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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"Here we see the men who shaped the American experience and were shaped by it": First edition of Daniel J. Boorstin's The Americans: The National Experience; lengthily inscribed by him
BOORSTIN, Daniel J.
The Americans: The National Experience.
New York: Random House, 1965.
First edition of Boorstin's Francis Parkman Prize-winning book. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Dr. Frank Rufords with the admiration and warm regards of Daniel J. Boorstin April 9, 1966." Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Anita Karl.
Price: $350.00 Item Number: 95372
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First edition of Chin Yang Lee's The Flower Drum Song; inscribed by him and in the rare original dust jacket
LEE, Chin Yang.
The Flower Drum Song.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1957.
First edition of Chin Yang Lee's best known work which inspired both the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and 1961 Academy Award-winning film. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Susan Foster.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 96009
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"In nature nothing exists alone": First Edition of Rachel Carsons Silent Spring
CARSON, Rachel.
Silent Spring.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962.
First edition of Carson's landmark work. Octavo, original green cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Drawings by Lois and Louis Darling.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 144688
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Kathryn Hulme's The Nun's Story; inscribed by her
HULME, Kathryn.
The Nun’s Story.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1956.
First edition, early printing of Hulme's best-selling novel, basis for the classic film starring Audrey Hepburn. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Virginia Stanley with Best Wishes Kathryn Hulme." Very good in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Uncommon signed and inscribed.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 95304
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Rare Original Playbill from the 1952 Broadway Performance of Caesar and Cleopatra/Antony and Cleopatra; Signed by Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh
OLIVIER, Laurence and Vivien Leigh.
Original Caesar and Cleopatra/Antony and Cleopatra Signed Playbill.
New York: Laurence Olivier Productions Ltd, 1952.
Rare original playbill from the February 25th 1952 performance of the Caesar and Cleopatra/Antony and Cleopatra repertory at the Ziegfeld Theatre starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Octavo, illustrated with photographs and advertisements. Signed by Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh on the front panel and inscribed by Ronald Adam, "with happy memories and good wishes, Ronald Adam." A close friend of Olivier's, WWII RAF fighter pilot Ronald Forbes Adam made his stage acting debut at this very performance. In near fine condition.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 90375
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Signed Limited First Edition of One Hundred Years of Solitude; Signed by Gregory Rabassa, Alastair Reid and Rafael Ferrer
GARCIA MARQUEZ, Gabriel.
One Hundred Years of Solitude.
New York: Limited Editions Club, 1970.
Signed limited edition of Garcia Marquez's masterpiece. Octavo, original half calf over Japanese paper boards, gilt titles to the spine, illustrated with drawings and oil paintings reproduced in lithography. Boldly signed by Gregory Rabassa, Alastair Reid and Rafael Ferrer. With an original lithograph laid in. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Introduction by Alastair Reid. Fine in a fine slipcase. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,050.00 Item Number: 139620
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"There had been a heavy shower of rain, but the sun was already shining through the breaks in the clouds and throwing swiftly changing shadows on the streets, the houses, and the gardens of the city of Laurania": First edition of Churchill's only full-length work of fiction: Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania.
New York: Longmans, Green and Co, 1900.
First American edition (which precedes the British first) of Churchill's singular attempt at full-length fiction. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel. In near fine condition. Rare and desirable in this condition, Churchill's only work of literature.
Price: $1,100.00 Item Number: 129733
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"The greatest real thrill that life offers is to create, to construct, to develop something useful. Too often we fail to recognize and pay tribute to the creative spirit. It is that spirit that creates our jobs": First Edition of Adventures of a White-Collar Man; Inscribed by Alfred P. Sloan
SLOAN, Alfred P.
Adventures of a White-Collar Man.
New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1941.
First edition of the story of Alfred P. Sloan's rise to become General Motors executive. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece of Alfred P. Sloan. Boldly signed and dated by the author on the front free endpaper, "Alfred Sloan P. Sloan Jr New York July 22, 1964." Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some rubbing to the extremities. Written in collaboration with Boyden Sparkes. Introduction by Karl T. Compton. Scarce and desirable signed by Sloan.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 54084
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First Edition of Churchill's Ian Hamilton's March in the original cloth
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Ian Hamilton’s March.
London: Longman's, Green, and Co, 1900.
First edition of Churchill's fifth book, a continuation of his coverage of the Boer War which he began in London to Ladysmith via Pretoria. Octavo, original red cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, engraved frontispiece portrait of Ian Hamilton, folding map in color and 4 pages of advertisements for Churchill's works at rear. In near fine condition. A sharp example.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 129329
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First editions of Keynes A Treatise on Money
KEYNES, John Maynard [J.M.].
A Treatise On Money. In Two Volumes.
London: MacMillan & Company, 1930.
First editions of each volume of Keynes' classic work Octavo, two volumes, original cloth. Each volume is in near fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 133842
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"I coulda' had class. I coulda' been a contender!": First Edition of Waterfront; Lengthily Inscribed by Budd Schulberg in the year of publication
SCHULBERG, Budd.
Waterfront.
New York: Random House, 1955.
First edition of Schulberg's novel adapted from his Academy Award–winning screenplay. Octavo, original beige cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "For Kent and Marjorie McKinley. How salutary that you can live on this serene waterfront and still weep bitter tears for the turbulent waterfront described herein. Yours, cordially, Budd Schulberg. Sarasota. Oct. 23. 1955." The recipient, Kent Schuyler McKinley began his newspaper the Sarasota News in 1954 with the stated ambition of building a two-party system in Florida and promoting 'states' rights'. McKinley was a major figure in Florida's transition…
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 131837
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Eighteenth century example of Milton's masterpiece, Paradise Lost: A Poem in Twelve Books and Paradise Regain'd. To which is added Samson Agonistes: And Poems upon Several Occasions; Finely Bound
MILTON, John with Notes by Thomas Newton.
Paradise Lost: A Poem in Twelve Books and Paradise Regain’d. To which is added Samson Agonistes: And Poems upon Several Occasions.
London: Printed for J.F. and C. Rivington et al, 1790.
Eighteenth century example of Milton's masterpiece, Paradise Lost: A Poem in Twelve Books and Paradise Regain'd. Octavo, 4 volumes bound in full contemporary tree calf, gilt titles and tooling to the spine red morocco spine labels, gilt ruled, marbled endpapers, ribbons bound in, all edges speckled brown, engraved frontispiece to two volumes. In near fine condition. A desirable example.
Price: $1,400.00 Item Number: 95361
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Rare First edition, limited issue of T.E. Lawrence's The Mint; signed by his brother and the book's editor A.W. Lawrence
LAWRENCE, T.E. [A.W. Lawrence].
The Mint: A Day-Book of the R.A.F. Depot Between August and December 1922 with Later Notes by 352087 A/C Ross.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1955.
First edition, limited issue of Lawrence's semi-autobiographical account of his R.A.F. training days. Quarto, original quarter morocco, patterned endpapers, top edge gilt with others uncut. One of 2000 numbered copies, this is number 1039. Although not called for this example is signed by A.W. Lawrence on the limitation page (T.E. Lawrence's brother who edited and contributed to introductory notes to this volume). Near fine in the rare original slipcase which is in very good condition. Bookplate. Rare and desirable.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 117566
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“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread": First Edition of Native Son; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
WRIGHT, Richard .
Native Son.
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1940.
First edition, first issue with "A - P" on the copyright page. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six 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. An exceptional presentation.
Price: $1,600.00 Item Number: 145947
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First Edition, first issue of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses
STEVENSON, Robert Louis .
A Child’s Garden of Verses.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1885.
First edition, first issue of Stevenson's classic work. Small octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, top edges gilt. With publisher's logo in gilt at top left of front cover, presumed publisher's blind stamp on title page, gilt apostrophe on spine with curved tail, gilt "of" on spine in smaller type, without advertisements. In near fine condition, owners name to the front free endpaper. Housed in a contemporary custom clamshell box. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,750.00 Item Number: 123972
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"The real measure is the success or fall of the climber to triumph, not over a lifeless mountain, but over themself": First Edition of The Ascent of Everest; Signed by Edmund Hillary
HUNT, John; Edmund Hillary.
The Ascent of Everest.
London: Hodder & Houghton, 1953.
First edition of this account of the 1953 British conquest of Everest. Octavo, original blue cloth, with eight color photographic plates, 48 half-tone plates and many in-text illustrations after pen-and-ink sketches. Boldly signed by Edmund Hillary on the half-title page in a contemporary hand. Chapter 16 is Sir Edmund Hillary’s stirring account of the final part of the climb, and the appendices are by members of the expedition. Foreword by H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $1,750.00 Item Number: 144001
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First Edition of Churchill's Ian Hamilton's March; Finely Bound by the Harcourt Bindery
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Ian Hamilton’s March.
London: Longman's, Green, and Co, 1900.
First edition of Churchill's fifth book, a continuation of his coverage of the Boer War which he began in London to Ladysmith via Pretoria. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt signature to the front panel, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt,engraved frontispiece portrait of Ian Hamilton, folding map in color and 4 pages of advertisements for Churchill's works at rear. In fine condition.
Price: $1,800.00 Item Number: 144787
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Finely Bound Edition of Rudyard Kipling's The First and Second Jungle Books; Bound by Bayntun Bindery with a Fore-Edge Painting
KIPLING, Rudyard.
The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. [Fore-edge Painting].
London: Macmillan, 1978.
Finely bound edition of both volumes of The Jungle Book, with an exceptional fore-edge painting. Octavo, bound in full morocco by Bayntun Bindery, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, all edges gilt, engraved frontispiece with tissue guard present. Illustrated by J. L. Kipling, W.H. Drake and P. Frenzeny. In near fine condition. Rare and desirable.
Price: $1,800.00 Item Number: 139448