Results 17 - 24 of 33 results

Histoire et Statistique de la Vigne et des Grands Vins de la C - J. Lavall

1855 - Dusacq, Paris - First Editions
An extremely scarce first edition of this legendary work on Burgundy together with the rare ‘Album’ which was published separately. The book contains six lithographs, showing views of Beaune, Chennai, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot, Puligny, with the album adding a further nine superb lithographs on tinted backgrounds of Aloxe et Pernant, Morey, Vosne, Meursault, Chassagne et Puligny, Santenay et Chassagne, Nuits, Dijon, Brochon, Fixin et Fixey.

With fine provenance, formerly from the collection of Kilian Fritsch who possessed one of the greatest wine libraries ever assembled.

Covering the entire history of wine in Côte-d'Or: Origins of wine, the winemaker and his salary, growing of the grapes, wine production, laws, taxes, barrels and coopers, tastings, gourmet or brokers, wine prices, famous harvests, wine proverbs, etc. The work then goes on to describe the vineyards in the nineteenth century, district by district, classification, varieties, climate, diseases etc.

‘Following on from Dr. Morelot’s
Statistique de la Vigne dans le Départment de la Côte d’Or [1831], detailed cadastral maps were being drawn up, enabling Dr. Jules Lavallé [1820-80] to be far more thorough. His Histoire et Statistique de la Vigne et des Grands Vins de la Côte-d'Or gives a detailed classification of the vineyards of the main villages, ranking them as Première, Deuxième and Troisième Cuvées with some outstanding sites meriting Tête de Cuvée.’ – Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy. 
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Price HK$ 120,000



The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, Illustrated by Appropriate Figures, displaying their Dress, Tartans, Arms, Armorial Insignia, and Social Occupations, from Original Sketches by R. R. McIan. With accompanying Description and Historical Memoranda of Character, Mode of Life, &c. &c. - James Logan, R. R. McIan (illustrator)

1845-1847 - Ackermann and Co., Strand - First Folio Edition
First editions of the first illustrated encyclopaedia of traditional Scottish tartans. Scarce, massive and in the publisher’s original large folio bindings with the motto of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Nemo me impune lacessit to the ornate gilt covers. Housed in bespoke slipcases.

Containing seventy-two magnificent hand-coloured lithographic plates, and two colour chromolithograph titles with the coat of arms of the different Scottish clans. McIan and Logan’s extensive research into the clans was in response to Queen Victoria’s interest in her Scottish heritage, the final work being published to celebrate the centenary of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, one of the results being the 1746 Act of Proscription prohibiting the wearing of highland clothing, the second offence of which led to transportation (repealed in 1782).

McIan’s Clans is still considered the finest example of a large number of works on the subject.
 
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Price HK$ 85,000



Seaports of the Far East. Historical and Descriptive, Commercial and Industrial, Facts, Figures, & Resources. - Allister Macmillan (compiled and Edited by)

1925 - W. H. &, London - Second Edition
A far expanded second edition prolifically illustrated throughout from photographs, and a colour map of the ‘Seaports of the Far East’.

First published in 1907, this edition was expanded from 300 to 530 pages, with large numbers of additional photographs, and new chapters on Indonesia and Thailand.
 
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Price HK$ 7,000



The Costume of China - with - The Punishments of China - Major George Henry Mason

1800 - Printed for William Miller by S. Gosnell, London - Early issues -title page dated 1800, text watermarked 1811, plates 1817
Large folio pair of these two highlights of early western sinology, in magnificent contemporary bindings. Containing eighty-two exquisitely hand-coloured stipple-engraved plates engraved by J. Dadley. Each plate is accompanied by a descriptive text leaf in English and French.

The sixty hand-coloured plates in ‘
Costume of China’ depict individual Chinese in dress appropriate to their occupation or rank and are based on originals by the Cantonese export artist Pu-Qua.

The twenty-two hand-coloured plates in ‘
Punishments of China’ are based on paintings attributed to the artist George Henry Mason who, with William Alexander, travelled to China at the end of the eighteenth century.

Punishments of China’ is the ‘best western record of these peculiar and often gruesome practices, describing in graphic detail the forms of punishment from less severe penalties like Torturing the Fingers and Twisting a Man’s Ears, to the most serious The Manner of Beheading. The accompanying text, in both French and English, explains the method by which the punishment is delivered and examples of the crimes that would merit such a punishment. For example the fitting punishment for merchants that had committed frauds, impositions, or any other unwarrantable tricks of the trade was the Punishment of the Swing, in which a man is suspended by his shoulders and ankles, in a very painful situation.’ [Wittockiana 49]

While the methods are clearly barbaric by today's standards, Mason's book, along with the translation of the Qing penal code in 1810, created growing concern in Britain and other Western countries over the perceived severity and unnecessary cruelty of the sentences described. [Abbey]
 
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Price HK$ 50,000



Principles of Political Economy - John Stuart Mill

1849 - John W. Parker, London - Second Edition
Scarce second edition of the ‘brilliant John Stuart Mill's major work, a treatise that marked the culmination of classical economics, and was considered ‘the undisputed bible of economic doctrine’. The second edition makes significant additions to the sections on the future of the working class and socialism, an indication of his concerns for the welfare of the labouring class and evidence of Mill's movement towards becoming what Schumpeter describes as an "evolutionary socialist".

One of the most widely read of all books on economics in the nineteenth century. As Adam Smith's
Wealth of Nations had during an earlier period, Mill's text dominated economics teaching; In the case of Oxford University it was the standard text until 1919, when replaced by Alfred Marshall's theories.

‘To many generations of students, Mill’s
Principles was the undisputed bible of economic doctrine. They represented the final synthesis of classical theory and of refinements introduced by post-Ricardian writers. They were comprehensive, systematic, and, with few exceptions, they presented their theorems without pugnacity which strengthened the impression of assurance and unquestioned authority’ (Roll). 
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Price HK$ 7,000



Stitches from Old English Embroideries [Portfolio No. 1] with Stitches from Eastern Embroideries from countries bordering on the Mediterranean, from Greece, the Near East and Persia [Portfolio No. 2] - Louisa F. Pesel

1912-13 - Percy Lund, Bradford - First Editions
Two unique vellum folders specially made to present these rare portfolio’s as gifts from Louisa Pesel to Queen Helen of Greece and Denmark - Each portfolio housing a descriptive brochure together with loose numbered plates.

Royal Coat of Arms in gilt to the bindings and bookplates of the Queen Helen, together with a letter from Pesel to the Crown Princess of Greece. The second portfolio is dedicated to Queen Helen’s mother, Sophia of Prussia, who was Queen of Greece from 1913 to 1917, and 1920 to 1922.

Louisa Pesel (1870-1947) was Director of the Royal Hellenic School of Needlework and Lace in Athens from 1903-7, she helped set up the Embroiderers’ Guild of England and was elected the first President in 1920.

In 1910 Pesel was commissioned by the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum to produce a series of samples of historic English embroidery stitches. This commission led to these V&A portfolio publications written by her.
 
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Price HK$ 14,000



His Dark Materials Trilogy - Northern Lights [Golden Compass]; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass. - Philip Pullman

1995-2000 - Scholastic Press, London - First Editions
Fine first editions of this exceptional fantasy trilogy, whose titles were derived from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. ‘Northern Lights’ with the publisher's bookplate signed by the author loosely inserted.

Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary epic trilogy, written by ‘one of the supreme literary dreamers and magicians of our time’. [
The Guardian].

Northern Lights was listed in both Newsweek and The Observer's top 100 novels of all time, The Times' Novel List Top 60 Poll (2013) and was selected for World Book Night (2011). Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Prize, also shortlisted for Booker Prize.

‘War, politics, magic, science, individual lives and cosmic destinies are all here... shaped and assembled into a narrative of tremendous pace by a man with a generous, precise intelligence. I am completely enchanted.’ –
The New York Times Book Review. 
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Price HK$ 25,000



Cups and Their Customs - George Edwin Roberts

1863 - John Van Vorst, London - First Edition
First edition of this wonderful little work by George Edwin Roberts (1831-65) on ‘Bacchanology’ (his term), penned the same year as the first work on Cocktails was published in America by the great Professor Jerry Thomas, possibly in response to that growing threat to the English way of life.

In the original gilt illustrated boards, with hand coloured wood engraved title page, and wood engraved vignette of drinking skull to last page.

‘a tantalising collection of drinking lore and legend with several dozen recipes for cups and other tasty (or not so tasty) beverages as they were served in the mid-nineteenth century’ [Kalevala,
Classic Cocktail Guides]

‘This history of cups and other vessels, the kinds of drinks they contained, and the various customs associated with drinking them, begins with Noah and continues through the Greeks and Romans and on to the middle ages and ‘modern times’. Personalities mentioned in the course of this very interesting commentary include Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-65). It ends with recipes for various “cups” prepared with a variety of ingredients, including honey mixed with herbs and spices (metheglin), ale and apples, punches with oranges, lemons, rum, brandy and green tea, and so on.

One particularly appetising drink, the “Wassail Bowl” (for Christmas Eve) contains beer, sugar, nutmeg, ginger, sherry, and slices of toasted bread floating on top. A typical wine drink is the “Claret Cup” which adds to a bottle of Bordeaux two glasses of sherry, one of Maraschino and some sugar. After icing, add a bottle of soda-water and two sprigs of borage. Since we know that these and similar concoctions are still happily consumed by beautiful people everywhere, we must conclude that they taste much better than they sound and no doubt their after-effects have been artfully neutralised by the judicious use of herbs and spices, from centuries of experience. An enjoyable book for anyone who has ever been happily punch-drunk at least once in his life.’ [Buehler,
Viniana] 
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Price HK$ 5,000



 
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