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Rare & Classic, American or English Literature Books for Sale Online
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First British Edition of Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa; King Edward VIII's Copy with his ownership inscription
DINESEN, Isak [Karen Blixen] [King Edward VIII].
Out of Africa.
London: Putnam, 1937.
First British edition of the author's masterpiece, a lyrical meditation of the years she lived in Kenya, from the library of King Edward VIII. Octavo, original cloth. With numerous original photographs and newspaper clippings affixed to the front few pages. Originally from the collection of the author's brother Thomas Fasti Dinesen with two original black and white photographs of him hunting affixed to the verso of the front free endpaper and half-title page above which he has annotated, "My first lion April 6th 1922" and "Shot from boma April 11th 1922 The boma only five feet from the hill on…
Price: $14,000.00 Item Number: 110991
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“I turned to the animal world from the world of men; my heart was heavy with the tragedy of the night": First Modern Library Edition of Out of Africa; Signed by Isak Dinesen and Bernadine Kielty
DINESEN, Isak [Karen Blixen] .
Out of Africa.
New York: The Modern Library , 1952.
First Modern Library edition of the author's masterpiece. Octavo, original cloth, patterned endpapers. Boldly signed on the dedication page by Karen Blixen and Bernadine Kielty, who contributed the introduction. Introduction by Bernadine Kielty. From the library of Bruce and Beatrice Gould. Bruce Gould and Beatrice Blackmar Gould were co-editors of the Ladies' Home Journal for almost 27 years, from 1935 through 1962, including the golden years of the magazine. Time magazine wrote upon their 1962 retirement, the Goulds took an undistinguished journal in a field that "took the patronizing view that a woman's interests were largely confined to the home"…
Price: $4,800.00 Item Number: 144981
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“the feeling of being lost in time and geography with months and years hazily sparkling ahead in a prospect of inconjecturable magic": First Edition of Each Work in Patrick Leigh Fermor's Trilogy; Each Signed by Him
LEIGH FERMOR, Patrick.
A Time of Gifts; Between the Woods and the Water; The Broken Road.
London: John Murray, 1977-2013.
First editions of each volume in Leigh Fermor's trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water are signed by Patrick Leigh Fermor on the title page. The Broken Road, which was published posthumously is signed by editors Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper on the title page. Jacket artwork by John Craxton. Near fine in excellent dust jackets, name to the front free endpaper on the first volume. An exceptional set, uncommon signed.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 137399
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"Have gone to Patagonia": First Edition of the Authors Masterpiece In Patagonia; Signed by Bruce Chatwin
CHATWIN, Bruce.
In Patagonia.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1977.
First edition of author’s most well-known work and one of the great travel books of the last half of the twentieth century. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece map and 4 black and white photographic plates. Signed by Bruce Chatwin on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. A very nice example, rare signed.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 44025
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Large Paper Copy of John Muir's The Cruise of the Corwin; One of Five Hundred and Fifty Copies; In the Exceptionally Rare Dust Jacket
MUIR, John.
The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 In Search of De Long and the Jeannette.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917.
First edition, large paper copy, one of five hundred and fifty copies, this is number 260. Octavo, original cloth. Edited by William Frederic Badè. Illustrated with plates from photographs and from sketches by Muir. Fine in the rare original dust jacket with light rubbing and wear. Kimes 348; BAL 14775
Price: $3,000.00 Item Number: 97365
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First Edition of A Time To Keep Silence; Inscribed by Patrick Leigh Fermor
FERMOR, Patrick Leigh.
A Time To Keep Silence.
London: John Murray, 1957.
First edition of the author's third book, detailing his experiences in various monasteries. Octavo, original blue cloth. Illustrated by John Craxton. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the dedication page, "From [My Mother] AE. Leigh Fermor Fudge with thanks for safe transportation to Regency Sq. Brighton MCMLXIX." Fermor has crossed out the 'To' in the printed 'To my Mother' dedication and inscribed the book as a thank you from his mother Aeileen Leigh Fermor. Known to her family as Fudge, Fermor's mother moved in old age to a rest home near Brighton, Sussex, in the late 1960's where Fermor…
Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 135041
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"To know Indians was to take a delight in people as people; every encounter was an adventure": First Editions of each volume in Naipaul's India Trilogy; Each Signed by Him
NAIPAUL, V.S.
An Area of Darkness: An Experience of India; India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.
London: Andre Deutsch, 1964-1990.
First editions of each of the author's works in his acclaimed Indian Trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. Each volume is signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page. Each are fine in near fine to fine dust jackets.
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 90453
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First Edition of V.S. Naipaul's The Middle Passage: The Caribbean; Revisited; Signed by Him
NAIPAUL, V.S.
The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited.
London: Andre Deutsch, 1962.
First edition of this travel work, “which belongs in the same category as Lawrence’s books on Italy, Greene’s on West Africa and Pritchett’s on Spain” (New Statesman). Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers. Boldly signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page. Name on the front free endpaper and stamp on the half-title page, near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by William Belcher.
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 75489
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“I turned to the animal world from the world of men; my heart was heavy with the tragedy of the night": First Edition of Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa; Finely Bound the Harcourt Bindery
DINESEN, Isak [Karen Blixen] .
Out of Africa.
New York: Random House, 1938.
First American edition of the author's masterpiece, a lyrical meditation of the years she lived in Kenya. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation.
Price: $1,600.00 Item Number: 141302
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First edition of Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad
TWAIN, Mark .
The Innocents Abroad, Or The New Pilgrims’ Progress.
Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1869.
First edition, third state of the author's second book with "The History of the Bible advertisement on page 654. BAL 3316. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, with two hundred and thirty-four illustrations. From the library of Tiffany Thayer with his bookplate to the pastedown. American actor Tiffany Ellsworth Thayer wrote several novels, including the bestseller Thirteen Women. In a profile in Twentieth Century Authors, Thayer was described as "an atheist, an anarchist – in philosophy a Pyrrhonean – and…
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 127837
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First Edition of Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa; Finely Bound the Harcourt Bindery
DINESEN, Isak [Karen Blixen] .
Out of Africa.
New York: Random House, 1938.
First American edition of the author's masterpiece, a lyrical meditation of the years she lived in Kenya. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in four compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation.
Price: $1,400.00 Item Number: 142171
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From the Library of John Steinbeck
[STEINBECK, John].
Two Russian Books From the Library of John Steinbeck.
Moscow: Various, c. 1960.
Two volumes in Russian from the library of American literary master John Steinbeck. Quarto, two volumes including a book of early Russian Orthodox paintings with many in color and a folio of loose plates featuring artwork from the Hermitage Museum. From the library of John Steinbeck. In very good condition.
Price: $950.00 Item Number: 117588
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First editions of each volume in Jan Morris's Pax Britannica Trilogy
MORRIS, James. [Jan Morris].
Pax Britannica Trilogy: Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire, Heaven’s Command: An Imperial Progress, and Farewell the Trumpets.
London: Faber and Faber , 1968-1978.
First editions of each volume in the author's highly acclaimed Pax Britannica Trilogy: Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire (1968), Heaven's Command: An Imperial Progress (1973), and Farewell the Trumpets (1978). Octavo, three volumes, original publisher's cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated. Each volume is very good in a near fine dust jacket. Spotting to the top page edges of Pax Britannica and Farewell the Trumpets. Ownership name and numeric marking to the front free cartographic endpapers of Heaven's Command and Farewell the Trumpets.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 144603
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First edition of Cees Nooteboom's Roads to Santiago; Signed by Him
NOOTEBOOM, Cees.
Roads to Santiago: Detours and Riddles in the Lands and History of Spain.
New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1997.
First edition. Octavo, original boards. Signed and dated in the year of publication by Cees Nooteboom on the front free endpaper. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke.
Price: $200.00 Item Number: 5715