Search Results: Authors starting with D from Ed Smith Books

Milwaukie (Oregon): M Press, 2008. First edition. softcover. A near fine copy. 4to. Inscribed by John Landis on the title page to Don Rickles and his wife Barbara: "For Don and Barbara / with love / and admiration / (signed) John." Also laid in is a John Landis notecard with this inscription: "Photos of / Don / on / pages 3, 153 / and 193." Provenance: The Estate of Don and Barbara Rickles. 325 pages with index perfect bound in illustrated wrappers as issued. With interviews and contributions from; Jim Abrahams, Forrest J Ackerman, Jack Arnold, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Baker, Elmer Bernstein, Gurinder Chadha, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Joe Dante, Guillermo del Toro, Alberto Farina, George Folsey, Christopher Frayling, Costa-Gavras, Amy Heckerling, Dave Kehr, B.B. King, Bill Krohn, John Landis, Jonathan Lynn, Aaron McGruder, Chris Miller, Deborah Nadoolman, Frank Oz, Sam Raimi, Harold Ramis, Robert K Weiss, David and Jerry Zucker. Illustrated. Landis, an American comedy filmmaker that… Read More

New York: Pantheon, 2006. First edition. Hardcover. A very well produced book bound in slick beautifully decorated boards with dust jacket and ribbon marker.A near fine copy in a very good plus jacket with a few scratches to the lamination. "Autographed For" sticker to front cover. Signed with the author's trademark "Z" in green ink opposite the copyright page. Dated, also in green ink, '7.1.06'. A finalist for the National Book Award in the year of publication. The story alternates between two different narratives: Sam and Hailey, and Hailey and Sam, wild and wayward teenagers who never grow old. With an evolving stable of cars, the teenagers move through various places and moments in time as they try to outrace history. Sam has one side of the book, flip the book end to end and Hailey's narrative is found (this is the side the signature is on).

New York: Flatiron Books, 2018. First edition, and First International edition. Hardcover. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Signed by the author on a tipped-in sheet. In a world dominated by the brutal Vathek Empire, 18-year old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation, of writing poetry, of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day she, too, will have adventure and travel beyond her isolated moon. But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects. 311 pages.

New York: Pathfinder, 2000. First edition. Hardcover. A very good to near fine copy in light tan cloth in a very good dust jacket. This book is not a "Che for Beginners." The legendary Argentine-born revolutionary, who helped lead the first socialist revolution in the Americas and initiate the renewal of Marxism in the 1960s, speaks as an equal with the youth of Cuba and the world. He never talks down. He sets an example as he urges young people to rise to the level of revolutionary activity and scientific thought necessary to confront and resolve the historic contradictions of capitalism that threaten humanity. 162 pages illustrated from photographs.

Garden City: Doubleday, 1969. First edition. Hardcover. Light vertical stain to gutters due to interaction with the paper and glue, but near fine cream cloth over boards in a nearly fine crisp jacket. A curious legend arose during the Dark Ages, as ancient civilizations were crumbling in the shadows of the past, which described the poet Vergil as an all-powerful sorcerer. In time strange tales transformed his life into fantasies of occult secrets and heroic deeds. The world he moved in became a tantalizing place where alchemy and magic held sway; where men walked in fear of troglodytes and manticores; and the Phoenix, reborn, rose up out of the flame. Such is the setting for this rearkable novel. A Doubleday Science Fiction selection.

New York: Viking Press, 1969. First edition. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. A label is affixed to the bottom of the front endpaper, information about the author's literary agency (The Sterling Lord Agency). "My real name," said Kent, remembering all the countless times he'd been held down and tortured by the big kids, all the oafish strangers at parties, all the dead looks in people's eyes, all the deliveries he had failed to receive, everyone demanding his name, "My real name," he repeated, "is Clark Kent." Hell-bent on Americanization Mrs. Kantavski had named her son Clark and changed his last name to Kent. In Brooklyn in 1937 this has not seemed like a bad idea; but when, a year later, the first Superman adventure appeared, the fate of the anti-hero of this hilarious picaresque was determined. Author's second novel. 247 pages.

New York: The Viking Press, 1968. Unrevised Proofs. Paperback. A very good copy with a few broken green plastic teeth of the plastic spiral binding at the bottom, no dust jacket, as issued. Author's first book. New York's East Village is a challenging arena for one's formative years and a fictional favorite for first novels. Anything goes. In this case it happens to 18-year-old Robert Probish. Refugee from bleak family life in Queens with vague artistic leanings. Robert is really unformed. And shapeless. His overly solicitous landlord Mr. Goldfarb almost turns him anti-Semitic; his hang-over friends from high school use his tenement pad for love-ins; a neighbor's boyfriend threatens to emasculate him; another neighbor, Stark, a gloomy artist from Nebraska, fascinates and antagonizes him. In these short weeks Probish's friends gas him with roach spray; send him out on a "mixed drink" trip (LSD and amphetamine); he is used by Stark to contact an old benefactor (an aging homosexual); and eventually… Read More

New York: Little Brown, 2013. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in dust jacket. By spending a year with the New York Jets, Nicholas Dawidoff entered a mysterious and private world with its own rituals and language. Equal parts Paper Lion, Moneyball, Friday Night Lights, and The Office, this absorbing, funny, and vivid narrative gets to the heart of a massive and stressful collective endeavor. Here is football in many faces: the polarizing, brilliant, and hilarious head coach; the general manager, whose job is to support (and suppress) the irrepressible coach; the defensive coaches and their in-house rivals, the offensive coaches; and of course the players. Wise safeties, brooding linebackers, high-strung cornerbacks, enthusiastic rookies, and a well-read nose tackle: they make up a strange and complex family. Dawidoff makes an emblematic NFL season come alive for fans and nonfans alike in a book about football that will forever change the way people watch and think about the sport. 485 pages with index. Read More

New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Long Galley (6 1/2 x 24 inches). Paperback. A very good copy with some wear to the first few pages, small folds at bottom of some pages due to the long length. An impressive allegory set in a spectral mid-19th century wilderness which exposes and refracts freedom, corruption and the loss of innocence. Led by Alabian Eustace, father of the dead Eily, a group of Scottish settlers from Alabama moves through 500 miles of frontier to capture and return to "justice" one Isaac, a half-wit boy accused of her murder. Isaac, who greets them with joy, is roped, beaten and tortured. Then the journey "homefree" takes on a dream dimension when, through the swamps, woods, quicksand, rivers and rain, they confront cruelty and horror, feeling the weight of evil both in the threatening land and in themselves. Patient animals die, an Indian woman is raped, a slave is flogged, a tribe of alligators advance: early-on the group passed a hill of neat and waiting graves. But for Toliver, the… Read More

New York: Pantheon, 1994. First American Edition, 1st Printing. Hardcover. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. The acclaimed story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history: "An exuberant mixture of history and romance, written with a wit that is incandescent" (Los Angeles Times Book Review). The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad. Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island's shores in the form of the conquering Italian army. Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic,… Read More

New York: Europa editions, 2009. First edition thus. Paperback. A fine, unread copy, with French flaps, that is crisp and clean. This edition, perfect bound in illustrated wrappers, was published in 2013. This is the advance reading copy, so stated on a band of red tape that wraps around the spine. Two sheet press release laid in. Translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar. Book three in the Commissario Ricciardi series. Naples 1931. Together with his indefatigable partner, Brigadier Maione, Ricciardi, a man driven into solitude by his paranormal "gift" of seeing the final seconds in the lives of victims of violent deaths—a talent that also makes him a highly effective investigator—is conducting an investigation into the death of the beautiful and mysterious Duchess of Camparino, whose connections to privileged Neapolitan social circles and the local fascist elite make the case a powder keg waiting to explode. 377 pages.

Tucson: De Graza Gallery in the Sun, 1973. First edition. Hardcover. Bound in red leatherette spine with cream colored boards, a fine copy in a near fine, price-clipped jacket. de Grazia, Ted. 4to. Signed and dated in the year of publication by the author, marked 1/1. Nearly 450 years ago, the Spanish conquistador, Cabeza de Vaca, traveled into what now is the southwestern United States. He lived for a time among the Indians there and learned to understand and love them. Here, gathered together are de Grazia's paintings of the de Vaca trek. Among them are oils, watercolors, black and white sketches, china, enamels, and bronzes. These works, when arranged in order, tell the entire story of de Vaca and his companions. 69 pages.

New York: Harper Collins, 1996. First edition. hardcover. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Signed and inscribed by Morris Dees on the front free endpaper and dated in the year of publication. Six months after the Oklahoma City Bombing, Dees warned the U.S. Attorney General that the fast-growing militia movement posed serious threats. Dees and his associates track the far-right paramilitary groups and their racist leaders since the early 1980s, sometimes using daring undercover operations. This book goes behind the scenes, beyond the friendly-looking militia leaders seen on TV talk shows, to explore secret paramilitary cells training deep in moutainous back country. 254 pages with index. Illustrated from photographs.

New York: Scribner's, 1997. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. First edition of the author's masterwork. Nominated for the National Book Award. "This book is an aria and a wolf whistle of our half-century. It contains multitudes."

Tucson: Denis McMillan, 2001. First edition. hardcover. A fine copy in dust jacket (still in shrink wrap) housed in the original publisher's slipcase. Michael Kellner. This is copy #70, in a limited edition of only 100 numbered copies signed by the author. Hard-drinking "trash" novelist Guido Tarkenen takes a position as a visiting writer in the English department of politically correct La Siberia Tech, where he is drawn into the fray as faculty members start to die amidst rumors of a buyout. Once again, our hats are off to Mr. McMillan who has produced another gem with great artwork (Michael Kellner), in a limited signed edition, hardcover, dust jacket, and slipcase. A wonderful production, as always.

New York: Atria, 2019. First edition. hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. This copy is signed and inscribed by Lonnie Rashid Lynn (born March 13, 1972), known by his stage name Common. The American rapper and actor opens up about his early days touching on God, self-love, partners, children, family and community. 215 pages illustrated from photographs. Many of us will never forget the song "Glory" he performed with John Legend from the film Glory, at the Academy Awards ceremony in 2015.

Tulsa: Council Oak Publishing, 1995. First edition. Hardcover. A near fine copy bound in green cloth (faint ink stamp to top corner of dark green front endpaper) in a near fine dust jacket. Small 4to.This copy stamped "Complimentary Copy" to the half-title page. When Carrie Dickerson first saw a newspaper headline about the electric company's plans to build a nuclear power plant near her home in Oklahoma, she knew little about nuclear reactors and less about the legal process through which they were built and operated. Here is Aunt Carrie's fascinating account of a nine-year battle in hearing rooms, the news media, and sometimes even the streets, to stop Black Fox's construction. Before it was over, this war would cost her and her husband Robert their entire savings, their nursing home, and almost the family farm. When the money ran out, she took up quilting to raise more. In telling her story for the first time, Carrie brings a message of hope. In her quiet way, she also issues a call for awareness… Read More

Garden City: Doubleday, 1976. First edition. Hardcover. A near fine copy bound in red cloth with gilt decorations in a near fine clean dust jacket. First edition. Oblong 8vo. In the first major poem of his career, James Dickey finds inspiration in the experiences of a real-life Dutch sailor Hendrik Marsman, who during a lifetime at sea was bedazzled by the constellations and possessed by the mysteries of the zodiac. On the verge of madness, he wrote bits of poetry, and it is from these fragments of Marsman's verse that Dickey has fashioned his most masterly work. As he writes in a forward to this volume: "This poem is based on another of the same title .... It is in no sense a translation, for the liberties I have taken with Marsman's original poem are such that the poem I publish here, with the exception of a few lines, is completely my own." 62 pages.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in black cloth and boards in a fine, unfaded dust jacket. A novel that is a precise and pitiless exploration of lives lived in the harsh glare of public scrutiny, written with that unique Didion gift of capturing a whole world of human feelings with a single word or phrase.

New York: Viking Press, 2019. First edition. Hardcover. A near fine copy, with a slight bump to top front corner in a near fine dust jacket. This copy is signed by DiFranco on a page tipped in after the front blank (signed sticker to the front of the dust jacket). In this, her memoir, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman's eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani's coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence--from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own… Read More