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In the News – Matthew Raptis to open The Churchill Cigar Company next to Raptis Rare Books

In the News – Matthew Raptis to open The Churchill Cigar Company next to Raptis Rare Books

By Adrienne Raptis | October 26, 2022
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The following article was published today in the Palm Beach Daily News: New cigar business to open on Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue in December Jodie Wagner Palm Beach Daily News A bookstore owner and fashion boutique operator will team to open Palm Beach’s first cigar store this fall. Matthew Raptis, who owns Raptis Rare Books at 329 Worth…

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José de Sousa Saramago: Nobel Prize-Winning Portuguese Author.

José de Sousa Saramago: Nobel Prize-Winning Portuguese Author.

By Drew Mercantini | October 3, 2022
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In 1982, a novel called Memorial do Convento was published in Portugal. A love story set against 18th-century Inquisitorial Lisbon, the novel captured the imagination of many readers, garnering widespread acclaim. Its author, then sixty year old José Saramago, was not known for literature, but for journalism. With this novel, his fourth to be published,…

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Celebrating Stephen King: Master of Horror.

Celebrating Stephen King: Master of Horror.

By Drew Mercantini | September 24, 2022
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Thursday, September 21st marked Stephen King‘s seventy-fifth birthday. Born in 1947 in Maine, King was raised by his mother who, with her two sons, moved several times before settling in Durham, Maine. King’s love for horror blossomed in his childhood, when he discovered a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories in an attic. As he entered…

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William Klein: Photographer and Filmmaker

William Klein: Photographer and Filmmaker

By Drew Mercantini | September 14, 2022
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Born in April of 1926, William Klein grew up in the heart of New York City, during the Great Depression and World War 2. Despite his economic circumstances, Klein proved to be a precocious student, enrolling at the City College of New York when he was only 14 years old. After joining the Army, Klein…

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Remembering Roald Dahl: Stories that Shaped a Generation

Remembering Roald Dahl: Stories that Shaped a Generation

By Drew Mercantini | September 10, 2022
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September 13th marks the birthday of Roald Dahl, one of the most popular authors of children’s literature of the 20th century. Born in Wales in 1916, Dahl was a first generation Englishman who spent most of his life in the United Kingdom. His famous stories, such as Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and…

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Richard Feynman: Quantum Physics and the Subatomic Universe

Richard Feynman: Quantum Physics and the Subatomic Universe

By Drew Mercantini | September 7, 2022
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Richard Feynman, born in May 1918, became one of the most well-known physicists of all time. Feynman was born in New York to Jewish parents, though he held no strong feelings toward his faith. He discovered early on his talent for engineering, maintaining a small experimental laboratory where he would repair radios. His practical scientific…

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Remembrance of Things Past: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Marcel Proust’s Masterpiece.

Remembrance of Things Past: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Marcel Proust’s Masterpiece.

By Drew Mercantini | August 27, 2022
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Born on July 10, 1871 in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, famed French novelist Marcel Proust was born into a France torn by internal conflict. Though Paris was gripped by political turmoil and France’s modernization put pressure on the class system, Proust and his educated aristocratic parents were largely unaffected. Marcel, however, was a…

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F.A. Hayek: Celebrating One of the Greatest Economists of the 20th Century.

F.A. Hayek: Celebrating One of the Greatest Economists of the 20th Century.

By Drew Mercantini | August 20, 2022
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Born on May 8th, 1899 in Vienna, Friedrich August von Hayek was a scholar by nature and pedigree. His father and grandfathers either taught or studied the natural sciences and economics. When Hayek entered the University of Vienna, his intellectual appetites led him to pursue courses in philosophy, psychology, and economics. He was hired soon…

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Nikos Kazantzakis: the Modern Greek Philosopher.

Nikos Kazantzakis: the Modern Greek Philosopher.

By Drew Mercantini | July 22, 2022
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Nikos Kazantzakis, born in 1883 on the island of Crete, had a tremendous desire for truth, a sharp intellect to seek it out, and an adventurous disposition that brought him around the world. His fiction largely reflects his philosophical training and religious values, while his work as a translator reflects his concern for the education and…

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Virginia Woolf: Avant-Garde Literary Pioneer.

Virginia Woolf: Avant-Garde Literary Pioneer.

By Victoria Maseda | July 1, 2022
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The author of such notable books as Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, English writer Virginia Woolf is an established name in the realm of fiction. A pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device, her unique style and method of storytelling has distinguished her as one of the more important…

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