Search Results: Books from Raptis Rare Books

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1936. First edition of Beresford's homage to the legendary man of letters. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece. In near fine condition. English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist Rudyard Kipling's major works include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and many short stories and poems. Kipling was born in India, which inspired much of his work and his innovative stories for children have become timeless classics. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the British Empire, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1907.

New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. Early printing of Singer's masterful historical novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by John Alcorn. Author photograph by Nancy Crampton. Singer's late novel, a magical and resonant fable, recreates the birth of the Polish nation. Through the compelling figure of Cybula, defeated leader of a tribe of hunter-gatherers, it explores the moment when prehistory dissolved into history, superstitions became tinged with skepticism, and men began to turn from many gods towards one god. "Singer is a writer of the great tradition. A true and important literary artist lives among us" (The New York Times).

London: Victor Gollancz, 1966. First edition of Stewart's homage to Rudyard Kipling. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a good dust jacket. English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist Rudyard Kipling's major works include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and many short stories and poems. Kipling was born in India, which inspired much of his work and his innovative stories for children have become timeless classics. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the British Empire, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1907.

London: Jonathan Cape, 1983. First edition of Moore's supernatural thriller. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Hans Wendler. Author photograph by Jerry Bauer. Cold Heaven relays a tale of hypnotic intrigue, moving from the Riviera to the coast of California near Carmel, in which elements of the bizarre, the inexplicable, the supernatural, and the eccentricities of ordinary life are mingled. The novel was adapted into the film of the same name in 1991, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Theresa Russell, Mark Harmon, and James Russo.

London: Faber and Faber, 1982. First edition of the third novel in Lawrence Durell's Avignon Quintet. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration by David Gentleman. Lawrence Durrell was a prolific English novelist, authoring two multivolume series along with numerous independent novels, poetry collections, and travel books. Constance is the third and most popular entry in his Avignon Quintet, and was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1982.

London: Nisbet & Co. Ltd, 1915. First edition of Palmer's warm biography of the famed Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece portrait of Kipling. In very good condition. Bookplate. English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist Rudyard Kipling's major works include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and many short stories and poems. Kipling was born in India, which inspired much of his work and his innovative stories for children have become timeless classics. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the British Empire, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1907.

London: Hollis & Carter, 1954. First edition of this collection of essays. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948. First edition, first printing of this inspiring play by England's 37-year Poet Laureate. Octavo, original red cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Graphic House Associates. Author photograph by Keystone Pictures, Inc. Indentured at fourteen to a merchant ship, John Masefield learned from a very young age to love the sea and his fellow men. 'A Play of St. George' demonstrates Masefield's infatuation with humanity, pairing the exciting action of a dangerous duel with the thought-provoking struggle of a desperate choice.

London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1974. First edition of the best twenty Antrobus stories from Lawrence Durrell's three paperbacks. Octavo, original blue cloth, illustrated with drawings by Nicolas Bently. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Durrell's Antrobus stories are absurdly extravagant sketches of Diplomatic Life, exquisite chapter-length stories that bind the seriousness of government with manic adventure and witty humor.

London: Johnathan Cape, 1930. Early printing of this collection of three plays by the Nobel Prize-winning playwright. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition. One of the most significant plays of the twentieth century, Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape is still as startlingly fresh and innovative as it was when it was first published nearly a hundred years ago. Primal working man Yank feels at home in the harsh but familiar environment of a ship's engine room, but a chance encounter with a wealthy socialite turns his world upside down and throws everything he knows into question.

London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., 1921. First edition of Thurston's work on Kipling in Sussex. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. In good condition.

Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1973. First edition of this work by the author of From Here to Eternity. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon.

Chicago: Argus Books, 1942. First edition of Lucile and William Carpenter's work on Kipling's life in Vermont, his travels around the world, and school days. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist Rudyard Kipling's major works include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and many short stories and poems. Kipling was born in India, which inspired much of his work and his innovative stories for children have become timeless classics. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the British Empire, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1907.

New York: Random House, 1969. First edition of this novel by the author of Appointment in Samarra. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Muriel Nassar. Lovey Lewis's efforts to join the adult world were aided by matters she could not foresee or control - her father's financial ineptitude, his early death, her mother's aberrations. At seventeen she completed the process by her impetuous marriage to Sky Childs, all-American (football), wealthy and worthless. . . . The main events of the story take place in the second half, the downhill side of the hectic 1920's, a period about which the author has frequently written before with equal authority and conviction. This is one of John O'Hara's shortest novels, . . . but its brevity is a matter of method rather than of content. It is a long full-bodied story deliberately foreshortened, presented primarily through key scenes, with the connecting links sketched in briefly or suggested to the… Read More

London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1966. First edition of the third collection of Durrell's 'Antrobus' comedic short stories. Octavo, original pink cloth, illustrations by Nicolas Bentley. Near fine in a good dust jacket with a small segment clipped from the front panel of the dust jacket. These zany tales of diplomatic life, originally published in newspapers and magazines, are a fine example of Durrell's lyrical prose. Following 'Esprit de Corps' and 'Stiff Upper Lip,' 'Sauve Qui Peut' features beloved diplomat Antrobus with a few new characters as they tangle with crises in the English capital.

London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1936. First edition of Cary's first popular novel. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition. Based on the author's own experiences with a Nigerian regiment fighting in the German colony of Kamerun, The Africa Witch was Cary's first popular novel, far more ambitious than his previous three and rich in incident, character, and theme.

New York: William Morrow and Company, 1980. First edition of this tribute to Nabokov. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Edited by Peter Quennell. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.

London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1966. First edition of the only play by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Alan Ball. Saul Bellow won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Humboldt's Gift in 1975, and in 1976 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 'for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.' He is the only novelist to receive three National Book Awards, for The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and Mr. Sammler's Planet.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961. First edition of this novel from the author of Goodbye Berlin and what many consider his finest novel. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket, name to the front free endpaper.

New York: Atheneum, 1982. First edition, second printing of this work by the award-winning journalist. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Muriel Nasser. "A memorable delight for the greatly growing numbers of us who now know middle age is two or three decades later than we thought two or three decades ago. For those of us at that transit point and for those of us who plan to be there, this is the guide for coping and enjoying" (Malcom S. Forbes).