Biography and Autobiography
Rare Biography & Autobiography Books for Sale Online
If you are looking for rare or first edition biography or autobiography books look no further than Raptis Rare Books. Browse through our entire collection of rare biographies and autobiographies below, view details about individual books and contact us to ask a question or find out more information.
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“Success comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed” and “A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds": First Edition of Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller; Signed by Ron Chernow
CHERNOW, Ron.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
New York: Random House, 1998.
First edition of this landmark biography of John D. Rockefeller. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Boldly signed by Ron Chernow on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Gabrielle Bordwin.
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 145837
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First Edition of Washington: A Life; Inscribed by Ron Chernow
CHERNOW, Ron.
Washington: A Life.
New York: The Penguin Press, 2010.
First edition of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning author's work. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "For John Ron Chernow 2/24/11." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Evan Gaffney Design.
Price: $350.00 Item Number: 145838
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First Edition of Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley; Inscribed by Him to Supreme Court Justice William Rufus Day
MCKINLEY, William [William Rufus Day].
Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley.
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1893.
First edition of this collection of speeches by the United State's 25th president. Octavo, original publisher's cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, pale yellow endpapers, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of McKinley, illustrated with four additional tissue-guarded plates. Association copy, inscribed on the front flyleaf by William McKinley as Governor of Ohio, “For Hon. WRDay, with the sincere regard of his friend WMcKinley Columbus Ohio Dec 18/95." The recipient, William Rufus Day served as Secretary of State under McKinley and later Supreme Court Justice under Theodore Roosevelt. Although he assumed the position of Secretary of State just a…
Price: $7,800.00 Item Number: 145234
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First Edition of Sir Richard F. Burton's The Gold-Mines of Midian
BURTON, Sir Richard F.
The Gold-Mines of Midian and The Ruined Midianite Cities.
London: C. Kegan Paul & Co, 1878.
First edition of the sequel to 'Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah.' Octavo, original publisher's decorated cloth stamped in black and gilt, rebacked, beveled edges, black endpapers, illustrations in text, folding map of North-Western Arabia, advertisements at rear. In very good condition.
Price: $475.00 Item Number: 145227
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First Edition of Richard F. Burton's Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah
BURTON, Richard F.
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah.
New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1856.
First American edition of one of "the greatest works of travel ever published" (Penzer, 49). Octavo, original publisher's decorative cloth with gilt titles and ornamentation to the spine, gilt central crescent moon to the front panel, pale yellow endpapers, tissue-guarded lithographic frontispiece of El Medinah, additional pictorial title page, folding map of the route of Richard F. Burton from Yambu to El Medinah and Meccah. In very good condition with some toning to the page edges and rubbing to the spine extremities.
Price: $500.00 Item Number: 145224
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"A day without laughter is a day wasted": Charles Chaplin's Autobiography; Inscribed by Him
CHAPLIN, Charles.
My Autobiography.
London: The Bodley Head, 1964.
First edition, early printing of Charlie Chaplin's extraordinarily vivid autobiography. Octavo, original boards, illustrated with photographs. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper. With a letter of provenance laid in to Bob Israel describing the legibility of Chaplin's inscription and gifting five color photographs depicting Chaplin with Oona O'Neil Chaplin and others. Fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Uncommon signed and inscribed.
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 145221
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First Edition of Elizabeth B. Custer's Boots and Saddles
CUSTER, Elizabeth B.
Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885.
First edition of Elizabeth Custer's memoir. Octavo, original publisher's pictorial brown cloth decorated and stamped in black and gilt with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, gilt embellishments of a rising sun and bugle to the front panel, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of George Armstrong Custer, outline map of portions of Montana and Dakota. In near fine condition. A bright example.
Price: $150.00 Item Number: 145222
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“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big": Trump: The Art of the Deal; Inscribed by Donald J. Trump
TRUMP, Donald J. with Tony Schwartz.
Trump: The Art of the Deal.
New York: Random House, 1987.
First edition of Trump's first book. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To James Best Donald Trump." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Robert Aulicino. Jacket photograph by Michele Singer.
Price: $1,600.00 Item Number: 145638
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"If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet": First Edition of Life; Signed by Keith Richards in the year of publication
RICHARDS, Keith.
Life: Keith Richards.
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010.
First edition of Richards' autobiography. Octavo, original boards, illustrated with photographs. Signed and dated by the author om the year of publication on the front free-endpaper, "Keith Richards '10." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Mario J. Pulice. Front jacket photograph by David LaChapelle. Rear jacket photograph by Deborah Feingold.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 145196
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First Edition of Guy de Rothschild's The Whims of Fortune
ROTHSCHILD, Guy de.
The Whims of Fortune: The Memoirs of Guy de Rothschild.
New York: Random House, 1985.
First edition of Guy de Rothschild's revealing memoir. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with photographs. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Tony Kent. Jacket design by Loretta Leiva.
Price: $475.00 Item Number: 144635
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"Let Us Hope That The Best Important Achievement Of Atomic Energy Will Lie In Planetary Exploration, And Not In Human Destruction": First Edition of George Gamow's Atomic Energy In Cosmic And Human Life: Fifty Years Of Radioactivity; Inscribed by Him to Chester Nimitz
GAMOW, George [Chester Nimitz].
Atomic Energy In Cosmic And Human Life: Fifty Years Of Radioactivity.
New York: 1946.
First edition of this work by the legendary physicist and cosmologist. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To The Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz Cordially From The Author G. Gamow." The recipient, Chester Nimitz was made Fleet Admiral in 1944 (a lifetime appointment) and was in charge of the United States Forces in the Pacific, and Commander of Operations including the first military use of atomic energy in warfare, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Near fine in very good dust jacket. An exceptional association.
Price: $4,000.00 Item Number: 139841
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"There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice": First Edition of Grants Memoirs
GRANT, Ulysses S. [U.S.].
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885-86.
First edition of the autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, which focusing mainly on his military career during the Mexican War and the Civil War. Octavo, 2 volumes, original green cloth with title and front panel in gilt, illustrated with numerous steel engravings, facsimiles, and 43 maps. In near fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,600.00 Item Number: 134188
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“ONE OF THE BEST POLITICAL BIOGRAPHIES IN ENGLISH:” FIRST EDITION OF WINSTON S. CHURCHILL'S LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL; Signed by winston s. churchill and finely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Lord Randolph Churchill.
New York and London: Macmillan & Co. Limited, 1906.
First editions of Winston S. Churchill's impassioned two-volume biography written in defence of his maligned father's posthumous reputation; a bulwark of any Churchill collection. Octavo, 2 volumes bound in three quarters morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with gilt titles and five raised bands to the spine, top edge gilt, engraved frontispiece portrait of Sir Randolph Churchill after a photograph by Mackintosh to Volume I, engraved frontispiece portrait of Sir Randolph Churchill after a photograph by Russell and Sons to Volume II, illustrated. Signed by the author on the first blank of Vol. I, "Inscribed by Winston S. Churchill 1907." In…
Price: $8,200.00 Item Number: 144651
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First Edition of Wrestling with the Devil: A Prison Memoir; Signed by Ngugi in the month of Publication
THIONG'O, Ngugi Wa.
Wrestling with the Devil: A Prison Memoir.
New York: The Free Press, 2018.
First edition of this unforgettable chronicle of the year the brilliant novelist and memoirist. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by the author in the month of publication, "NW Thiong'o 10th March 2018." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design and illustration by Emmanuel Polanco.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 145757
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Rickenbacker: An Autobiography; Signed by Him in the Year of Publication
RICKENBACKER, Edward V. [Eddie].
Rickenbacker: An Autobiography.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1967.
First edition of the American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient's autobiography. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Signed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "Eddie Rickenbacker 1967." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,100.00 Item Number: 144007
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"If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today": First Edition Of Mikhail Gorbachevs Memoirs
GORBACHEV, Mikhail.
Memoirs.
New York: Doubleday, 1996.
First edition of Gorbachev's autobiography. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated with photographs, Foreward by Martin McCauley. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Mario J. Pulice. Jacket photograph by Eddie Adams.
Price: $50.00 Item Number: 145194
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"Waves can't be the god of the sport ... It has to be getting out in it that counts": First Edition of You Should Have Been Here An Hour Ago; Inscribed by Phil Edwards
EDWARDS, Phil with Bob Ottum.
You Should Have Been Here an Hour Ago: The Stoked Side of Surfing or How to Hang Ten Through Life and Stay Happy.
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1967.
First edition of this classic profile of 'the surfer's surfer.' Octavo, original sky blue cloth, illustrated with full-page photographs. Lengthily signed by the author opposite the copyright page: "You should have been here .... Phil Edwards." Very good in a very good dust jacket, with dampstaining to the book. Jacket photograph by Lynn Pelham-Rapho-Guillumette. Photograph of Bob Ottum by Jerry Cooke.
Price: $3,000.00 Item Number: 145184
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First Edition of DNA Pioneer: James Watson and the Double Helix; Signed by Nobel Prize-winning Scientist's James Watson and Francis Crick
BALDWIN, Joyce [James D. Watson and Francis Crick].
DNA Pioneer: James Watson and the Double Helix.
New York: Walker and Company, 1994.
First edition of this riveting work on the legendary scientist James D. Watson. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by James Watson and Francis Crick on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Ron Monteleone. Rare and desirable signed by Watson and Crick.
Price: $3,800.00 Item Number: 145786
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"To reduce hatred and other emotions, you must develop their opposites - compassion and kindness": First Edition of His Holiness The Dalai Lama's The Wisdom of Forgiveness; Inscribed by Victor Chan
VICTOR CHAN, and His Holiness The Dalai Lama.
The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys.
New York: Riverhead Books, 2004.
First edition of this intimate record of conversation between the Dalai Lama and his dear friend, Victor Chan. Octavo, original yellow half-cloth. Inscribed by the author on the half-title page: "Lori, Here's to the spectacular success of the XIV Dalai Lama Scholar's program. With warmest wishes, Victor ... 2008." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Nellys Li. Jacket photograph by Victor Chan. Authors photograph by Susanne Martin.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 145187