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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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"The ship rushed on, nearer and nearer Earth": First Edition of Philip K. Dick's Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch; Signed by Him
DICK, Philip K.
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1965.
First edition of Dick's classic novel, which was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Philip K. Dick. Fine in near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Tom Chibbaro. Exceptionally rare signed.
Price: $22,000.00 Item Number: 101458
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First Edition of Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said; Signed by Him
DICK, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1974.
First edition of this novel which won the John W. Campbell Award and nominations for the Hugo and Nebula. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Philip K. Dick on the front free endpaper. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear. Jacket design by One Plus One Studio. An exceptional example, uncommon and desirable signed.
Price: $18,500.00 Item Number: 101435
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“You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God": First Edition of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock; Inscribed by Him
GREENE, Graham.
Brighton Rock.
New York: The Viking Press, 1938.
First American edition, preceding the British edition by one month of Greene's chilling expose of violence and gang warfare in the pre-war underworld is a classic of its kind. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Clive affectionately, Graham." The recipient Clive Francis is a British actor, known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Inspector Clouseau and The Crown and was a friend of Greene's. An excellent example in a very good dust jacket with rubbing and wear. Jacket design by George Salter. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 106788
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“For every man in the world functions to the best of his ability, and no one does less than his best, no matter what he may think about it": First Edition of John Steinbeck's The Pearl; Inscribed by Him
STEINBECK, John.
The Pearl.
New York: The Viking Press, 1947.
First edition of this classic story of simplicity, based on a Mexican folk tale. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "For Maggie and Larry with love John Steinbeck." Near fine in a near fine first-issue dust jacket with Steinbeck looking to the left on the rear panel. Drawings by Jose Clemente Orozco. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Price: $9,500.00 Item Number: 103774
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First Edition of James Baldwin's Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone; Inscribed by Him to American journalist Leonard Lyons
BALDWIN, James.
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone.
New York: The Dial Press, 1968.
First edition of this major work by Baldwin. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "For Leonard Lyons: with much affection, and respect. Jim Baldwin." The recipient, Leonard Lyons was a noted American newspaper columnist, best known for his New York Post column "The Lyons Den", which appeared 6 days a week beginning in 1934 and covered theater, movies, politics and art. Baldwin was often featured in the column, most famously in an article published shortly after Martin Luther King's assassination relating an incident in which Baldwin ran into Lyons on the street…
Price: $8,500.00 Item Number: 129588
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“THE SOCIAL IMPACT ON THE UNITED STATES WAS GREATER THAN THAT OF ANY BOOK BEFORE OR SINCE”: FIRST ISSUE OF UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
STOWE, Harriet Beecher.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly.
Boston and Cleveland: John P. Jewett & Company, 1852.
First edition, first issue, with "spilt" (rather than "spiled") in Volume I, 42, line 1; "cathecism" (rather than "catechism") in volume II, 74, line 5; and all other first issue points of the author's classic work. Octavo, 2 volumes, bound in contemporary three quarters leather over cloth, gilt titles to the spine, volume with title vignettes and six wood-engravings. In very good condition with light wear and toning. A nice example, scarce and desirable in contemporary binding.
Price: $8,000.00 Item Number: 104745
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“MOTHER OF GOD,” HE SAID, “IS THIS THE END OF RICO”: FIRST EDITION OF W.R. BURNETT'S LITTLE CAESAR; SIGNED BY HIM
BURNETT, W.R.
Little Caesar.
New York: Lincoln MacVeagh/ The Dial Press, 1929.
First edition of Burnett's classic novel, which has inspired generations of gangster films. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by W.R. Burnett on the half-title page. Very good in the rare original dust jacket with light shelfwear.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 102243
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First Edition of White Writing; Inscribed by J.M. Coetzee to his Wife
COETZEE, J.M.
White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.
First edition of the Nobel Prize winning-author's first book of criticism. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page to his first wife, "Philippe- Love from John." Philippa Jubber and John Maxwell Coetzee were married in 1963. They had two children, Nicolas (1966–1989) and Gisela (b. 1968). In 1965 Coetzee entered the graduate school of the University of Texas at Austin, and in 1968 graduated with a PhD in English, linguistics, and Germanic languages. His doctoral dissertation was on the early fiction of Samuel Beckett. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $4,000.00 Item Number: 108011
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Presentation copy of William Hazlitt: Essayist and Critic; from the library of Robert Louis Stevenson; inscribed to him by the author and with Stevenson's bookplate signed by his stepdaughter Isobel Strong
IRELAND, Alexander. [Robert Louis Stevenson].
William Hazlitt: Essayist and Critic.
London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co, 1889.
Robert Louis Stevenson's first edition copy of the writings of one of his favorite prose writers, William Hazlitt. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, botanical gilt vignette to the front panel, tissue-guarded frontispiece of Hazlitt. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to Robert Louis Stevenson on the half-title page, "To Robert Louis Stevenson Esq with Alex Ireland's cordial regards & remembrances Southport 9 Leicester St. October 2, 1889." With Stevenson's Vailima bookplate to the pastedown which is singed by Stevensons stepdaughter Isobel Strong. In good condition. An exceptional presentation.
Price: $3,750.00 Item Number: 104876
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"The greatest Lady of This Century in whom Africa has found a friend in deed": First Edition of Ojike's My Africa; Inscribed by Him to Eleanor Roosevelt
OJIKE, Mbonu [Eleanor Roosevelt].
My Africa.
New York: The John Day Company, 1946.
First edition of this work by the Nigerian novelist and nationalist, inscribed by him to Eleanor Roosevelt. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Eleanor Roosevelt The greatest Lady of this Century in whom Africa has found a friend in deed. Mbonu Ojike." Bookplate of Eleanor Roosevelt, near fine in a very good dust jacket. Introduction by Pearl S. Buck. An exceptional association copy.
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 102465
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First Edition of James Baldwin's Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone; Inscribed by Him
BALDWIN, James.
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone.
New York: The Dial Press, 1968.
First edition of this major work by Baldwin. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "Kathleen Peace- James Baldwin." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon.
Price: $2,850.00 Item Number: 106735
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"I believe in deeply ordered chaos": First Edition of Francis Bacon; Inscribed by Him
BACON, Francis] John Russell.
Francis Bacon.
London: Methuen, 1964.
First edition of this wonderfully illustrated work on Francis Bacon. Octavo, original boards, illustrated throughout. Presentation copy, boldly inscribed on the front free endpaper, "For George with all best wishes Francis Bacon." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph of Bacon on the front panel by Cecil Beaton.
Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 102743
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"The strange thing was there were times she felt she liked him very much": First Edition of Bernard Malamud's Assistant; Signed by him
MALAMUD, Bernard.
Assistant.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1957.
First edition of Malamud's second novel, which went on to win the Daroff Fiction Award from the Jewish Book Council of America and the Award of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by Bernard Malamud on the half-title page. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a chip to the crown of the spine. Jacket design by Milton Glaser.
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 100488
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"the brave adventurer, the good companion, my love": First Edition of Nothing More To Declare; Inscribed by John Clellon Holmes to His Wife
HOLMES, John Clellon.
Nothing More To Declare.
New York: E.P. Dutton, 1967.
First edition of this notable assessment of the literature of the Beats and their contemporaries, with essays on Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gershon Legman and Jay Landesman. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author to his wife on the front free endpaper, "For Shirley- the brave adventurer, the good companion, my love- John Feb. 3, 1967." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Omin. An exceptional association copy.
Price: $1,800.00 Item Number: 103995
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"I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog": First Edition of Saul Bellow's Herzog; Signed by Him and Finely Bound by the Harcourt Bindery
BELLOW, Saul.
Herzog.
New York: The Viking Press, 1964.
First edition of the author's second of three National Book Award winning novels, which was and remains an unprecedented literary accomplishment. 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. Signed by Saul Bellow on a page bound in. In fine condition.
Price: $1,600.00 Item Number: 142269
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"It’s dollars and cents, nickels and dimes; war and peace"; First Edition of The Price; Inscribed by Arthur Miller to his Editor
MILLER, Arthur.
The Price.
New York: The Viking Press, 1968.
First edition of this play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author to his editor on the front free endpaper, "Dear Aaron Thanks Arthur March, 1968." Asher also edited Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and many others. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Mel Williamson.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 105622
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First Edition of Eugene O'Neill's Lazarus Laughed and Dynamo; inscribed by him
O'NEILL, Eugene.
Lazarus Laughed and Dynamo: Two Plays by Eugene O’Neill.
London: Johnathan Cape, 1929.
First edition of this collection of two of the great playwright's works including the long theo-philosophical meditation, Lazarus Laughed, which called for more than one hundred actors making up a masked chorus. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine, gilt author's signature to the front panel. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Mrs. Oster with all good wishes Eugene O'Neill 1931." Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 104924