An Australian in China. Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey across China to British Burma -
G. E. Morrison
1895 - Horace Cox, London - First Edition
Scarce first edition of the first and only book the great George Ernest “G. E.” Morrison ever published. Illustrated with 27 leaves of plates, two folding maps, other illustrations in the text
After graduating in 1887, Morrison was unable to settle in a medical career and in 1894 he walked most of the way from Shanghai to Rangoon, a journey of 3,000 miles. In 1895, whilst on board a ship to England he put this book together, the success of which led to his appointment in 1895 at The Times as their correspondent in Indo-China and Thailand, he had also, the same year , presented his doctoral theses and obtained his MD from the University of Edinburgh.
In 1897 Morrison become The Times Peking correspondent, and thus, the legend of ‘Morrison of Peking’ or ‘Chinese Morrison’ began.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1895 - Horace Cox, London - First Edition
Scarce first edition of the first and only book the great George Ernest “G. E.” Morrison ever published. Illustrated with 27 leaves of plates, two folding maps, other illustrations in the textAfter graduating in 1887, Morrison was unable to settle in a medical career and in 1894 he walked most of the way from Shanghai to Rangoon, a journey of 3,000 miles. In 1895, whilst on board a ship to England he put this book together, the success of which led to his appointment in 1895 at The Times as their correspondent in Indo-China and Thailand, he had also, the same year , presented his doctoral theses and obtained his MD from the University of Edinburgh.
In 1897 Morrison become The Times Peking correspondent, and thus, the legend of ‘Morrison of Peking’ or ‘Chinese Morrison’ began.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Glimpses of China and Chinese Homes -
Edward S. Morse
1902 - Little, Boston - First Edition
A fine copy, ‘Illustrated from Sketches in the Author's Journal’.
Zoologist and orientalist with in-depth knowledge of Japanese ceramics and customs, travelled through China whilst keeping this ‘Journal’ in which he mostly outlines his views on the superiority of the Japanese in matters of municipal, military and culture, obviously a considerable bias based upon his years spent in Japan and love of that country. However, some of his points may have some bases of fact, with the luxury lifestyle and corruption that was seen amongst the senior military Chinese figures at the time.
An interesting counterpoint to works by Morse’s contemporary Western sinologists, and the sketches are rather good.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1902 - Little, Boston - First Edition
A fine copy, ‘Illustrated from Sketches in the Author's Journal’.Zoologist and orientalist with in-depth knowledge of Japanese ceramics and customs, travelled through China whilst keeping this ‘Journal’ in which he mostly outlines his views on the superiority of the Japanese in matters of municipal, military and culture, obviously a considerable bias based upon his years spent in Japan and love of that country. However, some of his points may have some bases of fact, with the luxury lifestyle and corruption that was seen amongst the senior military Chinese figures at the time.
An interesting counterpoint to works by Morse’s contemporary Western sinologists, and the sketches are rather good.
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Price HK$ 1,800
Hansel and Gretel -
Kay Nielsen (illustrator), Brothers Grimm
1925 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - Number 70 of 600 limited copies, signed by the artist
‘Once upon a time there dwelt near a large wood a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children by his former marriage, a little boy named Hansel, and a girl named Gretel.’
A superb example of this large, limited edition of Grimm fairy tales, illustrated with twelve stunning mounted colour plates and numerous black and white drawings by Kay Nielsen, and signed by the artist on the limitation page, accompanied by the publisher’s somewhat worn slipcase.
Together with ‘Hansel and Gretel’, this marvellous collection also includes the stories ‘The Six Swans’, ‘The Fisherman and His Wife’, ‘Snowdrop’, ‘Clever Alice’, ‘The Valiant Little Tailor’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Three Magic Gifts’, ‘The Golden Goose’, and ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, among others.
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Price HK$ 35,000
1925 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - Number 70 of 600 limited copies, signed by the artist
‘Once upon a time there dwelt near a large wood a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children by his former marriage, a little boy named Hansel, and a girl named Gretel.’A superb example of this large, limited edition of Grimm fairy tales, illustrated with twelve stunning mounted colour plates and numerous black and white drawings by Kay Nielsen, and signed by the artist on the limitation page, accompanied by the publisher’s somewhat worn slipcase.
Together with ‘Hansel and Gretel’, this marvellous collection also includes the stories ‘The Six Swans’, ‘The Fisherman and His Wife’, ‘Snowdrop’, ‘Clever Alice’, ‘The Valiant Little Tailor’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Three Magic Gifts’, ‘The Golden Goose’, and ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, among others.
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Price HK$ 35,000
The Golden Treasury -
Francis Turner Palgrave
1925 - Macmillan & Co., London
A handsomely bound edition of Francis Turner Palgrave’s popular anthology of English poetry, originally published in 1861 and still in print today.
In his 1861 dedication to his lifelong friend Alfred Tennyson, Palgrave says the aim of his collection was to teach ‘those indifferent to the Poets to love them, and those who love them to love them more’. More than 150 years later, Palgrave’s compilation has indeed proved itself a treasury, featuring the enduring works of much admired poets such as Dryden, Burns, Keats, Milton, Rosetti, Tennyson, and Shakespeare, among many others.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1925 - Macmillan & Co., London
A handsomely bound edition of Francis Turner Palgrave’s popular anthology of English poetry, originally published in 1861 and still in print today.In his 1861 dedication to his lifelong friend Alfred Tennyson, Palgrave says the aim of his collection was to teach ‘those indifferent to the Poets to love them, and those who love them to love them more’. More than 150 years later, Palgrave’s compilation has indeed proved itself a treasury, featuring the enduring works of much admired poets such as Dryden, Burns, Keats, Milton, Rosetti, Tennyson, and Shakespeare, among many others.
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Price HK$ 1,800
Up the Yang-Tse. (Reprinted from the 'China Review.') With Sketch Maps -
E. H. Parker
1891 - Printed at the 'China Mail' Office, Hong Kong - First Edition
A rare first edition of this detailed and descriptive account of a journey taken by sinologist, diplomat and barrister Edward Harper Parker. His observant narrative ranges from opium, trafficking of women, infanticide, and bribery to the silk trade, farming, local customs and beliefs.
Illustrated with eight sketch maps (six of which are folding).
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Price HK$ 13,000
1891 - Printed at the 'China Mail' Office, Hong Kong - First Edition
A rare first edition of this detailed and descriptive account of a journey taken by sinologist, diplomat and barrister Edward Harper Parker. His observant narrative ranges from opium, trafficking of women, infanticide, and bribery to the silk trade, farming, local customs and beliefs.Illustrated with eight sketch maps (six of which are folding).
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Price HK$ 13,000
The Poetry of Sport -
Hedley Peek (editor)
1896 - Longmans, London and Bombay - First Edition
‘Haste, ranger, to the Athol mountains blue! Unleash the hounds, and let the bugles sing! The thousand traces in the morning dew, the bounding deer,the black-cock on the wing, bespeak the rout of Scotland’s gallant king...from cairn of Bruar to the dark Glen-Morre, the forest’s in a howl, and all is wild uproar!’
A handsomely bound edition, with a distinctly Glaswegian accent, being bound in Glasgow and owned by the renowned medical Professor David Fyfe Anderson.
Containing a chapter on classical allusions to sport by Andrew Lang, and a lively preface to the Badminton Library by A.E.T Watson. Accompanied with illustrations by artists A. Thorburn, Lucien Davis, and C.E Brock, among others, this is a lovely compilation of poetry on the subject of sport for young men in the late eighteen-hundreds, primarily depicting activities such as fishing, hunting, and shooting.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1896 - Longmans, London and Bombay - First Edition
‘Haste, ranger, to the Athol mountains blue! Unleash the hounds, and let the bugles sing! The thousand traces in the morning dew, the bounding deer,the black-cock on the wing, bespeak the rout of Scotland’s gallant king...from cairn of Bruar to the dark Glen-Morre, the forest’s in a howl, and all is wild uproar!’A handsomely bound edition, with a distinctly Glaswegian accent, being bound in Glasgow and owned by the renowned medical Professor David Fyfe Anderson.
Containing a chapter on classical allusions to sport by Andrew Lang, and a lively preface to the Badminton Library by A.E.T Watson. Accompanied with illustrations by artists A. Thorburn, Lucien Davis, and C.E Brock, among others, this is a lovely compilation of poetry on the subject of sport for young men in the late eighteen-hundreds, primarily depicting activities such as fishing, hunting, and shooting.
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Price HK$ 3,000
Social and Diplomatic Memories 1884-1893 -
Sir James Rennell Rodd G.C.B.
1922 - Edward Arnold & Co., London - Second Impression
The autobiography of 1st Bron Rennell (1858-1941), British diplomat, poet (Oscar Wilde assisted in publishing Rodd’s first book of poems), politician, and scholar of ancient Greece and Rome.
Covering the early years from his childhood, the ‘Balliol set’, and young Bohemian adulthood, to his first posting in Berlin from 1884 to 1888, where he became an intimate friend of the Empress Frederick, and recounts his memories of Bismark and other major figures during that tumultuous time, after this he moves on to Greece, Italy, France, and finally Zanzibar and East Africa at the end of the 19th century.
Finely bound and with a four page hand-written letter from his wife to an ‘unknown friend’, composed at the British Legation, Athens in February 1928.
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Price HK$ 2,000
1922 - Edward Arnold & Co., London - Second Impression
The autobiography of 1st Bron Rennell (1858-1941), British diplomat, poet (Oscar Wilde assisted in publishing Rodd’s first book of poems), politician, and scholar of ancient Greece and Rome.Covering the early years from his childhood, the ‘Balliol set’, and young Bohemian adulthood, to his first posting in Berlin from 1884 to 1888, where he became an intimate friend of the Empress Frederick, and recounts his memories of Bismark and other major figures during that tumultuous time, after this he moves on to Greece, Italy, France, and finally Zanzibar and East Africa at the end of the 19th century.
Finely bound and with a four page hand-written letter from his wife to an ‘unknown friend’, composed at the British Legation, Athens in February 1928.
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Price HK$ 2,000
Burma and Beyond -
Sir James George Scott
1932 - Grayson & Grayson, London - 1932
‘All was ludicrous, but our foreign office has no sense of humour, though it has great delight in the writing of dispatches....’
Profusely illustrated with over 32 photographic plates, and a folding map of Burma and the Shan states, this volume is an informative work on the author’s experiences working in Burma in the early 1930’s.
‘Scott draws on his own observations and those of contemporary colonial officials to sketch the beliefs, customs, and daily life of Burma’s minority ethnic groups - the Shans, Karens, Chins, Kachins, Padaung, etc. The book is illustrated with Scott’s own photographs and contains a final chapter by G.E. Mitton on the Burmans.’ - Patricia Herbert.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1932 - Grayson & Grayson, London - 1932
‘All was ludicrous, but our foreign office has no sense of humour, though it has great delight in the writing of dispatches....’Profusely illustrated with over 32 photographic plates, and a folding map of Burma and the Shan states, this volume is an informative work on the author’s experiences working in Burma in the early 1930’s.
‘Scott draws on his own observations and those of contemporary colonial officials to sketch the beliefs, customs, and daily life of Burma’s minority ethnic groups - the Shans, Karens, Chins, Kachins, Padaung, etc. The book is illustrated with Scott’s own photographs and contains a final chapter by G.E. Mitton on the Burmans.’ - Patricia Herbert.
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Price HK$ 2,800