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The Adventures of Augie March -
Saul Bellow
1953 - The Viking Press, New York - First edition, first issue.
‘I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that sombre city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted.’
Saul Bellow’s masterful novel, tells the story of the eponymous Augie March, a poor Chicago boy growing up during the Great Depression, whose numberless occupations and diverting encounters offer startling extremes of vivid realism and bravura philosophising.
‘The Adventures of Augie March is the Great American Novel. Search no further.’ – Martin Amis.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1953 - The Viking Press, New York - First edition, first issue.
‘I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that sombre city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted.’Saul Bellow’s masterful novel, tells the story of the eponymous Augie March, a poor Chicago boy growing up during the Great Depression, whose numberless occupations and diverting encounters offer startling extremes of vivid realism and bravura philosophising.
‘The Adventures of Augie March is the Great American Novel. Search no further.’ – Martin Amis.
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Price HK$ 7,000
Madeline's Rescue -
Ludwig Bemelmans
1953 - Viking, New York - First Edition
One day on a walk through Paris, Madeline slips and falls off a bridge right into the Seine. Everyone feared she would be dead, ‘But for a dog that kept its head,’ saving her from a ‘watery grave.’ And so the adventure begins….
Recipient of the 1954 Caldecott Medal, with illustrations by the author.
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Price HK$ 6,400
1953 - Viking, New York - First Edition
One day on a walk through Paris, Madeline slips and falls off a bridge right into the Seine. Everyone feared she would be dead, ‘But for a dog that kept its head,’ saving her from a ‘watery grave.’ And so the adventure begins….Recipient of the 1954 Caldecott Medal, with illustrations by the author.
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Price HK$ 6,400
The Poisoned Chocolates Case -
Anthony Berkeley
1929 - W. Collins Sons & Co Ltd, London - First Edition
A rare near fine first edition of this highlight of 1920’s crime fiction, and according to Julian Symons in Bloody Murder, 'one of the most stunning trick stories in the history of detective fiction'.
Joan Bendix is killed by a poisoned box of liqueur chocolates that cannot have been intended for her to eat. The police investigation rapidly reaches a dead end. Chief Inspector Moresby calls on Roger Sheringham and his Crimes Circle – six amateur but intrepid detectives – to consider the case. The evidence is laid before the Circle and the members take it in turn to offer a solution. Each is more convincing than the last, slowly filling in the pieces of the puzzle, until the dazzling conclusion.
‘A notable tour de force with no less than six separate solutions, and a veritable textbook of the literature’. – Howard Haycraft, Murder for Pleasure.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1929 - W. Collins Sons & Co Ltd, London - First Edition
A rare near fine first edition of this highlight of 1920’s crime fiction, and according to Julian Symons in Bloody Murder, 'one of the most stunning trick stories in the history of detective fiction'.Joan Bendix is killed by a poisoned box of liqueur chocolates that cannot have been intended for her to eat. The police investigation rapidly reaches a dead end. Chief Inspector Moresby calls on Roger Sheringham and his Crimes Circle – six amateur but intrepid detectives – to consider the case. The evidence is laid before the Circle and the members take it in turn to offer a solution. Each is more convincing than the last, slowly filling in the pieces of the puzzle, until the dazzling conclusion.
‘A notable tour de force with no less than six separate solutions, and a veritable textbook of the literature’. – Howard Haycraft, Murder for Pleasure.
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Price HK$ 5,000
Death in the House -
Anthony Berkeley
1939 - Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A rare Berkeley title.
‘Lord Wellacombe, Secretary of State for India, dies whilst giving a speech to introduce a new bill on the floor of the House of Commons. His untimely demise looks like a stroke, but is it mere coincidence that a threat on his life had been made? The bill needs to be passed, but is anyone brave enough to defy the threats and risk potential murder?’
Enter Lord Arthur...
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Price HK$ 1,800
1939 - Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A rare Berkeley title.‘Lord Wellacombe, Secretary of State for India, dies whilst giving a speech to introduce a new bill on the floor of the House of Commons. His untimely demise looks like a stroke, but is it mere coincidence that a threat on his life had been made? The bill needs to be passed, but is anyone brave enough to defy the threats and risk potential murder?’
Enter Lord Arthur...
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Price HK$ 1,800
Trial and Error -
Anthony Berkeley
1937 - Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
Dedicated to P. G. Wodehouse.
‘Non-descript, upstanding Mr Todhunter is told that he has only months to live. He decides to commit a murder for the good of mankind. Finding a worthy victim proves far from easy, and there is a false start before he settles on and dispatches his target. But then the police arrest an innocent man, and the honourable Todhunter has to set about proving himself guilty of the murder.’
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Price HK$ 2,800
1937 - Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
Dedicated to P. G. Wodehouse.‘Non-descript, upstanding Mr Todhunter is told that he has only months to live. He decides to commit a murder for the good of mankind. Finding a worthy victim proves far from easy, and there is a false start before he settles on and dispatches his target. But then the police arrest an innocent man, and the honourable Todhunter has to set about proving himself guilty of the murder.’
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Price HK$ 2,800
Charlie Chan Carries On -
Earl Derr Biggers
1931 - Grosset & Dunlap, New York - Photoplay edition
The fifth novel in the series, in which Chan begins in London investigating the murder of Hugh Morris Drake, the Detroit automaker.
First published in 1930, this photoplay edition of 1931 was issued for the movie starring Warner Oland, however only a trailer is known to have survived. Marvellous dust jacket, and illustrated with photographic plates from the film.
So popular was Charlie Chan that a total of 44 ‘Charlie Chan’ movies were made from 1931 to 1949 (actually, there were three others from 1925 to 1929, each with a different actor who played Chan). Over the length of this series, six different actors, none of whom were really Chinese, starred as Charlie Chan.
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Price HK$ 2,200
1931 - Grosset & Dunlap, New York - Photoplay edition
The fifth novel in the series, in which Chan begins in London investigating the murder of Hugh Morris Drake, the Detroit automaker.First published in 1930, this photoplay edition of 1931 was issued for the movie starring Warner Oland, however only a trailer is known to have survived. Marvellous dust jacket, and illustrated with photographic plates from the film.
So popular was Charlie Chan that a total of 44 ‘Charlie Chan’ movies were made from 1931 to 1949 (actually, there were three others from 1925 to 1929, each with a different actor who played Chan). Over the length of this series, six different actors, none of whom were really Chinese, starred as Charlie Chan.
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Price HK$ 2,200
Wanderings in Burma -
George W. Bird, Felice Beato (photographer)
1897 - F. J. Bright & Son / Simpkin, Bournemouth / London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this large and detailed work, mostly unopened, scarce in any condition.
Essentially the first ‘guidebook’ to Burma, profusely illustrated throughout with 68 black and white plates many from photographs by Felice Beato, together with a large folding colour map in the pocket at the rear, and 19 further maps and plans, three of which are folding.
George W. Bird was an educational service official with twenty years residence in Burma. This work is arranged in two parts: the first giving a general introduction to Burma, and the second describing twenty-four ‘routes’ or excursion tours throughout Burma with a description of the main sights and practical travel advice - ‘the best way to get expeditiously to May Myo from Mandalay is to ride. With two ponies, and a bullock-cart for servants and kit, the journey up can be comfortably made in two days’.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1897 - F. J. Bright & Son / Simpkin, Bournemouth / London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this large and detailed work, mostly unopened, scarce in any condition.Essentially the first ‘guidebook’ to Burma, profusely illustrated throughout with 68 black and white plates many from photographs by Felice Beato, together with a large folding colour map in the pocket at the rear, and 19 further maps and plans, three of which are folding.
George W. Bird was an educational service official with twenty years residence in Burma. This work is arranged in two parts: the first giving a general introduction to Burma, and the second describing twenty-four ‘routes’ or excursion tours throughout Burma with a description of the main sights and practical travel advice - ‘the best way to get expeditiously to May Myo from Mandalay is to ride. With two ponies, and a bullock-cart for servants and kit, the journey up can be comfortably made in two days’.
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Price HK$ 22,000
The Yangtze Valley and Beyond -
Mrs J. F. (Isabella L. Bird) Bishop
1900 - G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York - First American Edition (First English Edition 1889)
A lovely set of the two volume American first edition, describing the remarkable journey through China in 1896-1897 by that intrepid lady traveller Isabella Bird, first female member of the Royal Geographical Society and doyenne of all women travel writers. A a far handsomer edition than the single volume published a year earlier in the London, with 116 illustrations and a folding colour map.
‘Many of the areas she explored and carefully described were almost unknown to European visitors and had not been mentioned in any earlier English publications. Based on journal letters and the diary written during her journey, and it is generously illustrated with photographs and Chinese drawings. Bishop's work was warmly received in England and praised especially for the information included on agriculture and industry. The Geographical Journal heralded the work as 'undoubtedly one of the most important contributions to English literature on that country'. It remains a key source for late nineteenth-century British perceptions of China.’ -– Cambridge University Press.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1900 - G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York - First American Edition (First English Edition 1889)
A lovely set of the two volume American first edition, describing the remarkable journey through China in 1896-1897 by that intrepid lady traveller Isabella Bird, first female member of the Royal Geographical Society and doyenne of all women travel writers. A a far handsomer edition than the single volume published a year earlier in the London, with 116 illustrations and a folding colour map. ‘Many of the areas she explored and carefully described were almost unknown to European visitors and had not been mentioned in any earlier English publications. Based on journal letters and the diary written during her journey, and it is generously illustrated with photographs and Chinese drawings. Bishop's work was warmly received in England and praised especially for the information included on agriculture and industry. The Geographical Journal heralded the work as 'undoubtedly one of the most important contributions to English literature on that country'. It remains a key source for late nineteenth-century British perceptions of China.’ -– Cambridge University Press.
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Price HK$ 8,000