James M. Dourgarian, Bookman
1595-B Third Avenue
Walnut Creek, CA 94597
(925) 935-5033
Established 1980
Member ABAA
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James M. Dourgarian, Bookman, was established in 1980. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA). Like all ABAA members, we answer to a higher authority and follow a higher standard of ethics that guarantees a successful transaction for all our customers.
We buy and sell old books, vintage books, collectible books, rare books, first edition books, and related ephemera. We maintain several specialties. Among them are American fiction first editions from c.1900 to the present. Within that general field, we have heavy emphasis in John Steinbeck and Steinbeckiana. Thus, we buy and sell Steinbeck primary first editions in dust jackets, signed/limited editions, his appearances in anthologies, his periodical appearances, books and periodicals about Steinbeck, film and theatre memorabilia, bibliographies, and miscellaneous items.
We also specialize in these same categories for these authors -- Jack London, Wallace Stegner, and Stephen King. Other specialties include Western Americana, books on California and the West, books on Japan, China, and the Orient, and Armed Services Editions. The latter are vintage paperbacks issued to American GIs from 1943 to 1947. They are comprised of mysteries, Westerns, science fiction and fantasy, mainstream fiction, historical novels, science, poetry, adventure stories, and more.
Within our field of modern first editions, we also sell related film memorabilia. Thus, we sell film posters, lobby card sets, pressbooks, stills, scripts, etc. for films made from the works of authors we carry such as John Steinbeck, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, Zane Grey, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Stephen King, Edward Abbey, Anne Rice, and many others.
[John Steinbeck] Steinbeck, John. A Letter By John Steinbeck to the Friends of Democracy. Stamford, Overbrook Press, 1940, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover. One of 350 hardcover copies (issued after a one-sheet, four-page "throw-away"), it includes an exchange of letters between Steinbeck and L. M. Birkhead about Steinbeck's ancestry and whether Steinbeck was Jewish, and whether The Grapes of Wrath was Jewish propaganda, Goldstone & Payne A13b, Morrow 134, a very scarce book, seldom seen and seldom offered for sale, especially scarce with its original glassine dust jacket fully intact. Fine.JD6569
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Steinbeck, John. A Medal for Benny. Paramount, 1945, first edition. An original-release color film poster for the film that starred Dorothy Lamour, Arturo de Cordova, and J. Carrol Naish, the poster measures 14X36 inches and is dominated by Lamour's beautiful visage, the poster also credits John Steinbeck and his boyhood friend Jack Wagner upon whose story this film was based, this item wasn't in the Goldstone collection, but see Goldstone & Payne E13, not recorded by Morrow. Folded, as usual. JD5095
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Stegner, Wallace. The Big Rock Candy Mountain. NY, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1943, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover. His "big" book which was also the source for some of his best short stories, red brick cloth binding, one of several binding types, with a Review Slip from the publisher, Colberg A7.1.a, this copy Signed by Stegner. Produced with wartime materials, but still a very good copy with some tape reinforcements to the verso of the jacket. JD1296
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| Steinbeck, John. Tortilla Flat. NY, Covici Friede, 1935, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover. His breakthrough novel that follows the antics of Monterey's paisanos, this surface story is an allegory based on the Knights of the Round Table, this is an unrecorded Review Copy with the Covici Friede review slip tipped to the front free endpaper which prints the publication date as May 28, 1935 and shows the published price as $2.50, very scarce thus, the trade edition was comprised of 4,000 copies, illustrated by Ruth Gannett, see Goldstone & Payne A4b, see Morrow 29, although not specifically indicated, this was M. B. Goldstone's copy, he was the brother and rival collector of Adrian Goldstone upon whose collection the Steinbeck bibliography is based. Very good. JD27332
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Steinbeck, John. The First Watch. NY, Marguerite and Louis Henry Cohn, 1947, first edition, wrappers. Softcover. First and only edition, No. 7 of only 60 copies printed by Ward Ritchie, with its original white paper envelope which is also No. 7, the first 10 copies went to Steinbeck with the remainder going to the Cohns (House of Books) for Christmas gift presentation, this elusive "A" item is a letter from Steinbeck to Arnold Gingrich, editor of "Esquire," thanking him for sending a watch as a gift, the letter is full of Steinbeck's typical humor noting that he had expected a watch when he graduated from high school, but none was forthcoming, and since he didn't actually graduate from Stanford University he likewise hadn't received a watch as a gift, Goldstone & Payne A26a, Morrow 199 and 200. Fine. JD30040
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London, Jack. The Apostate A Parable of Child Labor. Girard, The Appeal to Reason, 1906, first edition, stapled self-wrappers. Softcover. Very good. JD4964
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[Wallace Stegner] Stegner, Wallace. Fire and Ice. NY, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1941, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover. This is perhaps his most difficult trade title to find, especially with jacket, Stegner estimated that 2,500 copies were printed and that 1,900 of them sold, the remainder were probably pulped, Colberg A5, this copy carries a vintage inscription by Stegner ("For Elizabeth Patterson--/just an old Indian/love McCall/Wallace Stegner"). Very good.JD3438
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[Wallace Stegner] Stegner, Wallace. The Geography of Hope: A Wilderness Letter. n.p., The Wilderness Society, 1993, first edition, wrappers. Softcover. With a printed dust jacket wrapped around, string-tied binding, includes a frontispiece photo of Stegner by Leo Holub and an appreciation by T. H. Watkins, Stegner's essay is the second chapbook in the Wilderness Society's Founders Circle collection of great writing on wilderness, Stegner offers his own introduction written especially for this book as well as his famous Dec. 3, 1960 letter to David E. Pesonen that came to be known as The Wilderness Letter, this is one of only 115 copies, letterpress printed only for members of the Wilderness Society Founders Circle (donors of $10,000+), together with the first chapbook in the series, Wilderness by Aldo Leopold, also done letterpress, string-tied binding, in wrappers with printed dust jacket, it also includes an appreciation by T. H. Watkins, photo portrait of Leopold from the University of Wisconsin archives, text is from his A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There, this is one of only 100 copies, although not called for, both books are signed by Luke Ives Pontifell, printer/designer of the Thornwillow Press which printed both books. Both books are as new.
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Stegner, Wallace. Wilderness Letter. Salt Lake City, Red Butte Press, 1995, first edition. Issued without dust jacket, but with publisher's cloth clamshell case, the book measures 7.5X15 inches, handbound with matched cottonwood boards with a Coptic-stryle sewing structure exposed on the spine, housed in a box covered with rust red fabric from Japan, printed on buff-gray cotton rag handmade paper, titles throughout printed in various colors, this was Wallace Stegner's rallying cry for the preservation of wilderness made in the form of a letter written Dec. 3, 1960 to David E. Pesonen, the book is illustrated with fine line etchings by V. Douglas Snow, foreword by Stegner's son, collaborator, fellow writer, and conservationist, Page Stegner, there were only 75 numbered copies and 25 copies with Roman numerals hors commerce, the book was out of print before distribution, this is one of the contributor copies, being No. VI, given to Page Stegner, this is confirmed in a letter from Page Stegner and by a slip of paper tipped into the clamshell case that carries his name and the book number, this was one of two contributor copies given to Page, the book is Signed by both the younger Stegner and V. Douglas Snow, laid in loosely is an announcement for the book, also laid in loosely is a cancelled check Signed by Wallace Stegner, very scarce, a wonderful copy of a wonderful book. As new. JD5341
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