Ti-Ping Tien-Kwoh. The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution -
Augustus Frederick Lindley [Lin-Le]
1866 - Day & Son (Limited), London - First Edition
A passionate and important account of the momentous Taiping Rebellion of 1850–64, which spread across southern China, involving the death of around 20 million people. Two volumes profusely illustrated throughout with eight coloured lithographs, eleven tinted lithographs (including the folding frontispiece), nine in-text wood engravings, and two folding maps of China outlined in colour.
In 1860 a twenty year old English naval officer and supporter of the rebels, Augustus Frederick Lindley (1840–73), and his young wife Marie, daughter of the Portuguese Consul at Macau, accepted a commission from Taiping general Li Xiucheng, and helped train their soldiers in British Army techniques, while Marie became a sniper, both actively fighting for, and believing devotedly in their cause.
Led by Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, they rose up against the ruling Qing dynasty in an attempt to force social, commercial and religious reforms. Lindley engaged in the dramatic capture of one of Britain's best Yangzi gunships, the Firefly, which was handed to the Taiping leaders, but the rebels were eventually brutally crushed with the aid of British and French forces. Prior to his death at the age of only thirty-three, Lindley produced this accomplished work of historical exposition and anti-imperialism. (C.U.P.)
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Price HK$ 15,000
1866 - Day & Son (Limited), London - First Edition
A passionate and important account of the momentous Taiping Rebellion of 1850–64, which spread across southern China, involving the death of around 20 million people. Two volumes profusely illustrated throughout with eight coloured lithographs, eleven tinted lithographs (including the folding frontispiece), nine in-text wood engravings, and two folding maps of China outlined in colour.In 1860 a twenty year old English naval officer and supporter of the rebels, Augustus Frederick Lindley (1840–73), and his young wife Marie, daughter of the Portuguese Consul at Macau, accepted a commission from Taiping general Li Xiucheng, and helped train their soldiers in British Army techniques, while Marie became a sniper, both actively fighting for, and believing devotedly in their cause.
Led by Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, they rose up against the ruling Qing dynasty in an attempt to force social, commercial and religious reforms. Lindley engaged in the dramatic capture of one of Britain's best Yangzi gunships, the Firefly, which was handed to the Taiping leaders, but the rebels were eventually brutally crushed with the aid of British and French forces. Prior to his death at the age of only thirty-three, Lindley produced this accomplished work of historical exposition and anti-imperialism. (C.U.P.)
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Price HK$ 15,000
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror - SIGNED -
John Mortimer
2006 - Viking an imprint of Penguin Books, London - First Edition
Mahmood Khan, a Pakistani doctor who loves the queen, roast beef and cricket as much as any respectable Englishman, is accused of aiding al-Qaeda, Rumpole to the rescue...
A fine, signed first edition.
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Price HK$ 1,100
2006 - Viking an imprint of Penguin Books, London - First Edition
Mahmood Khan, a Pakistani doctor who loves the queen, roast beef and cricket as much as any respectable Englishman, is accused of aiding al-Qaeda, Rumpole to the rescue...A fine, signed first edition.
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Price HK$ 1,100
Comprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire -
L. Richard, M. Kennelly
1908 - T'Usewei Press, Shanghai - First Edition
A fascinating reference for anyone interested in China Not purely geographical, this work is, as stated ‘comprehensive’ in it’s coverage of each region, it’s towns, cities, lakes and other geographical features as well as chapters on agriculture, trade and commerce, mining, history and political geography.
Illustrated with maps in text, and four individual coloured maps tucked into green bands at the front and back of the book. Maps are Large Map of the 18 Provinces (sheet size 76.4x64.5cm); Physical and Political Map of China and Dependencies (36x42.1cm); The Great Hupeh Plain (33.1x24.5cm); and The Lower Yangtze Region (33.1x24cm).
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Price HK$ 5,000
1908 - T'Usewei Press, Shanghai - First Edition
A fascinating reference for anyone interested in China Not purely geographical, this work is, as stated ‘comprehensive’ in it’s coverage of each region, it’s towns, cities, lakes and other geographical features as well as chapters on agriculture, trade and commerce, mining, history and political geography. Illustrated with maps in text, and four individual coloured maps tucked into green bands at the front and back of the book. Maps are Large Map of the 18 Provinces (sheet size 76.4x64.5cm); Physical and Political Map of China and Dependencies (36x42.1cm); The Great Hupeh Plain (33.1x24.5cm); and The Lower Yangtze Region (33.1x24cm).
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Lure of Speed -
Major H. O. D. Segrave
1928 - Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London - First Edition
Illustrated with numerous black and white photographs.
Segrave, American-born English automobile and motorboat racer who set three world land speed records, published this autobiography two years before his fatal motorboat accident, which incidentally was immediately after setting a water speed record of 85.8 knots.
Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, Segrave served with the Royal Air Force in World War I. During the war he became interested in automobile racing by a visit to the Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, N.Y., course. He won the French Grand Prix (1923) and the San Sebastian Grand Prix (1924) in Spain, in which he was the first racer to wear a crash helmet. He also won the 200-mile (322-kilometre) race at Brooklands in England (1921, 1925, and 1926) and competed in many hill climbs and speed trials from 1914 to 1927.
In 1926 he first broke the land speed record, driving a Sunbeam at 152.33 mile/h (miles per hour [245.15 km/h]). On March 29, 1927, at Daytona, Fla., driving a 1,000-horsepower Sunbeam with a World War I aero-engine, he became the first driver to exceed 200 mile/h (320 km/h) and established a new record of 203.79 mile/h (327.97 km/h). He set a third record of 231.44 mile/h (372.48 km/h) in March 1929.
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Price HK$ 1,200
1928 - Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London - First Edition
Illustrated with numerous black and white photographs. Segrave, American-born English automobile and motorboat racer who set three world land speed records, published this autobiography two years before his fatal motorboat accident, which incidentally was immediately after setting a water speed record of 85.8 knots.
Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, Segrave served with the Royal Air Force in World War I. During the war he became interested in automobile racing by a visit to the Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, N.Y., course. He won the French Grand Prix (1923) and the San Sebastian Grand Prix (1924) in Spain, in which he was the first racer to wear a crash helmet. He also won the 200-mile (322-kilometre) race at Brooklands in England (1921, 1925, and 1926) and competed in many hill climbs and speed trials from 1914 to 1927.
In 1926 he first broke the land speed record, driving a Sunbeam at 152.33 mile/h (miles per hour [245.15 km/h]). On March 29, 1927, at Daytona, Fla., driving a 1,000-horsepower Sunbeam with a World War I aero-engine, he became the first driver to exceed 200 mile/h (320 km/h) and established a new record of 203.79 mile/h (327.97 km/h). He set a third record of 231.44 mile/h (372.48 km/h) in March 1929.
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Price HK$ 1,200
A Vanished World - Signed -
Roman Vishniac, Elie Wiesel
1983 - Farrar, New York - First Edition
‘One picture is worth a thousand words – or is it? In most cases, I would say: no, a poet’s word is worth at least a thousand pictures. But then I would have to admit that Roman Vishniac is a special case.
This astonishing man’s eyes seem to pierce our memory, to sift its shadows. We are afraid to follow him, but we do, even so. Who can resist the lure of the past?’ – Elie Wiesel, from the foreword.
A fine first edition, signed with a large flourish to the front ‘Roman / Edith Vishniac 1985’ Produced for the exhibition of the same name, in large format with 180 photographs, many of which had never been published before.
‘Living in Berlin in the 1920s and 30s after his family was forced to flee Russia, Vishniac covered 5,000 miles, across Poland, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania, documenting Jewish life in cities, villages, and shtetls. Here are the faces of the vanished Jews of Cracow and Warsaw, of Mukachevo, Carpathian Ruthenia, Lublin, Slonim, and Lodz. “He loves them all,” writes Elie Wiesel in the foreword to the publication A Vanished World that accompanies the exhibition, “the rabbis and their pupils, the peddlers and their customers, the beggars and the cantors, the sad old men and the smiling young ones. He loves them because the world they live in did not, and because death has already marked them for its own—death and oblivion as well.’ - International Center of Photography, 1983
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Price HK$ 4,000
1983 - Farrar, New York - First Edition
‘One picture is worth a thousand words – or is it? In most cases, I would say: no, a poet’s word is worth at least a thousand pictures. But then I would have to admit that Roman Vishniac is a special case.This astonishing man’s eyes seem to pierce our memory, to sift its shadows. We are afraid to follow him, but we do, even so. Who can resist the lure of the past?’ – Elie Wiesel, from the foreword.
A fine first edition, signed with a large flourish to the front ‘Roman / Edith Vishniac 1985’ Produced for the exhibition of the same name, in large format with 180 photographs, many of which had never been published before.
‘Living in Berlin in the 1920s and 30s after his family was forced to flee Russia, Vishniac covered 5,000 miles, across Poland, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania, documenting Jewish life in cities, villages, and shtetls. Here are the faces of the vanished Jews of Cracow and Warsaw, of Mukachevo, Carpathian Ruthenia, Lublin, Slonim, and Lodz. “He loves them all,” writes Elie Wiesel in the foreword to the publication A Vanished World that accompanies the exhibition, “the rabbis and their pupils, the peddlers and their customers, the beggars and the cantors, the sad old men and the smiling young ones. He loves them because the world they live in did not, and because death has already marked them for its own—death and oblivion as well.’ - International Center of Photography, 1983
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Price HK$ 4,000
The Heetopades of Veeshnoo-Sarma, in a Series of Connected Fables, interspersed with Moral, Prudential, and Political Maxims; Translated from an Ancient Manuscript in the Sanskreet Language. With Explanatory Notes -
Charles Wilkins, Vishnu Sharma, Narayana
1787 - R. Cruttwell, Bath - First Edition
First edition of the first English translation of the Hitopadesa, (Heetopades), ‘an Indian text in the Sanskrit language consisting of fables with both animal and human characters. It incorporates maxims, worldly wisdom and advice on political affairs in simple, elegant language. Little is known about its origin. The surviving text is believed to be from the 12th-century, and although early Orientalists such as WIlkins attributed it to Vishnu Sharma, it was probably composed by Narayana between 800 to 950 BC. The oldest manuscript found in Nepal has been dated to the 14th century, and its content and style has been traced to the ancient Sanskrit treatises called the Panchatantra from much earlier.’
While working for the East India Company in Bengal, Charles Wilkins (1749-1836) became one of first Europeans to master the Sanskrit language. He proceeded to set up a printing press in Calcutta to publish works in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, whilst working on translations of the Gita, which was followed by the Heetopades.
‘At once an anthology of folk wisdom and an original and satirical work in its own right, the Hitopadesa has been deeply admired and widely read for more than a thousand years for its humorous and profound reflections on human lives, loves, follies and philosophies’.
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Price HK$ 5,500
1787 - R. Cruttwell, Bath - First Edition
First edition of the first English translation of the Hitopadesa, (Heetopades), ‘an Indian text in the Sanskrit language consisting of fables with both animal and human characters. It incorporates maxims, worldly wisdom and advice on political affairs in simple, elegant language. Little is known about its origin. The surviving text is believed to be from the 12th-century, and although early Orientalists such as WIlkins attributed it to Vishnu Sharma, it was probably composed by Narayana between 800 to 950 BC. The oldest manuscript found in Nepal has been dated to the 14th century, and its content and style has been traced to the ancient Sanskrit treatises called the Panchatantra from much earlier.’While working for the East India Company in Bengal, Charles Wilkins (1749-1836) became one of first Europeans to master the Sanskrit language. He proceeded to set up a printing press in Calcutta to publish works in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, whilst working on translations of the Gita, which was followed by the Heetopades.
‘At once an anthology of folk wisdom and an original and satirical work in its own right, the Hitopadesa has been deeply admired and widely read for more than a thousand years for its humorous and profound reflections on human lives, loves, follies and philosophies’.
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Price HK$ 5,500
The Clicking of Cuthbert -
P. G. Wodehouse
1922 - Herbert Jenkins Limited, London - First Edition
‘ “What earthly good is golf? Life is stern and life is earnest. We live in a practical age. All round us we see foreign competition making itself unpleasant. And we spend our time playing golf! What do we get out of it? Is golf any use? That's what I'm asking you. Can you name me a single case where devotion to this pestilential pastime has done a man any practical good?"
The Sage smiled gently. "I could name a thousand."
"One will do."
"I will select," said the Sage, "from the innumerable memories that rush to my mind, the story of Cuthbert Banks”.’
And thus begins the first edition of this wonderful and agreeable set of ten golfing stories, perfect for those days when you feel mashed by your Mashie.
‘The title story one of the most famous and funny golf stories ever written. If the literature of golf is not famed for the quality of its fiction, it is not the fault of Mr. Wodehouse’ – Donovan & Murdoch, The Game of Golf.
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Price HK$ 2,200
1922 - Herbert Jenkins Limited, London - First Edition
‘ “What earthly good is golf? Life is stern and life is earnest. We live in a practical age. All round us we see foreign competition making itself unpleasant. And we spend our time playing golf! What do we get out of it? Is golf any use? That's what I'm asking you. Can you name me a single case where devotion to this pestilential pastime has done a man any practical good?"The Sage smiled gently. "I could name a thousand."
"One will do."
"I will select," said the Sage, "from the innumerable memories that rush to my mind, the story of Cuthbert Banks”.’
And thus begins the first edition of this wonderful and agreeable set of ten golfing stories, perfect for those days when you feel mashed by your Mashie.
‘The title story one of the most famous and funny golf stories ever written. If the literature of golf is not famed for the quality of its fiction, it is not the fault of Mr. Wodehouse’ – Donovan & Murdoch, The Game of Golf.
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Price HK$ 2,200
The Most Famous Car in the World. The Complete History of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5 - Signed -
Dave Worrall, Desmond Llewelyn, Graham Rye
1991 - Solo Publishing, London - First Edition, Limited to 1, 000 copies
A lovely copy of this elusive coffee-table reference book, much preferred to the soft-cover version. SIGNED by the author, and the book designer Graham Rye, complete with the original printed letter of apology.
Illustrated throughout. With a Foreword by ('Q' actor) Desmond Llewelyn.
A desirable item, this being the only copy available at the time of writing.
Number 396 of 1,000 copies.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1991 - Solo Publishing, London - First Edition, Limited to 1, 000 copies
A lovely copy of this elusive coffee-table reference book, much preferred to the soft-cover version. SIGNED by the author, and the book designer Graham Rye, complete with the original printed letter of apology.Illustrated throughout. With a Foreword by ('Q' actor) Desmond Llewelyn.
A desirable item, this being the only copy available at the time of writing.
Number 396 of 1,000 copies.
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Price HK$ 8,000