Lame Duck Books

BORGES, Jorge Luis. El tamaño de mi esperanza. Buenos Aires: Editorial proa, 1926. Octavo, 151pp. First edition of this early collection of essays. This copy inscribed by Borges on the half title, "A la señorita Concepción Guerrero, con la admiración y el respeto de Georgie". Although already an impossible love, Borges maintains a certain degree of tenderness in the inscription to her first love. Forgotten for almost three quarters of a century, this essays were re-examined by Victor Farías in his 1992 book "El tamaño de mi esperanza, un libro desconocido de Jorge Luis Borges" (Madrid : Anaya & M. Muchnik). A second edition was finaly made in 1993 (Buenos Aires : Seix Barral, 1993) and another more recently (Madrid : Alianza Editorial, 1998). In our copy, Borges has corrected some of the essays profusely: "La pampa y el suburbio son dioses", 7 corrections; "Carriego y el sentido del arrabal", 10 corrections; in "La tierra cárdena", he has replaced the color for "purpúrea" on the title and the three ocurrences in the text; in "La adjetivación", 8 corrections; in "Historia de los ángeles, 1 correction; in "La aventura y el orden", 5 corrections. Many of these corrections penned in by Borges consist an entire sentence that has been rephrased. None of the corrections were included in the 1998 edition, thus rendering this particular book even rarer, as if that were possible. Plus (yes, there is more) this is the first time that Xul Solar collaborated with Borges in a publication, and it is Xul's first incursion in book illustration, in this case by providing five tiny drawings. Borges acknowledges Xul's contributions in the colophon, and also credits the drawing of the title letters to Francisco A. Palomar, a now forgotten cartoonist that was part of the group of collaborators in the magazine Martín Fierro, where in fact Borges met Xul for the first time. Internally near fine with general wear to edges of publisher's printed burgundy wrappers, and an amateurish repair to the bottom left rear corner, where some minor water staining can be still seen. (Becco 51)

BALDWIN, James . Three Letters, Signed. 1955-1959. One-page autograph letter, signed, and two typed letters, signed, to Edwin Parone, dated 1955 to 1959. Three pages, octavo, on Howard University letterhead and plain paper; approximately 500 words; unpublished. Director of LeRoi Jones’s (Amiri Baraka) riveting off-Broadway play The Dutchman, Parone also worked as an editor at Dell Publishing and as a theatrical agent at the William Morris Agency during the 1950s. Parone was well acquainted with Baldwin and managed over the years to assist the financially embarrased writer by placing his work discreetely in well-paying anthologies. Mentioned in the correspondance is Amen Corner, which Baldwin implored his friend to "hold." "Anyone who wants to read it must read it at your house. Incidentally, Howard U. is presenting it from May 10 to May 19. Want to drop down and look at it with me?" According to Parone, "it was only natural that when Jimmy wrote Amen Corner I should find myself involved -- as a friend, as an agent -- he was a procrastinator and as the time drew dangerously close to rehersal [under playwright Owen Dodson] I literally locked him in his apartment until the work was done." A moving series of letters, with mention of his "awful financial situation" and of his intimate friend Lucien Happersberger, the dedicatee of Giovanni’s Room. Very good

DARWIN, Charles. L'origine des especes Paris: Guillaumin et Cie, Libraires-Editeurs, et, Victor Masson et Fils, Libraires-Editeurs, 1862. Paris: Guillaumin et Cie, Libraires-Editeurs et, Victor Masson et Fils, Libraires-Editeurs, 1862. Thick octavo, 712pp. First edition in French of Darwin’s great work, translated by Clemence Royer, whom Darwin called "one of the cleverest and oddest women in Europe," lamenting only that he could have wished she’d known a bit more about biology. Royer was an extraordinary figure. An early feminist, she "made lifelong enemies almost as readily as she made friends"; for her diverse work in anthropology, physics, philosophy, cosmology and chemistry, she would eventually be awarded the French Legion of Honor and admission to numerous learned societies in spite of the fact that she was virtually an autodidact. A very good copy in a very bad modern binding of half Spanish calf, uncut, however, and including the publisher’s printed front wrap. On balance, a worthy copy (and one that can become worthier still with an appropriate binding) of a rare and important edition of one of the greatest scientific works of all time.

CAMUS, Albert. Les Justes. Paris: Gallimard, 1950. Small octavo, 182pp. Review copy of the Nobel laureate's play in five acts, with "SP" to title page and rear wrap. Inscribed by Camus on the half-title. Pages uniformly age-browned, else near fine in publisher's printed wrapper.

JOHNSON, James Weldon. Photographic Portrait, Inscribed. 1916. 8 ¼" x 6 ¼" black-and-white photographic bust portrait of the African-American writer, author of the classic autobiography, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and the landmark volume of verse, God's Trombones. Inscribed by Johnson, "To my good old friend and classmate George A. Towns. Sincerely, James Weldon Johnson. Dec. 7, 1916." Very good condition. Rare.

GARCÍA LORCA, Federico. Drawing in Ink and Color Pencil, Signed. c. 1933. 8 1/2" x 11" ink and colored pencil drawing of a bullfight, once again a fine example of Lorca's subtle surrealistic style. The scene suggests an almost uncanny stillness, while the faceless matador hints at something otherworldly. Very good, on a page removed from a notebook.