The Correspondence of Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick was married to his third wife Anne Williams Rubinstein from 1 April 1959 to October 1965. Long after their divorce, in mid-1973, Anne burned most of their earlier correspondence, but they renewed contact in December 1973. The ultimate fruit of this was her biography, Search for Philip K. Dick, 1928–1982; A Memoir and Biography of the Science Fiction Writer (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1995). The correspondence includes a copy of the famous “Tagore” letter written by Philip K. Dick in 1981, a 2-page photocopied letter from PKD to Edmund Meskys, editor of the fanzine Niekas, which was mailed to perhaps 85 or so correspondents, following a revelation that PKD had in September 1981.

For a full description of the content, view this collection online here.

Franny and Zooey. J. D. Salinger.

First edition, and an exceptional presentation copy, inscribed by Salinger on the front free endpaper, “Mr Mel Manchester On Saturday, the Seventh of October Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-one at three o’clock in the afternoon First Christian church, Portland, Oregon is marrying one of the excellent people in this world, one of the good and true. Thinking of you, Mary Jane, Love to you. All happiness, Jerry Salinger Cornish, N.H. Sept. 30, 1961″. The recipient was the actress and dancer Mary Jane Kersey.

Though this item is now sold, all our catalogued works by J.D. Salinger can be viewed online here.

Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe. Pablo Picasso.

Edition of 50. Signed in pencil lower right and numbered lower left by Picasso. This linocut is one of a series of Picasso’s radical reinterpretations of Manet’s famous painting, begun in June 1954 and continued over the next decade. By this late stage, the “Conversationalist” has lost his hair, has clearly aged, and now resembles Picasso himself, in conversation with a Victorine who could be said to resemble his wife, Jacqueline.

All our catalogued works by Pablo Picasso can be viewed online here.

Ulysses, James Joyce.

First edition, first printing, number 233 of 150 large paper copies numbered between 101 and 250.

Ulysses was published in imitation of the traditional three-tiered French format aimed at both connoisseurs and readers: 100 copies were printed on Dutch handmade paper and signed by Joyce; 150 copies were printed on heavier vergé d’Arches to create this large paper format; and the remaining 750 copies formed a small format trade issue, printed on less expensive vergé à barbes stock.

Bought by C. E. Fritze Hofbokhandel and bound for the bookseller by Östermalms bokbinderi, this copy was recorded in Sylvia Beach’s notebook as having been sent on 24 May 1922. As such, it is the first Ulysses to be imported to Sweden; copies of the work were generally hard to find in Scandinavia throughout the 1920s and 1930s (Riikonen, “Blooms in the North”, in The Reception of James Joyce in Europe, p. 130).

For more information, and to view items online about author, click here.