Shanghai Street Directory - Shanghaishi Hanghao Lutu Lu -
1947 - The Free Trading Company, Shanghai - Second Edition
Scarce complete set of two volumes, containing ‘the earliest complete survey of Shanghai prepared by the Chinese Construction Company between 1931 and 1947 [Qiu Feng, 2014]. Text in Chinese with additional English street and building names.
Over 1,100 pages, with copious indexes, 235 street maps in black and red indicating street systems, plot boundaries and building owners (231 of which are double page maps), 78 full page building plans, and 100’s of pages of advertisements.
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Price HK$ 45,000
1947 - The Free Trading Company, Shanghai - Second Edition
Scarce complete set of two volumes, containing ‘the earliest complete survey of Shanghai prepared by the Chinese Construction Company between 1931 and 1947 [Qiu Feng, 2014]. Text in Chinese with additional English street and building names.Over 1,100 pages, with copious indexes, 235 street maps in black and red indicating street systems, plot boundaries and building owners (231 of which are double page maps), 78 full page building plans, and 100’s of pages of advertisements.
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Price HK$ 45,000
Skiing: The International Sport -
Adolf Attenhofer, Count de Baillet Latour, Arnold Lunn et al., Roland Palmedo (editor)
1937 - The Derrydale Press, New York - First Edition - One of 950 copies
A magnificent, large and heavily illustrated work, authored by some of the most important international skiers of the time. In the scarce dust jacket, the book itself unopened and pages uncut.
With 275 illustrations by Jacques Charmoz, Carl von Diebitsch, W. Russell Flint, Edwin Henel, Max Martens, A. Sheldon Pennoyer, Toni Schoenecker, Dwight Shepler, Frederick B. Taylor, and etchings by Wayne Davis, including nine colour plates, 70 halftone plates from photographs, and seven plates from etchings and drawings.
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Price HK$ 8,500
1937 - The Derrydale Press, New York - First Edition - One of 950 copies
A magnificent, large and heavily illustrated work, authored by some of the most important international skiers of the time. In the scarce dust jacket, the book itself unopened and pages uncut.With 275 illustrations by Jacques Charmoz, Carl von Diebitsch, W. Russell Flint, Edwin Henel, Max Martens, A. Sheldon Pennoyer, Toni Schoenecker, Dwight Shepler, Frederick B. Taylor, and etchings by Wayne Davis, including nine colour plates, 70 halftone plates from photographs, and seven plates from etchings and drawings.
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Price HK$ 8,500
The Winchester Edition -
Jane Austen
1911-1912 - John Grant, Edinburgh - The Winchester Edition
'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'
A beautifully bound twelve volumes, considered to be the best collected edition of Austen’s works which includes Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Emma, Lady Susan, The Watsons, as well as the Letters. With a portrait frontispiece to volume I.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 38,000
1911-1912 - John Grant, Edinburgh - The Winchester Edition
'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'A beautifully bound twelve volumes, considered to be the best collected edition of Austen’s works which includes Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Emma, Lady Susan, The Watsons, as well as the Letters. With a portrait frontispiece to volume I.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 38,000
Pride and Prejudice -
Jane Austen, Charles and Henry Brock (illustrators)
1905 - The Century Co., New York - Early Brock Illustrated Edition
'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'
An elegantly bound copy of one of the most loved and admired English novels of all time, enhanced by eight full-page illustrations by the brothers Charles and Henry Brock, who both worked from the same studio in Cambridge, and have come to be widely regarded as the best illustrators of Jane Austen's works.
‘In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.’
Austen’s unmistakably witty satire of a country squire marrying off his five spirited, daughters is a wonderful tale of humour and romance.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough — one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design — to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad — belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 4,500
1905 - The Century Co., New York - Early Brock Illustrated Edition
'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'An elegantly bound copy of one of the most loved and admired English novels of all time, enhanced by eight full-page illustrations by the brothers Charles and Henry Brock, who both worked from the same studio in Cambridge, and have come to be widely regarded as the best illustrators of Jane Austen's works.
‘In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.’
Austen’s unmistakably witty satire of a country squire marrying off his five spirited, daughters is a wonderful tale of humour and romance.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough — one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design — to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad — belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 4,500
Peter Pan and Wendy -
J.M. Barrie, Gwynedd Hudson (illustrator)
C. 1930 - Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London - First Hudson illustrated edition
“Do you believe in Fairies?”
A finely bound large and magically illustrated edition of Peter Pan.
Gwynedd M. Hudson brings both the characters and the text to life, with twenty one full page colour illustrations and numerous additional illustrations and decorations throughout.
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Price HK$ 4,800
C. 1930 - Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London - First Hudson illustrated edition
“Do you believe in Fairies?” A finely bound large and magically illustrated edition of Peter Pan.
Gwynedd M. Hudson brings both the characters and the text to life, with twenty one full page colour illustrations and numerous additional illustrations and decorations throughout.
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Price HK$ 4,800
Sketches of China and The Chinese -
Auguste Borget
1842 - Tilt & Bogue, London - First (issued simultaneously with the French edition, plates for both were printed by Goupil et Vibert in Paris.
Complete set of this renowned and highly prized collection of plates on China, including view of Hong Kong, Macao, and Canton.
Tinted lithographic title page and thirty two sepia tinted lithographic plates on 25 sheets, together with letterpress text and title page, in later binding by Bayntun Rivière
‘The feeling of superiority to the Chinese, so characteristic of accounts from the 1840s, is absent here. The artist observes with a fresh eye.’ - Lust, Western Travellers in China.
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Price HK$ 325,000
1842 - Tilt & Bogue, London - First (issued simultaneously with the French edition, plates for both were printed by Goupil et Vibert in Paris.
Complete set of this renowned and highly prized collection of plates on China, including view of Hong Kong, Macao, and Canton.Tinted lithographic title page and thirty two sepia tinted lithographic plates on 25 sheets, together with letterpress text and title page, in later binding by Bayntun Rivière
‘The feeling of superiority to the Chinese, so characteristic of accounts from the 1840s, is absent here. The artist observes with a fresh eye.’ - Lust, Western Travellers in China.
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Price HK$ 325,000
Silent Spring -
Rachel Carson
1962 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
‘Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.’
First edition of what is widely considered the most important environmental book of the 20th century, and elusive with the dust jacket in such nice condition. With illustrations by Lois and Louis Darling.
‘The book that most changed the scientific world, after Darwin’s Origin of Species is Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.’ – Sir David Attenborough.
‘In the few months between the New Yorker’s serialisation of Silent Spring in June and its publication in book form that September, Rachel Carson’s alarm touched off a national debate on the use of chemical pesticides, the responsibility of science, and the limits of technological progress. With ‘Silent Spring’ Carson had set in motion a course of events that would result in a ban on the domestic production of DDT and the creation of a grass-roots movement demanding protection of the environment through state and federal regulation. Carson’s writing initiated a transformation in the relationship between humans and the natural world and stirred an awakening of public environmental consciousness’. – Dr. Linda Lear.
‘In her new book [Rachel Carson] tries to scare the living daylights out of us and, in large measure, succeeds. Her work tingles with anger, outrage and protest. It is a 20th-century “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”’ – Walter Sullivan, New York Times, 1962.
Recognition, a small selection:-
- One of the 25 greatest science books of all time – Discover Magazine, 2006.
- One of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books written since 1923 – Time Magazine, 2011.
- 100 Best Nonfiction books of the twentieth century - Number 5 – Random House’s Modern Library, 1998.
- Fifty Books to Change the World – Guardian newspaper, 2010.
- 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century – National Review, 1999.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1962 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
‘Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.’First edition of what is widely considered the most important environmental book of the 20th century, and elusive with the dust jacket in such nice condition. With illustrations by Lois and Louis Darling.
‘The book that most changed the scientific world, after Darwin’s Origin of Species is Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.’ – Sir David Attenborough.
‘In the few months between the New Yorker’s serialisation of Silent Spring in June and its publication in book form that September, Rachel Carson’s alarm touched off a national debate on the use of chemical pesticides, the responsibility of science, and the limits of technological progress. With ‘Silent Spring’ Carson had set in motion a course of events that would result in a ban on the domestic production of DDT and the creation of a grass-roots movement demanding protection of the environment through state and federal regulation. Carson’s writing initiated a transformation in the relationship between humans and the natural world and stirred an awakening of public environmental consciousness’. – Dr. Linda Lear.
‘In her new book [Rachel Carson] tries to scare the living daylights out of us and, in large measure, succeeds. Her work tingles with anger, outrage and protest. It is a 20th-century “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”’ – Walter Sullivan, New York Times, 1962.
Recognition, a small selection:-
- One of the 25 greatest science books of all time – Discover Magazine, 2006.
- One of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books written since 1923 – Time Magazine, 2011.
- 100 Best Nonfiction books of the twentieth century - Number 5 – Random House’s Modern Library, 1998.
- Fifty Books to Change the World – Guardian newspaper, 2010.
- 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century – National Review, 1999.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Letters of Anton Pavlovitch Tchehov to to Olga Leonardovna Knipper -
Anton Chekhov, Constance Garnett (translator, editor)
1926 - Chatto & Windus, London - First Edition in English
‘Dear actress, I shall answer all your questions...’
Finely bound and with a mounted photograph of Tchehov and his wife, the actress Olga Leonardovna Knipper. The first complete authorised version in English of this collection which begins with ‘A Few Words About Tchehov’ by Olga Knipper-Tchehov, followed by 434 letters and telegraphs to Olga.
‘They met in September 1898 at a reading of his controversial new play, The Seagull. He was 38, she had just turned 30. He was a celebrated writer, she was a charismatic young actress in a fledgling theatre company. The story spans six short years, in which they play evolving roles - first as playwright and actress, then as lovers, then as husband and wife, and finally as invalid and caretaker, until Chekhov's untimely death at the age of 44.
Most of that time they spent apart by necessity - she in residence at the Moscow Art Theatre, he in exile in Yalta, suffering from consumption. Even when they were together during the summers, his ever-declining health marred the quality of their reunions. And yet they shared more than a full lifetime of love and theatre.
Those brief years are chronicled in a unique correspondence, consisting of roughly 400 letters each. Born of their enforced separation, the correspondence spans five of those six years (1899-1904) and a remarkable period in theatre history - the birth of the Moscow Art Theatre and its production of Chekhov's four major plays, all starring Olga.’ – Carol Rocamora, The Guardian
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Price HK$ 3,900
1926 - Chatto & Windus, London - First Edition in English
‘Dear actress, I shall answer all your questions...’Finely bound and with a mounted photograph of Tchehov and his wife, the actress Olga Leonardovna Knipper. The first complete authorised version in English of this collection which begins with ‘A Few Words About Tchehov’ by Olga Knipper-Tchehov, followed by 434 letters and telegraphs to Olga.
‘They met in September 1898 at a reading of his controversial new play, The Seagull. He was 38, she had just turned 30. He was a celebrated writer, she was a charismatic young actress in a fledgling theatre company. The story spans six short years, in which they play evolving roles - first as playwright and actress, then as lovers, then as husband and wife, and finally as invalid and caretaker, until Chekhov's untimely death at the age of 44.
Most of that time they spent apart by necessity - she in residence at the Moscow Art Theatre, he in exile in Yalta, suffering from consumption. Even when they were together during the summers, his ever-declining health marred the quality of their reunions. And yet they shared more than a full lifetime of love and theatre.
Those brief years are chronicled in a unique correspondence, consisting of roughly 400 letters each. Born of their enforced separation, the correspondence spans five of those six years (1899-1904) and a remarkable period in theatre history - the birth of the Moscow Art Theatre and its production of Chekhov's four major plays, all starring Olga.’ – Carol Rocamora, The Guardian
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Price HK$ 3,900