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 fine copy in bright dust jacket.
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Price HK$ 28,000
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 fine copy in bright dust jacket.
More details
Price HK$ 28,000
The Friends of Eddie Coyle -
George V. Higgins
1972 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Edition
‘What I can’t get over is that so good a first novel was written by the fuzz.’ – Norman Mailer. By ‘fuzz’ Mailer is referring to U.S. Attorney George Higgins.
A fine copy housed in a custom chemise and slipcase, which also contains specially made pockets that contain three reviews:-
New York Times – ‘I don’t know what kind of lawyer George Higgins is, but I know now that he’s a writer. With “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” he’s given us the most penetrating glimpse yet into what seems the real world of crime’;
Life magazine – Shove over, Raymond Chandler, if you don’t want an elbow in the eye, And somebody pull up a chair for George Higgins, the new boy in the back room. Hard-nosed George is an assistant U.S. attorney by trade. But that first cops-and-robbers novel tucked under his arm qualifies him for the corner table where all the best tellers of low tales sit, taking their Dashiell Hammett straight with a Hemingway chaser’;
Time magazine – ‘George Higgins’s pungent, ironic dialogue precisely registers the feints and formalities of a world in which unguarded speech can often be fatal He risks confusing us in order to make us sink or swim as his characters must learn to do. Alertness is richly rewarded’.
When asked to name the top ten mysteries, Elmore Leonard said, ‘My all-time favorite, the one book that has made a lasting impression is The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That would be my list’.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1972 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Edition
‘What I can’t get over is that so good a first novel was written by the fuzz.’ – Norman Mailer. By ‘fuzz’ Mailer is referring to U.S. Attorney George Higgins. A fine copy housed in a custom chemise and slipcase, which also contains specially made pockets that contain three reviews:-
New York Times – ‘I don’t know what kind of lawyer George Higgins is, but I know now that he’s a writer. With “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” he’s given us the most penetrating glimpse yet into what seems the real world of crime’;
Life magazine – Shove over, Raymond Chandler, if you don’t want an elbow in the eye, And somebody pull up a chair for George Higgins, the new boy in the back room. Hard-nosed George is an assistant U.S. attorney by trade. But that first cops-and-robbers novel tucked under his arm qualifies him for the corner table where all the best tellers of low tales sit, taking their Dashiell Hammett straight with a Hemingway chaser’;
Time magazine – ‘George Higgins’s pungent, ironic dialogue precisely registers the feints and formalities of a world in which unguarded speech can often be fatal He risks confusing us in order to make us sink or swim as his characters must learn to do. Alertness is richly rewarded’.
When asked to name the top ten mysteries, Elmore Leonard said, ‘My all-time favorite, the one book that has made a lasting impression is The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That would be my list’.
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Price HK$ 2,500
Travels in West Africa - Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons -
Mary Henrietta Kingsley
1897 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Edition
A near fine first edition, illustrated throughout, including 16 halftone plates, 2 lithographic plates, and numerous in-text photographs.
‘From fighting with crocodiles, to being caught in a tornado on the slopes of Mount Cameroon, all while wearing her habitual trailing skirts, high collars, and fur cap, the solo adventures of Victorian traveller Mary Kingsley (1862-1900), as narrated in her best selling book, Travels in West Africa are nothing short of incredible.’
‘I have seen many wild animals in their native wilds, but never have I seen anything to equal gorillas going through the bush; it is a graceful, powerful, superbly perfect hand-trapeze performance.’
‘Until 1893, Mary Kingsley led a secluded life in Victorian England. At age 30 however, Kingsley defied convention and arranged a trip to west Africa to collect botanical samples for a book left unfinished by her father. Such a daring adventure was unheard of for women at the time. Kingsley travelled through western and equatorial Africa and became the first European to enter parts of Gabon. Her story, as an explorer and as a woman, offers an enduring tale of adventure.’
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Price HK$ 5,000
1897 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Edition
A near fine first edition, illustrated throughout, including 16 halftone plates, 2 lithographic plates, and numerous in-text photographs.‘From fighting with crocodiles, to being caught in a tornado on the slopes of Mount Cameroon, all while wearing her habitual trailing skirts, high collars, and fur cap, the solo adventures of Victorian traveller Mary Kingsley (1862-1900), as narrated in her best selling book, Travels in West Africa are nothing short of incredible.’
‘I have seen many wild animals in their native wilds, but never have I seen anything to equal gorillas going through the bush; it is a graceful, powerful, superbly perfect hand-trapeze performance.’
‘Until 1893, Mary Kingsley led a secluded life in Victorian England. At age 30 however, Kingsley defied convention and arranged a trip to west Africa to collect botanical samples for a book left unfinished by her father. Such a daring adventure was unheard of for women at the time. Kingsley travelled through western and equatorial Africa and became the first European to enter parts of Gabon. Her story, as an explorer and as a woman, offers an enduring tale of adventure.’
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold -
John le Carré
1963 - Victor Gollancz Ltd, London - First Edition
A superb example of what graham Greene called ‘The best spy story I have ever read’.
‘An icon of the anti-hero spy’ – United States Central Intelligence Agency.
The British Cold War spy novel that became famous for its portrayal of Western espionage methods as being morally inconsistent with Western democracy and values.
‘One of the All-Time 100 Novels’ – TIME Magazine.
‘Best spy novel of all-time’ – Publishers Weekly.
More details
Price HK$ 20,000
1963 - Victor Gollancz Ltd, London - First Edition
A superb example of what graham Greene called ‘The best spy story I have ever read’.‘An icon of the anti-hero spy’ – United States Central Intelligence Agency.
The British Cold War spy novel that became famous for its portrayal of Western espionage methods as being morally inconsistent with Western democracy and values.
‘One of the All-Time 100 Novels’ – TIME Magazine.
‘Best spy novel of all-time’ – Publishers Weekly.
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Price HK$ 20,000
The Call of the Wild -
Jack London
1903 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition, First Issue
‘Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and . . . he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire, and to plunge into the forest’
A fresh first edition of Jack London's best and most enduring work, with little of the usual rubbing to the boards. Illustrated with eleven full page colour plates, including frontispiece with tissue-guard, five in-text colour illustrations, and numerous full page and in-text single tint decorations and illustrations, by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull, decorations by Charles E. Hooper.
Included with this particular copy is a $50 cash check (cheque) completed in Jack London's hand, dated ‘Feb 3 1905’ and drawn on the Central Bank of Oakland.
‘What projects The Call of the Wild towards immortality is London's urgent and vivid style, and his astonishing identification with the world he's describing’ - The Guardian Newspaper (2014), 100 best novels.
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Price HK$ 12,500
1903 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition, First Issue
‘Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and . . . he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire, and to plunge into the forest’A fresh first edition of Jack London's best and most enduring work, with little of the usual rubbing to the boards. Illustrated with eleven full page colour plates, including frontispiece with tissue-guard, five in-text colour illustrations, and numerous full page and in-text single tint decorations and illustrations, by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull, decorations by Charles E. Hooper.
Included with this particular copy is a $50 cash check (cheque) completed in Jack London's hand, dated ‘Feb 3 1905’ and drawn on the Central Bank of Oakland.
‘What projects The Call of the Wild towards immortality is London's urgent and vivid style, and his astonishing identification with the world he's describing’ - The Guardian Newspaper (2014), 100 best novels.
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Price HK$ 12,500
Celebrities of the Shanghai Turf -
Juel Madsen, Edmund Toeg
1923 - Juel Madsen, Shanghai - Only Edition
A rare piece of Shanghai horse racing history, in remarkably clean condition.
Containing 54 full page captioned illustrations of prominent members of the Shanghai community, by Danish artists Juel Madsen, and Edmund Toeg, with an introduction by A. W. "Bertie" Burkill, Steward of the Shanghai Race Club.
The illustrations consist of 33 individual portraits of members of the Shanghai Race Club, Shanghai Paper Hunt Club, and International Recreation Club, beginning with G. H. Stitt, then Chairman of the Shanghai Racing Club (and Shanghai manager of the Hong Kong bank, interesting trivia – the right hand lion below the HSBC building in Hong Kong is nicknamed Stitt); 5 group sketches of Shanghai Race Club and Paper Hunt Club; 2 group sketches of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps (those featured are named below each sketch); 2 horses; all by Juel Madsen and 12 caricature sketches by Edmund Toeg.
Possibly the last publication and showing some of the last sketches by the Danish artist and war correspondent Juel Madsen who was killed in September 1923 in the Great Kantō Japanese earthquake.
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Price HK$ 15,000
1923 - Juel Madsen, Shanghai - Only Edition
A rare piece of Shanghai horse racing history, in remarkably clean condition.Containing 54 full page captioned illustrations of prominent members of the Shanghai community, by Danish artists Juel Madsen, and Edmund Toeg, with an introduction by A. W. "Bertie" Burkill, Steward of the Shanghai Race Club.
The illustrations consist of 33 individual portraits of members of the Shanghai Race Club, Shanghai Paper Hunt Club, and International Recreation Club, beginning with G. H. Stitt, then Chairman of the Shanghai Racing Club (and Shanghai manager of the Hong Kong bank, interesting trivia – the right hand lion below the HSBC building in Hong Kong is nicknamed Stitt); 5 group sketches of Shanghai Race Club and Paper Hunt Club; 2 group sketches of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps (those featured are named below each sketch); 2 horses; all by Juel Madsen and 12 caricature sketches by Edmund Toeg.
Possibly the last publication and showing some of the last sketches by the Danish artist and war correspondent Juel Madsen who was killed in September 1923 in the Great Kantō Japanese earthquake.
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Price HK$ 15,000
West With The Night -
Beryl Markham
1942 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition, First Printing
The remarkable Beryl Markham’s elegantly crafted autobiography. Africa’s first female thoroughbred horse trainer and its first woman bush pilot, who in 1936 became the first person to fly the Atlantic solo from east to west. First edition, first printing with ‘1942’ on title page (later printings only had the date on the copyright page), and in the delicate dust jacket, not price-clipped as commonly found.
After apprenticing with her father as a trainer and breeder of horses, Markham had turned to aviation, carrying mail, passengers, and supplies in her small plane to far corners of the Sudan, Tanganyika, Kenya, and Rhodesia. Ernest Hemingway, who was unimpressed when first meeting Markham whilst on his 1933-4 African safari, wrote in a letter to editor Maxwell Perkins: "Did you read Beryl Markham’s book, West with the Night? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer’s log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and some times making an okay pig pen. But [she] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard the other people’s stories, are absolutely true I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book."
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Price HK$ 11,000
1942 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition, First Printing
The remarkable Beryl Markham’s elegantly crafted autobiography. Africa’s first female thoroughbred horse trainer and its first woman bush pilot, who in 1936 became the first person to fly the Atlantic solo from east to west. First edition, first printing with ‘1942’ on title page (later printings only had the date on the copyright page), and in the delicate dust jacket, not price-clipped as commonly found.After apprenticing with her father as a trainer and breeder of horses, Markham had turned to aviation, carrying mail, passengers, and supplies in her small plane to far corners of the Sudan, Tanganyika, Kenya, and Rhodesia. Ernest Hemingway, who was unimpressed when first meeting Markham whilst on his 1933-4 African safari, wrote in a letter to editor Maxwell Perkins: "Did you read Beryl Markham’s book, West with the Night? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer’s log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and some times making an okay pig pen. But [she] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard the other people’s stories, are absolutely true I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book."
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Price HK$ 11,000
Beast in View -
Margaret Millar
1955 - Random House, New York - First Edition
The psychological thriller, ‘strongly plotted accounts of eruptions from the depths of the unconscious’, by a mistress of suspense at the top of her form, winner of numerous awards and top rankings including the 1956 Edgar Allan Poe Award, and one of the Mystery Writers of America's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. Difficult to find in such a bright dust jacket.
Beast in View was adapted for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in the 60s and Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the 80s. Writing about the book in 1984 for the New York Times, Anthony Boucher said, it was “written with such complete realization of every character that the most bitter antagonist of mystery fiction may be forced to acknowledge it as a work of art.” - Jake Hinson, Hall of Famers, Criminal Element.
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Price HK$ 5,800
1955 - Random House, New York - First Edition
The psychological thriller, ‘strongly plotted accounts of eruptions from the depths of the unconscious’, by a mistress of suspense at the top of her form, winner of numerous awards and top rankings including the 1956 Edgar Allan Poe Award, and one of the Mystery Writers of America's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. Difficult to find in such a bright dust jacket.Beast in View was adapted for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in the 60s and Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the 80s. Writing about the book in 1984 for the New York Times, Anthony Boucher said, it was “written with such complete realization of every character that the most bitter antagonist of mystery fiction may be forced to acknowledge it as a work of art.” - Jake Hinson, Hall of Famers, Criminal Element.
More details
Price HK$ 5,800