The ‘Chronicles of Barsetshire’, with ‘An Autobiography’ -
Anthony Trollope, Charles S. Olcott (Photographs)
1929 - Shakespeare Head Press, Stratford-upon-Avon - Large Paper Edition
‘There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilised and free countries than the necessity of listening to sermons.’
A handsome mostly unopened thirteen volume set of Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire, comprising The Warden, Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, and The Last Chronicle of Barset, together with the matching single volume of Trollope’s autobiography. The final volume also contains an ‘Index to Characters’.
The Chronicles examine every facet of the human condition by following the lives of men and women residing in the (fictional) cathedral town of Barchester. The novels remain an exquisite example of 19th century romantic-realism, and were praised by Nathiel Hawthorn as being ‘just as real as if some giant had hewn a great lump out of the earth and put it under a glass case, with all its inhabitants going about their daily business, and not suspecting that they were made a show of.’
Illustrated profusely with photographic plates taken by Charles Sumner Olcott (1864-1935), to represent the major features, landmarks, and buildings within Barsetshire county, and to which he adds an introduction to explain his choice of locations and imagery.
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Price HK$ 5,300
1929 - Shakespeare Head Press, Stratford-upon-Avon - Large Paper Edition
‘There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilised and free countries than the necessity of listening to sermons.’A handsome mostly unopened thirteen volume set of Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire, comprising The Warden, Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, and The Last Chronicle of Barset, together with the matching single volume of Trollope’s autobiography. The final volume also contains an ‘Index to Characters’.
The Chronicles examine every facet of the human condition by following the lives of men and women residing in the (fictional) cathedral town of Barchester. The novels remain an exquisite example of 19th century romantic-realism, and were praised by Nathiel Hawthorn as being ‘just as real as if some giant had hewn a great lump out of the earth and put it under a glass case, with all its inhabitants going about their daily business, and not suspecting that they were made a show of.’
Illustrated profusely with photographic plates taken by Charles Sumner Olcott (1864-1935), to represent the major features, landmarks, and buildings within Barsetshire county, and to which he adds an introduction to explain his choice of locations and imagery.
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Price HK$ 5,300
The Honours of the Table -
John Trusler, John Bewick (illustrator)
1791 - for the author, London - Second Edition
Of all the graceful accomplishments, and of every branch of polite education, it has long been admitted, that a gentleman and a lady never shew themselves to more advantage, than in acquitting themselves well in the honours of their table; that is to say, in serving their guests and treating their friends agreeable to their rank and situation in life.
A scarce copy of this wonderful little work, first published in 1788, in the original marbled paper boards and illustrated with twenty-seven woodcuts by John Bewick, including wood-engraved Trusler coat-of-arms. Bound with the complete 12 page ‘List of Books by the Rev. Dr, Trusler, At the Literary-Press, No. 62, Wardour Street, Soho. 1792’’.
Reverend Trusler was a prolific author whose eclectic output included everything from tips on gardening to commentaries on Hogarth engravings.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1791 - for the author, London - Second Edition
Of all the graceful accomplishments, and of every branch of polite education, it has long been admitted, that a gentleman and a lady never shew themselves to more advantage, than in acquitting themselves well in the honours of their table; that is to say, in serving their guests and treating their friends agreeable to their rank and situation in life.A scarce copy of this wonderful little work, first published in 1788, in the original marbled paper boards and illustrated with twenty-seven woodcuts by John Bewick, including wood-engraved Trusler coat-of-arms. Bound with the complete 12 page ‘List of Books by the Rev. Dr, Trusler, At the Literary-Press, No. 62, Wardour Street, Soho. 1792’’.
Reverend Trusler was a prolific author whose eclectic output included everything from tips on gardening to commentaries on Hogarth engravings.
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Price HK$ 10,000
An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, in Tibet; containing A Narrative of a Journey through Bootan, and Part of Tibet. -
Captain Samuel Turner, Lieutenant Samuel Davis, Robert Saunders
1800 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G. and W. Nicol, London - First Edition
First edition of ‘the first eye-witness report on Tibet and Bhutan to be published in English.’ In contemporary full calf binding.
With fourteen copper-engraved plates including the drawings of Samuel Davis ‘a surveyor and draftsman for the Bengal Army, he accompanied the second British embassy, in 1783, to Druk Yul, the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon. These elegant depictions attest to the only foreign artist “of distinction” to show Bhutan, and the first outsider to paint scenes from these mountains’ [Michael Aris Views of Medieval Bhutan].
In addition to Davis’ illustrations and the folding map of Bootan and Tibet by Turner (55 x 23.5 cm), is the marvellously Mona-Lisa’esque ‘Yak of Tartary’, an engraved aquatint by De la Motte of the Bhutanese yak that Turner successfully shipped alive back to Hastings, where it was painted by George Stubbs, better known for his paintings of horses.
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Price HK$ 28,000
1800 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G. and W. Nicol, London - First Edition
First edition of ‘the first eye-witness report on Tibet and Bhutan to be published in English.’ In contemporary full calf binding.With fourteen copper-engraved plates including the drawings of Samuel Davis ‘a surveyor and draftsman for the Bengal Army, he accompanied the second British embassy, in 1783, to Druk Yul, the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon. These elegant depictions attest to the only foreign artist “of distinction” to show Bhutan, and the first outsider to paint scenes from these mountains’ [Michael Aris Views of Medieval Bhutan].
In addition to Davis’ illustrations and the folding map of Bootan and Tibet by Turner (55 x 23.5 cm), is the marvellously Mona-Lisa’esque ‘Yak of Tartary’, an engraved aquatint by De la Motte of the Bhutanese yak that Turner successfully shipped alive back to Hastings, where it was painted by George Stubbs, better known for his paintings of horses.
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Price HK$ 28,000
The Haunted Monastery -
Robert H. Van Gulik
1963 - Heinemann, London - First English Edition (First published by Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur, 1961)
A fine copy of the seventh book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically eighth tale, being set in China 677 AD.
With eight illustrations and one plan from woodblock prints by Van Gulik in Chinese style, and endpapers illustrated with a Sketch Map of the Monastery.
‘Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder’
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Price HK$ 3,500
1963 - Heinemann, London - First English Edition (First published by Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur, 1961)
A fine copy of the seventh book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically eighth tale, being set in China 677 AD.With eight illustrations and one plan from woodblock prints by Van Gulik in Chinese style, and endpapers illustrated with a Sketch Map of the Monastery.
‘Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder’
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Price HK$ 3,500
The Red Pavilion -
Robert H. Van Gulik
1964 - Heinemann, London - First English edition (First published by Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur, 1961)
The tenth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically fourteenth tale, being set in China 670 AD. Written in Kuala Lumpur whilst Van Gulik was stationed there as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of Malaya
With six illustrations from woodblock prints, and a Sketch Map of Paradise Island, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 2,900
1964 - Heinemann, London - First English edition (First published by Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur, 1961)
The tenth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically fourteenth tale, being set in China 670 AD. Written in Kuala Lumpur whilst Van Gulik was stationed there as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of MalayaWith six illustrations from woodblock prints, and a Sketch Map of Paradise Island, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 2,900
The Chinese Lake Murders -
Robert H. Van Gulik
1960 - Michael Joseph, London - First English Edition published simultaneously with the American Edition
The fifth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically sixth tale, being set in China 666 AD.
A courtesan performs a bewitching dance aboard a flower boat and minutes later is discovered drowned in the waters of a haunted lake... A bride dies on her wedding night and incredibly disappears from her sealed and guarded casket... And soon all the town of Han-yuan murmurs with the whisper of a dreaded, forbidden name - White Lotus. Judge Dee investigates the strange happenings at Han-yuan that begin with a guilty love and lead to a treasonous plot against the Mandate to Heaven.
With twelve illustrations and a plan of a flower boat from woodblock prints, and endpapers illustrated in orange with a View of Han-yuan to the front and a flower boat to the rear, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1960 - Michael Joseph, London - First English Edition published simultaneously with the American Edition
The fifth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically sixth tale, being set in China 666 AD.A courtesan performs a bewitching dance aboard a flower boat and minutes later is discovered drowned in the waters of a haunted lake... A bride dies on her wedding night and incredibly disappears from her sealed and guarded casket... And soon all the town of Han-yuan murmurs with the whisper of a dreaded, forbidden name - White Lotus. Judge Dee investigates the strange happenings at Han-yuan that begin with a guilty love and lead to a treasonous plot against the Mandate to Heaven.
With twelve illustrations and a plan of a flower boat from woodblock prints, and endpapers illustrated in orange with a View of Han-yuan to the front and a flower boat to the rear, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 3,000
A History of Champagne -
Henry Vizetelly
1882 - Vizetelly & Co., London - First Edition
An absolutely superb example of this remarkable work that traces the history of champagne and it’s wine over 1,800 years. Strikingly illustrated with 350 engravings, including numerous illustrations from ancient manuscripts and 200 original sketches made under the author's supervision. With folding coloured lithograph map showing the vineyards of Champagne. In the publishers elegant gilt pictorial cloth binding.
The first part of the book is historical, champagne from its origins, its progress in the 14th century, the 17th, 18th, the conflict between Burgundy and Champagne, champagne in England. The second part describes the various vineyards, viticulture, manufacturing, large establishments of Reims, d'Epernay, Pierry, Ay, Mareuil, Avize and Rilly. Part three talks about the other sparkling wines of France: Saumur, Vouvray, Sauterne, Bourgogne, Jura, Rhone, concluding with Facts and Notes Respecting Sparkling Wine. To the rear are advertisements from producers such as Moët et Chandon, Deutz & Geldermann, and Vizetelly's catalogue of other published works.
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Price HK$ 30,000
1882 - Vizetelly & Co., London - First Edition
An absolutely superb example of this remarkable work that traces the history of champagne and it’s wine over 1,800 years. Strikingly illustrated with 350 engravings, including numerous illustrations from ancient manuscripts and 200 original sketches made under the author's supervision. With folding coloured lithograph map showing the vineyards of Champagne. In the publishers elegant gilt pictorial cloth binding.The first part of the book is historical, champagne from its origins, its progress in the 14th century, the 17th, 18th, the conflict between Burgundy and Champagne, champagne in England. The second part describes the various vineyards, viticulture, manufacturing, large establishments of Reims, d'Epernay, Pierry, Ay, Mareuil, Avize and Rilly. Part three talks about the other sparkling wines of France: Saumur, Vouvray, Sauterne, Bourgogne, Jura, Rhone, concluding with Facts and Notes Respecting Sparkling Wine. To the rear are advertisements from producers such as Moët et Chandon, Deutz & Geldermann, and Vizetelly's catalogue of other published works.
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Price HK$ 30,000
With Boat and Gun in the Yangtze Valley -
Henling Thomas Wade
1895 - Shanghai Mercury Office, Shanghai - First Edition with Folding Maps
Rare first edition of this practical guide to shooting in the lower reaches of the Yangtze, intended primarily for the Shanghai expatriate community; ‘Even before Shanghai was opened by treaty, officers from the well-manned opium schooners lying at Woosung used to organise shooting parties...’. A comprehensive treatise, with 40 articles contributed by various authors, including chapters on Chinese methods of game-hunting, hunting districts, house-boats and their owners, cookery, vocabulary, field medicine, how to break in dogs, and ‘What to do in case of Trouble with the Natives’.
With illustrated lithographic title page by G. E. Burgoyne, three folding maps, six charming woodblock illustrations, and three in-text diagrams. In publisher’s original deluxe cloth.
‘A foreign sportsman is usually fully equipped with a fowling-piece with the latest improvements, the newest and best ammunition and a good dog...... the Chinaman takes the field clad in straw sandals and the poorest of clothes and uses a common, roughly made gingal [the large Chinese matchlock], inferior native powder, and shot of unequal sizes. If comparison be made of the results attained by the two shooters.... the palm must be given to the latter, who use their inferior matchlocks with singular dexterity and precision.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
1895 - Shanghai Mercury Office, Shanghai - First Edition with Folding Maps
Rare first edition of this practical guide to shooting in the lower reaches of the Yangtze, intended primarily for the Shanghai expatriate community; ‘Even before Shanghai was opened by treaty, officers from the well-manned opium schooners lying at Woosung used to organise shooting parties...’. A comprehensive treatise, with 40 articles contributed by various authors, including chapters on Chinese methods of game-hunting, hunting districts, house-boats and their owners, cookery, vocabulary, field medicine, how to break in dogs, and ‘What to do in case of Trouble with the Natives’.With illustrated lithographic title page by G. E. Burgoyne, three folding maps, six charming woodblock illustrations, and three in-text diagrams. In publisher’s original deluxe cloth.
‘A foreign sportsman is usually fully equipped with a fowling-piece with the latest improvements, the newest and best ammunition and a good dog...... the Chinaman takes the field clad in straw sandals and the poorest of clothes and uses a common, roughly made gingal [the large Chinese matchlock], inferior native powder, and shot of unequal sizes. If comparison be made of the results attained by the two shooters.... the palm must be given to the latter, who use their inferior matchlocks with singular dexterity and precision.’
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Price HK$ 18,000