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 Masque of Reason; Inscribed by Robert Frost to Fellow Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner
Frost, Robert.
A Masque of Reason.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945.
First edition of this work by Frost, association copy, inscribed by him to fellow writer Wallace Stegner and his wife on the front free endpaper, “To Wally and Mary always theirs and all marks off Robert.”Often referred to as “The Dean of Western Writers”, Wallace Stegner taught at both Harvard and Stanford University where he founded the creative writing program; his students included Sandra Day O’Connor, Robert Stone, Ken Kesey, and Larry McMurtry. Stegner’s novel Angle of Repose won him the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and in 1977 he was awarded the National Book Award for The Spectator Bird. The Frosts and Stegners remained lifelong friends after meeting at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in 1938. Stegner’s final novel Crossing to Safety took its title from a line in Frost’s poem I Could Give All to Time. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $2,500.00
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First edition of A New Directions Reader; Inscribed by James Laughlin
Edited by Hayden Carruth & James Laughlin.
A New Directions Reader.
1964: New Directions, Norfolk, Connecticut.
First edition of this collection of stories, poems, and excerpts published in celebration of the publishing firms 25th Anniversary. Octavo, a paperback original. Presentation copy. Inscribed by James Laughlin, founder of New Directions Publishing, on the half-title page in the year of publication, “For Herb, from J. Christmas 1964.” In near fine condition. Cover design by Alvin Lustig. A nice example.
Price: $30.00
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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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Mary Oliver's American Primitive; Signed by Her
Oliver, Mary.
American Primitive.
Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1983.
Later printing of the poet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Signed by Mary Oliver on the title page. In fine condition.
Price: $350.00
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“Tell me, what is it your plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”: First Edition of American Primitive; Signed by Mary Oliver
Oliver, Mary.
American Primitive.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983.
First edition of the poet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection. Octavo, original green cloth. Signed by Mary Oliver on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. Jacket photograph by Lisa Paquette. Author photograph by Molly Malone Cook. The hardcover edition is scarce, as it was issued simultaneously in paperback.
Price: $2,500.00
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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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"You belong to me Chattanooga": First edition of Ishmaels Reed's book of poems: Chattanooga
Reed, Ishmael.
Chattanooga: Poems by Ishmael Reed.
New Yorkl: Random House, 1973.
First edition of Ishmael Reed’s book of poems. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Original errata slip laid in. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Best Wishes, Ishmael Reed April 25, 1974.” In near fine condition.
Price: $50.00
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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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“These woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep": First Edition of The Collected Poems of Robert Frost; Signed by Him
Frost, Robert.
Collected Poems of Robert Frost 1939.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc, 1939.
First edition of this collected poems of Frost. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece photograph of Robert Frost taken by Doris Ulmann. Signed by Robert Frost on the second free endpaper. Laid in is an original glossy black and white photograph portrait of Frost from the Kenyon College Publicity Department of Gambier, Ohio. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a few closed tears and chipping to the crown of the spine.
Price: $750.00
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First Edition of The Collected Poems of Robert Frost; Signed by Him
Frost, Robert.
Collected Poems of Robert Frost.
Garden City, NY: Halcyon, 1942.
First edition of this collected poems of Frost. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece photograph of Robert Frost taken by Doris Ulmann. Presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Robert Frost to Elouise Decker 1945.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket.
Price: $950.00
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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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"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled": First Edition of Robert Frost's Complete Book of Poems; Inscribed by Him
Frost, Robert.
Complete Poems of Robert Frost.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1949.
First edition of this collection of poems, which includes the classic “The Road Not Taken.” Octavo, original green cloth, frontispiece. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Robert Frost to Ruth M. Blair Bread Loaf VT 1953.” The recipient was a student at Bread Loaf. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some wear and tear. Frontispiece by Clara E. Sipprell. Jacket design by John King.
Price: $1,750.00
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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