Slouching Towards Bethlehem -
Joan Didion
1968 - Farrar, New York - First Edition
First edition of Joan Didion’s groundbreaking and classic non-fiction collection of essays.
‘More than perhaps any other book, this collection by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era captures the unique time and place of Joan Didion’s focus, exploring subjects such as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture. As Joyce Carol Oates remarked: “[Didion] has been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control.”’
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Price HK$ 16,000
1968 - Farrar, New York - First Edition
First edition of Joan Didion’s groundbreaking and classic non-fiction collection of essays.‘More than perhaps any other book, this collection by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era captures the unique time and place of Joan Didion’s focus, exploring subjects such as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture. As Joyce Carol Oates remarked: “[Didion] has been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control.”’
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Price HK$ 16,000
His Last Bow. Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1917 - John Murray, London - First Edition
First edition of this collection of eight Sherlock Holmes short stories.
Includes the titular ‘His Last Bow’ and a brief preface that reveals the fate of Sherlock after his tumble from the Reichenbach falls while combating his arch-nemesis Moriarty...
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Price HK$ 6,000
1917 - John Murray, London - First Edition
First edition of this collection of eight Sherlock Holmes short stories.Includes the titular ‘His Last Bow’ and a brief preface that reveals the fate of Sherlock after his tumble from the Reichenbach falls while combating his arch-nemesis Moriarty...
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Waste Land - Signed -
T.S. Eliot
1962 - Faber &, London - One of 300 copies.
The most exquisite presentation of Eliot’s masterpiece, signed by him and numbered 220 of only 300 copies.
‘Printed in Dante type by Giovanni Mardersteig on the hand-press of the Officina Bodoni in Verona. The edition consists of 300 numbered copies on paper made by Fratelli Magnani, Prescia.’
Fine and housed in the publisher’s original matching slipcase.
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Price HK$ 90,000
1962 - Faber &, London - One of 300 copies.
The most exquisite presentation of Eliot’s masterpiece, signed by him and numbered 220 of only 300 copies.‘Printed in Dante type by Giovanni Mardersteig on the hand-press of the Officina Bodoni in Verona. The edition consists of 300 numbered copies on paper made by Fratelli Magnani, Prescia.’
Fine and housed in the publisher’s original matching slipcase.
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Price HK$ 90,000
Cinderella - together with - The Sleeping Beauty -
C. S. Evans, Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
1919 - William Heinemann, London - First Rackham Illustrated Editions
Once upon a time...
A uniform large pair of Arthur Rackham’s only magical silhouette illustrated titles. In superior condition, with the original decorated paper boards and dust jackets.
The decorations and silhouette illustrations are in both black and white and in colour, adding a simple yet mystical air to these two classical fairy tales.
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Price HK$ 12,000
1919 - William Heinemann, London - First Rackham Illustrated Editions
Once upon a time... A uniform large pair of Arthur Rackham’s only magical silhouette illustrated titles. In superior condition, with the original decorated paper boards and dust jackets.
The decorations and silhouette illustrations are in both black and white and in colour, adding a simple yet mystical air to these two classical fairy tales.
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Price HK$ 12,000
The Great Gatsby -
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1925 - Charles Scribner&rsquo, New York - First Edition, First Issue
‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’
A particularly fine and thus rare example of the first edition, with strong bright gilt to the spine lettering, no rubbing or wear, deep green cloth, clean interior without inscriptions or markings.
A landmark of 20th century fiction, and the epitome of the Jazz Age in American literature, which incredibly, sold very little during Fitzgerald’s lifetime.
‘I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited – they went there.’
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Price HK$ 80,000
1925 - Charles Scribner&rsquo, New York - First Edition, First Issue
‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’A particularly fine and thus rare example of the first edition, with strong bright gilt to the spine lettering, no rubbing or wear, deep green cloth, clean interior without inscriptions or markings.
A landmark of 20th century fiction, and the epitome of the Jazz Age in American literature, which incredibly, sold very little during Fitzgerald’s lifetime.
‘I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited – they went there.’
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Price HK$ 80,000
Thunderball - Author s Presentation Copy -
Ian Lancaster Fleming
1961 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the most pivotal works of the James Bond series, and the first of the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy
Inscribed by the author "To Noël, In exchange for the copy of P & C he didn't send me! With love Ian" on the front free endpaper.
The inscription refers to Noël Coward's first and only novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), at the centre of which is a thinly-veiled account of Fleming's affair with Ann. Set on the fictional island of Samolo – a close match for Jamaica – it concerns the secret relationship between the aristocratic Eloise and her lover, Bunny, whose character mirrors Fleming's almost exactly. "In the character of Bunny... we have a remarkably unflinching portrait of Ian Fleming's time on the island in 1949-51, the years immediately preceding his marriage to Ann and the simultaneous launch of James Bond … It's astonishing how little Coward bothered to make up" (Parker, page 91).
This copy is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. Schøyen's private collection of manuscripts, which span all cultures and all time periods, was one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind.
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Price HK$ 385,000
1961 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the most pivotal works of the James Bond series, and the first of the ‘Blofeld’ trilogyInscribed by the author "To Noël, In exchange for the copy of P & C he didn't send me! With love Ian" on the front free endpaper.
The inscription refers to Noël Coward's first and only novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), at the centre of which is a thinly-veiled account of Fleming's affair with Ann. Set on the fictional island of Samolo – a close match for Jamaica – it concerns the secret relationship between the aristocratic Eloise and her lover, Bunny, whose character mirrors Fleming's almost exactly. "In the character of Bunny... we have a remarkably unflinching portrait of Ian Fleming's time on the island in 1949-51, the years immediately preceding his marriage to Ann and the simultaneous launch of James Bond … It's astonishing how little Coward bothered to make up" (Parker, page 91).
This copy is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. Schøyen's private collection of manuscripts, which span all cultures and all time periods, was one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind.
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Price HK$ 385,000
You Only Live Twice - Author s Presentation Copy -
Ian Lancaster Fleming
1964 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, First Impression, First State
Inscribed by Ian Fleming to Amherst Villiers; 'read it, damn you!'.
A superb association; legendary engineer Charles Amherst Villiers (1900-1991) designed a supercharger for the 4½ litre 'Blower' Bentley; Fleming chose the 'blower' as James Bond's own vehicle, which appears in the first three novels. Villiers worked on jet engines, rocket propulsion, world-speed records and was also an accomplished portrait artist. So engaged with these interests, Villiers had little time to read, and this was reflected in the author's succinct inscription. Additionally signed in pencil by Janie Villers, who cooked sausages for Fleming to eat while sitting for the portrait of him painted by her father, together with a signed letter of provenance from Fleming bibliographer Jon Gilbert.
A fine first edition, in fine dust jacket, elegantly housed in a bespoke leather clamshell case, black morocco spine with gilt lettering and felt lining.
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Price HK$ 220,000
1964 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, First Impression, First State
Inscribed by Ian Fleming to Amherst Villiers; 'read it, damn you!'.A superb association; legendary engineer Charles Amherst Villiers (1900-1991) designed a supercharger for the 4½ litre 'Blower' Bentley; Fleming chose the 'blower' as James Bond's own vehicle, which appears in the first three novels. Villiers worked on jet engines, rocket propulsion, world-speed records and was also an accomplished portrait artist. So engaged with these interests, Villiers had little time to read, and this was reflected in the author's succinct inscription. Additionally signed in pencil by Janie Villers, who cooked sausages for Fleming to eat while sitting for the portrait of him painted by her father, together with a signed letter of provenance from Fleming bibliographer Jon Gilbert.
A fine first edition, in fine dust jacket, elegantly housed in a bespoke leather clamshell case, black morocco spine with gilt lettering and felt lining.
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Price HK$ 220,000
You Only Live Twice -
Ian Lancaster Fleming
1964 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, First Impression, First State
A wasted Bond is given a ‘mission impossible’ to the exotic orient, which in turn leads him to the maniacal westerner Dr. Shatterhand; a ‘collector of death’. ‘Shatterhand’ is the working title for the 25th James Bond film, currently in production.
Fabulously Fleming characters include Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Tiger Tanaka the head of the Japanese Secret Service, Kissy Suzuki, pearl diver and ex-movie star, and not to forget Irma Bunt, Stavro's henchwoman responsible for the death of Bond's wife Tracy Di Vicenzo.
First edition of the last title in what has become known as the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy and Fleming's last published novel before his death.
Appropriately housed in a bespoke felt lined clamshell case, with gilt lettering and logo to the spine.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1964 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, First Impression, First State
A wasted Bond is given a ‘mission impossible’ to the exotic orient, which in turn leads him to the maniacal westerner Dr. Shatterhand; a ‘collector of death’. ‘Shatterhand’ is the working title for the 25th James Bond film, currently in production.Fabulously Fleming characters include Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Tiger Tanaka the head of the Japanese Secret Service, Kissy Suzuki, pearl diver and ex-movie star, and not to forget Irma Bunt, Stavro's henchwoman responsible for the death of Bond's wife Tracy Di Vicenzo.
First edition of the last title in what has become known as the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy and Fleming's last published novel before his death.
Appropriately housed in a bespoke felt lined clamshell case, with gilt lettering and logo to the spine.
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Price HK$ 10,000