Literature

Rare & Classic, American or English Literature Books for Sale Online

Browse rare first edition classics in American, English, world literature, poetry, and plays. View our entire collection of rare literature below, search our inventory with advanced search, or use our sorting tools to find exactly what you’re looking for. Please call with any questions you may have on a specific item or order online today.
    Salvador.

    Didion, Joan

    Salvador.

    New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.

    First edition of this classic work by the award-winning author. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Joan Didion on the front free endpaper. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Lawre...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-148049
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    Of Human Bondage With a Digression on the Art of Fiction: And Address by Somerset Maugham.

    Maugham, W. Somerset

    Of Human Bondage With a Digression on the Art of Fiction: And Address by Somerset Maugham.

    Washington: The Library of Congress, 1946.

    Signed limited edition of the address given by Maugham upon the Library’s acceptance of the original autograph manuscript of his masterpiece, Of Human Bondage. Octavo, original boards. One of 50...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-108345
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    Cakes and Ale.

    Maugham, W. Somerset

    Cakes and Ale.

    Melbourne: William Heinemann Ltd, 1954.

    Signed limited edition of Maugham’s classic satire printed for the author’s eightieth birthday. Octavo, original publisher’s half-leather with gilt titles to the spine, top edge gilt...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-150504
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    The Painted Bird.

    Kosinski, Jerzy

    The Painted Bird.

    Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965.

    First edition. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed on the half title page, “with every best wish, cordially, Jerzy Kosinski Sept. 1975.” Fine in a very good dust jacket with a few small chip...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-4491
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    Zara’s Tales: Perilous Escapades in Equatorial Africa.

    Beard, Peter

    Zara’s Tales: Perilous Escapades in Equatorial Africa.

    New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

    First edition of this classic photobook. Octavo, original boards, illustrated throughout. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed and with his writing and handprint on the front jacket panel, his writi...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-150129
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    Z.

    Vassilikos, Vassilis

    Z.

    New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968.

    First American edition of the author’s classic work. Octavo, original black cloth. Presentation copy, warmly inscribed by the author on the title page, “For Matthew with my love, Vassilis...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-44632
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    Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition.

    Milosz, Czeslaw

    Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition.

    Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1968.

    First edition of the re-issue of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Czeslaw Milosz on the front free endpaper. Fine in a near fine dust jacke...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-142086
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    The Naïve and Sentimental Lover.

    Le Carre, John

    The Naïve and Sentimental Lover.

    London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1971.

    First edition of le Carré’s classic sixth novel. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by John le Carre on the title page. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by To...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-146204
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    South and West: From A Notebook.

    Didion, Joan

    South and West: From A Notebook.

    New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

    First edition of this collection of writings from the acclaimed author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Joan Didion. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacke...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-144137
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    The Fire Next Time.

    Baldwin, James

    The Fire Next Time.

    New York: The Dial Press, 1963.

    First edition of one of the most influential works on race relations published in the twentieth century. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing to the extremit...
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    $800.00 Item Number: RRB-124915
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    Poems.

    Terry, Madame Sybil

    Poems.

    Tampa: Florida Grower Press, 1947.

    First edition of this collection of sacred, romantic, and household poems. Octavo, original red cloth. In very good condition with light rubbing to the extremities. Rare.
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-145569
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    Sonny Boy: A Memoir.

    Pacino, Al

    Sonny Boy: A Memoir.

    New York : Penguin Press, 2024.

    First edition of the autobiography of one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full. Octavo, original boards, illustrated with ph...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-148278
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    The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

    Wilde, Oscar. With Woodcuts by Frans Masereel

    The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

    London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1925.

    First illustrated edition of this rare Wilde title. Royal octavo, original half cloth, illustrated with woodcuts by Frans Masereel. One of 450 numbered copies, this is number 16. Fine in the rare orig...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-139325
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    Collected Poems.

    Sackville-West, Vita

    Collected Poems.

    London: Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1933.

    First edition of Sackville-West’s collected poems including “The Land” and “Sissinghurst” (which was dedicated to Virginia Woolf), as well as 28 new poems published here...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-142371
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    The Wind in the Willows.

    Grahame, Kenneth

    The Wind in the Willows.

    New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.

    First American edition of Grahame’s beloved children’s novel which preceded the English edition by only four days, with Scribner’s seal on the copyright page. Octavo, original publis...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-143829
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    The White Plague.

    Herbert, Frank

    The White Plague.

    New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1982.

    Signed limited first edition of this classic novel which explores madness and revenge on a global scale. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Frank Herbert. Fine in a fine slipcase.
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-147682
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    The Day On Fire: A Novel Suggested by the Life of Arthur Rimbaud.

    Ullman, James Ramsey

    The Day On Fire: A Novel Suggested by the Life of Arthur Rimbaud.

    Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1958.

    First edition of this masterwork of biographical fiction. Octavo, original cloth. One of 350 presentation copies signed by James Ramsey Ullman. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a chip to the...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-115744
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    The Second Jungle Book.

    Kipling, Rudyard

    The Second Jungle Book.

    London: Macmillan and Co., 1895.

    First edition of Kipling’s Second Jungle Book. Octavo, original blue cloth with gilt titles to the spine and gilt vignette to the front panel, all edges gilt, pictorial title pages, illustrated....
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-119977
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    The Day’s Work.

    Kipling, Rudyard

    The Day’s Work.

    Toronto: George N. Morang, 1898.

    Rare unauthorized Canadian edition of this collection of 13 Kipling short stories mainly written between 1893 and 1896 while Kipling was living in Vermont. Octavo, original wrappers. According to Stua...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-119005
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    Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son.

    Baldwin, James

    Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son.

    New York: The Dial Press, 1961.

    First edition of Baldwin’s second major book of essays, featuring his powerful analyses of the politics of race and his controversial three-part essay on Richard Wright. Octavo, original half cl...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-151062
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    The Nun’s Story.

    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 f...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-95304
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    Bloodchild: and Other Stories

    Butler, Octavia E

    Bloodchild: and Other Stories

    New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1995.

    First edition of this collection of speculative fiction from the award-winning author. Octavo, original publisher’s boards. Boldly signed by Octavia E. Butler on the title page. Fine in a fine d...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-148326
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    How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

    Alvarez, Julia

    How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

    Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Press, 1991.

    First edition of the author’s classic work. Octavo, original half cloth, Lengthily signed by the author on the title page, “May you enjoy my book- There are still times I wake up at three...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-108779
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    Le Disciple.

    Bourget, Paul

    Le Disciple.

    Paris: Collection Française, 1925.

    Limited Collection Française edition of Bourget’s most notable work. Octavo, bound in three quarters calf over marbled boards with gilt tooling to the spine in three compartments within raised g...
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    $750.00 Item Number: RRB-115687
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