First Edition
First Edition Books for Sale Online
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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"One of the most fascinating regiments in American military history": Rough Rider Sergeant Craig W. Wadsworth's personal collection of Rough Riders books, letters and photographs; with a first edition of The Rough Riders and typed letter signed by President Theodore Roosevelt
ROOSEVELT, Theodore and Craig W. Wadsworth.
Theodore Roosevelt and Craig W. Wadsworth Rough Riders Collection.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.
Craig Wharton Wadsworth's personal collection of books, letters and photographs from his time as a Sergeant in Roosevelt's Rough Riders cavalry. The collection includes a first edition of Roosevelt's best-selling work, The Rough Riders (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899) signed by Roosevelt, "Theodore Roosevelt" and Wadsworth, "Craig W. Wadsworth Sergeant-Troop K"; Wadsworth's 14-leaf photograph album bound in full pebbled leather with gilt titles to the front panel which read: "First United States Volunteer Cavalry (Roosevelt Rough Riders) 1898" containing 24 original photographs of the cavalrymen on their expedition to Daiquiri with annotations in Wadsworth's hand and a lengthy introduction…
Price: $50,000.00 Item Number: 123510
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"There are cases in which the greatest daring is the greatest wisdom": FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF ARGUABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT TREATISE ON POLITICAL-MILITARY ANALYSIS AND STRATEGY EVER WRITTEN; CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ'S ON WAR
VON CLAUSEWITZ, Carl Philipp Gottfried.
On War.
London: N. Trubner & Co., 1873.
First edition in English of arguably the most important treatise on political-military analysis and strategy ever written. Small quarto, three volumes complete in one, original cloth, frontispiece portrait of Clausewitz. Translated by Colonel J. J. Graham from the third German edition. In near fine condition. From the library of Lt. Colonel Walter Pipon Braithwaite with his bookplate and ownership signature. General Sir Walter Pipon Braithwaite was a British Army officer who held senior commands during the First World War. After being dismissed from his position as Chief of Staff for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, he received some acclaim as a…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 127055
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"I'd come from a long ways off and had started a long ways down": First edition of Bob Dylan: Chronicles: Volume One; signed by Bob Dylan
DYLAN, Bob.
Bob Dylan: Chronicles.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
First edition of Dylan's revealing autobiography. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by the author on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Coco Shinomiya. PSA/DNA LOA and sticker to the title page. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box by the Harcourt Bindery.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 143531
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Extensive collection of over fifty first edition Civil War era pamphlets
DODGE, W.C.; Andrew Johnson; Henry J. Raymond; et al.
Civil War Political Pamphlet Collection.
Various publishers, c. 1861-1865.
Extensive collection of over fifty first edition Civil War era pamphlets on topics including politics, battles, foreign relations, debt, and the draft. Octavo, 52 volumes, original wrappers. The collection includes first editions of: Memorial to the Hon. Secretary of War, or, How to Strengthen our Army and Crush the Rebellion, with a Saving of Life and Treasure [Dodge, W.C. Washington DC: McGill & Witherow, 1864. From the collection of James W. Grimes (1816-1872), Governor of Iowa and United States Senator from Iowa with his ownership inscription]; Correspondence between John H. Gilmer and Honorable Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury [Richmond:…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 135127
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"Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots - but you have to play the ball where it lies.": First Edition of Down the Fairway; Signed by Bobby Jones
JONES, Robert T..
Down the Fairway: The Golf Life and Play of Robert T. Jones, Jr.
Minton, Balch & Company: New York, 1927.
First trade edition of what many consider the greatest golf book of the twentieth century. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Signed by Jones on the front free endpaper, "with best wishes, Robert T. Jones, Jr." Foreword by Grantland Rice. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional example, rare and desirable in the original dust jacket and signed.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 117324
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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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The Works of Charles Dickens; finely bound in full crushed levant morocco with John Forster's Life of Charles Dickens
DICKENS, Charles; John Forster.
The Works of Charles Dickens and The Life of Charles Dickens.
London: Chapman and Hall and Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1873-1876.
Finely bound set of the works of Charles Dickens, uniformly bound with John Forster's definitive biography of Dickens. Octavo, 30 volumes bound in full crushed levant morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, illustrated with numerous etched plates after H.K. Browne, George Cattermole, George Cruikshank, Marcus Stone and others including frontispieces and engraved vignette titles. In near fine condition. A very nice set.
Price: $12,000.00 Item Number: 143537
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First Edition of Harry Vardon's My Golfing Life; In the Rare Original Dust Jacket and from the library of Albert W. Tillinghast with a letter to him signed by Vardon laid in
VARDON, Harry.
My Golfing Life.
London: Hutchinson & Co, 1933.
First edition of Vardon's autobiography. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. From the library of golf architect A.W. Tillinghast with his handwritten library index card laid in. A.W. Tillinghast was one of the most prolific architects in the history of golf; he worked on more than 265 different courses and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015. Affixed to the front free endpaper is a three-page autograph letter signed and entirely in the hand of Vardon to Tillinghast on Vardon's letterhead dated February 19th 1914 which reads in part, "Dear Mr. Tillinghast, I thank you very much for…
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 96787
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First Edition, association copy of Winston S. Churchill's The River War; signed and annotated by E.B. Lack
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1899.
First editions of Churchill's history of the conquest of the Sudan. Octavo, 2 volumes, original cloth, illustrated with 22 maps and plans, several folding. Association copy, with signatures and annotations by E.B. Lack, who helped to supply gunboats to the Admiralty during the campaign. Woods A2(a). In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell slipcase.
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 144336
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The River War; Inscribed by Winston S. Churchill
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan.
London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1933.
Later edition of Churchill's history of the conquest of the Sudan. Octavo, 2 volumes, original cloth, illustrated with 22 maps and plans, several folding. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "To Charles Peake from Winston S. Churchill Sept 1936." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 144339
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Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm; signed by him and finely bound by Zaehnsdorf
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The Second World War. Volume I: The Gathering Storm.
London: Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1948.
First edition, second issue of the first volume of Churchill's masterpiece, The Second World War with the errata slip tipped into page 610. Octavo, bound in full 20th century crushed levant morocco by Zaehnsdorf with gilt titles to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panel, gilt turn-ins and inner denelles stamp-signed by Zaehnsdorf, marbeld endpapers, all edges gilt, errata slip tipped into page 610. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Winston S. Churchill 1955." Gilt inscription to the spine, "Obsequio de Cesar Guillen Al Sindicato de Periodistas…
Price: $8,200.00 Item Number: 145064
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“Governments don't produce economic growth people do”: First Edition of the 40th President of the United States Autobiography An American Life; Signed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush
REAGAN, Ronald [George Bush].
An American Life.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
First edition of the 40th President of the United States' memoir. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "To Gerald Kurland- With Best Wishes Ronald Reagan" and additionally signed by President George H.W. Bush. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Robert Anthony, Inc. A unique example.
Price: $7,800.00 Item Number: 131786
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“THE MOST WIDELY READ OF ALL AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHIES": TRUE FIRST EDITION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
FRANKLIN, Benjamin.
Mémoires de la Vie Privée de Benjamin Franklin, Écrits Par Lui-Même, et Adressés à Son Fils, Suivis d’un Précis Historique de Sa Vie Politique, et de Plusieurs Pièces, Relatives à Ce Père de la Liberté. [Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin].
Paris: Chez Buisson, Libraire, 1791.
True first edition of the first part of Franklin’s famed autobiography which preceded the first English edition by two years. Octavo, bound in full contemporary calf with a morocco spine label lettered in gilt, elaborate period gilt tooling to the spine, ribbon bound in. In very good condition. A nice example.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 139755
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Presentation copy of Winston Churchill's The Story of My Early Life: A Roving Commission; inscribed by Winston Churchill
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The Story of My Early Life: A Roving Commission.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1945.
Later printing of Churchill's acclaimed autobiography, recounting the first 25 years of his life. Octavo, original publisher's cloth, illustrated with 7 plates, one folding map. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To E.A. Allen from Winston S. Churchill Christmas 1946." In very good condition. Housed in a custom velvet-lined half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed and inscribed.
Price: $6,000.00 Item Number: 145060
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"To Hubert Humphrey with my high regard": First Edition of The Lyndon Johnson Story; inscribed by Lyndon Johnson to his vice president Hubert Humphrey
MOONEY, Booth. With a foreword by Lyndon B. Johnson [Hubert Humphrey].
The Lyndon Johnson Story.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956.
First edition of Booth Mooney's biography of Lyndon B. Johnson. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with photographs. Association copy, inscribed by Lyndon B. Johnson on the front free endpaper, "To Hubert Humphrey with my high regard Lyndon B. Johnson." The recipient, Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr., served as Lyndon B. Johnson's vice president from 1965 to 1969. Humphrey took office on January 20, 1965, ending the 14-month vacancy of the Vice President of the United States, which had remained empty when then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the Presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. As President Lyndon B. Johnson's vice…
Price: $6,000.00 Item Number: 140814
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First edition, first printing of John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage; inscribed by Bill Clinton and signed by Jimmy Carter
KENNEDY, John F. [Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter].
Profiles in Courage.
New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers , 1956.
First edition of Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work with the publisher's code M-E to the copyright page. Octavo, bound in full crushed levant navy morocco by the Harcourt Bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt-ruled inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Association copy, inscribed by Bill Clinton on the half-title page, "To Adrienne Rogers Best wishes Bill Clinton" and signed by Jimmy Carter, "J Carter." In fine condition. A unique association copy.
Price: $5,500.00 Item Number: 145067
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"Nothing can stop the attack of aircraft except other aircraft. With us air people, the future of our nation is indissolubly bound up in the development of air power": First edition of General William Mitchell's Skyways: A Book on Modern Aeronautics; inscribed by him to W. Walter Healy, National President Society of the Fifth Division
MITCHELL, William.
Skyways: A Book on Modern Aeronautics.
Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1930.
First edition of this classic work on aeronautics by "the father of the United States Air Force" Billy Mitchell. Octavo, original cloth, with seventy-six illustrations from photographs and drawings. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To W. Walter Healy National President Society of the Fifth Division U.S.A. With the regards of Wm. Mitchell.” The recipient, W. Walter Healy, served as President of the Society of the Fifth Division from 1934 to 1935. The Fifth Division was organized in December 1917 as a part of the program for the expansion of the armed forces for service…
Price: $5,500.00 Item Number: 137238
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“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark": The Patriot's Edition of The Life and Works of Thomas Paine
PAINE, Thomas.
The Life and Works of Thomas Paine.
New Rochelle, New York: Thomas Paine National Historical Association, 1925.
The Patriot's edition of the Life and Works of Thomas Paine. Octavo, ten volumes bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in five compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. In good condition.
Price: $5,500.00 Item Number: 138611
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"WE WENT SLIPPING SILENTLY ALONG, BETWEEN THE GREEN AND FRAGRANT BANKS, WITH A SENSE OF PLEASURE AND CONTENTMENT THAT GREW AND GREW": FIRST EDITION OF MARK TWAIN'S A TRAMP ABROAD
TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].
A Tramp Abroad.
Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1880.
First edition, first state of Twain's classic fictionalized account of his walking tour of central and southern Europe. Octavo, original publisher's pictorial gilt-stamped brown cloth, with 328 illustrations by Walter Francis Brown, True Williams, W.W. Denslow, and with four 'pictures made by the author of this book, without outside help' with the first state frontispiece captioned “Moses” and state A of the text-block. BAL 3386. In fine condition. Small bookplate and ownership name. Housed in a custom slipcase. An exceptional example of this American classic, easily the nicest we have seen.
Price: $5,000.00 Item Number: 136080
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First edition of Jawaharlal Nehru's The Discovery of India; Signed by Him
NEHRU, Jawaharlal.
The Discovery of India.
Calcutta: The Signet Press, 1947.
First Indian edition of one of the finest modern works on Indian history. Octavo, original cloth. Signed and dated by the author on the title page, "Jawaharlal Nehru June 1948." In good condition. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $4,800.00 Item Number: 132748