Hardcover. New York, Random House, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 225 pages, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on half-title page. Minor dust jacket edge wear and spotting on top edge, otherwise, very clean and tight copy.
Hardcover. London, Philip Wilson and Richard Natanson, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Illustrated by Pierre Bonnard. 175 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Remainder mark on bottom.
Hardcover. Boston, L. C. Page & Company, 1st US, 1903, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, gilt-stamped light gray cloth with Dickens' escutcheon in red & gold on cover, top edge gilt, frontispiece photographic profile of Dickens & 18 B&W photographic illustrations. Nice retrospective of London in reference to Charles Dickens life, book provides a brief look at Dickens' literary life, manner and customs, history of the area and more. 300 pages including index,
Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, 1905, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth stamped in gilt, 3 colors. Beautiful gilt and sihouette vignette of the London skyline. 80 black and white drawings by Joseph Pennell. Top edge gilt. A collection of periodical pieces written over a span of thirty years by James, all about his travels in England. Name and date on front fly leaf, otherwise a clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. NY, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1st US, 1959, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 226 pages, illustrated in b&w by Edward Ardizzone. Blue cloth with an edgeworn, chipped dust jacket. The book is a very good, clean, tight copy. White's account of life on the west coast of Ireland. The author comments on the front flap: "God knows what this book is about. I suppose it's a bit of autobiography really. But it's about living on the West Coast of Ireland, in 'the parish nearest to America' -- they all are, I mean the parishes -- and it is about the people and things there, more than about me."
Hardcover. Hartford, CT, American Publishing Company, 1st Edition, 1870, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 651 pages plus publisher's ads. Hardcover. Front and back hinges cracked, binding tight otherwise. Frontispieces with tissue guard. Tanning to edges. Pages clean with just a touch of tanning. Spine straight. Cover boards bound in black cloth, gilt title on spine and design on front cover board. Borders and decoration blind-stamped to front and back cover boards. Some agewear to boards: fraying/chipping at top and bottom of spine and corners, rubbing. "Being some account of the steamship Quaker City's pleasure excursion to Europe and the Holy Land; with descriptions of countries, nations, incidents and adventures, as they appeared to the author." Perfect for any collector's bookshelf.
Hardcover. NY, Random House, 1st, 1939, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, textured beige cloth, moderately soiled. No edition or printing stated on copyright page. Illustrated with 32 pages of b/w photographs, as well as endpaper maps, red and black frontispiece illustration. The story of the trip Auden and Isherwood made to China during its war with Japan, prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Includes 32 pages of photographs, as well as several sonnets and one long poem by Auden. Narrative written by Isherwood. There is a tan stain that goes across pages 68-69, that looks like a rorschach test. Otherwise clean.
Hardcover. Lincoln NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 153 pages. SIGNED BY KOOSER on title page. Ted Kooser describes with exquisite detail and humor the place he calls home in the Bohemian Alps of southeastern Nebraska.
Hardcover. West Kingston RI, Donald M. Grant, 1st, 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 318 pages. Hardcover. Turquoise cloth covers. Collection of Lovecraft's nonfiction writings covering: Science, Literature and Esthetics, Philosophy, Travel, and History. Light wear. Dust jacket protected with clear plastic cover. Clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. NY, Knopf, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 227 pages. Previous owner's signature on front fly leaf, else a clean, tight copy. Naipaul presents here four essays about the "half-made" societies, those still suffering from the profound deprivations of colonialism and prey to corruption." He examines the role of Eva Peron as the catalyst for violence in Argentina, with its yearning for a European culture and the physical, historical, cultural reality of the land in which the native Indians were wiped out and the colonialists took over. He writes of the infamous Michael X in Trinidad whose pretensions to power and destiny led to the man's insanity and execution following two pointless murders. Shorter essays address nihilism in the Congo and Naipaul's take on Joseph Conrad and the Heart of Darkness.
Softcover. Minneapolis, Milkweed Editions, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover. SIGNED BY AUTHOR. 107 pages, b&w engravings by Steven Sorman. Light edge wear to wrappers. Else a very clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. NY, Viking, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 554 pages. This compilation of correspondence is aptly titled. British travel writer and novelist Chatwin traveled widely, constantly, and obsessively--everywhere under the sun, in other words. He possessed a restless soul, to be sure. And to a large degree, he was secretive; information about his homosexuality and his affliction with the AIDS virus was closely guarded. He cast a personal spell with his charm and a lasting one through his works, which are so imaginative they are pure excitement to read; at the same time, however, it can be confusing to determine whether to see them as fiction or nonfiction. Nevertheless, beginning with his first published book, In Patagonia (1977), Chatwin maintained a reputation among discerning readers for his riveting characters--invented or not is unimportant, even in his travel books--and his rigorously precise writing style. Chatwin's wife and his biographer (Bruce Chatwin, 2000) combined efforts over a two-decade period to retrieve more than 90 percent of Chatwin's correspondence from childhood to immediately before his untimely death at 48. Chatwin's many appreciators will see the compilation in its overall significance as a personal visit with one of their literary heroes, as much as that is possible now. Remainder line on bottom edge otherwise like new.
Hardcover. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1st, 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 178 pages. Dust jacket slightly worn and with short tears. Some foxing on endpages, top edge stained red.
Hardcover. NY, Bobbs-Merrill, 1st, 1949, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth stamped in gilt. 192 pages, illustrated endpapers. Tarkington's letters written and illustrated with pen-and-ink sketches in 1903 and 1904 from Europe addressed to his three nephews. Clean copy, no dust jacket.