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 1632-1656 of 4655
Franklin, PA : The Franklin Library, 1977.
Signed limited first edition of Wouk’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Octavo, bound in full leather, gilt titles to the spine, front and rear panels, raised bands, all edges gilt, silk endpapers, ribbon bound in. Signed by Herman Wouk. Illustrated by George H. Jones. In fine condition.
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Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
First edition of this classic work, basis for the film Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner, which was later inducted into the National Film Registry. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed on the title page by Bill Kinsella and by Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Costner below Kinsella’s. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. JacketContinue reading "Shoeless Joe."
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Tuscany : Giovanni Ghiara, 1770.
Finely bound edition of Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece. Octavo, five volumes, original full contemporary vellum with morocco labels and gilt titles to the spine, patterned endpapers, all edges marbled, original emerald silk ribbons, frontispiece portrait of Boccaccio to Vol. I. In very good condition to near fine condition with some toning to the boards, a closedContinue reading "Del Decamerone."
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London : William Pickering, 1852.
The Aldine edition of Chaucer’s brilliant poetical works. Duodecimo, six volumes, bound in full contemporary tan calf with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt and elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within gilt raised bands, all edges marbled, marbled endpapers, frontispiece portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer to Vol. I, decorated with botanical headpieces,Continue reading "The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer."
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New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938.
First edition, second printing of this famed Hemingway anthology, containing his only published play as well as the first appearance in book form of The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and Night Before Battle. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth. Association copy, inscribed on the pastedown by Carol Brown Steinbeck to herContinue reading "The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories."
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London : Printed only for Thomas Hope; sold by him and Sackville Parker, Richard Matthews, and Samuel Trimmer, 1760.
First Hawkins edition of Walton’s classic work. Octavo, original full speckled tan calf with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, double gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, black morocco spine label, engraved frontispiece, illustrated with fourteen engraved plates, seventeen in-text engravings of fish, and several engravedContinue reading "The Complete Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation: Being a Discourse on Rivers, Fish-Ponds, Fish, and Fishing."
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Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1940.
First edition, first printing with the date of 1940 on the title page of the author’s first novel and masterpiece. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Carson McCullers on the front free endpaper. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. A veryContinue reading "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter."
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London : Deputies of Christopher Barker, [1599]; London: Robert Barker, 1636.
Rare “Breeches” Bible, printed by Christopher Barker with the fictitious 1599 publication date. “There are many editions bearing this date, which while agreeing closely are yet distinct … the phenomena of the various editions described under the year 1599, and the very similar edition of 1633, constitute one of the most curious problems in theContinue reading "The Bible, that is the Holy Scriptures conteined in the Old and New Testament: Translated According to the Ebrewe and Greeke, and Conferred with the Best Translations in Divers Languages. [WITH] The Booke of Common Prayer, and the Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England."
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London : The British & Foreign Bible Society/Cambridge University Press, 1928.
Early 20th century Bible. Octavo, original publisher’s limp black crushed morocco-textured wraps, all edges gilt. Signed and dated by the masterful writer and novelist Pearl S. Buck on the verso of the front free endpaper, “Pearl S. Buck 1928.” Additionally lengthily inscribed and dated by Buck on the front flyleaf with a 28-line quote fromContinue reading "The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated Out of the Former Tongues; And With the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised, By His Majesty’s Special Command."
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New York : Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1940.
First edition, first issue with “A – P” on the copyright page. Octavo, bound in full calf, marbled endpapers, housed in a full calf slipcase. A beautiful presentation.
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Garden City, New York : Doubleday, Page & Company, 1913.
First edition of this socially groundbreaking novel; from the library of writer and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Octavo, original red cloth, frontispiece portrait of the titular character, Virginia. Signed by Gilman on the front flyleaf. Gilman was an American humanist, novelist, writer, lecturer, advocate, and eugenicist who served as a role model for futureContinue reading "Virginia."
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
First American edition of this collection of Dahl’s short stories. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Jon Walley Thanks Roald Dahl 1975.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Charles Shields.
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New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018.
First edition of one of the best-selling books of all-time and basis for the 2022 film. Octavo, original boards. Lengthily signed by the author on the title page, “Way out yonder, where the crawdads sing Delia Owens.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Na Kim. A unique example.
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New York : Random House, 1943.
First edition of Dahl’s rare first book, with 14 vibrant full-page illustrations by Walt Disney Productions. Quarto, original half cloth, pictorial endpapers. Presentation copy, inscribed by Walt Disney on the half-title page, “To Joan With Best Wishes Walt Disney.” In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the HarcourtContinue reading "The Gremlins. From the Walt Disney Production. A Royal Air Force Story."
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1973.
First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s second novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Dan Sieber Toni Morrison.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Wendell Minor. An exceptional example.
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New York : HarperCollins, 2003.
First edition of this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, which was named one of the New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Edward P. Jones on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Laura Blost.
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New York : The Century Co, 1912.
First edition of this political novel; from the library of writer and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Octavo, original blue pictorial cloth. Signed and dated in ink by Gershwin on the front free endpaper, “Charlotte Perkins Gilman June 1912.” Gilman was an American humanist, novelist, writer, lecturer, advocate, and eugenicist who served as a roleContinue reading "The Citadel: A Romance of Unrest."
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New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1972.
First American edition of le Carré’s classic sixth novel. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by the author on the half-title page, “David Cornwell aka John le Carre.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by R.D. Scudellari. Rare and desirable using both his real and pen name.
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New York : The Viking Press, 1992.
First edition of this suspense novel by King. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Stephen King on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Neil Stuart.
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New York : Newmarket Press, 1987.
First edition of this classic collection of the words of Dr. King, selected by Coretta Scott King. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by Coretta Scott King on the front free endpaper, “To Mr. & Mrs. Charles Martin with love and warmest good wishes, Coretta Scott King,” beneath Florine B. Martin’s mail address label.Continue reading "The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr."
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Leipzig : Bey Georg Joachim Göschen, 1790.
First edition of this libretto in the original German. Octodecimo, in wrappers. In near fine condition with very light toning. Housed in a custom folding chemise and half cloth case. Rare.
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Edinburgh and London : William Blackwood and Sons, 1861.
First edition of Eliot’s third novel, widley praised as her greatest in the preferred Carter’s binding “A.” Octavo, original embossed russet cloth (Carter’s binding “A”) with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, recased, pale yellow endpapers, Blackwood and Carlyle advertisements at rear which only appear in some copies. In very good condition. A niceContinue reading "Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe."
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Edinburgh and London : William Blackwood and Sons, 1860.
First edition, first issue of Eliot’s most deeply autobiographical work with no inserted preliminary advertisement leaf in volume I and with the seventh edition of Adam Bede cited in the 16 pages of undated advertisements at rear of volume III. Octavo, three volumes in the publisher’s original terra cotta cloth, covers decoratively stamped in blind,Continue reading "The Mill On The Floss."
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London : C. Arthur Pearson Limited, 1897.
First edition, first issue of Wells’ popular cautionary tale of overreaching scientific ambition. Octavo, original publisher’s gilt and black-stamped pictorial red cloth. First issue with the first page numbered 2, the title page printed in orange and black and publisher’s ad leaf at rear. In very good condition with rubbing to the extremities. Housed inContinue reading "The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance."
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First Edition
Children's Books
