Search Results: Authors starting with A from Raptis Rare Books

Cambridge: John Bartlett, 1852. First edition of Pringle's pro-slavery tract. Octavo, original wrappers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front panel, "Mr. Norton With respects of the Author." In near fine condition. Scarce signed. Born into an aristocratic slave-holding family in Charleston, South Carolina, Edward J. Pringle published Slavery in the Southern States with the purpose of proving that southern slaves had more freedom than the wage laborers of the North. The publisher's statement following the copyright page reads: "The following article is published at the request of a friend of the author, in Boston, to whom it was sent as an answer to the question, What do you think of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" at the South? It is published in the hope of inducing calmer thought on the subject of slavery than is likely to be the result of pictorial writing. - August, 1852.

Hollywood: Murray & Gee, Inc., 1943. First edition of this classic WWII-era play. Octavo, original wrappers. In very good condition. Cover design by Pennington. Ownership name. I think I have never read such a play that takes such a grip on the heart a lifts it up to such hope and understanding. If ever such a play was needed it is right now, not only in our own country by all over the suffering world" (Marty Forkins).

London: Chatto & Windus, 1908. Finely bound example of a Kempis' classic work. Octavo, bound in morocco by Bayntun, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, gilt doublures, illustrated including color plates by Flint. Translated from the Latin by Richard Wbytford and then re-edited into modern English by Wilfrid Raynal. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation. The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ at the time. The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions: "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", "Directives for the Interior Life", "On Interior Consolation" and "On the Blessed Sacrament".

London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co, 1884. The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ. The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions: "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", "Directives for the Interior Life", "On Interior Consolation" and "On the Blessed Sacrament". "The most widely read devotional manual apart from the Bible, perhaps even surpassing the influence of such books as Pilgrim's Progress and St. Augustine's Confession... its message stressed the humble Christian virtues as they were preached in the Sermon on the Mount" (PMM, 13).

Germantown: reprinted by Christopher Sowr, 1749. First American edition of The Imitation of Christ and the first printing of any work by a Kempis in America and one of the earliest works of Catholic Americana. In very good condition with some browning to the text and rubbing to the extremities. The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ at the time. The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions: "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", "Directives for the Interior Life", "On Interior Consolation" and "On the Blessed Sacrament". "A Female Hand" was the pseudonym for Elizabeth Singer Rowe, used in the Philadelphia edition of her works." (Evans, 6342) "Although Saur bought roman type from Franklin… Read More

Glasgow: Printed for Chalmers and Collins, 1823. The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ. The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions: "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", "Directives for the Interior Life", "On Interior Consolation" and "On the Blessed Sacrament". "The most widely read devotional manual apart from the Bible, perhaps even surpassing the influence of such books as Pilgrim's Progress and St. Augustine's Confession... its message stressed the humble Christian virtues as they were preached in the Sermon on the Mount" (PMM, 13).

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1974. First edition of the photographer's most well-known work which covered the global social circuit in a style that remains without peer to this day. Folio, original blue cloth, illustrated throughout. Presentation copy, warmly inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "Dear Myron We Lived The Dream Great Days Slim Aarons." Fine in a very good dust jacket. Uncommon signed and inscribed. Since publication in 1974, A Wonderful Time has served as a source of inspiration for art designers and advertising gurus. Aarons' pictures appeared on the pages of Harper's Bazaar, Life, Vanity Fair and Holiday. "Attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places" was Aarons's mantra.

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1974. First edition of Slim Aarons' masterpiece, a portrait of the glamour, luxury and exclusivity of the elite during the 1950s and 60s which remains without peer to this day. Folio, original blue cloth, profusely illustrated with photographs by Slim Aarons, many full-page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate of Joyce Allen to the front endpaper. An exceptional example, uncommon in this condition. Since publication in 1974, A Wonderful Time has served as a source of inspiration for art designers and advertising gurus. Aarons' pictures appeared on the pages of Harper's Bazaar, Life, Vanity Fair and Holiday. "Attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places" was Aarons's mantra.

New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1939. Changing New York not only fulfills Abbott's criterion for the historical importance of the documentary mode, but also demonstrates its power as a medium of personal expression" (Parr & Badger I:141), providing "a distinctive interpretation of New York as well as a priceless document thereof" (Icons of Photography, 104).

Springfield, Mass.: Published by Gurdon Bill, 1863-1866. First editions of both volumes in Abbott's history of the American Civil War. Octavo, two volumes, original publisher's deluxe full morocco with gilt titles to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, illustrated with maps, diagrams, and numerous steel engravings of battle scenes from original designs by Darley, and other eminent artists, and portraits of distinguished men including tissue-guarded frontispieces of Lincoln and Grant. From the library of Wisconsin Congressman John F. Potter with his gift inscription to vol. I and ownership name to vol. II. Nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and judge John Fox Potter was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1856 and he won re-election twice. When his Congressional term ended in early 1863, he declined appointment as governor of Dakota Territory and was later appointed by the Lincoln administration as Consul General of the United States in the British-controlled… Read More

New York: The Grove Press, 1988. First edition of the author's first novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration and design by Bascove. This haunting coming-of-age novel evokes in spare but vivid prose the exotic sights, sounds and landscapes of coastal East Africa and the spiritual rebirth of a sensitive 15-year-old. Living with his family in a poverty-stricken seaport village, the hero, Hassan Omar, is surrounded by a self-perpetuating cycle of violence and despair. His own sense of hopelessness is nurtured by the stunted lives around him: his drunken, tyrannical, libertine father; a sister, who escapes the blind-alley of their lives into headlong promiscuity; a dissolute older brother, who succumbs to the squalor and eventually dies in a freakish accident; and finally, his mother, who has fatalistically resigned herself to being brutalized by her husband. Eventually, Hassan leaves his family to stay with an uncle in Nairobi, and there he discovers a larger… Read More

New York: Tibor de Nagy Editions, 1970. First edition of the award winning poet's first book. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers, illustrated. One of 300 copies, 1 to 0 of which are signed. Signed by the author on the title page. In near fine condition. Rare. Austrian-America poet and novelist Walter Abish was awarded an MacArthur Fellowship in 1987. His first published work, Duel Site, contains the experimental poems Don't Speak to Me About Cartographers, Proust's Paradise Regained, Out Passage, and Destination Double Zero.

Patinated bronze portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln, marked "GEO. E. BISSELL Sc GORHAM CO. FOUNDERS copyrighted," and stamped "G 47." This is one of a series of popular desktop busts of Lincoln produced by the Gorham foundry in the early part of the 20th century. In fine condition. The piece measures 18 inches in height. An exceptional piece of American history.

Patinated bronze cast of Abraham Lincoln by George Bissell, one of only three commissioned by Ralph Newman for THE USS AL. Boldly signed by the artist in the back Geo. E. Bissell Sc. George Bissell was an important American sculptor working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He produced two full length statues of Lincoln: one in Edinburgh and one in Clermont, Iowa. According to the letter from Lincoln College Curator Paul Beaver, the present item is one of three copies made from the school's original Bissell bronze bust of Lincoln by the Van Dyke Galleries of Chicago in the summer of 1989. One copy was presented to the USS Abraham Lincoln (commissioned in 1989), one copy was sold to Mel Smith, and the third to Barry and Louise Taper. In fine condition. The piece measures 25.5 inches in height. An exceptional piece.  

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2020. First edition of this "striking manifesto, a stirring indictment and a straightforward road map to victory" (New York Times). Octavo, original boards. Signed by Stacy Abrams on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design Christopher Sergio.

New York: Astor-Honor/ An Obolensky Book, 1959. First edition of this "true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world" (Barack Obama). Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Chinua Achebe on the title page. Review copy, with the slip laid in, fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Ronald Clyne. First editions are rare and desirable signed. Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful… Read More

New York: Astor-Honor/ An Obolensky Book, 1959. First edition of this "true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world" (Barack Obama). Octavo, original boards. Signed by Chinua Achebe on the title page. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Ronald Clyne. First editions are rare and desirable signed. Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order. With more… Read More

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 John Hubbard. Photographs by Robert Lyons. Another Africa is a book that fuses photographs, poetry, and text to create a view of present-day Africa that moves beyond the stereotypes commonly held by most westerners: an open-air ethnographic museum, a continent in constant turmoil, a vast expanse of beautiful sand dunes and tropical savannas where herds of wildlife roam. This work peels away myths to explore the complexity, diversity, and human dimensions of a place called Africa--one that celebrates the commonplace and exotic simultaneously. The photographs are highly subjective, a personal investigation that reflects the sensibilities, formal concerns, and the ongoing engagement of the photographer in this part of the world. With the brilliant Chinua Achebe--a… Read More

New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. First edition of this work by the award-winning novelist. Octavo, original boards. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Stephen Chinua Achebe." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Kathleen M. Lynch.

New York: Kulchar Foundation, 1977. First edition of the first book by Adam. Quarto, original boards. Boldly signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "All good wishes Helen Adam." In near fine condition.