Literature. Film. Art. Crime. Culture.

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[SOLD] Man...I miss this one. Such a beautiful cover.

Hemingway, Ernest (stories); Damianakes, Cleonike (cover art). IN OUR TIME: STORIES. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930. First Revised (Second American) Edition.

The author's second book and first collection of short fiction. The present edition bears an introduction by Edmund Wilson and a 4-page introduction by the author not present in the previous editions. Hemingway also revised the text of "A Very Short Story," changing the setting from Milan to Padua and the girl's name from Ag to Luz. Hanneman A3b.

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New Arrivals: Plath, Sylvia. FIVE EARLY APPEARANCES IN SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE - 1950-1953.

After receiving 50 rejection slips from an assortment of publications before a single piece of her creative writing was accepted, Plath was informed during her final term in high school that Seventeen would publish her story "And Summer Will Not Come Again" in their August, 1950 issue. The magazine would be the first mainstream publication where Plath's poetry and short fiction would be exposed, printing her work on eight occasions between 1950-1953. 

Her contributions in the present group include "Ode to a Bitten Plum," "a short, Keats-inspired poem in which the narrator, contemplating a plum, decides its seed represents more abstract concepts like time and eternity" (November 1950, p.104); "Den of Lions," a story based on her failed love affair with a boyfriend while attending Smith College (May 1951, p.127, 144-145); "It's All Yours" (story, October 1952, p.76, 100-104); "The Suitcases Are Packed Again" (poem, March 1953, p.91); and "Carnival Nocturne" (poem, April 1953, p.127). An attractive and uncommon group of early appearances.

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[SOLD] [ARTIST'S BOOKS] Pettibon, Raymond and Nelson Tarpenny. SUPER SESSION TEN. N.p.: STP Pubs., 1992. First Edition. One of 100 numbered copies, this being copy no.88. Slim octavo (21.5cm); illustrated stapled wrappers, consisting of white and beige xeroxed and offset printed sheets; [32]pp; illus. Fine copy.

Scarce collaborative work between Pettibon and his nephew Nelson Tarpenny, containing song lyrics and poetry, and illustrations throughout.

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New Arrivals: [ART - EXHIBITION CATALOGS]. 186,000 MILES PER SECOND: AN EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY LIGHT SCULPTURE. Akron, OH: Ohio Edison Company, 1969. First Edition. Illustrated silkscreened card folder (measuring 8" x 8") housing seven leaves of text, including introductory matter, a list of works in the exhibition, and artist bios for Allan Erdman, Edward Jankowski, and Charles Waldeck. Accompanied by a 7-inch 16 r.p.m. record titled "Sound By Light," recording sound generated by the light sculptures of Charles Waldeck. Inner sleeve houses a plastic sheet containing nine color slides depicting images of the works. Mild wear to sleeve extremities, with a strip of unnecessary clear tape reinforcement along right edge of rear cover; contents Fine, with record showing good surface gloss and little evidence of being played.

Scarce multi-media document of this little-known light art exhibition, held at the Akron Art Institute between Jan.3-Feb.8, 1969. 

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New Arrivals: King, Linda & Geraldine (editors). PURR - ISSUE NOS.1-3. Los Angeles: Purring Press, 1975. 

First three (of five) issues of this mimeographed poetry magazine edited by Linda King. King is a poet, playwright, and sculptor who during the early 1970's was involved in an "on again, off again" relationship with L.A. poet Charles Bukowski. PURR was primarily a vehicle for her poetry and that of other female poets from the western states, with contributions by Joan Smith, Ann Reynolds, Ann Menebroker, Nila Northsun, Margie Griffin, and Joyce Odam, et al. The first three issues were published during the last year of her tumultuous relationship, and contain poems by Bukowski and other poets in his circle: Al Masarik, Gerald Locklin, Steve Richmond, Judson Crews, and others. 

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I’ve never managed to have them all at the same time, but I’ve finally gotten a chance to handle every single issue. Ladies and gentlemen, behold: all of WHITE STUFF (Nos.1-8), Sandy Robertson’s terrific Patti Smith fanzine published in London between 1977-78. 

You can’t see it and not love it.

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New Arrivals: First Edition of BELIEF & TECHNIQUE FOR MODERN PROSE (ca.1976) by Jack Kerouac.

Elusive chapbook reproducing Kerouac's 30 "essentials" regarding his Spontaneous Prose method, first published in the Spring, 1959 issue of Evergreen Review (Charters C44). Produced by The Cloud House, a live-work space for poets in San Francisco's Mission District, run by Steven "Kush" Kushner and his wife Hedy. Though the list made two additional appearances in print after Evergreen Review (A Casebook on the Beat, 1961; New American Story, 1965), the Cloud House imprint marks the probable first separate edition, likely published around the time of the identically-titled broadside printed by the Phoenix Book Shop for Santa Cruz High School (1976). Scarce.

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New Arrivals: Part of a near-complete run of SLASH, L.A’s first punk fanzine.

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New stuff sitting on my desk, waiting to be cataloged. There’s a whole lot going on here...

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New Arrivals: First Edition of SECOND-HAND NUDE (1959), by Bruno Fischer. An unread copy.

Late novel by this hard-boiled author, involving the tabloid murder of a third-rate actress. Can’t make out the artist’s signature along the right leg of the chair, but it looks like the work of Robert McGinnis.

I mean, come one...that hair? those lips? Tell me true, Internet - is this a McGinnis girl or not?

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New Arrivals: First American Edition of NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR (1949), by George Orwell. The first printing was only 20,000 copies. About as sharp a copy as I've ever seen.

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New Arrivals: "Autograph Special Edition" of LEAVES OF GRASS, WITH SANDS AT SEVENTY & A BACKWARD GLANCE O'ER TRAVEL'D ROADS (1889), by Walt Whitman. One of 300 copies signed by Whitman on the title page. This copy additionally inscribed by Whitman's friend and biographer Richard Maurice Bucke to one Mrs. Burt (possibly Mrs. Edwin Burt) on the first blank: "Mrs. Burt / from her friend R.M. Bucke / Asylum / London - Ont. 20 May 1898." Accompanied by a period removable linen book cover, hand and machine-stitched, with front cover decorated by hand with tall grass and wildflowers, and titles lettered by hand to match that of the book's cover stamping. 

Handsome edition of Whitman's most enduring work, published to coincide with the author's 70th birthday. The original price was the extravagant sum of $5, which explains the lengths a previous owner went through to protect the book. A charming and decorative copy.

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New Arrivals: First American Edition of Tolkien's THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (1954). In the correct first printing dust jacket with the fold-out map of Middle Earth intact.

First volume of what is likely the most significant trilogy of books written in the last century. The first printing in the US was bound from British sheets, only 1,500 copies. A harder book than you might expect in the correct dust jacket, as points changed between the first 10 or so printings, and people are overly-fond of swapping dust jackets from later printings onto first printing books.

Tsk tsk...

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New Arrivals: First Edition of THE RASTA COOK BOOK: VITAL VEGETARIAN RASTA-FAR-I (1979), by Alex Maccabeus. 

Attractive copy of this rastafarian cookbook, available by mail order only through the Vancouver-based Naturo Products. "This book is adapted for those outside Jamaica where the wealth of tropical foods are not easily available. Still yet by following these simple recipes that I-Tal Caribbean flavor can be had in any part of the world." In addition to 35 vegetarian recipes, the volume is full of rastafarian proverbs, Biblical quotes, and biographical featurettes on Haile Selassie I and Marcus Garvey. Heavily illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings and rastafarian symbols.

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[SOLD] Seiffer, Samuel and d.a. levy (editors). CONGRESS / 3. New York: Samuel Seiffer, 1967. First Edition. Quarto; mimeographed sheets stapled into illustrated card covers; 44pp, [2]. Mild dust-soil along left edge of front cover, oxidation to staples; Near Fine.

Third issue of this short-lived mimeo poetry magazine - a special issue highlighting the work of Cleveland poets, selected and edited by d.a. levy. Contributions by levy (three poems), Kent Taylor, t.l. kryss, Matt Shulman and others. In his introduction to the issue, Seiffer unashamedly expresses his displeasure with the quality of the writing selected, but "rather than condemn either d.a. levy or any individual poet I think it is enough to say that there are places where I might have done something differently." Cover photograph taken at a BE-IN at the lagoon in front of the Cleveland Art Museum. 

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[SOLD] First Edition of NORTH AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DEAD (1965), by d.a. levy. Published in Cleveland by Free Lance Press. 

Maybe levy’s most important solo work, little-known to non-enthusiasts and a title that’s developed its own mythos over time. The first edition, somehow, was missed by levy’s bibliographers, Taylor & Horvath, though the second edition is noted. Limitation unstated, but we suspect it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 copies - consistent to other works he published during the same period. This copy with small holograph corrections throughout, and after checking scans of levy’s own copy digitized by the Cleveland Memory Project, the corrections appear to be in his hand. Displeased with the text, it was corrected and expanded for the second edition. "To anyone unfortunate enuf to purchase parts 1&2, they will notice the 72 million revisions...this poem is nmot in its final form & is subject to infinite castrations & plastic surgery - perhaps a new nose for part III - a circumcism for part IV - a little shuffling - a spontaneous burning. this edition is limited to 210 copies for friends & editors i want to confuse...a few copies will be on sale at The Asphodel Book Shop" (The Buddhist Third Class Junkmail Oracle: The Selected Poetry & Art of D.A. Levy, p.154).

This was Israel “Izzy” Young’s copy, former owner of the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village. I’ve seen one other copy in the last 10 years.

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New Arrivals: First Edition of THE BATTLEFIELD WHERE THE MOON SAYS I LOVE YOU (1977), by Frank Stanford. 

An apparently unread copy of Stanford's 15,283-line epic poem, the last of his books published prior to taking his own life in 1978. A significant portion of the original print run was destroyed in a basement flood, and it would be nearly 14 years after publication before the book would go entirely out of print. Over time the book has developed its own mystique, with copies being passed from hand-to-hand, and marathon readings taking place on college campuses. The front cover reproduces a wire photograph of corpses and grieving women, taken at Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon, on the last day of the Vietnam War, which was replaced for the recent reissue by Lost Roads Publisher's (2000).