Skip to content

Literature

Rare & Classic, American or English Literature Books for Sale Online

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 2100-2120 of 2245

Briggs, Raymond

Gentleman Jim.

London : Hamish Hamilton, 1980.

First edition of Briggs’ somber look into the daily struggles of the working class. Folio, original illustrated boards. Signed and dated by the author on the front free endpaper, “Raymond Briggs 21 April 1981.” In near fine condition.

Read more
$375.00
Item Number: RRB-92540

Thackeray, William

The Virginians.

London : Bradbury and Evans, 1858-59.

First edition of Thackeray’s memorable historical novel. Octavos, 2 volumes, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards,  raised bands, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, illustrated. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the extremities.

Read more
$650.00
Item Number: RRB-92535

Buechner, Frederick

The Seasons’ Difference.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1952.

First edition of Frederick Buechner’s second novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, with a full page inscription by the author on the front free endpaper, “This was the most insincere of all of my books. Following hard on the heels of my most successful. I wrote a good deal of it in the small villageContinue reading "The Seasons’ Difference."

Read more
$550.00
Item Number: RRB-92504

Butterfield, Frederic William Louis [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]

The Battle of Maldon, and Other Renderings from the Anglo-Saxon; Together with Original Verse.

Oxford : James Parker and Co, 1900.

First edition of this collection of English verse published to raise contributions for the Widows’ and Orphans’ Branch of the Transvaal War Fund. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Arthur Conan Doyle on the half-title page. Near fine in the scarce original glassine.

Read more
$1,800.00
Item Number: RRB-92491

Edited by Will Blythe (David Foster Wallace)

Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction.

Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1998.

First edition of this collection of essays. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by contributor David Foster Wallace on the front free endpaper. The essay contributed to this volume is one of his finest, titled, “The Nature of the Fun”, which is a meditation on why writers write, encrusted in Wallace’s signature blend of self-conscious despondency. Near fine in aContinue reading "Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction."

Read more
$3,000.00
Item Number: RRB-85674

Dickens, Charles

The Personal History of David Copperfield.

London : Bradbury and Evans, May 1849-November 1850.

First edition in parts of “the most perfect of all the Dickens novels” (Virginia Woolf). Original serial issue. Twenty parts in nineteen, octavo four to thirty-two pages of preliminary advertisements; text continuously paginated 1-624; eight leaves of preliminaries follow text in final part. Frontispiece, vignette title-page and thirty-eight additional inserted plates, the majority with tissueContinue reading "The Personal History of David Copperfield."

Read more
$9,800.00
Item Number: RRB-91369

Fowles, John [Harold Pinter]

The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

London : Jonathan Cape, 1969.

First edition of Fowles’ classic third novel. Octavo, original brown cloth, pictorial endpapers. Signed by both John Fowles and Harold Pinter on the title page. Pinter wrote the screenplay for the 1981 film bearing the same name. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. An excellent near fine example in aContinue reading "The French Lieutenant’s Woman."

Read more
$2,500.00
Item Number: RRB-91873

Verne, Jules

Michael Strogoff, the Courier of the Czar.

New York : Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1877.

First American edition of this historical tale of adventure taking place during a Siberian revolt by the Tartars and what many consider one of Verne’s finest novels. Octavo, original cloth, with Ninety Full-Page Illustrations. Translated by W. H. G. Kingston. Revised by Julius Chambers. In near fine condition. A nice example.

Read more
$1,500.00
Item Number: RRB-89346

Naipaul, V.S

The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited.

London : Andre Deutsch, 1962.

First edition of this travel work, “which belongs in the same category as Lawrence’s books on Italy, Greene’s on West Africa and Pritchett’s on Spain” (New Statesman). Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers. Boldly signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page. Name on the front free endpaper and stamp on the half-title page, near fineContinue reading "The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited."

Read more
$2,000.00
Item Number: RRB-75489

Faulkner, William

Sanctuary.

New York : Johnathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1931.

First edition of the novel that established Faulkner’s literary reputation. Octavo, original half cloth, pictorial endpapers. From the library of Virginia bibliophile and historian Christopher Clark Geest with his bookplate. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box. A very sharp example.

Read more
$4,500.00
Item Number: RRB-91796

DeCarava, Roy and Langston Hughes

The Sweet Flypaper of Life.

New York : Simon & Schuster, 1955.

First edition of the classic collaboration between Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes. Small octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by Langston Hughes on the front free endpaper, “Especially for Lucian Stanton whose photographs I very much enjoyed seeing- Sincerely- Langston Hughes New York Feb. 23, 1960.” An excellent example in the original dust jacket.Continue reading "The Sweet Flypaper of Life."

Read more
$2,250.00
Item Number: RRB-90534

Faulkner, William

Mosquitoes.

New York : Boni & Liveright, Inc, 1927.

First edition of Faulkner’s second novel. Octavo, original cloth, pictorial endpapers. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small chip to the front flap. From the library of Virginia bibliophile and historian Christopher Clark Geest with his bookplate to the pastedown. A very nice example of this early Faulkner work.

Read more
$4,800.00
Item Number: RRB-91795

Burroughs, William S

Naked Lunch.

New York : Grove Press, Inc, 1962.

First American edition, first issue jacket with no zip code on rear panel and no roman numerals on lower spine near back panel of Burroughs’ classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by William S. Burroughs on the title page. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. Included is theContinue reading "Naked Lunch."

Read more
$2,500.00
Item Number: RRB-87577

Gibran, Kahlil

Jesus: The Son of Man.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1928.

First edition of Kahlil Gibran’s masterful retelling of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. Octavo, original cloth, illustrations by the author. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “For Roy and D. from Howard and Bill With the blessing upon you four, and with the gratitudeContinue reading "Jesus: The Son of Man."

Read more
$9,200.00
Item Number: RRB-89433

Nordhoff, Charles and James Norman Hall. Illustrated by Fletcher Martin. (Marlon Brando, Lewis Milestone, Aaron Rosenberg)

Mutiny on the Bounty.

New York : Limited Editions Club, 1947.

First limited edition of this epic historical drama made into the 1962 film starring Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard and Richard Harris. The film was the first widescreen motion picture ever produced. One of only 1500 copies. This is number 426. Signed on the front free endpaper in the year of the film’s production by Marlon BrandoContinue reading "Mutiny on the Bounty."

Read more
$15,000.00
Item Number: RRB-89144
Previous 1 ... 104 105 106 107 108 ... 113 Next