The Wanderers by Richard Price

First edition of The Wanderers published by Houghton Mifflin in 1974

The Wanderers is Richard Price's first novel and one of his best; praised by everyone from William S. Burroughs to John Fowles particularly for it's realistic dialogue and accurate street vernacular, the story revolves around a group of teen gangs in the 1960's Bronx, New York City. One of the central characters is Richie Gennaro, leader of the Wanderers gang, and the story mainly follows his development, among other gang members, as he is forced to grow up and confront the real world in various ways. The Wanderers features an incredibly colorful cast of characters from around their neighborhood and rival gangs they must deal with like the Pips and the Baldies. This first edition has amazing cover art done by veteran jacket artists Batten & Kreloff, but The Wanderers is well worth the read no matter what edition you come across.

V. by Thomas Pynchon

First Modern Library edition of V. by Thomas Pynchon from 1966

Thomas Pynchon's first novel, originally published in 1963, is a book that needs little introduction. Pynchon and his work, although widely known, all fall under the categories of cool, weird, and rare, and this Modern Library edition of his first novel is particularly scarce. V. is probably the most concentrated embodiment of what would later be known as Pynchon's hallmark weird, and technically daring style. It is less complex than Gravity's Rainbow, not to mention shorter, but in my view V. is just as good and definitely easier to get through. One plot line follows sailor Benny Profane and hangers-on from the Whole Sick Crew, and the other follows Herb Stencil and his family's history with a mysterious woman known as "V." The intricately laid plots eventually converge on each other as the novel progresses, forming a V-shape itself as Profane and Stencil cross paths and band together at the end to find V. Pynchon's first novel also features an amazingly diverse cast of characters, many of whom appear more prominently in later works like Pig Bodine and Kurt Mondaugen, and different segments set in various parts of history from all around the world. V. marked the beginning of a new kind of voice and style of writing that had never existed before, and is incredibly important for that reason alone, not to mention being the front bookend of Pynchon's oeuvre. This first Modern Library edition features great, simplistic 1960's cover art by S. Neil Fujita.

Maigret in Vichy by Simenon

First US edition of Maigret in Vichy published by Harcourt Brace in 1969

One of Simenon's later works featuring the renowned Inspector Maigret, Maigret in Vichy is a slightly different Maigret tale in that it doesn't take place in Paris and Maigret is not in the driver's seat for this mystery. While relaxing on vacation with his famously passive wife in the town of Vichy, Maigret can't help but let his detective mind get to work analyzing the town's inhabitants and others on vacation. He is quickly drawn to a lone woman he keeps seeing, and when murder invariably ensues the local police look to Maigret for his expertise, once again putting his poor wife on hold. Maigret in Vichy is a quick engaging thriller like nearly all of the Inspector Maigret novels, but with a pleasant twist and change of scenery. This first American edition also has one of my favorite covers ever, featuring stellar, simplistic jacket design by Ken Braren.

Subway Lives by Jim Dwyer

First edition of Subway Lives published by Crown Publishers in 1991

Journalist Jim Dwyer's Subway Lives is an amazing series of non-fiction vignettes that revolve around the New York City subway system over a 24 hour span. Dwyer's account follows higher-ups in the Transit Authority, especially David Gunn, who is famous (and infamous) for ending the graffiti pandemic on the subway, a pregnant woman who gives birth on the subway, petty thieves, a mentally challenged teen, traffic control rooms, subway police, a conductor with a strange penchant for singing, and a few of New York's most famous graffiti writers at the time, Reas, JA, Soni, and Slick. Interspersed with a bevy of historical information about the subway system and statistical figures, Dwyer's book is a treasure trove of late 1980's/early 1990's New York City. While this book will obviously appeal more to New York natives or people who have lived here, it is still an interesting social study from a particularly transformative time in the history of the city and it's world renowned subway system. Dwyer himself is a New York City native and covered the subway beat for New York Newsday in the late 1980's before reporting for the Daily News and eventually the New York Times. With excellent book design by June Bennett-Tantillo, Subway Lives remains an artifact of a bygone time in New York City.

Poema a Fumetti/Poem Strip by Dino Buzzati

First Italian edition of Poema a Fumetti from 1969

Poema a Fumetti, or Poem Strip in English, is Italian novelist Dino Buzzati's graphic masterpiece; it tells the story of singer Orfi and his quest to reclaim his girlfriend Eura after she disappears through a small door into a mansion on their street, the via Saterna, that isn't located on any maps. Loosely based on the myth of Orpheus, Buzzati's graphic novel is in many ways the first of its kind—it is literally an illustrated novel roughly the physical size of an average hardcover that traces Orfi's decent down into the mansion. Poema a Fumetti was entirely written and drawn by Buzzati himself, and features beautiful, surreal cityscapes and even more beautiful nude women (a healthy sampling of both are pictured below), clearly drawing on influences from Fellini and de Chirico. There are a bevy of weird characters and scenes, particularly a talking jacket among them, as Orfi navigates the netherworld looking for Eura. Buzzati's work remains standing as a perfect sampling from the height of 1960's Italian avant-garde art and literature. Originally published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Poema a Fumetti was most recently republished in English by NYRB Classics in 2009 and is well worth the quick, bizarre read.

 

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

First edition of Tree of Smoke published by FSG in 2007

I'll start by saying that Tree of Smoke is one of my favorite books; it tells the sprawling tales of Skip Sands and the Houston brothers, among others, during and partially after the Vietnam war. Focused largely around the CIA's involvement in the war during its formative years, Tree of Smoke is told from many intertwining points of view, including Vietnamese intelligence officers, German assassins, and world-weary Colonels. Johnson's novel even has a complete, masterful recreation of the Tet offensive that is insanely gripping. Readers of his other work will remember the Houston brothers from his first novel Angels, which takes place later in time during the 1980's. Johnson's novel isn't particularly weird or rare, having won the National Book Award for 2007 and being a bestseller, but it is awesome, as is my copy he signed pictured below. This first edition hardcover also features great jacket art and design done by Susan Mitchell, which is increasingly rare these days. I strongly recommend picking up a copy especially seeing as they're not in short supply.

 

An inscription made out to me on the title page—note that he initially misspelled my name so there's an e with a dot over it

62: A Model Kit by Julio Cortazar

First US edition of 62: A Model Kit published by Pantheon/Random House in 1972

Julio Cortazar's fifth novel is an offshoot of chapter 62 from his mammoth book, Hopscotch, which is only a few pages long and recounts the outline for a potential novel from a few scraps of paper that the character Morelli is planning to write. The primary basis for the novel is that it takes place in a world wherein human behavior is indefinable by psychology. This novel, 62: A Model Kit is at the same time a continuation of that brief chapter about Morelli as much as it is a follow-through of the novel upon which the notes were based. Cortazar's slimmer, semi-sequel to Hopscotch isn't quite as good as its progenitor, but it is still a whimsical, interesting read about a pre-ordained world only Cortazar could have created where anything can take place. It can also be read independently of Hopscotch, which may appeal more to first-time Cortazar readers not brave enough to commit to a 500+ page read. This first edition features great companion cover art to Hopscotch by Kenneth Miyamoto—George Salter unfortunately died five years earlier, otherwise I'm pretty sure it's safe to say he would have done the jacket design for this book as well.

Perfect Rigor by Masha Gessen

First edition of Perfect Rigor published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2009

Perfect Rigor is an interesting biography in that it recounts the life of famed, reclusive mathematician Grigori Perelman, but was written completely without any interviews or information of any kind from Perelman (who is still living). Perelman became famous in the last decade for his solving of the Poincare Conjecture, one of the world's more famous unsolved problems and one of several Clay Millenium Problems whose solution earns the winner a million dollars. Perelman oddly posted his solutions on the internet in three relatively brief papers that took years for others to digest, and was ultimately correct. He is particularly famous for rejecting a Fields Medal and the million dollar prize, among other things, and retreated back to Russia to live in a depressing flat block with his mother. Perelman has also since ceased trimming his beard or fingernails. Gessen's biography recounts Perelman's upbringing as a bright math prodigy and Jew behind the Iron Curtain, through the collapse of the Soviet Union and his eventual migration to America to begin teaching. Told mostly through interviews with contemporaries and people who've known and worked closely with Perelman, Gessen's book paints a seemingly accurate portrait of a genius who has no interest in others knowing about his life, and is enthralling to read. With book design by Brian Moore, this edition is surprisingly inoffensive for a more recent hardcover publication and is currently still in print.

Hebdomeros by Giorgio de Chirico

First English edition of Hebdomeros published in the UK by Peter Owen in 1964

Giorgio de Chirico was primarily known for his large body of surrealist art in the first half of the 20th century; Hebdomeros was de Chirico's only foray into fiction. This slim novel, also titled Hebdomeros the Metaphysician, was first published in French in 1929 and recounts the protagonist Hebdomeros' travels throughout a bevy of surreal landscapes as well as his journey inward. Hebdomeros isn't easy to read in that it doesn't have a narrative so to speak, but it is like reading a really good succession of dreams. Written during a "block" in his painting career, de Chirico's novel ironically deals largely with Hebdomeros' humanity and the people around him, which comes in stark contrast to his paintings which are almost always barren landscapes devoid of people. This first English edition comes peppered with illustrations by de Chirico and features nice jacket design by Keith Cunningham.

The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing

First edition of The Big Clock published by Harcourt Brace in 1946

This thriller by Kenneth Fearing is my favorite of his books; The Big Clock tells the enthralling story of George Stroud, family man and news executive, who is the last person to see his mistress Pauline Delos alive. The problem is that he knows his boss, powerful news magnate Earl Janoth, is the murderer. Janoth knows someone was in the shadows the night she was killed but he can't figure out who it was, and uses the vast media resources of Janoth Enterprises to track down this supposed murderer, most specifically his publication "Crimeways," which George Stroud heads up. Tasked with having to track himself down, Stroud must race against time to prove his own innocence and Janoth's guilt. The Big Clock is stylistically unique, especially for a crime novel from 1946, in that most of the chapters are told from a different character's point of view while juggling the plot. It is also poetically eerie in certain ways like how each member of George Stroud's family has a variation of the name George (i.e. Georgette and Georgia), and all of Janoth's publications have the same kind of title ("Futureways," "Newsways," etc.). Fearing's novel feels like it exists within a noir-ish microcosm of old New York and is tremendously fun to read. This first edition features great cover art attributed only to someone who signed "Roger" on the top right corner of the front cover.

Warlock by Oakley Hall

First edition of Warlock published by Viking Press in 1958

Oakley Hall's most famous novel is about the denizens of this eponymous town and their struggle to maintain order against criminals and cowboys in the Wild West. Amid a sprawling cast of characters in Warlock, Clay Blaisedell becomes the hero gunslinger meant to restore order to the lawless town and its people held captive under the oppressive rule of free-wielding outlaws. Hall's novel is lengthy and can be difficult at times, especially given its high degree of attention with regards to language—also one if its greatest feats. Thomas Pynchon and Richard Fariña initially bonded at Cornell over their shared passion for Hall's masterpiece, and according to Pynchon, spoke to each other "in Warlock dialogue, a kind of thoughtful, stylized, Victorian-Wild West diction." In reading their work it's clear to see the influence Hall's novel had on both of them. This first edition features great Western pistol cover artwork by Charles Egri and Evelyn Curro.

The Iron Clew by Alice Tilton

Hardcover first edition of The Iron Clew from 1947

Pictured above is the eighth and final installment of Phoebe Atwood Taylor's Leonidas Witherall mystery series (writing under the pen name Alice Tilton). Published by Farrar, Straus and Company (before Giroux was around), The Iron Clew continues the story of Leonidas Witherall, an anonymous mystery writer himself whose novels recount the adventures of Lieutenant Hazeltine, who is interrupted from his pastime when he must attend a dinner at fellow banker Fenwick Balderston's home. Upon arriving Balderston has been murdered with a bust of Shakespeare, and Leonidas and his band of helpers must set out to solve his murder. Tilton's Witherall novels are all engaging murder mysteries but of a lighter, more whimsical sort, and she comes up with some of the best names in fiction. While the cover of my copy is unfortunately slightly torn at the top, it still shows one the best book cover illustrations I've come across by Ronald Clyne. These mysteries are obviously dated, having been written over half a century ago, but they still exist as a unique, sardonic take on a genre that is almost always overly serious.

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

First edition of The Queen's Gambit published by Random House in 1983

Walter Tevis' fifth and second to last novel is about the ascent of female chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon. Orphaned when her mother dies at age 8, Beth spends the next five years in the Methuen home for girls and learns how to play chess covertly with one of the janitors while combating an addiction to tranquilizers. Beth is eventually adopted and steals money to play in a tournament, where she finally becomes recognized as the talent that she is. The Queen's Gambit follows Beth from her humble beginnings to challenging the world champion at 18, and, despite being extremely chess-heavy in detail, is incredibly gripping and fun to read. I have yet to read or even hear of another book that deals with the plight of the female chess player in an almost always male-dominated field. The Queen's Gambit is easily in contention for my favorite of Tevis' novels, and this first edition features great jacket art by Will Barnet.

Purgatory Street by Roman McDougald

First edition from 1946, published as an Inner Sanctum Mystery under Simon and Schuster

This beautiful pulp-mystery by Roman McDougald (his third book) tells the story of Mona and her husband Chan, who has just returned home from World War II. Except that Chan is not the same man he was before the war—at all. As Mona falls deeply in love with this impostor, she must come to face the grim reality that he has murdered her husband to claim his inheritance and will invariably have to kill again. This simple story from over half a century ago is fun to read despite being incredibly dated. Published by Simon and Schuster as part of their Inner Sanctum Mystery series, Purgatory Street also features amazing jacket design and illustration by H. Lawrence Hoffman.

Rear cover featuring an advertisement for The Widow-Makers by Michael Blankfort

Henderson The Rain King by Saul Bellow

First edition published in 1959 by Viking Press

Saul Bellow's fifth novel is about a rich, waspish, middle-aged white man who becomes restless with all that he has and sets out to Africa to "find" himself. All sorts of adventures obviously ensue and Henderson finds himself entrenched in the native life of the Arnewi, where he befriends the leaders of the tribe and eventually matures to some degree. I read somewhere once that Bellow thought of Henderson the Rain King as his favorite of his own books (it is my favorite as well), and, ironically, is the only one of his novels without a Jewish protagonist. This first edition cover features a beautiful African "jacket painting" by Bill Preston, and pictured below is Bellow's signature.

Saul Bellow's signature on the front endpaper

Bobby Fischer's Conquest of the World's Chess Championship by Reuben Fine, Ph.D.

First edition published by David McKay Company in 1973

Reuben Fine's seminal book recounts and discusses the entirety of the World Chess Championship in 1972 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Arguably some of the most famous matches ever played, the championship during the summer of 1972 at the height of the Cold War were some of the most widely talked about and covered in the history of chess. Spassky, a Russian, and Fischer, an American, embodied the Cold War on chessboards and Fischer's victory was a global symbol and triumph for America. In his book Fine, a chess grandmaster and psychologist, discusses his views on the matches and the psychology behind them. With amazing, simplistic cover design by Lawrence Ratzkin, this first edition is a great volume about a great part of history.

Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar

First American edition published by Pantheon in 1966 

Let me begin by saying that this is my favorite book cover, ever. I think it's pretty easy to see why this jacket designed by acclaimed designer George Salter is so amazing, and why in a lot of ways more important to me than the contents of the book itself. If you've read Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, the cover illustrates and condenses the feel of the book's contents incredibly well, which is something Salter was considered revolutionary for being able to do. Without question one of the world's most important book designers who did covers for every major 20th century author, Salter designed this beautiful cover of Hopscotch the year before he died at the end of his career of many decades. Between the covers Cortazar's novel is an interesting one, and there was definitely nothing like it before its publication—it is, however, not an easy book to read for a lot of reasons. It is very long and can often be tedious, but it is also absurd, witty, inventive, and sad. What makes Hopscotch so interesting is that Cortazar devised the book to be read either in a linear fashion, from chapters 1 through 56, or by playing "hopscotch" so to speak, and jumping to the chapter Cortazar tells you to at the end of the one you're reading. By reading it using the "hopscotch" method you end up reading all six hundred pages or so. Although very daunting, I think it's more fun to read it that way.

Back cover author photo of Cortazar sporting a nice unibrow

Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household

First edition, second printing published by Bantam in 1946

Originally published in 1939 on the brink of World War II, Geoffrey Household's thriller/adventure novel tells the story of a hunter's attempt to assassinate an unsaid European dictator. The protagonist, who has no name, goes on this mission for "sport," but it obviously turns into much more and adventures ensue. A later Penguin paperback (that I unfortunately don't own) features a man bearing an uncanny resemblance to Hitler on the cover, further insinuating the dictator's identity. Featuring nice 1940's cover art by an unattributed artist, this book is a great read and I strongly encourage picking up the NYRB reissue from a few years ago, currently in print.

Back cover featuring a picture of the original first edition 

Big Bob by Simenon

1981 First American edition of Big Bob by Simenon

Another book from Simenon's series of "psychological novels," Big Bob was originally published in France in 1954. The reader learns that the eponymous Bob has died on the second page, and the rest of the novel is spent investigating his life and supposedly accidental death. Big Bob is an engaging character study in reverse, from his death forward, and is one of Simenon's better non-Maigret, psychological books in my opinion. This book is maybe most amazing for its cover art designed by Bascove (signed with the "B" on the front cover), who did the covers of most Simenon novels published in America by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Under the Volcano & The Voyage That Never Ends by Malcolm Lowry

1965 Hardcover edition published by J.B. Lippincott 

While Malcolm Lowry isn't one of my favorite writers, he was a pretty fascinating guy. Probably most well known for his vicious alcoholism, and Under the Volcano, which addresses it, Lowry didn't successfully publish very much in his lifetime although trying to for many, many years. Lowry spent around a decade and a half writing and trying to get Under the Volcano published, which is now considered one of the better books in the English language. I don't know if I'd go as far as that in my own estimation, but it is worth reading if you've never tackled it before. The above edition from the mid-1960's features great jacket design by David Lunn. Below is an out of print NYRB edition of The Voyage That Never Ends, a collection of Lowry's unpublished shorter works that give some interesting insight into the man's creative process.

First edition hardcover published by NYRB in 2007