Search Results: Authors starting with W from ReadInk

London/New York: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. Very Good in Very Good dj. 1985 (c.1983). 1st U.K. ed. Hardcover. [corners bumped, otherwise nice and clean, except for a gray stain of undetermined origin along the rear gutter (interior binding); jacket somewhat rubbed, mild wear/wrinkling along top edge, 1/2" tear at top right edge of front panel, a couple of diagonal creases in front flap]. Uncommon British edition of the author's highly-regarded first novel, SIGNED and dated (July 31, 1987) by the author on the title page, with an additional authorial inscription and first-name signature. Signed by Author .

New York: William Morrow & Co.. Very Good in Very Good- dj. 1983. First Edition. Hardcover. 0688015484 . [ex-library, minimally marked as such (just a "discard" stamp on the rear fep) but with other traces, notably large glue stains on both pastedowns (and bleeding through both jacket flaps), the single letter "F" on the ffep, and a tiny scar on the rear fep (from removal of some sort of label, I presume); the jacket itself, aside from the aforementioned glue stains, is quite presentable, with just some minor soiling, one small tear at top of rear panel, one tiny tear at top of front panel]. "The intensely human story of [this book] takes place in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York, during a four-month span of the summer and fall of 1977. Joseph Lazaro, at twenty-seven, is these things: Vietnam vet and husband, meter reader for Brooklyn/Queens Water Resources and resident of Richmond Hill, the neighborhood in which he was born and raised. This brilliant first… Read More

Philadelphia/New York: J. B. Lippincott Company. Very Good+. (c.1938). First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [tight clean copy, mild shelfwear to bottom edge]. Rather scarce novel, illuminating a "daring" theme that was "completely new to fiction" -- i.e., artificial insemination. "Cindy Gaylord was in her second year of college when tragedy broke the rhythm of her young life. She was beautiful and rich, but neither of these assets was of help to her when her father was murdered. The sordidness of the trial and the defection of her fiance brought complete disillusionment and Cindy's reaction to the corroding bitterness was utter revulsion toward men. She inherited her father's flair for finance and his deep love of music which offered her much solace in her dark hours. A chance discussion gave Cindy her first knowledge of trends in modern science toward reproduction through scientific means. When Mrs. Gaylord died, Cindy felt she must have… Read More

Beverly Hills CA: Wagner Publishing Company. Very Good-. 1938. (Vol. XX, No. 474). Magazine. [some insect-nibbling to the surface of the front cover (no impact on text or graphics), otherwise just lightly worn]. (cartoon drawings, ads) A more-or-less typical issue of Wagner's long-running magazine of arts and culture, which was sort of (but not quite) a Southern California version of The New Yorker. The most notable feature of this issue (headlined on the cover) was an interview with Leon Trotsky, then living in exile in Mexico City. The interview, just one page long, was conducted by Gladys Lloyd Robinson, one of the magazine's regular columnists, on August 18, 1938, at Trotsky's then-residence, the home of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo; Ms. Robinson also contributed an additional short article in which she describes the circumstances of the interview. (Trotsky would move out of Rivera's house the following April after the two had a falling-out, to a nearby house where… Read More

New York/London: The Macmillan Company. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. (c.1963). First Edition. Hardcover. NOISBN . (price-clipped, although price remains visible) [good sound copy, moderate shelfwear to bottom edge; jacket shows some wear at spine ends, one-inch diagonal closed tear at top left corner of front panel, with associated wrinkling/creasing across top edge of front panel, also small closed tears at both top corners of rear panel]. Scarce novel set on the campus of the fictional "Lincoln College, purveyor of education to the vast multitudes of New York City's youth, the people with the unpronounceable names and the flat pocketbooks, who flow in daily by subway." The story, a tract against the technological orientation of the city's municipal colleges, revolves around the abrupt removal of a popular veteran English Lit professor from his classroom for "conduct unbecoming," and the subsequent efforts of some of his associates and students to get him… Read More

New York: Harper Entertainment. Fine in Near Fine dj. (c.2008). 3rd printing. Hardcover. [nice tight copy, apparently unread, with no discernible wear; jacket is similarly nice, blemished only by a tiny puncture-tear at the left edge of the front panel near the top, and some very minor edgewear along the top edge]. (B&W and color photographs) INSCRIBED fulsomely and SIGNED by the author on the half-title page: "For my friend ____ -- / with my best regards / yours -- always / Robert Wagner / R.J." Signed by Author .

Warsaw (Poland): Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe. Fine. (c.1996). 1st Edition (English version). Hardcover. (two volumes without dustjackets (as issued), in cardboard slipcase) [books are in perfect condition; the slipcase very close to it, with just slight bumping to one corner (the set was in the original shrinkwrap when received by us, which was removed only to permit proper cataloguing)]. (B&W and color photographs, sketches) Beautifully-produced two-volume survey of the ouevre of the great Polish filmmaker (who passed away earlier this year), lavishly illustrated with (mostly full-page) color and black-and-white photographs, as well as numerous reproductions of Wajda's own drawings. (Most of the photos are the work of Renata Pajchel.) The text (entirely in English in this edition) is wide-ranging, including production histories, Wajda's own reminiscences and musing, review excerpts (many translated from Polish), full credit information, etc.--it's really the most… Read More

Chicago: Academy Chicago. Very Good+. 1982 (c.1978). 1st American Edition (trade pb issue). Softcover. [modest external wear, internally clean except for a tiny smudge on the title page, and the previous owner's name plus date & place of purchase and brief reading notes written in ink on inside back cover]. Trade PB Stories by "one of the greatest writers of ghost stories this century, and one of the most neglected," who August Derleth once called perhaps "the last major representative of a ghost story tradition that began with Sheridan Le Fanu and reached its peak" with M.R. James. [who was "described by August Derleth as perContents: "The Red Lodge"; "'He Cometh and He Passeth By'"; "Professor Pownall's Oversight"; "The Seventeenth Hole at Duncaster"; "'Look Up There'"; "Blind Man's Buff"; "Day-Dream in Macedon"; "Damp Sheets"; "A Black… Read More

London/New York/Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co.. Fair. 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a reading/reference copy only; a well-worn book, hinges cracked but holding, slight exposure of boards at several corners, some staining to the first few pages; an ex-library book (rental library?), with the jacket blurb affixed to the front pastedown, the remnants of a removed circulation label on the front endpaper, and a pocket with circulation card on the rear pastedown]. Novel about a middle-aged Jewish lawyer in an unnamed American city (the only clue we're given is that it's next to one of the Great Lakes), whose "family has been rooted in an American community" for generations, and who "has been married for twenty years to a gentile, and [whose] two children are of the Protestant American world." In the course of the novel, triggered by a near-tragedy in his family, he gradually has his eyes opened to societal prejudice against Jews, and becomes… Read More

New York/Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc.. Fair. (c.1938). First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a decent reading/reference copy only, solidly bound but with a big stain surrounding the base of the spine, and some fading to the spine; vintage bookseller's rubber stamp (Bertrand Smith Acres of Books, Long Beach, Calif.) on front pastedown]. Uncommon novel, "a selection of The Discoverers," about a struggling Russian-Jewish immigrant on New York's Lower East Side, and later in Mississippi, spanning the period 1893-1916. (Hanna 3652) Waldman published a sequel, "Broad is the Way," the following year; both books seem to have been largely overlooked by scholars of American immigrant literature. .

Dallas TX: Royal Publishing Company. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. (c.1966). First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean copy, extremely light wear at base of spine; jacket shows mild edgewear, a little browning along spine]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author at the top of the ffep, below which the book's previous owner has added his signature; laid in is a copy of a pre-publication promotional flyer for the book. First (and possibly only) novel by this Texas native (born in Brice, resident of Pampa) who was an elder in the Church of Latter Day Saints. The publisher's blurb calls it "one of the most authentic and colorful books ever to be written about folks of the Texas Panhandle," and further notes that "many poignant memories will be enjoyed as the reader shares the adventurous lives of Darr Jordan and Jody Pengrafter as they grow up through the dusty depression and then as soldiers in the war against Japan. [The book] is filled with colorful folklore, peculiar to… Read More

New York: Liveright Publishing Corp.. Near Fine in Very Good dj. (c.1941). First Edition. Hardcover. NOISBN . [clean, solid copy, minor wear at extremities; jacket rubbed, edgeworn, rear panel moderately soiled, minor chipping/wrinkling at top of spine]. Novel set in Boston in 1721, with "the vigor and excitement of this lusty period of our early life portrayed in its full value. [The book] does not ruthlessly debunk nor does it too lightly gloss over the evils and prejudices of the early life in the colonies. Many outstanding American characters appear in this novel, Benjamin Franklin, Cotton Mather, Dr. William Douglass, and others. There is also described in very interesting detail the home life, slavery, social customs and the politics of the period." (The main theme of the book is a love story between "young Dr. Nathaniel Webb and his sweetheart Bethiah Rainford, a love that eventually overcomes the objections of her conservative brother, the Reverend Holdfast… Read More

London: Michael Joseph. Very Good in Very Good dj. 1977. First Edition. Hardcover. 0718115937 . [good sound copy, light shelfwear to bottom edge, small red lip print on bottom edge of text block (presumably a remainder mark); jacket moderately rubbed, no tears or chips, a touch of wrinkling along top edge of front panel]. (pen and ink drawings) The author's second book about dogs, and his first about the "grueling but hilarious adventures" of the title pooch, a mongrel pup rescued from drowning in Leeds, England, who subsequently "became a delinquent in the back streets of Leeds, the instinct for survival gradually taking over and replacing his trust in humans." .

Romford (UK)/Studio City CA: Ian Henry Publications / Players Press. Near Fine in Fine dj. (c.1994). First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean copy with no discernible wear to either book or jacket; the book would be Fine but for a previous owner's initials and date & place of purchase written in ink along the edge of the rear pastedown (concealed by the rear jacket flap)]. Sherlock Holmes is accused by a young lady of "writing her poison pen letters and harassing her in other ways." He denies these charges, and upon investigating discovers the existence of a duplicate of himself. .

Hollywood CA: The ASC Press. Fine in Good dj. 1984. First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean book in virtually as-new condition; the jacket shows some wear along the edges (and has a couple of tiny tears along the top edge), and the front panel has endured some unfortunate spotting and soiling (although it doesn't look too bad in its new mylar cover)]. (B&W photographs) Memoir of one of Hollywood's great cinematographers, active from the late 1910s through the early 1950s, who among his other achievements photograph 18 of director Frank Capra's 24 feature films, including IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, LOST HORIZON and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Foreword by Barbara Stanwyck, one of the many beneficiaries of Walker's camera wizardry. .

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.. Very Good. 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a very presentable book with only light external wear, but a number of internal "enhancements" added by a former owner, notably his name & date and circumstances of purchase in ink on the front endpaper, plus a photocopied review of the book (from The American Chow Chow Magazine, March 1976) affixed with tape to the inside front cover; the book also has some moderate foxing to the edges of the text block, but is otherwise nice and clean inside]. (B&W photographs) The faux memoirs of a real dog, a Chow who was born on Long Island in 1908 and lived until 1924, and was, in his day, one of the most famous dogs in the world. In addition to being a New York show dog, Chi-Chi accompanied his wealthy owners, Evander Berry Wall and his wife (the latter the "editor" of this book), on their European travels, "meeting many famous people and living in the finest hotels. [The… Read More

New York: A.L. Burt Company. Very Good in Very Good dj. (c.1931). Reprint. Hardcover. [lightly shelfworn, a little foxing to bottom and fore-edge of text block; jacket shows modest wear at edges and corners, a little soiling to front panel]. Wallace potboiler (aren't they all?) about "a burglar, a ruthless murderer [who] would have robbed his own mother, the local poor-box and the King of England with the same degree of pleasure and skill." Striking but, alas, unsigned jacket art; the style is familiar, but I can't come up with the associated name. .

Crossville IL: Henry J. Wallace. Very Good. 1967. Second Edition. Softcover. [short diagonal crease at upper right corner of front cover, slight bumping to lower right corner, some sun-browning along spine, minor soiling to rear cover, faint stain on fore-edge]. (B&W photographs, maps) A history of the achievements of the Wabash Valley Association (formed in 1957) in the area of water management in the Wabash River Valley region of Indiana and southeastern Illinois. Affixed to the front endpaper is a brochure with a beautiful fold-out color panoramic illustration, to give the reader "an idea of what a watershed is and how it should behave." .

New York: Simon and Schuster. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. 1960. First Edition. Hardcover. [light shelfwear, modest browning to pages (due to cheap grade of paper used), minor scrunching to top corners of a small section of pages; jacket chipped at top of spine (no loss of text), a little additional wear and creasing at top corners, general edgewear]. INSCRIBED generically ("Best - ") and SIGNED by the author on the front free endpaper, relatively uncommon thus. The titular "Report" -- inspired by Kinsey's -- was a nationwide study of the sex lives of American women, and specifically "what happens when Dr. Chapman and his associates come to a California suburban community to complete their survey." Basis for a tame and almost laughably unsexy 1962 film adaptation, directed by George Cukor, which provided Jane Fonda with one of her earliest film roles, as a frigid young widow. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played the Kinsey figure, who gets a little too involved… Read More

Garden City NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.. Good in Fair dj. 1955. First Edition. Hardcover. NOISBN . [book only moderately worn, but front hinge split and front cover hanging on by webbing only; jacket is worn, internally damp-stained, various tears and chips, paper loss at spine extremities]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by Melvin Belli on the ffep. Signed by Biographee .