Welcome to Alexander Rare Books

Literary Firsts & Poetry

I am a full-time bookseller specializing in literary firsts, especially poetry, important fiction, fine printing and publishing ephemera; with a particular interest in signed/inscribed books, association copies, books by and about Vladimir Nabokov, and advanced and uncorrected proof copies.

All domestic orders are shipped free of charge. Overseas shipped at approximate cost. You can usually reach me by phone during the day, from 8 to 8 ET. I enjoy talking directly with my customers, and am happy to answer questions by phone or email. Although I do not have an open shop, customers are very welcome by appointment.

I accept PayPal (most credit cards, through the shopping cart on this site or via an electronic invoice), money orders or checks. Libraries are billed according to need.

I am always buying interesting books, individually and as a collection, in my field of interest.

Want lists in my field are welcomed. If you would like to be on my mailing list (both paper—quarterly, and/or electronic—somewhat more often) please let me know.

Featured Items

Black Mountain College 1941 - 1942.
Wunsch, W. Robert (rector); Joseph Albers et al.
Price: US $300.00
Black Mountain College,, Black Mountain, NC:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Wraps
Edition: First edition

44 page catalog for academic year 1941-1942. Orange stapled wrappers, printed in white. Contribution card laid in. Spine with minor wear, else about f... Details

BUGGER
Sanders, Ed (ed.); Allen Ginsberg; Ted Berrigan et al .
Price: US $150.00
Fuck You Press,, New York:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Side-stapled yellow wrappers (multiple colors used); mimeograph. Ginsbeg, Berrigan, Sanders, Padgett, Harriman, Fowler, Keys, Fainlight and Szabo. 400... Details

THE COLLECTED POEMS.
Stevens, Wallace.
Price: US $850.00
Knopf,, New York:

Book Condition: Fine in Near Fine DJ
Edition: First edition

Maroon cloth stamped in gold and silver, yellow top stain; 8vo. . 2500 numbered copies (this no. 827). ÊBeautiful copy, top stain bright, trace wear t... Details

R.F.K.
Lowell, Robert ; [Elizabeth Bishop].
Price: US $1000.00
[Laurence Scott],, [Cambridge, MA]:

Book Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First edition

Tall illustrated broadside poem measuring approx. 9 x 18 1/2 inches. Number 47 of 50 copies signed and dated 1/69, by illustrator and publisher Laure... Details

SUMMER KITCHEN.
Hall , Donald.
Price: US $135.00
Warwick Press,, Easthampton, MA:

Book Condition: As New
Edition: First edition

Broadside poem with a handcolored illustration by Carol J. Blinn of the press. Approx. 9 x 13 1/4 inches. One of 125 copies letterpress printed and s... Details

THE LITTLE SANDY REVIEW No. 22.
Pankake, John and Paul Nelson (eds.); Bob Dylan.
Price: US $225.00
LSR,, Minneapolis:

Book Condition: Very Good in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Stapled mimeograph little magazine. 12mo. 54 pp. [Dylan pp. 12 - 18.] Influential folk magazine that lasted from 1960 until 1968, beginning as a mon... Details

ALs: Letter from Robert Creeley to Ted and Alice Berrigan.
Creely, Robert; Ted Berrigan .
Price: US $300.00
n.p.,, Bolinas, CA:

ALs on Creeley's Bolinas, CA stationary with envelope addressed to Ted and Alice Berrigan at their Chicago address. In ink, on both sides, in Cree... Details

PULSARS
Lewis, Harry.
Price: US $150.00
Perishable Press,, Mt. Horeb, WI::

Book Condition: Fine in Wraps
Edition: First edition

8vo, blue-gray original wrappers. Limited to 150 copies on Nideggen & Frankfurt Cream. With an original silk screen print by Sam Gilliam. [16] pp., s... Details

LOLITA.
Nabokov, Vladimir.
Price: US $10000.00
Olympia,, Paris:

Edition: First edition

Original wraps; first issue w/ 900 francs on the rear covers. 2 vols. Exceptional copies with minor flaws: vol. one has a small bump at the spine; vo... Details

A SWEET DEVOURING.
Welty, Eudora.
Price: US $350.00
Albondocani Press,, New York:

Edition: First edition

Chapbook in hand sewn french marbled wrappers; paper label. Number 147 of 150 copies (of 176 total), signed by the author. Lovely production from Wil... Details

RED WAGON.
Berrigan, Ted.
Price: US $500.00
The Yellow Press,, Chicago:

Edition: First edition

Red cloth, gold stamped in dust jacket. On of 26 signed and lettered copies with a holograph poem. This is letter "P", with a poem reading ... Details

KEEPING GOING.
Heaney, Seamus.
Price: US $250.00
William B. Ewert,, Concord, NH:

Edition: First edition

Large gray paper wraps with gold titling. Folio. One of 150 numbered copies (of 250 - 50 were case bound, 50 laid into a portfolio) signed by Heaney, ... Details

PARIS, FRANCES.
Berrigan, Ted.
Price: US $500.00
The Alternative Press,, Grindstone City, MI:

Edition: First edition

Postcard broadside printing an eight-line poem by Berrigan. This copy signed and dated in the year of publication by the poet. From Number 11 of Ken M... Details

SONGS OF INNOCENCE.
Burns, Robert.
Price: US $300.00
Grabhorn Press,, San Francisco:

Edition: First edition thus

16mo. Original floral-patterned boards, gold-cloth backed, w/ printed paper spine label. 1 of 100 copies. Facsimile of the first edition, frontispiece... Details

A LOUGH NEAGH SEQUENCE.
Heaney, Seamus.
Price: US $300.00
Phoenix Pamphlet Poets Press,, Didsbury, Manchester:

Edition: First edition

Chapbook. Fine copy in original stiff white stapled covers. 11 pp. Important sequence published later in the year in the poet's second collection,... Details

JOURNEY TO A KNOWN PLACE.
Carruth, Hayden.
Price: US $175.00
New Directions,, Norfolk, CT:

Edition: First edition

Small 4to. Cloth-backed gray boards. One of 300 copies printed on Hayle paper by Harry Duncan and Kim Merker at Iowa City. With enclosed letter TLs ... Details

Letter [Tls].
Levine, Philip.
Price: US $200.00
n. p. ,, Fresno, CA:

Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: First edition

Letter on verso of California State University - Fresno stationary, typed letter signed (Tls) on 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in (approx.). About 130 words written ... Details

Nordamerikanische Gedichte
Batki, John; Ted Berrigan; Tom Clark; Anselm Hollo; Frank O'Hara; David Ray; Eric Torgersen; Nicolas Born (trans.).
Price: US $250.00
H. Luchterhand,, Neuwied:

Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: First edition thus

Seven illustrated poetry broadsides in a gray printed folder. Tall (50 x 19 cm.). In a series Luchterhands Loseblatt Lyrik ; 25. Translations by Nico... Details

Florence Nightingale's Pet Owl, Athena. by Lady Verney.
Parthenope, Lady Verney; David Magee (foreword).
Price: US $125.00
Grabhorn-Hoyem,, San Francisco:

Book Condition: Fine
Edition: First edition

Gold silk brocade, on handmade paper. One of 300 copies. A story by Florence Nightingale's sister Parthenope about the owl Florence rescued and wh... Details

THE OUTSIDER 4 & 5.
Webb, Jon Edgar and Gypsy Lou (eds.); Kenneth Patchen; Charles Bukowski.
Price: US $95.00
Loujon Press,, Tucson:

Book Condition: Near Fine in poor dust jacket
Edition: First edition

Small quarto. Paper over boards. One of 500 copies. Final issue of one of the most important literary magazines of the 60's. -Buckminster Fulle... Details

IN THE MONEY
Williams, William Carlos.
Price: US $600.00
New Directions,, Norfolk, CT:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Very Good DJ
Edition: First edition

8vo. Blue cloth in dust jacket. Signed in full by Williams: "To Stephen Roderick (?)Oct. 27 (or 29), 1940"(publication date was Oct. 29, 194... Details

432 REVIEW No. 5
O'Hara, Frank; Simon Schuchat .
Price: US $100.00
Poetry Project,, New York:

Book Condition: Very Good in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Tall (8 1/2 x 13 1/2) stapled mimeograph production in illustrated wraps. 21 sheets printed on rectos only. Cover by Rochelle Kraut. Essay by Frank O... Details

THE SELECTED LETTERS OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS.
Williams, William carlos.
Price: US $300.00
McDowell, Obolensky,, New York:

Book Condition: Very Good in Very Good dj
Edition: First edition

Red cloth in dust jacket. Specially signed by Williams in his post-stroke (he had a major stroke in 1952) hand on the front fly. (347 pp., incl. index... Details

Letter [Tls].
Snodgrass, W. D.
Price: US $150.00
n. p. ,, Newark, DE:

Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: First edition

Letter on University of Delaware watermarked paper, typed letter signed (Tls) on 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in (approx.), recto blank.. About 160 words and a witt... Details

5 DETROITS.
Levine, Philip.
Price: US $450.00
Unicorn Press,, [Santa Barbara]:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Wraps
Edition: First printing

Slate grey wrappers. ÊInscribed: "This book is for Mark Strand who is the only great poet shorter than I am! (than me?) Love, Phil. ÊSigned in ful... Details

BROTHER OF MY HEART.
Kinnell, Galway; [David Brooks].
Price: US $250.00
The Open Door Press/The Massey Press,, Toronto:

Book Condition: As New
Edition: First edition thus

Small folio. Broadside poem (approx. 10 1/4 x 15 1/2 in.); one of 20 lettered copies (of 40 total) laid into chinese endpapers (a title sheet printed ... Details

The Waste Land, in THE DIAL, November 1922
[Eliot, T. S.].
Price: US $1500.00
Dial Publishing,, New York:

Book Condition: Very Good in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Original printed wraps. [Pp. 473-485.] The first publication in the United States (preceded only by publication in THE CRITERION in the UK) of one of... Details

The Waste Land, in THE CRITERION October 1922
[Eliot, T. S.] .
Price: US $1250.00
R. Cobden-Sanderson,, London:

Book Condition: Very Good in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Original printed wraps. [Pp. 50- 64.] The first publication anywhere (published in the US in the Nov. issue of THE DIAL) of one of most important work... Details

KEEPING GOING.
Heaney, Seamus.
Price: US $450.00
William B. Ewert,, Concord, NH:

Edition: First edition

Large gray paper wraps with gold titling. Folio. One of 150 numbered copies (of 250 - 50 were case bound, 50 laid into a portfolio) signed by Heaney, ... Details

SLINGER.
Dorn, Edward.
Price: US $500.00
Wingbow Press,, Berkeley:

Book Condition: Very Good in Very Good dj
Edition: First edition

Tan cloth, 8vo. Wonderful presentation copy of Dorn's masterwork to his friend and fellow Black Mountain Student Joel Oppenheimer; signed with a f... Details

GEOGRAPHY III.
Bishop, Elizabeth.
Price: US $2000.00
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux,, New York:

Edition: First edition

Thin 8vo.; brown cloth, stamped in gilt in dust jacket. Near fine in an unevenly faded else about fine dust jacket. Inscribed on the title page: ... Details