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 1536-1560 of 4655
London : William Heinemann Ltd, 1948.
First edition of what many consider the author’s masterpiece. Octavo, original blue cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with toning to the spine.
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London : Secker & Warburg, 1949.
First edition of Orwell’s classic dystopian novel. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing and a small chip. Jacket design by Michael Kennard. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. A sharp example, uncommon in this condition.
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New York : The Dial Press, 1963.
First edition of one of the most influential works on race relations published in the twentieth century. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author on the title page, “Peace! James Baldwin.” Very good in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph by Mottke Weissman. Rare and desirable. Housed in aContinue reading "The Fire Next Time."
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Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959.
First edition of the author’s first book and winner of the National Book Award. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Sanford Roth. An exceptional example.
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Mainz and Paris : B. Schotts Sohnen, 1826.
Exceptionally rare first edition, first issue of one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world, containing the subscribers’ list, but not the composer’s notorious metronome markings which were added in later issues. Quarto, bound in nineteenth-century marbled boards with a blank label to the front panel, all edges yellow, printed with plate numberContinue reading "Sinfonie mit Schluss-Chor uber Schillers Ode: “An die Freude” fur grosses Orchester, 4 Solo- und 4 Chor-Stimmen componirt und Seiner Majestaet dem Konig von Preussen Friedrich Wilhelm III in tiefster Ehrfurcht kugeeignet von Ludwig van Beethoven. [The Ninth Symphony]."
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New York : The Dial Press, 1971.
First edition of this classic novel, which depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman. Octavo, original boards. Lengthily signed by the author with a powerful quote from this novel on the title page, “Me and Robert looked at each other there a longContinue reading "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."
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New York : Crosby Gaige, 1928.
Signed limited first edition of Woolf’s immensely popular feminist classic, one of only 800 copies signed by her in her characteristic purple ink. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, engraved frontispiece portrait of Orlando as a boy, illustrated with engravings. One of 800 copies signed by Woolf on the verso ofContinue reading "Orlando: A Biography."
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New York : Pantheon Books, 1986.
Special New Mini-Jumbo edition of this comical cartoon book that were the source material for The Simpsons by the creator of ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Futurama.’ Oblong quarto, original illustrated wrappers. Boldly signed by the author on the front pastedown, “Matt Groening, 11/21/88,” below a full-length sketch of his character Binky holding a heart with twoContinue reading "Love is Hell."
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London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1995.
First edition, second printing of this novel by the author of The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers, ribbon bound in. Boldly signed by John le Carre on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Author photograph by Douglas Brothers.
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Boston : Beacon Press, 2005.
First edition of this collection of poems by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Octavo, original boards. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
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New York : Random House, 1971.
First edition of Thompson’s second book. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Boldly signed in full by Hunter S. Thompson on the half-title page. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with the a touch of shelfwear. Illustrations by Ralph Steadman. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. AnContinue reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream."
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New York : Reynal & Hitchcock, 1947.
First edition of the author’s masterpiece. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Malcolm Lowry on the half-title page. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some rubbing and wear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. First editions are rare signed.
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San Francisco : Double-H Press, 1968.
First edition of this charming book of poetry; from the library of ‘On the Road’ author Jack Kerouac. Sextodecimo, original wrappers. The first printing of 2000 copies. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “to Jack Kerouac, with great admiration. Fred Kline. Nov. 11, 1968 Dos Palos.” The recipient, Jack Kerouac,Continue reading "I, DODO: A Poem Cycle."
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New York : J.B Lippincott, 1966.
First edition of Pynchon’s classic post-modern satire, which tells the wonderfully unusual story of Oedipa Maas. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Milton Charles. An exceptional example.
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New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.
First edition, early printing of the author’s semi-autobiographical modern classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author on the half-title page using her pseudonym and real name, “Hannah Green Joanne Greenberg.” Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket with a chip to the crown of the spine. Jacket design by Ellen Raskin.Continue reading "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden."
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New York : Simon and Schuster, 1939.
First edition, first issue of this classic children’s book with the 1939 date on the title page and with 12 girls instead of 11 in the “They went home and broke their bread” illustration. Thin folio, original illustrated boards, color illustrations throughout, illustrated endpapers. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper,Continue reading "Madeline."
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London : Silverthorne Foundation Inc, 1968.
First edition of this compelling book of poetry; from the library of ‘On the Road’ author Jack Kerouac. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “For Jack Kerouac, Holy Teacher/Barry Gifford.” The recipient, Jack Kerouac, is generally considered the father of the Beat movement, although he actively dislikedContinue reading "Coyote Tantras and Other Poems."
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New York : Random House, 1955.
First edition of the novelization of Schulberg’s Academy Award–winning screenplay for the classic 1954 film On the Waterfront. Octavo, original publisher’s cream cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to Sammy Davis, Jr. in the year of publication, “For Sammy Davis Jr. A great artist who sings songs into lifeContinue reading "Waterfront: A Novel by Budd Schulberg."
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New York : Collier Books, 1971.
First edition of Philip Jones Griffith’s first book. Quarto, original illustrated wrappers as issued. Boldly signed by Noam Chomsky, who in a later edition contributed an introduction to this volume. In near fine condition. Rare.
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.
First edition of the author’s first book. Octavo, original cloth. Translated from the Spanish by Magda Bogin. Presenation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “For Sharon with the compliments of the extravagant spirits of this story Isabel.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. JacketContinue reading "The House of the Spirits: A Novel."
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London : Printed for W. Taylor, 1719-1720.
Rare complete set of early editions of all three books in Defoe’s classic Robinson Crusoe series. The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a stated second edition. Small octavo, three volumes bound in full period paneled calf with gilt titles and ruling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, ornamentalContinue reading "The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; Serious Reflections During the Life And Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe."
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New York : Random House, 1955.
First edition of this classic work one of the most searing and vivid fictional accounts of the Civil War era ever written, basis for the 1957 film directed by Raoul Walsh starring Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo and Sidney Poitier. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Robert Penn Warren. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design byContinue reading "Band of Angels."
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Nuremberg : Anton Koberger for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, 12 July 1493.
Exceptionally rare colored example of the first edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle, the most extensively illustrated book of the 15th century. Imperial folio, bound in full 17th-century pigskin over bevelled wooden boards with elaborate blind tooling and scrolling to the spine and panels, brass cornerpieces, 2 fore-edge clasps, 325 leaves (of 328, without blank 55/6Continue reading "Liber Chronicarum. [The Nuremberg Chronicle]."
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Boston : Beacon Press, 1990.
First edition of this work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Cover design by Dede Cummings. Rare.
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First Edition
First Edition
