Autographs / Manuscripts from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Los Angeles, 1972. Ephemera. Very good. Two short typed letters, signed "Buk" to then budding novelist Jonathan Carroll (the Answered Prayers sequence and the Crane's View trilogy, among others) in December 1972. In the first letter Bukowski agrees to sign a book; in the second, he writes about the difficulties of writing. Letter one: "Dec. 6, 1972.… Read more about this item

Ephemera. Five notes from the Canadian author of The Handmaid's Tale and winner of two Booker Prizes addressed to an autograph collector in France. 1) 24 November 1987. "Grimm's fairytales had an influence on me. Otherwise I am an eclectic reader and work my way through a variety of books." Typeset letter, signed (TLS); probably output on… Read more about this item

London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1911. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A controversial novel at the time, about the affair of an author-politician who recants socialism and has an affair with a graduate student. The book was obviously based on Wells and his affair with the women's rights activist Amber Reeves. The novel also pokes fun at… Read more about this item

1980. Ephemera. Very good. A short, one-page letter to the owner of a bookstore agreeing to sign books, while preferring that the shop send bookplates instead. A nice letter documenting the famous and prolific author's generosity to his fans. About 75 words. Folded in half for mailing; dime-sized spot in the margin, not affecting any text.

1967. Ephemera. Near fine. The editor of the Nation responds to a reader who suggested articles on I. F. Stone and on the Sobel case (Morton Sobel was a Soviet spy during the Second World War; he was released from prison in 1969, two years after these letters were written). Both notes are on Nation letterhead; one… Read more about this item

1980. Ephemera. A wonderful one-page undated letter (probably 1980s) about drugs and art, from the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to the underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson. "Dear Essclay: Your Christmas owls looked so forlorn on our wall full of holiday splendor that I got high, empathised and took pity on the poor things.… Read more about this item

Stroud, Gloucester, England, 1969. Ephemera. Very good. A half-page typed letter addressed "Dear Robert" and signed "Wilbert Awdry" discussing Awdry's research in the archives of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway ("B'ham & Glos. Rly"). "The Birmingham (Working) Committee Minutes are fascinating, full of almost day to day incidents in the running of the railway, and plenty… Read more about this item

1952. Ephemera. Very good. A late stage carbon copy typescript, with handwritten corrections, of a crime novel published by Arcadia House in 1953. A comparison with this typescript and the published book offer interesting insights into Derleth's revision process. The novel features private detective Cyrus Flater. This carbon-copy typescript (with a ribbon-copy title sheet and page of… Read more about this item

London: Jonathan Cape, 1952. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The memoirs of a very active naval officer, engineer, and politician. During his eventful life, the Duke of Montrose was the first person to film a solar eclipse and he invented the aircraft carrier. Like many people who live enventful lives he devotes as much space the events… Read more about this item

Murrell's Inlet, SC, 1961. Ephemera. Near fine. The hardboiled author of the Mike Hammer novels writes to his friend, the reporter and TV journalist Hy Gardner about his father's health problems and rumors of the mob working with Fidel Castro to smuggle drugs into the US. "Word in from sources south has come up with a cutie...… Read more about this item

1994. Ephemera. Very good. Leviathan '99 was the working title for Ray Bradbury's effort to adapt Moby-Dick for the space age. He spent four decades on the project, translating his ideas into different genres, beginning with a radio play in 1968 and ending with a novella in 2007. He also wrote stage play and opera versions, as well… Read more about this item

Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1998. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. A substantial survey of Sze's poems. 267 pages. First edition (first printing). Part of front cover faded, else near fine. This copy is inscribed by the author: "For Bryce, in friendship & with very best wishes-Arthur Sze [Chinese characters] 6/12/98." With two typed letters, signed,… Read more about this item

London, 1984. Ephemera. Very good. A news-filled letter to the horror writer J. N. "Jerry" Williamson, declining participation in his forthcoming New Masters anthology, but offering to write a story for the second volume: "I have a fund of tales simmering in my brain-pan, awaiting the time and opportunity to become print." (It is not clear if New… Read more about this item

(N.-pl.): Adam Low, 1983. Ephemera. Very good. Two versions of the teleplay for a half-hour BBC documentary about P.D. James's use of place in her fiction, both with manuscript changes and both differing from the program that eventually aired. These scripts, written and edited by James, are significantly longer than the final program and offer insight into James'… Read more about this item

Dallas: Harlan Crow Library, 2010. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. With an annotated checklist of 250 books, pamphlets, and broadsides acquired from 2003 to 2009, or, white men explain American history. With 80 full-page color illustrations. One of 1000 letterpress copies. First edition (first printing). A fine hardcover copy; no jacket, as issued.

Eureka, CA, 1925. Eleanor, a teacher, writes to Harry, a friend or possibly a relative. She writes about planned trips to San Francisco for shopping and about her parents. Then she starts complaining about Eureka: "Eureka is on the fritz. The lumber industry is nil & Humboldt is dead-Eureka looks deserted & forlorn. It has a pathetic… Read more about this item

Two pages (single sheet). 8 by 10 inches, on ruled paper. A nice California business letter. This letter details a number of speculative business ventures in Southern California, and the writer and the recipient appear to be partners in a number of investments. There is a lengthy discussion of the purchase of wine at half price from L.… Read more about this item

Trade paperback. Fine. Barrett's Interstate Dreams is a comic novel set in Austin, Texas, published in 1999 by Mojo Press. "Interstate Dreams (1999) - set like most of his best work in his native Texas - is a gritty, eyes-open fantasy about the condition of America at the end of its century."--Encylopedia of Science Fiction. This group… Read more about this item

Shingletown, CA: Mark V. Ziesing Books, 1991. This novel, set in Texas, focuses "on the churning psyche of a middle-aged man in crisis [and] turns into a sharp and garish parody of a sentimentalized small-town past over which it is easy, but dangerous, to pine."--Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. The book came out shortly after Through Darkest America, which after… Read more about this item

Buenos Aires: (the author), 1934. First Edition. Trade Paperback. Near Fine. 147 pages. First book by this Argentinean novelist. First edition (first printing). A near fine copy in wrappers (paperback). Inscribed by the author to Spanish scholar Ramon Martinez Lopez, with an autograph letter signed by Imbert to Martinez enclosing the book.