Soldier Tales -
Rudyard Kipling
1896 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Edition of this Collection
Bright and sharp in the publishers gilt and blyue cloth, this is an illustrated collection of short stories selected from earlier works including: ‘With the Main Guard’, ‘Drums of the Fore and Aft’, ‘The Man Who Was’, ‘The Courting of Dinah Shadd’, ‘The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney’, ‘The Taking of Lungtungpen’, ‘The Madness of Private Ortheris’.
With twenty-one full-page black and white illustrations by A. S. Hartrick, and woodcuts as head and tailpieces at the beginning and end of the chapters.
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Price HK$ 2,000
1896 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Edition of this Collection
Bright and sharp in the publishers gilt and blyue cloth, this is an illustrated collection of short stories selected from earlier works including: ‘With the Main Guard’, ‘Drums of the Fore and Aft’, ‘The Man Who Was’, ‘The Courting of Dinah Shadd’, ‘The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney’, ‘The Taking of Lungtungpen’, ‘The Madness of Private Ortheris’.With twenty-one full-page black and white illustrations by A. S. Hartrick, and woodcuts as head and tailpieces at the beginning and end of the chapters.
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Price HK$ 2,000
Departmental Ditties. Barrack-Room Ballads And Other Verses -
Rudyard Kipling
1890 - United States Book Company, New York - First Edition of Barrack-Room Ballads, First American Edition of Departmental Ditties. First Issue.
A sharp bright example of this large collection of Kipling’s classic verse, 66 in total, a compilation that includes the first printings of thirteen ballads and four ‘Other Verses’ printed two years later under the separate title of ‘Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads’.
Most proving that we never learn, and many reliving the experiences of soldiers and civil servants sent around the world to defend the Empire, all for little pay and less appreciation.
‘When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains, An’ got to your Gawd like a soldier........’ – The Young British Soldier.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1890 - United States Book Company, New York - First Edition of Barrack-Room Ballads, First American Edition of Departmental Ditties. First Issue.
A sharp bright example of this large collection of Kipling’s classic verse, 66 in total, a compilation that includes the first printings of thirteen ballads and four ‘Other Verses’ printed two years later under the separate title of ‘Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads’.Most proving that we never learn, and many reliving the experiences of soldiers and civil servants sent around the world to defend the Empire, all for little pay and less appreciation.
‘When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains, An’ got to your Gawd like a soldier........’ – The Young British Soldier.
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Price HK$ 2,800
Twenty Poems -
Rudyard Kipling
1918 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Edition
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise......
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
A finely bound first edition of Kipling’s ‘Twenty Poems’, featuring some of his most celebrated poem, including ‘If’ and ‘Gunga Din’.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1918 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Edition
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise......
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
A finely bound first edition of Kipling’s ‘Twenty Poems’, featuring some of his most celebrated poem, including ‘If’ and ‘Gunga Din’.
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Price HK$ 2,800
The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, by Food, Clothes, Air, Exercise, Wine, Sleep, &c. -
William Kitchiner
1822 - Hurst, London - Third Edition, Enlarged
A scarce and fascinating little work in contemporary binding.
Following a ‘Cure for Tooth-Ach’ is the section entitled ‘The Pleasure of Making a Will’, presumably many ‘Tooth-Achs’ were terminal in 1822.
Words of wisdom include:-
‘The Siesta is not only advisable, but indispensable.’
‘No man should habitually take Wine as Food until he is past 30 years of age’.
‘Take as much exercise as you can in the open air’.
‘Nothing is so restorative to the nerves, as sound and uninterrupted Sleep; which is the chief source of both Bodily and Mental Strength’.
‘The clearness of the Complexion is considered the best criterion of a Man’s being in good condition’.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1822 - Hurst, London - Third Edition, Enlarged
A scarce and fascinating little work in contemporary binding.Following a ‘Cure for Tooth-Ach’ is the section entitled ‘The Pleasure of Making a Will’, presumably many ‘Tooth-Achs’ were terminal in 1822.
Words of wisdom include:-
‘The Siesta is not only advisable, but indispensable.’
‘No man should habitually take Wine as Food until he is past 30 years of age’.
‘Take as much exercise as you can in the open air’.
‘Nothing is so restorative to the nerves, as sound and uninterrupted Sleep; which is the chief source of both Bodily and Mental Strength’.
‘The clearness of the Complexion is considered the best criterion of a Man’s being in good condition’.
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Price HK$ 2,800
The Essays of Elia and The Last Essays of Elia -
Charles Lamb
1900 Circa - Thomas Nelson and Sons, New York
Exquisitely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, with frontispiece portrait of Charles Lamb and a contemporary Tiffany & Co. engraved bookplate of Cecil and Adelaide North. In two parts, with an introduction and notes by George Woodberry.
‘One of the classics of English prose and a cornerstone of the personal essay tradition. All personal essayists worth their salt owe a huge debt to this generous and generative collection... ; all apprentice essayists who would strive to make headway in the form will need to read it... Essays of Elia is not only an essential text, but a near-buried treasure, an all-but-lost masterpiece in our contemporary culture.’ - Philip Lopate.
Published under the pseudonym "Elia," Charles Lamb’s book, by turns witty, insightful, self-deprecating, and philosophical, offers an unusually warm, human glimpse of life in a circle that included such luminaries as Coleridge, Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt. Published in The London Magazine in the early 1820s, these often nostalgic essays are important documents in the development of autobiographical writing which gained him a devoted following among 19th-century readers. - [from a recent edition]
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Price HK$ 4,200
1900 Circa - Thomas Nelson and Sons, New York
Exquisitely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, with frontispiece portrait of Charles Lamb and a contemporary Tiffany & Co. engraved bookplate of Cecil and Adelaide North. In two parts, with an introduction and notes by George Woodberry.‘One of the classics of English prose and a cornerstone of the personal essay tradition. All personal essayists worth their salt owe a huge debt to this generous and generative collection... ; all apprentice essayists who would strive to make headway in the form will need to read it... Essays of Elia is not only an essential text, but a near-buried treasure, an all-but-lost masterpiece in our contemporary culture.’ - Philip Lopate.
Published under the pseudonym "Elia," Charles Lamb’s book, by turns witty, insightful, self-deprecating, and philosophical, offers an unusually warm, human glimpse of life in a circle that included such luminaries as Coleridge, Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt. Published in The London Magazine in the early 1820s, these often nostalgic essays are important documents in the development of autobiographical writing which gained him a devoted following among 19th-century readers. - [from a recent edition]
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Price HK$ 4,200
The China Magazine -
C. Langdon Davies (editor), John Thomson (photographer)
1868-1870 - Printed for the proprietor by Noronha & Sons, Hong Kong - First Editions
A rare set of this short-lived and ‘pioneering effort in photo-journalism’. Containing the complete four volumes of text, together with eleven of the original pasted-in photographs, seven of which are accredited to Thomson.
‘The China Magazine, edited by C. Langdon Davies, contained photographs by John Thomson, Henry Cammidge, Milton Miller and others. It was undoubtedly the inspiration behind John Reddie Black's better known Far East, which ran from 1870 until 1878. Apart from containing a number of photographs unpublished elsewhere, the China Magazine contains interesting feature articles which throw light on life in mid nineteenth-century China, Hong Kong in particular.
The first issue of the China Magazine was published on 7th March 1868. It initially appeared weekly and then monthly until it reached it’s fourth and final volume in 1870. It was illustrated with original pasted-in photographs and it may have been the first publication of any kind in the Far East to do this.’ - Terry Bennett, History of Photography in China.
Bennett states that surviving volumes of the China Magazine are extremely rare, interestingly noting that the China Review was offering sets of the four volumes ‘without photographs’ and missing some pages of text in July 1872. It is possible that this is an example of such a set, being complete in text, and containing 11 of the original photographs.
Bennett also suggests that the January and February 1870 magazines are probably the final issues, the February issue ends on page 80, however there are a further 66 pages contained here, indicating there were either a further two magazines or the pages had already been set and printed so included in the consolidated fourth volume but the magazine itself was no longer being issued.
The four volumes are - Midsummer (1868); Christmas (1868); Midsummer (1869); Christmas (1869); Volume IV of 1870 ends on page 146 with Chapter 5 of the ‘Fourth Book’ of ‘The Three Brothers’. The only other complete set we have had access to also ends on page 146.
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Price HK$ 70,000
1868-1870 - Printed for the proprietor by Noronha & Sons, Hong Kong - First Editions
A rare set of this short-lived and ‘pioneering effort in photo-journalism’. Containing the complete four volumes of text, together with eleven of the original pasted-in photographs, seven of which are accredited to Thomson.‘The China Magazine, edited by C. Langdon Davies, contained photographs by John Thomson, Henry Cammidge, Milton Miller and others. It was undoubtedly the inspiration behind John Reddie Black's better known Far East, which ran from 1870 until 1878. Apart from containing a number of photographs unpublished elsewhere, the China Magazine contains interesting feature articles which throw light on life in mid nineteenth-century China, Hong Kong in particular.
The first issue of the China Magazine was published on 7th March 1868. It initially appeared weekly and then monthly until it reached it’s fourth and final volume in 1870. It was illustrated with original pasted-in photographs and it may have been the first publication of any kind in the Far East to do this.’ - Terry Bennett, History of Photography in China.
Bennett states that surviving volumes of the China Magazine are extremely rare, interestingly noting that the China Review was offering sets of the four volumes ‘without photographs’ and missing some pages of text in July 1872. It is possible that this is an example of such a set, being complete in text, and containing 11 of the original photographs.
Bennett also suggests that the January and February 1870 magazines are probably the final issues, the February issue ends on page 80, however there are a further 66 pages contained here, indicating there were either a further two magazines or the pages had already been set and printed so included in the consolidated fourth volume but the magazine itself was no longer being issued.
The four volumes are - Midsummer (1868); Christmas (1868); Midsummer (1869); Christmas (1869); Volume IV of 1870 ends on page 146 with Chapter 5 of the ‘Fourth Book’ of ‘The Three Brothers’. The only other complete set we have had access to also ends on page 146.
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Price HK$ 70,000
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 in original publisher’s cloth, 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$ 18,000
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 in original publisher’s cloth, 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$ 18,000
One Hundred Years of Solitude -
Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (translator)
1970 - Harper & Row, New York and Evanston - First Edition in English in First State Dust Jacket
‘The greatest achievement in Spanish Literature since Don Quixote.’ - Pablo Neruda.
The first edition in English of Márquez’s masterwork, and one of the most important novels of the century, which introduced magical realism to a wide audience and helped bring the boom in Latin American literature to this country. At the end of the 1970s this book was voted by the editors of The New York Times Book Review to be not only the best book published in the last ten years but the one most likely to still be read and still be important one hundred years hence. Garcia Marquez has been awarded the Nobel Prize, among countless other literary awards.
‘The first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.’ - New York Times Book Review.
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Price HK$ 28,000
1970 - Harper & Row, New York and Evanston - First Edition in English in First State Dust Jacket
‘The greatest achievement in Spanish Literature since Don Quixote.’ - Pablo Neruda.The first edition in English of Márquez’s masterwork, and one of the most important novels of the century, which introduced magical realism to a wide audience and helped bring the boom in Latin American literature to this country. At the end of the 1970s this book was voted by the editors of The New York Times Book Review to be not only the best book published in the last ten years but the one most likely to still be read and still be important one hundred years hence. Garcia Marquez has been awarded the Nobel Prize, among countless other literary awards.
‘The first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.’ - New York Times Book Review.
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Price HK$ 28,000