Skip to content

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.

Showing items 4248-4272 of 4680

Eliot, T.S

The Cocktail Party.

London : Faber & Faber, 1950.

First edition of Eliot’s most popular play published in his lifetime. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to his niece, “Theodora Eliot Smith from T.S. Eliot.” Near fine in near fine dust jacket. A nice association.

Read more
$4,800.00
Item Number: RRB-95677
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Thackeray, William

The Virginians.

London : Bradbury and Evans, 1858-59.

First edition of Thackeray’s memorable historical novel. Octavos, 2 volumes, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards,  raised bands, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, illustrated. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the extremities.

Read more
$650.00
Item Number: RRB-92535
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Bellow, Saul

Dangling Man.

New York : The Vanguard Press, 1944.

First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s first book. Octavo, original beige cloth. Near fine in a fine dust jacket. An exceptional example.

Read more
$2,000.00
Item Number: RRB-81980
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Le Carre, John

Call For The Dead.

London : Victor Gollancz, 1961.

First edition of the author’s first book, which introduced the world to the recurring protagonist, George Smiley. Octavo, original red cloth. Signed by the author on the title page in a contemporary hand, “John le Carre David Cornwell.” Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. An exceptional example,Continue reading "Call For The Dead."

Read more
$32,500.00
Item Number: RRB-94755
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Buechner, Frederick

The Seasons’ Difference.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1952.

First edition of Frederick Buechner’s second novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, with a full page inscription by the author on the front free endpaper, “This was the most insincere of all of my books. Following hard on the heels of my most successful. I wrote a good deal of it in the small villageContinue reading "The Seasons’ Difference."

Read more
$550.00
Item Number: RRB-92504
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Goddard, Robert

Past Caring.

London : Robert Hale Limited, 1986.

First edition of Robert Goddard’s first novel. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light shelfwear. Jacket design by Wendy Taylor.

Read more
$250.00
Item Number: RRB-92501
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Butterfield, Frederic William Louis [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]

The Battle of Maldon, and Other Renderings from the Anglo-Saxon; Together with Original Verse.

Oxford : James Parker and Co, 1900.

First edition of this collection of English verse published to raise contributions for the Widows’ and Orphans’ Branch of the Transvaal War Fund. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Arthur Conan Doyle on the half-title page. Near fine in the scarce original glassine.

Read more
$1,800.00
Item Number: RRB-92491
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Rushdie, Salman

Midnight’s Children.

London : Jonathan Cape, 1981.

First British edition of the author’s Booker Prize-winning novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Bill Botten.

Read more
$1,350.00
Item Number: RRB-91456
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Wharton, Edith

The Age of Innocence.

New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1920.

First edition of the author’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel. Octavo, original red cloth. In very good with some light toning to the spine. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

Read more
$3,250.00
Item Number: RRB-92355
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Cohen, Leonard

Beautiful Losers.

New York : The Viking Press, 1966.

First edition of Cohen’s second and final novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “For Matthew all the best Leonard Cohen 2008.” Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Gilda Kuhlman.

Read more
$2,500.00
Item Number: RRB-94686
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Edited by Will Blythe (David Foster Wallace)

Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction.

Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1998.

First edition of this collection of essays. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by contributor David Foster Wallace on the front free endpaper. The essay contributed to this volume is one of his finest, titled, “The Nature of the Fun”, which is a meditation on why writers write, encrusted in Wallace’s signature blend of self-conscious despondency. Near fine in aContinue reading "Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction."

Read more
$3,000.00
Item Number: RRB-85674
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Dickens, Charles

The Personal History of David Copperfield.

London : Bradbury and Evans, May 1849-November 1850.

First edition in parts of “the most perfect of all the Dickens novels” (Virginia Woolf). Original serial issue. Twenty parts in nineteen, octavo four to thirty-two pages of preliminary advertisements; text continuously paginated 1-624; eight leaves of preliminaries follow text in final part. Frontispiece, vignette title-page and thirty-eight additional inserted plates, the majority with tissueContinue reading "The Personal History of David Copperfield."

Read more
$9,800.00
Item Number: RRB-91369
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Fowles, John [Harold Pinter]

The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

London : Jonathan Cape, 1969.

First edition of Fowles’ classic third novel. Octavo, original brown cloth, pictorial endpapers. Signed by both John Fowles and Harold Pinter on the title page. Pinter wrote the screenplay for the 1981 film bearing the same name. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. An excellent near fine example in aContinue reading "The French Lieutenant’s Woman."

Read more
$2,500.00
Item Number: RRB-91873
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Verne, Jules

Michael Strogoff, the Courier of the Czar.

New York : Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1877.

First American edition of this historical tale of adventure taking place during a Siberian revolt by the Tartars and what many consider one of Verne’s finest novels. Octavo, original cloth, with Ninety Full-Page Illustrations. Translated by W. H. G. Kingston. Revised by Julius Chambers. In near fine condition. A nice example.

Read more
$1,500.00
Item Number: RRB-89346
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Naipaul, V.S

A House For Mr. Biswas.

London : Andre Deutsch, 1961.

First edition of the author’s magnum opus. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page. Near fine in an excellent dust jacket with a small chip to the foot of the spine and some light wear. Jacket design by Stephen Russ.

Read more
$4,800.00
Item Number: RRB-92563
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Naipaul, V.S

The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited.

London : Andre Deutsch, 1962.

First edition of this travel work, “which belongs in the same category as Lawrence’s books on Italy, Greene’s on West Africa and Pritchett’s on Spain” (New Statesman). Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers. Boldly signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page. Name on the front free endpaper and stamp on the half-title page, near fineContinue reading "The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited."

Read more
$2,000.00
Item Number: RRB-75489
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Naipaul, V.S

An Area of Darkness: An Experience of India; India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.

London : Andre Deutsch, 1964-1990.

First editions of each of the author’s works in his acclaimed Indian Trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. Each volume is signed by V.S. Naipaul on the title page. Each are fine in near fine to fine dust jackets.

Read more
$2,000.00
Item Number: RRB-90453
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Faulkner, William

Sanctuary.

New York : Johnathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1931.

First edition of the novel that established Faulkner’s literary reputation. Octavo, original half cloth, pictorial endpapers. From the library of Virginia bibliophile and historian Christopher Clark Geest with his bookplate. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box. A very sharp example.

Read more
$4,500.00
Item Number: RRB-91796
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

DeCarava, Roy and Langston Hughes

The Sweet Flypaper of Life.

New York : Simon & Schuster, 1955.

First edition of the classic collaboration between Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes. Small octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by Langston Hughes on the front free endpaper, “Especially for Lucian Stanton whose photographs I very much enjoyed seeing- Sincerely- Langston Hughes New York Feb. 23, 1960.” An excellent example in the original dust jacket.Continue reading "The Sweet Flypaper of Life."

Read more
$2,250.00
Item Number: RRB-90534
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Faulkner, William

Mosquitoes.

New York : Boni & Liveright, Inc, 1927.

First edition of Faulkner’s second novel. Octavo, original cloth, pictorial endpapers. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small chip to the front flap. From the library of Virginia bibliophile and historian Christopher Clark Geest with his bookplate to the pastedown. A very nice example of this early Faulkner work.

Read more
$4,800.00
Item Number: RRB-91795
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Roth, Philip

Operation Shylock: A Confession.

New York : Simon & Schuster, 1993.

First edition of Roth’s 19th book. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by Philip Roth in the year of publication opposite the title page, “For Crisci – from his best library friend – Philip R April 1993.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paula Scher.

Read more
$450.00
Item Number: RRB-61793
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Donleavy, J.P

The Ginger Man.

Paris : The Olympia Press, 1955.

First edition, first issue with the words, Special Volume, Francs: 1.500 to the rear panel. Small octavo, original green wrappers as issued. Boldly signed by J.P. Donleavy on the front free endpaper. In near fine condition. Introduction by Arland Ussher. A nice example.

Read more
$2,500.00
Item Number: RRB-91458
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Faulkner, William

Soldiers’ Pay.

New York : Boni & Liveright, 1926.

First edition of Faulkner’s first book in the rare first state dust jacket with An American Tragedy as the first of five titles listed on the rear jacket panel. Octavo, original cloth. Bookplate, near fine in an exceptional dust jacket with light toning and wear. From the library of Virginia bibliophile and historian Christopher Clark Geest withContinue reading "Soldiers’ Pay."

Read more
$28,000.00
Item Number: RRB-89328
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details

Burroughs, William S

Naked Lunch.

New York : Grove Press, Inc, 1962.

First American edition, first issue jacket with no zip code on rear panel and no roman numerals on lower spine near back panel of Burroughs’ classic novel. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by William S. Burroughs on the title page. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. Included is theContinue reading "Naked Lunch."

Read more
$2,500.00
Item Number: RRB-87577
Add to Cart
Ask a Question Details
Previous 1 ... 176 177 178 179 180 ... 195 Next