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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"It is my hope to recall this great shade from the past, and not only invest him with his panoply, but make him living and intimate to modern eyes": Complete First Edition Set of Marlborough: His Life and Times; vol. iv inscribed by Winston Churchill to his research assistant and biographer Maurice Ashley
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Marlborough: His Life and Times.
London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1933-38.
First edition of Churchill's magisterial biography of his notable ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Octavo, 4 volumes, original cloth, top edge gilt, illustrated with hundreds of maps and plans (many folding), plates and document facsimiles. Association copy, inscribed by Winston Churchill on the front free endpaper of volume IV, "To Maurice Ashley from Winston Churchill August 1938." The recipient, Maurice Ashley worked as a research assistant to Winston Churchill for four years during which he was working on the Marlborough biography. Ashley is also the author of Churchill as Historian (1968), which discusses how Churchill approached historical research.…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 144914
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First Edition of Ron Chernow's Grant
CHERNOW, Ron.
Grant.
New York: Penguin Press, 2017.
First edition of this award-winning biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated with photographs. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket art by Evan Gaffney. Author photograph by Beowulf Sheehan.
Price: $75.00 Item Number: 145169
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“The crucial artist of the twentieth century" (The New Yorker): First Edition of Autobiography; Inscribed by Charles Chaplin in the year of publication
CHAPLIN, Charles.
Charles Chaplin: My Autobiography.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964.
First edition of "the best autobiography ever written by an actor. An astonishing work" (Chicago Tribune). Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the dedication page, "Cap Antibes December 25, 1964 Best regards to my good friend Mac Grendet Charles Chaplin." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Scarce signed.
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 145923
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“Isolated, she managed somehow to feel free—albeit with a freedom that made her want to smash a hole in the very center of the universe”: First Edition of Sybil; Inscribed by Flora Rheta Schreiber
SCHREIBER, Flora Rheta.
Sybil.
Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1973.
First edition of the engrossing true story, basis for the classic film. Octavo, original textured imitation leather boards, illustrated with photographs of paintings and pencil drawings by Sybil and her personalities. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "Aug 28, 1973 To Hal - whom I honor, respect and thank for my opportunity to do a rounded show - all best - Flora Rheta Schreiber." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Charles Edmondson. Author photograph by Abner Symons. First edition examples of 'Sybil' signed by the author are scarce.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 145145
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"If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet": First Edition of Keith Richards' Life
RICHARDS, Keith.
Life: Keith Richards.
London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010.
First edition of Richards' autobiography. Octavo, original boards, illustrated with photographs. Very good in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Mario J. Pulice. Front jacket photograph by David LaChapelle. Rear jacket photograph by Deborah Feingold.
Price: $100.00 Item Number: 145154
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"The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything": First Edition of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt; Signed by Edmund Morris
MORRIS, Edmund.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979.
First edition of the first book in the author's acclaimed Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with photographs. Signed by Edmund Morris on the title page. Very good in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Regine de Toledo. Author photograph by Ian Keown.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 145164
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First edition of Miracle at Kitty Hawk: The Letters of Wilbur and Orville Wright; from the library of Orville Wright's friend and neighbor Charlotte Seitner
KELLY, Fred C. [Editor] [Orville and Wilbur Wright].
Miracle at Kitty Hawk: The Letters of Wilbur and Orville Wright.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1951.
First edition of the collected, previously unpublished letters of the Wright brothers, edited by their authorized biographer Fred C. Kelly. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated, frontispiece after a sketch by Wilbur Wright showing the position of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil. Association copy, from the library of Charlotte Seitner with a gift inscription dedicated to her to the front free endpaper, "To - Charlotte Seitner Dayton, Ohio Sept. 1951 From Kay H.-" The recipient, Charlotte Seitner was a historian and neighbor of Orville Wright. She was a life-long collector of Wright Brothers ephemera, donating most of her collection to the local…
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 145144
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"Griefs upon griefs! Disappointments upon disappoints. What then? This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding": John Adams; Warmly Inscribed by David McCullough
MCCULLOUGH, David.
John Adams.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
First edition of the author's second Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original half cloth, pictorial endpapers, illustrated. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author with a long quote from this work on the title page, "For John Rogers 'Griefs upon griefs! Disappointments upon disappoints. What then? This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding.' It could have been his epitaph David McCullough." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Wendell Minor. Jacket painting by Gilbert Stuart. A unique example.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 144367
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First edition of Business @ The Speed of Thought; inscribed by Bill Gates to Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci
GATES, Bill with Collins Hemingway.
Business @ The Speed of Thought: Using a Digital Nervous System.
New York: Warner Books, 1999.
First edition of Gates' work on best practices for utilizing information systems in the business world. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by Bill Gates on the half-title page, "Governor Cellucci, Thanks for your support. Best wishes, Bill Gates." American politician and diplomat Argeo Paul Cellucci served as the 69th governor of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2001, and as the United States Ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2005. His major accomplishments included his efforts to reform the state's education system, his focus on fiscal responsibility, and his initiatives to promote economic development in Massachusetts. Near fine in a…
Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 145138
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First Edition of First Lady, Julia Dent Grant's Personal Memoirs
GRANT, Julia Dent; Ralph G. Newman; Bruce Catton.
The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant [Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant] and The First Lady as an Author.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1975.
First edition of First Lady Julia Dent Grant's collection of memoirs, published for the first time, posthumously, nearly seventy-three years after her death. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a good dust jacket. Very good in a very good dust jacket, ownership inscription to the front free endpaper. Illustrated with photographs of the Grant family and others. Edited with notes and foreword by John Y. Simon with introduction by Bruce Catton.
Price: $40.00 Item Number: 145105
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First Edition of The China Diary; Signed by George H.W. Bush and Jeffrey Engel
BUSH, George H.W.; Edited by Jeffrey Engel.
The China Diary of George H. W. Bush: The Making of a Global President.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
First edition of Bush's diary, which he dictated while being de facto U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in 1974–75. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Signed by President George H.W. Bush and inscribed by the editor, Jeffrey Engel on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 144397
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First edition of THE LAST LION: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm; Signed by Paul Reid
MANCHESTER, William & Paul Reid.
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965.
New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2012.
First edition, early printing of the author’s final volume of his acclaimed trilogy. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Boldly signed by Paul Reid, whom the author chose to finish the volume following his death in 2004. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Matt Tanner.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 145401
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First Edition of What Manner of Man: A Biography Of Martin Luther King, Jr; Lengthily Inscribed by Lerone Bennett
KING, Martin Luther] Lerone Bennett.
What Manner of Man: A Biography Of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, Inc, 1964.
First edition of this early biography on Dr. King. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Congratulations on your leadership and success. King said, "A man who dies for something is not fit to live." For John Thanks! Lerone 12/8/15." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. With an introduction by Benjamin E. Mays. Jacket design by Herbert Temple. Uncommon signed.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 144899
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“In a gentle way, you can shake the world": First edition of Gandhi's Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth
GANDHI, Mahatma [Mohandas K.].
Gandhi’s Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth.
Washington, D.C: Public Affairs Press, 1948.
First edition of Gandhi's revealing autobiography. Octavo, original cloth, pictorial endpapers. Near fine in a good dust jacket. Translated from the original Gujarati by Mahadev Desai.
Price: $375.00 Item Number: 144680
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First edition of To Rule the Night; inscribed by Jim Irwin
IRWIN, James B. with William A. Emerson Jr.
To Rule The Night: The Discovery Voyage of Astronaut Jim Irwin.
Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1973.
First edition of the autobiography of Jim Irwin, who served as the Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "To William Stanhope my very best wishes for your life in Him. James Irwin." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Don Bender.
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 144838
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“The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation": First Edition of C.S. Lewis' Surprised by Joy: The Shape of my Early Life
LEWIS, C.S.
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life.
London: Geoffey Bles, 1955.
First edition of Lewis' spiritual memoir, in which he recounts the story of his divine journey and eventual conversion to Christianity. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket, name to the front free endpaper. Jacket design by John R. Biggs.
Price: $500.00 Item Number: 134211
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First Edition of Jack Nicklaus' Memories and Mementos from Golf's Golden Bear
NICKLAUS, Jack with David Shedloski.
Jack Nicklaus: Memories and Mementos from Golf’s Golden Bear.
New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2007.
First edition of the 'Golden Bear' of Golf's autobiographical collection of memoirs and facsimiles. Quarto, original golden boards, illustrated with collectible facsimiles selected by Jack Nicklaus himself as his favorite pieces of memorabilia, each housed in an unopened protective pocket. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Sticker to the front panel, 'Includes 10 rare removable collectibles from the Jack Nicklaus Museum.' Front jacket photo by Walter Iooss, Sports Illustrated. Rear jacket photo of the conclusion of Nicklaus's final round, in the 2005 British Open, at St. Andrews Scotland by AP, Wide World Images.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 145103
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"But there are no loners. No man lives in a void. His every act is conditioned by his time and his society": First Edition of the Authors Classic Work The Death of a President, Signed By Him
MANCHESTER, William.
The Death of a President.
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1967.
First edition of the historian's most well-known and enduring work. Octavo, original blue cloth, cartographic endpapers. Boldly signed by William Manchester on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by J. Caroff Associates. A very bright example.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 144344
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First Edition of Winston Churchill's The Dawn of Liberation
CHURCHILL, Winston S; Compiled by Charles Eade.
The Dawn of Liberation.
London: Cassell and Company Ltd, 1945.
First edition of the fifth volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, compiled by Charles Eade. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated, photographic frontispiece of the King entertaining the Dominion Prime Ministers at Buckingham Palace. Fine in a very good dust jacket.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 145029
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First edition of Return to the Moon; inscribed by Harrison Schmitt
SCHMITT, Harrison. Foreword by Neil Armstrong.
Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space.
New York: Copernicus Books in Association with Praxis Publishing, 2006.
First edition of the author's visionary plan for humankind's future in space. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Bob Harrison Schmitt Apollo 17." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Jordan Rosenbum.
Price: $450.00 Item Number: 144631