The Rare Book Sleuth

The Rare Book Sleuth Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Rare Book Sleuth is a rare and antiquarian book dealer specializing in first edition, signed copies and notable rarities.

We are members of the ABAA and IOBA.

~White Noise, Don DeLillo~First edition, first printing, signed by Don DeLillo on the title page. Winner of the 1985 Nat...
09/10/2026

~White Noise, Don DeLillo~

First edition, first printing, signed by Don DeLillo on the title page. Winner of the 1985 National Book Award, White Noise remains DeLillo’s best-known novel, a dark comedy about family, consumer culture, technology, and the fear of death.

New York: Elisabeth Sifton Books/Viking, 1985. Octavo; [10], 3–326 pages. Publisher’s gray paper-covered boards backed in white cloth, spine stamped in silver, in the original Neil Stuart-designed dust jacket. A very good or better copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket. Binding remains square and firm, with mild toning and rubbing at the board edges, internally clean. Jacket shows light shelfwear and toning, small spot to upper extremity of rear panel, mild creasing to front flap. A very presentable copy, protected in archival mylar.

$750

~Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell~First American edition, first printing of Orwell's landmark dystopian novel, issued...
09/09/2026

~Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell~

First American edition, first printing of Orwell's landmark dystopian novel, issued five days after the London first, in the blue variant of the first-issue trade dust jacket. Orwell's final novel introduced Big Brother, the Thought Police, and doublethink into the cultural vocabulary and remains one of the defining works of twentieth-century political fiction.

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1949. Publisher's gray-brown cloth stamped in red and black; original blue dust jacket, with a rear-panel caricature of Orwell by George Holland; pp. [4], 314. A very good copy in an about very good, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains tight, sturdy and square. Minimal wear to boards, rubbing to spine, small brown stain to top edge of text block. Internally clean and free of markings. Jacket remains bright and vivid, spine a touch toned. General wear present, with a small hole to the spine and scattered pinholes and losses to extremities and creases. Presents well in archival mylar.

$1,000
#1984

~Animal Farm, George Orwell~First American edition, first printing of Orwell's enduring political fable of revolution be...
09/09/2026

~Animal Farm, George Orwell~

First American edition, first printing of Orwell's enduring political fable of revolution betrayed and power corrupted, in the first-issue dust jacket, with the $1.75 price on the front flap and no “Printed in U.S.A.” statement on the rear flap.

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1946. Publisher's black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, in the original black, white, and red dust jacket designed by Art Brenner; pp. 118. A very good copy with light rubbing and edge wear to the cloth, mild wear at the corners and spine ends. Typical light toning to pages, else internally clean and fine. The price-intact jacket is in good condition, with general shelfwear and rubbing, loss at spine ends, protected in archival mylar.

$250

~Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy~First edition, first printing of McCarthy’s magnum opus and one of the greatest America...
09/08/2026

~Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy~

First edition, first printing of McCarthy’s magnum opus and one of the greatest American novels of all time.

New York: Random House, 1985. Publisher’s original quarter crimson cloth over paper boards, spine titled in gilt, original dust jacket designed by Richard Adelson; pp. (ix), 337. A very good copy in a very good, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains tight and sturdy with just a hint of a lean, minimal shelfwear to boards, traces of faint soiling to top edge of text block and foredge. Remainder mark to bottom edge of text block. Internally clean. Jacket shows light shelfwear to extremities with a few tiny chips, tears and faint wrinkles. Presents very well in archival mylar.

$4,000

~Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux~First edition, second printing of Theroux's second novel, nominated for the Nation...
09/04/2026

~Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux~

First edition, second printing of Theroux's second novel, nominated for the National Book Award and a perpetually underappreciated literary masterpiece.

New York: Doubleday and Company, 1981. Publisher's original black cloth boards, titled in gilt; pp. xi, [3], 704, [1]. A very good copy in a very good, unclipped dust jacket. Binding firm, light shelfwear and rubbing to boards, faint remainder spray to bottom edge of text block. Minor crease to the first few pages, else internally clean and fine. Jacket shows some general shelfwear, scratch to front panel and a few closed tears, reinforced with tape on the inside. Protected in archival mylar.

$300

~Salem’s Lot, Stephen King~First British edition, first printing of King’s second published novel. Uncommon, with an est...
08/31/2026

~Salem’s Lot, Stephen King~

First British edition, first printing of King’s second published novel. Uncommon, with an estimated 1,000 copies printed, most of which went to libraries, compared to a print run of 20,000 copies for the first American edition.

London: New English Library, 1976. Publisher’s original black cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt; pp. (viii), 439. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Binding remains sturdy and square, minimal shelfwear to boards. Minor offsetting to endpapers, trace spotting to first few pages, pages toned as typical. Jacket remains vivid with just traces of shelfwear, scattered foxing to verso, a touch of sunning to spine lettering. Price clipped with the publisher’s reprice sticker to the top corner of the front flap. A very presentable copy, protected in archival mylar.

$2,000

~Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel~Signed limited edition of Mantel’s acclaimed novel, winner of both the Booker Prize and the Na...
08/28/2026

~Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel~

Signed limited edition of Mantel’s acclaimed novel, winner of both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Limited to 250 unnumbered copies and signed by Mantel on the publisher’s bookplate. Featuring a colored frontispiece and 11 illustrations in monochrome (one double-page). Housed in the original slipcase.

London: The Folio Society, 2022. Publisher’s gorgeous pictorial cloth, lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, original slipcase; pp. 600. A fine copy in a fine slipcase.

$750

~Ulysses, James Joyce~First American edition, first printing of Joyce's masterpiece and "the most prominent landmark in ...
08/27/2026

~Ulysses, James Joyce~

First American edition, first printing of Joyce's masterpiece and "the most prominent landmark in modernist literature." Laid in is the rare original fold-out promotional brochure, "How to Enjoy James Joyce's Ulysses", featuring a portrait of Joyce, a map of Dublin, a character guide, and an episode-by-episode synopsis. This was issued by Random House in 1934 specifically to promote and explain the first authorized American edition, and was distributed through booksellers.

New York: Random House, 1934. Publisher's tan cloth, lettered in black and red, unclipped first issue dust jacket priced at $3.50 and with "Reichl" to the front panel; pp. xviii, 768. A near fine copy in a fair, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains tight, sturdy and square. Cloth remains remarkably clean and well-preserved with very minimal shelfwear, a touch of spotting to text block edges. Internally clean and fine. Jacket shows general wear and toning, with loss along flap folds and a larger loss to the spine, old tape reinforcements to verso. Protected in archival mylar. The brochure remains in very good condition, showing some toning, light wear and a closed tear along one of the folds.

$2,000

~American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis~True first edition, first printing, a paperback original, of Ellis' influential and ...
08/27/2026

~American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis~

True first edition, first printing, a paperback original, of Ellis' influential and controversial third novel, basis for the 2000 film of the same name starring Christian Bale.

New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Publisher's original photographic wraps; pp. 400. A near fine copy. Binding remains tight and sturdy with just traces of shelfwear, small sticker removed over price on rear wrap. Internally clean with the typical light toning to pages. Increasingly scarce in the true first printing.

$200

~The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien~Uncorrected proof of the first edition of one of the defining works of American li...
08/25/2026

~The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien~

Uncorrected proof of the first edition of one of the defining works of American literature to emerge from the Vietnam War. Through a sequence of interrelated stories, O’Brien deliberately unsettles the boundaries between fiction, autobiography, memory, and invention. The completed book was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; its title story had previously received the National Magazine Award. Housed in a later custom slipcase covered in striking mottled decorative paper, its black, smoke-gray, and cream cloud pattern forming a particularly effective presentation for the book.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, 1990. Perfect-bound in the publisher’s cream printed wrappers, “uncorrected proofs” printed at the head of the front wrapper; pp. 273. The front wrapper reproduces a promotional letter from publisher Seymour Lawrence introducing O’Brien and the forthcoming book, concluding with Lawrence’s printed facsimile signature; advance praise and publication information printed on the rear wrapper. In near fine condition with a minor bump to spine crown. Slipcase in fine condition.
$250

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