THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH - Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Michael Chabon - MAGNIFICENT VINTAGE SIGNATURE - Rare Book Insider
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Chabon, Michael

THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH – Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Michael Chabon – MAGNIFICENT VINTAGE SIGNATURE

New York City, NY: William Morrow & Company, 1988: 1988
  • $110
1st Printing. Signed. 287 pages. Published in 1988. The author's breakthrough debut novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are many. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Michael Chabon's "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh". The national (eventually, global) bestseller that immediately and firmly established the very young author as an important new voice in American literature. A "coming-of-age" story, inevitably and inescapably every young writer's subject, the latter is told by Michael Chabon with grace, subtlety, and empathy, demonstrating his precocious mastery, which was triumphantly and fully realized in his masterpiece, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" (2000). The basis of the sensitively acted and directed yet under-appreciated film adaptation by Rawson Marshall Thurber, with an all-star cast in Nick Nolte, Mena Suvari, Peter Sarsgaard, Jon Foster, and Sienna Miller. An absolute "must-have" title for Michael Chabon collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by Michael Chabon. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. His vintage signature on this copy is, quite simply, incomparable: You can clearly see his name in full, which is no longer possible with his contemporary signature, which is illegible, the result of having to satisfy the time-consuming demand for signed copies. As such, this is the only - and the best - such signed copy we have ever seen. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such vintage-signature copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and despite its imperfection (one bump on the hard board's back bottom) is still in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Selected by The New Yorker Magazine as one of "Twenty Writers for the 21st Century". Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MICHAEL CHABON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0688076327.
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PROPHET SONG – Rare Pristine Copy of The First American Edition/First Printing: Double-Signed, Placed, And Dated (On The Day of Book Launch) by Paul Lynch And Colum McCann – ONLY SUCH DOUBLE-SIGNED COPY ONLINE

Lynch, Paul (Author) & McCann, Colum (Contributor/Co-Signature) 1st Printing. Signed. 309 pages. Published in 2023. The author's fifth novel. One of the most sensational literary events of our time. The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a regular first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. The First-State DJ has "The Booker Prize 2023" Imprint since the American Edition was published post-Booker. It also has the "rave review" Front Cover Blurb, celebrated in its own right, by Colum McCann, fellow Irish author and the Number One champion of the novel. Presents Paul Lynch's "Prophet Song". His masterpiece and international breakthrough. "I haven't read a book that has shaken me so intensely in many years. The comparisons are inevitable - Saramago, Orwell, Cormac McCarthy - but this novel will stand entirely on its own" (Colum McCann). "Conveys the creeping horror of a Fascist catastrophe in a gorgeous and relentless stream-of-consciousness illuminating the terrible vulnerability of our loved ones, our daily lives, and our social coherence" (Booklist Starred Review). An absolute "must-have" title for Paul Lynch collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (on the day of the NYC Book Launch) in black pen-marker on the title page by the author: "Paul Lynch NYC 2/15/24". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on the tipped-in page and bookplate that have proliferated online. It is also uniquely, boldly, and beautifully signed and dated in black ink-pen on the half-title page by its literary champion: "Colum McCann Feb. 15, 2024". McCann's Blurb appears on the DJ's Front Cover. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such uniquely double-signed, placed, and event-dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws (because they were read) or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare double-signed copy thus. Winner of the Booker Prize in 2023 for "Prophet Song". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. ISBN 0802163017.
  • $220
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SUMMER CROSSING: A NOVEL – Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Capote, Truman 1st Printing. 143 pages. Published in 2006. The author's debut novel. Now considered a late-modern classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the Modern Library Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Truman Capote's "Summer Crossing". His first novel, an inchoate yet startling achievement nevertheless that anticipates his later work. "Shows the promise of a future Master. Capote told everyone he had destroyed his earliest effort (produced at age 19), but it turned up at Sotheby's, handwritten in four ruled school notebooks. With her Fifth Avenue Protestant parents off in Europe, 17-year-old Grady rebels by intensifying an affair with and quickly marrying a parking lot attendant from a dysfunctional Brooklyn Jewish family. There are glimpses of Capote's signature style that emerged only four years later in 'Other Voices, Other Rooms', and a hint of 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' " (Publishers Weekly). The bit about the parking lot attendant is vintage Tennessee Williams, reflecting the latter's considerable, perhaps even decisive, influence on the young Capote. Includes an illuminating Afterword by Allan U. Schwartz, Truman Capote's literary executor. An absolute "must-have" title for Truman Capote collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Most copies available online are the subsequent Modern Library Edition, which does not have the same collectible value. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is widely regarded as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER TRUMAN CAPOTE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 1400065224.
  • $88
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HAPPY-GO-LUCKY – Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by David Sedaris – SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Sedaris, David 1st Printing. Signed. 260 pages. Published in 2022. The author's tenth collection of short stories and essays (not counting several retrospective collections). David Sedaris in his prime and near-peak form. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Presents David Sedaris' "Happy-Go-Lucky". Son makes peace, sort of, at last, with Father. "A sweet-and-sour set of pieces on loss, absurdity, and places they intersect. Sedaris remains stubbornly irreverent even in the face of pandemic lockdowns and social upheaval" (Kirkus Reviews). An absolute "must-have" title for David Sedaris collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen-marker on the title page by David Sedaris. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great collection. This is one of very few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Sedaris signed very few copies through his publisher and selected outlets during the ongoing pandemic. Copies available online have serious flaws, are in subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAVID SEDARIS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0316392456.
  • $55
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SUMMER NIGHTS, WALKING: ALONG THE COLORADO FRONT RANGE 1976-1982 – Scarce Pristine Copy of The Steidl New And Enlarged First Hardcover Edition/First Printing – Signed by Robert Adams

Adams, Robert (Photographer); Blake, William & Dickinson, Emily (Contributions) 1st Printing. Signed. 84 pages. Published in 2023. New And Enlarged Edition of the photographer's classic. One of the most beautiful and most influential art photography books of the 20th century and our time. The First Steidl Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. An austerely elegant production by Robert Adams, Katy Homans, and Joshua Chuang: Oversize-volume format. Black cloth boards with metallic-silver titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Robert Adams. Poems by William Blake and Emily Dickinson. Printed on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper by Steidl in Gottingen, Germany to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. In matching black DJ with metallic-silver titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Re-presents, in its Revised, Expanded, and perhaps definitive format, Robert Adams' "Summer Nights, Walking: Along The Colorado Front Range 1976-1982". Some of his most formally rigorous yet lyrically beautiful images. At the same time, Adams revised the original sequence (this would be its third iteration) in order to capture a more disquieting - and therefore, more accurate - representation of his actual experiences during all those nocturnal perambulations. "This sensitively enlarged edition, printed with the same exquisite care as the original, makes this revered body of work available to a new audience" (Gerhard Steidl). Identified with relentlessly harsh imagery of the detritus and decline of Western modern life, Robert Adams shows in "Summer Nights, Walking" that he has always had a more Romantic, even Blakean/mystical, and reverential relation to place. Adams is widely regarded as the greatest American photographer of landscape since Ansel Adams, with whom he shares the same surname, and nothing else. Indeed, Robert Adams is the prototypical anti-Ansel Adams landscape photographer, that is, a photographer whose lifelong commitment is the opposite of Whitman-esque majesty and grandeur. "Breathtaking" (Alec Soth). An absolute "must-have" title for Robert Adams collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in pencil on the cream-color Card (that is affixed to the half-title page) by Robert Adams. This title is a great art photography book. This is one of very few such pre-signed copies of the Steidl First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (2023) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Adams pre-signed a very limited number of copies through the publisher only. As such, these signed copies are instantly collectible and will increase in value, as ALL of Adams' signed books have. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with tonal plates. Robert Adams' "What We Bought: The New West" was selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". One of the greatest photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. ISBN 395829684X.
  • $275
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HAIRY: PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT GREENE – Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Greene, Robert 1st Printing. 96 pages. Published in 2010. Landmark collection of male nudes. One of the most beautiful erotic art photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Robert Greene and Justin Cole: Oversize-volume format. Pristine-white pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Except for an epigram by Guillaume Apollinaire at the beginning and Credits at the end, there is no text. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name held at Robert Miller Gallery New York in 2010. Presents Robert Greene's "Hairy". His debut collection of photographs of dogs, nature, and men characterized by their extreme hirsute-ness. In our time, clean-shaven bodies might still reign. But being hairy will always represent, irresistibly, animal sex appeal, that is, authentic masculinity. Although he has been taking photographs all his adult life, Greene is a painter whose work is in the Permanent Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His publisher is right to describe the formal, perspectival - particularly his use of extreme, sometimes abstracted closeups - and sensual aspects of his photographic work as those of an accomplished painter: "Painterly rhythms seep their way into Robert Greene's world of photography. Greene's images were taken over many years, in many places, of many dogs, and many hairy men. An undercurrent of uber-masculinity and its sexiness is revealed yet not in the familiar form of muscular, hard-jawed, clean-cut models. Instead, Greene celebrates a more restrained and natural virility. There is a very intimate, personal feeling here; one not posed, but observed and captured. Greene shifts from long-range portraiture to close-up shots where specific textures, shapes, and tones become the subject of the image. This abstraction weaves a visual spell such that even those without a predilection for hirsute men will be enthralled. The photographs provide the space for longing, imagination, and adventure. An unusually quintessential book, portraying an incredibly focussed and fleshed-out vision of a very beautiful, hairy world where Man, Dog, and Nature swirl together" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Robert Greene collectors. This title is a contemporary erotic art photography classic. This is one of very few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws yet some command many hundreds of dollars. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. 60 toned plates. One of the most brilliant American artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. ISBN 157687527X.
  • $88
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MALE NUDES: PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE: “SEXY MEN” 1983 SPECIAL PORTFOLIO ISSUE – Rare Fine Copy of The Special Portfolio Issue/First Printing – ONLY COPY ONLINE

Davis, Jim (Cover Model); The Editors of Playgirl Magazine; Various Models & Photographers 1st Printing. 100 pages. Published in 1983. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A fine copy of Playgirl Magazine's 1983 "Sexy Men" Special Portfolio Issue. This is the fourth - and one of the rarest - of Playgirl's "Sexy Men" Annual Issues. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Sexy Men" 1983 Special Portfolio Issue. Page after sexy page of male nudes. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine during its first decade, represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. Features Jim Davis on the Cover and inside pages, along with many other models, who are each showcased in alphabetical order, that's right from A (as in John Alexander) to Y (as in Steve Yeager). One of the singular appeals of PG's Specials is that apart from reproducing images from its previous Issues, the Portfolio also showed previously unpublished nudes ("outtakes"), which were often deemed too daring and "in-your-face" for the magazine's still-evolving mainstream audience. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Special Portfolio Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $88
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MALE NUDES: “PLAYGIRL’S MEN” INAUGURAL ISSUE: “THE YEAR’S BEST CENTERFOLDS, DISCOVERIES, FANTASIES, AND FICTION”: 1975 – Rare Near-Pristine Copy of The Special Portfolio Issue/First Printing – ONLY COPY ONLINE

Cavuoto, Al; Gibson, John; Zivkovich, Lou & The Editors of Playgirl Magazine 1st Printing. 100 pages. Published in 1975. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A near-pristine copy of Playgirl Magazine's "Playgirl's Men" 1975 Inaugural Issue. One of the earliest Special Portfolios issued by Playgirl. The first of only two such "The Best" Special Portfolio Issues. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Playgirl's Men: The Best: The Year's Best Centerfolds, Discoveries, Fantasies, Fiction" Special Portfolio Issue. Summing up the Banner Year 1975, when the magazine hit its stride after the first two years of innovation. One of the earliest - and still one of the best - portfolios ever published by Playgirl in its history: Page after sexy page of male nudes. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine in 1975, represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. Al Cavuoto, John Gibson, and Lou Zivkovich, whose "Life Size Poster" must be detached and assembled piece-by-piece by the reader from the magazine, are the standouts, but among so many others. Their pages are all intact in this copy. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the 1975 Special Portfolio Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. The condition of this copy, after all these years, must be seen to be believed in its unblemished beauty. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: The "Life Size Poster" of Lou Zivkovich must be detached and assembled piece-by-piece by the reader from the magazine. The pages are all intact in this copy. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $110
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MALE NUDES: “PLAYGIRL’S MEN” COMPANION ISSUE: “THE YEAR’S BEST CENTERFOLDS, DISCOVERIES, FANTASIES, AND FICTION”: 1978 – Rare Near-Pristine Copy of The Special Portfolio Issue/First Printing – ONLY COPY ONLINE

Dexter, John; Kane, Geoffrey; Lawrence, Beau & The Editors of Playgirl Magazine 1st Printing. 100 pages. Published in 1978. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A near-pristine copy of Playgirl Magazine's "Playgirl's Men" 1978 Companion Issue. The first of only two such "The Best" Special Portfolio Issues. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Playgirl's Men: The Best: The Year's Best Centerfolds, Discoveries, Fantasies, Fiction" Special Portfolio Issue. The sequel and companion volume to the 1975 Inaugural Issue. One of the earliest - and still one of the best - portfolios ever published by Playgirl in its history: Page after sexy page of male nudes. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine, represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. John Dexter, Geoffrey Kane, and Beau Lawrence, all now-iconic PG supermodels, are just three of the many showcased in this lovely collection. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the 1978 Special Portfolio Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. The condition of this copy, after all these years, must be seen to be believed in its unblemished beauty. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $110
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THE LAZARUS PROJECT – Scarce Fine Set: Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing With Souvenir Program: Signed And Dated (Shortly After Publication) by Aleksandar Hemon – ONLY SUCH SIGNED SET ONLINE

Hemon, Aleksandar 1st Printing. Signed. 294 pages. Published in 2008. The author's second novel. One of Aleksandar Hemon's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Aleksandar Hemon's "The Lazarus Project". His remarkable conflation of Past and Present, fact and fiction. As such, the novel is brilliantly interspersed with archival photographs from the Chicago Historical Society and contemporary images by Velibor Bozovic, mirroring the photographs that one of the characters, a war photographer named Rora (pronounced like "war"), always carries with him. "Hemon is as much a writer of the senses as of the intellect. He can be very funny: The novel is full of jokes and linguistic riffs that justify comparisons to Nabokov. Beauty and violence, in Hemon's universe, are far from mutually exclusive. Indeed, he seems determined not to let his readers escape the experience of war as a personal affront and a personal transformation" (David Leavitt). "She would one day die, and so would Rora, and so would I. They were me. We lived the same life: We would vanish into the same death. We were like everybody else, because there was nobody like us" (Aleksandar Hemon). An absolute "must-have" title for Aleksandar Hemon collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed and dated (shortly after publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "11/02/08 Aleksandar Hemon". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. It also comes with a copy of the elongated Souvenir Program, "The Chicago Heartland Prize", which was awarded to Hemon for "The Lazarus Project" and to Garry Wills for "What The Gospels Meant" on November 2, 2008. The Program is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the cover by both prize-winning authors. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and post-publication dated copy (with Signed Souvenir Material) of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare signed set thus. Finalist of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2002 for "Nowhere Man". Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2004. Finalist of the National Book Award in 2008 for "The Lazarus Project". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ALEKSANDAR HEMON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 1594489882.
  • $55
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MALE NUDES: PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE: THE 1982 “PERFECT MEN” SPECIAL PORTFOLIO ISSUE – Rare Fine Copy of The Special Portfolio Issue/First Printing – ONLY COPY ONLINE

White, David; McAnally, Bill; Monroe, Rob; Vonderlin, Paul & The Editors of Playgirl Magazine 1st Printing. 100 pages. Published in 1982. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A fine copy of Playgirl Magazine's 1982 "Perfect Men" Special Portfolio Issue. The second and final Special Issue titled and issued as such by Playgirl. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Perfect Men" 1982 Special Portfolio Issue. Following the inaugural 1981 collection. One of the very best portfolios ever published by Playgirl in its history: Page after sexy page of male nudes. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine during its first decade, represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. One of the singular appeals of PG's Specials is that apart from reproducing images from its previous Issues, the Portfolio also showed previously unpublished nudes ("outtakes"), which were often deemed too daring and "in-your-face" for the magazine's still-evolving mainstream audience. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Special Portfolio Issue available online and is in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $77
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MALE NUDES: PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE: “SEXY MEN” 1981 SPECIAL PORTFOLIO ISSUE – Rare Fine Copy of The Special Portfolio Issue/First Printing – ONLY COPY ONLINE

Spondike, Joseph (Cover Model); The Editors of Playgirl Magazine; Various Models & Photographers 1st Printing. 100 pages. Published in 1981. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A fine copy of Playgirl Magazine's 1981 "Sexy Men" Special Portfolio Issue. This is the second - and one of the rarest - of Playgirl's "Sexy Men" Annual Issues. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Sexy Men" 1981 Special Portfolio Issue. Page after sexy page of male nudes. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine during its first decade, represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. Features, for the very first time, Joseph ("Joe") Spondike, "Playgirl's Man of The Eighties", on the Cover and inside pages along, with many other models. One of the singular appeals of PG's Specials is that apart from reproducing images from its previous Issues, the Portfolio also showed previously unpublished nudes ("outtakes"), which were often deemed too daring and "in-your-face" for the magazine's still-evolving mainstream audience. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Special Portfolio Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $110
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MALE NUDES: PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE: “SEXY MEN” 1980 SPECIAL PORTFOLIO ISSUE – Rare Fine Copy of The Special Portfolio Issue/First Printing – ONLY COPY ONLINE

White, David (Cover Model); The Editors of Playgirl Magazine; Various Models & Photographers 1st Printing. 100 pages. Published in 1980. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A fine copy of Playgirl Magazine's 1981 "Sexy Men" Special Portfolio Issue. This is the first - and the rarest - of Playgirl's "Sexy Men" Annual Issues. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Sexy Men" 1980 Special Portfolio Issue. Page after sexy page of male nudes. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine during its first decade, represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. Features David White, in extreme closeup, on the Cover and inside pages, along with many other models. One of the singular appeals of PG's Specials is that apart from reproducing images from its previous Issues, the Portfolio also showed previously unpublished nudes ("outtakes"), which were often deemed too daring and "in-your-face" for the magazine's still-evolving mainstream audience. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Special Portfolio Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $110
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CITY ON FIRE – Scarce Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Garth Risk Hallberg – SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Hallberg, Garth Risk 1st Printing. Signed. 944 pages. Published in 2015. The author's breakthrough debut novel. One of Garth Risk Hallberg's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a regular first print run as a hardcover original only. Presents Garth Risk Hallberg's "City On Fire". His sensational first novel. "Find a comfortable chair, a lamp, and mix yourself a Manhattan, because this book is going steal your time and throw you into the swirling mayhem of 1970's New York City, where the lives of the wealthy, punks, artists, cops, anarchists, and fleeing teens collide, and you are not going to want it to end. Garth Risk Hallberg has not only written one of the most anticipated debuts of the year, but has done so with enormous ambition and giddy success. Told through multiple perspectives, Hallberg's novel reveals a vast and varied web of characters whose lives intertwine around a shooting and the New York City blackout of 1977. This is a novel of America, of hopes and dreams, of old money, of families and rebellion, and how 'no matter what you deserve, how far you run, your fate stays stuck to your heels'. Rendered with cinematic detail and crisp-cracking prose, 'City On Fire' is electric" (Al Woodworth). "Hallberg comes as close to the great New York City novel as any I've read in my lifetime. He's so masterful at describing the city, at perfectly dreaming it for us, that it does exactly what great literature can do: Stand up as accurate even as it knocks us over with its beauty" (Interview Magazine). An absolute "must-have" title for Garth Risk Hallberg collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Garth Risk Hallberg. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of relatively few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER GARTH RISK HALLBERG TITLE IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0385353774.
  • $33
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OUT OF EGYPT: A MEMOIR – Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed And Inscribed by Andre Aciman – SIGNED ON THE PAGE ITSELF

Aciman, Andre 1st Printing. Signed. 340 pages. Published in 1994. The author's memoir. One of the most beautifully written memoirs of the late-20th century. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Andre Aciman's "Out of Egypt". His sensational first book. "When Aciman, born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, was asked his nationality as a boy, he automatically replied, 'French'. His confusion was understandable: His family were Sephardic Jews who had wandered from Italy to Turkey, then settled in Egypt. His father owned a woolen mill and his parents were very rich, as were the rest of the exotic clan who lived with them or gathered regularly for elegant, memorable teas, fetes, and fierce but transient squabbling. Few of them learned Arabic, and preferred French, English, Ladino, or Italian. They concealed their Jewish-ness when Nasser was in power, a time of high Arab nationalism, intense anti-Semitism, and then war. Eventually, they fled to Paris, leaving behind much of their wealth, but not their culture, which Aciman recalls with a magical sensibility streaked with antic humor. A marvelous memento of a place, time, and people that have all disappeared" (Publishers Weekly). Disappearance - or what we also call "loss" - is also the subject of Isak Dinesen's "Out of Africa" (1938), among other uncanny resemblances between two great books that are separated by sixty years. Like Dinesen, Aciman is not nostalgic at all, much less sentimental. He remembers in order to survive and go on living. Memory becomes one's best weapon in the struggle against the caprice called History, and against death itself. An absolute "must-have" title for Andre Aciman collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed and inscribed in blue ink-pen on the half-title page by the author: "Thank you so much. With all my best wishes, Andre Aciman". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is personally close to the author and cannot be named here at her request. This title is a great book. This is the only such signed and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and despite its imperfection (slight wear on DJ's corner and spine, but it's there) is still in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Almost ALL other copies available online are subsequent printings even if their dealers don't say so. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Andre Aciman's "Call Me By Your Name" is regarded as a classic by Colm Toibin. One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ANDRE ACIMAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0374228337.
  • $165
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A FIELD GUIDE TO THE NORTH AMERICAN FAMILY: AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA – Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed, Placed, And Dated by Garth Risk Hallberg – ONLY SIGNED, PLACED, AND DATED COPY ONLINE

Hallberg, Garth Risk 1st Printing. Signed. 145 pages. Published in 2007. The author's debut novella, with accompanying visual narrative. One of Garth Risk Hallberg's finest achievements. The true First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the 2017 Alfred A. Knopf Softcover Edition, published ten years later. Published in a small and limited first print run by a small fine press, Mark Batty Publisher, as a hardcover original only. Without DJ, as issued. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Garth Risk Hallberg's "A Field Guide To The North American Family: An Illustrated Novella". One of the most original and imaginative books of and for our time, quirkily so. "Part fiction, part reference work, part photo-essay. Invites readers and participants to consider the state of the family - and to explore the future of the book" (Publisher's blurb). The "future of the book", as far as Hallberg and Mark Batty are concerned, is collage, enhancing the written word with graphic design and visual narrative. The sixty-three photographs within the book amount to another narrative of its own about its subject, the American Family. Intentionally so, the image-sequence does NOT correspond to the written narrative, which would be our usual expectation of "illustration" that the book brilliantly subverts. An absolute "must-have" title for Garth Risk Hallberg collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Garth Risk Hallberg 11.20.15 NYC". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of very few such signed, placed, and dated copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are the Softcover Edition. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER GARTH RISK HALLBERG TITLE IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0977985091.
  • $55
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TRUMAN CAPOTE: CONVERSATIONS: LITERARY CONVERSATIONS SERIES – Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Capote, Truman (Author) & Inge, M. Thomas (Editor) 1st Printing. 375 pages. Published in 1987. The author's collection of interviews. Published in a small and limited print run of 500 copies by a University Press as part of the now-legendary "Literary Conversations" Series. This First Hardcover Edition was sold to public libraries only and was never reissued. Should not be confused with the regular trade Softcover Edition. The First Edition is now rare. Presents, in the most collectible format possible, "Truman Capote: Conversations". A representative selection of interviews conducted by various writers, journalists, and scholars with the author. Gives a rich, complex, and lively overview of both the life and mind of one of America's most important writers. Presented in chronological order, the interviews cumulatively amount to an absorbing account of one of the greatest literary journeys of the 20th century, which is the explicit intention of the publisher with each writer who is included in the Series. Together with Lawrence Grobel's "Conversations With Capote" (1985), the final interviews Capote gave just before he died, the present collection is all you will need to hear everything - truth, un-truth, and gossip - from and about Truman Capote straight from the horse's mouth. In the end, Capote's problem, if that is what it was, was with reality, not just celebrity: As a careful reading of these illuminating Interviews, conducted over the key decades of the so-called American Century (the 1940's through the early 1980's), will unwittingly show, Capote's personal ethics were those of a precocious and mischievous child, who tested the patience of grown-ups (his beloved Swans, the media, the critics) because he believed he would get away with it. He would be reprimanded for his infractions, then be forgiven and re-embraced because "he's just a child" and because they love him. A child's ethics is about pure, unconditional love and forgiveness. The grown-ups he betrayed obviously felt otherwise, and Capote paid the ultimate price. The dazzling photograph of the young Capote on the Cover was taken by no less than William S. Paley, the founder of CBS and philandering husband of Babe Paley, Truman's Premier Swan. The original photograph is now in the Library of Congress Collection. "ALL literature is gossip" (Truman Capote). An absolute "must-have" title for Truman Capote collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws, are former library copies, or the Softcover Edition. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is widely regarded as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER TRUMAN CAPOTE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0878052747.
  • $110
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IN COLD BLOOD: A TRUE ACCOUNT OF A MULTIPLE MURDER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES: THE MODERN LIBRARY FIRST EDITION – Rare Fine Copy of The First Modern Library Edition/First Printing

Capote, Truman 1st Printing. 410 pages. Published in 1992. The author's breakthrough account. One of the greatest books of the 20th century. The 1992 First Modern Library Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are innumerable. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition Thus is now rare. Re-presents, in an accessible and archival format, Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood: A True Account of A Multiple Murder And Its Consequences". The author's masterpiece, unsurpassable by him and everyone else who followed him: Norman Mailer and Joan Didion, among many notable others. Capote dedicated his book to the two most important figures in his life: Harper Lee ("To Kill A Mockingbird"), who accompanied him on many of his forays for the book, and Jack Dunphy, his lifelong partner and the executor of his estate. "Has the special merit of requiring and repaying thoughtful attention even while it tempts one to devour its contents with uninterrupted excitement" (F. W. Dupee). The basis of the film classic, by Richard Brooks, with Robert Blake in his most memorable screen performance, and who once said that Capote taught him everything he knew about acting. An absolute "must-have" title for Truman Capote collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of very few copies of the First Modern Library Edition/First Printing (complete number line on the Copyright Page that includes the Number 1) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws (because they were read) or are in innumerable subsequent printings. Copies of the First Hardcover Edition command many hundreds to thousands of dollars, rightly so. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is widely regarded as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER TRUMAN CAPOTE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 067960023X.
  • $77
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THE COMPLETE STORIES OF TRUMAN CAPOTE: WITH “ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE” FROM STRAND MAGAZINE – Scarce Fine Set: Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing With Copy of Strand Magazine’s “Truman Capote’s Unpublished Short Story” – ONLY SET ONLINE

Capote, Truman (Author) & Price, Reynolds (Contributor) 1st Printing. 300 pages. Published in 2004. Scarce Truman Capote collectible set. A fine copy of "The Complete Stories of Truman Capote" First Hardcover Edition/First Printing with a pristine copy of the Strand Magazine's publication of his recently discovered short story, "Another Day In Paradise". The latter, in effect, truly completes his oeuvre. Retrospective collection of short stories. One of the greatest American collections of the 20th century. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Random House: Regular-sized volume format. Hard boards with gilt titles embossed on spine, as issued. Text by Truman Capote. Introductory Essay, "Usable Answers", by the great American novelist Reynolds Price. The latter piece, which alludes to "Answered Prayers", appears in this edition only. Printed on archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. In wraparound DJ, which utilizes the great, Surrealist-inspired photograph of the 21-year-old Capote by Henri Cartier-Bresson, as issued. Presents "The Complete Stories of Truman Capote". Nothing less than some of the highest spots of modern American literature. Capote will always be remembered - rightly so - for his masterpiece, "In Cold Blood" (1965). Still, his short stories and his novellas, that is to say, his long short stories ("Other Voices, Other Rooms", "The Grass Harp", "Breakfast At Tiffany's", and in the end, "Answered Prayers") are among the enduring achievements by an American author whose life was tragically cut short by what amounted to a self-inflicted death from depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction. The inescapable interest in Capote The Celebrity tends to dilute and distract us from the greatness of Capote The Writer. Capote's model was Flaubert, and his stated goal was punitively Flaubert-ian: Literary perfection. There is no contemporary American writer who writes as magnificently as Capote did at the height of his powers. Fashionable American writers today denigrate his achievement because they can't do it, and we tend to hate what we cannot do. Includes "The Bargain", which appears in published form for the very first time. An absolute "must-have" title for Truman Capote collectors. This title is a great collection. It comes with a pristine copy of Strand Magazine's "Truman Capote's Unpublished Short Story". As far as we know, this is the only such set of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing and Strand Magazine Issue available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A scarce set thus. Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is widely regarded as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine set. (SEE ALSO OTHER TRUMAN CAPOTE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0679643109.
  • $77
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CONVERSATIONS WITH CAPOTE – Rare Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Capote, Truman (Author) & Grobel, Lawrence (Interviewer) 1st Printing. 244 pages. Published in 1985. The author's final collection of interviews, conducted just before he died. One of the most valuable author-interview collections of the 20th century. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Truman Capote's and Lawrence Grobel's "Conversations With Capote". Twelve witty and eminently quotable interviews conducted by the Playboy Magazine contributor/journalist shortly before Capote's sudden demise. In effect, his Last Words. Crammed with remarks that seesaw between Capote's justifiable pride (about what he achieved) as well as his crippling insecurity (about what he could and did not). Taken as a whole, this book amounts to an artistic credo and a confessional autobiography by one of the most controversial American writers of the 20th century, who also happens to be one of its greatest stylists. It is telling that Capote's reputation abroad has remained steadfast. In France, where Flaubert redefined writing as craft practiced at the highest level of perfection, Capote, the literary artist, endures. In Japan, where Yukio Mishima declared that Capote was one of a handful of truly great American writers, his fame is undimmed. In America, he has needed "revival" every now and then. That would usually be OK, except that American media, critics, and readers lavish fulsome praise upon fashionable, "difficult", and otherwise unreadable "post-modern" writers, so-called, whose work will not endure. An absolute "must-have" title for Truman Capote collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: The Number Line must include the Number 1. Do NOT be deceived by the "First Printing" statement that does not come with the complete number line. These are all later printings. Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with vintage black-and-white photographs. Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is widely regarded as one of the greatest books of the 20th century. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER TRUMAN CAPOTE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0453004946.
  • $55
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WINTER RECIPES FROM THE COLLECTIVE: POEMS – Rare Fine Set: Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing With Lovely Author’s Bookplate Signed by Louise Gluck And Copy of “Louise Gluck: Live Readings” Compact Disc (CD)

Gluck, Louise 1st Printing. Signed. 68 pages. Published in 2021. Rare Louise Gluck collectible set. A fine copy of "Winter Recipes From The Collective" First Hardcover Edition/First Printing, signed, with a pristine copy of the Souvenir Compact Disc (CD) of Louise Gluck's recorded readings for the Academy of American Poets. The author's thirteenth - and final - collection of poems. Louise Gluck's triumphant, post-Nobel Prize collection. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. The CD is also now rare. Presents Louise Gluck's "Winter Recipes From The Collective". Her valedictory message: How poetic wisdom sustains life itself. "Robert Frost said the work of poetry is 'getting into danger legitimately so that we may be genuinely rescued'. After half a century of sizing up the dangers that disturb the soul, Gluck is tending to the redemptive part of the poet's mission. In doing so, she is able to draw on the benefits of age: Looking back on past periods of darkness, she's in a position to tell us with some authority that they are survivable (and worth surviving). I imagine I'll be finding solace in this book for the rest of my life" (Andrew Chan). That is indeed quite moving. But surely, Louise Gluck does not intend to be your consoler/therapist, or poetry to be therapeutic, not intentionally at any rate. Her greatest achievement is precisely that she has found a permanent way out of the confessional mode - otherwise so irresistible - that most, not just some, contemporary American poets continue to wallow in, especially the "identity-politics"/"woke" kind (feminist, "patriotic"/uber-masculine, LGBTQ, etcetera). The point is not to reject identity, but to transcend it, in all of its narcissistic forms, as all great art does. "The book contains / only recipes for winter, when life is hard. In spring / anyone can make a fine meal" (Louise Gluck). Louise Gluck (unexpectedly) died on October 13, 2023 at the age of 80. An absolute "must-have" title for Louise Gluck collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen upon her bookplate by Louise Gluck. Supplied by Gluck herself, the bookplate is beautiful, is encased in its own protective sheet, and laid into the book. It comes with a pristine copy of the Academy of American Poets' "Louise Gluck: Live Readings" Compact Disc (CD), the only such copy available online. This title is a great collection. As far as we know, this is the only copy (with Signed Bookplate) of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing and CD available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: The brown "spotting" on the white DJ is printed, as part of the Chinese-inspired, rustic DJ design, NOT actual or real. Copies available online have very serious flaws, are in subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare set thus. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985 for "The Triumph of Achilles". Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for "The Wild Iris". America's Poet Laureate in 2003 and 2004. Winner of the Nobel Prize For Literature in 2020. One of the greatest poet/writers of our time. A fine collectible set. (SEE ALSO OTHER LOUISE GLUCK TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 037460410X.
  • $275
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L’UOMO VOGUE MAGAZINE: “THE NOW PROPORTIONS” SPECIAL ISSUE: “BIGGER THAN LIFE: LENNY KRAYZELBURG – Rare Fine Copy of The Landmark Magazine Issue – ONLY COPY AVAILABLE ONLINE

Weber, Bruce (Photographer); Krayzelburg, Lenny (Subject) & The Editors of Vogue Magazine 1st Printing. 345 pages. Published in 2001. Rare Bruce Weber, Lenny Krayzelburg, and Olympics collectible item. The L'Uomo Vogue Magazine February 2001 "The Now Proportions" Special Magazine Issue. Published in a small and limited "one-time-only" print run as a softcover original only. None of the copies was commercially sold outside Italy. There is no ISBN. The Magazine Issue is now rare. As one has come to expect of Italian publishing, the production quality is outstanding: Realized on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper and printed in Milan, Italy to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "L'Uomo Vogue: The Now Proportions: Bigger Than Life: Lenny Krayzelburg". Wow. Showcases and emphasizes, among other splendid coverage, an extensive (and exclusive) photospread of the dashingly handsome Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist (and now iconic figure), Lenny Krayzelburg. Twenty-plus pages of black-and-white and color photographs that show the legendary athlete, in various stages of undress, revealing more than he has ever allowed to be shown in any other dedicated media appearance. And as only Bruce Weber could have coaxed out of the shy and camera-conscious Olympic champion. Together with his coeval, the much more media-friendly Michael Phelps, Lenny Krayzelburg became the seductive embodiment of the perfection of the swimmer's build and natural good looks since at least Mark Spitz in the Seventies. The "Now Proportions" = Built like a swimmer rather than a bodybuilder = "Bigger Than Life" = Lenny Krayzelburg. This is an absolute "must-have" collectible, not just memorabilia, item for Bruce Weber, Lenny Krayzelburg, and Olympics collectors. This title is a contemporary photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: This is an Import title, was released in Italy only. As such, copies have always been quite difficult to find. Copies of vintage issues of L'Uomo Vogue Magazine are coveted, collected, and often command hundreds of dollars. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with photographic plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BRUCE WEBER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).
  • $55
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PER LUI EDIZIONE SPECIALE: BRUCE WEBER “SUMMER DIARY 1986” SUPPLEMENT – Rare Pristine Copy of The Per Lui Magazine Bruce Weber Supplement

Weber, Bruce (Photographer); Warhol, Andy (Artist); Isaak, Chris (Model) & The Editors of Per Lui 1st Printing. 300 pages. Published in 1986. Rare Bruce Weber collectible item. A pristine copy of the Per Lui Magazine Bruce Weber "Summer Diary 1986" Magazine Supplement. There is no ISBN. The Issue is now rare. Pictorial softcovers, as issued. Photographs by Bruce Weber. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in Italy to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Bruce Weber's "Per Lui Edizione Speciale 'Summer Diary 1986' Supplement". A celebration of the most beautiful men ever photographed, in archival Hollywood pictures from the Neal Peters & The G. Ray Hawkins Gallery Collection. Weber's collage-style format is cool, casual, spontaneous, and has not aged one bit since 1986. That's because every image is erotically charged, gods - and goddesses - oozing with sex appeal. The Hollywood film stars are shown on holiday in snapshots. They include now-legendary figures like Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, Warren Beatty, Elizabeth Taylor, Sal Mineo, and in a brilliant six-panel foldout, Montgomery Clift, Christopher Jones, John Wayne, Tab Hunter, Lauren Bacall, Elvis Presley, and Clint Eastwood. Bruce Weber mixed in "found" images from the underground, gay Physique Magazine as well as portraits of his writer/idols on holiday: Allen Ginsberg with his lifetime companion, Peter Orlovsky, and Paul and Jane Bowles with Truman Capote. All of Weber's own image gallery are of Hollywood types who would give any well-known star a run for his money, identified simply by their first names: Gerard, David, Greg, Shell, Robert, Justin, Claude, Mike, Carl, and Sasha (who gets the most coverage, wearing his signature polka-dot bikini briefs). Sasha is Sasha Mitchell, a Hollywood star-in-the-making by the time these photographs were taken. He is one of the sexiest men Bruce Weber has ever photographed, right up there with Jeff Aquilon, Andy Minsker, and Peter Johnson. This Supplement is the most collectible of the many issues devoted to, not just featuring, Bruce Weber's work for the magazine. It is rivalled only by the one with Andy Minsker on the Cover (Number 29/1985). For all intents and purposes, both Issues are full-fledged Bruce Weber books. An absolute "must-have" title for Bruce Weber collectors. This Per Lui Magazine "Summer Diary 1986" Supplement is a full-fledged Bruce Weber book and a great photography title. This is one of few copies still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen of an Issue that is usually found in very heavily used condition. So it is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Bruce Weber's "O Rio De Janeiro", the sexiest photography book ever published, was selected as one of the "Seminal Photography Books of the 20th Century" in the "Book of 101 Books". One of the finest photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BRUCE WEBER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG)
  • $275
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TRUMAN CAPOTE: IN WHICH VARIOUS FRIENDS, ENEMIES, ACQUAINTANCES, AND DETRACTORS RECALL HIS TURBULENT CAREER – Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by George Plimpton – SIGNED ON THE PAGE ITSELF

Capote, Truman (Subject) & Plimpton, George (Author/Editor/Chronicler) 1st Printing. Signed. 498 pages. Published in 1997. Massive Oral Biography on subject. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now rare. Presents George Plimpton's "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, And Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career". Engrossing and almost definitive as such. "Nobody can match George Plimpton as an adroit weaver of interviews into a tight narrative fabric. His book doesn't knock the biography, 'Capote', off the shelf, but it's so much more fun to read. Brimming with important literary history" (Tim Appelo). Another legendary writer explained to Plimpton why Capote was the Real Thing and F. Scott Fitzgerald's successor, despite the unavoidable distractions of celebrity and reality: "The scene stirring with rightness and strangeness, the compressed phrase, the exact yet imaginative word, the devastating metaphorical aptness, a feeling of concentrated excess which at the same time gives the effect of being crystalline" (James Dickey). About Plimpton: By the time he died in 2003, George Plimpton himself became one of the iconic American figures of our time. Prolific writer, Founder of The Paris Review, actor, ornithologist, athlete, and one of the closest friends of Robert F. Kennedy, he famously wrestled and pinned Sirhan Sirhan to the ground after the latter assassinated Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The basis of not one but two film classics, "Capote" (2005) by Bennett Miller, with Philip Seymour Hoffman in his Academy Award-winning performance, and "Infamous" (2006) by Douglas MacGrath, with Toby Jones, in an equalling enthralling performance. An absolute "must-have" title for Truman Capote and George Plimpton collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by George Plimpton. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are in multiple subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the best American writers of our time on one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER TRUMAN CAPOTE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0385232497.
  • $165
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HOW TO READ A POEM AND FALL IN LOVE WITH POETRY – Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing: Signed by Edward Hirsch – SIGNED ON THE TITLE PAGE

Hirsch, Edward 1st Printing. Signed. 352 pages. Published in 1999. Landmark collection of essays on subject. One of the best introductions to the art and achievement of poetry ever written in our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Edward Hirsch's "How To Read A Poem And Fall In Love With Poetry". His prose book on his poetic vocation. "Hirsch's guide to getting the most out of poetry is filled with inspiring examples and thousands of epigrams and allusions. Above all, he is intent on poetry's physical and emotional power. In chapters devoted to the lyric, the narrative, the poetry of sorrow, of ecstasy, of witness, Hirsch continually conveys the sheer ecstasy of this vital act of communication. Above all, there is the thrill of discovery as Hirsch offers up works by artists ranging from Anna Akhmatova to Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Bishop to Adam Zagajewski. I defy you not to fall in love with Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska on the basis of 'The Joy of Writing', which begins: 'Why does this written doe bound through these written woods? / For a drink of written water from a spring / whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle? / Why does she lift her head; does she hear something? / Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth, / she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips'. His introductions to Eastern European poets such as Jiri Orten, Attila Jozsef, and Miklos Radnoti will make you want to ferret out their hard-to-find work" (Kerry Fried). The appended Glossary and Extended Reading List are indispensable. An absolute "must-have" title for Edward Hirsch collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Edward Hirsch. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few such title-page signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are in multiple subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. "Earthly Measures" is regarded by Harold Bloom as one of the canonical works of the 20th century. One of the greatest poets of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER EDWARD HIRSCH TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0151004196.
  • $165