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It is one of the strangest stories in the history of modern literature. A novel rejected by every commercial publisher who saw it. A novel prosecuted for obscenity in the United States before it had even been issued as a book. A novel barred from entry into the United Kingdom by His Majesty’s Customs forContinue reading “Why Ulysses Was Banned — And Why It Changed Literature Forever (1922 First Edition).”
It is one of the great near-misses in modern publishing history. In 1953 a forty-one-year-old schoolmaster named William Golding finished a short, strange novel about a group of English boys stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash, and sent the manuscript out to find a publisher. More than twenty London houses read it.Continue reading “The Novel Twenty-One Publishers Rejected… and the First Edition Collectors Now Chase.”
There is a particular category of rare book that transcends the ordinary parameters of the collecting field. These are not simply early printings of significant texts they are the physical embodiments of cultural turning points, volumes whose first appearances in the world marked moments from which literature, science, and intellectual history did not return. ToContinue reading “Curating a Legacy: Ten Iconic First Editions Worth Acquiring.”
Some books exist in multiple registers simultaneously. There is The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as a text — the collection of quatrains composed in eleventh-century Persia by the mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám, rendered into English verse by Edward FitzGerald in 1859, and subsequently translated, illustrated, printed, and bound in more editions than any comparableContinue reading “A Book and Its Legend: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in a Jewelled Binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature is the most consequential recognition in the literary world. Awarded annually by the Swedish Academy since 1901, it has conferred its authority on writers whose work has, in the Academy’s enduring phrase, been of the greatest benefit to mankind — a formulation capacious enough to encompass poets, novelists, essayists, andContinue reading “Nobel Laureates in Print: Collecting the First Editions of Literature’s Highest Honor.”
In the spring of 2026, PBS’s Emmy Award-winning Made With Love series turned its attention to a question that has rarely felt more timely: in a country marking the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, what does it still mean to make something by hand? The result was a special episode, Celebrating America 250: Made With Love,Continue reading “PBS Feature – Made With Love in America 250 – The Harcourt Bindery in Boston, Massachusetts: The Oldest Hand Book Bindery in America.”
On May 14, 2026, Raptis Rare Books and Churchill Cigar Company had the extraordinary privilege of hosting legendary musician, musical director, and rock icon Mark Rivera for an unforgettable evening centered around his memoir, Sideman: In Pursuit of the Next Gig. The event brought together music lovers, book collectors, cigar aficionados, and members of theContinue reading “Mark Rivera Book Signing.”
There is a moment every collector remembers. It might happen in a dusty antiquarian shop, at an auction preview, or while turning the pages of a catalogue. You pick up a book — really pick it up, feel the weight of the binding, study the title page — and something shifts. You are no longerContinue reading “The Beginner’s Guide to Collecting Rare Books.”
Harcourt Bindery in Charlestown Helps Give Books New Life. The ancient art form of bookbinding is still practiced by hand at a small shop in Charlestown, Massachusetts. CBS News April 19, 2026 The Harcourt Bindery was recently featured in a segment on CBS News with lifestyle reporter Rachel Holt.
Purple State of Mind: Fox News Commentator Dana Perino Launches her New Romance Book in Palm Beach.
May 18, 2026 BY VALERIE STAGGS FLORIDA WEEKLY CORRESPONDENT Inside Raptis Rare Book Store on Worth Avenue, stacks of FOX News Commentator Dana Perino’s new book, “Purple State,” sit waiting for the hundreds of eager fans in line at the author’s recent book signing. The books’ bright pink and purple covers brought a splashContinue reading “Purple State of Mind: Fox News Commentator Dana Perino Launches her New Romance Book in Palm Beach.”
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