How to Create the Ultimate Home Library

How to Create the Ultimate Home Library

By Adrienne Raptis | January 24, 2018 | Comments Off on How to Create the Ultimate Home Library

We have recently been featured in the Palm Beach Scout Guide and on their blog. This is what they have to say on their post: HOW TO CREATE THE ULTIMATE HOME LIBRARY It’s every book lovers dream to have a library in their own home. If you picture walking into your favorite room and having…

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In the News – For Matthew Raptis, Rare Books Are More Than Just A Business; They’re A Key To The Past

In the News – For Matthew Raptis, Rare Books Are More Than Just A Business; They’re A Key To The Past

By Adrienne Raptis | March 9, 2017 | Comments Off on In the News – For Matthew Raptis, Rare Books Are More Than Just A Business; They’re A Key To The Past

We have recently been featured in the Palm Beacher Magazine: Matthew Raptis doesn’t judge a book by its cover alone. He also judges it by its publication date, its condition and its relative rarity in the antiquarian book marketplace. Think print is dead? For avid collectors of rare books, it’s anything but. Mark Twain once…

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Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

By Adrienne Raptis | April 21, 2016 | Comments Off on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

English author Virginia Woolf was considered one of the greatest modernists of the 20th century. Woolf was born in London as Adeline Virginia Stephen by parents Julia and Leslie Stephen, a notable author, historian, and mountaineer. Her parents home-schooled her in a household of three children from three marriages total, as both parents had been previously married and widowed. Leslie’s prominence…

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Vellum Bindings

Vellum Bindings

By Adrienne Raptis | January 18, 2016 | Comments Off on Vellum Bindings

Vellum refers to parchment made from calf skin that can be found on old and rare books. Very old Bibles were printed on it, and so was the Declaration of Independence. Vellum is not like calf leather in that it is not tanned, but it does vary in softness and smoothness based on the quality of…

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Books, Books, Books

Books, Books, Books

By Adrienne Raptis | October 7, 2015 | Comments Off on Books, Books, Books

Books. Am I right?   They help you sleep at night.   They open doors to new worlds.   Doors you didn’t even know were there to be opened.   And sometimes windows too.   They light up the mind.   And create a foundation of knowledge.   And after all, knowledge is power.  …

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Zen and the Art of Book Collecting

Zen and the Art of Book Collecting

By Adrienne Raptis | April 26, 2011 | Comments Off on Zen and the Art of Book Collecting

In 1984, Robert Pirsig wrote an afterword to later editions of his now classic book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I want to take a moment to include an excerpt here from that afterword and then write a few thoughts of my own. This book has a lot to say about Ancient Greek…

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To Collect or Not to Collect…

To Collect or Not to Collect…

By Adrienne Raptis | February 16, 2010 | Comments Off on To Collect or Not to Collect…

This is not the question. As far back as human history can record, man has been collecting things. Perhaps it started when someone collected a tooth from every animal they had hunted and made a necklace from it. Perhaps that attracted the attention of the ladies… and so the collecting gene has been passed down…

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