Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2007 Issue

Modern Literature From Ken Lopez Bookseller

Junkie, William Burroughs pseudonymous first book.

Junkie, William Burroughs pseudonymous first book.


Item 86 is a novel of the ‘60s, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me, by Richard Farina. Farina was part of the folk/protest music scene of the early 1960s. He married Joan Baez' teenage sister, Mimi, and the two performed and recorded several record albums. However, his lone novel is likely his greatest claim to fame. Unfortunately, two days after the book's release, after attending a book signing, and at Mimi's 21st birthday party, he went for a ride on a motorcycle which spun out, throwing him to his death. $200.

Item 96 is another book noted for its very popular film, The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. This 1973 work is inscribed by the author to Robert Redford's father, Charles Redford. Writes Goldman, "We haven't met but I know you've got to be more literate than your son. Happy Birthday." Goldman wrote the screenplays for many of Redford's films, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men. Presumably, Redford felt an inscribed book from his friend would make a good gift for his father, but Goldman got the last laugh in his inscription. $3,500.

Item 140 is the first book by famed western author Louis L'Amour. However, Smoke from this Alter, published in 1939, is not a western, but a book of poetry. L'Amour would go on to write over 100 books, mostly westerns. This book of his poetry is inscribed to "Miss Erskine Hogue," an Oklahoman who knew Will Rogers. $3,500.

The website for Ken Lopez Bookseller is www.lopezbooks.com, telephone 413-584-4827.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Book Week
    December 9-17, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
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    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
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    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
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    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
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    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 9, 2025
    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
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    Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.

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