Rare books from James M. Dourgarian, Bookman

NY, Pynson Printers, December 1936, first edition.. This hardcover with marbled boards and orange cloth spine is the first separate printing of the Junius Maltby story from Steinbeck's second book, The Pastures of Heaven, Goldstone & Payne A2f, see Morrow 16, issued here with a new title and an epilogue written especially for this book by Steinbeck, it is one of only 370 copies for presentation by a number of subscribers to be used as a Christmas gift, it includes pen and ink drawings by Donald McKay, this is a most interesting Association Copy made at the request of Rockwell Kent who has Signed his name on the presentation page where the requester's name was to have been inserted, Kent then added the word "himself" in the area where the presentee's name was to have been filled in, Kent was the "house" artist for the Pynson Printers, the book is also Signed by Elmer Adler, F. B. Adams, and John Winterich, Sally and Rockwell Kent's modest bookplate affixed to the front pastedown, now housed in Kent's… Read More

NY, Viking, 1947, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. Second issue binding with the blindstamp on front cover the same shade as the rest of the binding, although a lot of readers get lost in Steinbeck's symbolism at the end of the book, it has broad moments when his writing is as sharp as ever, jacket designed by Robert Hallock, Goldstone & Payne A23a, variant 2, this binding not recorded by Morrow. Fine in a jacket with some soiling to rear panel, else fine.

NY, Viking, 1939, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. No book is more identified with John Steinbeck than this masterpiece which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and which was the source for the film version directed by John Ford that starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad and which won Jane Darwell an Academy Award for her portrayal of Ma Joad, the book was also the source for the Tony Award-winning Broadway play, one of the true high spots of 20th Century literature, jacket designed by Elmer Hader, this is an incredibly scarce Review Copy with review slip from Viking, this is the only review copy seen by this bookseller in more than 50+ years of being involved in all things Steinbeck, see Goldstone & Payne A12a, see Morrow 107. Fine in a jacket with a couple of small tape ghosts from where the review slip was previously affixed, jacket is otherwise clean, bright, and fine.

London, Heinemann, 1937, first British edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. Blue pictorial jacket designed and illustrated by Michael Rothenstein printed in pink and black and with pink endpapers and top edge stained pink (Goldstone & Payne state that the top edge is stained blue with the jacket printed in black only, noting a variant in a white jacket printed in pink and black with the top edge stained pink and with pink endpapers), G&P A7c, Morrow 60 . Very good.

NY, Viking, 1961, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. This was his last novel, this morality tale is generally credited as securing him the Nobel Prize for Literature, jacket is illustrated by Elmer Hader who also illustrated the dust jackets for Steinbeck's The Long Valley and The Grapes of Wrath, Goldstone & Payne A38b, Morrow 252. Very good plus.

London, Heinemann, 1939, first British edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. With the very scarce wrap-around band noting this was a Book Society Fiction Choice, this copy with a small slip affixed to the title page that is Inscribed by John Steinbeck ("For L. Downing/John Steinbeck"), Goldstone & Payne A12b, Morrow 108. Near fine.

NY, Crown, 1946, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover.. Includes Frank Butler's screenplay for A Medal for Benny in its entirety, includes credits, setting, and text, 589-648, it also includes b&w photos from the film which was based on a story by John Steinbeck and his boyhood friend, Max Wagner, Goldstone & Payne B45, not recorded by Morrow, it also includes the screenplays for Lost Weekend, Spellbound, Double Indemnity (Raymond Chandler), and several others. Very good.

NY, The Century Co., 1903, early edition.. Brown cloth with leather label, TEG, includes essays and addresses, with frontispiece photo portrait of Roosevelt, this copy Inscribed by Roosevelt ("Lyman L. Pierce Esq./with regards of/Theodore Roosevelt"), Pierce was considered the originator of the fund-raising campaign, he was widely regarded as one of the country's foremost philanthropic fund raisers, conducting the first ever capital campaign for the YMCA raising more than $60 million in the early 1900s, laid in loosely is one of Pierce's business cards as General Secretary of the Washington, D. C. YMCA. Minor wear, else about fine.

NY, Viking, 1962, first edition, wrappers. Softcover.. Frontispiece photo portrait of Steinbeck, one of 3,200 copies printed, Goldstone & Payne A40a, Morrow 269, this copy Inscribed by Steinbeck under his frontispiece photo, very scarce thus. Fine.

n.p. (NY), n.p. (The Viking Press), n.d. (1944), first edition, wrappers. Softcover.. Advance copy, an uncorrected galley proof, bound in plain, unprinted tannish wrappers, printed on rectos only, a very scarce advanced state of this minor, or not so minor, Steinbeck masterpiece whose themes of death and loneliness are masked by its surface layer of humor, all the more rare in that this is an Author Presentation Copy, Inscribed by Steinbeck to the best man at his second marriage, Howard O. Hunter, who was the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioner in the early 1940s under the FDR administration, Steinbeck and his second wife, Gwen Conger, were married March 29, 1943, just 11 days after receiving his final divorce decree from his first wife, Carol, Steinbeck has Inscribed the first preliminary as follows, "For Howard/who really/belongs in/Cannery Row/John Steinbeck/last night in New York 1944," this galley lacks all the preliminaries found in the 1945 published version such as half titles,… Read More

NY, Macmillan, 1922, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover.. One of 4,348 copies, frontispiece of a young Jack London as a sailor, the book is illustrated by G. M. Richards, interestingly, the jacket indicates that the book is aimed at ages 12-15, the book includes a preface by his widow, Charmian, dated in 1922, the date of publication, this group of stories includes Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan which she notes as the first London story ever written for publication, jacketed copies of London's first editions are scarce. Book fore edge soiled, else a very solid copy while the jacket has uniform soiling, small chipping at edges, and the front flap is oddly cut, as usual, not affecting text.

NY, Robert O. Ballou, 1933, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover.. First issue of his third book, one of only 598 copies actually bound and sold, Goldstone & Payne A3a, Morrow 22, endpapers, title page vignette, and dust jacket illustrated by Mahlon Blaine, this book is Steinbeck at his most powerful and his most mystical. Black top edge stain still very black, book cloth somewhat mottled, jacket with one short tear, this is a very pleasing and attractive copy of a very scarce book.

San Francisco, X-Ray Book Company, n.d. (1996), first edition, wrappers. Softcover.. Hand-sewn wrappers, No. 277 of 300 numbered copies (there were also 26 lettered copies), this reprints Thompson's obituary of Timothy Leary which was originally published in "Rolling Stone," Signed by "John B" who is the designer (along with Karoline Schleh), printed by hand in New Orleans by the New Orleans School of GlassWorks and Printmaking Studio, tipped onto the inside rear wrapper is a faux acid blotter sheet showing Leary's likeness in a multitude of small squares. Fine.

Tulsa, The Mid-West Printing Company, 1938, first edition, wrappers. Softcover.. Issued as part of the American Guide Series, compiled by workers of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in the state of Oklahoma then headed by Jim Thompson who went on to be best known as author of hardboiled crime fiction, most being paperback originals now highly sought, he was "discovered" generally after his death in 1977, films including The Getaway and The Grifters were made from his works,Thompson was director of the Oklahoma Federal Writers Project, Louis L'Amour worked under his direction, this was one of at least three books worked on by Thompson for the WPA as its Oklahoma director, this book precedes both his first short story appearance and his first hardcover, Now and On Earth. Slight fade to spine, else a fine, crisp, clean copy of a very scarce book.

NY, New American Library, 1985, first ediiton, dust jacket. Hardcover.. Includes four early novels by King writing as Richard Bachman (Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man), includes an introduction by King titled "Why I Was Bachman," includes b&w illustrations of each of the paperback originals. Slight age to pages, fine.