A Nobel Profession: 8 past winners from Henry's shelves

To celebrate the announcement that Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, Henry Bemis Books pulled a few past laureates from the shelves:

Henryk Sienkiewicz (Nobel, 1905) , Fire in the Steppe (modern translation by W.S. Kuniczak, Copernicus Society of America, stated 1st ed., 1992). ISBN 0-7818-0025-0. Third of three free-standing novels by the Polish writer (1846-1916), and published in 1888, describing the panoramic sweep of 17th century Poland’s quest for independence.

Sienkiewicz was one of the most celebrated authors of his day, renowned for historical and religious fiction as well as essays and poetry. Hie lasting fame rests on his 1896 novel, Quo Vadis, which sold over 800,000 copies in English the first year it was translated. He received seven nominations before winning the fifth Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905.

At the Nobel dinner in December, 1905, however, it was Sienkiewicz’ trilogy that formed the foundation of his renown. C.D. af Wirsen, secretary of the Swedish Academy, proclaimed,

If one surveys Sienkiewicz' achievement it appears gigantic and vast, and at every point noble and controlled. As for his epic style, it is of absolute artistic perfection. That epic style with its powerful over-all effect and the relative independence of episodes is distinguished by naive and striking metaphors. In this respect, as Geijer has remarked, Homer is the master because he perceives grandeur in simplicity as, for example, when he compares the warriors to flies that swarm around a pail of milk, or when Patroklos, who all in tears asks Achilles to let him fight against the enemies, is compared to a little girl who weeping clings to the dress of her mother and wants to be taken in her arms. A Swedish critic has noticed in Sienkiewicz some similes that have the clarity of Homeric images. Thus the retreat of an army is compared to a retreating wave that leaves mussels and shells on the beach, or the beginning of gunfire is compared to the barking of a village dog who is soon joined in chorus by all the other dogs. The examples could be multiplied.

Henry Bemis’ copy is in fine condition, with a stirring dust jacket illustration. It is one of a series of new English translations- the first in nearly a century- commissioned by the Copernicus Society in the 1990s. It’s inscribed from one friend to another in Warsaw in 2001. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket. 9” x 5.75”; navy cloth boards with gold titling on the spine; 717 pp.  HBB price: $95 obo.

Rudyard Kipling (Nobel 1907), Captains Courageous, A Story of the Grand Banks (The Century Company, 1st American ed., 1897). Hardcover, green boards with gilt embossing; no dust jacket. Duodecimo; some staining on boards; separated hinges, some loose pages at the back; advertising material appears missing. 21 black and white engraved illustrations, lithographed. Pencil notation by ex-owner on front and rear endpapers: "Chas. G. Wilson, 104 Prescott St., Toledo, O. Oct./Nov. 1899". HBB price: $30.

T.S. Eliot (Nobel 1948), Collected Poems 1909-1935 (Harcourt Brace & Co., 1936). Poetry was a young man’s game for Eliot; this volume sums up his life’s work. Hardcover, no dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $100 obo.

Ernest Hemingway (Nobel 1954), The Old Man and the Sea (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952, 1st. ed, 1st printing). Ex-library copy. Hardcover, octavo, 140 pp. Some foxing on the end papers; library stamps on front end papers and bottom of text block. With unclipped dust jacket in mylar covering. No library tags on the spine. Blue-tinted author photo on back cover. Overall, very good condition- uncommonly so for an ex-library copy. HBB price: $275 obo.

Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls (Scribners, 1st ed, early, unstated printing, 1940). Regarded by many as Hemingway’s masterwork, this love story set in the Spanish Civil War was published in October 1940 in a first printing of 75,000 copies. It was an immediate success and sold more than half a million copies in its first year. An endpaper note indicates this copy was purchased new in 1941. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket (some small tears and fraying at the edges, some browning on the end papers. Overall, good condition. 8.5” x 6”, 471 pp. HBB price: $100 obo.

John Steinbeck (Nobel 1962), Sweet Thursday (Viking Press, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1954). LOC 54-7983. Steinbeck’s sequel to Cannery Row (1945), Sweet Thursday finds Doc returning to the Row after World War II and trying to restore his neglected biological supply lab and Hazel coping with a vision that he is to become President of the United States, among other neighbors’ issues. A number of plot lines from Sweet Thursday- which, since you didn’t ask, follows Lousy Wednesday were incorporated into the 1982 film, Cannery Row. A delightfully funny novel filled with vivid characters. Hardcover, price clipped dust jacket. Octavo, beige-green cloth; very good condition; dust jacket near fine, very clean and bright. 273 pp. HBB price: $299 obo.

Saul Bellow (Nobel 1976), More Die of Heartbreak (William Morrow, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1987). ISBN 0-688-06935-5. “I am a phoenix,” one character says, “who runs after arsonists.” A sex farce about two midwestern academics by the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner (1915-2005). Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $120 obo.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Nobel 1982), Of Love And Other Demons (Knopf, 1st American ed., 1995). ISBN 0-679-43853-X. A “bookish priest” is sent to conduct the exorcism of an “unruly copperhaired girl.” Romance ensues. Marquez (1927-2014) remains one of the giants of Latin American fiction. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, fine condition. HBB price: $50.

Toni Morrison (Nobel 1993)  Beloved (Knopf, 1st stated ed., 1987). ISBN 0-394-53597-9. Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by the Nobel Laureate. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, some dirty spots on cover, light water stain through bottom corner of text block, but not affecting readability or appreciation of this fine work. Previous owner’s bookplate on front pastedown. HBB price: $25.

Toni Morrison, Paradise (Knopf, 1st stated ed., 1998). ISBN 0-679-43374-0. Near fine hardcover in near fine, unclipped dust jacket. HBB price: $39.95.

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