Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2007 Issue
Modern Literature from Ken Lopez Bookseller
Vladimir Nabokov eases his way out of a contract.
Item 81 is a first edition, first issue of a classic, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. This was the breakthrough novel for Hemingway, which established his reputation. It also was the book that made him the voice of the "Lost Generation," a group of American expatriates living in Europe. Lopez notes that this is determined to be the first impression of the first edition by the word "stoppped" printed on page 181. $3,500.
Item 88 is the uncommon first book by John Irving, Setting Free the Bears, published in 1968. Irving would go on to write books such as "The World According to Garp," and "The Cider House Rules," where printings would run to the hundreds of thousands, millions including paperbacks, and major films would be made from them. His first book, Lopez notes, sold just over 6,000 copies. This copy is signed by Irving. $5,000.
Item 17 is a signed copy of another book that became a famous movie, though this one was far more terrifying. Published in 1959, this is a first edition of Psycho by Robert Bloch. $1,750.
Ken Lopez Bookseller offers a website at www.lopezbooks.com. Their telephone number is 413-584-4827.
