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James M. Dourgarian, Bookman
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2341 Hickory Drive
Concord, CA 94520
925-349-4400
Established1980 - Member ABAA
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New Arrivals -Recent Books Aquired
[Jack London] London, Jack. "A New Idea in Fiction" The Star Rover By Jack London. NY, Macmillan, n.d., first edition, stapled self-wrappers. Softcover. It includes a sketch of London's life, Jack London And His Work, plus a "complete descriptive list of his novels, short stories and economic writings," this is one of eight items sold for "Milo Sheppard" (sic) by Russ Kingman of the Jack London Bookstore in 1978 that, according to Kingman, "were originally owned by Jack London. They were sent to him by the publishers as they were printed." Fine. JD4957
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, Photography books, 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.
[JackLondon] London, Jack. Martin Eden. NY, Macmillan, Sept. 1909, first edition. Frontispiece by The Kinneys.Front hinge barely starting, else very good.JD1679
London, Jack. Dutch Courage And Other Stories. NY,Macmillan, 1922, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover. Oneof 4,348 copies, frontispiece of a young Jack London, thebook is illustrated by G. M. Richards, interestingly, the jacket indicates that the book is aimed at ages 12-15. Book fore edge soiled, else a very solid copy while the jackethas uniform soiling, small chipping at edges, and the front flap is oddly cut, not affecting text. JD1408
Browse Books Listed by Author's Name Browse Armed Services Editions Books Listed by Issue Numbers | |
| [Jack London] London, Jack. Dutch Courage And Other Stories. NY, Macmillan, 1922, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover. One of 4,348 copies, frontispiece of a young Jack London, the book is illustrated by G. M. Richards, interestingly, the jacket indicates that the book is aimed at ages 12-15. Book fore edge soiled, else a very solid copy while the jacket has uniform soiling, small chipping at edges, and the front flap is oddly cut, as usual, not affecting text. JD1408 |  $1,500.00 |
| [Armed Services Editions] London, Jack. Martin Eden. NY, Armed Services Editions, n.d. (1944), first edition thus, wrappers. Softcover. No. N-28 in this important series, his autobiographical adventure novel, with a note about the author at the end, issued by the Council on Books in Wartime, designed to fit the pocket of a World War II American GI. Some rear cover chipping, else very good. JD34739 | $30.00 |
| [Jack London] London, Jack. Typed Letter (Unsigned). Glen Ellen, Jack London, October 10, 1913, first edition. Single carbon copy sheet, 34 lines, with London's Glen Ellen ink stamp at the upper left corner, this is one of several copies London and his wife, Charmian, made, as they regularly did, in this case to the editors of The Century Magazine, Harper's Monthly, and the New York Herald, London writes rather explicitly of a "pirate raid" on his writings, "At the present time I am undergoing a pirate raid on the part of men who have not given one bit of their brain to create what I have written, one cent of their money to help me write what I have written, nor one moment of their time to aid me to write what I have written," he calls this raid brazen and shameless, "My back is up against the wall, and I am fighting hard, and I am calling upon you to help me out," he asks for their copyright documents for material they have already published between January 1898 and October 12, 1913, see The Letters of Jack London p. 1256 where it states that this same document was sent to 48 of London's magazine ands book publishers in the United States. Very good. JD34268 | $300.00 |
| [Jack London] London, Jack. Typed Letter (Unsigned). n.p., Jack London, August 16, 1909, first edition. This is a typed two-page carbon copy letter, 28/14 lines with a post script from London to the editor of Vanity Fair related to London's book The Iron Heel and his dispute with Frank Harris, Harris charged London with plagiarism based on London's chapter 7 of The Iron Heel, that chapter titled The Bishop's Vision is nearly identical to Harris' essay published in 1901, Harris suggested that he receive 1/60th of London's royalties for The Iron Heel, London insisted that he had clipped a reprint of Harris's article which appeared in an American newspaper and believed it to be a genuine speech delivered by the Bishop of London, London doesn't soft pedal his disgust noting that his clipping service just sent him a clipping from Vanity Fair "in which Mr. Frank Harris is so incredibly stupid as to call me a liar and to insinuate that I do not possess the clipping I referred to in my letter to you of July 1," he notes that he had been away from the USA for two and a half years, "Upon my return home to California I went up to my ranch, and in the barn resurrected a large box labeled on the outside with 'IRON HEEL CLIPPINGS.' Running through these clippings I found the one Mr. Harris said I lied when I stated I possessed it. Here is the clipping, with my marks on it, and my notes made at the time when I utilized it for THE IRON HEEL. But Mr. Frank Harris has proved himself so suspicious a man, so prone to impute evil to others, that he will doubtless aver that this clipping is not a clipping, but that I have had it privately printed at this late day," he goes on to write, "If, on the other hand, Mr. Frank Harris be honorable enough to accept this clipping as bona fide, and to take my explanation of July 1 as a true explanation, then there will be owing to me a sincere apology from Mr. Frank Harris. This apology, in the nature of the case, must be as public as has been his violent charges concerning my veracity, my honesty, and my sanity," he goes on to write that Harris "is a bully of the pen and the printed page. He is a yellow journalist," in an article in the April 14, 1909 issue of Vanity Fair titled "How Mr. Jack London Writes A Novel" Harris outlined his proof of the infraction, see The Letters of Jack London, p. 825. Very good. JD34269 | $350.00 |
| [Jack London] London, Jack. Typed Letter (Unsigned). n.p., Jack London, July 29, 1910, first edition. Two pages, 46/31 lines, this carbon copy is an "open letter" to "Police Judge (George) Samuels" with whom London had a rather public and nasty feud which eventually ended with the judge leaving the court, London had been jumped and beaten earlier and ended up in the court of Judge Samuel, London doesn't hold back, writing "You will remember that you treated me rather scurvily in your little courtroom a few days ago," he goes on "You knew, in your heart of hearts, unless you were incredibly stupid, that the story I told on the witness stand in your courtroom was the simple truth," apparently London had been beaten by Tim Muldowney and others, but Judge Samuels "discharged" them both, this same Judge Samuels years earlier pronounced London guilty and fined him $5 for riding his bicycle after dark without a light, London thought the judge had bullied and ill treated him in court, "You played the cheap, unfair, bullying game that police judges and magistrates have played in the Anglo-Saxon world for a score of generations before you and yours entered said Anglo-Saxon world and embraced its unfair practices," London concludes by writing that he will "get" the judge, this is one of 10 copies made of this letter and one of the two retained by London himself, a day earlier in a letter to his wife, Charmian, he asks her to make 10 copies with one going to the judge himself as well as the Examiner, Call, Chronicle, Bulletin, Post, Tribune and Enquirer (all Bay Area newspapers), the letter to Charmian ends with "...the more I think of that cowardly, oily Jew, the angrier do I get about it. I'm going after him and if I don't do anything else, someday I'll bankrupt him in the business game. Watch my smoke," see The Letters of Jack London p. 916. Very good. JD34270 | $200.00 |
| [Jack London] London, Jack. Typed Letter/Contract (Unsigned). n.p., Jack London, April 3, 1906, first edition. This is a carbon copy of a contract between London and Cosmopolitan Magazine drafted by London himself to Mr. Bailey Millard in which London promises "a series of exclusive articles descriptive of my voyage in my sailboat (his Snark trip), which voyage is to extend, if possible, around the world," reserving English serial rights, but guaranteeing first publication in Cosmopolitan, 30 lines, "These articles are to be from four thousand words each, for the first three, and not to exceed thirty-five hundred words each for the others," except as ordered by the editor of Cosmopolitan, payment "will be ten cents per word," the series was not to exceed 10 articles unless ordered by the magazine, this contract letter advances London $2,000, "In case I fail to furnish articles, I agree to provide in lieu thereof acceptable short stories at the same rate, within one year," London also agrees to furnish photographs to illustrate the articles conditioned on the magazine providing him a small camera and sufficient film, London and his wife Charmian regularly made copies of their correspondence, neither London nor Millard have signed this copy although there was a space reserved for each signature, it appears that this contract was aborted as the Snark voyage was much delayed by the April 18, 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, the Snark didn't set sail until April 23, 1907, an article in the December 1906 issue of Cosmopolitan described the ongoing enterprise of building the Snark and gave some background of London as a sailor, but no further Snark articles were forthcoming from Cosmopolitan. Very good. JD34259 | $300.00 |
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