Autobiography

Buckley, William F., Jr., Overdrive: A Personal Documentary (Doubleday & Co., 1st ed., 1983). ISBN 0-385-18269-4. The celebrated conservative activist/writer documented a week in his life in this book. Reviewing it in The New York Times, Nora Ephron concluded, “A boy born to a small oil fortune grows up to be a man with three homes, five in help, a wife on the best-dressed list and the secure belief that even his preference in peanut butter will be of interest to his fans. His attitude toward life is so cheerful and good-natured - and what's more, he's right about the peanut butter - that it seems almost churlish to point out that it is possible to spend too much time in a limousine. The English used to say, give an Irishman a horse and he'll vote Tory, but never mind.” Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, good condition, autographed on bookplate. HBB price: $35.

Bush, Barbara, A Memoir (Lisa Drew Books/Scribners, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1994). ISBN 0-202-519275-2. The matriarch of the political dynasty tells of her life with George and all the Bushes. Autographed on title page. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition.  HBB price: $50.

Ervin, Senator Sam, Humor of A Country Lawyer (University of North Carolina Press, 1st ed., 1983). ISBN 0-8078-1566-7. Reminiscences by the famed chair of the Watergate Committee. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, good condition, inscribed “To Bruce Wofford, with all good wishes” and dated October 23, 1983. HBB price: $40.

Gagarine, Marie, From Stolnoy to Spartanburg: The two worlds of a former Russian princess (Sandlapper Press, 1st ed., 1971). ISBN 0-87844-001-1. The memoirs of a granddaughter to the Czarina Alexandra’s “states-lady”: a sort of chief of staff- whose family lost all in the whirlwind of the Revolution and ended up on the faculty of Wofford College in South Carolina. Includes an account of life at court with the last of the Romanovs.Hardcover, no dust jacket, very good condition. Inscribed by the author on the front papers. Octavo, 138 pp. Rare. HBB price: $150.

Graham, Katharine, Personal History (Alfred A. Knopf, 1st ed., 1997) ISBN 0-394-58585-2. Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography of the woman who unexpectedly inherited a newspaper and used it to stand up to a President of the United States, and inspired one of the great celebrity parties of the 20th century. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. Octavo, 642 pp. HBB price: $25.

Green, Julien, Terre Lointaine (Love in America) (Paris: Bernard Grasset, Editeur, 1966). Julien Green (1900-1998), almost unknown in the United States, was an American writer who spent most of his life in France. His voluminous output of novels, memoirs and diaries won such favor in the francophone world that he was the first non-native elected to the French Academy. This book is the third of his autobiographical works and tells the story of an unfulfilled love affair during his time at the University of Virginia, 1919-22: "I believed I was the only one of my kind. I only discovered many years later what was going on there every day and night. `What, didn't you realize?' Yet all the proprieties were observed to the T and, having eyes that were apparently not meant to see, I persevered in my unbelievable ignorance. There is a great deal to be said about the effects of my blindness for it prolonged the end of my childhood and encouraged a late development which it was difficult to catch up with, yet it also helped to preserve many qualities which I would otherwise have lost: a way of looking at the world in all its newness, as if I had just discovered it and above all, I firmly believe, a living faith. . . ."And would I not feel rather ashamed about regretting all this physical delight that I never knew and which would have been so easy to procure? I would be lying if I wrote that I did not regret it. . . . I cannot pretend that a shameful lament for the passionate delights of which my youth deprived me did not well up from the darkest regions of my soul. I know that all that is most Christian in me protests, but mankind is nevertheless a structure of several stories. We praise God from the roof-tops, but what is going on in the gloom of the cellar?"
A convert to Catholicism at 14, Green wrestled all his very long life to reconcile his homosexuality with his faith, and many of his works of fiction deal with private moral failures and public hypocrisies. A personal crisis in the mid-1950s magnified his focus on spiritual issues. The French title is derived from a line in a poem by Villon: “In my country was a distant land.” This paperback (4.75” x 7.5”) is inscribed on the title page from Green to the late UNC-Charlotte dean Glenn S. Burne. Good Condition; some sun fading on the yellow cover boards. HBB price: $175.
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Griffin, Kathy, Official Book Club Selection (Ballantine Books, 1st ed., 1st printing, 2009). ISBN 978-0-345-51851-4. As new, with unclipped dust jacket, autographed on title page. Hardcover, 357 pp. HBB price: $50.

Howe, Gordie & Colleen, “...and Howe! An Authorized Biography (Power Play Publications, 1995, 3rd printing), ISBN 0-9647149-0-6. The famed hockey star and his wife look back. Signed by both. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $75.

51nLn9r2bCL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpgJohnson, Lyndon B., The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969 (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1st ed. 1971). ISBN 0-03-084492-4. A disappointingly dry look at his presidency by one of the most consequential holders of it in the 20th century. Octavo, unclipped dust jacket, some wear about the edges. Good condition. Octavo, 636 pp. HBB price: $20.

Lamott, Anne, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith (Pantheon, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1999). ISBN 0-679-4420-5. Essays on faith, and life’s off journey, by a truly unique writer. “I have this beautiful feminist friend named Nora,” Lamott begins the chapter titled, ‘Gypsies,’ “who once said, ‘I’ve been thinking about killing myself, but I want to lose five pounds first.” I was remembering this recently when I started liking a new guy…” Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very food condition. Gift inscription on the front end papers; autographed by Lamott on the Pantheon logo page. HBB price: $34.99.

fullsizerender_2__1_2.jpgMarshall, Garry, Wake Me When It’s Funny: How to Break Into Show Business And Stay There (Adams Publishing, 1995, 1st ed., 1st printing). ISBN 1-55850-526-1. Actor, writer and director, Marshall created 14 hit TV shows and directed major movies over a 35-year career he revisits in this memoir written with his daughter, Lori. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, good condition, extensive underlining by previous owner (but at least the lines are straight). Autographed by both authors. HBB price: $20.


Meir, Golda, My Life (G.P. Putnam’s, 1st American ed., 1975). ISBN 399-11669-9. The autobiography of the first woman prime minister of Israel, one of the most charismatic figures of her day. Hardcover, price clipped dust jacket mylar cover, octavo, 480 pp., fine condition. HBB price: $75.

Ouimet, Francis, A Game of Golf: A Book of Reminiscence (1932, limited ed. by The Old Golf Shop, Cincinnati, 1978, No. 57 of 250). 20 year old former caddie and unknown amateur Francis Ouimet stunned the sports world by beating the godlike Harry Vardon in the 1913 U.S. Open, making the front page of the New York Times in the process. Ouimet (1893-1967) changed the perception of golf as the game for the super-rich and became a beloved figure in golf through the decades. This very limited edition is part of an annual series reprinting of books by the honoree of the annual Memorial Tournament, started in 1976 to honor those- living and dead- who did the most to advance the sport. A very rare edition of an excellent autobiography. Green boards with gilt edging and titles, no dust jacket, very good condition. 8.75” x 5.75”, 274 pp. HBB price: $175.

20150406_150231.jpgPhillips, Robert B., One of God’s Children (Celo Press, 1st ed. 1982). A longtime school principal and leading apple grower, Phillips wrote this memoir of his life in the North Carolina mountains in sight of his 80th birthday; he lived to 96, dying in 1999. An engaging tale of his life and times. Hardcover, duodecimo, 163 pp. Inscribed to Charlotte Observer editors Wilton and Eudora Garrison, friends to many regional authors. HBB price: $25.

Twain, Shania, From This Moment On (Atria Books, 1st edition, second printing, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4516-2074-0. The autobiography of one of the leading pop music stars of the last quarter century. Hardcover, unclipped dustjacket with crease in back flap. Very good condition. Inscribed on the front end paper, “Lindz- you’re the best! XXOO’s Shania Twain.”  424 pp., color illustrations. HBB price: $30.

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White, Vanna, Vanna Speaks (Warner Books, 1st ed., 1st printing, May, 1987). ISBN 0-446-51366-0. So ubiquitous was Vanna White in American popular culture after Wheel of Fortune began in 1983, there was a bestseller called Vanna Karenina. The Oregonian newspaper did a front page redesign featuring a column running down the left side: an index to the interior. At the top of the column was a daily celebrity photo, and the first was...Vanna White. Around Portland that space in the paper became known as “the Vanna Box,” irrespective of who appeared in it. Here the turner of letters turns woman of letters. Hardcover, unclipped dustjacket, as new condition overall. Inscribed on the half title page. HBB price: $35.

Yardley, Jonathan, Our Kind of People: The Story of An American Family (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1st ed., 1st printing, 1989. ISBN 1-55584-174-0. NC native, book critic and Pulitzer Prize winner’s story of his family, centering around his parents’ half-century marriage. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. Presentation copy inscribed to Charlotte NC-based jazz musician and songwriter Loonis McGlohon. HBB price: $75.

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