Travel and Exploration Archives - Raptis Rare Books | Fine Rare and Antiquarian First Edition Books for Sale

Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. [Le Theatre du Monde].

Amsterdam: Chez Jean Blaeu/Apud Guiljelmum et Johannem Blaeu, 1643-1645.

A fine French-text copy in a presentation binding. Folio, 4 volumes, contemporary Dutch vellum likely from the Blaeu workshop with gilt tooling to the spine in eight compartments within gilt bands, ce...

$300,000.00 Item Number: RRB-126307

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Volney, Constantin Francois. [Napoleon Bonaparte: His Copy]

Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, Pendant Les Annees 1783, 84, et 85. [Travel to Syria and Egypt, During the Years 1783, 84, and 85].

A Paris: Chez Dugour et Durand, Libraires, Rue et Hotel Serpente, 1799.

Volney’s important work on Egypt and Syria, from the library in exile of Napoleon Bonaparte with his annotations and corrections throughout, several made as he was dictating details from the Egy...

$250,000.00 Item Number: RRB-146536

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Melville, Herman

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months’ Residence in A Valley of the Marquesas.

New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.

First edition of Melville’s first book and his most popular during his lifetime. Octavo, two volumes bound into one in the original cloth stamped in blind with gilt titles to the spine, frontisp...

$250,000.00 Item Number: RRB-138349

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Bardin’s New British Terrestrial and Celestial Globes. [Nineteenth Century English Globes].

:, c. 1800.

Fine pair of two large Regency period globes produced by William and Thomas M. Bardin, two of the most highly regarded globemakers of the period. Both the celestial and terrestrial globe measure 18 in...

$150,000.00 Item Number: RRB-129376

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Cambridge, Richard Owen [Benjamin Franklin]

An Account of the War in India, Between the English and French, on the Coast of Coromandel, From the Year 1760. Together with A Relation of the late Remarkable Events on the Malabar Coast, and the Expeditions to Golconda and Surat; with the Operations of the Fleet. Illustrated with Maps, Plans &c. The Whole Compiled from Original Papers.

London: Printed for T. Jefferys, 1761.

Benjamin Franklin’s first edition copy of Cambridge’s account of the progression of the Seven Years’ War in India, from Franklin’s private library. Quarto, bound in full contem...

$65,000.00 Item Number: RRB-137375

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Hillary, Edmund Percival and Tenzig Norgay

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Signed Ice Axe and Expedition Bag.

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Rare original cotton equipment bag used in the 1953 Everest expedition, inscribed “Hillary Expedition.” The expedition bag measures 34 inches by 16 inches. Accompanied by an ice axe boldly...

$50,000.00 Item Number: RRB-131524

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De L'Isle, Joseph Nicolas

Russischer Atlas welcher in einer General-Charte und neunzehen Special-Charten das gesamte Russische Reich und dessen angräntzende Länder.vorstellig macht.

St. Petersburg: Entworffen bey der Kayserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1745.

Rare first edition of the first atlas printed of Russia. Folio, bound in full leather, 19 double-page maps, one large folding general map. In excellent condition with light toning. An exceptional exam...

$35,000.00 Item Number: RRB-105840

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Twain, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens]

Roughing It.

Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1874.

Early printing of Twain’s first semi-autobiographical work of travel literature, essentially a prequel to The Innocents Abroad. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles to the spine, fu...

$30,000.00 Item Number: RRB-133025

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Cary, George; John and William Cary

Cary’s New Terrestrial and Celestial Library Globes.

London: J. & W. Cary: 1818; G. & J. Cary, 1833.

Fine pair of early 19th century celestial and terrestrial table globes published by John and William Cary, generally regarded as the greatest British globe makers of the late Georgian period. Comprise...

$30,000.00 Item Number: RRB-149735

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Yan, Liu (Liu Dezhi). [Ye Zipei]

Complete Map of the World with All Nations.

China: Wanguo Dadi Quantu, 1851 [Xianfeng period].

Exceptionally rare second edition of Ye Zipei’s complete map of the world, one of only two known copies produced by terrestrial globe expert Liu Yan. The terrestrial map is comprised of six accordion-...

$30,000.00 Item Number: RRB-131424

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Giuseppe de Rossi

Giuseppe de Rossi’s Globus Coelest. [Seventeenth Century Italian Celestial Globe].

Rome: Giuseppe de Rossi, [1615].

Rare early seventeenth century Italian celestial globe produced by Roman cartographer Giuseppe de Rossi, the founder the most important and active printing press of 17th century Rome, the Rossi firm....

$28,000.00 Item Number: RRB-127575

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Armstrong, Neil; Buzz Aldrin; Charles Conrad, Jr; Alan L. Bean; Alan Shepard; Edgar Mitchell; Dave Scott; Jim Irwin; John Young; Charlie Duke; Jack Schmitt; Gene Cernan

Apollo Moonwalkers Complete Collection of Signed Photographs.

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Complete set of 12 photographs of the Apollo Moonwalkers. Set of 12 photographs, all of which are official NASA lithographs with the exception of the Alan Shepard photo. Each is individually signed in...

$25,000.00 Item Number: RRB-145375

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Cherry-Garrard, Apsley

The Worst Journey in the World.

London: Constable & Company, 1922.

First edition of this classic memoir of the 1910–1913 British Antarctic Expedition. Octavo, two volumes, original half white cloth, gray paper boards. Inscribed by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in each each v...

$25,000.00 Item Number: RRB-33035

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Gibbon, Edward

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, In The Strand, 1776-1788.

First edition, first state of Gibbon’s “masterpiece of historical penetration and literary style” (PMM). Quarto, six volumes, bound in modern half calf over marbled boards by Bayntun...

$22,500.00 Item Number: RRB-145050

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Staunton, Sir George. [Sir George Macartney]

An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China; Including Cursory Observations Made, and Information Obtained, In Travelling Through That Ancient Empire, and a Small Part of Chinese Tartary.

London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G. Nicol, 1797.

Rare first edition of the official account of Lord Macartney’s voyage and embassy to the Qianlong emperor in 1792-94, the failure of which led to the establishment of the British trading post at...

$22,500.00 Item Number: RRB-149247

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Armstrong, Neil; Michael Collins; Edwin [Buzz] E. Aldrin, Jr.; Epilogue by Arthur C. Clarke

First On The Moon: A Voyage With Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970.

First edition of this work, signed by each of the Apollo XI and XII astronauts, which describes the events leading up to and during the Apollo 11 mission, the first manned landing on the Moon. Octavo,...

$22,500.00 Item Number: RRB-147910

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Shackleton, Ernest; James Murray and George Marston

Antarctic Days. Sketches of the Homely Side of Polar Life by Two of Shackleton’s Men: Introduced by Sir Ernest Shackleton.

London: Andrew Melrose, 1913.

Limited edition de luxe of this account of the 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition under Shackleton. number 181 of 280 copies signed on the recto of the limitation leaf by E.H. Shackleton, James Murray and Geor...

$20,000.00 Item Number: RRB-132467

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Scott, Robert Falcon. Edited by Ernest Henry Shackleton, Louis C. Bernacchi and Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard

The South Polar Times.

London: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1907-1914.

First limited edition of the complete collection of the South Polar Times, a periodical created by Scott’s crew during his two polar expeditions on the ships Discovery and Terra Nova, with a sli...

$20,000.00 Item Number: RRB-95157

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Mawson, Douglas. [William Arthur Holman]

The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914.

London: William Heinemann, 1915.

First edition of this classic account of Antarctic exploration, an exceptional association copy inscribed by the author in both volumes in the year of publication to a fellow Australian, the Premier o...

$20,000.00 Item Number: RRB-123065

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Armstrong, Neil; Buzz Aldrin; Michael Collins; Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins Signed Quarantine Image..

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Rare Apollo XI quarantine image signed by President Richard Nixon and Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. The image shows Apollo XI crew members in quarantine being c...

$20,000.00 Item Number: RRB-149952

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Swift, Jonathan

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, first Surgeon, and then Captain of Several Ships. [Gulliver’s Travels].

London: Benjamin Motte, 1726.

First editions of Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels. Octavo, two volumes, bound in three quarters contemporary calf over marbled boards, engraved frontispiece of Lemuel Gulliver, woodcu...

$18,000.00 Item Number: RRB-95317

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Armstrong, Neil; Buzz Aldrin; Michael Collins

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins Signed Moonwalk Photograph.

: [NASA], 1969.

Rare photograph of the Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Octavo, color chromogenic print of Buzz Aldrin saluting the American flag after having mounted it into the solid, rocky ground of the l...

$18,000.00 Item Number: RRB-147430

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von Braun, Wernher

Wernher von Braun Apollo 4 Signed Photograph.

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Rare color photograph of the launch of Apollo 4, the first uncrewed test flight of the Saturn V rocket that later carried astronauts to the Moon, lengthily inscribed by Wernher von Braun to the Leader...

$16,000.00 Item Number: RRB-150784

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Armstrong, Neil; Buzz Aldrin; Michael Collins

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins Signed Dollar Bill.

:, 1969.

Series 1969 dollar bill from the United States of America, the year Armstrong and Aldrin touched the moon. Boldly signed by Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on t...

$15,000.00 Item Number: RRB-150610

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