Browse rare first edition classics in American, English, world literature, poetry, and plays. View our entire collection of rare literature below, search our inventory with advanced search, or use our sorting tools to find exactly what you’re looking for. Please call with any questions you may have on a specific item or order online today.
Showing items 1-24 of 4540
Paris : Shakespeare and Company, 1922.
First edition, first printing of Joyce’s masterpiece, one of 750 numbered copies printed on handmade paper from a total edition of 1000 copies, this is number 909. Thick quarto, bound full morocco by Baker Bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, triple gilt ruling to theContinue reading "Ulysses."
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1926.
The Deluxe Holiday edition of one of the best selling books of the 20th century. Quarto, original publisher’s parchment backed gold foil boards, rebacked with original spine strip laid down, central ornament in red to the front panel, top edge gilt, illustrated with twelve collotype plates after drawings by the author. In good condition.
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Bogota : Ediciones- S.L.B, 1955.
First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s first book which introduced the world to magical realism. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers by artist Cecilia Porras. Association copy, inscribed by the author in one of the earliest signatures we have seen on the front free endpaper, “Para Hector; nada más, Gabo -.” Translated as “nothing more.” TheContinue reading "La Hojarasca."
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New York : Holt, Rinehart Winston, 1963.
First edition of Vonnegut’s absurdist satire of the clash between science and religion in the nuclear age. Octavo, original half cloth, top stain green. Boldly signed by Kurt Vonnegut on the front free endpaper with a self-caricature. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Ben Feder, Inc. Housed in aContinue reading "Cat’s Cradle."
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London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1974.
First British edition of the author’s seventh novel and what many consider to be his finest. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by John le Carre on a slip laid in. and additionally boldly signed by Academy Award-winning actor Gary Oldman on the front free endpaper. Oldman played George Smiley in the 2011 film adaptation of theContinue reading "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."
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London : Picador, 2010.
First hardcover edition of this beautifully crafted, consistently thought-provoking, and deceptively intimate work. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Cormac McCarthy on the pre-half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by David Pearson. Rare and desirable signed.
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London : Jonathan Cape, 1948.
First edition of Paton’s classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Alan Paton on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, contemporary inscription to the front free endpaper. Rare and desirable signed.
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New York : Random House, 1957.
First edition, later printing of one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. Large octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Ayn Rand on the front free endpaper. Fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by George Salter.
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New York : New American Library, 1968.
First edition of the novel of the landmark “proverbial good science fiction movie” created by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Arthur C. Clarke and by Keir Dullea on the front free endpaper, “‘Open the pod bay door, Hal.’ Keir Dullea” onContinue reading "2001: A Space Odyssey."
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New York : The Modern Library, 2001.
First Modern Library edition, early printing of the author’s classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Cormac McCarthy on the half-title page. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Marion Ettlinger. Introduction by Harold Bloom. Uncommon signed.
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New York : The Viking Press, 1939.
First edition of this pivotal Pulitzer prize-winning novel, with “First Published in April 1939” on the copyright page and first edition notice on the front flap of the dust jacket. Octavo, original pictorial beige cloth, pictorial endpapers. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Elmer Hader. Housed in a custom halfContinue reading "The Grapes of Wrath."
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London : Sphere, 2014.
First edition of the second novel in Rowling’s Cormoran Strike Series, published under the pen name Robert Galbraith. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Sian Wilson.
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Paris : Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1958.
The summer 1958 issue of The Paris Review, number 19, containing the first appearance of “The Art of Fiction XXII”, an interview with Henry Green conducted by Terry Southern. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers, illustrated throughout. Henry Green (1905–1973), the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke, was an English novelist associated with the experimental currents ofContinue reading "The Paris Review. Number 19, Summer 1958."
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New York : Dutton, 1994.
First edition of the final novel in the author’s acclaimed trilogy. Octavo, original half cloth, cartographic endpapers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Pr. Hillary Thimmand – a fellow student and teacher – of Ireland and of Irish history With the good wishes of Tom Flanagan April 1995.” Fine inContinue reading "The End of the Hunt."
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London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2013.
Signed limited first edition of Zafón’s gothic tale for all ages. Octavo, original pictorial boards. One of 500 numbered copies signed by the author on the limitation page, this is number 188. In fine condition. Design by kid-ethic.
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London : Richard Bentley, 1834.
Finley bound first edition of Beckford’s beautifully descriptive account of his travels through Italy, Spain, and Portugal from the library of American painter John Singer Sargent with his ownership signature and bookplates. Octavo, two volumes bound in full morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, giltContinue reading "Italy; with Sketches of Spain and Portugal."
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London and Toronto : J.M. Dent & Sons LTD, 1929.
First edition of this classic novel. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth. In very good condition. With a note laid in from Heywood Hill Booksellers saying this is the first first edition copy they have seen.
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London : Charles Tilt, 1832.
First edition of this collection of illustrations depicting iconic characters and scenes from the 18th-century novels of Tobias Smollett, Henry Fielding, and Oliver Goldsmith. Duodecimo, bound in the original publisher’s quarter morocco over silk moire covered boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, all edges gilt, frontispiece, illustrated with 41 engraved plates. InContinue reading "Illustrations of Smollett, Fielding and Goldsmith, in a Series of Forty-One Plates, Designed and Engraved by George Cruikshank."
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New York : The Heritage Press, 1964.
The Heritage Press edition of Thomas Hardy’s tenth published novel. Octavo, bound in three quarters modern morocco over cloth covered boards by Morrell with gilt titles to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, title page vignette, illustrated with wood engravings. In fine condition. Introduction by Frank Swinnertion. EngravingsContinue reading "The Mayor of Casterbridge."
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London/ New York : Samuel French, 1967.
First English edition of Allen’s rapid-fire dialogue. 16mo, original wrappers. Boldly signed by Woody Allen on the front free endpaper. In near fine condition.
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New York : Bantam Books, 1992.
First edition of this “brilliantly realized” (The New York Times Book Review) breakthrough novel from visionary author Neal Stephenson, a modern classic that predicted the metaverse and inspired generations of Silicon Valley innovators. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Neal Stephenson on the title page. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. JacketContinue reading "Snow Crash."
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London : Nisbet & Co. LTD., 1923.
First edition of Ivor Brown’s early critical biography of H.G. Wells, offering contemporary assessment of the author’s life and literary influence. Octodecimo, original publisher’s cloth, photograph of H. G. Wells by Hoppe. From the collection of British science fiction author Christopher Priest with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper. Priest’s most famous worksContinue reading "H.G. Wells."
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New York : Dodd, Mead and Company, 1930.
First American edition of this classic detective novel introducing one of Christie’s most enduring and influential detectives, Miss Marple. Octavo, original publisher’s green cloth, cartographic endpapers, with a clipping of the book summary adhered to the front free endpaper. In very good condition. From the collection of Dr. John Talbot Gernon.
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Budapest : Athenaeum, 1929.
Rare first edition of this collection of stories in the original Hungarian which introduced the sociological phenomena of “six degrees of separation.” Octavo, original wrappers with titles in red and black. In very good condition. Exceptionally rare in the original wrappers.
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Art and Architecture
First Edition
