Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Faulkner, William. PYLON. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, Inc, New York, 1935.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Signed limited first edition of this novel set among the trick pilots and wing-walkers of a fictionalized New Orleans. PYLON formed the basis for a 1957 Rock Hudson film, directed by Douglas Sirk and praised by Faulkner as the best screen adaptation of any of his works. No Hollywood production, however, could replicate the effect of the novel, whose cascading phrases - "rushing in a light curbchannelled spindrift of tortured and draggled serpentine and trodden confetti pending the dawn's whitewings - spent tinseldung of Momus' Nilebarge clatterfalque" - give to the reader something of the effect of falling out of a plane. 7.5'' x 5''. Original three-quarter blue cloth with silver metallic boards, stamped in blue with the image of an airplane. Top edge silver. Lacking original slipcase. Tipped-in fold-out fascimile of manuscript page 58. 315, [1] pages. Edition of 310 numbered and signed copies of which 300 were for sale, this copy no. 99. Signed by Faulkner at colophon. Light soil and edgewear, corners bumped, some faint scratches to boards. Spine sunned.
Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Octavo. Original blue cloth over silver boards with blue airplane stamped on the front board, silver top-stain. Number 133 of 310 signed limited copies, with the signed limitation page in the rear. A Near Fine copy of the book with the spine faded, minor rubbing to silver boards and a previous owner's stamp on the half-title, otherwise appearing clean and unread. Lacking the publisher's cardboard slipcase. "While most critics consider Pylon to be Faulkner's most flawed novel ("unnecessary horror and violence," "unintelligible descriptive passages," an "inconceivable climax"), Faulkner himself is reported to consider it the best of his works to be adapted to screen" (University of Michigan). It was an admitted departure for the author, as it was one of his few works to be set outside the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, instead unfolding in a thinly disguised New Orleans (here called New Valois). There, a nameless reporter covers the story of a group of flyers on the circuit. "In Pylon Faulkner sets out to test their rootless modernity to see if there is any place in it for the old values of the human heart that are the central concerns of his best fiction" (Random House). Near Fine.
Seller: Whitmore Rare Books, Inc. -- ABAA, ILAB, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1935.
Price: US$1600.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Limited Edition of 310 copies, of which this is no. 119. Signed by Faulkner on the limitations page. Housed in its original slipcase. Very Good. Blue cloth of spine with the typical toning. A couple small spots of flaking to silver foil cover. The facsimile manuscript page at frontis with a lengthy crease very near the free edge. Contents otherwise quite nice. Binding is square and firm. Very possibly an unread copy, as many pages are as yet uncut. Slipcase is Good, well-worn, but still complete and functional. Very faintly visible near the tail of the slipcase spine is the number "119", matching the copy number of the book.
Seller: Brazos Bend Books, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: SIGNED/LIMITED EDITION of 310 copies. A wonderful copy SIGNED by William Faulkner on the limitation page. The book is in nice condition. The binding is tight with NO cocking or leaning and the boards are crisp with minor wear to the edges. The pages are clean with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the book. A lovely copy SIGNED by the author.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, Inc, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octavo, 315pp, [3]. Blue cloth spine, title stamped in silver on spine. Bright silver foil boards. Top edge silver. Solid text block, internally fine. Fold-out frontispiece of facsimile manuscript. Shelf wear, sunning to spine, light rubbing to tips. In the publisher's cardboard slipcase, title on labels affixed to spine and front panel, wear to seams, partially reinforced, delicate condition. Signed by the author on tipped-in limitation page, number 220 of 310 copies. William Faulkner (1897-1962) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, recognized for A Fable in 1955 and The Reivers in 1963. The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Light in August were recognized by The Modern Library on their 1998 list of 100 Best English-language Novels of the 20th Century. Faulkner primarily set his stories in the American South, many of which took place in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County.
Seller: The First Edition Rare Books, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.
FAULKNER, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2200.00 + shipping
Description: Limited Issue, one of 310 numbered copies signed by the author. Octavo (19.5cm); silver foil boards back in light blue cloth, with title stamped in gilt on spine and pictorial device stamped in blue on front board; top edge gilt; 315,[3]pp. Bookplate to front pastedown, spine cloth faded and lightly soiled, minor offsetting to gutters, and a tiny patch of foil skinned at right edge of rear panel; Very Good+ in a like example of the scarce, original slipcase; toned, worn with minor splitting along edges, but perfectly sound, with the original title labels intact.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
FAULKNER, William.. Pylon.. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2250.00 + shipping
Description: 315 pp. 8vo, publisher's cloth-backed boards (lacking the publisher's slipcase). First edition; No. 200 of 310 copies signed by the author. Spine faded; ink inscription to front free endpaper; very slight rubbing to boards; a nice copy.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2999.99 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: One of 310 copies (this being no. 302) signed by author to colophon page. Quarterbound blue cloth with silver paper-covered boards with airplane design. Spine toned, top edge gilt (faded) , mild shelfwear to boards else near fine, sound, square unmarked copy. Includes publisher's fragile slipcase in pieces. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; Signed by Author
Seller: curtis paul books, inc., Northridge, CA, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1935.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Limited Issue number 160 of 310 numbered copies signed by the author on colophon page. In original glassine and good slip case. Silver foil boards chip back in light blue cloth, with title stamped in gilt on spine and pictorial device stamped in blue on front board; top edge gilt; 315 pages.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1935.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, first printing. Limited to 310 individually numbered copies signed by Faulkner. Original publisher's three-quarter blue cloth-backed silver foil-covered boards, with illustration of a plane to the front cover, spine lettered in silver, silver top edge; original publisher's paper-covered slipcase with title label to front board and spine. About fine with some slight fading to the spine; in the extremely fragile slipcase with some wear along the edges and completely free of any of the usual repairs or restoration. An excellent example, scarce in this condition. Housed in a custom quarter leather box. Pylon tells the story of a trio of airplane barnstormers (stunt pilots) who live on the outskirts of society. An unnamed reporter, intrigued and enamored by the trio's unique lifestyle, becomes emotionally invested in the trio, which ultimately leads to tragedy. Following the financial success of his novel Sanctuary (1931) and writing for Hollywood, Faulkner took up flying in the early 1930s, which gave him much of the raw material for Pylon. It is one of the few books written by Faulkner that is not set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha Country in Mississippi, instead set in New Valois, an area very similar to New Orleans. The book was adapted into the classic movie Tarnished Angels (1957), directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson.
Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Faulkner, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1935.
Price: US$4000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: SIGNED/LIMITED EDITION. A magnificent copy SIGNED by William Faulkner. The book is in nice condition. The binding is tight, and the boards are crisp with minor wear to the spine and edges. The pages are clean with NO marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, a superb copy of this limited edition of 310 copies SIGNED by the author with a custom acetate cover to protect the book. We buy SIGNED Faulkner First Editions.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
FAULKNER, William. Pylon. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1935.
Price: US$30000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Second printing (a month after the first). Near fine lacking the dust jacket. Faulkner's novel of barnstorming aviation, a pursuit which took his brother Dean's life a few months after the book was published. This copy Signed by Faulkner on the title page: "William Faulkner. Sherman, Conn. 25 Oct 1945." The ink has smeared a bit but is easily readable. Although not inscribed, this was Malcolm Cowley's copy signed by Faulkner at Cowley's home in Sherman, Connecticut, where he and other important American authors were frequent visitors. Cowley was a poet and literary critic, and chronicler of the so-called "Lost Generation" of American expatriates in Paris. While probably best known for his book of poetry *Blue Juniata*, his most important work was his editing of the Viking Portable Library, where his selections and criticisms fostered the popularization of those American authors whose reputations and fortunes had suffered between the Wars. William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald, both of whom had to some degree disappeared from the landscape of the American literary conversation, enjoyed critical resurgences as the result of the Portable editions. Cowley's 1944 Portable Hemingway sold so well that he was able to convince Viking to publish a Portable Faulkner in 1946. William Faulkner was, at the time, slipping into literary obscurity. By the 1930s, he was working as a Hollywood screenwriter and in danger of seeing his works go out of print. Cowley argued for a dramatic revaluation of Faulkner's position in American letters, enlisting him as an honorary member of the Lost Generation. Robert Penn Warren called *The Portable Faulkner* the "great watershed" moment for Faulkner's reputation, and many scholars view Cowley's essay as having resuscitated Faulkner's career. Faulkner won a Nobel Prize in 1949. He later said, "I owe Malcolm Cowley the kind of debt no man could ever repay." A significant association copy.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.