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 384-408 of 4655
London : Folio Society, 2022.
First Folio Society edition of the author’s classic fifth novel. Octavo, original illustrated boards, illustrated, slipcase. Boldly signed by Cormac McCarthy on a loose bookplate laid in. Fine in a fine slipcase. Illustrated by Gerard Dubois.
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New York : Harper & Row, Publishers, 1974.
First edition of the author’s first collection of children’s poetry. Small quarto, original brown cloth, illustrated. With a signed slip of paper boldly signed by Shel Silverstein laid in. Fine in a very good dust jacket.
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Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
First edition of this collection of short stories by the National Book-Award winning novelist. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Robert Stone on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Michaela Sullivan.
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Port Townsend, Washington : Copper Canyon Press, 2003.
First limited edition of this collection of poems that were essentially a poetical conversation between Harrison and Kooser. Duodecimo, original publisher’s half-cloth with paper titles to the spine. One of 250 numbered copies, this is number 62. Boldly signed by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser on the half-title page. In fine condition.
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New York : Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001.
First edition of the author’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page to fellow author Peter Matthiessen, “For Peter Thank you! with warm regards Louis Menand.” From the library of National Book Award-winning author Peter Matthiessen with his bookplate to the front free endpaper. TheContinue reading "The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America."
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London : Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in The Poultry, 1791.
First edition, first issue of both volumes of the most celebrated biography in the English language, which was published on May 16, 1791 in a print run of only 1,750 copies. Quarto, bound in full calf, gilt titles to the spine, morocco spine labels. Frontispiece portrait of Samuel Johnson, engraved by J. Heath after the Sir Joshua ReynoldsContinue reading "The Life of Johnson."
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London 1867.
Autograph letter signed by great Victorian novelist Charles Dickens to his biographer. One page, dated Monday 7th October, 1867, on Gad’s Hill Place stationery, and addressed to John Forster. Boldly signed by Dickens with his usual flourish. The letter reads in full, “I have been very much interested and gratified by that pleasant Passage fromContinue reading "Charles Dickens Autograph Letter Signed."
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New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 1964.
First edition of this fictionalized, stylistically experimental reimagining of William Shakespeare’s life. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page to literary critic and fellow author Walter Sullivan, “with fondest possible regards Anthonie Burgesse.” The recipient, Walter Sullivan was an author, critic, longtime Vanderbilt University professor, authority on SouthernContinue reading "Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare’s Love-life."
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Miami : Southeastern Publishing, 2025.
First edition of this work unveiling the extraordinary stories behind seemingly ordinary books. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Foreword by Nicholas A. Basbanes. Jacket design by legendary designer Chip Kidd.
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Miami : Southeastern Publishing, 2025.
First edition of this work unveiling the extraordinary stories behind seemingly ordinary books. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Foreword by Nicholas A. Basbanes. Jacket design by legendary designer Chip Kidd.
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London : The Cuckoo Press for John Sandoe Books, 2010.
First edition, one of only 200 copies printed given as a Christmas gift of this sketch was written for The Laws of War, a Cries from the Heart production in support of the charity Human Rights Watch, which took place at the Royal Court Theatre on 16th May 2010, which was performed by Bill NighyContinue reading "Pizza."
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.
Early printing of the first American edition of Camus’ last complete work of fiction. Octavo, original cloth, top edge red. Translated by Justin O’Brien. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph of Camus by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1958.
First American edition of Camus’ short story collection exploring themes of existentialism and absurdism. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Rand. Jacket photograph by Karsh. Translated by Justin O’Brien.
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.
First American edition of Camus’ first novel and masterpiece. Octavo, original beige cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a single closed tear. Jacket design by Warren Chappell. Translated by Stuart Gilbert. The nicest example we have ever seen.
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New York : Random House, 1977.
First edition of Avery Corman’s powerful classic novel about the end of a marriage and the bond between a father and child, basis for the Academy Award-winning film starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “To Jeff! With My Thanks, Avery Corman”Continue reading "Kramer Versus Kramer."
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Rare original black and white photograph of legendary American writer Ernest Hemingway. Black and white matte photograph of Hemingway with his wife Mary and fishing guide Taylor Williams in the trophy room of a club or private home after a day on the water. Inscribed by Ernest Hemingway in black ballpoint at the bottom rightContinue reading "Ernest Hemingway Signed Photograph. [with] Mary Hemingway Typed Letter Signed."
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New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969.
Finely bound edition of Puzo’s definitive novel of the Mafia underworld, boldly signed and dated by director Francis Ford Coppola. Octavo, bound in full leather, all edges gilt, ribbon bound in. Boldly signed “Francis Ford Coppola 2025.” Cover art by S. Neil Fujita.
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London : Bloomsbury, 1997.
First edition, first printing of the rarest book in the Harry Potter series, a cornerstone of young adult literature, and one of the best-selling books of all time. First printing with “First published in Great Britain in 1997”, the full number line “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1”, “Joanne Rowling” forContinue reading "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone."
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Surrey : Colour Library International, 1981.
First edition of this work regarding Mother Teresa. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Lengthily inscribed by Mother Teresa in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “My dear Sisters, Let us love Jesus with undivided love and others as He loves each one of us. God bless you, M. Teresa mc, 6/7/81.” Near fineContinue reading "For the Brotherhood of Man, Under the Fatherhood of God: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Her Missionaries of Charity & Her Co-Workers."
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Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
First edition of the author’s magnum opus. Thick octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by David Foster Wallace on the title page. Fine in a fine first state dust jacket with Vollmann misspelled on the back panel. Jacket design by Steve Snider.
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London : The Crime Club by Collins, 1963.
First edition of this classic murder mystery. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth. Fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Michael Harvey. From the collection of Dr. John Talbot Gernon.
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Port Townsend, Washington : Copper Canyon Press, 2016.
First limited edition of Harrison’s last published work. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth with the title stamped in blind on the front panel. One of 150 numbered copies, this is number 36. Boldly signed by Jim Harrison on the third free endpaper. In fine condition. Accompanied by an inscribed note laid in, “10/16 Thanks for yourContinue reading "Dead Man’s Float."
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New York : The Macmillan Company, 1936.
First edition of Margaret Mitchell’s masterpiece which remains one of the fastest selling novels in the history of American publishing, with 50,000 copies sold in a single day. Octavo, original cloth. First printing, with “Published May 1936” on the copyright page and no mention of other printings. Boldly signed by Margaret Mitchell on the frontContinue reading "Gone With the Wind."
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New York : Random House, 1958.
First edition of Capote’s seductive, wistful masterpiece. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Truman Capote on the half-title page. Fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Ismar David.
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Biography and Autobiography
![Ernest Hemingway Signed Photograph. [with] Mary Hemingway Typed Letter Signed.](https://raptis.bvbeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/RRB-150055-scaled-1.jpg)
Autograph Letters Signed
Biography and Autobiography
