IMPORTANT PRESENTATIONS

1 - INQUISICIONES, 1925 - Inscribed to: Ramón Gomez de la Serna 

2 - INQUISICIONES, 1925 -  Inscribed to: Nora Lang   

 3 - FICCIONES, I944 -
Inscribed to: Vicente Barbieri 

 4 - EL ALEPH, 1949 -
Inscribed to: Vicente Barbieri      

 5 - EL ALEPH, 1949 -
Inscribed to: Mandie Molina Vedia   

 6 -  La Muerte y la brújula. 1951 [Death And The Compass].
The Dedication Copy
Inscribed to: Mandie Molina Vedia 

7 - LEOPOLDO LUGONES, 1955 Inscribed to Vicente Barbieri 

Borges (Jorge Luis). INQUISICIONES. First edition, Inscribed presentation copy from the author, A very good or better example in the original light blue wrappers - name erasure on the ffe.. [Helft p.28; Becco 50], 8vo, Buenos Aires, Proa, imprenta El Inca, 1925.$25500

The presentation inscription reads: " Para el amigo y colega Ramón Gomez de la Serna / con el agradecimiento de /  Jorge Luis Borges. Buenos Aires 1925" [For the friend & colleague Ramon Gomez of the Serna, with the gratefulness of Jorge Luis Borges Buenos Aires - 1925.  

Inscribed to the great Spanish author Ramón Gomez de la Serna. This is Borges' first collection of essays. The publication was limited to 500 copies & it was never reissued. Inquisiciones already contains the seminal concerns that Borges would follow for the rest of his writing life. It was never reprinted, however Borges followed it with Otras Inquisiciones, his most important collection of essays. In  Inquisiciones, Borges is firmly rooted in two traditions, both classic & modern. The first is Hispanic, from Quevedo "perfecto en las metáforas, en las antítesis, en la adjetivación, es decir, en aquellas disciplinas de la literatura cuya felicidad o malandanza es discernible por la inteligencia" (perfect in metaphores, in antithesis, in adjectivation, that is to say, in those disciplines of literature whose felicitous or erroneous usage is discernable by the intellect), & Torre Villaruel to Unamuno, Herrera Reissig, & Ramón Gómez de la Serna & Cansinos Asséns, his mentor. The second tradition is Anglo-Saxon, from Thomas Browne " … un ensayo bastante malo, … tal vez el primero que se escribió sobre él en idioma español". ( … a rather bad essay … perhaps the first that was written about him in Spanish) [Autobiografía, p.80]) to Joyce, including the idealist philosophy of Berkeley . The Germanic tradition is also present with a translation of 3 poems: "Soy culpable de la españilización de los versos". (I am guilty of the Spanish translation of these verses). It is in "Examen de metáforas" where Borges manifests the formulation of his own rhetoric which governed his writing through his Ultraist years to his later works. However years later he retracts this essay: "basta un solo buen verso no metafórico para probar que la metáfora no es un elemento esencial … Otro (ensayo) casificaba las metáforas como si se pudiera prescindir sin problema de otros elementos poéticos, por ejemplo el ritmo y la música". (A single good verse without a metaphor is sufficient to prove that the metaphor is not an essential element … Another (essay) classified metaphors as if one could do away with other poetic elements without any problem, rhythm and music, for example). [Autobiografía, p.80]. An extraordinary Copy. 

Borges (Jorge Luis). INQUISICIONES. First edition, Inscribed presentation copy from the author, A very good copy with some general foxing - modern cloth, gilt lettered red spine labels [originally issued only in paperback]. [Helft p.28; Becco 50], 8vo, Buenos Aires, Proa, imprenta El Inca, 1925   US $18500

The presentation inscription to Lange (Oliverio Girondo's wife) in his fastidious early hand reads: "a la aureolada Nora, muy / cordialmente - / Georgie". A note in pencil below the inscriptions apparently written by Nora Lange's sister; reads in translation: "He could not have found a better adjective for you." Borges used his affectionate diminutive "Georgie", only with his Mother & other close family & friends.

Inscribed by Borges to his close friend, one of the most important
Argentine poets, Vicente Barbieri.

Borges (Jorge Luis). Ficciones (1935-1944). First edition. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sur, 1944. 8vo., 203pp., frontispiece portrait by Marie Elisabeth Wrede. A very good copy in the original blue wrappers - small surface chip at the spine crown, contents embrowned due to paper acidity as always.  [Helft p.65; Becco 30].                                                                                  $18850  

The presentation inscription reads: "Para el colega Vicente Barbieri con la amistad de / Jorge Luis Borges" - [For the colleague Vicente Barbieri with the friendship of / Jorge Luis Borges]. Front cover vignette by Attilio Rossi. In Borges' own words: "Ficciones y El Aleph (1949 y 1952) son, según creo, mis libros más importantes". (Autobiografía pp.111-112). The Borgean quest for the Verb, the Word, which is all words, for the absolute Book, which is all books, takes flesh in El Aleph: the One that contains All, exemplified in the last tale of this collection. On page 139 Borges begins to enumerate his vision through the Aleph he has found in the cellar of Carlos Argentino Danieri. "En ese instante gigantesco, he visto millones de actos deleitables o atroces; ninguno me asombró como el hecho de que todos ocuparan el mismo punto, sin superposición y sin transparencia". (In this gigantic instant, I saw millions of acts, delightful or cruel; none astonished me more than the fact that they all occupied the same place, without superposition or transparency … "Borges enumerates 37 points in all, each beginning with "vi … " (I saw … ): "Vi el populoso mar … Vi el alba y la tarde … Vi las muchedumbres de América … Vi un laberinto roto (era Londres) … Marvelous Literary Association Copy.  

Borges (Jorge Luis). El Aleph.  Buenos Aires:, Editorial Losada, 1949. First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. A near fine or better example. Seldom seen in this condition in the original printed wrappers. [Helft p.72; Becco 37], 8vo, Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, Colección Prosistas de España y América, 1949. $31000.

The presentation inscription in English reads: "Dear Mandie / Happy Xmas with best greetings from / Jorge Luis Borges / 1951, Buenos Aires - / What if this friend happened to be God?". Front cover vignette by Attilio Rossi. In Borges' own words: "Ficciones y El Aleph (1949 y 1952) son, según creo, mis libros más importantes". (Autobiografía pp.111-112). The Borgean quest for the Verb, the Word, which is all words, for the absolute Book, which is all books, takes flesh in El Aleph: the One that contains All, exemplified in the last tale of this collection. On page 139 Borges begins to enumerate his vision through the Aleph he has found in the cellar of Carlos Argentino Danieri. "En ese instante gigantesco, he visto millones de actos deleitables o atroces; ninguno me asombró como el hecho de que todos ocuparan el mismo punto, sin superposición y sin transparencia". (In this gigantic instant, I saw millions of acts, delightful or cruel; none astonished me more than the fact that they all occupied the same place, without superposition or transparency … "Borges enumerates 37 points in all, each beginning with "vi … " (I saw … ): "Vi el populoso mar … Vi el alba y la tarde … Vi las muchedumbres de América … Vi un laberinto roto (era Londres) …  A spectacular copy of a Rare Borges title, especially inscribed.  

Dedication Copy Of This Landmark Title Story.

Borges (Jorge Luis). La Muerte y la brújula. [Death And The Compass]. First edition, signed presentation copy from the author, original pictorial wrappers, showing very light use. [Helft p.74; Becco 46], 8vo, Buenos Aires, Emecé Editores, Colección Novelistas Argentinos Contemporáneos, 1951. $36000  

The inscription penned in English, reads:  "To Mandie from your lazy friend / Jorge Luis Borges - 1951".

 Nine tales reappear in this collection, all revised & corrected for this edition. Hombre de la esquina rosada, Borges points out, was written influenced by American movies & Robert Louis Stevenson. Emma Zunz "está redactada con palabras opacas, in a style of scrupulous meanness, como dijo Joyce de sus Dubliners. (it is written with opaque words, … , as Joyce had said about his Dubliners).Funes el memorioso "es el que menos me desagrada." (is the one that least despleases me). Its source is De Quincey's Palimpsest. Borges wrote it when he felt cornered by the universe: "me sentí acosado del universo".La espera is an urban tale, from a true police report read to Borges by his friend Alfredo Doblas.La forma de la espada & Tema del traidor y del héroe pretend to show a romantic view of Ireland. El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan is a type of crime fiction. Borges hopes that the meaning of it will not come to the reader until the very last paragraph. La muerte y la brújula takes place in Buenos Aires , in spite of the Nordic or German street names.  The volume is dedicated to: Mandie Molina Vedia, who, notwithstanding her life long friendship was one of Borges' great, life long loves. 

Inscribed by Borges to his close friend, the Argentine poets, Vicente Barbieri.

 Borges (Jorge Luis) in collaboration with Betina Edelberg. LEOPOLDO LUGONES. First edition. A fine fresh copy in the original printed wrappers.  [Helft p.77; Becco 105], 8vo,, Buenos Aires, Editorial Troquel, Colección Diálogos del Presente, Number 5, 1955. $5350                                                      

Inscribed By Borges as follows:  " Para Vicente Barbieri, afectos y un abrazo. Jorge Luis Borges" [For Vicente Barbieri, affections & a hug.  Jorge Luis Borges]

Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938) was a journalist and short-story writer. His poetical work reflects the Spanish American modernist movement headed by Ruben Darío, i.e., Lunario sentimental, (1909) & Romancero (1924). To Borges, Lugones represented his Argentinian side - finding the paths of his own literature by opposing Lugones' Baroque style with a more Classical stance, in which reality is always a provisional postulate.  Borges returned to Lugones again & again. A Great Literary Association Copy.