Softcover. self-published, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 267 pages. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on title page. The autobiography of an American missionary recalling her travel and adventures in China and later Africa. Clean copy with mild warp to book.
Hardcover. Jefferson NC, McFarland & Co., 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, maroon cloth with gilt lettering. Part 1: A Korean Childhood in Japan, 1930-1944; Part 2: Growing Up in Korea, 1944- 1951. No Dust jacket issued.
NY, Random House, 1st US, 1968, Book: Very Good, Hardcover, black cloth stamped in green on front, gilt on spine. 313 pages. Lacouture's biography of Ho Chi Minh examines the North Vietnamese leader's political development from his early years in France, through World War Two, and up until 1968 when this book was first published. Lacouture doesn't avoid the negative aspects of his political career, but these negatives (e.g. harsh control of the starving North Vietnamese in the 50s) only help to put in perspective Vietnam's similarly harsh treatment by Western and Eastern powers alike. A former Le Monde correspondent, author has also written books on Vietnam and DeGaulle. Internally bright and clean.
Hardcover. Atlanta, Nexus Press, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 118 pages. Glossy color illustrated boards, color illustrated end-papers, color and black-and-white illustrations from photographs throughout, accompanying 16 page facsimile journal laid in (no publishing info) with reproductions of polaroids of Burke's. 'Mine Fields' (a sequel to Bill Burke's justly famous I Want To Take Picture), is Burke's scrapbook of his life and his pursuit of the history and daily life of Cambodia. Part adventure story, part personal confession, part travelogue, and always fascinating, Burke's negotiation of the mine fields of divorce and war is a compelling collage of photographs, found objects, stories, and the contrast between glorious ancient temples and the horrors of war and genocide.
Softcover. New York, Aperture, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover. In original shrink wrap, spotless and tight. Poet, scholar, philosopher, and master of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche led a life of profound dedication to spiritual enlightenment and teaching. During the final fourteen years of his life his personal assistant was Matthieu Ricard. Together they traveled throughout Tibet, Bhutan, India, and Nepal, returning to the places of Khyentse Rinpoche's youth: his birthplace in Eastern Tibet; the monastery of Shechen which he had entered at the age of eleven; and the retreats where he spent years in meditation and study. At every stop on his journey, Khyentse Rinpoche was welcomed with elaborate ceremonies and outpourings of devotion. Ricard's deeply personal photographs of this journey are enhanced by a biographical narrative that is interspersed with extensive passages from the writings and teachings of Khyentse Rinpoche. Together, these images and texts form an inspiring portrait of one of the great spiritual leaders and teachers of our time. Many masters of Tibetan Buddhism studied with Khyentse Rinpoche, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who regarded him as his principal instructor in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Hardcover. NY, John Day Co., 1st, 1946, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. A biography of Sun Yat-Sen, founder of the short-lived Chinese Republic. Dust jacket spine faded, bookplate inside front cover.
Hardcover. NY, W. W. Norton, 1st, 1991, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 254 pages. Red phono disc of Tuvan throat singing still attached. As a stamp-collecting boy always fascinated by remote places, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was particularly taken by the diamond-shaped stamps from a place called Tannu Tuva deep within Outer Mongolia. He hoped, someday, to travel there. In 1977, Feynman and his sidekick - fellow drummer and geography enthusiast Ralph Leighton - set out to make arrangements to visit Tuva, doing noble and hilarious battle with Soviet red tape, befriending quite a few Tuvans, and discovering the wonders of Tuvan throat-singing. Their Byzantine attempts to reach Tannu Tuva would span a decade, interrupted by Feynman's appointment to the committee investigating the Challenger disaster, and his tragic struggle with the cancer that finally killed him. Tuva or Bust! chronicles the deepening friendship of two zany, brilliant strategists whose love of the absurd will delight and instruct. Clean copy.