There is a deceptively simple goal for the collector of first editions: to obtain the earliest printed form of a work of literature, in as close to the condition it was in when it first appeared in bookstores as a new book. Dig deeper, though, and you find that the first edition collector also has an interest in ...
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London: Acorn Press, (1982). Octavo. (176)pp. One of 350 copies. Each sonnets is headed by a wood engraving in orange or brown by Weissenborn. Typeset by the Whittington Press and printed by the Rocket Press. Bound in gray cloth with printed paper over boards. Fine in matching slipcase. More
Kentfield, CA: Allen Press, 1972. Small folio. 74pp. One of 130 copies. Printed in Uniciala and Solemnis type on handmade rag paper from the Richard de Bas mill in France. Illustrated with three color copperplate etchings by Michele Forgeois, signed and numbered in pencil. According to the Allen Press Bibliography... More
(N.p. Flagless Editions, 1984). 16mo. (21)pp. One of 167 copies. Cover illustration based on an unfinished series of lithographs by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. The text of this unusual alphabet poem was written by John Lennon in February 1969 for inclusion in the portfolio Bag One. Designed and printed... More
Lexington, KY: Anvil Press, 1993. Octavo. x, 107pp. One of 40 copies in bindings hand-painted by Carolyn Hammer and Paul Holbrook, from an edition of 75 copies printed by Hammer, in Victor Hammer's American Uncial typeface, the rest (in marbled boards) of which were given away as gifts. With initialed... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1991. Quarto. (88) pp. Translated by Ezra Pound. Introductory essays by Hugh Kenner and Lowry Nelson, Jr. Illustrated with a color etching by Joseph Goldyne. One of 150 copies signed by the artist. A very fine copy in green cloth and tan goatskin. Prospectus laid in... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2009-2010. Small quarto. Two volumes: 574; 627pp. One of 400 copies. Signed by the artist at colophons of both volumes. Illustrated throughout with etchings by Wiley, whose style captures the romance, and tinge of humor, that runs through the narrative. Wiley created the prints by scratching... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2008. Quarto. (96)pp. One of 275 copies. Illustrated with two photographs, two etchings by Frank Lobdell, and an etching with aquatint by Lobdell in a separate folder that accompanies the book. In the prospectus for this edition, Andrew Hoyem notes that this is the first time... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2016. Folio. 225, (2)pp. One of 300 copies. Introduction and translation by Mark Polizzotti. In this, Flaubert's comedic final novel, two mid-nineteenth century copyists begin to conduct improbable experiments based on misinformation gathered from random readings. Reflecting the occupations of the heroes, all pages of the... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1992. Large quarto. 63pp. One of 200 numbered copies, each signed by the author, Allen Ginsberg, and the artist, Ronald Brooks Kitaj. Illustrated with lithographic portraits of the poet and his mother by Kitaj. Two other poems, "White Shroud" and "Black Shroud" are also included, as... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2003. Square quarto. (126)pp. One of 400 copies signed by the poet and the artist. Sol Lewitt has supplied 48 drawings, one for each poem. Introduction by Helen Vendler. A very fine copy in gray cloth printed in black with dark gray cloth slipcase printed in... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1998. Octavo. 121pp. Introduction by Thomas Pinney. One of 250 copies signed by the artist. Illustrated with 32 drawings by Vincent Perez, one facing each page of the story. A fine copy in sailcloth, housed in a very good mailing envelope with string-and-button tie. Prospectus laid... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1992. Quarto. 117pp. One of 400 copies signed by the author and the artist. Illustrated with five wood engravings, four of them full page, by Michael McCurdy. A fine copy in blue-green cloth with a ring of silver foil surrounding an actual buffalo-head nickel. Prospectus laid... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2002. Octavo. One of 400 numbered copies. This edition is based on the second edition of Paradise Lost—issued in 1674 with the text divided into twelve books rather than ten as in the first edition—and also on the Baskerville edition of 1759. Edited by the eminent... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1994. Quarto. 284pp. One of 200 copies. Nabokov's novel, presented as a poem with commentary and an index, pushes the form of fiction and "metafiction", and has been widely praised as the best demonstration of his genius. Bound in purple silk with gold circular onlay and... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2013. Small quarto. 150, (3)pp. One of 300 copies. Signed by the illustrator. Hammer's twenty-four images are suitably crude, often blending rough animal imagery with "civilized" items, such as a pig's feet with glasses and a tripe with a bow-tie. With an introduction by Peter Stansky... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2014. Octavo. 15pp. One of 300 copies printed as a keepsake for distribution to members attending the Joint Meeting of the Roxburghe and Zamorano clubs in San Francisco in November 2014, to subscribers of the Arion Press, and to the Roth family. In green paper wrappers... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1993. Large quarto. 143 pp. One of 300 copies signed by the author and illustrator. Illustrated throughout by Stan Washburn. A very fine copy in pictorial boards and goatskin spine; mylar wrapper. Lacks accompanying CD "The Music of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind" by... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2001. Oblong quarto. xvi, 115 pp. One of 400 copies signed by the author and the artist. Illustrated with four reproductions of watercolor landscape views by William Matthews. Foreword by the author. A fine copy in green cloth with paper labels and matching slipcase. Prospectus laid... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1996. Quarto. x, 121pp. One of 250 copies signed by the author. Illustrated with three photographs of Vidal as a seaman in the war. A very fine copy in navy blue cloth with paper label; pictorial dust wrapper, near fine with half-inch tear its only flaw... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2013. Octavo. 178, (ii) pp. + 20pp. of illustrations. One of 400 copies. Signed by Lucy Gray, whose twenty photographs were printed by offset lithography in two colors and overlaid with varnish. Gray is married to film historian and critic, David Thomson, who contributed the Introduction... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2004. Octavo. 309pp. One of 300 copies. Signed by the illustrator, photographer Stephen Shore. Shore's photographs depict scenes from modern New York City: walkways, monuments, stoops, and balconies. These images bring the novel's Gilded Age characters into the present, suggesting that their whims and worries exist... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2006. Folio. 65pp. One of 300 copies. Signed by Wiley. Illustrated throughout with fifty color plates, each with five lines of text beneath which offer exposition on the play's events. Wiley's artwork embraces the absurdism of Beckett's original work; while the illustrations and accompanying text propose... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1990. Quarto. xxviii, 173pp. One of 400 copies signed by the illustrator. Richard Diebenkorn has supplied six etchings, comprising a double map of Ireland and five images on the Yeatsian theme of the empty coat. Tiny scuff to upper spine, else fine in green cloth with... More
Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1954. First edition. Publisher’s file copy with statement stamped on front free endpaper. A science fiction murder mystery in which a robot detective is teamed with a human counterpart. Although Asimov is best known for his science fiction work, he also dabbled in mystery. A...... More
NY: Gnome Press, 1951; 1952; 1953. First editions of the Foundation Trilogy. All of the books are in first issue bindings and bright, unrestored dust wrappers. The third volume is inscribed by the author: “Best wishes / Isaac Asimov.” The Foundation Trilogy is perhaps the best-known science fiction series and... More
