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

London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1931. First U.K. Edition. An early novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guard of Honor. The story was loosely based on the sinking of the S.S. Vestris in 1928, which helped shape changes to laws governing safety at sea. Bruccoli notes substantial textual variations between the US and UK editions. Bruccoli A7.2.a. First Impression, one of 2,000 copies. Octavo (20.25cm); dark grayish-green cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dark green topstain; dustjacket and publisher's original wraparound advertising band; [8],9-118,[2]pp. Subtle offsetting from jacket flaps onto endpapers, else a fresh, Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced 6/- net), gently spine-sunned and lightly dusty, with a few tiny nicks and tears; Very Good+. Band is a little sunned, slightly dusty, but whole and intact.

New York: Random House, 1969. First Edition. First Printing, first state, without the legal disclaimer which was added later. Near Fine in an unclipped, Very Good+ jacket. Two tiny tears at the crown of the spine, along with a long diagonal crease to each jacket flap, else a sharp, attractive example that is absent any hint of sunning at the spine panel. Matthiessen's superb account of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers struggle.

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1914. First Edition. First Printing of Johnson's influential novel - the first book to feature a flapper as a protagonist, and the inspiration for Zelda Fitzgerald's glamorous and destructive life. Johnson described a few breed of women, the "salamanders," who rejected domesticity for the intoxication of city life, where they patronized speakeasies and had affairs in a fashion completely unthinkable only a generation before. Within just a few years, these women would become known as the "flappers" of the Jazz Age. The novel was a success upon publication, reaching an estimated ten million readers, and the stage and film adaptations, both wildly successful, featured Ruth Findlay in the lead role of Doré Baxter. Rare in dustjacket. Smith J-117. First Printing. Octavo; vertical-ribbed dark green cloth, with titling, rule, and decorations stamped in gilt and in blind on spine and front cover; dustjacket; 529pp; frontiespiece and 15 illustrated plates in black… Read More

London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1906. First UK Trade Edition. Attractive edition of Wilde's tragic play, first appearing in French in 1893, telling in one act the Biblical story of Salomé, step-daughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her step-father's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the Dance of the Seven Veils. Scarce in dustjacket. Mason 352; Samuels Lasner 59c. First Impression. 16mo. (16.5cm); beige paper-covered boards, with titling and decorations printed in olive green on spine and front cover; top edge gilt; dustjacket; [viii],66 +[2]pp ads. Gentle sunning to spine, some trivial wear to extremities, with a hint of foxing to lower text edges, and a few faint scuffs to rear cover; Near Fine. In the original pictorial dustjacket by Aubrey Bearsley, spine-sunned, lightly edgeworn and a little dust-soiled, with a few small nicks and tears, and some shallow loss to spine ends; Very Good+.

N.p.: Fridolf Johnson, 1948. A unique manuscript of Mary Lamb's romantic poem "Salome," composed around 1808-09, and first published in her husband Charles Lamb's Works [1818]; while the poem was originally published in her husband's works, and while his name is credited on the title page of this volume, the poem, according to scholar Adriana Craciun, "is indisputably hers" ("The Subject of Violence: Mary Lamb, Femme Fatale." Romanticism and Women Poets: Opening the Doors of Reception, p.65). Fridolf Johnson (1905-1988) was an American author, calligrapher, and illustrator, whose early work as a designer led him increasingly toward an interest in printing and typography. He eventually established the Mermaid Press, and became and active member of the Zamorano Club, Typophiles, and New York Chappel of Private Presses. His archive is held at the University of Delaware. (cf.Biographical Note. Fridolf Johnson Papers, 1950-1985). Quarto (26.25cm); original calligraphic manuscript (rectos), composed in… Read More

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1968. First Edition. Deluxe Issue, one of four copies specially bound and designated for the author, publisher, and members within the inner circle of the press, this one marked "Binder's Copy" and signed by the author on the colophon. Octavo (24cm); bound in coarse patterned cloth with title paper label mounted to front cover; [12],13-54,[6]pp. Faint scuff to title label, else Fine, without the acetate dustjacket. Owens's first collection of poetry printed by the press. Morrow & Cooney 39b.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. First Trade Edition. Attractive copy of the Lebanese-American author's fifth English language book, an illustrated volume of aphorisms, poems, and parables published three years after The Prophet. Uncommon in dustjacket. First Printing. Octavo (21cm); black cloth, with titling and decorative elements stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dark gray topstain; dustjacket; [viii],85,[3]pp; with frontispiece and six illustrations reproduced from original drawings by the author. Contemporary signature and date (Margaret H. Croft, 1927) written in ink on front endpaper; vintage Los Angeles booksellers ticket at upper rear pastedown; spine ends gently nudged, spine gilt a bit oxidized, else Near Fine. Dustjacket is edgeworn, gently spine-sunned, with green spine lettering almost entirely faded; losses to spine ends and corner tips, with several short tears, and a few vertical splits at mid-spine neatly and archivally mended on verso; just Very Good, but still a… Read More

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: St. Martin's Press, 1990. First Edition. First Printing. Very Good+ in like dustjacket. Some minor shuffling to the boards, with a faint, shallow tidemark and minor waviness to the lower edge of the textblock. Jacket is unclipped, with some minor rubbing at the extremities and a 1.5 inch tear with associated creasing at the upper edge of the rear panel. The first of White's Doc Ford mysteries, signed by the author at the top of the title page.

London: Grant Richards Ltd, 1921. First Edition. Firbank wrote the novella during a six month stay in Tunisia, after which he had the manuscript typed in Rome by an exiled Russian princess. "Santal is the story of the orphaned Cherif's search for Allah, a search which leads only to illusion and ends as the Arab boy, dying of thirst, prays, "Lord Allah! Show compassion to they child Cheriff" (Benkovitz, p.206). Upon reading a draft, Grant Richards was shocked by some of the dialogue, and was unenthusiastic about its prospects. He agreed to a large paper edition of 300 copies, largely financed by Firbank; the American edition was not published until 1955. Benkovitz A8a. First Impression, one of 300 copies. Slim octavo (23cm); original stiff rose wrappers, with titling and pictorial elements in navy and Persian blue on spine and covers; [6],7-41,[1] + [6]pp ads. Light wear to extremities, hint of sunning to spine and upper wrappers, else contents fresh; Near Fine.

Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2006. Second Printing. Octavo (23.5cm); tan cloth with titles stamped in gilt on spine and author's facsimile signature stamped in blind on front cover; dustjacket; [6],vii-ix,[x],[2],3-123,[3]pp. Fine in a Fine dustjacket. Harrison's tenth book of poems.

Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1989. First Edition Thus. Deluxe Issue, one of 26 lettered copies specially bound and signed by the author, each with an original full-page drawing (this is copy 'P'). Octavo (23.5cm); illustrated paper-covered boards and patterned cloth backstrip, with title label applied to spine; publisher's original acetate dustjacket; 179,[5]pp. Faint sprinkle of foxing to upper edge of textblock, else Fine in a Fine dustjacket. Attractive copy of the PEN Award-winning author's fourth book.

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1975. First Edition. Limited Issue, one of 200 numbered copies specially bound and signed by the author, this being copy no.23. Octavo (23.5cm); pictorial paper-covered boards and patterned cloth backstrip, with title label mounted to spine; [10],11-103,[4]pp. Light foxing to textblock edges, hint of dust-soil to covers, else Near Fine, lacking the original dustjacket. Illustrated throughout by David Bromige. Morrow & Cooney 201b.

Paris: The Obelisk Press, 1937. First Edition. This scenario is directly inspired by a phantasy called "The House of Incest," written by Anais Nin" (from dedication page). The frontispiece, featuring a bizarre etching by Rattner, is often found lacking. Shifreen & Jackson A13; Pearson A-48. One of 200 numbered copies signed by the author, this being copy no.194. Octavo (26cm); publisher's unbound signatures laid into semi-soft gray wrappers, with titles stamped in red on front cover (price of 40 Frs. on front flap); folding frontispiece by Abraham Rattner, [8],9-[40],[4]pp. Contents are fresh and Fine; dustjacket shows a shallow triangular loss at lower left corner of front panel, with a 3.5" split at upper spine; Very Good+. Lacking the clear wax paper jacket noted in Shifreen & Jackson.

Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1997. First Trade Edition. First Printing, cloth issue, one of 200 copies. Octavo (23.5cm); decorative paper-covered boards and burgundy cloth backstrip, with title label mounted to spine; publisher's original acetate dustjacket; 193,[7]pp. Some faint, scattered foxing to upper board edges and upper edge of textblock, else Near Fine in a lightly rubbed, Near Fine dustjacket. Substantial collection of verse by the New York School poet, many of which first appeared in the pages of American Poetry Review, Chelsea, Gas, Long Shot, Revolutionary Grrrl, and Torque, et al.

Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1997. First Edition. Substantial collection of verse by the New York School poet, many of which first appeared in the pages of American Poetry Review, Chelsea, Gas, Long Shot, Revolutionary Grrrl, and Torque, et al. Included in this collection is "The Lesbian Poet" which she read aloud at the Revolutionary Poetry Symposium in 1994. Deluxe Issue, one of probably no more than a half-dozen bound and specially designated for members within the inner circle of the press, this being marked "Binder's Copy" and signed on the colophon. Octavo (23.5cm); decorative paper-covered boards and black spotted cloth backstrip, with title label mounted to spine; author's original acetate dustjacket; [14],15-193,[5]pp. Small soiled spot on reard board, otherwise Near Fine, in a lightly rubbed, Near Fine dustjacket.

Rome: Nuova Stampa S.R.L., 1981. First Edition. Screenplay for Marco Ferreri's 1981 film Storie di Ordinaria Follia, based on the stories in Bukowski's 1972 collectiom Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness. The film starred Ornella Muti alongside Ben Gazzara, who played the Bukowski figure "Charles Serking." Uncommon, especially signed. Quarto (28cm); mechanically reproduced sheets (rectos), velo-bound into powder grey card covers, with typed title label mounted to upper front cover; [i],[1],2-78,[1]pp. Signed by Bukowski in felt-tipped pen on the front cover. Light wear and gentle sunning to wrapper extremities; Near Fine.

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1968. First Edition. Limited Issue, one of 14 copies specially bound and designated for use by the inner circle of the press, this one marked "Binder's Copy" and signed by the author on the colophon. Octavo (26cm); pictorial paper-covered boards and black cloth backstrip; [vi],1-8,[6]pp. Hint of sunning to upper board edges, some trivial external wear; Near Fine, lacking the original acetate dustjacket. A short collection of verse by the Berkeley poet. Morrow & Cooney 37b.

New York: The Viking Press, 1956. First Edition. The Nobel Prize-winning author's fourth book, containing the title novella, three short stories, and a one-act play. "The title piece, a truncated novelette which is heavily introspective, concerns a New York Jew who has failed miserably in marriage, as he longs for love and respect from his proud physician father, and earns a livelihood as a salesman and investor. During the moment of recognition he realizes that his life, dependent as it is on the past, is a futile anachronism" (Kirkus Review, Nov.1, 1956). Basis for Fielder Cook's 1986 film adaptation, starring Robin Williams and Jerry Stiller. A superior copy of an exceedingly difficult title, prone to heavy wear, with the spine almost always faded. Frist Printing. Octavo (21cm); black paper and yellow cloth-covered boards, with titles stamped in black on spine and in blind on front cover; yellow topstain; dustjacket; [viii],211,[5]pp. Tiny ownership label of Black Sparrow Press publisher John K.… Read More

Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1997. First Edition. First Printing, cloth issue, one of 250 copies (this one apparently bound without a colophon). Octavo (23.5cm); pictorial printed-paper covered boards and blue cloth backstrip, with title label mounted to spine; publisher's original acetate dustjacket; [4],5-340,[4]pp. Very light foxing to upper and lower edges of textblock, else Near Fine in a lightly rubbed Near Fine dustjacket. The majority of the letters in this collection pertain to Reznikoff's personal life, addressed chiefly to his wife, Marie Syrkin, and his lifelong friend and sometime employer in Hollywood, Albert Lewin.