Provenance.

First edition of this work unveiling the extraordinary stories behind seemingly ordinary books. Octavo, original publisher's cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Foreword by Nicholas A. Basbanes. Jacket design by legendary designer Chip Kidd. In Provenance, Matthew Raptis, renowned rare book dealer and founder of Raptis Rare Books, examines how unassuming volumes can reveal extraordinary personal histories. Drawing on decades of experience in the rare book world, he reconstructs the lives and relationships of major figures in literature, politics, art, and culture through their books, highlighting what inscriptions, marginal notes, and private libraries disclose about intellectual habits, friendships, and inner lives. "Something we learn when studying provenance is that books, in a way, are itinerant pilgrims - they travel from place to place, and owner to owner, more often than not with stories to tell of their travels, a number of them you are about to enjoy in this book" (Nicholas A. Basbanes, Foreword).