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.
    Young Man with a Horn.

    Baker, Dorothy

    Young Man with a Horn.

    Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938.

    First edition of this novel, which was the basis for the classic 1950 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael, and Juano Hernande...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-140685
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    The Return of the Native.

    Hardy, Thomas; Clare Leighton [Illustrator]

    The Return of the Native.

    London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1929.

    Macmillan signed limited edition of Hardy’s sixth published novel. Octavo, bound in half vellum over boards with gilt titles to the spine, top edge gilt, frontispiece, with black and white woodcut ill...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-148848
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    The Dean’s December.

    Bellow, Saul

    The Dean’s December.

    New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1982.

    Uncorrected Proof of the first edition of the first novel Bellow published after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976. Octavo. Fine in light green wrappers as issued. Signed by the author.
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-182
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    A Tale of Love and Darkness.

    Oz, Amos

    A Tale of Love and Darkness.

    New York: Harcourt, Inc, 2004.

    First American edition of “one of the most enchanting and deeply satisfying books”(The New Republic). Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Amos Oz on a University of the Negev bookpla...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-107479
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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. Fine in a very good dust jacket, inscription to the half-title page. Ja...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-150667
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    Idiots First.

    Malamud, Bernard

    Idiots First.

    New York: Farrar, Straus & Company, 1963.

    First edition of this collection of short stories. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to his cousin, “For Marshall, Every good wish Bern...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-112830
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    Blue Nights.

    Didion, Joan

    Blue Nights.

    New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

    First edition of this intensely personal and moving account of Joan Didion’s thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness and growing old. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly s...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-116868
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    Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation.

    Paton, Alan

    Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation.

    London: Jonathan Cape, 1948.

    First edition of Paton’s classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. A very sharp example.
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-136106
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    The Ogre’s Arm.

    [TAKEJIRŌ, Hasegawa]

    The Ogre’s Arm.

    Tokyo: Hasegawa Takejirō, 1898.

    First edition of volume eighteen in Hasegawa Takejirō’s Japanese Fairy Tale Series. Duodecimo, original pictorial wrappers, bound in color printed crepe-paper, illustrated throughout with color woodcu...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-151404
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    The Ordeal Of Gilbert Pinford.

    Waugh, Evelyn

    The Ordeal Of Gilbert Pinford.

    London: Chapman & Hall, 1957.

    First edition of what Waugh called his “mad book”—a largely autobiographical account of a period of hallucinations caused by bromide intoxication that he experienced in the early months of...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-145512
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    The Diary of a Man of Fifty and A Bundle of Letters.

    James, Henry

    The Diary of a Man of Fifty and A Bundle of Letters.

    New York: Harpers & Brothers, Publishers, 1880.

    First Harper’s Half-Hour Series edition of this duo of James novellas. 12mo, original wrappers as issued. In good condition.
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-81095
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    The Fall of the House of Usher.

    Poe, Edgar Allan

    The Fall of the House of Usher.

    New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1985.

    The Limited Editions Club limited edition of one of Poe’s most famous short stories. Folio, bound in quarter morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles to the spine, illustrated with two color...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-148581
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    Soul Mountain.

    Xingjian, Gao

    Soul Mountain.

    New York: Harper Collins, 2000.

    First edition in English of the author’s magnum opus, which led to him winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 2000. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Gao Xingjian on the title page...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-138016
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    L’Homme De Buridan [Dangling Man].

    Bellow, Saul

    L’Homme De Buridan [Dangling Man].

    Paris: Libraire Plon, 1954.

    First French edition of the author’s first book. Octavo, original wrappers. Signed by Saul Bellow on the title page. In near fine condition.
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-185
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    A First Family of Tasajara.

    Harte, Bret

    A First Family of Tasajara.

    London: Macmillan and Co, 1891.

    First edition of Harte’s classic work. Octavo, two volumes, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “with the best New...
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    $500.00 Item Number: RRB-96090
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    Histoire De Gil Blas De Santillane, Par Lesage.

    Lesage, Alain-René

    Histoire De Gil Blas De Santillane, Par Lesage.

    Paris: De L'Imprimerie De Didot Jeune, n.d.

    Finely bound example of Lesage’s famed picaresque novel. Octavo, four volumes bound in three quarter crushed levant morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six c...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-145006
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    Irving, John

    3 By Irving: Setting Free the Bears; The Water-Method Man; The 158-Pound Marriage.

    New York: Random House, 1980.

    First edition of this compilation of the author’s first three novels. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page to his editor David Kent, “Fo...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-37055
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    Sounds of the Town.

    Nisbet, Robert

    Sounds of the Town.

    United Kingdom: Alun Books, 1982.

    First edition of this collection of short stories about Welsh life and culture. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Ew...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-148342
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    When She Was Good.

    Roth, Philip

    When She Was Good.

    New York: Random House, 1967.

    First edition of Roth’s second novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “Sept. 7, 1967 NYC To Jack K...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-115622
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    Another Africa.

    Achebe, Chinua

    Another Africa.

    New York: Anchor Books/ Doubleday, 1998.

    First edition of this work with essays and poems by Chinua Achebe. Quarto, original boards, illustrated. Boldly signed by Chinua Achebe on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-130393
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    Their Eyes Were Watching God.

    Neale Hurston, Zora

    Their Eyes Were Watching God.

    Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991.

    University of Illinois Press edition of this seminal work of African American and feminist literature that explores themes of love, self-discovery, and voice. Octavo, original publisher’s half-c...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-151619
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    More Tales of the Black Widowers.

    Asimov, Isaac

    More Tales of the Black Widowers.

    Garden City, NY: Published For The Crime Club By Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976.

    First edition of the second book in Asimov’s Black Widowers series. Octavo, original boards. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Stephen Isaac Asimov.”...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-142873
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    Underworld.

    DeLillo, Don

    Underworld.

    New York: Scribner, 1997.

    First edition of this work by DeLillo, which in a 2006 survey of eminent authors and critics conducted by The New York Times found it to be the runner-up for the best work of American fiction of the p...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-111211
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    Tossing and Turns: Poems.

    Updike, John

    Tossing and Turns: Poems.

    New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.

    First edition of this collection by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author with a large drawing of a birthday cake in the year of pu...
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    $475.00 Item Number: RRB-150242
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