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

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).

London: Grant Richards Ltd, 1915. First Edition. The author's first and longest novel, financed at his own expense, and the first of his works produced by English publisher Grant Richards. In a series of vignettes, Vainglory is centered around the young protagonist Mrs. Shamefoot, who is on a luckless quest to immortalize herself in the stained glass window of an English cathedral. Contemporary reviews of the novel were scant, and the number of books sold in the year of publication amounted to no more than 179 copies. Benkovitz A2a. First Impression, one of 500 copies. Octavo (19.5cm); black cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; hunter green topstain; dustjacket; [8],9-260,[4]pp, with a pictorial frontispiece by Felicien Rops. Fine in a bright, Near Fine dustjacket, with light wear along the upper edge, and some trivial dust-soil. This copy without the publisher's 12pp catalogue, which Benkovitz cites as lacking in some copies (with no bearing on priority).

New York: Bantam Books / Timescape Books / Arbor House, 1985. First Editions. A late, detailed series of novels in which a group of religious seekers forms to explore the revelatory visions of Dick's alter ego, Horselover Fat, who has achieved "miraculous enlightenment courtesy of the godlike Vast Active Living Intelligence System (VALIS) but has difficulty communicating his insight to others" (Barron, Anatomy of Wonder II-337). The group's hermeneutical research leads to a rock musician's estate where they confront the Messiah - a two-year-old named Sophia, who confirms their suspicions that an ancient, mechanical intelligence orbiting the Earth has been guiding their discoveries. The books were inspired by a series of theophanies Dick experienced during the final years of his life. Levack 44a, 11a, 2a. First Printings. Four octavo volumes (17.75-22.25cm); Valis in original pictorial card wrappers, with remaining volumes bound in paper-covered boards and cloth backstrips, with titles stamped in gilt… Read More

London: Grant Richards Ltd, 1919. First Edition. Firbank's fourth novel, set in a fictitious English spa resort, and centered around the effect a Black masseuse and her young niece have upon its centenarian inhabitants. Many of the books details, as well as a few of its principal characters, were inspired by Rabindranath Tagore. Benkovitz A6a. First Impression, one of 500 copies. Octavo (19.25cm); black cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dark green topstain; dustjacket; [6],7-209,[3]pp, with pictorial frontispiece by Augustus John. Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, with some trivial wear and dust-soil to extremities, a tiny nick to lower left corner at heel, and two tiny tears and an attendant crease to lower right corner of same.

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.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1923. First Edition. First Printing, one of 7,650 copies. Octavo (19.5cm); full hunter green cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and in blind to front cover; [viii],145,[1]+[2]pp ads. Spine ends gently nudged, hint of offsetting from jacket flaps onto endpapers, else a fresh, Fine copy, with the cloth clean and unspoiled, and the gilt quite bright. A sharp copy of Fitzgerald's only play. Bruccoli A10.1.a.

New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc, 1950. First Edition. The author's third novel, and third mystery featuring detective Mike Hammer. First Printing. Octavo; blue textured cloth, with titles reverse-stamped in gilt on spine and publisher's logo in blind on front cover; dustjacket; 255pp. Bookplate inscribed by Spillane loosely laid in. Spine ends gently nudged, with faint toning to extremities; clean throughout - Near Fine. Dustjacket is price-clipped, with rear panel printing excerpts from six reviews for My Gun Is Deadly and I, The Jury; edgeworn, with a handful of small nicks and short tears along the edges, and a longer, semi-circular tear toward upper right corner of front panel; Very Good.

New York: The Crime Club / Doubleday, Doran and Co, 1940. First American Edition. Sharp copy of the English author's first novel, set in late 1930s England and centered around the trial of a middle-aged widow accused of poisoning her nephew. Her trial is seen through the eyes of each of the twelve jurors, who weight the evidence for themselves as they try to reach a unanimous verdict. A success upon publication, with a gratifying plot twist at the end. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. Hubin, p.322; Nehr, pp.170-171; Barzun & Taylor 2704. First Printing. Octavo (19.75cm); orange cloth, with titling and Crime Club logo stamped in black on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [xii],[2],3-273,[3]pp. Touch of offsetting to pastedowns, else Fine in a bright, Near Fine dustjacket, unclipped (priced $2.00), with trivial wear to extremities and a few tiny tears.

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1975. First Edition. Deluxe issue of Ashbery's 1975 experimental book-length poem, often overlooked in favor of his critically-acclaimed Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror published the same year. "In fact, The Vermont Notebook has often been elided entirely from the Ashbery canon: excluded from Ashbery's bibliography in some subsequent volumes, the poem failed to make an appearance in the poet's 1985 Selected Poems...An innovative hybrid of prose, verse, and line drawings provided by artist-poet Joe Brainard, The Vermont Notebook differs significantly from Ashbery's more classically Stevensian verse of the period. Formally, the poem is characterized by quasi-cinematic jump cuts, blatant appropriation of found material, and meaningful white space separating its mostly prose paragraphs. Beyond mere stylistic difference, this most essayistic of Ashbery's books reflects and refracts, with typically Ashberyian irony, a number of arguments about environmental and sexual… Read More

Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1975. First Edition. A nice association copy of Ashbery's 1975 experimental book-length poem, often overlooked in favor of his critically-acclaimed Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror published the same year. Sifton (1939-2019) was Ashbery's long-time editor, who also co-published Selected Poems and April Galleons with Viking Press, and Three Poems with Penguin Books. A difficult title to find for years, until it was published by Granary Books in 2001, and included in the Library of America's volume of Ashbery's work. Kermani A21a; Morrow & Cooney 207a. First Printing, wrappered issue. Octavo (22.75cm); original pictorial card wrappers; [6],7-101,[7]pp; illus. Inscribed on the title page to Ashbery's editor, Elizabeth Sifton: "For Elizabeth / fondly / John Ashbery." Subtle toning to wrapper extremities, mild surface wear and a few scuffs to wrappers, with a faint, tiny stain to lower edge of textblock; fresh internally; Very Good+.

New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc, 1947. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (21cm); full black cloth, with titles stamped in blue on spine; powder blue topstain; dustjacket; [viii],294,[2]pp. Trivial wear to spine ends, faint foxing to text edges, with some offsetting to endpapers; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.75), lightly edgeworn, with a few tiny tears, and some gentle sunning to white lettering on spine panel; Very Good+ or better. An attractive copy of Bellow's second book, a Burgess 99 novel.

New York: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 2000. First Edition. Substantial anthology of short writing with a running theme on memory loss, edited by Lethem, whose own contribution ("Five Fucks") appears alongside those by Martin Amis, Jorge Luis Borges, Philip K. Dick, Shirley Jackson, Julio Cortázar, Flann O'Brien, Cornell Woolrich, Vladimir Nabokov, Anna Kavan, Walker Percy, Haruki Murakami, and others. A warm inscription to Berger by his friend, advocate, and correspondant of 25 years, in which he clearly gives a nod to his crime novel Who Is Teddy Villanova? and short story "Meeting Evil." Lethem has written effusively about Berger and his work in The Paris Review and The New York Times. A wonderful copy, connecting two prominent New York authors. First Printing, a trade paperback original. Octavo (20cm); original card wrappers; xviii,414pp. Inscribed by the editor to Thomas Berger on the title page: "For Thomas Berger - Missing from the book? Perhaps - / Fondly, Jonathan Lethem." Light wear to… Read More

New York: Hyperion, 1995. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo; quarter teal cloth over 3/4 yellow paper, with titles stamped in red foil on spine; 298pp. Signed by Crais on the title page. Fine in a Fine, unclipped dustjacket. The author's fifth Elvis Cole novel.

London: Jonathan Cape, 1928. First Edition. A satirical fantasy in the tradition of Swift, recounting the protagonist's visit to a strange community on an imaginary Pacific island. Locke (A Spectrum of Fantasy, Vol.1, p.153); Bleiler (1978 ed), p.136. Provenance: From the collection of Spectrum of Fantasy author George Locke. First Impression (and first in English), preceding the American edition published by Appleton Century the following year. Octavo (19.5cm); maroon mottled cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; purple topstain; dustjacket; 63,[1]pp; illustrated with four wood engravings by Edward Carrick. Barest suggestion of foxing to text edges, else a fresh, Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced 5s. net), with a touch of dust-soil and two tiny tears, else very Near Fine.