The Bruce Kahn Collection - Ken Lopez Bookseller

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126. ROTH, Philip. Portnoy’s Complaint. NY: Random House
(1969). His landmark fourth book, a comic novel and one of the defining
volumes of its time. Inscribed by the author. Fine in a very near fine dust
jacket with the barest hint of sunning to the spine. A beautiful copy of a
classic. $1500
127. ROTH, Philip. American Pastoral. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1997. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Signed by the author. Fine in a fine
dust jacket. Uncommon signed. $1500
128. RUSHDIE, Salman. Midnight’s Children. NY: Knopf, 1981.
The first American edition of the author’s second book, winner of Britain’s
Booker Prize and the first book in his ambitious sequence of novels of
the Muslim world, which culminated in The Satanic Verses and the death
sentence that was imposed on him by Islamic fundamentalists. The American
edition is the true first, preceding the British (they were both printed in the
U.S.). An important book that launched Rushdie’s literary career as it
represented a quantum leap from the subject matter and accomplishment
of his first novel. This title was later named as the outstanding title among
all the Booker Prize winners—the so-called “Booker of Bookers.” Signed
by the author. Fine in a fine dust jacket. $2500
129. -. Same title, the first British edition. London: Jonathan Cape
(1981). Although the American edition is the true first, the British edition
is the more desirable edition for “following the flag,” and it is also
considerably scarcer than the U.S. edition, with 2500 copies printed. In
addition to winning the Booker Prize and being named the “Booker of
Bookers,” this book was voted again in 2008 as the Best of the Bookers,
and the most outstanding novel published in the past 40 years. Signed by
the author. Fine in a very near fine dust jacket with just a modicum of
fading to the spine and top edge. $3000
The Bruce Kahn Collection
130. RUSHDIE, Salman. The Satanic Verses. (London): Viking (1988). The limited edition of this controversial
book, published simultaneously with the British trade edition and bound in goatskin and buckram cloth. An
ambitious novel and an imaginative tour de force, the book seems destined to become part of literary history by
virtue of its notoriety—it prompted a death sentence on Rushdie by Islamic fundamentalists, causing him to go into
hiding for years—rather than its considerable literary accomplishment. Winner of the Whitbread Prize. One of 100
numbered copies signed by the author. Fine. $1250
131. RUSHDIE, Salman. Two Stories. (Great Britain): Privately Printed, 1989. A limited edition of two
stories (“The Free Radio” and “The Prophet’s Hair”) by Rushdie, illustrated with five woodcuts and three linocuts
by Bhupen Khakhar. Of a total edition of 72 copies, this is one of 60 numbered clothbound copies signed by the
author. Fine in a fine slipcase. $1250
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