[Rarebooks] A Few Samples from our current Sale List

[Allington Books]

Below please find a few selections from our current Sale List.

Please place orders at our Allington Books site where you will find the
rest of the Sale List by going to our Home Page and clicking "SALE LIST"
found under "Categories" (on the left side of our Home Page).

Best Wishes,

Stephen
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC

*Bellow, Saul*. *Mr. Sammler's Planet*  WAS $165. New York: The Viking
Press, 1970. First edition. ISBN: 0-670-49322-8. *PRESENTLY DISCOUNTED. WAS
$165.*    A Fine copy of the first edition, first printing (slight age
fading to the extremities and quite minor fading to the topstain) in a Fine
dust jacket. The novel centers on Holocaust survivor and intellectual Mr.
Artur Sammler who must deal with difficulties arising from his being a
refined and civilized man caught in an uncivilized world full of "crazy"
people and great human suffering. With respect to the novel, Joyce Carol
Oates wrote that she particularly admired "the conclusion of Mr. Sammler's
Planet, which is so powerful that it forces us to immediately reread the
entire novel, because we have been altered in the process of reading it and
are now, at its conclusion, ready to begin reading it." Three times a
winner of the National Book Award for Fiction (for this work as well as for
"The Adventures of Augie March" and "Herzog"), Saul Bellow also won the
1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (for "Humboldt's Gift") and the 1976 Nobel
Prize in Literature "for the human understanding and subtle analysis of
contemporary culture that are combined in his work". (One of America's
greatest writers, Bellow is the only author to have won the National Book
Award three times as well as the only author ever to have received a
nomination for the Award six times.) A Fine copy. Fine in fine dust-jacket.
Hardcover. (#00003615)       * $75.00*

*Wolff, Tobias*. *Ugly Rumours* [*Signed*]  WAS $950. London: George Allen
& Unwin Ltd, 1975. First edition. *PRESENTLY DISCOUNTED. WAS $950.*    A
Fine copy of the first edition, first printing (some pushing to the spine
ends, tiny elevation to upper left corner of the rear board -- a
publisher's defect), in a Very Good dust jacket (a closed tear to the upper
right portion of the spine, minor edge wear, some wrinkling to the upper
left of the front panel, some surface pushes and a spot of soil to the rear
panel), *SIGNED BY TOBIAS WOLFF* on the title page and there placed and
dated by him "Portland, April 24, 1987"; Tobias Wolff's first book, a novel
which he disdains, would not allow to be issued in the United States, and
which he insists be omitted from any list of prior works set forth in his
later books. In consequence of the foregoing, signed copies of the book are
scarce. A Fine copy in a Very Good dust jacket, SIGNED BY TOBIAS WOLFF.
SCARCE. Fine in very good dust-jacket. Hardcover. (#00003613)        *
$485.00*

*Wister, Owen. Padre Ignacio or The Song of Temptation* [*Signed*] WAS
$550. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1911. First edition. *PRESENTLY
DISCOUNTED. WAS $550*.    A Very Good copy of the first edition, first
issue, in the Publisher's original gray boards, with a decorative scene
including the title and author name applied to the front board (general
rubbing, particularly to the spine ends and board corners, some scratches
to the front board's decoration, frontis tissue foxed with transferrance to
the frontis and to the title page) married to a surprisingly nice example
of the delicate and scarce glassine dust jacket on which was printed the
book's title and author (loss at spine ends including the title but with
Wister's name surviving, loss across top of rear panel, some general wear,
nevertheless a remarkable survival), *PRESENTED, SIGNED, AND DATED BY OWEN
WISTER* on the front free endpaper as follows: "Miss Alice Richards[?] /
from / Owen Wister [with a following flourish line] / May 6th, 1912" with
date underlined by Wister; the seventh novel by the author of "The
Virginian", considered by many to the the Father of Western fiction. While
signed limited editions of Wister's books are readily available, signed
copies of his trade editions are not. Signed copies of Padre Igancio are
particularly scarce, any copy in the dust jacket is scarce, and signed
copies wearing the delicate glassine dust jacket are immensely difficult to
find. A Very Good copy, SIGNED BY OWEN WISTER. QUITE SCARCE. Very Good in
very good dust-jacket. Hardcover. (#00003471)        *$195.00*

*Gordon, Mary. Final Payments* [*Signed*] WAS $150. New York: Random House,
1978. First edition. *PRESENTLY DISCOUNTED. WAS $150*.    A Fine copy (one
corner just very lightly tapped), in a Fine dust jacket (wrapped ever so
slightly to the left), *SIGNED BY MARY GORDON* on the title page. A Fine
copy of Mary Gordon's well-received debut novel. Signed copies in this
condition are quite difficult to find. A Fine copy, SIGNED BY MARY GORDON.
Fine in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover. (#00001179)       * $49.00*

*O'Flaherty, Liam* [*Ó Flaithearta, Liam*]. *The Life of Tim Healy* [*Signed
*] Was $850. London: Jonathan Cape, 1927. First edition. *PRESENTLY
DISCOUNTED. WAS $850*.    A Very Good + copy (some fading to spine and
outer edges of front board, mild wear, paper clip rust stain to top of
half-title mildly penetrating to face of each adjoining page), in a not
quite Very Good dust jacket (edge wear, large chip to front panel, tape
reinforcement to verso (inside edge) at spine ends and folds), *SIGNED BY
LIAM O'FLAHERTY* on the front free endpaper; O'Flaherty's biography of Tim
Healy (Timothy Michael Healy), the famed Irish nationalist politician,
controversial Member of Parliament, and the first Governor-General of the
Irish Free State (which at its creation comprised the entire island of
Ireland). Liam O'Flaherty was one of the key Irish writers of the first
half of the last century, and a major figure in the Irish literary
renaissance. One of the scarcest, if not the scarcest, of all of
O'Flaherty's books, quite uncommon with the book this nice, even more
scarce in the dust jacket, quite scarce signed, and as scarce as hen's
teeth when both in the dust jacket and signed. A Very Good copy, SIGNED BY
LIAM O'FLAHERTY. QUITE SCARCE. Very Good + in very good dust-jacket.
Hardcover. (#00002223)        *$375.00
*

*King, Jr., Dr. Martin Luther* WAS $13,500. *A Comparison of the
Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman*
WAS $13,500            [an Association Copy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's
Doctoral Dissertation---Rare]. Boston: King, Dr. Martin Luther, 1955. First
edition.* PRESENTLY DISCOUNTED. WAS $13,500*.    An extraordinarily rare
"original" copy of Martin Luther King's Doctoral Dissertation, of which
very few copies are known to exist---- as best we can determine, only one
other copy is held in private hands. (It is our understanding that
"original" copies also exist at Stanford University, and the original
Dissertation is, of course, at Boston University where Dr. King received
his degree in 1955.)  Martin Luther King, Jr. submitted this controversial
document "in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy". A historically significant document, the
Dissertation's serious authorship issues were not raised until 1989, long
after Dr. King's untimely death. Consequently, accusations that Dr. King
plagiarized major portions of his Dissertation were not generally known to
the public, but did garner the attention of scholars. Boston University,
the institution that awarded Dr. King his degree, conducted an
investigation and determined that he did, indeed, plagiarize major portions
of his Dissertation. Upon doing so, the University attached a letter to Dr.
King's Dissertation in the University Library noting that numerous passages
were included without the provision of appropriate quotations and citations
of sources (studiously avoiding any use of the term "plagiary"). This
"original" copy was made using an early fusion system photocopier and is on
white paper with a flower petal design on the back. As this copy is from
the Estate of Dr. King's literary agent, Joan Daves, we speculate that this
copy has one of two possible sources: either it was part of Dr. King's
original dissertation submission in 1955 and created at Boston University
or the copy was made by Joan Daves. (Joan Daves was a literary agent of
great note, and was much respected in the trade, serving as agent for a
number of important authors including Willie Morris, Kathryn Porter, and
others, and was the only person to accompany Dr. King on his trip to
receive his Nobel Prize in 1964--when he became the youngest person ever to
receive the Prize.)  We speculate that Dr. King provided his Dissertation
to Joan Daves with a view to its possible publication, and that she then
discovered the Dissertation's discrepancies and decided against
publication. We can imagine no reason for her to have a copy other than
with a view to its publication, and no other reason for her not to publish
such a surefire seller. Consequently, this copy sat quietly through the
years in the great agent's files. (An annotated version of the Dissertation
has since been published.) Though the pages are age toned and have a few
minor nicks and expected tiny corner folds, together with some inoffensive
markings and other minor evidence of paper clips once used to hold the
pages in place, the document is in nice condition. This offering presents a
rare opportunity for the collector to obtain an extremely early copy
(likely the earliest copy obtainable) of the Dissertation that put "Doctor"
in the name of, (and, at least for the balance of his life, and likely
thereafter, enhanced the credibility of) one of the World's most important
persons, one whose efforts changed the course of History. A rare
opportunity, indeed.  Very Good +. no binding. (#00001161)        *$6,500.00
*

*Mamet, David*.* Writing in Restaurants* [*Signed*] WAS $150. New York:
Viking, 1986. First edition. *PRESENTLY DISCOUNTED. WAS $150.*    A Fine
copy, in a Near Fine dust jacket (some light fading to spine and adjacent
portion of rear panel), *SIGNED BY DAVID MAMET* on the title page. David
Mamet's debut book of nonfiction, a collection of essays in which he
describes what life in the Theatre is like. Signed copies of the book are
uncommon, and are especially so when in a condition this nice. A Fine copy,
SIGNED BY DAVID MAMET.  Fine in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover. (#00002152)
    *$49.00*


-- 
Stephen Johnson
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC
Rare and Collectible Books, both Antiquarian and Modern
336-414-0435