The Lathe of Heaven
London: Victor Gollancz Limited, 1972.
A remarkable association copy of the first British edition, first printing of this Locus and Hugo Award-winning novel, extensively annotated by Tony Wolk, a close friend and colleague of Ursula K. Le Guin. Wolk and Le Guin taught a science fiction writing course together at Portland State University in 1975 and again in the 1980s. 184 pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth, gilt to spine. Good, in a Good lightly worn, unclipped dust jacket. In his annotations, Wolk exhaustively glosses ideas, sumarizes themes and notes inter-textual links along with references to Le Guin's other works and sources. With additional notes interleaved on four laid in index cards, a Post-It note, and remarks written on the verso a folded flyer from Portland's now-defunct feminist bookstore of Portlandia fame, In Other Words. After Le Guin passed away in 2018, Wolk reminisced:
"I remember driving with Ursula to an evening meeting of the school board at a small town upriver on the Washington side of the Columbia River where one of the board members wanted to ban The Lathe of Heaven from its classrooms for its many obscene references to homosexuality, for its foul language, for its ungodly plot. When his turn came he read his list of passages page number by page number. The English Department countered. That done, the chair, observing that 'the author is present,' asked if she had any comments on the motion to ban her novel. Ursula’s reply: 'Thank you, no. The English Department has done quite well without any assistance from me.' And when someone else said how remarkable it was to have the author of Lathe with us, Ursula replied, 'Where books are banned, you will find authors.'" (Propeller Magazine, "The Word for World is Ursula").
Price: $4,800