Search Results: Authors starting with T from Captain Ahab's Rare Books

Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1933. First Edition. Partly an autobiography, and partially a collection of short stories from the highly-regarded Mexican historian and journalist - a leading author on the Madero Revolution. Front wrapper exquisitely illustrated in the art deco style, featuring a pastiche of palm fronds, waves, and a topless mermaid. Uncommon, particularly in this condition. Octavo; beige wrappers, with titling and decorations printed in navy blue, green, and silver inks; 190pp, [1]; text is in Spanish. Hint of toning to spine, with some trivial wear to right edge of front wrapper, else a fresh, Fine copy with the signatures uncut.

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1934. First Edition. An attractive copy of the fifth Asey Mayo novel, in which the Yankee detective undertakes a case centered around two hundred cases of bootlegged liquor, and two murders at a Cape Cod estate. Hubin, p.389. First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); chickpea yellow cloth, blocked and titled in dark brown and silver on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [6],7-294,[2]pp. Hint of sunning to spine, with a small, faint rubbed spot to rear cover, else a fresh, Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), showing light wear to extremities, a hint of sunning to spine, with a few tiny nicks and tears, and a faint surface scuff to front panel; Near Fine.

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, 1893. Handsome edition of Thackeray's well-loved satirical novel of early 19th-century British society. Basis for numerous film adaptations, most recently Mira Nair's 2004 film starring Reese Witherspoon. First One-Volume Edition by Crowell. Octavo (21cm); emerald green cloth, with titling and peacock feather motif stamped in gilt and blue on spine and front cover; top edge gilt; engraved frontispiece and illustrated title page, with 16 plates of illustrations; vi, 342pp. Decorative gift bookplate (unfilled) of the Harriet Brown Hatton Memorial Circulating Library to front endpaper, with partial ownership label of Mr. Horace B. Hatton applied upside down to rear pastedown; base of spine gently nudged, else a tight, Fine copy, with the decorative elements bright and unrubbed.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985. First Edition. Superb association copy of this key volume of Theroux's travel writing, inscribed to Nobel Prize-winner V.S. Naipaul. Among the many pieces here, Theroux includes the story of how he met Naipaul in 1966, while working as a lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda (pp.91-100) - the beginning of a decades-long friendship, before either author enjoyed literary renown. The two had an unpleasant (and very public) falling out in 1997, after Theroux received a bookseller's catalog in which he found for sale several of his own books he had inscribed to Naipaul and his first wife, Patricia. They were sold off by Naipaul's second wife, Nadira Khannum Alvi, who responded in a rather hostile manner after Theroux faxed his friend. Portions of his 1998 book, Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents, seemed only to exacerbate the wedge that had come between them. After 15 years, the two finally made peace at the Hay Festival in 2011. First… Read More

London: Andre Deutsch, 1972. First Edition. Glowing critical volume on the work of the late Trinidadian Nobel Prize-winner, by his then-literary protégé Theroux. First Impression. Octavo (22.25cm); blue paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; 144pp. Bookplate signed by the author loosely laid in. Fine in a Fine, unclipped dustjacket (priced £1.95 net).

New York: Lion Books, 1953. First Edition. Thompson's fifth paperback original, a compulsively readable piece of self-mythology which takes the reader on a ride through Thompson's life growing up in the seedy underbelly of the American West. "Burlesque hawker, drunk, bootlegger - drifter, bellhop, gambler, steeplejack, oil hand, and two-fisted brawler - all before he was old enough to vote. That's Jim Thompson's BAD BOY, swashbuckling rogue who made and lost fortunes, and barreled his way through the most lusty 20 years any man ever spent" (from rear wrapper). Hubin, p.393. First Printing, a paperback original novel. Octavo (16.25cm); illustrated wrappers; yellow edge-staining; [6],7-160pp. Light surface wear and dust-soil to wrappers, tanning to text edges and inner wrappers, with shallow loss to upper corner tips of pp.97-120; Very Good.

New York: Pyramid Books, 1958. Second Edition. Very Good +. A Very Good+ copy. A few creases bit of light edgewear at the extremities, along the front hinge, and the spine ends. The edgestaining is a bit tanned, though the interior pages are white and clean. A bright, presentable copy with striking cover art by Clark Hulings, showing the main characters of the book in passionate embrace. Though published several years after the First Edition by Lion Books, copies of this edition are becoming equally difficult to find in presentable shape.

New York: Hillman Periodicals, 1949. First Paperback Edition. Thompson's third novel, centered around a murderous plot by a small-town theater owner, his wife, and his lover. The Hillman edition precedes the more common Dell paperback by several years. Preceded by the hardcover first published by Harper & Brothers the same year. Octavo (16cm); illustrated wrappers; magenta edge-staining; 192pp. Vertical creasing to spine, pinpoint wear to extremities, with tanning to text edges and a few faint stress creases; Very Good+.

New York: Dell, 1954. First Edition. Thompson's twelfth paperback original, centered around a self-loathing alcoholic hiding a wartime disfigurement, who is willing to kill to keep his secrets. Hubin, p.393. First Printing, a paperback original novel. Octavo (16cm); pictorial card wrappers; red edge-staining; [6],7-224pp. Hint of a forward lean, a few faint glue ridges at spine, with mild rubbing to wrappers and extremities; contents clean, with the edge-staining bright and even; Very Good+ or better.

New York: Lion Books, 1956. Attractive copy of Thompson's third paperback novel, this printing issued three years after the first, in a taller format and with different cover art by Maguire. Despite the flaws, a spectacular copy with a particularly revealing note from one of the great illustration artists from the period. Hubin, p.402. Second Printing. Octavo (18cm); illustrated wrappers; yellow edge-staining; 128pp. Generically inscribed by cover artist Robert A. Maguire on the title page. Light wear to extremities, a few faint stress creases, and two discreet closed punctures to center of rear wrapper, briefly affecting a few of the terminal pages; Very Good+. Together with a handwritten note by Maguire on card stock, which reads: "You will notice my signature is different on my newer covers. I copied the original signature from the old time sport cartoonist Willard Muller (proceeds with an example of Muller's signature). The model's name on the book cover is Madelin Mason, popular in the 1950's. I… Read More

New York: Greenberg: Publisher, 1946. First Edition. Thompson's own copy of Greenberg's anthology of farm stories, "gathered for those kindred spirits who have a lasting love affair with Mother Earth." Contributions include stories by Tolstoy, Louis Bromfield, E.B. White, William Saroyan, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Jesse Stuart, O.E. Rolvaag, and others. It includes "Mr. Simpson Makes a Sale," an excerpt from Thompson's crime novel Heed the Thunder, also published by Greenberg in 1946, and hailed by the likes of Richard Wright, Millen Brand, and Louis Bromfield. Among 20th century American crime fiction authors, Thompson's signature is among the rarest; we note a single inscribed copy in the auction record (his 1972 paperback original Child of Rage), and can recall seeing fewer than a handful of other copies offered in the trade, most of them in similarly used condition. Provenance: Through the trade from Sharon Reed, Thompson's daughter and executor of his estate. Octavo (20.5cm); blue cloth, with… Read More

New York: Lion Books, 1952. First Edition. Superior copy of Thompson's second paperback original, a novel surrounding the lives of an Okie sharecropper, his dim-witted and volatile son, and an attractive mixed-race girl. Hubin, p.393. First Printing, a paperback original novel. Octavo (16cm); illustrated wrappers; purplish-gray edge-staining; 159,[1]pp. Pinpoint wear to extremities, faint stress crease to lower left corner of rear wrapper, with some tanning to inner wrappers, text is fresh, with bright, even edge-staining; Near Fine.

London and New York: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. / Ballantine Books, 1969. Press release, issued in haste by Ballantine Books, reproducing George Allen & Unwin's UK release (dated 16 October, 1969) announcing the sale of the film rights to The Lord of the Rings to American film studio United Artists. "The agreement that has been reached has the full approval of Professor Tolkien, and he, like his publishers, looks forward in due course to hearing from United Artists further details about what must undoubtedly be regarded as a major event in the cinema of the nineteen seventies." According to Tolkien Gateway, UA acquired the rights for just over £100,000. After a Peter Shaffer script was abandoned, they commissioned John Boorman to write a screenplay, though by 1970, it was deemed too expensive and ultimately never produced. The prospect of film adaptation was considered and abandoned by various parties (Denis O'Dell, Stanley Kubrick, and Michaelangelo Antonioni) until UA sold most of their rights to… Read More

Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1922. Professor Tolkien's first book, a glossary of Middle English words designed to accompany his old tutor Kenneth Sisam's Fourteenth Century Verse & Prose. "Tolkien gained praise for his glossary, which was unlike most others. Whereas it was a trend of the days to suggest (often questionable) etymologies of rare and obscure words, Tolkien chose to devote his time to the different meanings of common words...His Vocabulary is filled with textual references, and much of his findings elaborated on the OED, pre-dating words by sometimes a century. Some of these suggestions were taken into account in later editions of the OED" (Tolkien Gateway). Hammond & Anderson A1. Later Impression of the First Edition (per Hammond & Anderson), with the following points: 184 ornaments on the outer frame of the front wrapper and title page, no corrigenda on p.[168], terminal ads headed "Middle English" are undated, and 'Printed in England' printed from type below the outer frame on the… Read More

London: Pluto Press, 1984. First UK Edition. An early, important account on the evolution of hip-hop music and culture, exploring its roots and various manifestations. Contents include background information on a number of seminal groups, with coverage of DJ-ing, MC-ing, graffiti and breakdancing. Complemented with superb black and white photographs throughout by Patricia Bates. A pioneering book on the rise of hip-hop culture, and scarce in the British edition. First Impression, published simultaneously with the Ameircan edition by South End Press. Square octavo; photo-illustrated wrappers; 168pp; illus. Contemporary owners name (in ink) to verso of front wrapper; light rubbing to joints and extremities, otherwise well-preserved; Very Good+.

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1904. First Edition. An account of native life in India written from the point of view of a practical man of affairs who knows India from long residence" (Cleveland Leader). First Printing. Octavo (18.75cm); red cloth, with titling and decorative elements stamped in gilt, green, and white, and photographic only mounted to front cover; x,281,[1],[4]pp ads; with frontispiece and 15 plates of illustrations. Contemporary owners name to front endpaper, a few tiny spots to upper edge of textblock, else a fresh, Fine copy.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1935. Traven's second book translated into English, and the first appearance of Traven's own translation, which ran nearly 80 pages longer than the UK edition by Chatto & Windus. Set it Mexico, it is a story of gold, greed, and the best and worst in human nature. A distinguished copy of the author''s best-known work, retained by the studio which produced John Huston's Oscar-winning 1948 film noir which catapulted it to international fame. While not marked as such, this copy comes from the collection of Traven's bibliographer, Edward N. Treverton. Treverton 262; Hagemann 56; The Dark Page, Vol.1, pp.324-325. Second Printing of the American Edition, following the first by two months. Octavo (19.5cm); black cloth, with title stamped in gilt on spine and in blind on front cover; brown topstain; dustjacket; [10],366,[4]pp. The Warner Bros. file copy, rubber-stamped "IMPORTANT! Return To Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. Story Dept." on front endpaper. Light wear and three tiny tears… Read More

Paris: Seghers, 1974. First French Edition. New. Volume containing the screenplay for Truffaut's 1973 film Day For Night, starring Jacqueline Bisset, and his personal journal written while filming Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Illustrated throughout with stills from both films. An interesting association copy inscribed to Rudi Fehr, whose credits include House of Wax (1953), I Confess (1953), and Dial M For Murder (1954). After a long hiatus, Fehr returned to edit One from the Heart (1982) and the John Huston-directed Prizzi's Honor (1985). In 1993 he received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award. Narrow octavo (20.5cm); photo-illustrated wrappers with French flaps; [5],6-235,[5]pp; illus.; text is entirely in French. Inscribed by Truffaut to film editor Rudi Fehr on the title page: "Par Rudi Fehr / trés amicalement / François Truffaut." A few faint creases to wrappers, some laminate lift and flaking, else Very Good+ or better.

Paris: Flammarion, 1976. First Edition. New. Photoplay edition of Truffaut's 1976 film Small Change, richly illustrated with black and white stills throughout. A brilliant little film depicting the realistic/surrealistic world that children inhabit through a series of interconnected sequences. Uncommon signed. First Impression. Octavo (21cm); photo-illustrated card wrappers; [9],10-137,[5]pp; text is entirely in French. Inscribed by Truffaut in ink on the half-title page. Light wear and scattered laminate lift to extremities, faint curl to right edge of front wrapper, with mild tanning to text edges and a tiny stain to upper edge of textblock; Very Good+.

New York: Helen and Kurt Wolff / Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, 1968. First American Edition. Story of Trungpa's early life in Tibet and his escape from the Chinese, as told to Esmé Cramer Roberts in Oxford. First Printing, following the UK edition published by George Allen & Unwin in 1966. Octavo; brick red paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; red topstain; dustjacket; 264pp; illus. Touch of rubbing to base of spine, else Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $5.95), gently spine-sunned, with a few short closed tears and some pinpoint rubbing to extremities; Very Good+.