Search Results: Authors starting with R from ReadInk

New York: Fawcett Publications (Gold Medal 594). Very Good+. 1956. 1st Edition (pbo). Softcover. [nice tight copy, light wear along spine, a bit of creasing along left edge of front cover, tiny bump to upper right corner of front cover]. Mass Market PB "Pander wore dark glasses and fancy suspenders and he moved into the San Pietro rackets like a sandblaster gone berserk. Fell, the boss, was mysteriously away and Pander grabbed the chance to bury his hands in the heavy money. Then Fell came back. At his side was Cripp, the human adding machine with the beautiful face and the twisted leg. With them came murder -- wholesale." .

London: ITV Books/Arrow. Very Good. 1978. First Edition. Softcover. [modest edgewear all around, small surface-scrape damage to rear cover, previous owner's name plus date & circumstances of purchase in ink on first inside page]. Mass Market PB Ten mystery stories (with solutions in the back of the book) that "closely follow the format of ITV's long-running series." The show was kind of a mystery variant of "What's My Line?", and involved a panel observing the enactment of a short murder-mystery drama, then acting as a sort of investigative jury that tried to determine the murderer. For most of its 1972-1978 run the show was hosted by Jon Pertwee, who has provided an introduction to this tie-in book and is pictured on its front cover. After the show ended its run, an American version was aired on NBC in the spring of 1979, but the ratings were so bad that it was yanked off the air after just a few weeks. .

Ventura CA: Vision House. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dj. (c.1983). First Edition. [nice tight copy with no significant wear, one-time owner's name in red ink at upper left corner of front endpaper, a single sentence in the Foreword underlined in green ink, a touch of age-toning to edges of text block; the jacket is lightly rubbed with just minor wear and a couple of tiny tears along the top edge, a couple more short closed tears and an associated horizontal crease at the bottom of the rear panel, and a bit of wear at the spine ends]. (B&W photographs) The first McQueen book to appear after the actor's death in 1980, this religiously-inflected book tells "with complete candor the incredible story of the last year of McQueen's life, starting in 1979 with his escape from the fast-paced, artificial Hollywood scene to start a new, simpler life among the people and surroundings he loved, through his long and courageous bout against cancer." The author, by his account,… Read More

Metuchen NJ/London: The Scarecrow Press. Near Fine. 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. 081082132X . (no dust jacket, as issued) [minor wear to top/bottom edges]. (B&W photographs) Includes not only new material, updating this indispensible genre filmography through 1989, but also additions/corrections to the previous volume. ***NOTE: Additional shipping charges for this heavy book may apply for non-U.S. customers, or for Priority Mail shipping within the U.S.; if this causes you concern, please inquire before placing your order.*** .

Culver City CA: Murray & Gee, Inc.. Near Fine in Very Good dj. 1948. First Edition. Hardcover. [minor shelfwear only, a nice clean copy; jacket shows a little edgewear, tiny chip at bottom front panel, another a top front hinge, minor dampstain at lower right corner of rear panel]. Suspense tale about two brothers who rob a train in broad daylight, killing seven men in the process, and of the railroad special agent who leads the manhunt for them. The author wrote extensively for the movies from the 1930s through the 1950s (mostly Westerns and "B" crime films), and also for radio and later television. .

New York: The Macaulay Company. Fair. (c.1936). First Edition. Hardcover. NOISBN . (no dust jacket) [ex-rental library book, well-worn all around, rear hinge cracked and front hinge weak; jacket flaps glued to pastedowns, vintage price sticker (from "Johnson's Bookstore," location unknown) on ffep; a previous owner/critic has pencilled an evaluation on the ffep, deeming it a "rather ribald mystery - not especially timeless but quick and lively"]. Murder mystery which introduced the character of Tony Woolrich, a drama critic and amateur sleuth, who here solves a string of murders committed by a homicidal maniac in various costumed guises (Napoleon, Nero and Captain Kidd). Co-author Raison certainly knew the theatrical milieu, having served as a publicity agent for several Broadway producers in the 1920s and early 1930s, before heading West and eventually settling into a prolific but fairly undistinguished career as a screenwriter, toiling exclusively on… Read More

Hollywood CA: Murray & Gee, Inc.. Good in Poor dj. 1946. First Edition. Hardcover. [book shows shelfwear, ffep torn out, minor soiling to top edge, some fraying to cloth at extremities, a couple of bent page corners; jacket is well-worn at all edges, a couple of surface-peeled patches, front flap detached (held in place by Brodart cover)]. The author's third (I think) mystery novel featuring drama critic-detective Tony Woolrich, this one set on the south shore of Long Island. .

New York: Atheneum. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. 1962 (c.1961). First American Edition. Hardcover. [minor shelfwear, slight fading to boards at bottom edge, spine just a bit turned; jacket a bit soiled, minor edgewear, tiny ink stain at top edge of front panel]. "A hilarious and sharply satirical novel about India today. Nalini returns from America where she has spent three enlightening years at Columbia. She has chosen to come back to the perils of Mudalur, a remote and featureless village which her father has selected for his summer residence for reasons which rang from chaotic benevolence to a misjudged expectation of self-aggrandizement. Nalini skims across the mud to find the bizarre ramparts of her father's villa, Hillview, the scene of a reluctant house-party of suitors, brought to this outpost of lunacy in response to an advertisement offering Nalini in marriage." .

New York: NBM (Nantier-Beall-Minoustchine Publishing Inc.). Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. (c.2002). First Edition. Hardcover. 1561633259 . [a touch of wear at base of spine, otherwise tight and clean; jacket shows a bit of scuffing, one tiny closed tear at bottom front hinge]. (cartoon drawings, B&W photographs, endpaper maps) INSCRIBED ("For ____ - with best regards") and SIGNED by the author on the title page; he has also drawn a small head-portrait (presumably of himself) to the left of his very stylized signature. The prize-winning cartoonist/columnist's look at the country and people of Afghanistan in the early days of the U.S. war against the Taliban. "At a time of unquestioning flag-waving, Rall went with hard questions and came back with some disturbing answers." (And a decade later, I suspect the questions would be just as hard, and the answers no more satisfactory or less disturbing.) Introduction by Bill Maher. Signed by Author .

New York: Quigley Publishing Company. Very Good+. (c.1944). (16th Annual). Hardcover. (no dust jacket, as issued) [good sound copy with firm binding (often not the case with these heavy volumes), light external wear but much cleaner that usually seen with this series, despite some minor staining at the top corner of the rear cover]. (B&W photographs, advertisements) Biographies, directories, statistics, surveys, etc., focusing primarily on the American film industry but justifying its "International" titling by including sections on the British and Latin American film markets. This was, of course, during the war, so the disruption to the formerly-lucrative European market was, shall we say, rather seriously disrupted; as publisher Martin Quigley puts it in his introductory note, the volume records the extent to which "the motion picture is earnestly, effectively engaged in serving both its audiences with entertainment of a high order and high importance in these days of… Read More

New York: Quigley Publishing Company. Good. (c.1943). (15th Annual). Hardcover. (no dust jacket, as issued) [good solid copy with firm binding (often not the case with these heavy volumes) and just light shelfwear, although unfortunately blemished by rips in spine covering at top front hinge (about 2") and top rear hinge (about 1")]. (B&W photographs, advertisements) Biographies, directories, statistics, surveys, etc., focusing primarily on the American film industry but justifying its "International" titling by including sections on the British and Latin American film markets. This was, of course, during the war, so the disruption to the formerly-lucrative European market was, shall we say, rather seriously disrupted; as publisher Martin Quigley puts it in his introductory note, the volume records "the status and affairs and people of this great industry as it functions amid the travails and disorders of war round the world," yet attesting that… Read More

New York: Quigley Publishing Company. Good. (c.1945). (17th Annual). Hardcover. (no dust jacket, as issued) [front hinge cracked (not untypical with these heavy volumes), small scrape along edge of rear cover (with about 1-inch exposure of board), bumping/slight fraying at a couple of corners, a little staining on the front cover; all in all still a decent reference/research copy] (B&W photographs, advertisements) Biographies, directories, statistics, surveys, etc., focusing primarily on the American film industry but justifying its "International" titling by including sections on the British and Latin American film markets. This volume was the last issued during World War II, which of course caused great disruption to the international film marketplace; as publisher Martin Quigley puts it in his introductory note, it was "the greatest period of social, political and industrial readjustment in all history." The sections of the book are: Who's Who (comprising a… Read More

New York: Quigley Publishing Company. Very Good-. (c.1938). (10th Annual). Hardcover. (no dust jacket, as issued) [good solid copy with intact binding (often not the case with these heavy volumes), but with some edgewear to covers (including exposure of the boards at several spots)]. (B&W photographs, advertisements) Biographies, directories, statistics, surveys, etc., focusing primarily on the American film industry but also devoting quite a bit of space to the international marketplace. Sections: Who's Who (brief biographies and credits of thousands of individuals, which takes up 772 of the book's 1,250 pages); Corporate Structure & Financial Statements: Motion Picture Production Organizations; Distribution; Exhibition; Managers' Round Table: British Film Market; Foreign Film Market; Production: List of Product (films arranged by producing company); Distribution; Exhibition; Operation (incorporating Managers Round Table); The British Film Market; The Foreign Film… Read More

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. Near Fine in Very Good dj. (c.1967). First Edition. Hardcover. NOISBN . [very clean book, slight bump to base of spine, no other significant wear; jacket lightly worn at edges and extremities, small closed tears at top of front panel and at top front foldover]. (B&W photographs) "An appreciation of Agatha Christie as a novelist and short story writer and a discussion of the unique techniques which account in a large part for her fabulously successful career. Chapters deal with the mystery story as a form, mystery writers as social historians, devices of the profession, the careers of Agatha Christie and her two detectives, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Appendices include all Christie titles alphabetized, full-length novels and short story collections alphabetized, books and stories made into plays and films, and similar bibliographical information." .

New York: L. A. Weekly for St. Martin's Press. Fine in Near Fine dj. 2001. First Edition. Hardcover. [nice tight copy with no discernible wear; jacket shows just a touch of wrinkling along the top edge]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the title page. The author's first novel, a "scathing, hysterical, drop-dead-accurate portrayal of contempo L.A. [in which the author] lays bare the pretensions, rituals, and peculiar air-conditioned dementia of life in the City of Angels" (per jacket blurb by Jerry Stahl). Signed by Author .

New York: Columbia University Press. Very Good+ in Fair dj. 1952 (c.1951). 3rd printing. Hardcover. (price-clipped) [minor wear and slight discoloration to cloth at spine ends, otherwise a good solid clean book; jacket is heavily browned at edges and along spine, scuffed on front panel, large ragged piece missing from top of spine, much smaller piece missing from base of spine, several clumsily-executed internal tape-repairs]. (pen and ink drawings) One of the harder-to-find books by Randolph, described in the jacket blurb as "probably the best known collector of authentic Ozark folklore." The book brings together hundreds of tales from a wide variety of sources: many "were contributed by elderly folk in the more isolated sections of the Ozarks, [while] some have been printed in the country weeklies, and a few find their way into the metropolitan press. Some of the wildest absurdities are exaggerated accounts of the narrator's own adventures, or the exploits of men… Read More

New York: The Macmillan Company. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. (c.1965). First Edition. Hardcover. (price-clipped) [slight bump to bottom front corner, no other significant wear to book; the jacket has a couple of tiny edge-nicks, and a faint faded area at top of front panel]. (pen and ink drawings) Novel set in a small town in South India during World War II, "a gentle, almost teasing fable, plain-spoken and humorous. Descriptions of daily concerns are compassionate and evocative. The raw texture of Indian life is woven into the tale of two friends whose own lives have the simplicity of joy and the unaffected universality of Shakespeare, whom India has wisely made her own." (The cat, by the way, is a "magical cat.") .

Westport CT/London: Greenwood Press. Fine. 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket, as issued) [nice clean as-new copy, with no discernible wear]. (Popular Culture Bio-Bibliographies) Series (B&W photographs) An excellent reference resource for the life and career of the great comic filmmaker. Contents: Biography; The Art of Buster Keaton; Interviews; Bibliographical Essay; Bibliographical Checklist of Buster Keaton Sources; Filmography; Chronological Biography. Although now dated in light of the large amount of additional Keaton scholarship since the book was published, it's still valuable for its excellent filmography, and especially for the "Bibliographical Essay," which takes up 65 of the book's 245 pages, and presents detailed and perceptive commentary on the only two Keaton biographies in print at the time, Rudi Blesh's "Keaton" and Tom Dardis's "Keaton: The Man Who Wouldn't Lie Down," as well as Keaton's own… Read More

New York: Dramatists Play Service. Very Good. (c.1942). Acting Edition. Softcover. [slight discoloration to covers, short diagonal bend at lower right corner of front cover (also affecting first couple of pages), tiny tear in bottom edge of front cover; one-time owner's signature on ffep]. (frontispiece photo of stage setting) Comedy about a snooty drama critic who is brought down to earth and taught the facts of life by a free-spirited playwright (somewhat modeled after William Saroyan, at least in the opinion of Brooks Atkinson in the NY Times). The original 1942 Broadway production starred Alexander Knox and Nicholas Conte (who changed his name to Richard Conte when he became a full-time movie actor after World War II), and ran for a respectable 125 performances. .

Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Times. Fine in Fine dj. 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. 1883792231 . [nice clean copy, no discernible wear to either book or jacket]. (B&W photographs) "Los Angeles, it is often said, is a place that beckons those who seem driven to defy the ordinary. People who see possibility where others see roadblocks. People who bend -- and occasionally break -- the rules. People who aren't afraid to pursue their ambitions, no matter how far beyond the norms of the time they are. This is a collection of stories about such men and women." .