Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2008 Issue
A Collection of Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller
E.E. Cummings' Laundress at Pornic.
Item 241 is a typescript response from George Romney in 1974 for a Harper's Magazine article, When Did You Stop Wanting to Be President of the United States? Romney was a former governor of Michigan, and this article is of particular interest today as his son, Mitt Romney, is now following his father's ambitions with a presidential run (he hopes never to have to answer a question like this). The senior Romney was favored to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1968, until, after saying he had been "brainwashed" by officials on a tour of the battlefront, he wavered in his support for the Vietnam War. His son appears determined not to repeat that mistake. $200.
Items 300-310 concern that most difficult war for America. Item 300 is Excerpts from the Declaration of Former Resistance Fighters on the Present Situation in Vietnam. It was published in 1960, well before serious U.S. involvement in the country, and discourages American participation. That was good advice. $75. Item 303 was written by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1965, and it is entitled Why Vietnam. The war did not turn out as they expected. $100. Item 305 comes from the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, in 1968. He describes the recent Tet offensive as a "temporary setback," though ultimately America never recovered psychologically from the enemy's ability to penetrate the South Vietnamese capital city. His book is Report on the War in Vietnam (as of 30 June 1968). This copy is inscribed by Westmoreland. $1,250.
E.E. Cummings (or "e e cummings") is best known for his writing - plays, poetry, essays and novels. However, he was also a painter. Item 70 is his undated Laundress at Pornic, Pornic being a French seaside village. Cummings left many of his art works unsigned, but this painting bears his signature. $5,000.
Finally, we must mention item 221, because you would never think to look for it in a catalogue of modern literature. It is Address on the Present Condition and Prospects of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of North America… by Maris Bryant Pierce. This is not modern, it having been published in 1838, and Pierce was not a novelist. He was a Chief of the Seneca Nation of American Indians, and this first edition printed in Buffalo, New York, offers a speech he made on behalf of native rights. $550.
You may visit Ken Lopez Bookseller online at www.lopezbooks.com. Their telephone number is 413-584-4827.
