Mathieu, Paul (Ceramic Artist) & Russell, Bruce Hugh (Contributor)
The Pottery Of Mathieu: Suite Serpentin

Imprint: Burlington, Ontario, Burlington Art Centre, 1998
Edition: First Edition

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 16 pages. Exhibition Catalog. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. The Exhibition Catalog is now rare. An austerely elegant production by the Burlington Art Centre: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover, as issued. Art by Paul Mathieu. Essay by Bruce Hugh Russell. Printed on pristine-white, coated stock paper in Canada to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark exhibition of the same name held at the Burlington Art Centre in 1998. Presents the ceramic art of Paul Mathieu. A standing member of the reigning Canadian triumvirate, Foulem/Mathieu/Milette. A movement unto themselves. They and their highly provocative and brilliant work are rightly seen as expressions of the singular, unusual, "queer" self, in all its performative gestures. For starters, their very choice of medium is not just epicene or unusual, it is defiant, asserting that the dominance of painting and sculpture is oppressive albeit ceramics are arguably painting and sculpture. It would not be wrong to describe the trio's work as "painterly" or "sculptural". "Their shared perception that they are outside of the artistic and social mainstream has helped drive them to create an aesthetically powerful and intellectually engaging body of work that is rooted in and critical of conventional art history, ceramic history, and contemporary culture" (David Kaye). The works by Mathieu in this collection are as provocative as ceramic art will ever be: Sex acts (mainly fellatio and "69") that blatantly appropriate the visual language of not one but two Modern Masters, Matisse's "Serpentine" and Rodin's "Age of Bronze", as Mathieu subverts the latter masterpieces and shows fantastic, "Caution: Don't Try This On Your Own" sexual acrobatics. Extreme performative gestures indeed. An absolute "must-have" title for Foulem/Mathieu/Milette collectors. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Exhibition Catalog available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with black-and-white plates. One of the finest ceramic artists of our time. A fine copy. .

Stock number: 19388.

$US 30.00

Matthiessen, Peter
On The River Styx And Other Stories

Imprint: New York City, NY, Random House, 1989
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 208 pages. The author's debut collection of short stories. Now considered a modern 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 Peter Matthiessen's "On The River Styx And Other Stories". Selected by the author himself with surpassing discrimination, it consists of ten stories in all, written over a span of 35 years of prolific writing. The resulting slim volume can be read in one go, one masterpiece after another. Matthiessen's stories echo and enlarge upon those of Jack London and Ernest Hemingway, his precursor-writers, in the same vein. Well, in any case, there is no one of his generation who captures with such vividness of detail, freshness of imagination, and depth of feeling the often inevitably tragic encounter between Man and Nature as Matthiessen does. "When all the faddish smoke clears, Peter Matthiessen's work will stand revealed as that of an artist of immense talent, grandeur, and genius" (Jim Harrison). After a year-long struggle with cancer, Peter Matthiessen died on April 5, 2014 at the age of 86. An absolute "must-have" title for Peter Matthiessen collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Peter Matthiessen. 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 event during which his signature was obtained. This title is a 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. The cream DJ, which soils easily, is un-soiled and un-blemished. 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. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PETER MATTHIESSEN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0394553993.

Stock number: 18728. ISBN: 0394553993

$US 80.00

Maxwell, Robert
Robert Maxwell: Photographs

Imprint: Santa Fe, NM, Arena Editions, 2000
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 155 pages. Debut collection of photographs. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Robert Maxwell, James Crump, and Elsa Kendall: Oversize-volume format. Hard boards with titles on spine, as issued. Photographs and text by Robert Maxwell. In pictorial DJ, which features one of the photographer's female nudes, as issued. Presents Robert Maxwell's "Photographs". The range and depth of his work as an art photographer. Maxwell is an extremely successful magazine, commercial, and fashion photographer who has clearly yearned to do something more serious and enduring. This collection of richly and evocatively toned black-and-white and color photographs represents his work in that mode thus far. It features male and female nudes, still life, and celebrity portraits with a classic look that is clean and immaculate on the surface, but resonantly nostalgic and emotional in its impact. Utilizes the 19th-century glass wetplate technology known as the ambrotype, called the "black art" of photography because of the rich and dark tonalities it produces. His tribute to the first Golden Age of photography, this book received lavish praise from critics and collectors when it first appeared. An absolute "must-have" title for Robert Maxwell collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and inscribed in black pen by the photographer: "Marcy, Felt easier calling myself a photographer after seeing you print my work. You're the Bomb. Robert". It is signed directly omn the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is the photographer's printer, and the dedication wittily refers to the Noel Coward song, "You're The Top!". This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such signed 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. A rare signed copy thus. 50 duotone, 40 color plates. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER COPY OF THIS TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1892041324.

Stock number: 13270. ISBN: 1892041324

$US 70.00

McCabe, Patrick
Emerald Germs Of Ireland

Imprint: New York City, NY, HarperCollins Publishers, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 306 pages. The author's seventh novel. 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 Patrick McCabe's "Emerald Germs of Ireland". One of the author's most brilliant, macabre, and dementedly funny works. "McCabe may well be the lodestone of Irish fiction" (New York Observer). An absolute "must-have" title for Patrick McCabe collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and dated (in the year of publication) in blue pen on the title page by the author: "March 14, 2001. Patrick McCabe". 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 and publication-year dated 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 signed copy thus. Finalist of the Booker Prize in 1992 for "The Butcher Boy" and in 1998 for "Breakfast On Pluto". One of the finest novelists of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PATRICK MCCABE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0060196785.

Stock number: 1807. ISBN: 0060196785

$US 30.00

McCabe, Patrick
Mondo Desperado: A Serial Novel

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. 240 pages. Rare Patrick McCabe collectible set. A pristine copy of the First American Edition/First Printing with a pristine copy of the First Softcover Edition/First Printing, the latter signed and dated by Patrick McCabe. The author's sixth novel. One of the author's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in the United States and in hardcover. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First British Edition is a softcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Patrick McCabe's "Mondo Desperado". One of the author's most brilliant, macabre, and dementedly funny works. Described by the author as "like Sherwood Anderson's 'Winesburg, Ohio' on drugs". "McCabe may well be the lodestone of Irish fiction" (New York Observer). An absolute "must-have" title for Patrick McCabe collectors. This copy of the First American Edition/First Printing (not signed) comes with a pristine copy of the First Softcover Edition/First Printing, which is very prominently and beautifully signed and dated in blue pen by Patrick McCabe. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. 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: The First British Edition is a softcover original only. Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce set thus. One of the finest novelists of our time. A fine set. (SEE ALSO OTHER PATRICK MCCABE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0060194618.

Stock number: 3302. ISBN: 0060194618

$US 30.00

McCabe, Patrick
The Dead School

Imprint: New York City, NY, The Dial Press, 1995
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 287 pages. The author's fourth novel. One of Patrick McCabe's finest achievements. 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 Patrick McCabe's "The Dead School". A Modern Master of the macabre. He achieved "breakthrough" status with his third novel, "The Butcher Boy", which was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize, became the basis of a very fine film by Neil Jordan, and was acclaimed as "a masterpiece of literary ventriloquism". An equally dazzling novel, "The Dead School" is the intertwined story of two Irishmen from different generations, whose lives intersect for a brief and destructive time, and then miserably, continue apart. McCabe avoids the facile or dramatic ending and delivers instead the saddest, funniest, and most horrible ending of all because it is so true to life. "McCabe may well be the lodestone of Irish fiction" (New York Observer). An absolute "must-have" title for Patrick McCabe collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue pen on the front free endpaper by Patrick McCabe. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This is one of few such signed 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 signed copy thus. Finalist of the Booker Prize in 1992 for "The Butcher Boy" and in 1998 for "Breakfast On Pluto". One of the finest novelists of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PATRICK MCCABE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0385314205.

Stock number: 10370. ISBN: 0385314205

$US 30.00

McCann, Colum
Transatlantic

Imprint: New York City, NY, Random House, 2013
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 310 pages. The author's sixth novel. One of Colum McCann's finest achievements. 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 Colum McCann's "Transatlantic". "A brilliant tribute to his loamy, lyrical, and complicated Irish homeland, and an ode to the ties that, across time and space, bind Ireland and America". McCann's novel recounts three transatlantic crossings, each a novella within a novel: Frederick Douglas' 1845 visit to Ireland; the 1919 flight of British aviators Alcock and Brown; and former United States Senator George Mitchell's 1998 attempt to mediate peace in Northern Ireland. "Beautifully hypnotic in its movements, from the grand (between two continents, across three centuries) to the most subtle. Silkily threading together public events and private feelings, 'TransAtlantic' says NO to death with every line. Those who can't see the point of historical novels will find their answer here: In all intelligent fiction, the Past has not passed" (Emma Donoghue). An absolute "must-have" title for Colum McCann collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Colum McCann. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Colum McCann was one of the star attractions of the 2013 Printers Row Book Fair Chicago: Together with rock-music legend Sting, fellow writer Luis Alberto Urrea, and Chicago writer Charles Wilson, McCann formally launched Narrative4, a story-sharing project for young people that he and Urrea co-founded, which now encompasses the whole world (in true Colum McCann fashion). This comes with a pristine copy of the Book Fair's Souvenir Program. 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 2009 for "Let The Great World Spin". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER COLUM MCCANN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1400069599.

Stock number: 21607. ISBN: 1400069599

$US 70.00

McCarthy, Mary (Author/Subject) & Gelderman, Carol (Editor)
Conversations With Mary Mccarthy: Literary Conversations Series

Imprint: Jackson, MS, University Of Mississippi, 1991
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 275 pages. The author's collection of interviews. Published in a small and limited print run of 500 copies as a hardcover original by a University Press as part of the now-legendary "Literary Conversations" Series. This First Hardcover Edition was sold to public libraries only and was never reissued. Should not be confused with the regular trade Softcover Edition. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in the most collectible format possible, "Conversations With Mary McCarthy". A representative selection of interviews conducted by various writers, journalists, and scholars with the author. Gives a rich, complex, and lively overview of both the life and mind of one of America's most important writers. Presented in chronological order, the interviews cumulatively amount to an absorbing account of one of the greatest literary journeys of the 20th century, which is the explicit intention of the publisher with each writer who is included in the Series. "Collected interviews with the well-known and forthright author of twenty-four books and countless reviews and essays" (Publisher's blurb). The original "Dark Lady of American Letters", Mary McCarthy was not a feminist but was the quintessential proto-feminist. These Interviews are especially bracing and engaging because, by her own candid admission, she loved to talk, and never learned how to be discreet, much to our benefit. Her most famous quarrel was with another proto-feminist (who was, at the same time, a committed Stalinist), the playwright Lilian Hellman, about whom McCarthy drily noted before a live television audience that everything she ever wrote or said "is a lie, including 'and' and 'the' ". It is impossible, not just difficult, to come up with a more scathing attack so Hellman sued, but died before the case could go to court. "In general I would say that men actually have more feeling, and women perhaps more intelligence" (Mary McCarthy). An absolute "must-have" title for Mary McCarthy collectors. This title is a great collection. 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. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are former library copies, or the Softcover Edition. A rare copy thus. One of the most important and influential American writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MARY MCCARTHY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0878054855.

Stock number: 20732. ISBN: 0878054855

$US 50.00

McCarthy, Mary
Mary Mccarthy's Theatre Chronicles 1937-1962

Imprint: New York City, NY, Farrar, Straus & Company, 1963
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 248 pages. Retrospective collection of theatre reviews. One of the most important literary collections of its kind ever published. It also remains one of Mary McCarthy's finest achievements. 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. There is no ISBN. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Mary McCarthy's "Theatre Chronicles 1937-1962". Covers the twenty-five year period when serious American theatre came into its own. First published in her celebrated and influential column in Partisan Review, the collection as a whole amounts to a landmark of American critical writing. The classics - Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen, Chekhov, Wilde - are brilliantly juxtaposed with the "moderns" such as Clifford Odets, William Saroyan, Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Graham Greene, William Inge, Paddy Chayevsky, and John Osborne, among others. There is no contemporary critic actively writing, aware of the fact or not, who has not been influenced by the "Mary McCarthy critical essay", an acerbic, penetrating, and intelligent piece that sees through rubbish with a laser beam ("cast a cold eye", as one of her novels put it) yet remains hopeful about finding the elusive "Real Thing" (her fundamental, central criterion for great theatre). Mary McCarthy loved the theatre. Her acidic and despairing commentary about certain celebrity-playwrights and their plays (most of which are now period pieces) comes from a deep love of the medium, which she knew faced extinction each passing day with the rise of cinema and then, television. Theatre has somehow survived and even thrived, but as Mary McCarthy predicted, it has been at the exorbitant price of "entertainment", that is, as an extension of Hollywood rather than being self-contained, serious, and abundant. When one thinks of it in the broadest historical sense, that William Shakespeare, the greatest writer in the English language, wrote exclusively for the theatre (even his sonnets were dramatic private gestures to an unnamed Loved One, who happened to be another man; hence the need to make them private), McCarthy's exclusive devotion to theatre (she hated films) was not so quaint after all. An absolute "must-have" title for Mary McCarthy collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and despite its imperfection (browning of paper, rubbing on DJ) is still in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. 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 most important and influential American writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MARY MCCARTHY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 1511.

$US 20.00

McCarthy, Cormac (Author) & Stechschulte, Tom (Performer)
The Road

Imprint: New York City, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 241 pages. Rare Cormac McCarthy collectible set. A fine copy of "The Road" with the Complete Dramatic Reading of the novel (on six compact discs) by Tom Stechschulte, one of the most brilliant American character actors and recording voices of our time. The author's tenth novel. One of Cormac McCarthy's finest achievements. 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 that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". By enduring critical and popular consensus, the author's triumphant return to top form. "In our age of relentless saber-rattling by global powers, it is not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work, as his Gnostic impressions of Mankind have left very little place for love" (Dennis Lehane). "If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind would he not have done so by now?" (Cormac McCarthy). An absolute "must-have" title for Cormac McCarthy collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and despite its imperfection (visible rubbing on the black DJ) is still in especially fine condition: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. The boards are sharp, NO bumping at all. It comes with a fine copy of the Complete Dramatic Reading of the novel (on six CD's) by Tom Stechschulte, one of the most brilliant American character actors of our time, whose voice in recordings of various literary classics is universally acclaimed. Please note: The reading is in true Compact Disc (CD) format, infinitely superior as such in terms of production values to the MP3 version available online. Copies of the book available online have very serious flaws, are in multiple subsequent printings, or are overpriced. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare set thus. Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" is regarded by Harold Bloom as the greatest American novel of the last quarter of the 20th century. "Blood Meridian" and "The Border Trilogy" were selected by The New York Times panel of writers, critics, and editors as among the Top 20 greatest works of American fiction of the last 25 years. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 2007 for "The Road". One of the greatest American novelists of our time. A fine set. (SEE ALSO OTHER CORMAC MCCARTHY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0307265439.

Stock number: 22345. ISBN: 0307265439

$US 70.00

McCourt, James
Delancey's Way

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

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 370 pages. The author's second novel. One of James McCourt's finest - and most inspired - achievements. 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 James McCourt's "Delancey's Way". "The first truly modern Hollywood novel set, of course, in Washington, DC" (Fran Lebowitz). "Sublimely outrageous. Wholly worthy of the seer of 'Time Remaining' - would that the noble Firbank were here to admire it with us" (Harold Bloom). Even more than Susan Sontag (who ardently championed McCourt), Bloom was responsible for establishing McCourt's place in literature by including "Time Remaining: Stories" (1993) in his list of canonical works of the 20th century. An absolute "must-have" title for James McCourt collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by James McCourt. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. McCourt's signature is as flamboyant, impressive, and artful as his art. This title is a great book. 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. Please note: James McCourt is a cult writer (with a uniquely brilliant body of work) who is also a writer's writer. It is a crying shame that mainstream recognition has eluded him because his work represents writing - and reading - as pure pleasure. A rare signed copy thus. James McCourt's "Time Remaining: Stories" is regarded by Harold Bloom as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the finest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JAMES MCCOURT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0375403116.

Stock number: 22228. ISBN: 0375403116

$US 200.00

McCourt, James
Mawrdew Czgowchwz

Imprint: New York City, NY, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1975
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 230 pages. The author's breakthrough debut novel. One of the finest novels of the 20th century. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the 2002 NYR Reissued Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. There is no ISBN. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents James McCourt's "Mawrdew Czgowchwz". A perfect first novel. Pronounced "Mardu Gorgeous", as helpfully revealed by the publisher about the one American novel that will be a spell test to compete with those unpronounceable Polish names. The eponymous diva "bursts like the most brilliant of comets onto the international opera scene, only to confront the deadly malice and black magic of her rivals. Outrageous and uproarious, flamboyant and serious as only the most perfect frivolity can be, James McCourt's entrancing send-up of the world of opera has been a cult classic for more than a quarter-century. This comic tribute to the love of art is a triumph of art and love by a contemporary American Master" (New York Review). "Bravo, James McCourt, a literary countertenor in the literary tradition of Firbank and Nabokov" (Susan Sontag). An absolute "must-have" title for James McCourt collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed, dated, and inscribed in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "December 1, 1981 For Maggie Lewis, in friendship, in fellowship, James McCourt". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is a close friend of the author. McCourt's signature fills up the page, and is as flamboyant, impressive, and artful as his art. It is very boldly and beautifully signed, dated, and inscribed again in orange pen-marker on the back page by the author. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such double-signed, dated, and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and despite its imperfection (slight browning on the white DJ top edge) is still in fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: James McCourt is a cult writer (with a uniquely brilliant body of work) who is also a writer's writer. It is a crying shame that mainstream recognition has eluded him because his work represents writing - and reading - as pure pleasure. A rare signed copy thus. James McCourt's "Time Remaining: Stories" is regarded by Harold Bloom as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the finest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JAMES MCCOURT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 22225.

$US 300.00

McCourt, James
Queer Street: The Rise And Fall Of An American Culture 1947-1985

Imprint: New York City, NY, W. W. Norton & Company, 2003
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 577 pages. Book-length account on subject. One of the most beautifully written books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a regular first print run - of 25000 copies, a record for a book of its esoteric nature - as a hardcover original only that nevertheless sold out shortly after publication. Second Printings proliferate online. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents James McCourt's "Queer Street: The Rise And Fall of An American Culture 1947-1985". Long title notwithstanding, further subtitled "Excursions In The Mind of The Life", the inversion, as it were, of McCourt's lifelong preoccupation with the life of the mind (rather than say, mere history or sociology). From the author of the greatest novel about opera ("Mawrdew Czgowchwz", 1975) and THE Great Gay American Novel ("Time Remaining", 1992), now this: The best book on gay life thus far, inimitable and indispensable. Readers - straight, gay, or queer, who should all read the book - will be dazzled and moved by the erudition and wisdom of James McCourt's first foray into "non-fiction": Every important - and unimportant, but fascinating - event that happened in gay life in the 20th century (circa 1947-1985) is reminisced, and commented upon, for posterity. An absolute "must-have" title for James McCourt collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, dated, and inscribed in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "February 2, 2004, For David, with affection from a Philadelphia corner of [Queer Street], James McCourt". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is unmistakably known to the author. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, dated, and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: James McCourt is a cult writer (with a uniquely brilliant body of work) who is also a writer's writer. It is a crying shame that mainstream recognition has eluded him because his work represents writing - and reading - as pure pleasure. Copies available online have serious flaws, are the Second Printing, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. James McCourt's "Time Remaining: Stories" is regarded by Harold Bloom as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the finest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JAMES MCCOURT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0393050513.

Stock number: 22242. ISBN: 0393050513

$US 200.00

McDean, Craig (Photographer) & Wakefield, Neville (Contributor)
I Love Fast Cars: Photographs By Craig Mcdean

Imprint: New York City, NY, Powerhouse Books, 1999
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 70 pages. Collection of color photographs on subject. One of the most beautiful photography books on American race cars 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. A brilliant production by Craig McDean and Daniel Power: Oversize-volume format. Glossy pictorial hard boards with black cloth overboards and titles embossed on the spine, as issued. Photographs by Craig McDean. Text by Neville Wakefield. Stunning endpapers. Printed on thick, glossy stock paper by EBS in Verona, Italy to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In pictorial DJ with very large flaps and titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Craig McDean's "I Love Fast Cars". Photographs of American "fast cars", built almost from scrap by their ingenious makers, and the people who are fanatically devoted to them, the British photographer included. "Fashion photographer Craig McDean, he of the trail-blazing Jil Sander and Calvin Klein campaigns, has a hankering for hot wheels and muscle cars, the kind built in backyards and driveways across America. He also loves to see them drag race, in semi-formal circuits known as bracket racing. Taking a deliberately studied, off-key approach to the drivers, the machines, and the bonhomie of the small-time drag racing circuit, seen in the frozen-moment release of a blue '72 LeMans bursting off the starting line or in the grin of a driver in his fire-orange early model GTO, McDean mimics the terse fluidity and gritty, sensual stasis of his enormously influential fashion work, bringing the full force of his sharp fashion skills to bear on this iconographic American pastime. Expertly sequenced by McDean, 'I Love Fast Cars' transforms the laconic Brit's obsession for these lovingly crafted hot rods into a surprisingly seductive homage" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Craig McDean collectors. This title is a contemporary photography 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 very serious flaws or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 1576870596.

Stock number: 14313. ISBN: 1576870596

$US 100.00

McEwan, Ian
Amsterdam

Imprint: New York City, NY, Doubleday, 1999
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 193 pages. The author's seventh novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. 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 Ian McEwan's "Amsterdam". A masterly, "compressed" novel. Flawlessly written, not a single word wasted, not a single note wrong, a work of writerly virtuosity even by McEwan's lapidary standards. "Amsterdam" takes place in the claustrophobic world of ruling-class London, except for the final chapter, which happens, if that is the right word, in the eponymous city, one of the most evocative endings in late-20th century British literature. It is the "set-piece" counterpoint to McEwan's equally dazzling opening chapter in "Enduring Love". In both instances, the novel's characters, themes, aura of anguish and terror, and true meaning are woven together seamlessly in prose of breathtaking descriptive power. McEwan is often presented with his contemporaries, Julian Barnes and Martin Amis, as comprising the United Kingdom's reigning trio of best living "native" writers (the others being bunched together as exceptional "immigrant" overachievers). For the crystalline purity and sheer beauty of his style as well as the unmistakable, pitch-perfect "sound" of his writing voice, McEwan is in a class of his own. "McEwan is one of the finest literary storytellers alive. He implants in the memory a living, flaming presence" (The New Republic). An absolute "must-have" title for Ian McEwan collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Ian McEwan. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed 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 signed copy thus. Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for "First Love, Last Rites". Winner of the Booker Prize in 1998 for "Amsterdam". Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2002 for "Atonement". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER IAN MCEWAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0385494238.

Stock number: 13293. ISBN: 0385494238

$US 70.00

McEwan, Ian
Black Dogs

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

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 149 pages. The author's fifth novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. 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 Ian McEwan's "Black Dogs". His fifth novel, and one of his finest achievements. "The narrator of McEwan's novel is fascinated with other people's parents, particularly his remarkable in-laws, indissolubly linked yet estranged and combative. A man of reason, Bernard Tremaine cannot understand why his wife, June, rejected political activism for spiritual quest after an encounter with evil in the form of two fierce black dogs. McEwan does not so much tell their story as the story of the son-in-law's efforts to understand them better by writing about them. Though Bernard and June represent diametrically opposed ways of looking at the world (two views beautifully and succinctly captured by McEwan), they are not mere vessels of thought but lively, distinctive characters in their own right. As the narrator returns to the French countryside where June fatefully encountered the dogs, the deceptively simple buildup makes her brush with violence all the more shocking. A novel of ideas with the hard edge of a thriller" (Barbara Hoffert). The encounter with the dogs, a characteristic McEwan set piece, is described in chilling detail, and recalls Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of The Baskervilles". If you have ever had a terrifying, life-changing encounter with "man's best friend", this novel's for you. An absolute "must-have" title for Ian McEwan collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Ian McEwan. 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 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 signed copy thus. Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 and the Booker Prize in 1998 for "Amsterdam". Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2002 for "Atonement". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER IAN MCEWAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0385425414.

Stock number: 18257. ISBN: 0385425414

$US 50.00

McEwan, Ian
Saturday

Imprint: New York City, NY, Doubleday, 2005
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 293 pages. The author's ninth novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. 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 Ian McEwan's "Saturday". A masterful novel set within a single day in February 2003. "Henry Perowne is a contented man. Outside the hospital, the world is not so easy or predictable. There is an impending war against Iraq, and a general darkening and gathering pessimism since the New York and Washington attacks two years before. On this particular Saturday morning, Perowne's day moves from the ordinary to the extraordinary" (Publisher's blurb). "McEwan is one of the finest literary storytellers alive. He implants in the memory a living, flaming presence" (The New Republic). An absolute "must-have" title for Ian McEwan collectors. This title is a contemporary 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 or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. 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 Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for "First Love, Last Rites". Winner of the Booker Prize in 1998 for "Amsterdam". Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2002 for "Atonement". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER IAN MCEWAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0385511809.

Stock number: 10249. ISBN: 0385511809

$US 20.00

McGinley, Ryan
Life Adjustment Center

Imprint: New York City, NY, Dashwood Books, 2010
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. Unpaginated. The photographer's second collection of male and female nudes. Limited Edition of 3000 copies. The first and only edition. Published as a hardcover original only. The Limited Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Ryan McGinley, David Strettell, and AR New York: Regular-sized volume format. Aquamarine cloth boards with red titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Ryan McGinley. There is no text. Matching red page edges. Printed in offset on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name held at Ratio3 San Francisco which commenced on October 29, 2010. Presents Ryan McGinley's "Life Adjustment Center". Juxtaposition of animals with naked humans, reminiscent of Peter Hujar, given a beguiling, contemporary twist by McGinley as he continues to document and help define the Zeitgeist of the first decade of the 21st century. "Two themes are presented in this book. Firstly, a collection of black-and-white studio nudes, many with wild animals, an extension of the studio series, 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'. The second features one of McGinley's core elements as a photographer, 'capturing his subjects in dreamlike compositions, rich in motion and color, during recent adventures on the road'" (Publisher's blurb). McGinley's subjects are restless, always doing something, almost always au naturel. McGinley's fantasy is that we do the "fun" things in life unencumbered by clothing. These sexy, cool, and hip images "bring the same sense of intimacy and boundless energy that have marked his previous work. No one is working today with quite the same freedom and confidence as McGinley, who has evolved into the most important photographer of his generation" (David Strettell). There are quite a few female nudes, more so than in his previous collection. A male nude, "Tom, Snow White, 2010" (he is photographed in the snowy woods, a "Young Adam" Adonis, while his nude companions almost inconspicuously blend into the background), is surely one of the most beautiful nudes anyone is likely to see. McGinley's work is in the Permanent Collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Saatchi Gallery London, and the International Center of Photography (ICP). An absolute "must-have" title for Ryan McGinley collectors. This is a copy of the Limited Edition of 3000 copies. It is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the title page by Ryan McGinley. It is signed directly on the title page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. 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 pristine beauty. Please note: McGinley did NOT sign most copies of the Limited Edition. A rare signed copy thus. 40 plates. Winner of the "Photographer of the Year" Infinity Award in 2007. One of the most brilliant American photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RYAN MCGINLEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0984454616.

Stock number: 22058. ISBN: 0984454616

$US 200.00

McGinley, Ryan (Photographer); Aletti, Vince & Wolf, Sylvia (Contributors)
Ryan Mcginley: You And I: The Limited Edition

Imprint: Santa Fe, NM, Twin Palms Publishers, 2013
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 196 pages. The photographer's debut retrospective monograph. Limited Slipcased Edition of 150 numbered and signed copies. Should not be confused with the Limited Edition of 8000 copies. The Limited Slipcased Edition sold out before publication and is now rare. A brilliant production by Ryan McGinley and Jack Woody: Oversize-volume format. Pale green cloth boards with titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Ryan McGinley. Text by Vince Aletti and Sylvia Wolf. Blue cloth slipcase with metallic-silver titles embossed on the cover and spine. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Korea to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. In publisher's original shrinkwrap. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents, in its most collectible Limited Edition format, Ryan McGinley's "You And I". His first retrospective collection. The fact that this production took more than ten years to realize is a record-of-sorts in publishing history. The waiting is over; here it is at last. "He uses photography to break down barriers between public and private spheres of activity. A portrait of a generation that is savvy about visual culture and acutely aware of how identity can be communicated through photography" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Ryan McGinley collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Slipcased Edition of 150 numbered and signed copies, indicated/numbered as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen by Ryan McGinley. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. This is one of few copies of the Limited Edition still available online, is still in the publisher's original shrinkwrap, and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: While it took more than ten years to produce, it is nevertheless the most collectible edition to own. A rare signed copy thus. 90 color plates. Winner of the "Photographer of the Year" Infinity Award in 2007. One of the most brilliant American photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RYAN MCGINLEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1931885516.

Stock number: 17956. ISBN: 1931885516

$US 500.00

McPhee, John
The Patch

Imprint: New York City, NY, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2018
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 256 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. One of John McPhee's finest achievements. 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 John McPhee's "The Patch". His companion volume to "Draft No. 4: On The Writing Process" (2017). These are his "summing-up" essays, presented in two unequal parts that work as a whole, giving elegant shape to the beguiling patchwork of McPhee's life-work as the finest American descriptive essayist of his (and our) time. "Part 1, 'The Sporting Scene', consists of pieces on fishing, football, golf, and lacrosse. Part 2, 'An Album Quilt', is a montage of fragments of varying lengths from pieces done across the years that have never appeared in book form: Occasional pieces, memorial pieces, reflections, reminiscences, and short items from various magazines. The author's purpose was not merely to preserve things, but to choose passages that might entertain contemporary readers" (Publisher's blurb). His earliest, "apprenticeship" pieces - which are real gems - lead up, more or less, to his several-decades-long membership in The New Yorker Magazine's elite club of Master Writers. An absolute "must-have" title for John McPhee collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black pen on the half-title page by John McPhee. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. McPhee made another rare appearance, in New York City, to launch the book. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the Souvenir Material 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. Please note: 87 years old in 2018, John McPhee does NOT do public signings, making one more rare exception for this book. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for "Annals of The Former World". Winner of the Wallace Stegner Award in 2011 for his "sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West through literature, art, history, and lore". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN MCPHEE TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374229481.

Stock number: 22130. ISBN: 0374229481

$US 100.00

Meatyard, Ralph Eugene (Photographer); Davenport, Guy (Curator) & Young, Cynthia (Co-Curator)
Ralph Eugene Meatyard: The International Center For Photography Exhibition

Imprint: Gottingen, Germany / New York City, New York, Steidl Publishers/International Center For Photography (ICP), 2004
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 300 pages. Exhibition Monograph. Now considered a contemporary photography classic. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. An austerely elegant production by Steidl Design and Claas Moller: Regular-sized volume format. White cloth boards with photographic reproduction pasted on recessed center and black titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Ralph Eugene Meatyard. Curated with an Introduction, Essay, and Interview by Guy Davenport and Cynthia Young. Chronology, Selected Bibliography, and Exhibition History appended at the end. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Gottingen, Germany to the highest standards. In publisher's original shrinkwrap. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition held at the International Center for Photography New York from December 10, 2004 through February 27, 2005. Presents "Ralph Eugene Meatyard". The most comprehensive selection of the photographer's work thus far. The book acknowledges its debt to two previous monographs: "An American Visionary" and "The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater and Other Figurative Photographs". "They have been called visionary, surrealistic, and meditative. Fascinated by the uncanniness of ordinary life, Meatyard made mysterious, staged images using his friends and family, often involving masks and abandoned spaces, that are familiar and disturbing at the same time. Highly original and deeply emotional, Meatyard's Expressionist style and use of staged scenes foreshadow the work of many contemporary artists such as Francesca Woodman, Cindy Sherman, Sally Mann, and Justine Kurland. They suggest the complex emotions associated with childhood, intimacy, loss, and destruction. Meatyard's engagement with photographing people is evident in a number of portraits he made of a circle of local writers with whom he developed great friendships: Guy Davenport, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry, James Baker Hall, and Jonathan Greene. These friends not only provided intellectual inspiration and support but often acted as collaborators in other projects" (ICP). An absolute "must-have" title for Ralph Eugene Meatyard collectors. This title is now collectible. This is one of very few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online, is still in the publisher's original shrinkwrap, and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online are either remainder-marked or have serious flaws ("light shelfwear") because the cloth boards are easily soiled. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. 220 tritone plates. Ralph Eugene Meatyard's "The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater" was selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook" and by The Hasselblad Center. One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3865210651.

Stock number: 15442. ISBN: 3865210651

$US 150.00

Meatyard, Ralph Eugene (Photographer) & Rhem, James (Author)
The Family Album Of Lucybelle Crater And Other Figurative Photographs

Imprint: New York City, NY, Distributed Art Publishers (DAP), 2002
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 128 pages. Revised And Expanded Edition of the photographer's classic. One of the greatest photography books of the 20th century, re-presented according to the photographer's original vision. 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 that sold out shortly after publication. The true First Edition comes in the First-State DJ, and is now rare. A brilliant production by Catherine Mills Design Seattle: Oversize-volume format. Gray hard boards with titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Ralph Eugene Meatyard. Edited with accompanying essays by James Rhem. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper by EBS in Verona, Italy to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Re-presents, in an elegant and definitive new edition, Ralph Eugene Meatyard's "The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater And Other Figurative Photographs". His most significant achievement, interspersed with other related figurative photographs. "Originally published in 1974 by the Jargon Society and long out-of-print, 'The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater' is the best-known body of Ralph Eugene Meatyard's work. At once comic and tragic, grotesque and beautiful, the series of 64 images features his wife, Madelyn, in a hag's Halloween mask together with a different friend or relative in a transparent mask. Critic and scholar James Rhem has worked closely with the archives in the photographer's estate as well as directly with his surviving family members to reconstruct Meatyard's original, and unrealized, intentions for the publication of this project. As a result, the Revised Edition features the correct sequencing of images and, most importantly, the missing captions, which, in accordance with Meatyard's instructions, are reproduced in his own handwriting as white type knocked out of a black background. Accompanying the 'Album' are 34 more figurative works, establishing a context for them and exploring important themes in Meatyard's work" (Publisher's blurb). "Ralph Eugene Meatyard was one of only a few photographers who had any sort of influence on my photographic roots. I believed in his bizarre, fictional world" (Cindy Sherman). James Rhem's writings have appeared in The New Art Examiner, The Capital Times, and Newsday. He has contributed pieces to NPR's "All Things Considered" and "The Sunday Show". An absolute "must-have" title for Ralph Eugene Meatyard collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by James Rhem. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing/First State DJ available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have the different, Second State DJ. A rare signed copy thus. 98 duotone plates. Ralph Eugene Meatyard's "The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater" was selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook" and by The Hasselblad Center. One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1891024299.

Stock number: 20231. ISBN: 1891024299

$US 100.00

Medina, Luis (Photographer); Travis, David & Pau-Llosa, Ricardo (Contributors)
Facts & Fables By Luis Medina, Photographer

Imprint: Chicago, IL, Art Institute Of Chicago, 1993
Edition: First Edition

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 62 pages. Exhibition Catalog. Published posthumously, it remains the single best book on the photographic art of Luis Medina. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only. The Exhibition Catalog is now scarce. A brilliant production by the Art Institute of Chicago: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Luis Medina. Essays by David Travis and Ricardo Pau-Llosa. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the posthumous exhibition of the same name held at The Art Institute of Chicago from November 6, 1993 through January 19, 1994. Presents Luis Medina's "Facts & Fables". Beautiful photographs of Chicago's gritty street life, as occupied by its Hispanic gangs, notably "Sons of the Devil". A Cuban immigrant, Medina was gay (he died of AIDS in 1985), highly educated (he spent three years in Europe, to study art and photography), and refined (he kept a diary that was filled with brilliant, aphoristic writing). He apparently did not find sufficient fulfillment as such, and upon discovering the violent gangs living on the periphery of urban life, he immediately embraced them as his own. The homo-eroticism of the photographs recalls Mapplethorpe, with whom Medina shares an innate theatricality that Pau-Llosa describes in his essay in illuminating detail. Gang violence is for real ("facts"). But it has always had imaginative and symbolic elements, which find expression in subversive, explosive graffiti, and that a perceptive photographer like Medina grasped and adopted as his own ("fables"). The built-in distance between photographer and subject is not just bridged in these images. Medina took these photographs as self-expression, and self-transcendence. This was who he believed and felt he really was as well as who he always wanted to be. As Pedro Almodovar famously said, the more you identify with what you aspire to be, the more, paradoxically, real you will ever be. Meanwhile, here are Medina's photographs: Indelible and powerful. An absolute "must-have" title for Luis Medina collectors. This title is a late-modern photography classic. This is one of few copies of the Exhibition Catalog still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. 26 color, 6 black-and-white plates. One of the most brilliant American photographers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 086559127X.

Stock number: 19385. ISBN: 086559127X

$US 30.00

Melville, Herman (Author) & Hayford, Harrison (Editor)
Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence-man, Uncollected Prose, Billy Budd, Sailor

Imprint: New York City, NY, The Library Of America, 1985
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 1480 pages. Volume Three of The Library of America's definitive Collected Works of Herman Melville. The First Slipcased Edition in its First Uncorrected State. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are innumerable. Published in a small and limited first print run as a Slipcased Edition for distribution to libraries and LOA subscribers only. None of the copies was sold to the public. The Slipcased Edition has the same ISBN as the regular trade edition. The Slipcased Edition is now rare. Printed to the highest standards on acid-free paper, utilizing sewn binding, closely woven rayon cloth boards, satin bound-in ribbon marker, and a page layout that is both readable and elegant, each volume is guaranteed to last for several generations of readers and collectors (despite frequent and regular use, the estimated life span of Library of America Editions is 1000 years; un-used, they will last forever). Scrupulously edited and annotated by Harrison Hayford. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Volume Three of The Collected Works of Herman Melville: "Pierre, or The Ambiguities", "Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile", "The Piazza Tales", "The Confidence Man: His Masquerade", "Uncollected Prose", and "Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative) ". The rare First Uncorrected State, released on March 1, 1985, with a full-page Letter laid-in, calling attention to, and profusely apologizing for, the fact that the author's name is misspelled on the title page as "MEVILLE", a letter L missing in the bold title. The Letter goes on to say that copies of the First Edition that remain in LOA's possession - actually, almost ALL of them - will be corrected, but that this will take twelve weeks to accomplish. The Letter urges subscribers who got a copy with the egregious error to send it back in order to be replaced - with, in effect, the Corrected Second State. "You may, on the other hand, wish to keep the copy you now have. Many of you are Series collectors, and this original first printing with the uncorrected title page stands to be a rarity and a collector's piece someday" (Excerpt from Publisher's Letter). Apart from this "colossal typo" error, this is THE definitive collection of Melville's late, last works, which are, in the opinion on many critics and scholars, his greatest works, "Billy Budd, Sailor" in particular (and "Moby-Dick" notwithstanding). Plus: 17 re-discovered prose pieces are collected and appear in published form for the very first time. An absolute "must-have" title for Herman Melville collectors. This title is a great collection. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the First "Library of America" Slipcased Edition/First Printing/First Uncorrected State available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: The First Uncorrected State was released on March 1, 1985, with the publisher's full-page Letter laid-in, calling attention to, and profusely apologizing for, the fact that the author's name is misspelled on the title page as "MEVILLE", a letter L missing in the bold title. The Corrected Second State copies were issued twelve weeks later. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest writers of all time. A fine collectible copy. . ISBN 0940450240.

Stock number: 22302. ISBN: 0940450240

$US 200.00

Mendelsohn, Daniel
Waiting For The Barbarians: Essays From The Classics To Pop Culture

Imprint: New York City, NY, New York Review Of Books, 2012
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 425 pages. The author's second collection of critical essays. One of Daniel Mendelsohn's finest achievements. 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. "Autographed Copy" sticker pasted in front. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Daniel Mendelsohn's "Waiting For The Barbarians: Essays From The Classics To Pop Culture". His follow-up to his ground-breaking "How Beautiful It Is And How Easily It Can Be Broken" (2008). Written in effortless, impeccable prose with a paradoxical mix of wit and ardor. Mendelsohn knows how to come up with great, "summing-up" titles: "Waiting For The Barbarians" is ironic, referring to one of his specialties, Classical literature, and to its barbaric adaptations by modern sensibilities (such as, but not necessarily limited to, their grotesque Hollywood movie-spectacles). "Brings together twenty-four of his essays, each one glinting with verve and sparkle, acumen and passion, on a wide range of subjects, from 'Avatar' to the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, from our inexhaustible fascination with the 'Titanic' to Susan Sontag's 'Journals'. Trained as a Classicist, Mendelsohn moves easily from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Greek myth in the 'Spider-Man' musical, Anne Carson's translations of Sappho) to trenchant takes on pop spectacles, none more explosively controversial than his dissection of 'Mad Men' " (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Daniel Mendelsohn collectors. This Autographed Copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Daniel Mendelsohn. 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 National Book Critics Circle Award in 2007 for "The Lost". One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DANIEL MENDELSOHN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1590176073.

Stock number: 17572. ISBN: 1590176073

$US 50.00