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George C. Herring Read the original essay by George C. Herring and save 30% on From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776.

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rare and collectible


Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book 1850 Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, in 2 Volumes
Leather
by Sarah J. Hale
Set Hardcover
by Daniel David Luckenbill
Atlas of Treasure Maps Methodology and Epistemology for Social Science: Selected Papers
Hardcover
by F. L. Coffman
Hardcover
by Donald T. Campbell


In the late-night hours of June 27, 1787, Edward Gibbon came to the end of a twenty-three-year journey. His six volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, had come to a close. The History was published in quarto format from 1776 to 1789; our octavo set was published from 1783 to 1791. Covering over fourteen hundred years (180-1590) Gibbon' s work was — and still is — the history of one of the greatest civilizations ever known. Add to Gibbon's tireless scholarship the unmistakable voice of... (read more)

Middle East

On the Outskirts of Empire in Asia On the Outskirts of Empire in Asia
by Earl of Ronaldshay

Notes
Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1904. Octavo, original blue pictorial cloth, xxii, 408 pages, 56 plates 2 large folding maps. Spine and all corners bumped and rubbed. Bottom corners creased and rubbed through cloth. Spine slightly cocked, repaired... (read more)
 
Your Price $175.00
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Military

The United States Army and Navy: Their Histories, from the Era of the Revolution to the Close of the Spanish-American War; with Accounts of their Organization, Administration, and Duties The United States Army and Navy: Their Histories, from the Era of the Revolution to the Close of the Spanish-American War; with Accounts of their Organization, Administration, and Duties
by Arthur L. Wagner and J. D. Jerrold Kelley

Notes
Akron, OH: The Werner Company, 1899. First edition, oblong folio in blue cloth w/title in gold on front cover, 44 brilliant color plates; 241pp. Covers worn & stained, a few pages are creased w/no effect on plates. (oversize)... (read more)
 
Your Price $900.00
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Americana

Life in the Rocky Mountains 1830-1835 Life in the Rocky Mountains 1830-1835
by Warren Angus Ferris

Notes
Salt Lake City: Rocky Mountain Book Shop, (1940) 4to. Green cloth, title stamped in gilt. With folding map at rear. Previous owner's signature on front free endpaper. Good condition. HER... (read more)
 
Your Price $125.00
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Literature

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1st U.S. Edition)
by Haruki Murakami

Notes
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. First US edition, octavo, blue pictorial paper over boards printed in white showing the inner workings of the mechanical bird; 611pp. Edgeworn, scuffed & rubbed, spine ends rubbed through. Pictorial dust jacket (designed... (read more)
 
Your Price $200.00
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Gardening

Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual
by C Leo Hitchcock

Publisher Comments
This manual is essentially a condensation of the five-volume work, 'Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest.' The sequence of families is the same in the two works except for the transposition of the monocotyledons and dicotyledons.... (read more)
 
Your Price $60.00
(New - Hardcover)
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Exploration and Travel Writing

The Voyage of Captain John Saris to Japan, 1613 The Voyage of Captain John Saris to Japan, 1613
by John Saris

Notes
London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1900. Octavo, 22x15cm. lxxxvii, 242pp, 20pp ads. First edition. Original blue cloth decorated in blind and gilt. Frontispiece, 3 black & white plates (one of which is folding) and a folding map. Edited by Sir... (read more)
 
Your Price $375.00
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Children's and Illustrated Classics

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 1st US Edition Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 1st US Edition
by J. K. Rowling

Notes
New York: Arthur A. Levine/ Scholastic Press, (1999). Octavo, 16 x 23 cm. vii, [ii], 341pp. First edition, first state, in a first state dust jacket: without "year 2" on the spine of the book or on the spine panel of the dust jacket. Original quarter... (read more)
 
Your Price $150.00
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Science Fiction

Les Indes-Noires et Le Chancellor Suivi de Martin Paz Les Indes-Noires et Le Chancellor Suivi de Martin Paz
by Jules Verne

Notes
Paris: J Hetzel, [no date] Tall 8vo. 173, (3), 223pp. The first two works have separate engraved title pages. Circa 1880. Modern quarter leather, pebbled cloth over boards. Part of the series: Les Voyages Extraordinaires published by Hetzel. Ffep & first... (read more)
 
Your Price $200.00
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A small sampling of the authors whose books you'll find in our Rare Book Room. Use the search engine or browse aisles to see our complete listings.

Edward Abbey
W. H. Auden

Karl Baedeker
James Baldwin
L. Frank Baum
Samuel Beckett
Saul Bellow
Ambrose Bierce
William Blake
Ray Bradbury
Charles Bukowski
James Lee Burke
Robert Burns
William Burroughs

Italo Calvino
Raymond Carver
Betty Crocker
R. Crumb
James Crumley

Charles Darwin
Charles Dickens
Philip K. Dick
Walt Disney
Arthur Conan Doyle
Edmund Dulac

Dave Eggers
Albert Einstein
Ralph Ellison

William Faulkner

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Allen Ginsberg
Nadine Gordimer
Edward Gorey
Sue Grafton
Robert Graves
Graham Greene
Zane Grey
David Guterson

Jane Hamilton
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Robert A. Heinlein
Ernest Hemingway
Oliver Wendel Holmes
Langston Hughes
Victor Hugo
Zora Neale Hurston

John Irving
Washington Irving

James Joyce

Franz Kafka
Jack Kerouac
Ken Kesey
Stephen King
Rudyard Kipling
Dean Koontz

D. H. Lawrence
Ursula K. Le Guin
Jack London
Barry Lopez

Thomas Mann
Cormac McCarthy
Herman Melville
Thomas Merton
James Michener
A. A. Milne
John Milton

V. S. Naipaul
Gloria Naylor

Patrick Obrian
Eugene Oneill

Edgar Allan Poe
Ezra Pound
Thomas Pynchon

Theodore Roosevelt
Philip Roth
J. K. Rowling
Arundhati Roy

J. D. Salinger
Walter Scott
Dr. Seuss
William Shakespeare
George Bernard Shaw
Gary Snyder
Wallace Stegner
John Steinbeck
Gertrude Stein
Robert L. Stevenson

Mark Twain

John Updike

Gore Vidal
Kurt Vonnegut

Tennessee Williams
Tobias Wolff
Virginia Woolf

The original Powell's Books was born in a former used car dealership and to this day the store maintains a no-nonsense, industrial feel. One place, though, has been reserved for comfort and elegance. Dark wood shelving, decorative lighting, antique tables, and our most valuable — and beautiful — books, all make the Rare Book Room one of the most pleasant destinations in the store.
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