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Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West -
Wallace Stegner, Bernard DeVoto
1954 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
A fine first edition of Wallace Stegner’s epic work, with an introduction by Bernard DeVoto.
With a large folding panoramic frontispiece painting of the Grand Canyon by William H. Holmes, and illustrated throughout from engravings, paintings, sketches, maps, and photographs.
Stegner recounts the successes and frustrations of John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of Indian tribes of the American Southwest.
‘This book goes far beyond biography, into the nature and soul of the American West. It is Stegner at his best, assaying an entire era of our history, packing his pages with insights as shrewd as his prose.’ – Ivan Doig.
‘Wallace Stegner ... has summarized the frontier story and interpreted it as only one who was a part of it could do. The result is a memorable and rewarding book.’ – Hal Borland, New York Times Book Review.
More details
Price HK$ 4,500
1954 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
A fine first edition of Wallace Stegner’s epic work, with an introduction by Bernard DeVoto.With a large folding panoramic frontispiece painting of the Grand Canyon by William H. Holmes, and illustrated throughout from engravings, paintings, sketches, maps, and photographs.
Stegner recounts the successes and frustrations of John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of Indian tribes of the American Southwest.
‘This book goes far beyond biography, into the nature and soul of the American West. It is Stegner at his best, assaying an entire era of our history, packing his pages with insights as shrewd as his prose.’ – Ivan Doig.
‘Wallace Stegner ... has summarized the frontier story and interpreted it as only one who was a part of it could do. The result is a memorable and rewarding book.’ – Hal Borland, New York Times Book Review.
More details
Price HK$ 4,500
The Grapes of Wrath -
John Steinbeck
1939 - The Viking Press, New York - First Edition
‘They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency.’
A sharp bright and unrestored first edition of Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the Great Depression.
‘You got to have patience. Why, Tom, us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people, we go on.’
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Price HK$ 85,000
1939 - The Viking Press, New York - First Edition
‘They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency.’ A sharp bright and unrestored first edition of Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the Great Depression.
‘You got to have patience. Why, Tom, us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people, we go on.’
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Price HK$ 85,000
The Wolf Woman. A Novel. -
Arthur Stringer
1928 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First Edition
The story of Dynamite Mary, brought up in the wild in Northern America and introduced into the metropolis of New York.
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Price HK$ 800
1928 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First Edition
The story of Dynamite Mary, brought up in the wild in Northern America and introduced into the metropolis of New York.
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Price HK$ 800
A Woman of Means - SIGNED -
Peter Taylor
1950 - Harcourt, New York - First Edition
‘Those who want the most fiction can give, who expect to read things they hardly knew they knew, and to experience the shock of recognition, will enjoy Peter Taylor and remember these stories.’
A lovely signed copy of Peter Taylor’s first novel, a Proustian reflection on life and family in St. Louis, Missouri during the 1920’s. In turns tragic and humorous, it is a novel that reveals its depth and craft slowly to the reader, as Quintus Dudley, our protagonist, must helplessly watch his stepmother tiptoe on the brink of insanity.
‘No description of mere mortals or events can indicate the particular kind of excitement it possesses... the excitement of being constantly on the verge of deep perceptions and deep interpretations.’ ―Robert Penn Warren, The New York Times
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Price HK$ 3,800
1950 - Harcourt, New York - First Edition
‘Those who want the most fiction can give, who expect to read things they hardly knew they knew, and to experience the shock of recognition, will enjoy Peter Taylor and remember these stories.’A lovely signed copy of Peter Taylor’s first novel, a Proustian reflection on life and family in St. Louis, Missouri during the 1920’s. In turns tragic and humorous, it is a novel that reveals its depth and craft slowly to the reader, as Quintus Dudley, our protagonist, must helplessly watch his stepmother tiptoe on the brink of insanity.
‘No description of mere mortals or events can indicate the particular kind of excitement it possesses... the excitement of being constantly on the verge of deep perceptions and deep interpretations.’ ―Robert Penn Warren, The New York Times
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Price HK$ 3,800
The Proud Highway - INSCRIBED -
Hunter S. Thompson
1997 - Villard, New York - First Edition
Volume I of ‘The Fear and Loathing Letters’ inscribed and signed by HST clearly in order to extract money and cigarettes from the recipient -
This is a Fair Trade For Fare to the airport… Plus your lighter and smokes –
That’s a Fair Fare!…
Shit I think You Come up Short!
I Will Need a ride back and more smokes! That’s Fair Fare Now!!! O.K.
More details
Price HK$ 18,000
1997 - Villard, New York - First Edition
Volume I of ‘The Fear and Loathing Letters’ inscribed and signed by HST clearly in order to extract money and cigarettes from the recipient -This is a Fair Trade For Fare to the airport… Plus your lighter and smokes –
That’s a Fair Fare!…
Shit I think You Come up Short!
I Will Need a ride back and more smokes! That’s Fair Fare Now!!! O.K.
More details
Price HK$ 18,000
Songs of the Doomed - INSCRIBED -
Hunter S. Thompson
1990 - Summit Books, New York - First Edition
Volume 3 of the ‘Gonzo Papers’ viciously and magnificently inscribed and violently signed by HST across the first page -
Staway from me
you PIG FUCKER
This is Not a Good Time
I STILL Have a Half Bottle
OK!!
This volume of the Gonzo Papers, charts ‘the long, strange trip from Kennedy to Quayle in Thompson's freewheeling, inimitable style. Spanning four decades – 1950 to 1990 – Thompson is at the top of his form while fleeing New York for Puerto Rico, riding with the Hell's Angels, investigating Las Vegas sleaze, grappling with the "Dukakis problem," and finally, detailing his infamous lifestyle bust, trial documents, and Fourth Amendment battle with the Law. These tales – often sleazy, brutal, and crude – are only the tip of what Jack Nicholson called "the most baffling human iceberg of our time”.’ [from the intro to a later edition].
More details
Price HK$ 30,000
1990 - Summit Books, New York - First Edition
Volume 3 of the ‘Gonzo Papers’ viciously and magnificently inscribed and violently signed by HST across the first page -Staway from me
you PIG FUCKER
This is Not a Good Time
I STILL Have a Half Bottle
OK!!
This volume of the Gonzo Papers, charts ‘the long, strange trip from Kennedy to Quayle in Thompson's freewheeling, inimitable style. Spanning four decades – 1950 to 1990 – Thompson is at the top of his form while fleeing New York for Puerto Rico, riding with the Hell's Angels, investigating Las Vegas sleaze, grappling with the "Dukakis problem," and finally, detailing his infamous lifestyle bust, trial documents, and Fourth Amendment battle with the Law. These tales – often sleazy, brutal, and crude – are only the tip of what Jack Nicholson called "the most baffling human iceberg of our time”.’ [from the intro to a later edition].
More details
Price HK$ 30,000
A Confederacy of Dunces -
John Kennedy Toole
1980 - Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London - First Edition, First Printing
‘I mingle with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one.’
‘A masterwork... the novel astonishes with its inventiveness... it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue.’ – NY Times
Ignatius J. Reilly is unforgettable.
A fine copy in clean sharp and bright dust jacket, designed by Ed Lindlof, that even Ignatius would have approved of, one of only 2,500 copies printed, and unlike this example they are usually found with creases, tears or restoration.
Toole committed suicide at 31, apparently after having failed to interest countless publishers in this magnificent masterpiece. The foreword is by Walker Percy, who recognised it’s brilliance and assisted in getting it published, after being forced into reading the enormous, smeared, carbon copy of the manuscript by Toole’s mother who found it in his bedroom. 11 years after the author’s death it was published, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
‘Employers sense in me a denial of their values... They fear me. I suspect that they can see that I am forced to function in a century I loathe. This was true even when I worked for the New Orleans Public Library.’
More details
Price HK$ 50,000
1980 - Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London - First Edition, First Printing
‘I mingle with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one.’‘A masterwork... the novel astonishes with its inventiveness... it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue.’ – NY Times
Ignatius J. Reilly is unforgettable.
A fine copy in clean sharp and bright dust jacket, designed by Ed Lindlof, that even Ignatius would have approved of, one of only 2,500 copies printed, and unlike this example they are usually found with creases, tears or restoration.
Toole committed suicide at 31, apparently after having failed to interest countless publishers in this magnificent masterpiece. The foreword is by Walker Percy, who recognised it’s brilliance and assisted in getting it published, after being forced into reading the enormous, smeared, carbon copy of the manuscript by Toole’s mother who found it in his bedroom. 11 years after the author’s death it was published, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
‘Employers sense in me a denial of their values... They fear me. I suspect that they can see that I am forced to function in a century I loathe. This was true even when I worked for the New Orleans Public Library.’
More details
Price HK$ 50,000
The Palm-Wine Drinkard and his dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads Town -
Amos Tutuola
1952 - Faber and Faber Ltd, London - First Edition
In the iconic and scarce complete dust jacket by Barnett Freedman.
First edition of Tutuola's first book and the first African novel published in English outside of Africa.
‘Brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching.’ Dylan Thomas, Observer.
‘The phantasmagorical story of an alcoholic man and his search for his dead palm-wine tapster. As he travels through the land of the dead, he encounters a host of supernatural and often terrifying beings – among them the complete gentleman who returns his body parts to their owners and the insatiable hungry-creature.
Mixing Yoruba folktales with what T. S. Eliot described as a ‘creepy crawly imagination’, The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature’ [Faber & Faber].
More details
Price HK$ 6,500
1952 - Faber and Faber Ltd, London - First Edition
In the iconic and scarce complete dust jacket by Barnett Freedman.First edition of Tutuola's first book and the first African novel published in English outside of Africa.
‘Brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching.’ Dylan Thomas, Observer.
‘The phantasmagorical story of an alcoholic man and his search for his dead palm-wine tapster. As he travels through the land of the dead, he encounters a host of supernatural and often terrifying beings – among them the complete gentleman who returns his body parts to their owners and the insatiable hungry-creature.
Mixing Yoruba folktales with what T. S. Eliot described as a ‘creepy crawly imagination’, The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature’ [Faber & Faber].
More details
Price HK$ 6,500