Search Results: Titles starting with N from Ed Smith Books

Norfolk Island: Island Heritage Limited, 1976. First edition thus. A very good copy (front hinge cracked). 4to. Inscribed on the front blank by Carol A. Jenkins to Madeleine (L'Engle) and Hugh Franklin (husband) and dated "3-25-1977". The first book written by Winona Beamer (1923-2008). Winona was a champion of authentic and ancient Hawaiian culture, publishing many books, musical scores, as well as audio and video recordings on the subject. In her home state, she was known as Auntie Nona. She was an early proponent of the ancient form of the 'hula' being perpetuated through teaching and public performances. Illustrated, with ribbon marker. 196 pages. Bound in yellow leather, a.e.g. with gilt decorations. Edited by Murry Engle. Musical Notation by Zillah S. Young, Carol A. Jenkins and Kalehuamakanoe Harward.

New York: Wm Morrow, 1969. First edition. Hardcover. A fine tight copy in a very nearly fine, first issue dust jacket (with reviews for The Gospel Singer, his first book, on the back panel). The first issue of the author's second book (without the two dots on the copyright page). Tells the tale of a corrupted paradise, the Florida peninsula town of Garden Hills, which once flourished as the site of the world's largest phosphate mine and now is nearly abandoned, decrepit. Crews draws great characters here; Fat Man, the town's impotent king, a Metrecal addict and frightened conservative, Dolly, the town's queen, its seductive virgin. They both battle for control of the land. This is the author's rendition of 'Silent Spring'. 212pp.

New York: Scribner, 2004. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. A luminous, true story and an unparalleled account of grief and secret love: the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and of a young woman struggling to define herself in the wake of his loss. As children, siblings Alison and Roy Smith were so close that their mother called them by one name, Alroy. But when Alison was fifteen, she woke one day to learn that Roy, eighteen, was dead. Heartbreaking but hopeful, this extraordinary memoir explores the aftermath of Roy's death: his parents' enduring romance, the faith of a deeply religious community, and the excitement and anguish of Alison's first love—a taboo relationship that opens up a world beyond the death of her brother.

New York: Harper Collins, 2000. First edition. Paperback. A fine copy. Proof copy. A slim 129 page novel that is darkly comic, beautiful and haunting. In decorated wrappers, as issued.

London: MQP, 2007. First edition (stated). Hardcover. A fine copy in dust jacket. Aline Kominsky Crumb. Thick small 4to. Here, Aline draws on her remarkable body of comic strips over the past four decades, many featuring her self-effacing character Bunch. She records her wild and crazy journey that took her from her beginnings as a nice Jewish girl from Long Island to kinky Greenwhich Village in the sixties, and then to California, the legendary land of sex, drugs, and underground comic books, and finally on to her medieval chateau in the south of France. A no-holds-barred hilarious and outrageous graphic memoir she faithfully chronicles her dysfunctional fifties childhood, failed first marriage, studies at art school, and family life with husband R. Crumb and their daughter Sophie. A unique blend of comics, art, photographs and memorabilia, and portrays the movers and shakers (and the jerks) of the art and music worlds from the sixties to present. Measures 7 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches, 384pp.

New York: Bantam, 2011. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. The Battle of Guadalcanal has long been heralded as a Marine victory. Now, with his powerful portrait of the Navy's sacrifice, James D. Hornfischer tells for the first time the full story of the men who fought in destroyers, cruisers, and battleships in the narrow, deadly waters of "Ironbottom Sound." Here, in stunning cinematic detail, are the seven major naval actions that began in August 1942, a time when the war seemed unwinnable and America fought on a shoestring, with the outcome always in doubt. Working from new interviews with survivors, unpublished eyewitness accounts, and newly available documents, Hornfischer paints a vivid picture of the officers and enlisted men who opposed the Japanese in America's hour of need. The first major work on this subject in almost two decades, Neptune's Inferno does what all great battle narratives do: It tells the gripping human stories behind the momentous events and… Read More

New York: Blue Rider Press, 2015. First edition. Hardcover. A nearly fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket. Signed by Jewel on a special bound in sheet. When Jewel's first album, 'Pieces of You', topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. Drawing comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with more than thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life, and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. Living on a homestead in Alaska, Jewel learned to yodel at age five, and joined her parents' entertainment act, working in hotels, honky-tonks, and biker bars. Behind a strong-willed family life with an emphasis on music and artistic talent, however, there was also instability, abuse, and trauma. At age fifteen, she moved out and tasked herself with a mission: to see if she could avoid being the kind of statistic that her past indicated for her future.… Read More

New York: FSG, 1961. First edition. Paperback. Tiny vertical folds at foredge on a few pages, otherwise the book (the signatures) are very good plus, the jacket is very good with chipping at the spine crown affecting the B and E of the author's name. The signatures of the book laid into a dust jacket (advance copy?). The author's third published novel, a semi-autobiographical campus novel that is set in the Pacific Northwest. 367 pages.

New York: Ballantine, 1957. First edition. Hardcover. A very good copy in beige cloth with red spine stamping in a very good dust jacket with some rubbing and soiling on the rear panel. The second volume in this series. Includes poetry by Richard Wilbur, Louise Bogan, John Holmes, Mark Van Doren,Phyllis McGinley, Langston Hughes, May Sarton and Louise Simpson as well as Elizabeth Bishop, E. E. Cummings, Babette Deutsch, Donald Hall, Galway Kinnell, Carolyn Kizer, William Stafford, and Samuel Yellen, among others. 179 pages.

London: Orbit, 2004. First edition. Hardcover. A nearly fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. A stand-alone space opera, charting the struggle for human survival in a universe dominated by post-human intelligence. 369 pages.

New York: Doubleday, 2019. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Signed by Colson Whitehead on the title page. This novel is based on the real story of the Dozier School, a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and had its history exposed by a university investigation. It was named one of TIME's best books of the decade and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'. In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife,… Read More

New York: Doubleday, 2019. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. This novel is based on the real story of the Dozier School, a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and had its history exposed by a university investigation. It was named one of TIME's best books of the decade and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'. In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1978. Uncorrected Proof Copy. Paperback. A very good plus copy in the original perfect bound wrappers with darkening around the edges. Small 8vo. Uncommon proof copy. This provocative and funny look at exploitation and corruption, journalistic ethics, freedom of the press, and marital infidelity is set in a fictional, copper-rich African nation. Dick Wagner of The Sunday Globe and a competing freelance journalist arrive at the jungle home of a white mine owner. Soon they are competing for the use of their host's telex, the attentions of his wife, and a possible interview with the missing president of Kambawe. 94 pages.

New York: Linden Press, 1987. First edition. Paperback. A fine copy. Advance uncorrected proofs perfect bound in the original light tan printed wrappers. From Hollywood B-movies to Hollywood classics, A Night at the Movies invents what "might have happened" in these Saturday afternoon matinees. Mad scientists, vampires, cowboys, dance-men, Chaplin, and Bogart, all flit across Robert Coover's riotously funny screen, doing things and uttering lines that are as shocking to them as they are funny to the reader. As Coover's Program announces, you will get Coming Attractions, The Weekly Serial, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, and more, but turned upside-down and inside-out.

New York: Doubleday, 2011. First edition. Hardcover. A nearly fine copy in a nearly fine clean dust jacket. This copy is signed and inscribed by the author (on the page after the copyright page). A fantasy novel originally written for the annual writing competition National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) over the span of three competitions. The novel has a nonlinear narrative written from multiple viewpoints. A phantasmagorical fairy tale set near an historical Victorian London in a wandering magical circus that is open only from sunset to sunrise. Le Cirque des Reves (The Circus of Dreams) features such wonders and "etheral enigmas" as a blooming garden made all of ice, acrobats soaring without a net, and a vertical cloud maze where patrons who get lost simply step off and float gently to the floor. The circus has no set schedule, appearing without warning and leaving without notice; they travel in a train disguised as an ordinary coal transport. A network of devoted fans styling themselves… Read More

New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1981. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket (one crease to the bottom of the front flap). It is the end of the 70s and in the town of Chamisaville, Progress has triumphed. However, there is one holdout, but at 83 and over his head in debt, Eloy Irribarren, the last Chicano farmer, can't hold out much longer. By the author of The Milagro Beanfield War and The Magic Journey.

Bellevue: o-kaisha Publishing, 2021. First edition. Hardcover. A near fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket in a near fine publisher's slipcase. Oblong small folio. This copy is inscribed on the title page, "Shawn & Scott / You Guys are the best / family always comes first / friends are forever / Warmly / Scott." Successful businessman Scott Oki found that his daily practice of composing haiku provided a sustaining and relaxing form of meditation. As his volume of work grew, Scott looked for ways to not only share his art, but to help others. In this large volume are 225 Haiku poems that are not only entertaining and enlightening, but has revealed that Oki has a unique talent of packaging big and small issues into a mere 17 syllables.

New York: Knopf, 2005. First edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Set in our own time along the bloody frontier between Texas and Mexico, Llewelyn Moss, an antelope hunter near the Rio Grande, finds men shot dead, a load of heroin and more than $2 million in cash. Packing the money out, he knows, will change everything, But only after two more men are murdered does a victim's burning car lead the sheriff to the carnage out in the desert. Then Moss realizes how desparate he needs protection for his family. One party in the failed transaction hires an ex-Special Forces officer to defend his interests against a mesmerizing freelancer, while on either side are men accustomed to spectacular violence and mayhem. Basis for the Cohen Brothers film directed by the brothers Joel and Ethan, that stars Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tess Harper, and Kelly MacDonald.

New York: Bloomsbury, 2007. First U. S. edition. Hardcover. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Bad-boy chef and best-selling author Anthony Bourdain hits both familiar culinary hotspots and out-of-the-way gems in his global quest for the ultimate dining experience. Along the way, Bourdain offers his perspective on both the food and the local customs he comes across in his travels. Bourdain shined in his 9-part Emmy Award winning series documenting his finds. 288 pages illustrated in color.

New York: Viking Press, 2019. First edition. Hardcover. A near fine copy, with a slight bump to top front corner in a near fine dust jacket. This copy is signed by DiFranco on a page tipped in after the front blank (signed sticker to the front of the dust jacket). In this, her memoir, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman's eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani's coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence--from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own… Read More