- Keyword = Literary biographies
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THE ART OF BURNING BRIDGES: A Life of John O'Hara.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. dj. Hardcover first edition - A biography which "reveals not only the hugely complicated man in full but also his rightful place in our contemporary attention - a portrait of the artist that illuminates both the process of fiction and an era still vivid in our cultural history." A handful of O'Hara's books have survived - but after getting perhaps more attention than he deserved during his live, maybe he is not getting enough now. Illustrated with photographs, notes, bibliography, index. Review copy with Wolff's photo laid in. xxii, 373 pp. ISBN: 0-679427716.
Condition: Very near fine in a near fine dustjacket (ends of spine somewhat pushed, but otherwise a very tight and clean copy)
Book ID: 78634More details Price: $18.50 -
INVISIBLE WRITER: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Dutton, (1998) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first full-length authorized biography of Oates, one which examines the relationship between Oates's life and work - Johnson was granted access to her letters and journals, as well as extensive interviews with family, friends, colleagues, and Oates herself. Notes, selected bibliography of books by and about Oates, index. xx, 492 pp. ISBN: 0-525941630.
Condition: Fine in a fine dust jacket (as new.)
Book ID: 77007More details Price: $25.00 -
SELECTED LETTERS.
Edition: First printing.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket (a new copy.)
Book ID: 35510More details Price: $25.00 -
THE LATE MRS. DOROTHY PARKER.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Macmillan, (1986.) dj. Hardcover first edition - "The First Complete Biography of America's Wittiest Woman." Photographs, bibliography, index. 345 pp. ISBN: 0-02-5413104.
Condition: Very near fine in a near fine dustjacket.
Book ID: 56938More details Price: $18.00 -
SYLVIA PLATH: Method and Madness.
Edition: Paperback.
New York: Pocket Books, (1977.). The first full biography of the gifted poet Sylvia Plath, whose life was cut short by her suicide at the age of thirty. Photographs, notes, index. 443 pp. ISBN: 0-671-809326.
Condition: Very good (usual toning to the pages, light spine creases.)
Book ID: 43096More details Price: $10.00 -
PAIN, PARTIES, WORK: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953
Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )
New York: Harper Collins, (2013). First edition - Based on interviews with others and on previously unexamined sources, this is a detailed look at a young Sylvia Plath and the month that would lay the groundwork for her novel, The Bell Jar. "In May of 1953, a twenty-one-year-old Plath arrived in New York City, the guest editor of Mademoiselles annual College Issue. She lived at the Barbizon Hotel, attended the ballet, went to a Yankee game, and danced at the West Side Tennis Club. She was supposed to be having the time of her life. But what would follow was, in Plaths words, twenty-six days of pain, parties, and work, that ultimately changed the course of her life." Illustrated with photographs and drawings. Notes, bibliography. 262 pp.
Condition: Fine in illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 78272More details Price: $20.00 -
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER: A SENSE OF THE TIMES.
Edition: First printing.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 85561More details Price: $25.00 -
INFANTS OF THE SPRING: The Memoirs of Anthony Powell.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, (1977.) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first volume in his autobiographical series "To Keep the Ball Rolling." Powell who is best known for his landmark 12 volume series of novels, 'Dance to the Music of Time, ' was an Eton classmate of George Orwell and Cyril Connolly and a contemporary of Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and many others. Although this first volume of the memoirs only takes Powell to the age of 20 when he left Oxford for London, his commentary covers other periods and this book is notable for its 'memorials' to Orwell, Maurice Bowra and Connelly. llustrated with photographs. Index. 214 pp. ISBN: 0-030209919.
Condition: Very good in very good dust jacket (gift inscription, price-clipped.)
Book ID: 47577More details Price: $18.00 -
DAWN POWELL: A Biography.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Henry Holt, (1998.) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The first full-length biography of this mid-century American author (Hemingway called her his favorite living author) whose work was almost unknown until a fairly spectacular revival in the 1990's. Gore Vidal called this biography 'not only a distinguished work in itself but [it] illuminates one of our most brilliant - certainly most witty - novelists, whose literary reputation continues to grow long after her death; we are catching up to her.' Frontispiece and glossy photographic inserts. Notes, bibliography, index. INSCRIBED by Page on the title page and dated March 2002 in Charlottesville. 362 pp. ISBN: 0-8050-5068x.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 88208More details Price: $50.00 -
A WHOLE NEW LIFE.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Atheneum, (1994) dj. Hardcover - An account of a 'mid-life collision with cancer and paralysis' by this noted writer, originally published in 1994. Includes a selection of 'revelant poems.' 213 pp. ISBN: 0-689-121970.
Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket .
Book ID: 59034More details Price: $16.50 -
THE PASSION OF AYN RAND.
Edition: Early printing.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986. dj. Hardcover - Barbara Branden and her former husband Nathaniel were among Ayn Rand's closest friends and professional colleagues, publishing 'The Objectivist' with her, and so this biography is based on personal knowledge as well as many hours of taped interviews. Photographs, index. 442 pp. ISBN: 0-385-191715.
Condition: Good in very good dust jacket (some highlighting and underlining).
Book ID: 54067More details Price: $12.50 -
PARALLEL LIVES, Five Victorian Marriages.
Edition: Trade paperback.
New York: Vintage Books, (1984.). Each of the couples in this study included one famous writer - John Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle, John Stuart Mills, Charles Dickens and George Eliot (nee Marian Evans), whose scandalous marriage was the sole happy one. Notes, bibliography, index. 318 pp. ISBN: 0-394-725808.
Condition: Near fine.
Book ID: 45495More details Price: $11.50 -
PARALLEL LIVES: Five Victorian Marriages.
Edition: Trade paperback.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, (1984.). Each of the couples in this study included one famous writer - John Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle, John Stuart Mills, Charles Dickens and George Eliot (nee Marian Evans), whose scandalous marriage was the sole happy one. Notes, bibliography, index. 308 pp. ISBN: 0-394-725808.
Condition: Near fine.
Book ID: 82271More details Price: $11.50 -
LOST IN PLACE: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia
Edition: First printing.
New York: Random House, (1995.) dj. Hardcover first edition - This account of his early life in Connecticut begins ' when I was 13 years old I saw my first kung fu movie and I decided the life of a wandering Zen monk was the life for me.' A wonderful memoir - 'Salzman recalls his tortured years so fondly, so self-deprecatingly and so humorously that readers will devour this delightful look backward with smiles on their faces.' 169 pp. ISBN: 0-679439455.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 34175More details Price: $15.00 -
LOST IN PLACE: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia
Edition: First printing.
New York: Random House, (1995.) dj. Hardcover first edition - This account of his early life in Connecticut begins ' when I was 13 years old I saw my first kung fu movie and I decided the life of a wandering Zen monk was the life for me.' A wonderful memoir - 'Salzman recalls his tortured years so fondly, so self-deprecatingly and so humorously that readers will devour this delightful look backward with smiles on their faces.' 169 pp. ISBN: 0-679439455.
Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket (price-clipped.)
Book ID: 40359More details Price: $12.50 -
THE RUIN OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Clarkson Potter, (1969) dj. Hardcover first edition - A book based on research into the Ballantyne family papers (the Ballantyne brothers served as Scott's copy editor, printer and literay agent, as well as being lifelong friends), which concludes that Lockhort's biography of Scott was incorrect and that Scott himself was responsible for his financial ruin. Frontispiece portrait and 8 pp of inserted illustrations. Bibliography, index. 290 pp.
Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket (few spots on top edge of textblock)
Book ID: 84104More details Price: $17.50 -
PRIVATE SHAW AND PUBLIC SHAW: A Dual Portrait of Lawrence of Arabia and G.B.S.
Edition: 3rd printing.
New York: George Braziller, 1963. dj. Record of an unusual literary friendship from when they first met in 1922 when Shaw was 66, Lawrence 34, until Lawrence's death in 1935. 302 pg, index, references.
Condition: Good in worn dust jacket. (book- edge wear, corners bumped, dj- edge waer, slightly faded)
Book ID: 14509More details Price: $18.00 -
EDGAR A. POE: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance.
Edition: Uncorrected proof (trade paperback format. )
Condition: Near fine in printed orange wrappers (minor wear to covers) with date of publication and number of pages hand-corrected on front cover. Publisher's material laid in. An uncommon advance issue.
Book ID: 86216More details Price: $30.00 -
A BOY NAMED SHEL: The Life & Times of Shel Silverstein.
Edition: First printing.
New York: St Martin's, (2007.) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first biography of this complex writer, best known for his poetry books for children - The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends - but also a man with an incurable wanderlust who exceled in many genres - music lyrics, playwriting, cartooning and more. Illustrated with photographs. Notes, index. 237 pp. ISBN: 0-312-353596.
Condition: Very near fine in fine dust jacket (some light toning to the pages).
Book ID: 84158More details Price: $20.00 -
THE BIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Doubleday, 1977. Hardcover first edition - Photographs, index.
Condition: NF/VG.
Book ID: 4479More details Price: $25.00 -
LOST IN AMERICA.
Edition: First printing.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981. dj. Hardcover first edition - Memoir by this Nobel prize winning author of his days as a young man in Poland in the 30s dreaming of getting to America, the sometimes perilous trip there, and the community he found in New York City, including his older brother, the author I. J. Singer. Illustrated with both full color paintings and black and white drawings by Raphael Soyer. A handsome production, printed on coated glossy stock, illustrated endpapers. 259 pp. ISBN: 0-385157568.
Condition: Fine in near fine dust jacket (price-clipped)
Book ID: 85832More details Price: $28.50 -
WORLD WITHIN WORLD.
Edition: Hardcover.
New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1951. dj. Hardcover - Autobiography of the poet - with vivid portraits of many of the writers he knew, including Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden - as well as a discussion of the appeal of leftist politics, his travels and more. Index. 312 pp.
Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket (prev owner's name, some light edgewear to dj.)
Book ID: 25609More details Price: $17.50 -
WORLD WITHIN WORLD.
Edition: Hardcover.
New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1951. dj. Hardcover - Autobiography of the poet - with vivid portraits of many of the writers he knew, including Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden - as well as a discussion of the appeal of leftist politics, his travels and more. Index. 312 pp.
Condition: Very near fine ingray cloth in a near fine dustjacket. (original price of $3.50 on dj flap)
Book ID: 88843More details Price: $20.00 -
LINCOLN STEFFENS, a Biography.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974. dj. Hardcover first edition - Detailed account of the life - and beliefs - of one of America's first investigative journalists, the Sacramento born reporter who led the group that Teddy Roosevelt called 'muckrackers.' Illustrated with photographs. 380 pages including index and notes.
Condition: Good in a good dustjacket (some spotting to edges of textblock, gift inscription, pc.)
Book ID: 13808More details Price: $18.00 -
WALLACE STEGNER: HIS LIFE AND WORK.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Viking, (1996) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first full-scale biography of this important America writer, one which explores both his life and his literary legacy. Drawing on nearly ten years of research, hundreds of hours of interviews, and unlimited access to his papers, this authorized biography traces the trajectory of Stegner's life from his prairie childhood in Saskatchewan to his teenage years in Salt Lake City, to his career as an award-winning writer, historian and environmentalist, who among things founded Stanford University's Creative Writing Program. Photographs, Notes and documentation, Index. xx, 472 pp. ISBN: 0-670862223.
Condition: Very near fine in a like dustjacket (previous owner's name)
Book ID: 88026More details Price: $25.00 -
THEY NAMED ME GERTRUDE STEIN: A Biography.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1973. dj. Hardcover first edition - Photographs, index, bibliography. ix, 134 pp. ISBN: 0-374-374678.
Condition: Good overall in near fine dust jacket (many penciled marginal notations, some underlining in pencil.)
Book ID: 63428More details Price: $18.50 -
BLOOMSBURY / FREUD: The Letters of James and Alix Strachey, 1924 - 1925.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Basic Books, 1985. dj. Hardcover first edition - A combination of a study of the early years of psychoanalysis, and a love story told in letters between these early English translators of Freud. Photographs, apendices, glossary, index. 360 pages. ISBN: 0-465-007112.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 18374More details Price: $20.00 -
HORACE WALPOLE.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Macmillan, 1927. Hardcover first edition - A title in the new series of 'English Men of Letters' under the Editorship of Mr. J.C Squire. Index. 229 pp.
Condition: Very good in beige cloth, no dust jacket.
Book ID: 71374More details Price: $12.50 -
THE SKULL OF SWIFT: An Extempore Exhumation.
Edition: First US printing.
Condition: Very good in tan boards with paper label on spine (front flap only of dj laid in)
Book ID: 87999More details Price: $18.50 -
MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS TO MARY.
Edition: Trade paperback.
New York: Columbia University Press, (1963.). Letters written to Mary Benjamin Rogers, the daughter-in-law of one of his closest friends, Henry H. Rogers, and an 'honorary niece,' between 1900 and 1910 during the last decade of his life.Edited with extensive biographical commentary by Lewis Leary. Photographs, index. 138 pp.
Condition: Very good- in illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 39036More details Price: $10.00