, particularly the Japanese Edition. The first release is now scarce. Presents William Kanengiser's "Rondo All Turca". Brilliant transcriptions of less well-known repertorie by a contemporary Master Performer. "If you love classical guitar, you've been faced with the dilemma that every disc seems to hold the same selections. There are only about 25 selections out there that are recorded on CD. They are wonderful pieces of music. But this is something different. I guarantee that this will be new music to you. For me, it was the Mozart Piano Sonata transcription that just rocked. Beautifully played, and perhaps the best selection of rare pieces ever put onto such a disc" (Tom Sanders). "The musicality and execution are flawless. But what grabbed me was the tone he produces. As a performing and recording classical guitarist myself, I was blown away with the tone he gets from the instrument" (T. W. Maynard). An absolute "must-have" collectible, not just memorabilia, item for William Kanengiser collectors. This copy of the CD of "Rondo All Turca: Brouwer Mozart Handel Head" is very prominently and beautifully signed and inscribed in black pen in front by the artist: "To Mark, Nice to meet you! William Kanengiser". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient is named. This title is a great CD recording. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and inscribed copy available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online command rather princely sums because this original release is quite scarce. William Kanengiser seldom does public signings, and when he does, limits what he is willing to sign to one piece per person, making signed materials scarce. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant guitarists of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO MILOS KARADAGLIC TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 19884.

$US 30.00

Kapuscinski, Ryszard (Translated by William R. Brand And Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand)
Another Day Of Life

Imprint: New York City, NY, Harcourt Brace, 1987
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 136 pages. The author's third book to be translated into English. One of the greatest journalistic accounts of the 20th century. 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 Ryszard Kapuscinski's "Another Day of Life" in a felicitous English translation. A classic account of a country torn apart by its newly-won freedom, told with masterly command of atmosphere and national mood by the author of "The Emperor" (1978) and "Shah of Shahs" (1982). In 1975, Angola disintegrated into total chaos. Everyone who could hurriedly left the former colony. As usual, Kapuscinski flew to Luanda instead, once regarded as Africa's Rio de Janeiro. A colony transformed as a mining, agricultural, and tourism miracle, Angola was the Promised Land for generations of impoverished Portuguese immigrants. It belonged to Portugal for centuries - long before there were even English settlers in America. After the collapse of the Fascist regime in Portugal in 1974, Angola was cut loose, "spurring the catastrophe of a still-ongoing civil war. Kapuscinski plunged right into the middle of the drama, driving past thousands of haphazardly placed checkpoints, where using the wrong shibboleth was a matter of life and death. He records his impressions of the young soldiers (from Cuba, Angola, South Africa, and Portugal) fighting a nebulous war with global repercussions. Examines the peculiar brutality of a country surprised and divided by its new-found freedom" (Publisher's blurb). "Leaves a chilling feeling of humanity reduced to its most desolate state. Packs a punch" (The Africanist). Prompting comparisons with the works of a Modernist Master like Kafka, Kapuscinski's literary journalism is uniquely mesmerizing and unforgettable in that none of his accounts has an ending in the conventional sense: His narratives simply end, inconclusively and abruptly, on an unresolved, often jarring note. Which is something that writers of TIME Magazine or The New York Times would never do, neatly wrapping things up instead for the sake of an (artificially) satisfying story. An absolute "must-have" title for Ryszard Kapuscinski 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 or are in multiple subsequent printings, particularly those that are listed as New, more than thirty years (as of 2019) after the book's release. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest journalist-writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0151075638.

Stock number: 21674. ISBN: 0151075638

$US 200.00