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Rare & Classic, American or English Literature Books for Sale Online
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First edition of Herman Melville's first and most popular book Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life During a Four Months' Residence in A Valley of the Marquesas
MELVILLE, Herman.
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months’ Residence in A Valley of the Marquesas.
New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.
First edition of Melville's first book and his most popular during his lifetime. Octavo, two volumes bound into one in the original cloth stamped in blind with gilt titles to the spine, frontispiece map, both half-titles and 6 pages of publisher's advertisements at rear. BAL 13653. In very good condition, bookplate to the front pastedown. Housed in a custom full clamshell slipcase.
Price: $6,500.00 Item Number: 144151
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The Heritage edition of The Book of The Thousand Nights and a Night
BURTON, Richard F.
The Book of The Thousand Nights and a Night: A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments Made and Annotated by Richard Burton.
New York: The Heritage Press, 1962.
The Heritage edition of Burton's monumental masterpiece. Octavo, six volumes bound into three, original publisher's half cloth over illustrated paper-covered boards, decorated with illustrations by Valenti Angelo. Each volume is near fine and housed in the publisher's original slipcase. Ownership stamp to the front free endpaper of each volume.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 145261
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The Nimmo edition of Richard Burton's The Thousand and One Nights: The Arabian Nights Entertainments
BURTON, Richard.
The Thousand and One Nights: The Arabian Nights Entertainments. With an Introduction Illustrative of the Religion, Manners, and Customs of the Mohammedans.
London: J. C. Nimmo and Bain, 1883.
The Nimmo edition of Burton’s monumental masterpiece. Octavo, four volumes bound in three quarter maroon crushed levant morocco over marbled boards by Bayntun with gilt titles and five raised bands to the spine, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, illustrated with nineteen original etchings by Lalauze. One of 150 numbered copies printed on laid paper with proof etchings on Whatman paper, this is number 104. In good condition.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 145314
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"Into the dark, into that silence that has no end": First Edition of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon
WELLS, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon.
London: George Newnes, Limited, 1901.
First English edition of Wells's classic work of science fiction. Octavo, original publisher's gilt-decorated blue cloth, illustrated with 12 plates by Claude Shepperson. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional presentation.
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 144193
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“Perhaps he knew, as I did not, that the Earth was made round so that we would not see too far down the road”: Out of Africa; inscribed by Karen Blixen
BLIXEN, Karen. [Isak Dinesen].
Out of Africa.
London: Putnam, 1948.
Later printing of the author’s classic memoir, recounting her seventeen years in Kenya. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Karen Blixen Je Responderai March 1957." While in Africa, Blixen took as her motto “Je Responderai,” “I will answer,” from the family crest of her lover, Denys Finch-Hatton. She explained: “I liked this old motto so much that I asked Denys, an earlier pioneer in African than myself – although all we settlers who had come out before the war looked upon ourselves as one family, a kind of Mayflower people – if I might…
Price: $11,000.00 Item Number: 144520
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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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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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Complete Set of The Macallan James Bond Set
The Macallan James Bond 60th Anniversary Release Decade I-VI [Full Set].
Through a behind the scenes exploration of the James Bond archives this release celebrates 007 and The Macallan as modern innovators linked by their Scottish heritage. The Macallan and James Bond are bound together by our shared Scottish heritage, innovative nature and the pursuit of excellence. We have created a remarkable collection comprising six limited edition bottles inspired by each of The Six Decades of Bond, telling the story of innovation over 60 years and the pioneering character attributes of James Bond and The Macallan. The packaging of each bottle features an original illustrative design and colour to denote the…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 145007
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First Edition of The Vassall Affair; Inscribed by Rebecca West to the co-editors of the Ladies' Home Journal
WEST, Rebecca.
The Vassall Affair.
London: Sunday Telegraph, 1963.
First edition of this work by the author of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. Octavo, original wrappers. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the half-title page, "My love to Bruce and Beatrice Rebecca West 1963." The recipients, 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…
Price: $950.00 Item Number: 145882
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Rare complete limited edition set of Richard Burton's The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night; in the original publisher's cloth binding
BURTON, Richard.
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night with Introduction and Explanatory Notes on the Manners and Customs of Moslem Men and a Terminal Essay Upon the History of The Nights.
Printed by the Burton Club for Private Subscribers Only, .
Limited edition of Burton's monumental masterpiece. Octavo, 17 volumes, original publisher's cloth with printed paper spine labels, top edge gilt, illustrated, tissue-guarded frontispiece to each volume. One of one thousand numbered sets, of which this is number 807. In very good condition. Underlining and marginal notes in pencil.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 144752
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T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom; elaborately bound in full morocco by Brentano's
LAWRENCE, T.E.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1965.
Finely bound edition of Lawrence’s classic account of his role in the Arab rebellion against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Octavo, bound in full morocco by Brentano's, frontispiece, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, double gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, raised bands, marbled endpapers, inner dentelles, all edges gilt. In near fine condition. An exceptional presentation.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 144546
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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: $12,500.00 Item Number: 110991
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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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“It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky": First Edition of E.B. White's Here is New York; Inscribed by Him
WHITE, E.B.
Here Is New York.
New York: The Curtis Publishing Company, 1949.
First edition of this classic meditation on the City of New York. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece. Presentation copy, signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "E.B. White Dec. 1949." Presented above by Katherine White, "Merry Christmas from the Whites." White was a writer and wife of the author. She was the fiction editor for The New Yorker magazine from 1925 to 1960. In 1977, William Shawn wrote, "More than any other editor except Harold Ross himself, Katharine White gave The New Yorker its shape, and set it on its course." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.…
Price: $7,200.00 Item Number: 74056
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The Innocents Abroad; Signed by Mark Twain
TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].
The Innocents Abroad, Or The New Pilgrims’ Progress.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1905.
Uniform edition of the author’s second book, one of the best-selling travel books of all-time. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, engraved frontispiece and photographic portrait with facsimile signature. Signed by the author "Truly yours Mark Twain" to the front pastedown. In very good condition, name to the front free endpaper. Housed in a custom full morocco clamshell box.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 144202
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"Into the dark, into that silence that has no end": First Edition of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon
WELLS, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon.
London: George Newnes, Limited, 1901.
First English edition of Wells's classic work of science fiction. Octavo, original publisher's gilt-decorated blue cloth, illustrated with 12 plates by Claude Shepperson. In very good condition. Small embossed bookplate to the front free endpaper.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 143735
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First Edition of James' Controversial Commentary on the social environment of turn-of-the-century-america: The American Scene
JAMES, Henry.
The American Scene.
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1907.
First American edition of James' account of his trip throughout the United States between 1904 and 1905. Octavo, original blue cloth, gilt tooling to the front panel and spine. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box. A nice example.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 80105
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First Editions of Rudyard Kipling's The First and Second Jungle Books
KIPLING, Rudyard.
The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book.
London: Macmillan, 1894-95.
First editions of both volumes of The Jungle Book. Octavo, two volumes, original blue cloth decorated and lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, engraved frontispiece with tissue guard present. Illustrated by J. L. Kipling, W.H. Drake and P. Frenzeny. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom slipcase. A sharp example.
Price: $6,500.00 Item Number: 143467
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"you see stretching from the spurs of Ritter a row of exceedingly sharp and slender spires": The Manuscript Edition of The Writings of John Muir; with an original autograph manuscript page from Muir's The Mountains of California
MUIR, John.
The Writings of John Muir: The Manuscript Edition.
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916-24.
The Manuscript Edition of The Writings of John Muir, one of 750 numbered sets produced with an original autograph manuscript page bound into the first volume. Octavo, 10 volumes in the publisher's deluxe three quarter crushed levant morocco over cloth boards with gilt titles and tulip stamping to the spine in five compartments within raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt with others untrimmed, ribbons bound in, illustrated with 69 photogravures, including colored frontispiece, 34 halftone plates of the author's sketches, 7 maps, and 2 plates of his drawings. One of 750 numbered sets with an original manuscript page bound…
Price: $10,000.00 Item Number: 143457
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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