Search Results: Titles starting with D from Raptis Rare Books

New York: Walker and Company, 1994. First edition of this riveting work on the legendary scientist James D. Watson. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by James Watson and Francis Crick on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Ron Monteleone. Rare and desirable signed by Watson and Crick. In its drama, Watson's life has rivaled the discovery of the structure of DNA. So intent on his research was this awkward, bumbling scholar that he would climb a drainpipe to sneak into a lab at night. Watson had a knack for selecting problems that would yield important scientific results, but did he pilfer? Did Rosalind Franklin originate crucial material? If so, why was she not included in the Nobel Prize? Baldwin, who had exceptional access to Watson and his family, conveys the elegance of science (the ``structure [of DNA] was too pretty not to be true''), describes diverse influences (birding, Arrowsmith, movies), and even gives advice (go to a college where others… Read More

San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1974. First edition of this important work by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Octavo, original boards. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "To Bob: For your affectionate support over so many years, my deep gratitude Arthur August 8, 1974." The recipient, Robert Lehman was a colleague of Kornberg's at Stanford and was a co-discoverer of DNA polymerase. In near fine condition. With the original publicity card laid in. DNA Synthesis is the first comprehensive treatment emphasizing its biochemical aspects and recent developments.

San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1974. DNA Synthesis is the first comprehensive treatment emphasizing its biochemical aspects and recent developments.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. First edition of this work by the Nobel laureate. Octavo, original cloth. Signed James Watson on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. A remarkable alignment of the planets is occurring in 2003: the 50th anniversary of the double helix and the completion of the sequence of the human genome. As a defining figure in both landmark events, no other human being on the planet is positioned to write as authoritatively about all this as Jim Watson. In DNA: The Secret of Life he does so with characteristic clarity, style, and wit. If you really want to know what happened in the most important half-century of biology since the world began, read this" (Francis Collins).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Signed by James Watson, Andrew Berry and also signed by scientist Edward O. Wilson on the front free endpaper. In fine condition. A remarkable alignment of the planets is occurring in 2003: the 50th anniversary of the double helix and the completion of the sequence of the human genome. As a defining figure in both landmark events, no other human being on the planet is positioned to write as authoritatively about all this as Jim Watson. In DNA: The Secret of Life he does so with characteristic clarity, style, and wit. If you really want to know what happened in the most important half-century of biology since the world began, read this" (Francis Collins).

1960. Dag Hammarskjold was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. Hammarskjold still remains the youngest person to have held the post, being only 47 years old when he was appointed in 1953. His second term was cut short when he died in the crash of his DC-6 airplane in Northern Rhodesia while en route to cease-fire negotiations during the Congo Crisis. He is the only person to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. Hammarskjold has been referred to as one of the two best secretaries-general of the United Nations, and his appointment has been mentioned as the most notable success for the UN. President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjold "the greatest statesman of our century.

New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1962. First edition of this early biography of The Dalai Lama. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece. Signed and dated in the year of publication by His Holiness The Dalai Lama on the front free endpaper. Laid in is a note to the recipient on official Tibetan letterhead from the private secretary to the Dalai Lama stating that The Dalai Lama has signed this copy. Also inscribed on the half-title page by the author, "With warmes regards and best wishes to Kenneth Crouch- and with a special salute from- Lowell Thomas Jr. Dec. 14, 62." Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some tape to the exterior. Jacket design by Gary Gore. Contemporary signatures of His Holiness are scarce. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Damage follows the story of a British politician who, in the prime of life, causes his own downfall through an inappropriate relationship with his son's girlfriend (and later fiancee). It was adapted into a film of the same title by Louis Malle in 1992. "A passionate, elegant, ruthless story" (Iris Murdoch). "A remarkable first novel of awesome accomplishment and quite startling psychological insight" (Ruth Rendell).

1983. Donald Brooks was a fashion designer and creator of the "American Look" founded in the 1950s and 1960s. He had an immense passion for stage and film, designing well over 3500 costumes. His efforts were recognized by an Emmy Award and numerous other honors; he was also nominated three times for the Academy Award and once for a Tony.

London: Oxford University Press, 1963. First edition of Soyinka's first book. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers as issued. Signed by Wole Soyinka on the title page. In near fine condition. One of the most recognized of Wole Soyinka's plays, A Dance of the Forests "was presented at the Nigerian Independence celebrations in 1960, it denigrated the glorious African past and warned Nigerians and all Africans that their energies henceforth should be spent trying to avoid repeating the mistakes that have already been made." At the time of its release, it was an iconoclastic work that angered many of the elite in Soyinka's native Nigeria. Politicians were particularly incensed at his prescient portrayal of post-colonial Nigerian politics as aimless and corrupt. Despite the deluge of criticism, the play remains an influential work. In it, Soyinka espouses a unique vision for a new Africa, one that is able to forge a new identity free from the influence of European imperialism.

New York: Bantam, 2011. First edition of the fifth novel in the author's classic series. Octavo, original half boards, illustrated endpapers. Signed by the George R.R. Martin on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by David Stevenson. Jacket illustration by Larry Rostant. Filled with vividly rendered set pieces, unexpected turnings, assorted cliffhangers and moments of appalling cruelty, A Dance with Dragons is epic fantasy as it should be written: passionate, compelling, convincingly detailed and thoroughly imagined" (The Washington Post).

New York: Delacorte Press, 1993. In his extraordinary new novel, master storyteller Ken Follett weaves a breathtaking tale set amid the wealth and decadence of Victorian England.

London: John Lehmann, 1946. First British edition of the author's first book. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Saul Bellow on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with the lightest of wear. Jacket design by Robert Medley. Saul Bellow is the only author to have received three National Book Awards, for The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and Mr. Sammler’s Planet, in addition to both the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes. The Sunday Times praised these achievements when it revered "Bellow’s oeuvre [as] both timeless and ruthlessly contemporary.

New York: The Vanguard Press, 1944. First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author's first book. Octavo, original beige cloth. Fine in a price-clipped dust jacket that shows some chipping to the crown and foot of the spine. One of the most honest pieces of testimony on the psychology of a whole generation who have grown up during the Depression and the war" (Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker).

New York: Vanguard, 1944. First edition of the author's first book. Octavo, original beige cloth. Fine in a very good dust jacket that shows some chipping to the crown and foot of the spine. Signed by Saul Bellow on the title page. One of the most honest pieces of testimony on the psychology of a whole generation who have grown up during the Depression and the war" (Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker).

Santa Barbara: The Black Sparrow Press, 1981. First edition of Bukowski's classic book of poetry. Octavo, original pictorial boards. One of only 100 numbered copies signed by the author, this is number 89. Additionally inscribed by Bukowski on the title page, "For Arthur Applebaum - Who aids me so kindly in my man travails, Hank Charles Bukowski." Bukowski has also added a drawing of his signature little man with a bottle. With an original acrylic painted portrait by Bukowski bound in and signed, "Buk." In near fine condition. Rare and desirable. German-American poet and novelist Charles Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels beginning in the early 1940s and continuing through the early 90s. Referred to as the "laureate of American lowlife" by Time in 1985, Bukowski's work was defined by the ambient nature of L.A. culture, addressing the experience of the ordinary poor American. Bukowski wrote in detail about his various relationships with women and alcohol,… Read More

New York: The Vanguard Press, 1944. First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author's first book. Octavo, original beige cloth. Signed by Saul Bellow on the title page. Fine in a very good dust jacket that shows some wear and toning to the spine. One of the most honest pieces of testimony on the psychology of a whole generation who have grown up during the Depression and the war" (Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker).

New York: The Vanguard Press, 1944. One of the most honest pieces of testimony on the psychology of a whole generation who have grown up during the Depression and the war" (Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker).

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. One of the most honest pieces of testimony on the psychology of a whole generation who have grown up during the Depression and the war" (Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker).

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1876. The controversial final statement of one of the most renowned of Victorian novelists, Daniel Deronda played a positively influential role in on the emergence of Jewish Zionism upon publication in 1876. The book was immediately translated into German and Dutch and has been cited by Henrietta Szold, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, and Emma Lazarus as having been influential in their decision to become Zionists.