First Edition
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Raptis Rare Books maintains an extensive collection of rare and first-edition books from a variety of authors and publishers. Navigate through our full selection of first-editions below to find a particular item you're looking for, ask a question, or order online today!
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Rare eighteenth century collection of the Tragedies and Comedies of the great English Playwrights including William Shakespeare and John Dryden
SHAKESPEARE, William; John Dryden; William Congreve; et al.
Tragedies and Comedies of the Great English Playwrights.
London: Various Publishers, c.1730-1760.
Finely bound sammelband collection of comedies and tragedies by early English playwrights including William Shakespeare, John Dryden, and William Congreve. Octavo, 43 volumes bound into 7 in half contemporary calf over marbled boards with burgundy morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, numerous engraved frontispieces, headpieces, tailpieces and illustrations. In very good condition. A very unique collection.
Price: $5,500.00 Item Number: 137210
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Large seventeenth century hand-colored map of the Danish island of Funen by renowned Dutch cartographer Jan Blaeu
BLAEU, Joan.
Fionia vulgo Funen. [Seventeenth Century Joan Blaeu Map of Funen].
[Amsterdam]: c. 1645.
Large seventeenth century hand-colored map of the Danish island of Funen by renowned Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu. One page, hand-colored with two decorative cartouches. In near fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 26.5 by 22 inches.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 137508
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Rare 17th century map of Florida published by French cartographer Alain Manesson Mallet
MALLET, Allain Manesson.
Floride. Das Landt Florida. [17th Century Map of Florida].
Frankfurt: Allain M. Mallet, c. 1686.
Rare 17the century copper engraved map of Florida from Allain Manesson Mallet's Description De L' Univers, Contenant Les Differents Systemes Du Monde, Les Cartes generales & particulieres.' One page, hand-colored, the copper-engraved map shows Canada or Nouvelle France, the Appalachians, Florida (Tegesta), the Gulf of Mexico, and Cuba. In fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 138207
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“The Body of Benjamin FRANKLIN Printer, Like the Covering of an Old Book Its contents torn out and stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies Here, Food for Worms": Scarce first edition of Nathaniel Ames' 1771 Almanack, containing the first known printing of Benjamin Franklin's famous epitaph
AMES, Nathaniel. [Benjamin Franklin].
An Astronomical Diary or Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord Christ 1771.
Boston: Printed and Sold by the Printers and Booksellers, [1770].
First edition of Nathaniel Ames' 1771 Almanack, containing the first known printing of "the most famous of American epitaphs" (Mark Van Doren). 12mo, original wrappers stitched as issued. In very good condition. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase. An exceptional example of this scarce early almanac.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 125283
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Rare Civil War Era Naval Commission Signed by Abraham Lincoln as President
LINCOLN, Abraham; Gideon Welles.
Abraham Lincoln Signed Naval Commission.
April 21, 1864.
American naval commission signed by Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and Gideon Welles as Secretary of the Navy. Folio, partially engraved on vellum the document is dated April 21, 1864 and promotes Charles W. Tracy to the rank of Lieutenant. In near fine condition. Matted and framed with a portrait of Lincoln and engraved plate. The Commission measures 19 inches by 16 inches. The entire piece measures 34 inches by 29.5 inches.
Price: $17,000.00 Item Number: 132067
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Manuscript copy of the 1841 Democratic Republican Convention Proceedings; signed by Colonial American Reformer Thomas Dorr
DORR, Thomas W.
Thomas Wilson Dorr Signed January 20th 1841 Democratic Republican Convention Proceedings Document.
January 20,1841.
Rare manuscript copy of the proceedings of the January 20th 1841 Democratic Republican Convention, signed by Chairman Thomas W. Dorr. Octavo, one page, the document reads, "Resolutions. Resolved, That the members of the Convention must cordially concur in the strong recommendations of William Ennis for the post of paymaster in the Army, or purser in the Navy which have been presented by many distinguished citizens of this and other states; and they assure the President, that this appointment is most earnestly desired by the Convention, would by very generally acceptable to our citizens, and particularly gratifying to the friends of…
Price: $1,800.00 Item Number: 142568
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Rare 1791 American Military Commission signed by President George Washington
WASHINGTON, George.
George Washington Signed Military Commission.
March 4, 1791.
United States military commission signed by George Washington as the first president of the United States of America on March 4th 1791. One page, partially printed, the commission appoints Jonathan Cass "a Captain in the Second Regiment in the Service of the United States." Signed by George Washington, "Go Washington" as the first President of the United States and countersigned by Henry Knox as the first Secretary of War. The appointee, Revolutionary War soldier Jonathan Cass responded to the April 1775 Lexington Alarm and served with George Washington at Bunker Hill. He was subsequently appointed as an officer in the…
Price: $28,000.00 Item Number: 143534
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RARE HANDWRITTEN ETHIOPIAN COPTIC GE’EZ BIBLE ILLUMINATED WITH TWO FULL-PAGE MINIATURE PAINTINGS
Ethiopian Coptic Ge’ez Bible.
Ethiopia: C. 18th Century.
Rare illustrated Ethiopian Coptic Ge’ez Bible. Small octodecimo, original leather boards, parchment manuscript in black and red ink, with full-page hand-painted miniatures depicting Saint George slaying the dragon, the Madonna and child, Jesus and Mary, and Jesus preaching. Housed in the original leather chemise slipcase with twine carrying handle.
Price: $2,800.00 Item Number: 145189
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"The first full-sized marble statue in New England": Fine terracotta pedestrian statue of George Washington, after Sir Francis Chantrey's Washington as a Roman Senator, 1826
CHANTREY, Sir Francis. [George Washington].
Washington as a Roman Senator, 1826. [Sir Francis Chantrey George Washington Terracotta Pedestrian Statue].
c. 1850.
Fine terracotta statue of President George Washington, after Sir Francis Chantrey's Washington as a Roman Senator, 1826. Terracotta. In 1818, the Washington Monument Association commissioned Francis Chantrey to sculpt a pedestrian statue of George Washington in white marble. Unveiled in Doric Hall of the Massachusetts State House in November 1827, it was the first sculpture to be placed in the then new State House and the first full-sized marble statue in New England. In fine condition. The statue measures 14.75 inches in height.
Price: $5,500.00 Item Number: 123164
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Rare 19th Century American Map of Florida
[FLORIDA],.
19th Century American Map of Florida.
Chicago: People's Publishing Co, [c. 1890].
19th century American map of the state of Florida. One page, the map shows a detailed view of the stated divided by county and includes an inset of the North-western portion of Florida. In near fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 21.5 inches by 17.25 inches.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 139015
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First Edition of Orville J. Victor's The History, Civil, Political & Military of the Southern Rebellion
VICTOR, Orville J.
The History, Civil, Political & Military of the Southern Rebellion, From its Incipient Stages to its Close.
New York: James D. Torrey, Publisher, [1861].
Complete first edition set of one of the earliest histories of the American Civil War. Octavo, four volumes, original publisher's full pebbled morocco decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, illustrated with steel engraved plates, additional vignette title pages. frontispieces, and maps. In good condition. A rare complete set, we have never seen another one.
Price: $2,800.00 Item Number: 133063
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finely bound and copiously illustrated 19th century printing of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
BUNYAN, John.
The Pilgrim’s Progress and Other Works of John Bunyan with an Original Memoir by the Reverend George B. Cheever, D.D.
Howard Street, Glasgow; South Bridge, Edinburgh; 22 Paternoster Row, London: William Mackenzie, n.d. [1862].
Finely bound and copiously illustrated 19th century printing of one of the most significant works of religious English literature. Quarto, bound in three quarters morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, illustrated with 31 plates and numerous in-text illustrations, additional pictorial title page, folding plate of Bunyan's Dream. In very good condition.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 144028
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First edition of James Goodwin's Burwash and the Sussex Weald
GOODWIN, James [Rudyard Kipling].
Burwash and the Sussex Weald. (“An English History in Miniature.”).
Turnbridge Wells: Printed for the Author by The Courier Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd., n.d.
First edition of work on the history and landscape of the Sussex Weald where Rudyard Kipling resided from 1902 until his death in 1936. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. In very good condition.
Price: $25.00 Item Number: 136107
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he Libraire d'Amateurs edition of Voltaire's L'Ingénu
VOLTAIRE. [AROUET, François-Marie].
L’Ingénu: Histoire Veritable Tiree Des Manuscrits Du Pere Quesnel 1767.
Paris: Librairie d'Amateurs, n.d.
The Libraire d'Amateurs edition of Voltaire's satirical novella. Quarto, bound in three quarter crushed morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, ribbon bound in, top edge gilt, with 46 monochrome plates by Umberto Brunelleschi. In fine condition. Housed in a custom marbled slipcase.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 137212
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Rare 18th Century Map of Canada by French cartographer Robert de Vaugondy
DE VAUGONDY, Robert.
A New Map of Canada, Also the North Parts of new England and New York: with Nova Scotia and Newfound Land. [18th Century Map of Canada].
London: c. 1766.
Rare 18th century printing of Robert de Vaugondy's map of 1755 updated to indicate changes resulting from the Treaty of Utrecht. The hand-colored map includes a large inset map of the Great Lakes and is embellished with a large title cartouche. In near fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 15.5 inches by 12.5 inches.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 138933
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First edition of The Magic of Kindness; Or, The Wondrous Story of the Good Huan; finely bound
BROTHERS MAYHEW,.
The Magic of Kindness; Or, The Wondrous Story of the Good Huan.
London: Darton and Co, c. 1849.
First edition of this classic tale with illustrations by George Cruikshank. Octavo, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Kenny Meadows, tissue-guarded frontispiece. In very good condition.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 115662
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"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor": The Amontillado edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe
POE, Edgar Allan.
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. [Including: The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Gold Bug, Raven, Eureka].
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, [1884].
The Amontillado edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Octavo, 8 volumes bound in full morocco by P.B. Sanford with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in 6 compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruling to the panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece to each volume by R. Swain Gifford, Frederick Church and others, etched engraved vignettes to the title pages. One of 315 numbered copies signed and dated by the publisher on the limitation leaf of each volume, this is number 290. In fine condition. Rare and desirable.
Price: $9,200.00 Item Number: 118042
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"One of the earliest books printed in Roman type": Rare incunable edition of Justinus's epitome of the Historia Philippica by Pompeius Trogus
JUSTINUS, Marcus Junianus.
Epitomae in Trogi Pompeii Historias.
Venice: [Philippus Pincius], c. 1497.
Rare incunable edition of Justinus's epitome of the Historia Philippica by Pompeius Trogus. Chancery folio, bound in one quarter vellum over patterned boards with ink titles to the spine, Roman type. In very good condition. Bookplate. Period marginalia. Exceptionally rare, one of the earliest books printed in Roman type, which would influence famed 15th century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, as well as such latter day designers as William Morris and Bruce Rogers.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 126068
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"let those who are really inclinable to buy, come forward, like men that are in earnest, and say what they will give": Rare Autograph Letter Signed by George Washington as the First President of the United States of America
WASHINGTON, George.
George Washington Autograph Letter Signed.
January 24, 1790.
Rare autograph letter signed by George Washington as the first President of the United States. Quarto, one page, the letter reads in full, "New York Jany 24th 1790 Sir Capt. Burnett delivered me your letter of the 18th and is so obliging as to take charge of this answer - It is my sincere opinion that the land mentioned in it is worth what I asked for it--to wit four dollars per acre and once would have sold for it; but if, in the present scarcity of cash it rather fetch that sum, let those who are really inclinable to…
Price: $65,000.00 Item Number: 141583