New York: Macmillan, (1965.) dj. Hardcover - Although this autobiography of growing up poor and Black in Harlem is now a classic at the time it was written, when Brown was still a young writer, just barely out of Harlem, it was a revolutionary and enlightening book. His goal was to "talk about the first Northern urban generation of Negroes... to talk about the experience of a misplaced generation, of a misplaced people in an extremely complex, confused society." . 415 pp.
Condition: Ex-library with markings and reading wear, but in a dustjacket with tape repairs to the end of the spine of the dj, price-clipped, etc. Despite the flaws, a sturdy and good reading copy.
Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, (1994.) dj. Hardcover first edition - An account of Gold Rush-era Chinese prostitutes, which looks at these women as complex human beings rather than as commodities, as working women and objects of anti-Chinese sentiment. Based on census schedules, newspapers, government documents, literary sources, missionary records. Illustrated with photographs and reproductions of drawings. Extensive notes, bibliography, index. xix, 300 pp,. ISBN: 0-806126531.
New York: Random House, (2011) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first book to be published in the US by this award-winning author, born in Nigeria and living in Belgium at the time of publication. Originally published in Dutch as "Fata Morgana" in 2007, this is "the story of four very different women who have left their African homeland for the riches of Europeand who are thrown together by bad luck and big dreams into a sisterhood that will change their lives.. . . Pledged to the fierce Madam and a mysterious pimp named Dele, the girls share an apartment but little else, each focused on earning enough to get herself free, to send money home or save up…
New York: Random House, (2011) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first book to be published in the US by this award-winning author, born in Nigeria and living in Belgium at the time of publication. Originally published in Dutch as "Fata Morgana" in 2007, this is "the story of four very different women who have left their African homeland for the riches of Europeand who are thrown together by bad luck and big dreams into a sisterhood that will change their lives.. . . Pledged to the fierce Madam and a mysterious pimp named Dele, the girls share an apartment but little else, each focused on earning enough to get herself free, to send money home or save up for her own future. Then, suddenly, a murder shatters the still surface of their lives." 254 pp. ISBN: 978-1400068333.
London: Andre Deutsch, 1989. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Although these stories are based in San Francisco, this UK edition is the true first of Vollman's second book - a massive book at 541 pgs - and one with a small 1st printing of reportedly only 1250 copies. Vollman is a fantastic writer, in many senses of the word - perhaps the beginning of his preface will best give a hintof this book: "These stories are about skinheads, x-ray patients, whores, lovers, fetishists and other lost souls. Some of you will not like them, but I ask you to consider the wise words of that forceps philosopher, Robert Gilmore McKinnell: 'While it would be inappropriate to dedicate a…
London: Andre Deutsch, 1989. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Although these stories are based in San Francisco, this UK edition is the true first of Vollman's second book - a massive book at 541 pgs - and one with a small 1st printing of reportedly only 1250 copies. Vollman is a fantastic writer, in many senses of the word - perhaps the beginning of his preface will best give a hintof this book: "These stories are about skinheads, x-ray patients, whores, lovers, fetishists and other lost souls. Some of you will not like them, but I ask you to consider the wise words of that forceps philosopher, Robert Gilmore McKinnell: 'While it would be inappropriate to dedicate a vade mecum to a group of cold-blooded vertebraes, perhaps a kind word would not be out of order.' " SIGNED on the title page by the author. While Vollmann, one of the most fascinating and interesting of modern writers, had long been a cult favorite, in 2005 he received the prestigious National Book Award for fiction. ISBN: 0-233-983511.
New York: Atheneum, 1989. dj. Hardcover first edition - His second book. Vollman is a fantastic writer, in many senses of the word - perhaps the beginning of his preface will best give a hint of this book: "These stories are about skinheads, x-ray patients, whores, lovers, fetishists and other lost souls. Some of you will not like them, but I ask you to consider the wise words of that forceps philosopher, Robert Gilmore McKinnell: 'While it would be inappropriate to dedicate a vade mecum to a group of cold-blooded vertebraes, perhaps a kind word would not be out of order.' " While Vollmann, one of the most fascinating and interesting of modern writers, had long been a cult…
New York: Atheneum, 1989. dj. Hardcover first edition - His second book. Vollman is a fantastic writer, in many senses of the word - perhaps the beginning of his preface will best give a hint of this book: "These stories are about skinheads, x-ray patients, whores, lovers, fetishists and other lost souls. Some of you will not like them, but I ask you to consider the wise words of that forceps philosopher, Robert Gilmore McKinnell: 'While it would be inappropriate to dedicate a vade mecum to a group of cold-blooded vertebraes, perhaps a kind word would not be out of order.' " While Vollmann, one of the most fascinating and interesting of modern writers, had long been a cult favorite, in 2005 he received the prestigious National Book Award for fiction. 541 pp. ISBN: 0-233-983511.
New York: The Viking Press, (2000.) dj. Hardcover first edition - Massive novel by one of our best and most innovative modern writers - from the front flap: "Henry Tyler is a failing private detective in San Francisco. When the love of his life, a Korean-American woman named Irene - who happens to be married to his brother John - commits suicide, he clings despairingly to her ghost. Struggling to turn grief and guilt into something precious, he employs his professional skills to track down the supernatural Queen of the Prostitutes, who first gives him a false Irene (in reality a heroin-poisoned whore), and then herself." 780 pp. Dust jacket photograph by William Vollmann. ISBN: 0-670891673.
Condition: Fine in a fine dust jacket (as new, but with a remainder line.)
UNSUBMISSIVE WOMEN: Chinese Prostitutes in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco.
ON BLACK SISTERS STREET.
THE RAINBOW STORIES
