3527 Willowood Road, Lexington, KY 40517-2763 USA
(859) 327-3466 Daily 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST email: dinsmorej@insightbb.com
MODERN FIRST EDITIONS AND SELECTED ART
All books offered subject to prior sale. Payment by check (no credit cards) or bank money order. Shipping $4.00 first book, $1.50 each additional. Please call or email to reserve items desired, as available. Returns ten days of receipt: call or email first. We operate out of private premises; visitors welcome by appointment. Books in dust jackets presented in acid-free, archival quality dust jacket covers at no charge.
For our European clients: Ruesch International, a reliable financial services company with its home office in Washington, D.C., expedites currency conversion transactions at very low charges in a very timely fashion.
For details, contact Ruesch offices in London at 171-734-2300 or Zurich at 01.212.53.00.
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Absolut Statehood 51 Painters: Visions of Their Home States. Teaneck, NJ, Carillon Importers, 1993.
1st ed. 4to. [115p.]. color illus. in cardinal red cloth boards with color dust jacket.
As new in like dust jacket. $100.00
This copy specially signed by silkscreen artist Joe Petro III at his photo, p.47, with laid in color card of illustration also signed by Petro. Also specially signed and inscribed in black ink to John Dinsmore by Joe Petro III at half-title, plus black ink drawing of the rabbit ("Hare Apparent") bearing collar label "Bear" (Joe's former Jack Russell Terrier's name), black line border. Half-title embossed with Petro's chop marks. Following half-title is two-page display on black background of Absolut Vodka bottles specially decorated by the participating artists; Petro's bottle specially signed "J. Petro III" in gold ink. Cardinal red cloth boards of book, lettered silver, additionally illustrated with silver ink drawing of the hare by Joe Petro III at front cover, wrapping around to rear cover, and specially signed "J. Petro III" plus "Absolut Kentucky August 94". Joe has signed / "decorated" only a few copies of this book thus. THIS COPY IS UNIQUE THUS. Joe Petro was one of this select group of artists, one from each state, asked to contribute to this book. Although an ad campaign, it reached millions of readers/viewers.
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A PAIR OF RARE, AND SIGNED, VONNEGUT PIECES NOW OFFERED FOR SALE
VONNEGUT, Kurt. Galapagos. Stockholm, Norstedts Förlag, 1986. 1st Swedish ed. Tranlated into Swedish by Olov Jonason. This title not listed in the Pieratt 1987 author bibliography, and is rare.
Very fine copy in like dust jacket which features a full-color caricature image of of the author at front panel, plus figures of a sailing ship and lizard. B&W author photo at front flap. This copy inscribed "Nov 11 1993 / 71st Birthday" and signed by the author in full "asterisk" signature, along with his black ink profile caricature drawing, covering half-title and facing verso. $5,000.00 (includes shipping)
Received 11/29/93 in brown envelope personally addressed by KV. Laid in this copy is TLS (half-page) to John Dinsmore, concerning his visit to Lexington, KY, in early November, 1993, and concerning the sale of his self-portrait silkscreens to benefit Midway College nearby.
[VONNEGUT]. KREMENTZ, Jill, editor. Happy Birthday, Kurt Vonnegut. NY, Delacorte, 1982. 1st ed. 8vo. 164p. Published as a limited edition of 500 numbered, but unsigned, copies, none for sale. Red buckram binding, all edges gilt, title in gilt at spine, red ribbon page marker, in a matching slipcase bearing Vonnegut's famous bold "asterisk" signature in gilt. Illustrated with B&W photographs, some by Jill Krementz, of KV and his friends and family. This is no.275 of 500 copies. This copy fine in like slipcase. $8,500.00 (includes shipping) This copy specially inscribed to John Dinsmore (JD) and signed by KV the weekend of November 7-8, 1992, at his Long Island home. Also inscribed to JD and signed by Ollie Lyon, an old pal of KV, who did a short piece which appears in Happy Birthday.
A Festschrift compiled by Jill Krementz to honor Kurt Vonnegut on the occasion of his 60th birthday, November 11, 1982, and distributed privately to guests and friends. Tributes (mostly humorous) from 84 of his friends, including Marsha Mason, Kevin McCarthy, Ray Elliott, Bob Goulding, John Updike, Tom Wicker, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, E. L. Doctorow, etc., plus pieces by Senator Birch Bayh (Indiana) and Vonnegut's family.
A surprise birthday party, arranged by Krementz for 112 guests, was held at Michael's Pub in New York on Nov. 11, 1982, where Updike was master of ceremonies. Laid in is a photocopy of the original guest list and seating arrangements for the party. This Festschrift does not appear in the 1987 author bibliography, and is, by its very nature, one of the most elusive, and highly desirable, of Vonnegut ephemera. See John Dinsmore's article on Vonnegut in the October 1992 issue of FIRSTS magazine. Also signed in blue ink by Kurt's wife, Jill Krementz, during 3/94. It was Jill who planned and organized the party for Kurt's friends at Michael's Pub, where his 60th birthday party took place. Only two copies of this book are known to have been signed by Krementz, making this copy extremely rare. A fine copy in like dust jacket of Jill's book is included in this purchase set:
KREMENTZ, Jill. The Writer's Image; Literary Portraits. Boston, David Godine, 1980. 1st ed. Over 100 of photographer/writer Krementz's best B&W portraits of literary personalities, including spouse Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote the preface. Also: Eudora Welty, Robert Penn Warren, Tom Wolfe, Anais Nin, Vera & Vladimir Nabokov, Truman Capote, Susan Sontag, Edward Albee, Joseph Heller, Elizabeth Hardwick, Henry Miller & Lawrence Durrell (HM & LD in bed together), etc. Knockout photoportraits by a professional.
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Page One - Items #1 - #97 (Amis - Bulgakov)
Page Two - Items #98 - #177 (Burroughs - Harrison)
Page Three - Items #178 - #281 (Hell's Angels - Patchen)
Page Four - Items #282 - #388 (Photography - Vollman)
Page Five - Items #389 - #480 (Vonnegut - Art)
Page Six - Items #481 - #521 (Jazz - Software)
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Hope you enjoy looking at Catalogue 13 -- perhaps you will find something to order. If you have special interests not covered in this catalogue, you might consider mailing (or e-mailing) me a list of what you're still looking for. I normally shop for near fine or better books, in like dust jackets.
I am strictly mail order, via my online web page, and don't attend or exhibit at book fairs. However, if you're travelling in Kentucky, and want to make an advance appointment to stop in for coffee, tea, and refreshments, let me know about that too. I need a notice of only a day, in order to get ready. You'll be welcome, and not committed to purchase anything.
email: dinsmorej@insightbb.com