Search Results: Titles starting with U from Raptis Rare Books

Boston: Harper & Brothers and Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1930-36. First editions of Dos Passos' epic U.S.A. Trilogy, each signed and inscribed by him. Octavo, 3 volumes, original cloth. Each are very good to near fine in the original dust jackets. We have never seen another complete set signed.

Unique frame constructed with original wood recovered during repair work on USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, the world's oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat most noted for her actions during the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom. The frame houses an early 20th century mounted photograph of an image of USS Constitution. Accompanied by a typed note signed by Quarterman Shipjoiner Joseph McIntyre which reads in full, '"February 23rd 1907" U.S.S. Constitution. This picture was copied from a Photograph taken of the Historic of Frigate Constitution on a cruise of Malta 1849. This frame was made from the timber of this ship used in her construction in the year 1796; in the repair of ship at Boston Navy yard, 1907 this stock was selected from said timber. "Joseph McIntyre" Quarterman Shipjoiner.' The frame is in fine condition and measures 14.5 inches by 12 inches. Also accompanied by a modern scale model of the ship which measures 21 inches by 16 inches. The USS Constitution… Read More

New York: Quadrangle/ The New York Times Book Co., 1975. First edition. Octavo, original half cloth. Inscribed by the author on the half title page, "To ____ ______, with best wishes- Frank Mankiewicz Mar. '75." Additionally inscribed by Bill Safire below, "Dear Jeff- Don't believe everything my friend Frank says! Bill Safire." Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. A unique copy.

New Haven: Yale University, 2007. First edition. Octavo, original wrappers, illustrated. In fine condition. Introduction by Peter Cachola Schmal.

Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1969. First edition of one of Philip K. Dick's most acclaimed novels. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Philip K. Dick on the front free endpaper. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing. Jacket design by Peter Rauch. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed. Ubik "features the creation of a subjective world by a group of people killed in an accident but restored to a kind of consciousness within a preservative machine, though any final determination of what is real in the book is made superbly problematical" (Clute & Nicholls, 329). "A brilliantly realized science fiction future darkened by Kafkaesque paranoia. As portrayed by Dick, a world in which cryogenic suspension has abolished traditional concepts of death and in which psychics can alter the future by changing the past is one that offers no foundation for objective truth" (Barron, Fantasy and Horror 6-113). It was chosen by… Read More

London: Collins Harvill, 1989. "Ford's sense of place is extraordinary. His Oaxaca, perpetually strung with Christmas lights and wire-mesh bells, is a tourist town under military law. This is the work of a formidably talented novelist" (Newsweek). "So hardboiled and tough that it might have been written on the back of a trenchcoat. A grant Maltese Falcon of a novel" (Stanley Elkin).

Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. Ulysses was published in Paris by Shakespeare & Company, 1922. It was a struggle for the author to find a publisher, a comic irony considering that Ulysses is "[u]niversally hailed as the most influential work of modern times" (Grolier Joyce 69). Ulysses was an immediate success. The first printing sold out, and "within a year Joyce had become a well-known literary figure. Ulysses was explosive in its impact on the literary world of 1922" (de Grazia, 27). Even so, the book faced difficulties in global reception. It was banned in the U.K. and was prosecuted for the obscenity in the Nausicaa episode (Ellmann, 1982). Joyce's inspiration for the novel began as a young boy reading Charles Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses and writing an essay entitled "My Favorite Hero" after being impressed by the wholeness of the character (Goreman, 1939). The idea for the novel grew from a story in Dubliners in 1906, which Joyce expanded into… Read More

Washington, D.C, 1871.

Washington, D.C, 1871. Three days earlier on May 8, 1871, President Grant had signed the Treaty of Washington, settling the so-called "Alabama Claims," whereby the U.S. sought reparations from the United Kingdom for attacks on U.S. ships by the British built ship, CSS Alabama, and other Confederate ships that were sold to the rebel states during the Civil War. The British government agreed to pay the U.S. $15.5 million.

New York: Limited Editions Club, 1935. One of the most arresting collaborations in 20th-century literature. "It was a great idea to bring them together; celebrities of the same generation, of similar virtuosity" (Wheeler, 15). The 26 beautiful full-page illustrations by Matisse accompany the text of Joyce's Ulysses, including six soft-ground etchings with reproductions of the sketches on blue and yellow paper. "One of the very few American livres de peintres issued before World War II. According to George Macy [this work's designer], who undertook this only American publication of Matisse's illustrations, he asked the artist how many etchings the latter could provide for $5000. The artist chose to take six subjects from Homer's Odyssey. The preparatory drawings reproduced with the soft-ground etchings (Matisse's only use of this medium) record the evolution of the figures from vigorous sketches to closely knit compositions" (Artist and the Book 197).

New York: Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co., [c. 1885]. Attractive bronze bust of of Ulysses S. Grant as General of the Army by famed American sculptor Henry Kirke Bush-Brown. The adopted nephew of sculptor Henry Kirke Brown, Henry Kirke Bush-Brown was revered for his accurate realist sculptures illustrating American history. He produced three equestrian bronze sculptures erected at the Gettysburg battlefield depicting General George Mead (the victor at Gettysburg), General John F. Reynolds (killed in action July 1, 1863), and General John Sedgwick (the senior most Union casualty of the American Civil War). In addition, Bush-Brown made a bust of Abraham Lincoln, dedicated in 1912 as part of the Lincoln Speech Memorial commemorating Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Mounted on a bronze base, the entire piece measures 7.75 inches in height. In fine condition.

Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. First edition of Joyce's masterpiece, one of 750 numbered copies printed on handmade paper from a total edition of 1000 copies, this is number number 276. Thick quarto, original blue and white wrappers. In near fine condition, square and tight with a touch of rubbing to the crown and foot of the spine. Housed in a custom slipcase. An exceptional example. Ulysses was published in Paris by Shakespeare & Company, 1922. It was a struggle for the author to find a publisher, a comic irony considering that Ulysses is "[u]niversally hailed as the most influential work of modern times" (Grolier Joyce 69). Ulysses was an immediate success. The first printing sold out, and "within a year Joyce had become a well-known literary figure. Ulysses was explosive in its impact on the literary world of 1922" (de Grazia, 27). Even so, the book faced difficulties in global reception. It was banned in the U.K. and was prosecuted for the obscenity in the Nausicaa episode (Ellmann,… Read More

Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1924. Ulysses was published in Paris by Shakespeare & Company, 1922. It was a struggle for the author to find a publisher, a comic irony considering that Ulysses is "[u]niversally hailed as the most influential work of modern times" (Grolier Joyce 69). Ulysses was an immediate success. The first printing sold out, and "within a year Joyce had become a well-known literary figure. Ulysses was explosive in its impact on the literary world of 1922" (de Grazia, 27). Even so, the book faced difficulties in global reception. It was banned in the U.K. and was prosecuted for the obscenity in the Nausicaa episode (Ellmann, 1982). Joyce's inspiration for the novel began as a young boy reading Charles Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses and writing an essay entitled "My Favorite Hero" after being impressed by the wholeness of the character (Goreman, 1939). The idea for the novel grew from a story in Dubliners in 1906, which Joyce expanded into… Read More

New York: Random House, 1934.

Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922. First edition of Joyce's masterpiece, one of 750 numbered copies printed on handmade paper from a total edition of 1000 copies, this is number number 276. Thick quarto, original blue and white wrappers. In very good condition with some expert restoration to the spine. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box. Ulysses was published in Paris by Shakespeare & Company, 1922. It was a struggle for the author to find a publisher, a comic irony considering that Ulysses is "[u]niversally hailed as the most influential work of modern times" (Grolier Joyce 69). Ulysses was an immediate success. The first printing sold out, and "within a year Joyce had become a well-known literary figure. Ulysses was explosive in its impact on the literary world of 1922" (de Grazia, 27). Even so, the book faced difficulties in global reception. It was banned in the U.K. and was prosecuted for the obscenity in the Nausicaa episode (Ellmann, 1982).… Read More

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Rare original carte de visite signed by Ulysses S. Grant, "U.S. Grant Maj. Gen. U.S.A." In near fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 9.5 inches by 8 inches.

New York: Limited Editions Club, 1935. One of the most arresting collaborations in 20th-century literature. "It was a great idea to bring them together; celebrities of the same generation, of similar virtuosity" (Wheeler, 15). The 26 beautiful full-page illustrations by Matisse accompany the text of Joyce's Ulysses, including six soft-ground etchings with reproductions of the sketches on blue and yellow paper. "One of the very few American livres de peintres issued before World War II. According to George Macy [this work's designer], who undertook this only American publication of Matisse's illustrations, he asked the artist how many etchings the latter could provide for $5000. The artist chose to take six subjects from Homer's Odyssey. The preparatory drawings reproduced with the soft-ground etchings (Matisse's only use of this medium) record the evolution of the figures from vigorous sketches to closely knit compositions" (Artist and the Book 197).

Original bronze bust of Ulysses S. Grant by Henry Shrady, the famed sculptor of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial on the west front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Mounted on socle and base, the entire piece measures 18.5 inches in height. In fine condition. An exceptional piece of Americana. Henry Merwin Shrady was an American sculptor, known for the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial on the west front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Shrady and architect Edward Pearce Casey won the competition to build the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in 1902. In the twenty years Shrady spent executing its sculpture program, he studied biology at the American Museum of Natural History and dissected horses to gain a better understanding of animal anatomy. The memorial was dedicated on April 27, 1922, two weeks after Shrady's death. The Grant Memorial is described as "one of the most important sculptures in Washington" by James M. Goode in The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C. It consists of… Read More

Rare Royal paper fan signed by the Italian Royal Family of Umberto di Savoia. Mounted on wooden spokes, the fan is signed by the final King of Italy, Umberto di Savoia and six other members of the Royal family including his mother, Princess Elena of Montenegro, and father, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Mounted on blue velvet, the entire piece measures 12.75 inches by 16.75 inches. In near fine condition. The only son among the five children of King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena, Umberto II of Italy reigned for 34 days although he had been de facto head of state since 1944. In an effort to repair the monarchy's image after the fall of Benito Mussolini's regime, Victor Emmanuel transferred his powers to Umberto in 1944 while retaining the title of king. As a referendum was in preparation on the abolition of the monarchy in 1946, Victor Emmanuel abdicated his throne in favour of Umberto in the hope that his exit might bolster the monarchy. But the referendum passed, Italy was declared a… Read More