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 600-620 of 2245
New York : The Vanguard Press, 1944.
First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s first book. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery with gilt titles and ruling to the spine in five compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt borders to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. BoldlyContinue reading "Dangling Man."
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London : Oxford University Press, 1942.
First edition of this classic work, which discusses Milton’s Paradise Lost. Octavo, original green cloth. Boldly signed by C.S. Lewis on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. From the library of noted collector William A. Strutz with his small bookplate to the pastedown. House in a custom half moroccoContinue reading "A Preface to Paradise Lost."
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New York : HarperCollins, 1995.
First edition, early printing of the 35th Anniversary edition of the author’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Harper Lee on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Suzanne Noli.
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London : The Bodley Head, 1966.
First edition of this novel set in Haiti under the rule of “Papa Doc” Duvalier, which explores the political suppression and terrorism through the figure of an English hotel owner, Brown. Octavo, original green cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author prior to publication on the front free endpaper, “For Charlie affectionately from Graham. ChristmasContinue reading "The Comedians."
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London : Oxford University Press, 1943.
First edition of Lewis’s powerful essay, original delivered as three speeches in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1943 in which he “defends the objectivity of values such as goodness and beauty over against the modern view that these qualities are in the mind of the beholder.” Octavo, original publisher’s printed wrappers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author onContinue reading "The Abolition of Man or Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools."
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New York : The Viking Press, 1935.
Rare original typescript of Erskine Caldwell’s The Man Who Looked Like Himself with a first edition of Kneel to the Rising Sun: and Other Stories. Octavo, original typescript with holograph emendations in eight sheets. In very good condition. Accompanied by a first edition of Kneel to the Rising Sun. Octavo, original cloth. Very good inContinue reading "Original Typescript for The Man Who Looked Like Himself. [with] Kneel to the Rising Sun: and Other Stories."
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New York : E.P. Dutton & Company, 1960.
First edition of this classic work, basis for the 1962 film directed by John Frankenheimer with the screenplay adapted by playwright William Inge starring Eva Marie Saint and Warren Beatty. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed, “To John- All my wishes for the best in life: Love and work, And peace in both. Love,Continue reading "All Fall Down."
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London : Bloombsbury, 2000.
First edition of Rowling’s fourth book in the Harry Potter series. Octavo, original illustrated boards. Boldly signed by J.K. Rowling on the dedication page. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Cover illustration by Giles Greenfield. Cover design by Richard Horne.
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London : Chapman and Hall, 1844.
First edition, later printing of the last of Dickens’ picaresque novels. Octavo, half calf bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, frontispiece with an additional illustrated title page, all edges sprayed green, with black and white illustrations by Phiz. In very goodContinue reading "The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit."
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Edinburgh and London : William Blackwood and Sons, 1866.
First editions of this classic work. Octavo, 3 volumes, original cloth, half-title to each volume, 4 pp publisher’s ads at rear of volume 3. Publisher’s orange-brown cloth, spines lettered in gilt, yellow endleaves. A mixed set, volume 1 Carter variant A, volumes 2 and 3 Carter variant B. In fine condition. Housed in a customContinue reading "Felix Holt: The Radical."
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London : Macmillan and Co, 1881.
First edition, first issue, one of only 750 copies of the last and most accomplished work of fiction during James’ apprentice years. Octavo, three volumes, bound in three quarters morrocco over marbled boards, spines lettered in gilt. In very good condition, bookplates to the front pastedown. Rare.
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London : Smith, Elder, and Co, 1857.
First separate English edition and sixth edition overall of Charlotte Brontë’s revolutionary feminist romance. Small octavo, original publisher’s printed orange limp cloth. Parrish 96; Sadleir 347; Smith 7. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Very rare in the original cloth. A nice example.
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London : Smith, Elder, & Co, 1879 & 1880.
First edition of this classic work by Robert Browning exploring dramatic monologue and narrative poetry, inscribed by Browning in each volume. Octodecimo, two volumes, bound in full levant morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within gilt raised bands, triple gilt ruling to boards, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, doubluresContinue reading "Dramatic Idyls."
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London : Faber and Faber Ltd, 1950.
First edition of the most popular of Eliot’s seven plays published during his lifetime. First issue with “here” for “her” on page 29, line 1. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author before publication on the front free endpaper, “To Christopher Sykes With the author’s humble compliments. T.S. Eliot 27.II.50.” The recipient, ChristopherContinue reading "The Cocktail Party."
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London : Printed for Dorman Newman and Benjamin Alsop, 1682.
Exceptionally rare first edition of this allegorical epic, which Macaulay said “if The Pilgrim’s Progress had not been written, The Holy War would have been the greatest English allegory” (Cambridge History of English Literature). Octavo, engraved portrait frontispiece by R. White. In very good condition, final advertisement leaf present, sig.B damp-stained at lower outer corners, cornerContinue reading "The Holy War, made by Shaddai upon Diabolus."
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New York : Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922.
First edition of McKay’s groundbreaking volume of over 50 poems together in book form for the first time; the first book of poetry to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance. Octavo, original publisher’s half cloth with printed paper spine label. In near fine condition.Bookplate to the pastedown. Rare and desirable.
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New York : Random House, 1952.
First edition of the author’s landmark first novel, which went on to win the National Book Award. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the HarcourtContinue reading "Invisible Man."
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New York : Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1968.
First edition of the classic account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters during their bus trip across America in the late 1960’s. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, giltContinue reading "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test."
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Rare handwritten letter signed by Arthur Conan Doyle to lecture manager James B. Pond, Jr. Octavo, one page on Windlesham letterhead, the letter reads in full, “Dear Mr. Pond It is pleasant to see that you follow in the steps of your father, for whom I retain affection and regard. Should I think of comingContinue reading "Arthur Conan Doyle Autograph Letter Signed."
Read more![The Complete Works of Margaret Atwood. [The Edible Woman, Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Life Before Man, Bodily Harm, The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, MaddAddam, The Heart Goes Last, Hag-Seed, and The Testaments].](https://raptis.bvbeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/RRB-149507.jpg)
Toronto : McClelland and Stewart Limited/Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 1969-2019.
Complete true first edition set of the novels of Margaret Atwood, finely bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery. Octavo, 16 volumes bound in full red crushed levant morocco by the Harcourt Bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in five compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front andContinue reading "The Complete Works of Margaret Atwood. [The Edible Woman, Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Life Before Man, Bodily Harm, The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, MaddAddam, The Heart Goes Last, Hag-Seed, and The Testaments]."
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First Edition
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