Raptis Rare Books is a trusted antiquarian book dealer of rare and first edition philosophy books. You can view our full collection of these rare philosophy books below where you can sort by title, price, or date to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
Showing items 1-24 of 414
Budapest : Athenaeum, 1929.
Rare first edition of this collection of stories in the original Hungarian which introduced the sociological phenomena of “six degrees of separation.” Octavo, original wrappers with titles in red and black. In very good condition. Exceptionally rare in the original wrappers.
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London : Watts & Co., 1935.
The Thinker’s Library edition of this blueprint for a unified, scientifically planned world state. Duodecimo, original publisher’s cloth with titles stamped in black. From the collection of British science fiction author Christopher Priest with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper and the previous ownership crossed out. Priest’s most famous works include The InvertedContinue reading "What Are We To Do With Our Lives?"
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New York : The Heritage Press, 1964.
The Heritage Press edition of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, published under the pseudonym Richard Saunders. Quarto, original pictorial cloth stamped in blind with gilt titles to the spine, with illustrations and decorations throughout. Boldly signed by the illustrator on the front free endpaper, “Sincerely Norman Rockwell.” In near fine condition with light bumping andContinue reading "Poor Richard: The Almanacks for the Years 1733-1758."
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London : Printed for Awnsham Churchill,, 1690.
Exceptionally rare first edition published at the end of 1689 in an edition of likely only 1,000 copies (with quire Q in second, of two, settings. Octavo, bound in full calf, morocco spine label, gilt tooling to the spine, blind stamped to the front and rear panels. Title-page within double rule. In very good condition.Continue reading "Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, And His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown"
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London : Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, at the Black Swan in Ave-Mary Lane, 1690.
First edition of John Locke’s landmark second Letter of Toleration, a profound influence on Jefferson, Madison and the architecture of the American Constitution on freedom of religion. Octavo, bound in three quarter calf with gilt titles to the spine, marbled endpapers. In very good condition, paper repair to lower corner D1, faint early ink ownershipContinue reading "A Second Letter Concerning Toleration."
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New York : New American Library, 1971.
First edition, a paperback original of the author’s classic work. Octavo, original wrappers. Boldly signed by Ayn Rand beneath her name. In near fine condition. First editions are rare signed.
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Philadelphia : F.A. Davis Company, 1905-1910.
Finely bound set of Havelock Ellis’ landmark work Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Octavo, 6 volumes. Bound in three quarters levant morocco by Stikeman and Company, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, gilt topstain, marbled endpapers. In fine condition. An exceptional set.
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London : T. Payne, 1776.
First edition in English of this important work on government by Aristotle. Quarto, bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, full, morocco spine label, raised bands. In very good condition. Translated by William Ellis. An exceptional example of this cornerstone work.
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New York : Reynal and Hitchcock, 1939.
First British edition of Saint-Exupery’s philosophical memoir of flight. Octavo, original publisher’s half cloth, pictorial endpapers, illustrated. Decorations in color by John O’Hara Cosgrave, II. Translated from the French by Lewis Galantière. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket which has been laminated. Uncommon in the original dust jacket.
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New York : Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1949.
Signed limited edition of Maugham’s semi-autobiographical confessional. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, top edge gilt, frontispiece. One of 1,000 numbered copies, this is number 964. Boldly signed by W. Somerset Maugham on the limitations page. In fine condition, bookplate to the rear pastedown of Craig V. Showalter. HousedContinue reading "A Writer’s Notebook."
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New York : Reynal and Hitchcock, 1939.
First edition of Saint-Exupery’s philosophical memoir of flight. Octavo, original half cloth, pictorial endpapers. Decorations in color by John O’Hara Cosgrave II. Translated from the French by Lewis Galantiere. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Uncommon in the original dust jacket.
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London : Printed by W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott between the Temple-Gates, 1715-1726.
First editions of Alexander Pope’s monumental illustrated translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the deluxe subscribers’ quarto issue on thick paper, esteemed by Samuel Johnson as “certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen.” Quarto, eleven volumes, uniformly bound in full contemporary speckled calf with gilt tooling to the spine inContinue reading "The Iliad of Homer [and] The Odyssey of Homer."
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New York : Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1960.
First edition of Eleanor Roosevelt’s classic work on how to discover life’s lessons. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by Eleanor Roosevelt in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “To Bob Robinson with good wishes Eleanor Roosevelt 1960.” Fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Dr. DavidContinue reading "You Learn By Living."
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London : Secker & Warburg, 1939.
First edition of ‘an unemotional Statement of the Things that are happening to him now, and of the immediate Possibilities confronting him.’ Octavo, original publisher’s cloth, top stain red. From the collection of British science fiction author Christopher Priest. Priest’s most famous works include The Inverted World (1974), the interconnected “Dream Archipelago” series, and TheContinue reading "The Fate of Homo Sapiens."
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London : Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960.
First edition of Hayek’s classic statement on the ideals of freedom and liberty. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by F.A. Hayek on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box by the Harcourt Bindery. Rare and desirable signed.
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New York : Basic Books, 1980.
First edition, early printing of the definitive account of existential psychotherapy. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “For Marie Irvin D. Yalom.” Fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Vincent Torre.
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New York : The New American Library, 1964.
First edition of this collection of essays that sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, Ayn Rand’s, groundbreaking philosophy. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Ayn Rand on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. With additional articles by Nathaniel Branden. One of the most uncommon Rand books toContinue reading "The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism."
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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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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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Chicago : University of Chicago, 1944.
First edition of one of the most influential and popular expositions of classical liberalism. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by F.A. Hayek on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a chip to the spine and to the rare panel. Foreword by John Chamberlain. Housed in a custom halfContinue reading "The Road to Serfdom."
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: Post Hill Press, 2016.
First edition of this treatise by the founder of Turning Point. Octavo, original illustrated boards. Boldly signed by Charlie Kirk on the front free endpaper. In fine condition.
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New York : The Fountain Press, 1931.
Signed limited first edition of this collection of essays. Octavo, original publisher’s half cloth over marbled boards. One of eight hundred and forty-two copies signed by Aldous Huxley on the rear free endpaper, this is number 608. In fine condition. Housed in the original slipcase.
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Amsterdam : Printed for the Wetsteins and Smith, 1732.
First English edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Picart’s illustrations. Folio, two volumes in one, bound in full in early mottled calf with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in seven compartments within raised bands, double gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins, engraved title vignette. Illustrated with a copper-engraved frontispiece, 130Continue reading "Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Latin and English Translated by the Most Eminent Hands."
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Philadelphia : Sherman & Co, 1836.
Rare first edition of one of the ‘major builders of American Judaism’, Isaac Leeser’s Discourses on the Jewish Religion. Octavo, volume I, bound in full morocco. In very good condition with some toning throughout, Philip Sufrin & Sons Co. bookbinder’s stamp to the front pastedown, and a previous owner’s decorations to the fore edges.
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First Edition
Economics and Finance
First Edition
Biography and Autobiography
Biography and Autobiography
First Edition
Fine Bindings and Sets
