Recent Arrivals from Lightholder Books

Storyteller by Leslie Marmon Silko. 1981 Seaver, first paperback edition, signed, 278 pages. Silko is an award-winning novelist and poet of Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, and Anglo-American background. Her work draws heavily from the Native American oral tradition and often tackles themes of living in a white society as a Native American. Storyteller includes many of her early stories as well… Read more about this item

Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks. 1963 Harper & Row first paperback edition, 127 pages, signed. Brooks was a poet, novelist, and teacher and was the first black poet to win the Pulitzer in 1950. According to the Poetry Foundation: "Her body of work gave her, according to critic George E. Kent, 'a unique position in American letters. Not only has… Read more about this item

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. 1976 Knopf, book club edition, inscribed by the author, 310 pages. Anne Rice was a beloved Louisiana-born horror and gothic novelist. Interview was her debut novel, which she wrote in the aftermath of the death of her five-year-old daughter, and was the basis for the cult classic film released in the 90s. Condition: Jacket… Read more about this item

Biography and A Lament by Charles Simic. 1976 Bartholomew's Cobble, second edition, signed. Simic was a Serbian American poet and co-editor of poetry for the Paris Review. He won the Pulitzer, MacArthur Genius Grant, and more. According to Poetry Foundation: "Simic's work defies easy categorization. Some poems reflect a surreal, metaphysical bent and others offer grimly realistic portraits of violence… Read more about this item

Classic Ballroom Dances by Charles Simic. 1980 Braziller, first paperback edition, inscribed by author, 64 pages. Simic was a Serbian American poet and co-editor of poetry for the Paris Review. He won the Pulitzer, MacArthur Genius Grant, and more. According to Poetry Foundation: "Simic's work defies easy categorization. Some poems reflect a surreal, metaphysical bent and others offer grimly realistic… Read more about this item

Pale View of Hills by Kazui Ishiguro. 1982 Putnam, first U.S. edition, 183 pages. Ishiguro is a Nobel-winning Japanese-British novelist and writer works have been adapted for acclaimed films. Pale View was his debut novel and in a review in the New York Times: "A delicate, ironic, elliptical novel, ''A Pale View of Hills'' means much more than it says.… Read more about this item

The Intuitive Journey and Other Works by Russell Edson. 1976 Harper & Row, first edition paperback, 193 pages. Edson was an American poet, novelist and illustrator. He was often referred to the "godfather of the prose poem in America" (Poetry Foundation). Condition: VG-, small brown mark on cover, some shelf wear "Some said that nature was not ready; to which others said,… Read more about this item

The Gypsy's Curse by Harry Crews. 1975 Secker & Warburg, first U,K, edition, 208 pages. According to Publishers Weekly "Crews, one of the most inventive practitioners in modern American letters, returns to a milieu that has long fascinated him: the seedy world of fighters and musclemen.... A brilliant specialist in black humor, Crews delivers the goods once again. His deadpan… Read more about this item

Break It Down by Lydia Davis. 1986 FSG, first edition, 177 pages. Lydia Davis is one of the most idiosyncratic short-story writers in America today, sometimes containing an entire arc in a single sentence. Break it Down was her first major collection. "In all: strong, seemingly effortless, and haunting work."-Kirkus Reviews Condition: Near fine "And yet mothers are always seen, always talked… Read more about this item

Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. 1984 Harper & Row, first U.S. edition, 314 pages. Kundera was a Czech and French novelist so lived in exile in France, his novels condemned for being anti-Soviet and anti-communism. Unbearable was his most famous work, an instant success. Condition: Near fine "What does this mad myth signify?"

Angel by Frank Lima. 1976 Liveright, first paperback edition, 60 pages. Lima was an American poet and chef associated with the New York School. According to Poetry Foundation: "Lima wrote raw, wry, vulnerable poems engaged with themes of intimacy, abuse, and the body." Angel was his third collection. Condition: VG "I have flown twenty million missions over your monuments."

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski. 1973 first City Lights edition (c/r 1969), 255 pages. Bukowski was a German-born American poet and author known for drinking and women. According to his NYT obituary: "Mr. Bukowski was a bard of the barroom and the brothel, a direct descendant of the Romantic visionaries who worshiped at the altar of… Read more about this item

Don't Look Round by Violet Trefusis. 1952 Hutchinson, second printing, 240 pages. Trefusis, the great-aunt of the Queen Consort Camilla, was a socialite who had a long love affair with Vita Sackville-West, which was written about in Virginia Woolf's Orlando. She wrote many novels and stories, many of which were out of print until Virago reissued them. Don't Look Round… Read more about this item

Viper Jazz by James Tate. 1976 Wesleyan University Press, paperback edition, 79 pages. Tate was a Pulitzer and National Book award-winning poet. According to his obituary in the Guardian: "James Tate . . . was one of the most original and inventive American poets of his era, whose sense of humour and love of the tall story calls to mind… Read more about this item

The Land Surveyor's Daughter by Ellen Gilchrist. 1979 Lost Roads, first edition, 46 pages. Gilchrist is a Southern author who won the National Book Award for her story collection Victory Over Japan. Her work is steeped in the Southern tradition, witty and wise. Land Surveyor's Daughter was her first book, a collection of poetry, with a small print run. Condition: Good,… Read more about this item

Blue Movie by Andy Warhol. 1970 Grove Press, first edition, 123 pages. "The complete dialogue with over 100 photos." Blue Movie was the first erotic film to receive wide theatrical release in 1969, and was an influence for Last Tango in Paris. Condition: VG

voices/I hear/voices by William Packard. Illustrated by Steffan. 1972 Barlenmir House, first edition. Packard was a novelist, playwright, and poet who founded the poetry magazine New York Quarterly, known for publishing poems and interviews by the likes of Sexton, Ashbery and Bukowski. Voices was his third book of poems. Condition: Inscribed by the author. Jacket in good- condition with stain on… Read more about this item

Tell Sally by Magda Szabo. 1963 Corvina Press, no edition stated, 286 pages. Szabo was a Hungarian writer who has experienced a renaissance with the NYRB reissue of her novel The Door. She won awards for her poetry in the forties, but one an award was revoked when she was declared an enemy by the new communist government, and she… Read more about this item

Eureka Mill by Ron Rash. 1998 Bench Press, unstated edition, signed, 63 pages. Rash is a poet, short story writer, and novelist who often writes of Appalachia. Eureka was Rash's debut poetry collection which depicts life in the mill. Condition: VG. Signed on title page "After tonight I see why mill and hell are spelled almost the same and sound alike."

Sanctified Church by Zora Neale Hurston. 1983 Turtle Island, later printing, 107 pages. Hurston was an author and anthropologist and key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel Their Eyes Are Watching God. She documented Black folklore of the south and voodoo practices of the Caribbean, as well as wrote plays and short stories. She… Read more about this item