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 electronic - monthly, and paper – less frequently) please let me know.

Featured Items

HOOT Vol. 2, No. 5.
Mitchell, Joni; Hershoran, Anne (ed.) .
Price: US $65.00
Toronto Folk Music Guild,, Toronto:

Book Condition: Very Good in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Square stapled wraps; 8vo. 64 pp. Pp. 4-7; 16, 17; 32 devoted to Joni Mitchell, with a cover photo of her by Bill Smith; two interior photos of Mitche... Details

AUGUST LIGHT POEMS
Mac Low, Jackson; Clayton Eshleman (ed.).
Price: US $150.00
Caterpillar,, New York:

Book Condition: Near Fine in Wraps
Edition: First edition

Yellow printed wraps; stapled with taped spine. 4to. One of 300 copies (lithographed). Devoted entirely to Mac Low; ninth in a series devoted to indi... Details

THE FEAST.
McClure, Michael; Robert LaVigne.
Price: US $1000.00
[Batman Gallery],, [San Franciso]:

Edition: First edition

14 Mimeograph pages including the cover, printed on rectos only. A working script for the performance. A play for 13 actors at a long table. This co... Details

"The Loneliest Job in the World" [Broadside].
Hoagland, Tony.
Price: US $45.00
Hit & Run,, Berkeley:

Broadside poem printed by Larry Rafferty on BFK Rives using his Vandercook SP-15 proof press. 8 1/2 x 11 in. One of 25 signed by the poet (of 75 tota... 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 mimeogrpah 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

THE SET-UP.
March, Joseph.
Price: US $350.00
Covici, Friede,, New York:

Edition: First edition

One of 275 copies (this no. 71) signed and numbered by the author. Small 4to. Cloth-backed patterned boards with paper spine label. illustrated by Al... Details

PILI'S WALL.
Levine, Philip.
Price: US $150.00
Unicorn Press,, Santa Barbara:

Book Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First edition

One of only 200 copies in illustrated boards and paper spine label (of 750 total copies printed, 500 in paper) of this early collection of poems. Sig... Details

mayday.
Faulkner, William .
Price: US $250.00
University of Notre Dame Press,, [South Bend]:

Book Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First edition

Scarce limited edition (#91): 125 copies printed. 8vo. Marbled paper over boards with paper label, with a separate pamphlet entitled "Faulkner'... 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

sweet as a pickle and clean as a pig.
McCullers, Carson.
Price: US $125.00
Houghton Mifflin,, Boston:

Edition: First edition

First printing. 8vo. Orange cloth in dust jacket. Poems by the great Southern storyteller. Ostensibly a children's book, though more likely app... 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