The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy -
Hannah Glasse
1765 - A. Millar, London - Ninth Edition
An early edition of this classic 18th century cookbook, which ‘revolutionised the way the British cook’.
‘She's the first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party and the most important cookery writer to know about. No, not Isabella Beeton; not Delia Smith nor Nigella Lawson, but an earlier incarnation of a kitchen trouble-shooter, Hannah Glasse’ - Rose Prince, The Independent (2006).
‘The Art of Cookery has a River Cafe Cookbook quality - in fact her excessive use of butter, which can have a lovely clear flavour, can be likened to the liberal dribbling of olive oil in Rogers' and Gray's recipes. The power of the book, though, is the clarity of the writing. She's authoritative but she is also intimate, treating you as an equal’ – Bee Wilson (food journalist and author).
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Price HK$ 5,000
1765 - A. Millar, London - Ninth Edition
An early edition of this classic 18th century cookbook, which ‘revolutionised the way the British cook’.‘She's the first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party and the most important cookery writer to know about. No, not Isabella Beeton; not Delia Smith nor Nigella Lawson, but an earlier incarnation of a kitchen trouble-shooter, Hannah Glasse’ - Rose Prince, The Independent (2006).
‘The Art of Cookery has a River Cafe Cookbook quality - in fact her excessive use of butter, which can have a lovely clear flavour, can be likened to the liberal dribbling of olive oil in Rogers' and Gray's recipes. The power of the book, though, is the clarity of the writing. She's authoritative but she is also intimate, treating you as an equal’ – Bee Wilson (food journalist and author).
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Old Man and the Sea -
Ernest Hemingway
1952 - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York - First Edition, First Issue
‘I am a strange old man’.
‘But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?’
‘I think so. And there are many tricks’.
A bright first edition, housed in custom blue cloth clamshell box with swordfish design and navy spine label lettered in gilt.
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Price HK$ 25,000
1952 - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York - First Edition, First Issue
‘I am a strange old man’.‘But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?’
‘I think so. And there are many tricks’.
A bright first edition, housed in custom blue cloth clamshell box with swordfish design and navy spine label lettered in gilt.
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Price HK$ 25,000
Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall -
Robert Hunt (editor)
1865 - John Camden Hotten, London - First Edition
Two finely bound volumes of these magnificent collections of Cornish fairy tales, superstitions and traditions, 117 in the first series and 220 in the second series, to be read by firelight on a cold winter evening, or actually even in the height of summer...
What makes this set unique are the additional engraved plates that have been stunningly bound in by Bayntun of Bath, originally containing two engravings by Cruikshank, this set adds another 108 relevant older engravings (18 of which are hand-coloured) and two maps (one of which is hand-coloured).
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Price HK$ 11,000
1865 - John Camden Hotten, London - First Edition
Two finely bound volumes of these magnificent collections of Cornish fairy tales, superstitions and traditions, 117 in the first series and 220 in the second series, to be read by firelight on a cold winter evening, or actually even in the height of summer...What makes this set unique are the additional engraved plates that have been stunningly bound in by Bayntun of Bath, originally containing two engravings by Cruikshank, this set adds another 108 relevant older engravings (18 of which are hand-coloured) and two maps (one of which is hand-coloured).
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Price HK$ 11,000
The Karla Trilogy Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley s People - Signed -
John le Carr
1974 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Editions
A signed first edition set of John le Carré’s acclaimed espionage trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People – featuring legendary master spy George Smiley pitted against his elusive Cold War rival, Karla.
In addition to Le Carré signing each book to the title page, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy includes a signed photograph of Sir Alec Guinness who played the part of Smiley in the original BBC adaptation, considered ‘one of the greatest performances ever seen on the small screen’ by the Guardian newspaper in 2019. The Honourable Schoolboy, includes a card with a typed quote signed by Le Carré.
First edition, first issue of The Honourable Schoolboy with maps of Hong Kong for endpapers, these where not included in the second issue.
As a secret service agent, Le Carré moved from MI5 to MI6, and was in Berlin when the wall was erected. His experiences inspired him to write a novel which became 'Call For The Dead'; 'When I first began writing, Ian Fleming was riding high and the picture of the spy was that of a character who could have affairs with women, drive a fast car, who used gadgetry and gimmickry to escape.' Le Carré’s aim was to portray the intelligence world from a new view and he has earned a reputation for gritty, realistic, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage or simply human behaviour. His famous recurring character, George Smiley, is an ageing, diffident, shadow-like member of the British foreign service, and the antithesis of James Bond; this trilogy of Smiley books is the author's masterwork, a thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. 'Tinker Tailor...' was the basis for the Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Gary Oldman.
‘Simply the world’s greatest fictional spymaster’ – Newsweek.
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Price HK$ 51,000
1974 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Editions
A signed first edition set of John le Carré’s acclaimed espionage trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People – featuring legendary master spy George Smiley pitted against his elusive Cold War rival, Karla.In addition to Le Carré signing each book to the title page, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy includes a signed photograph of Sir Alec Guinness who played the part of Smiley in the original BBC adaptation, considered ‘one of the greatest performances ever seen on the small screen’ by the Guardian newspaper in 2019. The Honourable Schoolboy, includes a card with a typed quote signed by Le Carré.
First edition, first issue of The Honourable Schoolboy with maps of Hong Kong for endpapers, these where not included in the second issue.
As a secret service agent, Le Carré moved from MI5 to MI6, and was in Berlin when the wall was erected. His experiences inspired him to write a novel which became 'Call For The Dead'; 'When I first began writing, Ian Fleming was riding high and the picture of the spy was that of a character who could have affairs with women, drive a fast car, who used gadgetry and gimmickry to escape.' Le Carré’s aim was to portray the intelligence world from a new view and he has earned a reputation for gritty, realistic, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage or simply human behaviour. His famous recurring character, George Smiley, is an ageing, diffident, shadow-like member of the British foreign service, and the antithesis of James Bond; this trilogy of Smiley books is the author's masterwork, a thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. 'Tinker Tailor...' was the basis for the Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Gary Oldman.
‘Simply the world’s greatest fictional spymaster’ – Newsweek.
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Price HK$ 51,000
The Naked and the Dead -
Norman Mailer
1948 - Rinehart and Company, New York Toronto - First Edition
First edition of Mailer’s gritty masterpiece, penned at the age of 25 and based on his own experience of military service in the Philippines during World War Two. Scarce in such nice condition due to the notoriously delicate black dust jacket.
‘Virtually a Kinsey Report on the sexual behavior of the GI. Its style is an almost pure Army billingsgate that will offend many readers, although in no sense is it exaggerated: Mr. Mailer's soldiers are real persons, speaking the vernacular of human bitterness and agony. It gives off a skyglow that is quite faithful to the spectrum of battle, and exposes the blood, if not always the guts, of war.’ - New York Times 1948
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Price HK$ 8,500
1948 - Rinehart and Company, New York Toronto - First Edition
First edition of Mailer’s gritty masterpiece, penned at the age of 25 and based on his own experience of military service in the Philippines during World War Two. Scarce in such nice condition due to the notoriously delicate black dust jacket. ‘Virtually a Kinsey Report on the sexual behavior of the GI. Its style is an almost pure Army billingsgate that will offend many readers, although in no sense is it exaggerated: Mr. Mailer's soldiers are real persons, speaking the vernacular of human bitterness and agony. It gives off a skyglow that is quite faithful to the spectrum of battle, and exposes the blood, if not always the guts, of war.’ - New York Times 1948
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Price HK$ 8,500
The Natural -
Bernard Malamud
1952 - Harcourt, New York - First Edition
First edition of Bernard Malamud’s first novel, widely considered as one of the greatest baseball narratives of all time, the basis for the acclaimed 1984 film of the same name directed by Barry Levinson, and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Kim Basinger.
‘This book established that we could have a serious adult baseball novel by playing with the parallels between mythical elements in the game and mythical elements in literature’. – Chicago Tribune.
‘A brilliant and unusually fine novel.’ – The New York Times.
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Price HK$ 16,000
1952 - Harcourt, New York - First Edition
First edition of Bernard Malamud’s first novel, widely considered as one of the greatest baseball narratives of all time, the basis for the acclaimed 1984 film of the same name directed by Barry Levinson, and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Kim Basinger.‘This book established that we could have a serious adult baseball novel by playing with the parallels between mythical elements in the game and mythical elements in literature’. – Chicago Tribune.
‘A brilliant and unusually fine novel.’ – The New York Times.
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Price HK$ 16,000
The Border Trilogy - All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain -
Cormac McCarthy
1992 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Editions
McCarthy’s brilliant Border Trilogy in first edition.
The young men in these novels come of age on south-western ranches in the 1930s, while across the border Mexico beckons them with its desolate beauty and the cruel promise of a place where dreams are paid for in blood.
‘An American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century.’ - San Francisco Chronicle
In All the Pretty Horses, young John Grady Cole, dispossessed by the sale of his family's Texas ranch, heads across the border in search of the cowboy life, finding a job breaking horses and a dangerously ill-fated romance. In The Crossing, 16-year-old Billy Parham captures a she-wolf that has been marauding his family's ranch and instead of killing it decides to take it on a perilous journey home to the mountains of Mexico. These drifters come together years later in Cities of the Plain, a magnificent tale of friendship and passion. McCarthy's haunting evocation of two young men poised on the edge of a world about to change forever serves as a darkly beautiful elegy for the American frontier. [Picador]
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Price HK$ 8,000
1992 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Editions
McCarthy’s brilliant Border Trilogy in first edition.The young men in these novels come of age on south-western ranches in the 1930s, while across the border Mexico beckons them with its desolate beauty and the cruel promise of a place where dreams are paid for in blood.
‘An American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century.’ - San Francisco Chronicle
In All the Pretty Horses, young John Grady Cole, dispossessed by the sale of his family's Texas ranch, heads across the border in search of the cowboy life, finding a job breaking horses and a dangerously ill-fated romance. In The Crossing, 16-year-old Billy Parham captures a she-wolf that has been marauding his family's ranch and instead of killing it decides to take it on a perilous journey home to the mountains of Mexico. These drifters come together years later in Cities of the Plain, a magnificent tale of friendship and passion. McCarthy's haunting evocation of two young men poised on the edge of a world about to change forever serves as a darkly beautiful elegy for the American frontier. [Picador]
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Price HK$ 8,000
Backgammon: Its History and Practice -
George Frederick Pardon, Kenny Meadows (illustrator)
1844 - D. Bogue, London - First Edition
A rare and superior first edition of this wonderfully illustrated little work on Backgammon. Surprisingly for a game that may have originated around 2,500 BC this is one of the earliest English treatise to focus on the game.
Quite comprehensive, the cheeky ‘Punch’ style vignettes enhancing the more humorous anecdotes and quotes. The final chapter ‘Definition of Technicalities’ is not as dull as it sounds, for example -
“Covering your man to make sure of him” – A procedure to prevent your man being hit in the game – to ensure it in a duel.
“Gammon.” – A thing that abounds in many huge, old, smoky chimneys in the country, and in many well-ventilated public apartments in town’.
“High Doublets” – Twinned sixes or cinqs – frequent and highly ridiculous in operas, when melodious ladies enact truculent warriors.’
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Price HK$ 8,000
1844 - D. Bogue, London - First Edition
A rare and superior first edition of this wonderfully illustrated little work on Backgammon. Surprisingly for a game that may have originated around 2,500 BC this is one of the earliest English treatise to focus on the game.Quite comprehensive, the cheeky ‘Punch’ style vignettes enhancing the more humorous anecdotes and quotes. The final chapter ‘Definition of Technicalities’ is not as dull as it sounds, for example -
“Covering your man to make sure of him” – A procedure to prevent your man being hit in the game – to ensure it in a duel.
“Gammon.” – A thing that abounds in many huge, old, smoky chimneys in the country, and in many well-ventilated public apartments in town’.
“High Doublets” – Twinned sixes or cinqs – frequent and highly ridiculous in operas, when melodious ladies enact truculent warriors.’
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Price HK$ 8,000