Search Results: Essays from Le Bookiniste, ABAA-ILAB-IOBA

Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1968. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo (8 1/8 x 5 1/2 inches; 208 x 140 mm), 252, [6] pages, in blue cloth, titles in gilt to spine, in an unclipped, printed dust jacket. INSCRIBED by the author on the half title: "To Virginia Elliott / With best wishes / Dan Wakefield." Snapshots and vignettes from 1968 about the state of the United States, "a nation at war halfway around the world, at war with itself and about to choose its leaders for the next four years." (From the front flap). Wakefield (1932-2024) was a wonderful storyteller with an eye for the absurd. Or, as an admiring review in The New York Times put it, "Mr. Wakefield is a caustic viewer of the American scene. His stance is that of an amused Gulliver reporting on strange and exotic cultures, and he describes their antic and fantastic character with surprised and diffident wonder." (Thomas Lask, The New York Times, June 8, 1968, page 29). Signed copies of this book are uncommon. CONDITION: Tiny black dot… Read More

New York: International Publishers, 1948. First Edition. With a dust jacket. Octavo, 64 pages.This slim volume features blunt, disparaging assessments of Sartre, Mauriac, Malraux, and Koestler from a Communist perspective. Example: "The big bourgeoisie in decay delights in the erotic obsessions of a Henry Miller or the intellectual fornications of a Jean-Paul Sartre." (Page 61). Actually, you can tell what's coming just from the title, "Literature of the Graveyard." And the book was issued by the Communist Party USA's publishing arm. Translated from the French by Joseph M. Bernstein. Garaudy (1913-2012) had a rather unusual intellectual journey: He was a French Communist who fought in the Resistance, converted to Islam in the 1980s, and gained notoriety late in life as a Holocaust denier.CONDITION: Very Good, with heavy rubbing to the top right corner of the front board and crinkling to rear end papers, in a Near Fine dust jacket with a small chip on one corner and two tiny closed tears. An attractive copy.

Small Quarto (9 1/4 x 6 inches; 235 x 155 mm), 244 pages, quarter cloth over boards, in an unclipped, printed dust jacket.
SIGNED by Nadine Gordimer on the title page. In this collection of essays, she writes about various aspects of her life as a public figure, as an anti-apartheid activist, as a member of the African National Congress, and as an advocate for dissident writers around the world. Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature.
CONDITION: Fine in a Fine dust jacket.

New York: Random House, [1973]. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo (8 1/2 x 6 inches; 210 x 150 mm), xix, 419 pages, in red cloth, titles to spine, light blue top stain. With a dust jacket (hard cover).SIGNED by Truman Capote on the front end paper. A collection of Capote's essays, travel réportage, as well as short sketches of such notables as Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Ezra Pound, Louis Armstrong, Jean Cocteau, and others. A terrific collection by a master stylist. SCARCE SIGNED. CONDITION: Near Fine in a Very Good or better dust jacket. A bit of edge wear and some offsetting to the bottom edge from the dark blue end papers. The price-clipped dust jacket has some soiling, especially to the rear panel as well as a crease in the rear flap.

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1912. Later printing. SIGNED by Maurice Maeterlinck on the title page. Ten essays reflecting the Belgian writer's interest in mysticism and symbolism, with chapters on silence, morality, women, inner beauty, etc. Introduction by A.B. Walkley, translated by Alfred Sutro. This edition in English was published in 1912, one year after Maeterlinck (1862-1949) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Actor Jack Palance previously owned this copy; his bookplate from the 2006 sale of his collection is attached to the front free end paper. PHYSICAL DETAILS: Small Octavo (7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 195 x 130 mm), pp. xviii, 224, [2], in publisher's original decorated green cloth, titles in gilt to front board and to spine, top edge gilt (hard cover).CONDITION: Rubbing to cloth extremities, small tears and ink stains to a couple of pages, not affecting any text, two leaves partially unopened, top edge a bit dusty. Very Good or better. Overall, an attractive copy signed by Maeterlinck.

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1920. First Edition, First Printing. 16mo (6 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches; 173 x 110 mm), xviii, [2], 155, [1] pages, in publisher's original blue cloth, with gilt lettering on the spine and lacking the rare dust jacket.
T.S. Eliot's essays on a variety of topics, including Christopher Marlowe, Hamlet, poetic drama, Dante, Ben Jonson, and on the nature and practice of criticism. First state, with Methuen, the name of the publisher, 3 mm from the bottom of the spine.
CONDITION: Minor foxing to end papers and page edges; creasing to front board; rubbing to boards and spine. A Very Good copy.

New York: Random House, 1964. First Edition, First Printing.
A collection of essays written between 1945 and 1964, focusing on literature and folklore, especially the African-American experience.
PHYSICAL DETAILS: Octavo, xxiii, 317, [2] pages.
CONDITION: Small tear in cloth near bottom of front board where it meets the spine, a bit of rubbing to front board, some soiling to top edge. The price-clipped dust jacket has a couple of nicks and tears and soiling to rear panel. Overall, a Very Good copy.

New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1965. First American Edition, 1st Printing.
Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches; 215 x 145 mm), 371, [1] pages, in gray cloth, titles to spine, in a pictorial dust jacket. Essays by the French philosopher on André Gide, Albert Camus, Paul Nizan, Alberto Giacometti, Nathalie Sarraute, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Renaissance painting, Translated from the French by Benita Eisler. Editions Gallimard originally published this book in France in 1964 as Situations 4. CONDITION: Near Fine with some rubbing to the cloth panels and spine ends along with a bit of soiling to the spine. Internally, clean, bright, and unmarked. The unclipped dust jacket has light edge wear and some soiling to the spine and lower panel.