Marc Tauss Archives - The Vintage Contemporaries Bibliography

Thomas McGuane – Nobody’s Angel (1986)

Bibliographical Description

86.11.W029: McGuane – Nobody’s Angel

120 leaves, pp. [8] 1–3 4-78 79 80-86 87 88-118 119 120-142 143 144-149 150 151-153 154 155-171 172 173-227 [5]

First Vintage Books Edition, November 1986

Contents: π1a author photo with blurbs, π1b “BOOKS BY THOMAS MCGUANE”, π2a title, π2b imprint, π3a dedication, π3b blank, π4a epigraph, π4b blank, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-227 Nobody’s Angel, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank, χ3a Vintage Contemporaries order form, χ3b Vintage Contemporaries List.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Paul Dix.

Copies: JDP 1.1

Blurbs

(front cover) McGuane’s best book so far. – The New York Times Book Review
Skewed comic vision, rakish wit, recklessly zany invention…a writer of great extravagance whose elegance of style is laced with sarcasm, wisecracks, and wry irony….McGuane can also write with grace and with a poignance commingled with gallows humor….a novel of considerable compassion, strength and resonance, from an author who’s among the most arresting and fascinating of his generation. – San Francisco Chronicle
Nobody’s Angel is a masterpiece, not only McGuane’s best, but arguably one of the best serious novels of recent time….a mastery of style and invention, delighting the reader with his pure command of the language. – Indianapolis News
The thinking man’s Western….McGuane is meticulous with his metaphors, as precise and witty as a Renaissance poet. – Los Angeles Times
McGuane’s prose is witty and evocative….Montana, where he lives most of the time, it to McGuane what Yoknapatawpha County was to Faulkner, a mythic place [of discovery]. This is a rewarding book full of small truths. – People

Cormac McCarthy – Suttree (1986)

Bibliographical Description

86.10.W027: McCarthy – Suttree

First Vintage Books Edition, October 1986

240 leaves, pp. [6] 1–3 4-5 6–7 8-29 30 31-35 36 37-62 63 64-86 87 88-90 91 92-106 107 108-118 119 120-136 137 138-147 148 149-161 162 163-179 180 181-182 183 184-194 195 196-206 207 208-219 220 221-240 241 242-252 253 254-255 256 257-258 259 260-277 278 279-282 283 284-297 298 299-305 306 307-363 364 365-373 374 375-378 379 380-415 416 417-420 421 422 423 424-430 431 432-434 435 436-439 440 441-447 448 449-471 [3]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “B_{OOKS BY}C_ORMACM_CC_ARTHY”, π2a title, π2b imprint, π3a acknowledgements, π3b blank, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-471 Suttree, χ1b about the author, χ2a Vintage Contemporaries order form, χ2b Vintage Contemporaries list.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Mark Morrow and the University of Georgia Press.

Copies: JDP 1.1

Blurbs

(front cover) Perhaps the closest we have to a genuine heir to the Faulknerian tradition…his novels have a stark, mythic quality that is very much their own. – The Washington Post
Reads like a doomed Huckleberry Finn. – The New York Times Book Review
All of McCarthy’s books present the reviewer with the same welcome difficulty. They are so good that one can hardly say how good they really are….Suttree may be his magnum opus. Its protagonist, Cornelius Suttree, has forsaken his prominent family to live in a dilapidated houseboat among the inhabitants of the demimonde along the banks of the Tennessee River. His associates are mostly criminals of one sort or another, and Suttree is, to say the least, estranged from what might be called normal society. But he is so involved with life (and it with him) that when in the end he takes his leave, the reader’s heart goes with him. Suttree is probably the funniest and most unbearably sad of McCarthy’s books…which seem to me unsurpassed in American literature. – Stanley Booth, St. Petersburg Times
Brilliant and powerful. – Shelby Foote
Yes, there are a lot of dead people in Suttree, but then people do die, especially poor and stubborn and violent ones. And Southerners, including Southern writers, don’t believe in abandoning their dead. If you read Mr. McCarthy’s book, you won’t escape his dead either. They will haunt you, which is what they are supposed to do. – Anatole Broyard, The New York Times

Jay McInerney – Bright Lights, Big City (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W007: McInerney – Bright Lights, Big City

A Vintage Original, September 1984

104 leaves, pp. [16] 1-182 [10]

Contents: π1a blank, π1b blurbs, π2a book description and author photo, π2b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π3a half-title, π3b blank, π4a title, π4b imprint, π5a dediction “FOR MY MOTHER | AND FATHER, AND FOR MERRY”, π5b blank, π6a epigraph, π6b blank, π7a table of contents, π7b blank, π8a fly-title, π8b blank, 1-182 Bright Lights, Big City: 1-10 “IT’S SIX A.M. | DO YOU KNOW | WHERE YOU ARE?”, 11-35 “THE DEPARTMENT | OF FACTUAL | VERIFICATION”, 36-53 “THE UTILITY | OF FICTION”, 54-68 “A WOMB | WITH A VIEW”, 69-79 “LES JEUX | SONT FAITS“, 80-98 “COMA BABY | LIVES!”, 99-118 “PYGMIES, FERRETS | AND DOG CHOW”, 119-127 “O COUTURE!”, 128-144 “LINGUINE | AND | SYMPATHY”, 145-159 “SOMETIMES | A VAGUE | NOTION”, 160-169 “THE NIGHT | SHIFT”, 170-182 “HOW IT’S | GOING”; χ1a blank, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank, χ3a blank, χ3b blank, χ4a blank, χ4b blank, χ5a blank, χ5b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Jerry Bauer.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (three copies) (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) A rambunctious, deadly funny novel that goes right for the mark—the human heart. – Raymond Carver
Living in Manhattan as if he owned it, a young man tries to outstrip mortality and the recurring approach of dawn with nothing but good will, controlled substances and wit to sustain him in this anti-quest. He can run but he can’t hide. His relentless flight through nightclubs, fashion shows, editorial offices and loft parties finally brings him to the reckoning point, where he is forced to acknowledge loss and, possibly, rediscover his better instincts.
Terrific: remarkable, funny writing, a perfect power-to-weight ratio. – Thomas McGuane
The author is one of those rare writers who catches the moods, nuances and manners of a sub-culture with humor, finesse, skill and accuracy. A born stylist and a remarkable discovery! – George Plimpton
Jay McInerney’s voice is a lot of us, whether young New Yorkers or not—coolly accurate, but sobbing inside a little. Bright Lights, Big City makes eerie beauty out of that old dog truth. – Barry Hannah
In its depiction of youth striving mightily to amuse itself, in the exuberance of its language and the antic shamelessness of its tale, Jay McInerney’s novel calls to mind such classics of knight-errantry as The Ginger Man and The Bushwhacked Piano. It is a dazzling debut, smart, heartfelt, and very, very funny. – Tobias Wolff

Thomas McGuane – The Bushwhacked Piano (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W006: McGuane – The Bushwhacked Piano

First Vintage Books Edition, September 1984

112 leaves, pp. 1-10 11-220 [4]

Contents: 1 blurbs and author photo, 2 “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, 3 half-title, 4 blank, 5 title-page, 6 imprint, 7 dedication “This book is for my mother and father.”, 8 blank, 9 epigraph, 10 blank, 11-220 The Bushwhacked Piano, χ1a blank, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Paul Dix.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) A sumptuous feast of language and wit, The Bushwhacked Piano makes literacy a joy rather than an obligation. – Thomas Berger
Nicholas Payne is a young man who has gotten completely out of hand. His choice of women and associates merely throws fat on the fire of his gruesome conduct. Note how little it avails him to have his heart in the right place. See Nick fail to cope with a fabulous assortment of American archetypes precisely and hilariously delineated, a brilliant gloss on our society itself. American Dubious, at its most heightened.
Gorgeously written, sad and terribly funny. – Partisan Review
The work of a writer of the first magnitude. His sheer writing skill is nothing short of amazing. The preternatural force, grace and self-control of his prose recall Faulkner….McGuane is a virtuoso. – Jonathan Yardley, The New York Times Book Review
McGuane shares with Céline a genius for seeing the profuse, disparate materials of everyday life as a highly organized nightmare. – The New Yorker
A novel of wisecracks and puns and ordinary objects invested with legendary potency. – Geoffrey Wolff, Newsweek
McGuane is a monstrous talent. – National Review (1982)

Peter Matthiessen – Far Tortuga (1984)

Bibliographic Description

84.09.W005: Matthiessen – Far Tortuga

FAR | TORTUGA | Peter Matthiessen | Vintage Contemporaries | VINTAGE BOOKS • A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE • NEW YORK

First Vintage Books Edition, September 1984

208 leaves, pp. [6] 1-2 3-42 43 44-50 51-53 54-88 89 90-95 96 97-102 103 104-116 117 118-127 128-129 130-134 135 136-137 138 139-163 164 165 166 167-180 181-182 183-201 202 203-216 217 218-252 253 254-258 259 260 261 262-268 269 270-281 282 283-324 325-326 327 328 329-360 361 362-365 366-372 373 374 375-378 379 380-387 388 389-390 391 392-395 396 397-403 404-405 406-408 [2]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π2a title-page, π2b imprint and dedication “FOR MARIA”, π3a acknowledgments, π3b epigraph, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-408 Far Tortuga, χ1a blank, χ1b about the author.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Marc Tauss; interior author photo by Hans Teensma.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (four copies) (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) An adventure story…worth comparing to the best of Conrad or Stevenson. – The New York Review of Books
Beautiful and original…a resonant and symbolical story of nine doomed men who dream of an earthly paradise as the world winds down around them. – Newsweek
An important book, its pleasures are many and good for the soul….Far Tortuga is a singular experience, a series of moments captured whole and rendered with a clarity that quickens the blood. Matthiessen’s evocation of the Caribbean is uncanny. From its opening moment, with daybreak over the Windward Passage, the reader senses that the narrative itself is the recapitulation of a cosmic process, as though the author has sought to link his storytelling with the eye of creation. Peter Matthiessen is a unique and masterful visionary artist. – Robert Stone, front page, The New York Times Book Review
The stuff of which great books are made….Far Tortuga is about the sea and sailors and change; but mostly it is a novel of the human spirit. – James Dickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The most beautiful and compelling American novel in decades. – The Chicago Sun-Times