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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"High School introduced at young age (15 & 16) to Emily Dickinson, who is probably greatest American poet I realize now": Rare Graduate Student Questionnaire Completed and Signed by Jack Kerouac with a lengthy inscription
KEROUAC, Jack.
Jack Kerouac Autograph Questionnaire Signed.
1960.
Rare mimeographed questionnaire sent by a graduate student of City College of New York to Jack Kerouac; completed and signed twice by him with a lengthy inscription in conclusion. Two pages, partially printed the questionnaire begins with a typed letter signed by James A. Sherlock politely requesting Kerouac's response which reads in part: "Dear Mr. Kerouac, I am a graduate student of City College of New York, working upon an original research project aimed at uncovering certain educational factors in the lives of successful writers. As you undoubtedly know, there always has been considerable interest in analyzing the psychological make-up…
Price: $38,000.00 Item Number: 117950
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Rare First Edition of The Education of Henry Adams; One of only 40 Examples
ADAMS, Henry.
The Education of Henry Adams.
Washington: Privately Printed, 1907.
Rare first edition, one of only 40 copies printed of this classic work. The text of Education was not made commercially available until 1918, following the author's death, when it was published by Houghton Mifflin. In 1919 it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Modern Library named it as the best non-fiction book published in English since 1900. BAL 32; Reese Narratives of Personal Experience 2 ("certainly one of the great American biographies"). In near fine condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box.
Price: $25,000.00 Item Number: 140067
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First edition of Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions; From the collection of young Ernest Hemingway with his ownership inscriptions to each volume
HARRIS, Frank. [Ernest Hemingway].
Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions.
New York: Printed and Published by the Author, 1918.
First edition of Shaw's appreciation of Wilde. Octavo, original publisher's cloth. From the library of young Ernest Hemingway with his ownership name and address to the pastedown of each volume, "Ernest Hemingway Windemere Walloon Lake Michigan" and additional ownership name to volume one, "Hemingway." Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, an affluent suburb just west of Chicago about which resident Frank Lloyd Wright said, "So many churches for so many good people to go to." He was the second child of Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a physician, and Grace Hall Hemingway, a musician. Each summer the…
Price: $25,000.00 Item Number: 141864
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“The deeper the Self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux": First Edition of Autobiography of A Yogi; Inscribed by Yogananda Paramhansa
YOGANANDA, Paramhansa.
Autobiography of a Yogi.
New York: The Philosophical Library, 1946.
First edition of one of the most important spiritual books of the twentieth century, Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece. Signed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "With blessings Paramhansa Yogananda Dec 10, 46. LA." Preface by Walter Evans-Wentz. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Exceptionally rare signed and in the original dust jacket.
Price: $18,000.00 Item Number: 144018
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"the most celebrated biography in the English language": Rare First Edition of Boswell's The Life of Johnson
BOSWELL, James.
The Life of Johnson.
London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in The Poultry, 1791.
First edition, first issue of both volumes of the most celebrated biography in the English language, which was published on May 16, 1791 in a print run of only 1,750 copies. Quarto, bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Frontispiece portrait of Samuel Johnson, engraved by J. Heath after the Sir Joshua Reynolds (1756) painting. Volume one is the first state with the word “give” reading on page 135, line 10. First state of volume two, with two engraved illustrations, “The Round Robin” at p. 92, and the “facsimiles” of Dr. Johnson's handwriting on p. 588. In near fine condition with light toning,…
Price: $17,500.00 Item Number: 80005
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"the most celebrated biography in the English language": Rare First Edition, First Issue of Boswell's The Life of Johnson
BOSWELL, James.
The Life of Johnson.
London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in The Poultry, 1791.
First edition, first issue of both volumes of the most celebrated biography in the English language, which was published on May 16, 1791 in a print run of only 1,750 copies. Quarto, bound in full morocco by Birdsall, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, raised bands, inner dentelles, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait of Samuel Johnson, engraved by J. Heath after the Sir Joshua Reynolds (1756) painting. Housed in a custom clamshell box. In fine condition. An excellent example of this landmark work.
Price: $16,500.00 Item Number: 120374
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The Golden Book of Tagore: A Homage to Rabindranath Tagore from India and the World in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday; signed and dated by Tagore
TAGORE, Rabindranath. Edited by Ramananda Chatterjee.
The Golden Book of Tagore: A Homage to Rabindranath Tagore from India and the World in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday.
Calcutta: The Golden Book Committee, 1931.
First subscribers' edition of The Golden Book of Tagore, the elaborate privately produced tribute to the famed poet; signed by Tagore and from the library of Raja Shamraj Rajwant Bahadur. Quarto, original cloth, lettered tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece portrait of Tagore by Martin Vos signed and dated by Tagore beneath his image, "Rabindranath Tagore Dec. 19, 1933," 29 additional engravings including 11 tipped-in in full color with lettered tissue guards. From the famed library of Raja Shamraj Rajwant Bahadur with his ownership initials "S.R.A.S" and library notes to the pastedown noting that the book was "Received from the Golden Book of…
Price: $15,000.00 Item Number: 106982
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First Edition of Zora Neale Hurston's Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica; Signed by Her
HURSTON, Zora Neale.
Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica.
Philadelphia : J.P. Lippincott Company, 1938.
First edition of Hurston's personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaica. Octavo, original cloth, pictorial endpapers, 26 illustrations. Boldly signed by Zora Neale Hurston. In very good condition. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $15,000.00 Item Number: 142477
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"the most celebrated biography in the English language": Rare First Edition, First Issue of Boswell's The Life of Johnson
BOSWELL, James.
The Life of Johnson.
London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in The Poultry, 1791.
First edition, first issue of both volumes of the most celebrated biography in the English language, which was published on May 16, 1791 in a print run of only 1,750 copies. Quarto, bound in full calf, gilt titles to the spine, morocco spine labels. Frontispiece portrait of Samuel Johnson, engraved by J. Heath after the Sir Joshua Reynolds (1756) painting. In very good condition. An excellent example of this landmark work.
Price: $15,000.00 Item Number: 124524
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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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First edition of C.S. Lewis' The Personal Heresy: A Controversy; inscribed by him
LEWIS, C.S. and E.M.W. Tillyard.
The Personal Heresy: A Controversy.
London: Oxford University Press, 1939.
First edition of this collection of arguments on the subjective and objective positions of writings, with C.S. Lewis arguing the latter. Presentation copy, inscribed by C.S. Lewis on the front free endpaper, "R.W. Fletcher from C.S.L. March 20th 1940." In near fine condition. Exceedingly rare signed and inscribed by Lewis.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 132284
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“I HOPE I WILL BE ABLE TO CONFIDE EVERYTHING TO YOU, AS I HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO CONFIDE IN ANYONE”: FIRST EDITION OF ANNE FRANK’S DIARY, HET ACHTERHUIS; In the exceptionally rare dust jacket
FRANK, Anne .
Het Achterhuis: Dagboakbrieven van 12 Jun 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944. Met een woord vooraf door Annie Romein-Verschoor. [The Diary of Anne Frank].
Amsterdam: Contact, 1947.
First edition of the diary of Anne Frank in the original Dutch. Small octavo, original publisher's white and red paper-covered boards, illustrated with 2 photographic reproductions of the interior of the house, 1 floor plan, and 2 facsimiles from the diary. Introduction by Annie Romein-Verschoor. Very good in the dust jacket which is in very good condition with some professional restoration and tape repairs to the verso, with the second issue in blue. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Exceedingly rare and desirable, especially in the original dust jacket.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 96773
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"Even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilization": First Edition of Primo Levis If This Is A Man; Signed by Him
LEVI, Primo.
If This Is A Man.
New York: The Orion Press, 1959.
First edition of Levi’s masterpiece, which was later published as Survival In Auschwitz. Octavo, original blue cloth. Signed by Primo Levi on the title page. Fine in a very good dust jacket with a small chip to the rear panel. Jacket design by Wladislaw Finne. Translated by Stuart Woolf. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Extremely rare signed.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 4541
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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, First Issue of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin with a first edition of A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin; With a signed Card and Cart-de-visite
STOWE, Harriet Beecher.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly and A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Boston and Cleveland: John P. Jewett and Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, 1852.
First edition, first issue of the author's classic work. Octavo, original cloth, volume with title vignettes and six wood-engravings. In very good condition. With a rare carte-de-visite and note card signed "truly yours HB Stowe." Comes with a first edition of Stowe's A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1853. Housed in a custom case.
Price: $11,000.00 Item Number: 112652
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"So the long collaboration between author and artist is ended; and it ends inevitable in an atmosphere of regret": Complete Set of Charles Dickens by the Nonesuch Press
DICKENS, Charles.
Complete Set of the Works of Charles Dickens Nonesuch Press.
London: The Nonesuch Press, 1937-38.
The complete set of Charles Dickens by the Nonesuch Press, one of only 877 sets. Octavo, 24 volumes, original cloth, woodcut illustrations, original variously colored buckram by Leighton Straker. Edited by Arthur Waugh, Hugh Walpole, Thomas Hatton and Walter Dexter. In near fine condition. A very sharp set.
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 140200
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"Poet, Singer, Great heart, may our god bless your name, and the womb that held you, and the breasts that gave you milk. and may god forgive us all"; First Edition of Kahlil Gibran's Jesus The Son of Man; Warmly Inscribed by him
GIBRAN, Kahlil.
Jesus: The Son of Man.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928.
First edition of Kahlil Gibran's masterful retelling of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. Octavo, original cloth, illustrations by the author. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "For Roy and D. from Howard and Bill With the blessing upon you four, and with the gratitude of Kahlil Gibran 1928." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable inscribed and in the original dust jacket.
Price: $9,200.00 Item Number: 89433
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“ALL THAT HITCHHIKIN. ALL THAT RAILROADIN. ALL THAT COMIN BACK TO AMERICA”: FIRST EDITION OF JACK KEROUAC’S LONESOME TRAVELER; WITH A RARE AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED BY JACK KEROUAC LAID IN
KEROUAC, Jack.
Lonesome Traveler.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1960.
First edition of Kerouac's deeply personal collection of autobiographical vignettes. Octavo, original half-cloth, illustrated with drawings by Larry Rivers. Laid in is an autograph letter signed by Kerouac which reads, "Dec. 3 1962 Dear Louis, Voila, contracts signed - Glad to hear too of Deutsch London reprint contract which means I can pay for my Sins - Jack Kerouac Tell Sterling I see him Dec. 29 or 28 & You too J." Here, Kerouac refers to his novel Big Sur, first published in September of 1962 by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, and subsequently by Deutsch in London. He also refers…
Price: $8,800.00 Item Number: 117094
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"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often": Winston Churchills Collected Works; 38 Volumes In Full Vellum In the Original Slipcases
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The First Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill: Centenary Limited Edition.
London: Library of Imperial History In association With Charles Scribner's Sons and The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 1973-76.
Centenary limited edition of Churchill’s complete Works, one of only 3000 sets produced, with the additional four volumes usually not present. Octavo, original full vellum, 38 volumes, stamped with the Churchill arms, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, original dark green slipcases, also gilt-stamped with the Churchill coat of arms. In near fine to fine condition in the original slipcases. An exceptional set.
Price: $8,800.00 Item Number: 140050
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"The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me": First Edition of Elie Wiesels Night; Signed by Him
WIESEL, Elie.
Night.
London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1960.
First English edition of Nobel laureate Wiesel’s masterpiece, which precedes the first American edition. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Elie Wiesel on the front free endpaper. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Jacket design by Cowan. Foreword by Francois Mauriac. Translated from the French by Stella Rodway. This is the nicest example we have seen of this title.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 142320