Search Results: Titles starting with H from Captain Ahab's Rare Books

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1975. First Edition. One of 1,220 copies. Slim octavo (23.75cm); pictorial wrappers, stapled; [16]pp. A Fine copy of this Moroccan folk tale featuring traditional hero Hadidan Aharam, published as Sparrow 37. Miller A26.

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1968. First Edition. Limited Issue, consisting of one copy specially bound and designated as the "Binder's Copy," signed by the author on the colophon. Octavo (27cm); printed paper-covered boards and patterned cloth backstrip; [vi],11,[7]pp. Light wear to extremities, hint of sunning to board edges, with upper corner of rear board gently tapped (though still sharp); Near Fine, lacking the original acetate dustjacket. Long poem by the Beat Generation author. Morrow & Cooney 38b.

London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd, 1973. First U.K. Edition. First Impression. Octavo (23.5cm); black cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [vi],145,[1]pp; illus. Signed by Bradbury and Mugnaini on the title page. Eight tiny spots to lower edge of textblock, else very Near Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, unclipped (priced £1.95 net), with a hint of sunning to the red and yellow spine lettering, and some light wear to extremities. An attractive copy of the author's beloved Halloween classic, in which the characters travel through time to visit Halloween's past. Joseph Anthony Mugnaini (1912-1992) was distinguished Italian-American artist and illustrator, and a close friend and collaborator of Bradbury's since the early 1950's. In our experience, trade editions of their collaborative works signed by both of them are quite uncommon.

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1946. First Edition. The hand-boiled author's first book, and the first to feature Chicago private detective Paul Pine. "Paul Pine, solo sleuth, from a pauper's funeral to a five body carnage, is almost sunk without trace by the girl whose marriage he is to prevent. Pine's snooping lands him in wrong with the police, gets him quite a view of Chicago's underworld, and earns him more than one manhandling, until the answers are opened up by the girl - in not quite the way he thought" (Kirkus Review). The earliest inscription we have seen on any of the author's books. Hubin, p.134. First Printing. Octavo (19.75cm); red cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dustjacket; 245,[9]pp. Inscribed by the author the day after publication on the front endpaper: "To Katherine Le Roy / in appreciation / Howard "John Evans" Browne / 5/24/46." Spine ends gently nudged, beginning oxidation to gilt titling, with a small, faint splash mark to upper edge of… Read More

New York: Random House, 1940. First Edition. An attractive copy of the first volume in Faulkner's Snopes Trilogy. Basis for Martin Ritt's 1958 film The Long, Hot Summer, starring Paul Newman, Orson Welles, and Joanne Woodward. Petersen A20a. First Printing. Octavo (20.75cm); black cloth, with titling and rule stamped in gilt and red on spine and front panel; purple topstain; dustjacket; [x],[2],3-421,[3]pp. Some trivial handling to boards, with light oxidation to gilt; Near Fine, with the purple topstain bright and unfaded. In the first state dustjacket designed by James Salter, with 10 Random House titles listed on rear panel; unclipped (priced $2.50), gently spine-sunned, with light wear to extremities, and a tiny nick at crown; a Near Fine, unrestored example.

London: Jonathan Cape, 1986. First U.K. Edition. Atwood's chilling dystopian novel, set in "a world ruled by militaristic fundamentalists in which sexual pleasure is forbidden. Conception and childbirth have become difficult and the handmaid of the title belongs to a special breeding stock. The story is annotated by a historian of the future, whose shape is not revealed" (Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4-31). Winner of the Governor General's Award, the first Arthur C. Clarke Award, and a nominee for both the 1986 Booker Prize and Nebula Award. Basis for Volker Schlöndorff's 1990 film adaptation, starring Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Duvall, as well as the Emmy Award-winning TV miniseries on HULU. Uncommon in the proof state, especially in the dustjacket. First Impression, with preliminary leaf giving a provisional publication date of 13 March 1986. Octavo (22.5cm); original red printed card wrappers; dustjacket; [12],13-324pp. Tiny bump and attendant tear at crown, faint crease to lower… Read More

New York: Delacorte Press, 1982. First, Limited Edition. A privately published volume for the occasion of Vonnegut's 60th birthday, containing stories, tributes, photos, and illustrations. Contributors include Art Buchwald, John Updike, Irwin Shaw, Richard Yates, Gail Godwin, John Irving, E.L. Doctorow, Norman Mailer, Garry Trudeau, George Plimpton, Truman Capote, and others. Uncommon inscribed. Printed in a run of 500 copies, though this one is unnumbered and out-of-series. Octavo (21.5cm); coarse red-orange cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; all edges gilt; publisher's matching cloth slipcase, with Vonnegut's facsimile signature stamped in gilt on right side; x,164,[2]pp; illus. Inscribed by the author on the half-title page (Aug.7, 1999) within one of his trademark self-portraits to American bookseller Glenn Horowitz, who brokered the sale of Vonnegut's papers to Indiana University. Gentle sunning to spine, else very Near Fine in an about Near Fine slipcase, lightly edgeworn, with some… Read More

New York: Delta, 1971. First Edition. New. Vonnegut's only play, simultaneously issued in cloth and wrappers. Basis for the 1971 film starring Rod Steiger and Susannah York. Pieratt, Huffman & Klinkowitz AI2. First Printing, wrappered issue. Octavo (20cm); illustrated card wrappers; xxii,199,[1]pp; illus. Faint vertical crease along the front joint, light wear to extremities, with a hint of foxing to terminal blank: Near Fine.

Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1976. First Edition. Deluxe Issue, one of 26 lettered copies specially bound and signed by the author and translator, this being copy 'T'. This copy bears an original ink illustration signed by the author, tipped onto the page following the copyright page. Octavo (23.75cm); pictorial paper-covered boards and green and white patterened cloth backstrip, with title label mounted to spine; publisher's original acetate dustjacket; [8],9-99,[9]; illus. Fine in a lightly rubbed, Near Fine dustjacket. A collection of Moroccan folk tales and legends featuring traditional hero Hadidan Aharam. Miller A30d.

London: Ted Smart / The Book People Ltd, 1998. First Ted Smart Edition. The earliest available edition of the first Harry Potter book, following the first impression in pictorial boards and illustrated wrappers by Bloomsbury. Published in May 1998 by The Book People, an independent bookselling company founded in 1988 by Ted Smart. Errington notes that neither Ted Smart nor Bloomsbury were able to supply details regarding the size of the edition, though it is significant in that it appears so early in the chronology of editions, and that it precedes the first printing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by five months (Scholastic, October 1998). Errington A1(b). First Impression. Octavo (20.5cm); original pictorial boards; dustjacket; [7],8-223,[1]pp. Subtle tanning to text edges, else Fine in a Fine, unclipped dustjacket (priced £10.99).

New York: Harlin Quist, 1968. First Paperback Edition. Children's book about a shaggy dog a family encounters when they move into a new house. Toledano B37b. With "SECOND PRINTING" stated on copyright page, and $1.50 price printed on rear wrapper. Square octavo (19cm); illustrated card wrappers; unpaged; illus. Hint of sunning to spine, scattered internal foxing, else Near Fine and without wear.

Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Graphic Arts, 1995. First Edition. Advance issue of this collaborative work between Bukowski (1920-1994) and Kenneth Price (1935-2012), a poetic and artistic ode to the City of Los Angeles. Among the towering achievements of John Martin's Black Sparrow Press - the regular and deluxe issues were produced in a special binding with a traycase holding serigraph prints by Price, housed in a thick Plexiglass slipcase. The Review Copies were produced in an entirely different binding, some numbered, some signed, some including the one-hour CD of Bukowski reading his poetry. Considering the high cost at publication ($1250 for the regular issue, $3500 for the deluxe), there is every possibility that only a few of the 20 Review Copies were sent out. Additionally, according to the binder, the books, prints, slipcases, CD's, and even the foam-lined cardboard boxes were produced in different locations. This copy (unnumbered, unsigned, and without the CD) comes from the holdings of Earle… Read More

N.p.: S.i., 1975. Complete, heavily-corrected draft of this Notes of a Dirty Old Man story, which first appeared in the April 4, 1975 issue of the Los Angeles Free Press (No.559). The story is centered around a barfly named Harry, just getting settled for a day of heavy drinking, who encounters a wealthy woman in her mid-40's; she solicits him, takes him home, and engages in some odd fetishistic activity. A humorous and somewhat charming story, lacking the overtly perverse content of some of the stories submitted to High Times, Oui, and Hustler. While the strength of Bukowski's literary legacy rests squarely on his poetry and prose, no small degree of his notoriety as a hard-living, hard-drinking author was due to his many Notes of a Dirty Old Man columns, printed over many years in papers like Open City and L.A. Free Press. Complete stories seldom come onto the market; this one remained uncollected for 36 years, before finally being reprinted in More Notes of a Dirty Old Man: The Uncollected Columns… Read More

Stratford-Upon-Avon: Printed by the Shakespeare Head Press for Basil Blackwell, Oxford, and Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 1928. First Edition (American Binding). The Imagist poet's second published novel, a fantasy of sorts set in Hellenistic Greece, a generation after Alexander the Great. Boughn A10a.i. One of 520 copies (from a total edition of 775). Octavo (19.75cm); checked patterned paper-covered boards and black cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [viii],185,[3]pp. Trivial wear to lower board edges, else Fine, chiefly unopened copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $4.50), lightly edgeworn and dust-soiled, gently sunned at spine and panels, with a few tiny nicks and tears, and some very shallow loss at base of spine; Very Good+.

Christchurch, New Zealand: Hawk Press, 1976. First Edition. Collection of poems written by Creeley while visiting New Zealand in the 1970's. Trade Issue, one of 750 copies. Octavo (19.5cm); printed sheets, hand-sewn into letterpress printed card covers; [36]pp. Though not called for, this copy has been signed by the author on the title page. A Fine copy.

Los Angeles: Press of the Pegacycle Lady, 1972. First, Limited Edition. One of 50 copies. Octavo (21.75cm); marbled paper-covered boards and beige cloth backstrip, with the text letterpress printed on Hayle Mill hand-made paper; [16]pp, with an original watercolor illustration by Forrest tipped onto the verso of the front endpaper. A few very faint foxed spots to covers, else very Near Fine. The third title produced by the Los Angeles-based fine press publisher, comprised of a single poem by Forrest. Victoria Dailey's bibliography of the press calls for 50 numbered and signed copies, with ten additional copies numbered with Roman numerals and bound with paper watercolored by the author; this one is unnumbered and unsigned - an overrun from the collection of Earle and Larry Gray, owners of the Earle Gray Book Binding Company, who were responsible for binding most of the books published by the Black Sparrow Press and a host of smaller California publishers. An elusive title.

London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1960. First Edition. An early published work by Windham (1920-2010), his novel based on the life of his close friend Tennessee Williams, the book's dedicatee. An Atlanta native, Windham and his lover, Fred Melton, left for Manhattan in the late 1930's, where Windham was absorbed into the city's literary and artistic society. It was there he befriended Williams, Truman Capote, Paul Cadmus, Carl Van Vechten, and W.H. Auden - all of them frequent visitors to Fire Island. Whether it references Auden's poem "The Hero" (Part XVI of "The Quest"), or his New York Times review of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring ("The Hero Is a Hobbit"), his six factors of a hero's quest, or his persistent appeal of the Quest as a literary form, Windham's inscription is more perceptive than it appears on its face, showing a deep awareness of his friend's preoccupation with the concept of the hero in literature. A superb inscription, connecting two of the twentieth century's prominent… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. First Edition. Scarce advance copy of one of Burnett's best-known novels, the story of a hardened criminal just out of prison, a heist gone bad, and a stand-off with police high in the snow-capped Sierra's. Basis for two superb adaptations: the 1941 film noir directed by Raoul Walsh, with a screenplay co-written by Burnett and John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, and the 1955 Stuart Heisler film starring Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Lon Chaney and Shelley Winters. Advance copies produced by Knopf from this period were poorly made and extremely fragile, with the wrappers prone to separation; the present example is well-preserved, the best of the two we've seen for this title. The Dark Page, Vol.1, p.38; Vol.2, p.22; Hubin, p.58. Octavo (19.25cm); yellow wrappers, with titling, publisher's synopsis and date of publication printed in navy blue on front wrapper; 292pp, [2]. "SAMPLE COPY - NOT FOR SALE" faintly rubber-stamped to top edge of text (presumed by… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1942. First Edition. Chandler's third novel, set largely in Pasadena, with a complex plot involving counterfeiting, blackmail, and the theft of a rare and valuable American coin. Basis for John Brahm's 1947 film noir The Brasher Doubloon, starring Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis, Roy Roberts, Fritz Kortner, and George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe. A superior copy. Bruccoli A3.1.a; Barzun & Taylor 733; The Dark Page, Vol.1, pp.66-67. First Printing, one of 6,500 copies. Octavo (19.75cm); light brown cloth, with titles stamped in maroon on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [x],240,[6]pp. The Florence & Edward Kaye copy, with their gilt-stamped morocco bookplate mounted to front pastedown. Housed in a custom clamshell case. Some offsetting to pastedowns and endpapers from binders glue, else Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), with some pinpoint wear to extremities, else Fine and unrestored, without the usual sunning to the spine panel. Housed in a custom half-morocco… Read More

Carmel, CA: Brent Enterprises / Granger Graphics, 1967. First Edition. Humorous collaborative work, an illustrated volume featuring hippies and narcs as the central characters, written in the style of "See Spot. See Spot Run" ("See the hippie chick. See the hippie chick bake cookies. See the hippie chick eat the cookies.". Scarce; OCLC notes 2 holdings (Harvard, UC Davis). Slim octavo (18cm); illustrated card wrappers, stapled; [24]pp; illus. Light wear to extremities, touch of thumb-soil to margins, with a faint vertical bend at center, most noticeable on rear wrapper; Very Good+.