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Rare & Classic, American or English Literature Books for Sale Online
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"You are one of the most special people to me, and you have meant so much to my life": Exceptionally Rare collection of original Harper Lee drawings, a painting, and letters with a first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird in the scarce first issue dust jacket; inscribed by Lee to close colleague and friend Charles Weldon Carruth
LEE, Harper.
To Kill a Mockingbird. Original Harper Lee Drawing, Painting and Letter Collection.
Philadelphia & New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1960.
First edition of perhaps the most important American novel of the 20th century, inscribed by Harper Lee to a close college friend and with a scarce archive of drawings and letters exchanged between the two. Octavo, original green cloth backed brown boards, titles to spine in gilt. Association copy, inscribed by Harper Lee to close University of Alabama college friend, Charles Weldon Carruth, "To my dear friend Charles, with love always — Harper Lee." In the fall term of 1945, Lee and Carruth both enrolled in a Shakespeare course taught by one of the University of Alabama's most famous faculty…
Price: $100,000.00 Item Number: 1115260
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Rare large format photograph of American cultural icon James Dean; inscribed by him to his photographer Sanford H. Roth
DEAN, James. [Sanford H. Roth].
James Dean Signed Photograph.
Rare large format Sanford H. Roth photograph of cultural icon James dean playing table tennis. Inscribed beneath his image, "To Mr. Roth best wishes James Dean." The recipient, renowned American photographer Sanford H. Roth, was a close friend of Dean's and photographed him frequently. Dean visited Roth's home in California frequently and treated him and his wife Beulah almost as adoptive parents. Poignantly, Roth was in Dean's Ford station wagon driving behind Dean's new Porsche Spyder on the way to the Salinas Road Races on September 30, 1955, when Dean was killed in a late afternoon traffic accident. Roth took…
Price: $35,000.00 Item Number: 124398
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"unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!": Rare Mimeographed Sheets of The Howl Produced for its First Reading. Preceding the First Edition and signed by Ginsberg and five others present at the Six Gallery in October of 1955
GINSBERG, Allen.
Howl, for Carl Solomon. Mimeographed for the Six Gallery Reading.
Two sheets from an exceptionally rare privately produced mimeographed printing of Howl, preceding the first edition. One of 25 copies printed on rectos only in purple ink typed by the poet Robert Creeley and printed by Marthe Rexroth at S.F State, where she was a secretary, for the famous Six Gallery reading (also known as Six Angels in the Same Performance). This event, which took place at 3110 Fillmore Street in San Francisco on October 7, 1955 was the first important public poetry exhibition heralding the West Coast literary revolution of the Beat Generation. At the reading, five talented young poets—Allen…
Price: $35,000.00 Item Number: 40140
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Rare Original Goldfinger Dust Jacket Design Printing Proof; signed by Dust Jacket Designer Richard Chopping and from his personal collection
CHOPPING, Richard. [Ian Fleming].
Goldfinger. [Original Richard Chopping Signed Printing Proof].
Rare original progressive color printing proof for the iconic dust jacket design of Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, designed by Richard Chopping. Chopping's copy, retained for his personal collection and signed by him in the lower right corner. One page on archival printer's paper, this is the magenta ink progressive plate proof (printed using one of four plates combined to create the final full color image). The seventh novel in Fleming's bond series, Goldfinger was the second book with a dust jacket designed by Richard Chopping, the first being From Russia, With Love. Chopping would design all subsequent James Bond dust jackets…
Price: $25,000.00 Item Number: 124559
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"Members of the general public, such as myself, have a right to form and express their own opinions on the relationship between science and society": Rare typed letter signed by George Orwell regarding his views on science, scientists, and society
ORWELL, George.
George Orwell Typed Letter Signed.
January 9, 1946.
Rare typed letter signed by the acclaimed author of Nineteen-Eighty Four, George Orwell; part of a long correspondence with scientist Edward R. Ward regarding his views on science. One page, typescript, the letter reads: '9th January 1946 Dear Mr. Ward, Your letter has been passed on to be by "Tribune". I am sorry that in their correspondence columns I should have answered what was really an abridgement of your original letter; but I had not seen the latter, and I did not know that what was printed was a shortened version. I cannot enter into what might become a prolonged…
Price: $25,000.00 Item Number: 133445
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Rare Original Goldfinger Dust Jacket Design Printing Proof; signed by Dust Jacket Designer Richard Chopping and from his personal collection
CHOPPING, Richard. [Ian Fleming].
Goldfinger. [Original Richard Chopping Signed Printing Proof].
Rare original progressive color printing proof for the iconic dust jacket design of Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, designed by Richard Chopping. Chopping's copy, retained for his personal collection and signed by him in the lower right corner. One page on archival printer's paper, this is a yellow and magenta ink progressive plate proof (printed using two of four plates combined to create the final full color image). The seventh novel in Fleming's bond series, Goldfinger was the second book with a dust jacket designed by Richard Chopping, the first being From Russia, With Love. Chopping would design all subsequent James Bond…
Price: $25,000.00 Item Number: 124288
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Rare Original Goldfinger Dust Jacket Design Printing Proof; signed by Dust Jacket Designer Richard Chopping and from his personal collection
CHOPPING, Richard. [Ian Fleming].
Goldfinger. [Original Richard Chopping Signed Printing Proof].
Rare original progressive color printing proof for the iconic dust jacket design of Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, designed by Richard Chopping. Chopping's copy, retained for his personal collection and signed by him in the lower right corner. One page on archival printer's paper, this is the black ink progressive plate proof (one of four plates combined to create the final full color image). The seventh novel in Fleming's bond series, Goldfinger was the second book with a dust jacket designed by Richard Chopping, the first being From Russia, With Love. Chopping would design all subsequent James Bond dust jackets (with the…
Price: $18,000.00 Item Number: 124391
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Rare autograph letter signed by Herman Melville to his publishers Harper & Brothers
MELVILLE, Herman.
Herman Melville Autograph Letter Signed.
Rare autograph letter signed and entirely in the hand of Herman Melville to his publisher, Harper & Brothers. One page, the letter reads in full, "Harper & Brothers New York. Pittsfield Oct. 8th Gentlemen: Herewith is an article, which, if it suit, will you, according to what you have said to me, send me the money for, without further trouble to yourselves or me. Very truly yours H. Melville." The letter likely dates from 1885 when Melville's financial circumstances were becoming dire. The article he references, The Apple-Tree Table, first appeared in serial form in 1850 and was later published…
Price: $17,500.00 Item Number: 139021
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"What threatens us today is fear": The original typed manuscript of Faulkner's important public address to his daughter Jill's graduating class at University High School in Oxford Mississippi; with autograph corrections and deletions in his hand
FAULKNER, William.
Address to the Graduating Class of 1951 of University High School, Oxford, Mississippi.
The original typed manuscript of Faulkner's important public address to his daughter Jill's graduating class at University High School in Oxford Mississippi with autograph corrections and deletions in his hand. Three pages, carbon typescript, the text contains 8 strikethroughs and 6 autograph corrections in Faulkner's hand in ink. In this important public address, Faulkner clarifies for a young audience the terms for survival and optimism in the Cold War era, ideas which he first expressed publicly five months earlier in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. In the spring of 1951, Faulkner was in Paris, New York, and Lexington, Kentucky, where…
Price: $17,500.00 Item Number: 135874
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William Faulkner's Officer of the Légion d'Honneur
[FAULKNER, William].
Officer of the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur Diploma Awarded to William Faulkner.
Republique Francaise, 1949.
Partially printed diploma awarded to William Faulkner as an Officer of the Légion d'Honneur, conferred on him be the French government five months after he accepted the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. One page, partially printed and completed in a calligraphic hand, the diploma is signed by three French officials with an embossed seal. In near fine condition. Matted. The entire piece measures 15 inches by 18.5 inches. From the collection of William Faulkner.
Price: $12,000.00 Item Number: 139733
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"I own one copy of Three Stories and Ten Poems and would be very happy if it became valuable": Ernest Hemingway Autograph Letter Excerpt
HEMINGWAY, Ernest .
Ernest Hemingway Autograph Letter Excerpt Signed.
Chicago: The Walden Book Shop, 1930.
Rare letter excerpt boldly signed by Ernest Hemingway. Published by the Walden Book Shop in 1930, the introduction begins "The following notes are excerpts from a Hemingway letter in answer to questions concerning editions and numbers of copies." It goes on to provide a long italicized quote from the letter in which Hemingway describes the printings of his early books from Three Stories and Ten Poems through the forthcoming Men Without Women (1927). The quote reads, in part: "...The books have been Three Stories and Ten Poems, Contact Press, 1953-350 copies out of print, In Our Times, Three Mountains Press,…
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 95977
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Rare silver gelatin print of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre; inscribed by him
SARTRE, Jean-Paul .
Jean-Paul Sartre Signed Photograph.
Rare silver gelatin print of French philosopher, novelist, and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre. Inscribed by him in the upper left corner of the image, "A M. Satoru Yamano, sympatheque hommage, Jean-Paul Sartre." In near fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 14 inches by 11 inches.
Price: $9,500.00 Item Number: 123541
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"Oh, my heart, what a muddle!": Autograph Manuscript Page From Louisa May Alcott
ALCOTT, Louisa May.
Louisa May Alcott Manuscript Leaf.
Autograph manuscript page from Louisa May Alcott's Jack and Jill, Chapter VIII, page 129. One page. The manuscript page reads, “up no capers with that child! The idea of a hot bath in the middle of the day, and him full of dinner, and croupy into the bargain! Wet a corner of a towel at the kettle-spout and polish him off if you like, but you won’t risk his life in no bath-tubs this cold day.' Miss Bat’s word was law in some things, so Molly had to submit, and took Boo away, saying, loftily, as she left the room,…
Price: $7,200.00 Item Number: 65051
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Rare Signed Carte-de-Visite of Ralph Waldo Emerson
EMERSON, Ralph Waldo.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Signed Carte-de-Visite.
Carte-de-visite of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Boldly signed by Ralph Waldo Emerson below the photograph. In near fine condition. Matted and framed. Rare.
Price: $6,800.00 Item Number: 67039
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Photograph of "the father of American literature" Mark Twain; With an autographed note
TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].
Mark Twain Autograph with Photograph.
Original photograph of Mark Twain by A. F. Bradley, signed with a note, "Yrs truly Samuel L. Clemens Mark Twain", framed beneath original photograph. The silver gelatin print is a seated portrait of Twain, stamped "Pach Bros. NY" lower right. Double matted and framed. The entire piece measures
Price: $6,500.00 Item Number: 132452
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"Don't Stop Me Now'Cause I'm having a good time, having a good time": Original Record of Queen's Jazz, Signed by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon
MERCURY, Freddie. Brian May.
Queen. Jazz Signed Album.
1989.
Original record, boldly signed by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon on the front panel. In fine condition. Framed. The entire piece measures 18 inches by 18 inches. Rare and desirable signed by each member of Queen.
Price: $6,000.00 Item Number: 122488
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“I'M WILD ABOUT YOU, GAL, YOU OUGHT TO BE A FOOL ABOUT ME”: Bob Dylan's Original Album Modern Times; Signed by Him
DYLAN, Bob.
Bob Dylan: Modern Times.
New York: BMG & Columbia Records, 2006.
First pressing of this album by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Quarto, 2 original vinyl records. Boldly signed by Bob Dylan on the front panel. In fine condition. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $5,500.00 Item Number: 122328
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Rare original gelatin silver print of Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann; inscribed by him
MANN, Thomas.
Thomas Mann Signed Photograph.
Rare silver gelatin print signed by Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann. Inscribed by him on the lower portion of the photograph, "Mr. Satoru Yamano, with all my good wishes, Thomas Mann." Double matted and framed. In near fine condition. The entire piece measures 11.5 inches by 10 inches.
Price: $4,800.00 Item Number: 123909
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"It is a strange thing to hear one's name from across all these waters so beautifully set to song": AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED FROM ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON TO HIS BIOGRAPHER, LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY
STEVENSON, Robert Louis.
Robert Louis Stevenson Autographed Signed Letter.
One page autographed signed letter from Robert Louis Stevenson to his biographer, Louise Imogen Guiney. Matted and framed with a portrait of Stevenson. The letter reads, "Dear Miss Guiney I have waited long upon the muse, for I thought your song should be answered in kind. But I must wait no longer, and the verses refuse to come. Let me, then, thank you in prose for your book which I have read with pleasure, and for your poem which gave me genuine pride. It is a strange thing to hear one's name from across all these waters so beautifully set…
Price: $4,800.00 Item Number: 43055
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"In the sea caves, for whole days I gazed into your eyes" One page autographed handwritten poem completely in the hand of Nobel Prize-Winning Poet George Seferis
SEFERIS, George.
In The Sea Caves. George Seferis Poem.
One page signed handwritten poem completely in the hand of George Seferis. Translated from the Greek: "In the sea caves, there's a thirst there's a love, there's an ecstasy, all hard like shells, you can hold them in your palm. In the sea caves, for whole days I gazed into your eyes, and I didn't know you nor did you know me. George Seferis." Original manuscripts from Seferis are rare. Double matted and framed. The entire piece measures 12 inches by 20 inches.
Price: $3,800.00 Item Number: 3776