Literature
Rare & Classic, American or English Literature Books for Sale Online
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First edition of Isaac Asimov's How Did We Find Out About Life in the Deep Sea?
ASIMOV, Isaac.
How Did We Find Out About Life in the Deep Sea?
New York: Walker and Company, 1982.
First edition of this work by the award-winning author. Octavo, original boards, illustrated by David Wool. Near fine in a very good clipped dust jacket. Jacket illustration by David Wool.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 142815
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First Edition of John McPhee's Annals of the Former World
MCPHEE, John.
Annals of the Former World.
New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1998.
First edition of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, Original black cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Maps by Allan Cartography. Endpapers designed by Tom Funk. Jacket art by John Clerk.
Price: $225.00 Item Number: 145124
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First Edition of The Poetic Species; Signed by Edward O. Wilson and Robert Haas
WILSON, Edward O. & Robert Haas.
The Poetic Species: A Conversation With Edward O. Wilson and Robert Haas.
New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2014.
First edition of this "wonderful read in its entirety, short yet infinitely simulating" (Maria Popova, Brain Pickings). Small octavo, original half cloth. Signed by both Robert Haas and Edward O. Wilson (who has drawn a picture of an ant) on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
Price: $350.00 Item Number: 3300
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First Edition of How Did We Find Out About Germs; Inscribed by Isaac Asimov
ASIMOV, Isaac.
How Did We Find Out About Germs.
New York: Walker and Company, 1974.
First edition of this work by the award-winning writer. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author opposite the title page, "For Allen and Andrew Isaac Asimov." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Illustrated by David Wood.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 129739
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Margaret Mead's From the South Seas; Inscribed by Her
MEAD, Margaret.
From the South Seas: Studies of Adolescence and Sex in Primitive Societies.
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1939.
First edition, third printing of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Hardin S. Rarny Margaret Mead May 6, 1946." Near fine in a very good dust jacket, bookplate to the front pastedown.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 143499
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First Edition of Mary McCarthy's Birds of America; Inscribed by the author
MCCARTHY, Mary.
Birds of America.
New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1971.
First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Harlan Umansky my thanks, Mary McCarthy November 5, 1984." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket drawing by Peter Vos. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph of Mary McCarthy by Jack Nisberg. An exceptional example.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 142315
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Large Paper Copy of John Muir's The Cruise of the Corwin; One of Five Hundred and Fifty Copies
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 272. Octavo, original cloth. Edited by William Frederic Badè. Illustrated with plates from photographs and from sketches by Muir. In near fine condition. Kimes 348; BAL 14775
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 120838
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First edition of Isaac Asimov's Satellites in Space; signed by him
ASIMOV, Isaac.
Satellites in Outer Space.
New York: Random House, 1960.
First edition of Asimov's book on satellites. Quarto, original cloth, pictorial endpapers, illustrated by John Polgreen. Signed by Isaac Asimov on the title page. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 142878
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"Wallace embraces the incompatibility of mathematics and prose and makes art from it": First Edition of Everything And More; Signed by David Foster Wallace
WALLACE, David Foster.
Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003.
First edition of this work which examines the history of infinity, focusing primarily on the work of Georg Cantor, the 19th-century German mathematician who created set theory. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by David Foster Wallace on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Base Art Co./Terry Rohrbach.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 144245
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“I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck": Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek; Signed by Her
DILLARD, Annie.
Pilgrim At Tinker Creek.
New York: Harper's Magazine Press, 1974.
First edition, early printing of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original brown cloth, pictorial endpapers. Boldly signed by Annie Dillard on the title page. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Sheila Berger. Line drawing by Annie Dillard.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 134771
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Exceptionally rare self-published printing of Garabed Pashayan Khan's Occupational Medicine in Schools for Pupils and Teachers
PASHAYAN KHAN, Garabed.
Occupational Medicine in Schools for Pupils and Teachers.
Alexandria, Egypt: Published by the author, 1906.
Rare work on occupational medicine self-published by Armenian physician and scholar Garabed Pashayan Khan. Octavo, original half cloth over paper-covered boards, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of the author, illustrated, text in Armenian. This rare self-published text is primarily concerned with the health and wellbeing of students and teachers in academic buildings, addressing hygiene, posture, study habits, transmissible and contagious diseases, remedies and cures. In very good condition. Extremely uncommon with no holdings located by OCLC.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 141034
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First Edition of Pat Frank's Classic Science Fiction Novel Mr. Adam; Inscribed by Him
FRANK, Pat.
Mr. Adam.
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1946.
First edition of the author's classic first novel, which has went on to sell over two million copies. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: "For Cynthia - With best regards, Pat Frank, Tarrytown, '47". Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Uncommon signed and inscribed.
Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 122192
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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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Signed Limited First Edition of William Beebe's Galapagos: World's End
BEEBE, William.
Galapagos: World’s End.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924.
Signed limited first edition, one of 100 numbered copies, this is number 54, boldly signed by William Beebe, the father of modern ecology. Quarto, original cloth, illustrated endpapers. Illustrated with 24 tipped-in color plates by Isabel Cooper, and 83 photographs mostly by John Tee-Van. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $3,000.00 Item Number: 84953
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Scarce first edition of Maxwell Knight's Talking Birds; illustrated and signed by David Cornwell aka John le Carre
KNIGHT, Maxwell. Illustrated by David Corwell [John le Carre].
Talking Birds.
London: G. Belll & Sons, Ltd, 1961.
First edition of Knight's work on the varying capabilities of talking birds; illustrated by David Cornwell (John le Carre) and one of his earliest appearances in print. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated by David Corwell. Signed by him on the title page with both his real and pen name, "David Cornwell x x a.k.a. John le Carre." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Alec Brooksbank. Small ownership name. Scarce signed by Le Carre with not other signed copies traced in auction records.
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 131508
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"The Best Science Book Ever"; First Edition Of The Periodic Table, Signed by Primo Levi
LEVI, Primo; Translated by Raymond Rosenthal.
The Periodic Table.
New York: Schocken Books, 1984.
First edition of this classic collection of short stories by Primo Levi. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Primo Levi on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by John Clarke. Translated by Raymond Rosenthal. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Books signed by Levi are rare.
Price: $4,500.00 Item Number: 3619
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"Keep close to Nature’s heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean": Finely Bound Set of The Manuscript Edition of The Writings of John Muir; With Eight Original Photographs
MUIR, John.
The Writings of John Muir: The Manuscript Edition.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916-24.
The Manuscript edition of The Writings of John Muir. One of only 750 numbered copies, this is number 461. Octavo, 10 volumes, bound in the original green with morocco spine labels with gilt titles, containing the original gelatin silver photographic frontispiece to each volume with tissue guards present, illustrated with numerous photogravure and halftone plates; folding map in volume two. Edited by William Frederic Badè. The scenes depicted in the inserted photographs are: The House of John Muir, Martinez, California; The Cathedral Spires, Yosemite National Park; Eucalyptus on Muir's Ranch, Martinez, California; An Orange Tree in Front of Muir's House,…
Price: $6,200.00 Item Number: 96258
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“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man": Rare first edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
STEVENSON, Robert Louis.
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886.
First edition of Stevenson's classic gothic novella which preceded the first English edition by four days and was published on January 5, 1886 in an edition of 1,250 copies in cloth and 3,000 copies in paper wrappers. Beinecke 347. Octavo, original olive green cloth lettered in gilt, half-title and 2 pages of Scribner's advertisements at end. In near fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $6,500.00 Item Number: 139554