The Razor s Edge - A Novel -
William Somerset Maugham
1944 - William Heinemann Ltd, London - First English Edition
A fine first edition of one of Maugham's most popular works, twice adapted for the big screen, the first of which was Oscar-winning starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney and John Payne.
‘The Razor’s Edge’ follows the life of Larry Darrell, a pilot in World War I who longs to discover some transcendent meaning for human life, and for his life in particular.
Maugham himself appears in the novel, and there is some debate as to whether Darrell is a thinly disguised portrait of Christopher Isherwood.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1944 - William Heinemann Ltd, London - First English Edition
A fine first edition of one of Maugham's most popular works, twice adapted for the big screen, the first of which was Oscar-winning starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney and John Payne.‘The Razor’s Edge’ follows the life of Larry Darrell, a pilot in World War I who longs to discover some transcendent meaning for human life, and for his life in particular.
Maugham himself appears in the novel, and there is some debate as to whether Darrell is a thinly disguised portrait of Christopher Isherwood.
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Price HK$ 8,000
The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands -
William Somerset Maugham
1921 - William Heinemann, London - First English Edition, first issue
A collection of eight short stories inspired by Somerset Maugham’s travels to the Pacific to research his novel ‘The Moon and Sixpence’, based on the life of Paul Gauguin.
Includes one of his most recognised stories, ‘Rain’, which was adapted to the stage by John Colton and Clemence Randolph in 1922.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1921 - William Heinemann, London - First English Edition, first issue
A collection of eight short stories inspired by Somerset Maugham’s travels to the Pacific to research his novel ‘The Moon and Sixpence’, based on the life of Paul Gauguin.Includes one of his most recognised stories, ‘Rain’, which was adapted to the stage by John Colton and Clemence Randolph in 1922.
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Price HK$ 2,500
The Chinese Government. A Manual of Chinese Titles, Categorically Arranged and Explained, with an Appendix -
William Frederick Mayers, revised by G.M.H, Playfair, H.B.M. Consul, Ningpo
1897 - Kelly &, Shanghai - Third Edition
A rare example of this detailed work on the inner workings of China’s complex administrative network, by one of the foremost Chinese scholars of the period.
This work became a standard reference for consulates (this copy being formerly owned by the German Consulate in Nanking and then Shanghai), as well as merchants and those translating Chinese texts and edicts.
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Price HK$ 16,000
1897 - Kelly &, Shanghai - Third Edition
A rare example of this detailed work on the inner workings of China’s complex administrative network, by one of the foremost Chinese scholars of the period.This work became a standard reference for consulates (this copy being formerly owned by the German Consulate in Nanking and then Shanghai), as well as merchants and those translating Chinese texts and edicts.
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Price HK$ 16,000
A Canticle for Leibowitz -
Walter M. Miller Jr.
1960 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia & - First Edition
Walter Miller’s Hugo Award winning novel of a post-apocalyptic world where the Church is once again the protector of science and knowledge.
Selected by Pringle as being among the 100 best science fiction novels of all time and is frequently cited in fandom as one of the best.
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Price HK$ 15,000
1960 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia & - First Edition
Walter Miller’s Hugo Award winning novel of a post-apocalyptic world where the Church is once again the protector of science and knowledge.Selected by Pringle as being among the 100 best science fiction novels of all time and is frequently cited in fandom as one of the best.
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Price HK$ 15,000
Statistique de la vigne dans le d -
Dr. Denis Morelot
1831 - Victor Lagier, Dijon - First Edition
Rare first edition, uncut and unopened, of the first work to attempt any form of classification of vineyards in Burgundy, described by Jancis Robinson as a classic book on Burgundy.
‘Morelot covered the whole of the département, but especially ‘La Côte’, with recognisable descriptions of each village, commending individual vineuard sites as Têtes de Cuvée.The next important work on Burgundy would be that of Dr. Jules Lavallé in 1855 [Histoire et Statistique de la Vigne et des Grands Vins de la Côte-d'Or] - Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy.
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Price HK$ 60,000
1831 - Victor Lagier, Dijon - First Edition
Rare first edition, uncut and unopened, of the first work to attempt any form of classification of vineyards in Burgundy, described by Jancis Robinson as a classic book on Burgundy.‘Morelot covered the whole of the département, but especially ‘La Côte’, with recognisable descriptions of each village, commending individual vineuard sites as Têtes de Cuvée.The next important work on Burgundy would be that of Dr. Jules Lavallé in 1855 [Histoire et Statistique de la Vigne et des Grands Vins de la Côte-d'Or] - Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy.
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Price HK$ 60,000
The True Prophecies or Prognostications - A Work Full of Curiosity and Learning -
Michael Nostradamus, Translated and Commented by Theophilus de Garencieres, Doctor in Physick Colleg. London
1672 - Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and Nathaniel Thompson, London - First Edition in English
A nice clean copy of the first English translation of Nostradamus, with the engraved frontispiece. With the original French quatrains, followed by the English translations and commentary. Prefacing this is ‘The Life of Michael Nostradamus’.
Michel de Nostredame ‘began his prophetic writings in the early 1540s with a series of short yearly almanacs in which he made predictions in verse. The new art of printing gratified a popular demand for supernaturally acquired 'certainty,' and such almanacs were a common literary production of the day. It was with Les Prophéties (1555), however, that Nostradamus became an author of contemporary reputation and a figure who has had an impact on later history… [His more than 1000 rhyming quatrains, arranged in ‘centuries’ of 100] constitute the largest body of prophetic verse prepared to that day, perhaps in all literature’. (Clute & Grant).
Theophilus de Garencières, a French apothecary and occultist living in England, provided the first English translation of the famous prophecies of Nostradamus, along with explanations for each, (with a few exceptions for those entries either too obvious to require it or too obscure to interpret). However, Garencières unknowingly used a fake edition of Nostradamus’s work, printed in 1649, which contained two quatrains, known as the Mazarin Quatrains, that were forged by an unknown author in order to discredit and foretell the downfall of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, prime minister of France.
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Price HK$ 95,000
1672 - Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and Nathaniel Thompson, London - First Edition in English
A nice clean copy of the first English translation of Nostradamus, with the engraved frontispiece. With the original French quatrains, followed by the English translations and commentary. Prefacing this is ‘The Life of Michael Nostradamus’.Michel de Nostredame ‘began his prophetic writings in the early 1540s with a series of short yearly almanacs in which he made predictions in verse. The new art of printing gratified a popular demand for supernaturally acquired 'certainty,' and such almanacs were a common literary production of the day. It was with Les Prophéties (1555), however, that Nostradamus became an author of contemporary reputation and a figure who has had an impact on later history… [His more than 1000 rhyming quatrains, arranged in ‘centuries’ of 100] constitute the largest body of prophetic verse prepared to that day, perhaps in all literature’. (Clute & Grant).
Theophilus de Garencières, a French apothecary and occultist living in England, provided the first English translation of the famous prophecies of Nostradamus, along with explanations for each, (with a few exceptions for those entries either too obvious to require it or too obscure to interpret). However, Garencières unknowingly used a fake edition of Nostradamus’s work, printed in 1649, which contained two quatrains, known as the Mazarin Quatrains, that were forged by an unknown author in order to discredit and foretell the downfall of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, prime minister of France.
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Price HK$ 95,000
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Signed -
Robert M. Pirsig
1974 - William Morrow &, New York - First Edition
Signed true first edition of a modern classic that was rejected by 121 publishers before William Morrow stepped up.
Well, as Robert Pirsig points out, this ‘should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either’. The motorcycle being a 1966 Honda Super Hawk, now on permanent display at the Smithsonian.
‘Inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.’ – The New Yorker.
‘The truly great road trip novel. … Many former angsty teens will surely fondly recall their own dog-eared, heavily underlined copies of Pirsig’s book, and the initial joy that accompanied reading something that felt so specifically personal and yet so urgently universal.’ – GQ Magazine.
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Price HK$ 30,000
1974 - William Morrow &, New York - First Edition
Signed true first edition of a modern classic that was rejected by 121 publishers before William Morrow stepped up.Well, as Robert Pirsig points out, this ‘should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either’. The motorcycle being a 1966 Honda Super Hawk, now on permanent display at the Smithsonian.
‘Inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.’ – The New Yorker.
‘The truly great road trip novel. … Many former angsty teens will surely fondly recall their own dog-eared, heavily underlined copies of Pirsig’s book, and the initial joy that accompanied reading something that felt so specifically personal and yet so urgently universal.’ – GQ Magazine.
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Price HK$ 30,000
Tales of Mystery & Imagination -
Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
1935 - George G. Harrap &, London - First Rackham Edition
‘As for the murders, let us enter into some examinations for ourselves, before we make up an opinion respecting them. An inquiry will afford us amusement’ - Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin.
A fine copy in exceptional dust jacket, powerfully illustrated by Arthur Rackham with twelve colour plates tipped-in with captioned tissue guards, seventeen black and white plates, and in-text vignettes.
Presenting Poe’s three pioneering detective stories - ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Mystery of Marie Rogêt’, and ‘The Purloined Letter’. In addition to Poe’s three detective stories, a further twenty six tales are contained within including ‘The Cask of Amontillado‘, ‘The Fall of The House of Usher‘, and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.
But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound...
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Price HK$ 8,000
1935 - George G. Harrap &, London - First Rackham Edition
‘As for the murders, let us enter into some examinations for ourselves, before we make up an opinion respecting them. An inquiry will afford us amusement’ - Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin.A fine copy in exceptional dust jacket, powerfully illustrated by Arthur Rackham with twelve colour plates tipped-in with captioned tissue guards, seventeen black and white plates, and in-text vignettes.
Presenting Poe’s three pioneering detective stories - ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Mystery of Marie Rogêt’, and ‘The Purloined Letter’. In addition to Poe’s three detective stories, a further twenty six tales are contained within including ‘The Cask of Amontillado‘, ‘The Fall of The House of Usher‘, and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.
But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound...
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Price HK$ 8,000