Search Results: Landmarks & Legends from Pen Ultimate Rare Books

SIGNED/Handwritten by Harper Lee, "I'm not a collector (of anything) but I have, as you may guess, great interest in books. Firsts is absolutely first-rate!" Scarce ALS, one page, 8.5 x 11, January 1, 1997. Handwritten letter to Robin Smiley, offering thanks for an issue of Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine which featured a cover story on To Kill a Mockingbird. In full: "Thank you for your most kind letter and for my copy of Firsts. I must say that a bookseller friend sent me a copy of the article -- an item rare in itself for its generosity -- but I had not seen the entire magazine. This copy will be the first of many Firsts, I hope, because I'm subscribing immediately. I'm not a collector (of anything) but I have, as you may guess, great interest in books. Firsts is absolutely first-rate!" Below the author's signature and to the left, she adds: "Happy New Year!" Accompanied by a copy of the December, 1996 issue of Firsts Magazine, mentioned by Ms. Lee, featuring a cover photo of TKAM. Both in… Read More

SIGNED/Handwritten by Harper Lee, "I'm not a collector (of anything) but I have, as you may guess, great interest in books. Firsts is absolutely first-rate!" Scarce ALS, one page, 8.5 x 11, January 1, 1997. Handwritten letter to Robin Smiley, offering thanks for an issue of Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine which featured a cover story on To Kill a Mockingbird. In full: "Thank you for your most kind letter and for my copy of Firsts. I must say that a bookseller friend sent me a copy of the article -- an item rare in itself for its generosity -- but I had not seen the entire magazine. This copy will be the first of many Firsts, I hope, because I'm subscribing immediately. I'm not a collector (of anything) but I have, as you may guess, great interest in books. Firsts is absolutely first-rate!" Below the author's signature and to the left, she adds: "Happy New Year!" Accompanied by a copy of the December, 1996 issue of Firsts Magazine, mentioned by Ms. Lee, featuring a cover photo of TKAM. Both in… Read More

SIGNED and inscribed on front paste-down by Booker T Washington in the year of publication. "It is only as the black man produces something that makes markets of the world dependent on him for something will he find his rightful place": RARE SIGNED FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL BINDING OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S BLACK-BELT DIAMONDS, 1898, INSCRIBED, AND DATED BY HIM. First edition of these highly celebrated singular excerpts of Washington's early lectures and writings, drawn extensively from his Sunday Evening Tuskegee Talks, including passages from Democracy and Education (1896), Southern Lynch Law (1893) and other influential works. Compiled in print for the first time and edited by prominent African American journalist and activist, Victoria Earle Matthews, "an instrumental figure in the social reform to 'uplift' African Americans." Black-Belt Diamonds, published two years before Washington's first autobiography, Story of My Life and Work, is a core assembly of "gems" from his earlier influential… Read More

First Walter J. Black (1942) edition issued in a limited run in matching cardboard slipcase. Two volumes, both about fine, in a worn slipcase. "Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment reveals the soul of a criminal all the way down to his philosophical premises" (Ayn Rand, 1969). Book#P5b196. $100. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.

"Receive these sighs to thee my soul I breathe. Fond love in dying groans is all I can bequeathe." Scarce second edition, published anonymously like the first edition, one year prior, of The Dying Negro, "the first significant piece of verse propaganda directed explicitly against the English slave systems". Using a range of rhetorical devises from elegy to prosopopoeia, the dying speaker addresses his beloved, his master, the gods of Africa, and the Christian God, in registers ranging from the sentimental to the polemical to the vengeful, inaugurating a new kind of mortuary poetics. 4to, rebound in modern paper over boards. No writings, markings or bookplates of any kind. Verso of last page with some very light soiling, overall clean. An extremely good copy of this early and important abolitionist poem. Book #Cv2327. $1298. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.

HEMINGWAY, Ernest: AN EXTRAORDINARY SIGNED HEMINGWAY RARITY. One of only 10 copies intended solely for his own private distribution of A farewll to Arms. His first bestseller, this copy of Arms from the library of Owen Wister Jr., the father of Western fiction, author of the bestselling 1902 novel The Virginian. Hemingway held Wister in high regard, describing Wister s stories as a lesson to our generation in how to write, to his editor Maxwell Perkins. Arguably Hemingway s greatest work, A Farewell to Arms is the only Hemingway work issued in a signed limited edition. Five hundred copies were numbered and sold to the public. This is one of the ten unnumbered copies intended only for Papa s personal sharing. 8vo (222 x 146 mm). Full crushed blue morocco, covers twice ruled in gilt with gilt cornerpieces, upper cover reproducing the original design of the first trade edition dust jacket of this title by Cleon (1895-1979) in various color morocco onlays and gilt-work, flat spine lettered in white and… Read More

SIGNED, INSCRIBED, AND Dated in year of publication directly to the front fly leaf. Hardbound First Edition/First Printing in chestnut and tan boards with gilt lettering along spine; as new condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket in bright, wonderful condition. A memoir of Betty White's first five decades on television - as irreverent and alluring as the beloved actress herself. You won't find a better copy! Book #Pv5a155. $95. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.

First Edition/First Printing of the Bailey's controversial bio of Roth. Shortly after publication, WW Norton, publisher of the biography in the US, announced that it was temporarily suspending the book's shipping and promotion, as it emerged that Bailey faced allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, which he denied. A week later Norton confirmed that it was withdrawing the book from sale and pulping remaining copies. A tiny nick to the front jacket flap and the tiniest spots on paper edges--else a new, unread book. Book #Pv3349. $55. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.

Rosa Parks Signed FDC Honoring MLK
Signed first day cover, measuring 3.625" x 6.375", stamped January 13, 1979 in Atlanta, GA, and honoring "Distinguished Civil Rights Leader" Martin Luther King Jr. Boldly signed by Rosa Parks as "Rosa Parks." Co-signed by Judge John Minor Wisdom in a black felt tip pen as "John Minor Wisdom." Slight toning, else fine.
John Minor Wisdom, one of the "Fifth Circuit Four", and a Republican from Louisiana, was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit during the 1950s and 1960s, when that court became known for a series of crucial decisions that advanced the goals of the Civil Rights Movement.
This item comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Book #Pv2151j. $1550. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.

First Edition, first book printing of this 1968 scarcity by one of the godmothers of what would become the early feminist movement, mainstreaming into "Women's Lib" in the 1970's. SOLANAS, Valerie's S.C.U.M. Manifesto. [Society for Cutting Up Men.] Bound in publisher's original printed wraps. Near Fine with light foxing and light wear to wraps, light sunning to spine and pages toned. A very desirable copy of this radical feminist manifesto whose author became famous when she non-fatally shot Pop artist Andy Warhol in 1968. Fascinating document, openly admitting that the movement was not about freedom to pursue opportunity but to "OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT, ELIMINATE THE MONEY SYSTEM, INSTITUTE COMPLETE AUTOMATION AND DESTROY THE MALE SEX" (Page 1). Book #v5a119. $980. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.

SIGNED by Langston Hughes. "Dream on, dreamer, dream on." First edition of the final volume in his "Simple" series featuring Jesse B. Semple, known as Simple, often called "The most famous character in black fiction." A fine, tight copy, signed by Hughes without personalization, in a just about fine unclipped jacket. No writings or markings in the book save for Hughes' signature on the front flyleaf. Book #vP2139. $1100. We specialize in rare, signed, and manuscript Ayn Rand as well as other legends and landmarks.

A card signed and dated in English by legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), as "Leo Tolstoy / 1 March 1910." The card is displayed beneath the celebrated image of the bearded author, half-length portrait, facing front, arms folded, dressed in a peasant's tunic, engraved by T. Johnson, photogravure by Sherer, Nabgoltz & Co., Moscow. The signed card is lightly toned, with isolated, barely noticeable small faded water spots mentioned for accuracy. Else near fine. Matted and framed behind glass. Not examined out of frame. The size of the signed card is 3.75" x 2.25." Minor surface loss to the frame, particularly to the bottom corners. The overall frame size is 10.5" x 15.5" x 1." Accompanied by two Certificates of Authenticity from R&R Enterprises Autograph Auctions (Amherst, New Hampshire.) At the time of Tolstoy's bold, dated signature, he was not only Russia's greatest living writer, but a revered religious figure as well---more highly beloved than the Tsar. Only months later in October,… Read More

F. Scott Fitzgerald Typed Letter Signed with handwritten addendum, December 26th, 1939, one year almost to the day before his death. F. Scott Fitzgerald, cash-strapped near the end of his life, pleads with his landlord "with somewhat bowed shoulders" for a reduction in rent, expressing hope that a Hollywood studio will employ him soon. "Things look a little brighter. My health is better and I really think I am going to work at the studios within a week. All this illness has, however, put me in debt and it may be some months before I am straightened out." In 1920, three days after publication, the entire first printing of F Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, all 3000 copies, sold. Riding the crest of his brisk sales and enthusiastic reviews, Fitzgerald propelled himself further into the financial and cultural elite with The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), and achieved immortality with The Great Gatsby (1925). His private life with his wife Zelda captivated his engrossed readers as much as his… Read More

"His works prepared the ground for action as well as thought." LOCKE, John. The Works of John Locke. London: Edmund Parker, et al., 1740. Three volumes. Folio (14"H x 9"W). Antique-style gilt-and blind-tooled paneled calf, raised bands, gilt-decorated spines, red morocco labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Fourth edition of John Locke's collected works, formally attaching Locke's name to important works which he had published anonymously. His influence on world leaders and thinkers undeniable, his works are hailed as groundbreaking in their elucidation of empiricism, revolutionary in their influence on 18th-century world affairs. With frontispiece portrait and memorial plate. A very handsome set. In his oft-quoted tribute to Locke, "The Father of British Empiricism," Voltaire writes, "Many a philosopher has written the tale of the soul's adventures, but now a sage has appeared who has, more modestly, written its history. Locke has developed human reason before men, as an excellent anatomist… Read More

SIGNED,Inscribed and dated by Conrad on a tipped in sheet. First edition. 8vo. (vi), 375 pages with 32 pp. (ads, dated 10/02). Inscribed and dated by Conrad on tipped-in sheet at front, "Yours faithfully Joseph Conrad 1921." Publisher's green cloth, stamped in black and in gilt, spine and extremities darkened, boards lightly faded; scattered soiling to boards, spine ends lightly frayed; all edges gilt; book-plate of Samuel Heiman on front paste-down; scattered minor spotting to text. A handsome first edition of Conrad's most important collection of stories, featuring the first book-form appearance of his masterpiece, "Heart of Darkness." Also featuring the stories "Youth" and "The End of the Tether," all three having previously appeared in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Book #vC2345. $8000. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.