Hello friends,

We're pleased to share our third e-list, and our first to present offerings from the personal library of author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, language maven (his coinage), and presidential speechwriter William Safire.

We have broken this list into three sections, covering Language and Lexicography, Historical and Political titles, and Literature and Miscellaneous books. His friendships, interests, and influence were wide and varied, and many of these titles were warmly and humorously inscribed by his friends and fans, often with additional tucked-in correspondence — an inscription from Benazir Bhutto, jabbing notes from Henry Kissinger, a signed do-rag from Colin Powell sent in response to an "On Language" column, and praise and encouragement from Saul Bellow and Herman Wouk.

To order, click through to our website (where you can also check availability and view additional photos) or email us at info@capitolhillbooks-dc.com. A search of "Safire" on our site will also bring up other titles we've cataloged from the estate, and will catch more as we continue to work through it.

Thanks for having a look,
The CHB Team

1. COLLIER, John; Tim Bobbin [pseud.]; George Cruikshank [illus.]; Robert Cruikshank [illus.]. Thomas Lowinksy [illus.]. Tim Bobbin's Lancashire Dialect; and Poems.

London: Hurst, Chance, and Co., 1828. First Edition. Octavo; viii, 184pp. Six plates including frontis, all present. Harvard University Library binding in blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Harvard College Library bookplate on front pastedown with circular deaccession/"released" stamp on plate and small, blind-embossed Harvard University Library stamp on title page and first page of text, but no other library marks, pockets, or additions. Boards are sturdy and square with light wear to corners and spine ends and a bit of fading along top edge. Previous bookseller's brief description in pencil at top of front free endpaper, with a small patch of abrasion on back pastedown. Some offsetting opposite plates, else pages clean and unmarked. Binding is sound. 

Satirical collection of dialogues and poems written in Collier's take on Lancashire dialect, "rendered intelligible to general readers by a literal interpretation." 

$75

2. CONSTABLE, John. Reflections Upon Accuracy of Style.

London: J. Osborn, 1734. First Edition. Octavo; xvi, 246pp +2pp ads for Henry Lintot. Gray paper-covered boards with paper spine label. Safire's bookplate on front pastedown. Covers very lightly shelfworn with some toning to spine and smudging to spine label. Offsetting from bookplate on front free endpaper. Old bookseller price in pencil at top of full title and pages a bit rippled throughout, else pages clean and unmarked. 

$225

3. GROSE, Francis. A Provincial Glossary; with a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitions.

London: S. Hooper, 1790. Second Edition, Corrected and Greatly Enlarged. Safire's bookplate on front pastedown.

Octavo; viii, Glossary and Proverbs unpaginated, +57pp Superstitions and 2pp adverts. Speckled paper-covered boards with printed spine label. Boards are sturdy and square with some fingerprint smudges and toning to spine label. Offsetting from bookplate on front free endpaper. Pages clean, crisp, and unmarked, and without significant toning. Binding is tight. 

Referred to by Safire as "the pioneer slanguist," Grose wrote two of the first significant dictionaries of common language: this Provincial Glossary, focusing on regional and colloquial words and phrases, and A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, which focused on slang, much of which Grose picked up from “soldiers on the long march, seamen at the capstern, ladies disposing of their fish, and the colloquies of a Gravesend boat.” William Safire would cite or refer to Grose numerous times in his own books and in his "On Language" column.

$150

4. HALL, B[enjamin] H[omer]. A Collection of College Words and Customs.

Cambridge: John Bartlett, 1856. Second Edition (Revised and Enlarged). Octavo (7.75" x 5"); vi, 508pp. Modern rebinding in three-quarter gray leather and marbled boards with red spine label and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. Binding by Townsend Book Bindery of New Market, Virginia.

Binding is clean, sturdy, and square with only very faint shelfwear. Blind-embossed stamp of the Library of the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y. on full title with a pencil call number written on copyright page, but with no other institutional library marks, pockets, or additions. Some offsetting on title page and a few small, clean marginal tears to interior and one small tape repair at a bottom page corner, none involving text. Binding is sound and pages unmarked. 

Specialized lexicon of words, colloquial phrases, and traditions concerning early American college life.

$100

5. JAMIESON, John. John Johnstone [ed.] A Dictionary of the Scottish Language [Abridged]. In Which the Words Are Explained in Their Different Senses, Authorized by the Names of the Writers by Whom They Are Used, or the Titles of the Works in Which They Occur, and Derived from Their Originals.

Edinburgh: William Tait, 1846. Abridged Edition. Octavo. 775 pages. Engraved portrait frontis with tissue guard. Full contemporary tree calf with gilt rules, gauffered edges, and dentelles on turn-ins, along with gilt ornaments to spine and red leather spine label. Marbled page edges and endpapers. Safire's bookplate on front pastedown. Bookseller's ticket of Hugh Hopkins, "the doyen of Glasgow Booksellers," on verso of front free endpaper. Light shelfwear to boards, with a one inch chip to top edge of crown. Some wear to hinges, but sturdy in binding.

An abridgment to Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, originally appearing in 1808. Includes a reminiscence of the author from John Johnstone.

$125

6. LEIGH, Percival. The Comic English Grammar: A New and Facetious Introduction to the English Tongue.

London: Richard Bentley, 1840. First Edition. Small octavo; xii, 228pp. Illustrated frontis with in text illustrations throughout. Green cloth with gilt lettering on red spine labels. Boards are square with light shelfwear, a bit of fading along top edge, and some scuffs and fading to spine labels. Pages toned with occasional light offsetting opposite illustrations, else pages unmarked. Binding is sound. 

$50

7. LELAND, Charles G[odfrey], Pidgin-English Sing-Song: or, Songs and Stories in the China-English Dialect.

London: Trüber & Co., 1887. Second Edition. 16mo (6.75" x 4.75"); viii, 139pp +3 ads. Illustrated yellow cloth-covered boards. Covers lightly edgeworn with a chip to cloth at tail of spine and a fair bit of general smudging and soiling. Bookplate of The Benson Library of the Episcopal Academy (Newtown Square, PA) on front pastedown with name of Mrs. R.W. Meirs written at bottom of plate and "Property of Episcopal Academy" stamp above plate and opposite on front free endpaper. Library "due date" slip tipped in on back free endpaper, with no patrons listed. Library stamp on top page edges. Opens easily to between a few gatherings, but binding is sound. Pages unmarked. 

Songs and stories in Chinese Pidgin English, which evolved from a 17th century trade language between the Chinese and English-speaking business partners.

$175

8. PARTRIDGE, Eric. From Sanskrit to Brazil: Vignettes and Essays on Language.

London: Hamish Hamilton, 1952. First Edition. Signed by Partridge to Gamesmanship author Stephen Potter with inscription: "Dear Stephen, You are the spiritual father of these vignettes. Gratefully, Eric. 30/(?)/1952."

Small octavo; [xiv], 146pp. Red cloth with silver lettering to spine. Missing dust jacket. Boards are square with light bumping to spine ends. A couple pencil notes on endpapers, else pages unmarked. Binding is sound. 

Collection of essays and smaller vignettes on language, a few of which previously appeared in Leader Magazine, where Stephen Potter had been editor, before it suspended publication in 1950. Potter was the author of a series of satirical self-help books, beginning with The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: Or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating.

$225

9. SHERIDAN, Thomas. A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both With Regard to Sound and Meaning: One Main Object of Which Is, to Establish a Plain and Permanent Standard of Pronunciation. to Which Is Prefixed, a Prosodial Grammar.

Philadelphia: W. Young, Mills & Son, 1796. Sixth Edition (sometimes described as Third American Edition, preceded by two other printings by Young). 

Thick 12mo; 104pp Preface and Grammar, with dictionary unpaginated. Rebacked with original mottled calf boards. Covers edgeworn with wear at corners and edges. Visible seam to back board from repair. Safire's ownership inscription on front free endpaper. Many pages dog-eared with a 1.5" strip missing along bottom of back free endpaper with no loss to text. Binding is sound. 

An Irish actor and godson of Jonathan Swift, Sheridan switched careers in the 1760s to write and teach on matters of reading and elocution. While other dictionaries had made attempts at noting stress and pronunciation, Sheridan was "the first lexicographer who consistently respelled the entry words to indicate pronunciation... [He] pronounced every word, even simple ones, indicated stress as well as sound in his spellings, and gave greater attention to the hitherto neglected consonants than ever before" (Landau, Dictionaries, p. 57)..

$250

10. SULLIVAN, Robert. A Dictionary of Derivations, or an Introduction to Etymology: On a New Plan. To Which is Appended a Classical Spelling Book.

London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1838. Third Edition, Enlarged. Gift inscription from senator and presidential adviser Gary Hart to Safire on front free endpaper, with additional handwritten letter laid in.

12mo (7" x 4.5"); xii, 280pp. Later red cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering to spine. The binder initially misspelled the author's name as "O'Sullivan," with an initial "O'" blindstamped and the rest of the lettering in gilt. Covers lightly bumped at corners and nudged at spine ends, but square, clean, and bright. A few pages early on creased at corners but corrected after years of proper closure. Binding is sound and pages unmarked. 

Gary Hart was a favored 1988 Democratic presidential nominee until allegations of an affair led him to drop out of the race. He served as a senator for Colorado from 1975-1987, and later worked as Special Envoy to Northern Ireland and as Vice Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council under Barack Obama. In the accompanying letter, Hart tells Safire he found the book in Kennedy's Bookshop in Galway, and points out that someone "tried to get away with a name change. But, thank God, someone caught the devious bastards."

$75

11. [BENAZIR BHUTTO] RIAZ, Bashir. Blind Justice.

Lahore: Fiction House, 2000. First Edition. Signed by Benazir Bhutto with brief inscription to William Safire on front free endpaper. Octavo; 195pp. Illustrated dust jacket over cream leatherette with gilt lettering to spine. Jacket is crisp and bright with light wear to edges and spine ends, but no chips or tears. Some spotting along bottom of half title, else pages unmarked. Binding is sound.

Bhutto was the first democratically-elected head of a majority Muslim country, serving twice as Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990, 1993-1996) and acting as chair of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from 1982 until her assassination shortly after her return from self-exile in 2007. Bashir Riaz served as press spokesman for Bhutto and the PPP, and worked closely with several other members of the Bhutto family. The book examines a number of trials and the political climate in Pakistan with the purpose to ”expose the most recent attempt to sabotage democracy, politically eliminate Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and thus the PPP....”

$400

12. GALBRAITH, John Kenneth. The Great Crash: 1929.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955. First Edition, First Issue with date on title page and star on copyright. Signed by the author with brief inscription on front free endpaper.

Octavo; 212pp. Red cloth-covered boards with silver lettering. Missing dust jacket. Covers lightly shelfworn with fading to spine and some bumping and scuffing to spine ends. Occasional pencil underlining. Binding is sound.

Galbraith's study of the lead-up to the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which ushered in the Great Depression.

$400

13. HAY, John. Sammelband of Six Pamphlets and Addresses, with "Liberty" Poem and Signed Letter.

V.p. 1903-1904. Small quarto. Green leather and marbled paper-covered boards with gilt lettering and decoration to spine. Signed November 1898 letter from John Hay on State Department letterhead to S.H. Kauffmann of the Corcoran Gallery of Art acknowledging invitation to entertain the members of the Joint High Commission at the gallery. Bookplate of Dr. M.P. Motto on front pastedown. Covers lightly shelfworn with fading to spine and some toning along edges. Occasional toning to pages and a couple shallow tears at margins, not involving text. Binding is sound and pages clean and unmarked. 

John Hay began his political career as a personal secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, then served as Assistant Secretary of State and as Ambassador to the United Kingdom before becoming Secretary of State under both William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Hay also spent some time as an Assistant Editor and editorial writer for the New-York Tribune, and wrote and published poetry, a biography of Lincoln, and an anonymously-published novel, The Bread-Winners. Occasional toning to pages and a few shallow tears to margins, not involving text. Binding is sound and pages clean and unmarked. 

Contents include:

1. Memorial Address on the Life and Character of William McKinley. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903. 70pp. Revised Text, Printing A without Congress statement at head of title. [McKinley Memorial Address. BAL 7789].

2. Fifty Years of the Republican Party. N.p., 1904. Presumed First, preceding Campaign Editions. Printed white paper wraps' 29pp. [BAL 7797].

3. The Republican Party: “A party fit to govern.” Campaign Edition E. New York: Privately Printed, 1904. 57pp. [BAL 7797] 

4. The Congress of Peace: Address by The Honrable John Hay. Printing A. N.p., 1904. Yellow-green wrapper w/ Strathmore watermark. 12pp. [BAL 7798]

7. "Liberty." N.p, n.d. Single printed poem, 9.5" x 5.5".

$350

14. KISSINGER, Henry. Diplomacy.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. First Edition with full numberline. Signed by the author to writer, columnist, and former presidential speechwriter William Safire with inscription: "To Bill Safire, from his friend and masochistic admirer." Two additional signed letters laid in, along with a fax from Kissinger to Safire and a copy of a review of the book by Walter A. MacDougall from a 1994 issue of Orbis. Kissinger's business card paperclipped to top of front jacket flap. 

Octavo; 912p. Illustrated dustjacket with original $35.00 price; book in blue paper-covered boards with blue cloth spine and gilt lettering. Jacket is clean with light bumps to corners and spine ends. Boards are sturdy with the same. Binding is sound and pages unmarked.

Safire was often critical of Kissinger in his columns. He wrote in a 2002 column: "On my wall is a 1973 drawing by David Levine, the greatest caricaturist since James Gillray, showing me gleefully ensconced in the powerful secretary of state's hair, bedeviling him mercilessly from my new perch at The New York Times." Behind this there appears to have been a fond, if occasionally reluctant, mutual respect. In one letter Kissinger thanks Safire for a signed copy of his revised Political Dictionary, in the fax he offers a lexical distinction between the words "alliance" and "coalition," and in the third, sent on the occasion of Safire's retirement, he writes, "There were not a few occasions that I was yearning for your last column. Now that it has happened, I confess to a case of nostalgia only slightly tinged with exasperation. You performed a great service as a curmudgeonly sentinel on behalf of freedom, and I shall miss your integrity and commitment as a regular diet." 

$150

15. [BERT LANCE AFFAIR] Matters Relating to T. Bertram Lance: Hearings Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate [Six Parts Bound in Two Volumes].

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977-1978. Six parts bound in two volumes. I. 155pp, 97pp, 422pp, 280pp +31 fold-out pages at back; II. 1402pp, 149pp. Blue buckram with gilt lettering to spine. Covers are sturdy and solid with very light shelfwear. Binding is sound and pages unmarked. 

Thomas Bertram Lance worked with Jimmy Carter from his time as Governor of Georgia and through his presidential campaign, eventually becoming Director of the Office of Management and the Budget, but was forced to resign when questions of corruption emerged concerning Lance's time as Chairman of Calhoun First National Bank of Georgia. Safire's reporting on the scandal, particularly his article "Carter's Broken Lance" won him the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1978. Lance is credited with having popularized the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," which Safire wrote "has become a source of inspiration to anti-activists."

These two volumes contain the Senate hearings regarding the Lance affair, with the fold-outs at the back of Vol. 1 consisting of copies of Safire's articles covering the scandal, as well as a single fold-out copy of a written letter from Lance to Safire which reads: "Dear William: The Bible says 'Love those who despise you.' May you and yours have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. -Bert Lance"
 

$100

16. LINCOLN, Abraham. The Opinions of Abraham Lincoln Upon Slavery and Its Issues, Indicated by His Speeches, Letters, Messages, and Proclamations.

New York: Union League of America, [1863]. Octavo; 16pp. Sewn pamphlet. 3.75” stain throughout at fore-edge extending about an inch inward, with text all legible. Some bumping to corners and general toning, but no chips or tears. 

Pro-Lincoln pamphlet published by the Union League of America ahead of the 1864 election with excerpts from his speeches, letters, and writings illustrating his anti-slavery positions.

$150

17. NIXON, Richard. President Nixon's Visit to the Federal Republic of Austria - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, May 1972.

Washington, D.C.: n.p., [1972]. Small, two-ring binder (5.25" x 3.75"); [75pp] with printed tab dividers and tri-fold Russian words and phrases card in pocket at back. Limp blue vinyl with gilt lettering. Covers clean and sturdy. Tabs toned at edges, else pages clean, crisp, and unmarked. No pages present following "Kiev / Tehran - Tues., May 30" tab, possibly removed. 

Itinerary for President Nixon and his entourage during his May 1972 visit to Austria, and the U.S.S.R. with mentions of departure to Iran directly following. Includes a summary and detailed daily schedules, motorcade and room assignments, and other matters of protocol (if a crowd is expected, suggested dress for church, step-by-step breakdowns of ceremonies and events). Folding Russian phrase card includes the usual snapshot of pronunciation with phonetic translations of common words used in greetings, ordering food and drink, asking directions, numbers/currency, etc. 

After an informal meeting with Chancellor Kreisky in Salzburg, Nixon went on to meet with Premier Kosygin and General Secretary Brezhnev and attended events in Moscow, Kiev, and Leningrad before leaving for Tehran. While in the U.S.S.R., Nixon signed the SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) and ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaties. Safire was working as Nixon's speechwriter at the time and was along for the visit (Room 17504 at the Rossiya Hotel. Henry Kissinger got to stay at the Kremlin.

$50

18. POWELL, Colin. My American Journey.

New York: Random House, 1995. Stated First Edition. Signed by the author to talk show pioneer, journalist, and public relations specialist Tex McCrary (of “Meet Tex and Jinx” fame, and one of Safire’s early mentors) with inscription: “To Tex McCrary, With thanks for your kindness and support over the years. Three handwritten letters from Powell to Safire, one including a signed do-rag, laid in.

Octavo; 643pp. Photo-portrait dust jacket with $25.95 price; book in white paper-covered boards with blue cloth spine and gilt lettering. Jacket lightly shelfworn, but crisp with no chips, tears, or marks. Boards are sturdy and clean with some nudging to head of spine. Hinges a bit sprung from laid in letters, but binding is holding soundly. A few smudges on fore-edge, else pages clean and unmarked.

McCrary and his wife Eugenia "Jinx" Falkenburg's morning show on New York's WEAF radio helped establish and popularize the talk show format. Safire counted both as early mentors, having worked for them as a researcher at the New York Herald Tribune, and it was under their watch that Safire took his famous photo of Nixon and Krushchev's "kitchen debate," with Jinx—one of the few, if only, female reporters there—in the shot's background and on a staged "typical American house" built by one of McCrary's clients.

Powell was obviously a regular reader of Safire’s language columns. One letter responds to Safire’s “On Language” column titled “Pop-up,” which discusses the “transitive, action-packed verb do” and ends with a riff attempting to pin down the “do” in “do-rag”: “Thus: a scrap of material worn atop the hairdo is a do-rag. If proved mistaken, I will wear one to the office for a week, accompanied by a paronomastic singer-lyricist who calls himself Rapunzel.” In an envelope post-marked just a couple weeks after the article is a do-rag signed simply “To Bill” with a paperclipped note “Dear Bill, Here’s your very own “doo-rag,” as promised. In another Powell mentions his coining of the term “rolodex rangers” to Tim Russert during a 2005 Meet the Press appearance while talking about the Bush administration’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami. In the third, Powell responds to an August 2007 “On Language” column on the various and evolving terms for “soldier” (“warrior,” “troops,” etc.) by sending his own 1999 Time article on “The American G.I.,” a term he writes in his letter that he “failed in [his] desire to resurrect.”

$125

19. REEVES, Richard. President Nixon: Alone in the White House.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. First Edition with full numberline. Signed by the author on flyleaf with inscription: "Dear Bill — Thanks for everything — including your service here. Always a pleasure to disagree — Rich Reeves."

Octavo; 702pp. Original dust jacket with $35.00 price intact; book in gray paper-covered boards with black cloth spine and gilt lettering. Jacket bumped at corners and spine ends, but with no chips or tears. Boards similarly bumped, else sturdy and square. Bit of a gap at pages 316-7 from Simon & Schuster business card used as bookmark, but binding is sound. Pages unmarked. Post-it with arrow and bracket by Safire at back attached above Safire's sizable entry in the index (removed for photo then replaced). 

$50

20. VON HOFFMAN, Nicholas and TRUDEAU, Gary [illus.] The Fireside Watergate.

New York: Sheed & Ward, 1973. First Edition. Signed by von Hoffman on flyleaf with inscription: "To my good friend Bill Safire - with much admiration and respect for you as a person and a journalist. Best, Nick von Hoffman."

Octavo; 110pp. Illustrated dustjacket with original $4.95 price; book in black cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Jacket shelfworn with a few small tears at corners and spine ends, some creasing to back, and some general smudging and toning. Boards are square, with gilt lettering dulled on spine. Front jacket flap toned from laid-in newsprint. Binding is sound and pages unmarked. 1976 Washington Post clipping of an article by Hoffman on the Nixon Years laid in at front.

Von Hoffman worked as a community organizer for Saul Alinsky, a writer for The Washington Post and the New York Observer, and a 60 minutes commentator until he was fired for referring to Nixon as "the dead mouse on the kitchen floor of America. The Fireside Watergate was the first of two collaborations with Gary Trudeau, whose Doonesbury comic would win a Pulitzer two years later. This volume includes Trudeau's "Guilty, Guilty, Guilty" strip The Washington Post refused to run that year. Published in the middle of the unfolding Watergate scandal, and during Safire's final year working for Nixon.

$50

21. BAKER, Russel. All Things Considered.

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1965. Stated First Edition. Signed by the author on half title: "To Bill Safire, Whose unfailing good humor in the face of freshman-year trials, which might have failed Job, has made him a man I am proud to share a shower with. Russ Baker." Two additional signed letters from Baker to Safire laid in.

Octavo; 213pp. Illustrated dust jacket with original $4.50 price; book in blue paper-covered boards with black buckram spine and yellow lettering. Jacket faintly shelfworn with no chips, tears, or marks. Boards are sturdy and square. Small pencil note on front pastedown, else pages unmarked. Binding is sound.

Baker and Safire both wrote for The New York Times, each winning a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in consecutive years (Safire in 1978 and Baker in 1979). In one letter Baker thanks Safire for an inscribed copy of his book on the pre-Watergate Nixon years, Before the Fall, and goes on to offer his takes on Charles Colson and "Herr Professor" Henry Kissinger, who he dubs "a shit." The second letter offers a quick note on the word "viable," rooted in an essay by Jack Woodford "a famous hack...[who] published a didactic essay...on how to write a sex novel."

$70

22. BELLOW, Saul. The Adventures of Augie March.

New York: The Viking Press, 1953. First Edition, First Printing. Signed by Bellow on full title with inscription "To William Safire, from one of his readers, with a multitude of good wishes, Saul Bellow." Octavo; 536pp. Gray and black cloth-covered boards with orange lettering. Orange topstain, with "Vail-Ballou" on copyright. Lacking dustjacket. Covers bumped at corners, with some darkening to spine, toning along edges, and nudging to spine ends. Binding is sound and pages unmarked.

1998 program from Bellow's John P. McGovern Award presentation laid in at back, along with a lengthy Atlantic Monthly article on the novel by Martin Amis and a couple rare book catalog clippings. One of Bellow's most beloved works, and winner of the 1954 National Book Award for Fiction.

$225

23. BELLOW, Saul. It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future. A Nonfiction Collection.

New York: Viking, 1994. First Edition. Inscribed by the author on title page to: "For Bill Safire, With very good wish, Saul Bellow." Octavo; 327pp. Photographic dustjacket with original $23.95 price; book in gray paper-covered boards with black cloth spine and gilt lettering. Jacket nudged at head of spine and lightly worn at corners. Some light shelfwear to edges of book, but binding is sound and interior unmarked. 

Includes copies of two letters from Bellow to Safire, the originals presumably now housed with Safire's papers. The first letter mentions a positive review Safire had given Bellow, but ends mentioning that "deaths used to come inter- | mittently but now | it's a drum roll that | never stops." The second letter discusses a negative review Safire had received for a novel, and Bellow mentions a Nietzsche quote to cheer Safire up. Additionally included is a portion of the envelope one of the letters was mailed in, which was taped to Safire's New York Times stationery.

24. BROWNE, D[aniel] J[ay]. The American Muck Book; Treating of the Nature, Properties, Sources, History, and Operations of all the Principal Fertilisers and Manures...

New York: C.M. Caxton, 1852. Early edition. Octavo; 429pp +3pp ads. Blindstamped dark green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Charts, graphs, and engravings throughout. Moderately worn along edges, with cloth splitting along rear hinge, front edge, and at corners. Binding is sound. Pages are foxed and soiled, but all is legible.

A treatise on the nature, history, and uses of manure. Safire has uncharacteristically added an ownership inscription in this copy on the front free endpaper:  "William Safire | (muck-raker)."

$50

25.CONROY, Pat. Beach Music.

New York: Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 1995. Stated First Edition with full numberline. Signed by the author on full title with inscription: "To William Safire, The prince of my language in our times - all love and praise. Pat Conroy." 

Octavo; 628pp. Illustrated dust jacket with original $27.50 price; book in blindstamped blue paper-covered boards with blue cloth spine and gilt lettering. Jacket lightly shelfworn with some nudging to spine ends, but no chips or tears. Small bump to front board at top edge. Front cover opens a bit easily, but binding is holding soundly. Pages unmarked. 

$60

26. KIRCHENHOFFER, H[erman]. The Book of Fate [Napoleon's Oraculum].

London: C.S. Arnold, 1826. Thirteenth Edition. Octavo (9" x 5.5"); xxxiv, [65pp]. Fold-out chart at front. Pink paper-covered boards with octagonal title label to front. Covers bumped at corners and rubbed along edges, with some soiling/smudging and a few waterspots. Half-inch tear to fold-out in margin near gutter, not involving illustration. A few marginal checks in pencil through oracle text. Binding is sound.

Divinatory text claimed to have been discovered in a mummy's tomb during a French expedition in Egypt in 1801 and translated at Napoleon's request, then found among his personal effects left behind after his defeat at the Battle of Leipzig. But while the Rosetta Stone was found in 1799, Champollion's breakthrough transliteration of hieroglyphics did not come until 1822 (perhaps not coincidentally the same year the Oraculum first appeared in print), and it was later still before they could be read and translated confidently. [Kies 729]

$275

27. OATES, Joyce Carol. "JCO" and I (after Borges).

Concord: The Ontario Review / William B. Ewert, 1994. Limited First Edition; 1100 copies printed with 100 signed and handbound (25 cased in boards and 75 in sewn wrappers, of which this is one though unnumbered). Signed twice by Oates, once at end of text and again on first page with inscription "For William Safire — with much admiration for you writing, and wit; and very best wishes — Joyce Carol Oates, 2 Sept. 1995." Post-it in Oates's writing reading "Buy one, get another free—" attached above.

Octavo; [12pp]. Sewn purple paper wraps with gilt lettering. Top page edges uncut. Covers are crisp with very light fading along spine.

Specially printed to accompany a 1994 exhibition of the Hannelore and William Heyen Collection of Oates's works at the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Rochester Library.

$75

28. VONNEGUT, Kurt. Jailbird.

Franklin Center: The Franklin Library, 1979. Limited First Edition, privately printed for Members of the First Edition Society. Presentation copy, signed by the author on flyleaf with inscription "Most respectfully for the | writer William Safire | Kurt Vonnegut | Manhattan July 27, 1981."

Octavo; [xiv], 319pp. Green leather with gilt lettering and decoration. Covers are clean and bright with very light bumping to top corners. Some offsetting from inscription on adjacent pages (verso of front free endpaper and limitation statement page), else pages clean and unmarked. Binding is sound. A 2008 Newsweek clipping reprinting a 1945 letter by Vonnegut following his release as a P.O.W. laid in at back, along with a few clippings of Vonnegut entries from rare book catalogs. 

$300

29. WOUK, Herman. A Hole in Texas: A Novel.

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2004. Stated First Edition with full numberline. Signed by the author on half title with inscription: "Inscribed for dear old friends Helene & Bill Safire, with admiration for Bill's sane clear voice in a murky time — and with abiding affection (?) for you both. Herman Wouk, Palm Springs, 8 April 2004." Three additional signed letters, one handwritten, laid in at front.

Octavo; 278pp. Illustrated yellow dust jacket with original $25.00 price; book in purple and yellow paper-covered boards with purple foil lettering to spine. Jacket bumped at head of spine, else clean, crisp, and bright. Boards with similar bump, with a smaller bump at top front corner. 

Two of the letters comment on Safire's participation in recent Library of Congress events. The third appears to originally have accompanied an advance copy of A Hole in Texas, as a friendly reciprocation for a copy of Safire's No Uncertain Terms. 

$50

30. WOUK, Herman. Inside, Outside.

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1985. Stated First Edition. One of an unspecified limited number "reserved for the friends of the author and Little, Brown and Company," signed by Wouk with brief inscription to Safire and his wife Helene on tipped-in limitation page. Additional signed materials laid in (see below).

Octavo; 644pp. Illustrated dust jacket with original $19.95 price; book in two-tone blue cloth with gilt lettering and decoration to spine. Jacket rubbed at spine ends with a few small scuffs, else clean and crisp. Boards are square with some fading along top edge

Laid in at front and back are an additional five letters (all signed) from Wouk to Safire, dated from 1985-2003, as well as programs from two events in which Safire participated honoring Wouk at the Library of Congress, one of which is inscribed inside the front cover but without signature. Safire also tucked in a photocopied excerpt from the book on which he bracketed certain passages, an email from the Library of Congress with details on one of the events, and a letter from a friend including a charming anecdote about Wouk.

$150