Rare Poetry Books & First-Edition Poetry Books for Sale Online
If you’re looking for a particular rare or first-edition poetry book, you’re on the right page. Raptis Rare Books is a trusted antiquarian book dealer and as such we maintain an extensive collection of antique books and antique children’s books specifically. Browse through our entire collection below, use the search or filters to find exactly what you’re looking for than call or email with any questions or order online!
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First Edition of A Brave and Startling Truth; Inscribed by Maya Angelou
Angelou, Maya.
A Brave and Startling Truth.
New York: Random House, 1995.
First edition. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed and inscribed by the author, “______ Joy Maya Angelou." A poem read by Maya Angelou at the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
Price: $225.00
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First Edition of Rudyard Kipling's A Song of The English; With 30 Mounted Color Plates by W. Heath Robinson
Kipling, Rudyard.
A Song of The English.
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1909.
First edition of this wonderfully illustrated work by Robinson. Quarto, original blue cloth, gilt pictorial to the front panel, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson with 30 mounted color plates, lettered tissue guards. In near fine condition with light rubbing.
Price: $750.00
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Signed Limited Edition of Pablo Neruda's Alturas de Macchu Picchu
Neruda, Pablo and Martin Chambi.
Alturas de Macchu Picchu.
Chile: Nascimento, 1954.
Signed limited edition of Neruda’s masterpiece. Quarto, original illustrated wrappers as issued, photographs by Martin Chambi. Signed by Pablo Neruda at the colophon as issued. In near fine condition. Laid in is the scarce insert on green paper that was issued with all copies, which is a bibliographic note on the genesis and publication history of the poem by Jorge Sanhueza. This is the first definitive edition of the poems, including the Chambi photographs referenced in “The Latin American Photobook. A superior example, rare in this condition.
Price: $3,800.00
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First Edition of Adam Zagajewski's Another Beauty; Signed by Him
Zagajewski, Adam.
Another Beauty.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
First edition of the author’s memoirs. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed and dated by the author on the title page, “Adam Zagajewski Boston, October 2004.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Marc J. Cohen. Translated by Clare Cavanagh.
Price: $200.00
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First Edition of Adam Zagajewski's Another Beauty; Signed by Him
Zagajewski, Adam.
Another Beauty.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
First edition of the author’s memoirs. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by the author on the title page with the following line from this work, which reads, “We find comfort only in another beauty, in others music Adam Zagajewski.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Marc J. Cohen. Translated by Clare Cavanagh.
Price: $250.00
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Beowulf; Signed by Seamus Heaney
Heaney, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
New York: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1999.
First edition. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed by the Seamus Heaney on the title page.
Price: $375.00
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First Edition of Gao Xingjian's Buying a Fishing Rod For My Grandfather; Signed by Him
Xingjian, Gao.
Buying a Fishing Rod For My Grandfather.
New York: Harper Collins, 2004.
First American edition of the author’s first collection of short stories published in English. Octavo, original boards. Signed and dated in the year of publication by Gao Xingjian on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee.
Price: $250.00
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Signed limited edition of Pablo Neruda's Canto General; Signed by Him and illustrators Diego Rivera and David A. Siqueiros
Neruda, Pablo; Illustrated by Diego Rivera & David A. Siqueiros.
Canto General.
Mexico: Talleres Graficos de la Nacion, 1950.
Signed limited first edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s masterpiece. Folio, original cloth, pictorial endpapers designed by Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. One of five hundred copies printed on malinche paper. Signed by Pablo Neruda, illustrators Diego Rivera and David A. Siqueiros. In very good condition with some rubbing to the spine and some light repair to the crown of the spine. Rare and desirable.
Price: $9,200.00
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Clandestine first Chilean edition of Pablo Neruda's Canto General; Inscribed by him to close friend and publisher Americo Zorilla
Neruda, Pablo.
Canto General.
Santiago: Imprenta Juárez, 1950.
Clandestine first Chilean edition of Neruda’s stunning epic poem, published underground by the Communist party in Chile under a false imprint one month after the true first edition, published in Mexico from a different manuscript. Quarto, bound into contemporary red linen boards with parts of original printed wrappers serving as titles to the front panel and spine. Copyright leaf mounted to front pastedown bearing the false imprint “Imprenta Juárez, Reforma 75, Ciudad de México D.F.”, half tone portraits of Neruda tipped in at front and back. Inscribed by Neruda on the title page, “Al camarada Americo, Pablo Neruda.” The recipient Americo Zorilla was a close friend of Neruda’s and editor of the Chilean Communist daily newspaper, El Siglo. Zorilla facilitated the clandestine publication of five thousand copies of Neruda’s Canto General in Chile, published under a false imprint and based on a manuscript Neruda had left behind before he went into hiding with the banning of the Communist Party under the Ley de Defensa Permanente de la Democracia in 1948. Neruda had officially joined the Communist Party of Chile in 1945 and served as campaign manager for the radical party’s presidential candidate Gabriel Gonzalez Videal in 1946. Once in office, Gonzalez Videla turned against the Communist Party and Neruda was forced into hiding and later exile in Buenos Aires to avoid arrest. An exceptional association.
Price: $8,800.00
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First edition of Allen Ginsberg's Collected Poems 1947-1980; Signed by Him
Ginsberg, Allen.
Collected Poems 1947-1980.
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1984.
First edition. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author on the title page, “Allen Ginsberg 1985 and initials AH New York.” Fine in a fine dust jacket.
Price: $225.00
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Come In and Other Poems; Inscribed by Robert Frost
Frost, Robert.
Come In and Other Poems.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1943.
Early printing of Frost collection of poems. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Robert Frost to Carolyn Gorey Ripton Vermont 1950.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some wear.
Price: $400.00
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"Woman, my soul's stranger, your delight was left to me"; One page autographed handwritten poem completely in the hand of Nobel Prize-Winning Poet George Seferis
Seferis, George.
Comments. Original Manuscript by George Seferis.
Two page autographed handwritten poem completely in the hand of George Seferis. Translated from the Greek: “The porch had darkened, by our side there was a rush in the two hearts had sheltered a confession. And the voice was entrapped in our lips, and we made mistakes and only from the depths of the body, Oh my God, we were waiting for a blessing. Darkness was blowing in the house and from the light of the star oh, your hair’s magnet remember the inaccessible angel. With the fast rings on the floor suddenly like an air blowing in the thought that we were reading the Bible with a prayer. Woman, my soul’s stranger, your delight was left to me, nice beloved woman tonight this foolish today. And the black rings of your eyes, and the nights horror. Bend to get into the case again, blade of my silence, chimera. George Seferis.” Double matted and framed. The entire piece measures 16 inches by 19 inches.
Price: $4,800.00
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First Edition of Ishmael Reed's Conjure: Selected Poems, 1963-1970; Signed by Him
Reed, Ishmael .
Conjure: Selected Poems, 1963-1970.
Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1972.
First edition. Octavo, original wrappers. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Best wishes Ishmael Reed April 25, 1974.” In near fine condition.
Price: $45.00
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Crabbe's Tales & Minor Poems with a fore-edge painting of a nineteenth century cityscape
Crabbe, Rev. George.
Crabbe’s Tales and Minor Poems.
London: John James Chidley, 1840.
Octavo, bound in contemporary pebbled morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, all edges gilt, engraved frontispiece. With a fore edge painting of a 19th century cityscape. In near fine condition.
Price: $850.00
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"It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far": First Edition of Leonard Cohen's Death of a Lady's Man; Signed by Him
Cohen, Leonard.
Death of a Lady’s Man.
Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1978.
First edition, first state with “Lie down.” on page 94. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Leonard Cohen on the title page. Near fine in a near fine clipped dust jacket with light rubbing.
Price: $975.00
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"Who Is Content Only With The Right Word": First Edition of Death of a Naturalist; Inscribed by Seamus Heaney to his Aunt
Heaney, Seamus.
Death of a Naturalist.
London: Faber and Faber, 1966.
First edition of Heaney’s first major published volume. Octavo, original green cloth with titles to the spine in gilt. Inscribed by the author to his aunt in a contemporary hand, “For Aunt Annie: who is content only with the right word. Love, Seamus.” Additionally signed by Heaney in full on the title page. Fine in very good dust jacket with sunning to the pink portion of the spine and some overall wear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Association copies of this caliber seldom enter the market.
Price: $12,500.00
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"to set the darkness echoing": First American Edition of Death of a Naturalist; Warmly Inscribed by Seamus Heaney
Heaney, Seamus.
Death of a Naturalist.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
First American edition of Heaney’s first major published volume. Octavo, original green cloth. Inscribed by the author on the title page, “For Steve with gratitude-“to set the darkness echoing”19th March 1970 Seamus Heaney.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket that shows some fading to the pink portion of the spine panel.
Price: $2,200.00
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Rare First Edition, First Issue of Designs by Mr. R. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray; in the original boards
Gray, Thomas.
Designs by Mr. R. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray.
London: R. Dodsley, 1753.
First edition, first issue, The Abel Berland Copy. Quarto, bound in the original gray boards, illustrated with each of the six poems with a frontispiece, head-piece, initial letter and tail-piece. Each leaf printed on one side only. Half-title reading “Drawings, &c.” Engraved title vignette, 6 engraved plates, 12 head- and tail-pieces, and 6 historiated initials. In near fine condition, rebacked. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise box. Rare, especially in the original boards.
Price: $3,800.00
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First Edition of Dog Songs; Signed by Mary Oliver
Oliver, Mary.
Dog Songs: Poems.
New York: The Penguin Press, 2013.
First edition of this collection of poems by Mary Oliver. Octavo, original boards. Signed by Mary Oliver on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Darren Haggar.
Price: $350.00
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First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Door Into The Dark; Signed by Him
Heaney, Seamus.
Door Into The Dark.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.
First American edition of the author’s second book. Octavo, original black cloth. Signed by Seamus Heaney on the title page. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket with two closed tears to the front panel. A very sharp example.
Price: $650.00