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The Novel Twenty-One Publishers Rejected… and the First Edition Collectors Now Chase.

By Adrienne Raptis | June 17, 2026
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It is one of the great near-misses in modern publishing history. In 1953 a forty-one-year-old schoolmaster named William Golding finished a short, strange novel about a group of English boys stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash, and sent the manuscript out to find a publisher. More than twenty London houses read it.…

Curating a Legacy: Ten Iconic First Editions Worth Acquiring.

By Adrienne Raptis | June 16, 2026
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There is a particular category of rare book that transcends the ordinary parameters of the collecting field. These are not simply early printings of significant texts they are the physical embodiments of cultural turning points, volumes whose first appearances in the world marked moments from which literature, science, and intellectual history did not return. To…

A Book and Its Legend: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in a Jewelled Binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

By Adrienne Raptis | June 12, 2026
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Some books exist in multiple registers simultaneously. There is The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as a text — the collection of quatrains composed in eleventh-century Persia by the mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám, rendered into English verse by Edward FitzGerald in 1859, and subsequently translated, illustrated, printed, and bound in more editions than any comparable…

Nobel Laureates in Print: Collecting the First Editions of Literature’s Highest Honor.

By Adrienne Raptis | June 6, 2026
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The Nobel Prize in Literature is the most consequential recognition in the literary world. Awarded annually by the Swedish Academy since 1901, it has conferred its authority on writers whose work has, in the Academy’s enduring phrase, been of the greatest benefit to mankind — a formulation capacious enough to encompass poets, novelists, essayists, and…

PBS Feature – Made With Love in America 250 – The Harcourt Bindery in Boston, Massachusetts: The Oldest Hand Book Bindery in America.

By Adrienne Raptis | June 5, 2026
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In the spring of 2026, PBS’s Emmy Award-winning Made With Love series turned its attention to a question that has rarely felt more timely: in a country marking the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, what does it still mean to make something by hand? The result was a special episode, Celebrating America 250: Made With Love,…

Mark Rivera Book Signing.

By Adrienne Raptis | May 29, 2026
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On May 14, 2026, Raptis Rare Books and Churchill Cigar Company had the extraordinary privilege of hosting legendary musician, musical director, and rock icon Mark Rivera for an unforgettable evening centered around his memoir, Sideman: In Pursuit of the Next Gig. The event brought together music lovers, book collectors, cigar aficionados, and members of the…

Purple State of Mind: Fox News Commentator Dana Perino Launches her New Romance Book in Palm Beach.

By Adrienne Raptis | May 20, 2026
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May 18, 2026 BY VALERIE STAGGS FLORIDA WEEKLY CORRESPONDENT   Inside Raptis Rare Book Store on Worth Avenue, stacks of FOX News Commentator Dana Perino’s new book, “Purple State,” sit waiting for the hundreds of eager fans in line at the author’s recent book signing. The books’ bright pink and purple covers brought a splash…

Inside the Ancient Art of Bookbinding: How Harcourt Bindery Gives Rare Books New Life.

By Adrienne Raptis | May 20, 2026
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In April 2026, the CBS affiliate WBZ-TV turned its cameras on a subject that might seem, at first glance, an unlikely candidate for a lifestyle feature: a modest workshop in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where books are still sewn, rounded, backed, and tooled entirely by hand. The segment, produced for the station’s New England Living series and reported by…

Celebrating 250 Years of America: Raptis Rare Books Commemorates the Anniversary of the USA.

By Adrienne Raptis | May 19, 2026
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Raptis Rare Books was recently featured in the May 10, 2026 issue of Florida Weekly: Celebrating 250 Years of America – Florida Weekly History comes to life this season on Worth Avenue, where Raptis Rare Books will mark the 250th anniversary of the United States with a remarkable exhibition of founding-era treasures. Set within the gallery’s…

In the News: Mark Rivera, Saxophonist for Billy Joel, to appear May 14 in Palm Beach.

By Adrienne Raptis | May 13, 2026
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Jodie Wagner Palm Beach Daily News May 12, 2026, 3:36 p.m. ET Musician Mark Rivera will hold a book signing for his memoir, “Sideman: In Pursuit of the Next Gig” on May 14 in Palm Beach. The event will take place at Raptis Rare Books, followed by a free live performance at Churchill Cigar Company.…

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