20th Century Literature

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935 First printing of the first edition, first state with pages 349-352 uncancelled and the text unrevised on pages 350 and 351.

One of only 5,100 copies printed.

Original dark bluish green cloth linen-grain cloth with blind single-rule border on front cover and with spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Pages 350.5-7 reads: 'he need not base himself on the adding machine-calculating machine-probability machine-St. Francis of Assis machine any longer.' And at 351.29-30 the text reads: '"Oh, catch it-oh, catch it and take it-oh, catch it," she sighed.'

In the original dust jacket by Doris Spiegel, with drawings of figures from the stories against an orange background on the front panel, $2.50 price on the front and rear flap. Light bump to bottom, back spine, light tanning to end papers, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with some age-toning and offsetting to spine and back cover, with professional conservation, primarily to edges… Read More

Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1951. First Edition (stated) 1st Printing. Black Cloth. Near Fine Book/Fine Dustjacket. 8 1/8" Tall. Stated First Edition, 8 1/8" Tall (Taller Than Some Other Copies Stating "First Edition"), 1 5/16" Thick (Thicker Than Some Other Copies Stating "First Edition"). The Book Is Tight And Clean, No Marks, Without Marks Or Damage, Just A Tiny Point Of Fraying Of Cloth At Each Of The Two Lower Tips, A Little Wear/Dulling To The Spine Gilt And A Little Rubbing/Bumping To The Ends Of The Spine. Dust Jacket With The Portrait Of Salinger On The Rear Panel, And With The $3.00 Price On The Front Flap, Second State With Slight Space Between Top Of Head And Top Of Dust Jacket (Apparently The First Issues Of The "First Edition" Were Slightly Shorter And With Cropping Of Salinger's Head In The Photograph On The Dj). The Dust Jacket Is Spectacular, No Chipping Or Tears, Without Restoration Or Cleaning Of Any Kind: No Fading To… Read More

NY, Robert O. Ballou, 1933, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover.. First issue of his third book, one of only 598 copies actually bound and sold, Goldstone & Payne A3a, Morrow 22, endpapers, title page vignette, and dust jacket illustrated by Mahlon Blaine, this book is Steinbeck at his most powerful and his most mystical. Black top edge stain still very black, book cloth somewhat mottled, jacket with one short tear, this is a very pleasing and attractive copy of a very scarce book.

NY: J. B. Lippincott, 1960. Book Club Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. This classic book is ***SIGNED & INSCRIBED*** by the author on the ffep (front free end paper): " To Jane Kansas with best wishes, Harper Lee." In addition this book contains a ***RARE & UNIQUE SIGNATURE*** of her sister Alice Lee, found on the dedication page. This is the 1960 J.P. Lippincott First Book Club Edition with a FIRST STATE Book Club Dust Jacket: The Truman Capote quote is located on the inside front, the Jonathan Daniels quote is on the rear inside cover, and Capote's photo of Lee is on the back cover. Condition: In NearFiine/VeryGood+ condition, The Hardback has the black board and yellow top stain with the merest of edge and corner wear. The Dust Jacket has very minor corner and spine end edge wear as well. **BONUS**: Receive the 2010 Harper First Edition/First Printing of "Scout, Atticus & Boo" by Mary McDonagh Murphy & **SIGNED** by the… Read More

NY, Harper & Row, 1986, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. Signed by Hillerman, a Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee (their first pairing) mystery set in Shiprock and the nearby Navajo reservation, Hieb bibliography A9a, this copy with 22 original drawings by Navajo artist Ernest Franklin, 19 of which are in color, very scarce thus, with slipcase. Fine.

NY, Harper & Row, 1982, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. His second Jim Chee mystery, this one set in the eastern Hopi and adjacent Navajo reservations, this copy Signed by Hillerman, Hieb bibliography A7a, Hillerman thought this was his best plot, this copy includes a phenomenal 23 original color illustrations by Navajo artist Ernest Franklin depicting many plot elements and at least two of Jim Chee, very scarce thus, with slipcase. Faint erasure of pencil notation on the front free endpaper, else fine.

New York: Robert O. Ballou, 1933. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition, first issue. Signed by Mahlon Blaine, whose illustrations appear on the the dust jacket, endsheets and title page. Bound in publisher's green cloth with spine lettered in gilt. Near Fine. Cloth lightly sunned through jacket at spine, and along top and bottom edges. Pages toned. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light wear at the spine ends, and a short closed tear along the top edge of the front panel with some faint associated creasing. A lovely copy, signed by the illustrator. In the early '20s, Blaine met a young John Steinbeck on the Panama Canal, and the two quickly became friends. Blaine would go on illustrate the dust jacket and endsheets for Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, as well as for this title. Goldstone & Payne, A3a.

New York: Viking Press, 1939 First printing/first issue of the first edition; original beige cloth boards, in original first issue dust jacket. Book with mild toning primarily near gutters of the illustrated endpapers and faint rubbing to bottom boards, else in fine condition; dust jacket with a closed tear and diagonal crease to bottom front cover, soft diagonal crease to upper back flap, mild edge wear and shallow creasing, light paper loss to ends and corners, faint toning to spine, a few surface scratches to covers, and light rubbing, else fine. A well preserved collectible.

First American edition, first state with a bowing hobbit on the title page, and Chapter VII mistakenly titled Chapter VI. Bound in publisher's original buff cloth (slight staining) stamped in blue and red; lacking the dust jacket. Good + with light foxing to cloth and loosening on the interior spine, corners rubbed; former owner labels. More photos available upon request.

First edition with the words 'First Published 1938' printed on the copyright page. The book is in great shape with one small cut on the spine as shown in photos. More photos available upon request.

New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973 First printing of the stated first edition. Presentation copy (signed and dated in year of publication on the half-title page) to famed civil rights lawyer and activist, Jack Greenberg (1924–2016): "For Jack Greenberg / long in the / Storm. / Sincerely, / Alice Walker / 2-26-73." Provenance: the personal copy of Jack Greenberg, consigned by his adopted son William Cole.
Light rubbing to edge of boards, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with light toning to cover margins, light wear to spine ends, and light shelf wear.

Jack Greenberg was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Thurgood Marshall.

Greenberg represented Martin Luther King Jr., but was best known for his role in litigating Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case in which the high court rejected “separate but equal” public schools for blacks and… Read More

London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. First edition, first printing with "First published 1949" on copyright page. Octavo. First edition rebound in modern red morocco with skull buttons and "Winston Smith" lettered in white to left breast with on-laid fake eye to chest with blind-stamped lines; title and name lettered in white on spine; front and rear free endpapers and pastedowns replaced with collage of Orwell's eyes, including a secret "trapdoor" on front pastedown disclosing a picture of the Queen of England; minor toning to certain leaves, including title page (as pictured). Brilliant first edition in remarkable custom binding.. First edition of George Orwell's (1903-1950) classic dystopian novel that has captured the imagination and fears of readers, critics, and social observers ever since its publication in 1949. Orwell's ninth and final book, written and published in the closing years of his life, Nineteen Eighty-Four provides a gripping and prophetic meditation on the twentieth century's… Read More

New York and London: The Village Press, Mitchell Kennerley, 1911. First Edition. First Edition. Folio. Original beige cloth backed light maroon paper covered boards with central bold gilt lettering on cover, printed paper label on spine. A wonderful Association Copy: Mitchell Kennerley's Own Copy of this celebrated book which he published and helped design, and laid in is a PROOF of a floriated border used as the first headpiece in the book (the bears pencil notation denoted number, and sizing, etc). As well, Kennerley's copy also has laid in a holograph note he wrote describing the book: "Frederick W. Goudy/ composition by Bertha Goudy at the Village Press, Kennerley Type specifically designed for this volume by Frederic W. Goudy (see Cary bibliography of The Village Press." The TRUE FIRST EDITION, complete with 10 exquisite photogravures from plates prepared by the artist and printed under his personal supervision. Printed by Bertha S. Goudy of the Village Press, NY with "Kennerley" type designed… Read More

New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers / A Story Press Book, 1938 Presentation copy from Richard Wright to Ernest Hemingway: "To Ernest Hemingway / From / Richard Wright." Stated second edition in married original dust jacket, first published with four novellas; two more were added when the book was reprinted in 1940. In Down by the Riverside, included in this collection, Wright transposes the Italian retreat at the Battle of Caporetto in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms to the American South. Richard Wright was known to be a great admirer of Ernest Hemingway, whom he once named as a modernist writer whose work should be read by aspiring black authors (Scruggs, Hemingway and the Black Renaissance, 58–59). Mild toning to margins of endpapers, light toning to page margins, spine ends gently crimped, and a light pale stain to bottom front cover, foot of spine, and just an inch to bottom back spine fold, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with professional restoration to extremities, mild… Read More

New York: Random House, 1937. To Nathalie [sic], who does not have to go out to come in, and is in - Gertrude"The recipient of this extremely Stein-y inscription is Natalie Clifford Barney, the energetic lesbian expat poet, patron dame of the Lost Generation and founder of the Women's Academy (in response to the Paris based Men's Academy). She was famous for her salons, held at her home in Paris on Rue Jacob, and frequented by the glittering nobility of the Modernist movement including, at various points, Andre Gide, Pierre Louys, Sinclair Lewis, Rilke, Louis Aragon, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the doomed but talented Harry and Caresse Crosby, not to mention the regular visits from Peggy Guggenheim, and Sylvia Beach, founder of the English bookshop in Paris, Shakespeare and Company. Barney was instrumental in the translation of passages from Stein's The Making of Americans, and Stein seems to have attended the salons on at least a couple of occasions; her partner Alice B. Toklas became a regular… Read More