Modern First Editions from Shapero Rare Books

Shapero Rare Books has issued a catalogue of Modern First Editions. While modern, some of the books go back a century. What was modern in the 1950s is still modern today. It never grows old. Nor do the books, which include many of the great works of the past century. If your interests focus on twentieth century literature, this is a catalogue you will want to see. Here are a few selections.

The 1920s brought a host of creative American writers to Europe. They were part of the “Lost Generation,” wandering souls, emerging from the Great War and trying to find themselves or whatever it was they were seeking in Paris and other places on the continent. Ernest Hemingway was the quintessential such writer, young, talented, and restless. The Servire Press published a collection of their writings from The Hague in 1932, Americans Abroad. The contributors to this modernist anthology included Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Henry Miller, and e. e. cummings. By the time of this publication, the good life in Paris was coming to an end. The Depression had set in and terrible things were bubbling up in Germany. They returned home. This is a memorial to the better times. Item 90. Priced at £1,750 (British pounds, or approximately $2,235 in U.S. dollars).

The next book is another anthology, but it is not filled with contributions by famous writers. It includes only one, but he was virtually unknown at the time, though he would become one of America's best known writers in the next decade. The title is A Book of Princeton Verse II 1919. The author you now recognize is F. Scott Fitzgerald, but evidently not even the editors knew of him at the time as his poems are attributed to “T. Scott Fitzgerald.” This was the first time Fitzgerald appeared in an anthology and it was the first appearance of the three poems he contributed – Marching Streets, The Pope at Confession, and My First Love. Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton to serve in the military, but was discharged after the end of the war. Unable to get anything published professionally, he took jobs he disliked writing advertising copy before returning to his parents' home. Secreted away, he worked to finish a novel he had been working on before. In 1920 it was published under the title This Side of Paradise, and the unknown contributor to Princeton's 1919 poetry anthology was suddenly one of America's best known writers. This copy has a presentation inscription to Sayers Coe, one of the other poets whose contributions are contained in this anthology. Item 41. £1,200 (US $1,528).

This next writer burst on the scene as suddenly as Fitzgerald, sixteen years later. Margaret Mitchell had been a newspaper writer but novels she wrote or started went unpublished. Then, in 1936, she published Gone With The Wind and it remains one of the most popular American books ever written. She was born in Atlanta and older family members still remembered the time of the Civil War and earlier. She was raised in the southern culture that provided the backdrop for her story. While Fitzgerald went on to write more novels before his demons and alcohol led to an early demise, Mitchell's life would be less dramatic, but she never wrote another novel, and she was struck down not by alcohol but a speeding car as she crossed the street in 1949. Item 92 is a first edition, first printing of Gone With the Wind in a first edition dust jacket showing the price in 1936 - $3.00. £10,000 (US $12,729).

This is a rarity, a Dr. Seuss book written for adults. Of course, adults like his children's books as much as do children, but this one was intended for adults. Actually, it was meant for the adultest of adults. The title is You're Only Old Once. A Book for Obsolete Children. It was written by an elderly Seuss, dismayed by the fact that most of his time seemed to be consumed by doctor or hospital visits. That entailed ridiculous amounts of time in waiting rooms as well as being poked and prodded by various devices. He took to spending his time in waiting rooms drawing Seussian pictures of what he saw. This book is his “celebration” of the joys of aging. It was published in 1986 on Seuss' 82^nd birthday. This copy was inscribed by the author. Item 112. £1,875 (US $2,390).

This is a look at unpleasant reality, lower class sections of Brooklyn in the 1950s. It was where author Hubert Selby, Jr., grew up. The book is Last Exit to Brooklyn, published in 1964. It consists of six separate stories that are woven together. They recount the drugs, alcohol, prostitution, theft, gangs and violence of the time and place, written in the language of the street. Selby contracted tuberculosis as a young man which left him in poor health, along with dealing with the demons of his background, including heroin and alcoholism. That disease is the subject of his inscription in this copy - “Dear Leonard I'm glad that you have found your Exit from our mutual problem love Cubby 11.26.74.” Cubby was Selby's nickname and the mutual problem was alcoholism, with both attending AA meetings in hopes of finding a cure. Item 110. £1,250 (US $1,593).

Shapero Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0)20 7493 0876 or rarebooks@shapero.com. Their website is www.shapero.com.