Modern Firsts

Here is a question for all Hunter Thompson collectors out there: If you had to choose between being the proud owner of Thompson’s first or second book which would you choose? The choice, of course, is between Thompson’s famous 1967 Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs or the 1971 […]

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In the introduction of Robert Frank’s landmark photography collection The Americans, Jack Kerouac described Frank’s plaintive black and white images as: “That crazy feeling in America, when the sun is hot on the streets and the music comes out of the jukebox or from a nearby funeral.” It was originally published by Robert Delpire in […]

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There has scarcely been a time when the name F. Scott Fitzgerald and the title The Great Gatsby has been so frequently mentioned with curiosity and awe. While the 1925 debut of the modern first novel certainly received its due fame, and while the 1974 film rendition made its premiere to the “watching” world, the […]

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Dune, Science Fiction Epic

by Admin on May 10, 2013

In June of 2011, Abebooks sold a first edition of the science fiction epic Dune, signed by the author, for $7,500. The amount matched the Chilton Book Company editor’s advance offer made to the book author, Frank Herbert, back in 1963. It proved to be a tough sell at the time, as publisher after publisher […]

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Let’s assume for a moment that we are in the market for a first edition copy of Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald from 1934. We may be an American literature collector of modern first editions or a fan of Fitzgerald or even a beautiful art dust jacket collector. We want to purchase […]

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Fifty years after his first movie appearance in 1962 with Dr No, James Bond has proved to be more popular than ever. Sam Mendes’s latest James Bond film, Skyfall took more than £20 million at the UK opening last weekend. With the beginning of November seeing the launch of the film in the US, expect […]

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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

by Liz on August 2, 2012

      As the world excitedly anticipates the completion of the long awaited for film, The Hobbit, ample credit towards the remarkable rare book whose story inspired the film is certainly due. While the book is not only a classic favorite in rare book literature, it is also significantly valuable in the rare book market, which […]

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Modern Firsts – Auntie Mame

by Liz on May 21, 2012

Flamboyance, indulgence, and hilarious adventure are entertainingly amalgamated into Patrick Dennis’s much beloved rare book, Auntie Mame; an Irreverent Escapade. Through the eyes of her young nephew, Patrick, the boisterous and wildly eccentric figure Mame is sketched, and the reader is splendidly hijacked and brought aboard Mame’s wild plane ride of life of delightfully irresponsible […]

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One Hundred years ago, a young American author by the name of Edgar Rice Burroughs, wrote his second story, “Tarzan of the Apes” for the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine. The publication paid $700 for the work, which was enough to send Burroughs the message that he could quite possibly make a living as a writer. […]

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Few tales in American literature have grasped the soul and remained an eternal presence in the mind as greatly or as deeply as Harper Lee’s immortal tale, To Kill a Mockingbird. It is no surprise that the first edition of the novel is quite a rare book which won many honorable awards and received great […]

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