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

PITY THE BEAUTIFUL.
Gioia, Dana.
Price: US $65.00
Hit & Run Press,, Berkeley:

Book Condition: As New
Edition: First edition

Illustrated poetry broadside printed in three colors with decorations on Rives by Larry Rafferty at his press. Approx. 7 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches. One of 2... 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

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

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

"Goethe as the Sage"; GEDENKSCHRIFT ZUR VERLEIHUNG DES HANSISCHEN GOETHE-PREISES 1954.
Eliot, Thomas Stearns .
Price: US $150.00
Goethe-Preis,, Hamburg:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Wraps
Edition: First edition

White printed wrappers. 72 pp. Eliot's speech on receipt of the prize (in English) pp. 49-71. Printed in proceedings for 1954 Goethe Prize ceremon... Details

COMING THROUGH THE SLAUGHTER.
Ondaatje, Michael.
Price: US $50.00
Norton,, New York:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket
Edition: First American edition

Cloth-backed boards. 8vo. Near fine copy in a lightly soiled near fine dust jacket (bottom - not price - clipped as usual). Attractive copy of the aut... 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

TEN POETS ANTHOLOGY.
Wilbur, Richard; James Merrill; Frederick Buechner.
Price: US $250.00
Anthony Herrigan,, East Dorset, VT:

Edition: First edition

Limited to 200 copies, original paper wrappers as issued. The colophon in Harrigan's hand reads: "This is a limited edition of 200 copies. C... 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

DANTE'S INFERNO: TRANSLATIONS BY TWENTY CONTEMPORARY POETS with an original etching SIGNED by Francesco Clemente.
DANTE [Heaney, Seamus; Merwin, W. S.; Merrill, James; Graham,Jorie; Olds, Sharon; Strand, Mark; et. al.].
Price: US $3000.00
The Ecco Press,, Hopewell, NJ:

Book Condition: Fine in Fine slipcase
Edition: First edition

Folio; quarter black calf and red silk with a matching black silk slipcase; binding and case by Claudia Cohen. Original Frontispiece etching by F... Details

THE HELMSMAN.
Cunningham, J. V.
Price: US $650.00
The Colt Press,, San Francisco:

Book Condition: Very Good in stiff boards and paper covers
Edition: First edition

Stiff paper boards in plain green covers, with blue cover label, printed in black. 8vo. First edition of the poet's first published book, and his ... Details

PICNIC, LIGHTNING.
Collins, Billy.
Price: US $650.00
University of Pittsburgh Press,, Pittsburgh:

Book Condition: Very Near Fine
Edition: First edition

Full blue cloth with gold embossed lettering (issued without a dust jacket). 8vo. When this book was published in January, Collins was still an obscur... Details

POETS OF TODAY VII [Into the Stone and Other Poems].
Dickey, James; Paris Leary; Jon Swan; John Hall Wheelock (ed. & intro.).
Price: US $200.00
Scribner,, New York:

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

Decorated cloth in dust jacket. Inscribed to publisher and bibliographer Stuart Wright with Dickey's signature flourish. Regarded as Dickey's ... Details

DEATHS FOR THE LADIES
Mailer, Norman.
Price: US $400.00
Putnam,, New York:

Book Condition: Fine in Near Fine (price-clipped) Dust Jacket
Edition: First edition

Black cloth-backed white paper-covered boards in black and white dust jacket. Signed by Mailer on the title page. The cloth edition uncommon as it was... Details

11 EXCERPTS (1967 - 1970).
Bochner, Mel.
Price: US $450.00
Edition Sonnabend,, Paris:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Wraps (in removable protective mylar covers)
Edition: First edition

Square 12mo.; printed wrappers. Inscribed "For Arthur Danto, Mel Bochner 1991". Statements about art in English followed by French, ending in ... Details

THE WOMEN AT POINT SUR.
Jeffers, Robinson.
Price: US $200.00
Boni & Liveright,, New York:

Book Condition: Fine in an about Near Fine Dust Jacket
Edition: First edition

Black cloth-backed mauve boards with gilt lettering and device; black top stain. A fine copy with discrete bookseller ticket on rep; in a dust jacket ... Details

THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth.
Price: US $150.00
Ticknor & Fields,, Boston:

Book Condition: Good
Edition: First edition

Blind stamped brown cloth with gilt spine lettering; small 8vo. Ads dated October 1858; preferred state p. 124. Besides the title poem which is half t... Details

GUIDE TO KULCHUR.
Pound, Ezra.
Price: US $200.00
Faber & Faber,, London:

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

First printing, second state (only six of the first state were retained) with libelous passages corrected. Apple green cloth a little soiled, spine da... Details

Watching the Vulture at the Road Kill.
Stallings, A[licia]. E[lsbeth].
Price: US $25.00
Hit & Run,, Berkeley:

Book Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First edition thus

Poetry broadside (approx. 7 3/4 x 12 in.) printed in two colors on BFK Rives gray paper. Printed on a Vandercook No. 4 Proof Press at Colored Horse St... Details