The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll -
Lewis Carroll, [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], John Tenniel (illustrator)
1939 - The Nonesuch Press, London - First Nonesuch Edition
An elegantly bound edition, containing: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking-Glass; Sylvie and Bruno; The Hunting of the Snark; Early Verses; Puzzles from Wonderland; Prologues to Plays; Phantasmagoria; College Rhymes and Notes by an Oxford Chiel; Acrostics, Inscriptions and Other Verse; Three Sunsets and Other Poems; Stories and A Miscellany.
With an introduction by Alexander Woollcott, and Tenniel's original in-text illustrations to the Alice books.
“Whilst Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were intended for children “fresh from God’s hand”, it is equally enthralling and delightfully magical for adults as they follow Alice on her vibrant adventures escorted by her famous companions. Who can possibly not have been carried away into the fantastically crazy world of the Mad Hatter? Or never have heard of Tweedledee and Tweedledum? Who cannot have been struck by Carroll’s love for sophisticated play with words?.” - Stephanie Chan.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1939 - The Nonesuch Press, London - First Nonesuch Edition
An elegantly bound edition, containing: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking-Glass; Sylvie and Bruno; The Hunting of the Snark; Early Verses; Puzzles from Wonderland; Prologues to Plays; Phantasmagoria; College Rhymes and Notes by an Oxford Chiel; Acrostics, Inscriptions and Other Verse; Three Sunsets and Other Poems; Stories and A Miscellany.With an introduction by Alexander Woollcott, and Tenniel's original in-text illustrations to the Alice books.
“Whilst Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were intended for children “fresh from God’s hand”, it is equally enthralling and delightfully magical for adults as they follow Alice on her vibrant adventures escorted by her famous companions. Who can possibly not have been carried away into the fantastically crazy world of the Mad Hatter? Or never have heard of Tweedledee and Tweedledum? Who cannot have been struck by Carroll’s love for sophisticated play with words?.” - Stephanie Chan.
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Price HK$ 4,500
Murphy’s War -
Max Catto
1969 - Heinemann, London - First Edition
Basis for the movie starring Peter O’Toole and Siân Phillips. Set on the coast of equatorial Africa towards the end of WWII, Murphy is an Australian knockabout sailor from the Royal Navy, and the quarry is a U-boat that he pursues up a vile river from his base...
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Price HK$ 1,500
1969 - Heinemann, London - First Edition
Basis for the movie starring Peter O’Toole and Siân Phillips. Set on the coast of equatorial Africa towards the end of WWII, Murphy is an Australian knockabout sailor from the Royal Navy, and the quarry is a U-boat that he pursues up a vile river from his base...
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Price HK$ 1,500
The World Crisis - 1911-14; 1915; 1916-18; The Aftermath; The Eastern Front. -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1923 - 1931 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
As first lord of the admiralty and minister for war and air, Winston Churchill stood resolute at the centre of international affairs.
In this smartly bound six volume first edition set of his classic account, Churchill dramatically details how the tides of despair and triumph flowed and ebbed as the political and military leaders of the time navigated the dangerous currents of world conflict. Illustrated throughout with black and white plates and folding maps.
This comprehensive account of the Great War is both analytical, and on occasions a justification from the author for his part in the proceedings. It is claimed that Churchill considered the work "not history, but a contribution to history". Since its publication both biographers and historians have considered it Churchill's masterpiece, eclipsing his better-known account 'The Second World War'. Indeed, T. E. Lawrence regarded the second volume, '1915', as "far and away the best war-book I've yet read".
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Price HK$ 34,000
1923 - 1931 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
As first lord of the admiralty and minister for war and air, Winston Churchill stood resolute at the centre of international affairs.In this smartly bound six volume first edition set of his classic account, Churchill dramatically details how the tides of despair and triumph flowed and ebbed as the political and military leaders of the time navigated the dangerous currents of world conflict. Illustrated throughout with black and white plates and folding maps.
This comprehensive account of the Great War is both analytical, and on occasions a justification from the author for his part in the proceedings. It is claimed that Churchill considered the work "not history, but a contribution to history". Since its publication both biographers and historians have considered it Churchill's masterpiece, eclipsing his better-known account 'The Second World War'. Indeed, T. E. Lawrence regarded the second volume, '1915', as "far and away the best war-book I've yet read".
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Price HK$ 34,000
The Second World War -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill.
A finely bound set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II - The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy.
Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.
The Nobel prize for literature is given for a lifetime of written work, and there is a rule against its being awarded to politicians. This set convinced the Nobel award committee to waive that rule.
Named ‘Number One Non-fiction Book of the Century’ by National Review.
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Price HK$ 19,000
1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill. A finely bound set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II - The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy.
Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.
The Nobel prize for literature is given for a lifetime of written work, and there is a rule against its being awarded to politicians. This set convinced the Nobel award committee to waive that rule.
Named ‘Number One Non-fiction Book of the Century’ by National Review.
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Price HK$ 19,000
Present Indicative -
Noël Coward
1937 - Doubleday, Garden City - First Edition
First edition of the first of Noël Coward’s autobiographies, sumptuously bound by Zaehnsdorf for Asprey’s of London, which he would have approved wholeheartedly.
Illustrated with numerous black and white photographs - ‘I was photographed naked on a cushion very early in life, an insane, toothless smile slitting my face and pleats of fat overlapping me like an ill-fitting overcoat. Later, at the age of two, I was photographed again. This time in a lace dress, leaning against a garden roller and laughing hysterically. If these photographs can be found they will adorn this book.’
‘Thus begins the life story of one of the most celebrated characters in British theatrical history. Displaying an early dedication to the theatre, Present Indicative hints at the success that would come to Coward as actor, playwright, novelist and performer. Each line is punctuated with his trademark effervescent wit, making this book a comic tour de force in it's own right.’ [Methuen]
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Price HK$ 4,000
1937 - Doubleday, Garden City - First Edition
First edition of the first of Noël Coward’s autobiographies, sumptuously bound by Zaehnsdorf for Asprey’s of London, which he would have approved wholeheartedly.Illustrated with numerous black and white photographs - ‘I was photographed naked on a cushion very early in life, an insane, toothless smile slitting my face and pleats of fat overlapping me like an ill-fitting overcoat. Later, at the age of two, I was photographed again. This time in a lace dress, leaning against a garden roller and laughing hysterically. If these photographs can be found they will adorn this book.’
‘Thus begins the life story of one of the most celebrated characters in British theatrical history. Displaying an early dedication to the theatre, Present Indicative hints at the success that would come to Coward as actor, playwright, novelist and performer. Each line is punctuated with his trademark effervescent wit, making this book a comic tour de force in it's own right.’ [Methuen]
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Price HK$ 4,000
Folk-Tales of Bengal -
Rev. Lal Behari Day, Warwick Goble (illustrator)
1912 - Macmillan & Co., London - Edition de Luxe, first to be illustrated by Warwick Goble
A stunning large vellum bound collection of twenty-two traditional Bengal Fairy tales, the ‘Edition de Luxe’ limited to 150 copies, enchantingly illustrated with thirty-two colour plates by Warwick Goble tipped on to brown paper each with a lettered tissue guard.
Collected and translated by the Bengali journalist and missionary Reverend Lal Behari Day (1826-94) and first published in 1833, this edition of 1912 was the first to combine the tales with Warwick Goble’s magical drawings.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1912 - Macmillan & Co., London - Edition de Luxe, first to be illustrated by Warwick Goble
A stunning large vellum bound collection of twenty-two traditional Bengal Fairy tales, the ‘Edition de Luxe’ limited to 150 copies, enchantingly illustrated with thirty-two colour plates by Warwick Goble tipped on to brown paper each with a lettered tissue guard.Collected and translated by the Bengali journalist and missionary Reverend Lal Behari Day (1826-94) and first published in 1833, this edition of 1912 was the first to combine the tales with Warwick Goble’s magical drawings.
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Price HK$ 18,000
Travels in Arabia Deserta. With an Introduction by T. E. Lawrence - with - The Life of Charles M. Doughty -
Charles M. Doughty, T. E. Lawrence, D. G. Hogarth
1943 - Jonathan Cape, London - New and definitive edition, Second Printing
A fine set in original dust jackets, ‘one of the great classics of travel literature’, an ‘unrivalled encyclopaedia of knowledge about all aspects of nineteenth-century and earlier Arabia.’ (Howgego/Oxford DNB). First printed in 1888, this edition with Lawrence’s introduction was unique in that it was published in a matching format to Lawrence’s ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’. Illustrated with nine plates, fold-out map to the back of each volume, additional illustrations and diagrams throughout the text. Together with the first edition of Hogarth’s biography of Doughty published by the Oxford University Press in 1928.
‘I have talked the book over with many travellers, and we are agreed that here you have all the desert, its hills and plains, the lava fields, the villages, the tents, the men and animals. They are told of the life, with words and phrases fitted to them so perfectly that one cannot dissociate them in memory. It is the true Arabia, the land with its smells and dirt, as well as its nobility and freedom. There is no sentiment, nothing merely picturesque, that most common failing of oriental travel-books. Doughty's completeness is devastating. There is nothing we would take away, little we could add. He took all Arabia for his province, and has left to his successors only the poor part of specialists. We may write books on parts of the desert or some of the history of it; but there can never be another picture of the whole, in our time, because here it is all said.’ - T. E. Lawrence.
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Price HK$ 2,000
1943 - Jonathan Cape, London - New and definitive edition, Second Printing
A fine set in original dust jackets, ‘one of the great classics of travel literature’, an ‘unrivalled encyclopaedia of knowledge about all aspects of nineteenth-century and earlier Arabia.’ (Howgego/Oxford DNB). First printed in 1888, this edition with Lawrence’s introduction was unique in that it was published in a matching format to Lawrence’s ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’. Illustrated with nine plates, fold-out map to the back of each volume, additional illustrations and diagrams throughout the text. Together with the first edition of Hogarth’s biography of Doughty published by the Oxford University Press in 1928.‘I have talked the book over with many travellers, and we are agreed that here you have all the desert, its hills and plains, the lava fields, the villages, the tents, the men and animals. They are told of the life, with words and phrases fitted to them so perfectly that one cannot dissociate them in memory. It is the true Arabia, the land with its smells and dirt, as well as its nobility and freedom. There is no sentiment, nothing merely picturesque, that most common failing of oriental travel-books. Doughty's completeness is devastating. There is nothing we would take away, little we could add. He took all Arabia for his province, and has left to his successors only the poor part of specialists. We may write books on parts of the desert or some of the history of it; but there can never be another picture of the whole, in our time, because here it is all said.’ - T. E. Lawrence.
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Price HK$ 2,000
Edmund Dulac's Fairy-Book - Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations -
Edmund Dulac
1916 - Hodder & Stoughton, London - First Trade Edition
A finely bound first edition of Dulac’s large and beautifully illustrated ‘Fairy-Book’, with thirteen tipped-in colour plates.
‘The tales of this book, both written and illustrated by Dulac, were drawn from the folklore of Russia, England, Flanders, Belgium, Italy, France, Ireland, Serbia and Japan. Dulac was able to employ the full scope of his versatility in creating a national mood in each illustration. During this period of his work, Dulac had immersed himself in the artistic traditions of folklore.
He was partly stimulated by his friendship with Yeats (whose interest in Celtic folklore was legendary) and partly awakened to ethnic themes by his 1913 cruise through the eastern Mediterranean. Also at this time he was influenced by his encounters with the Russian-born designer Léon Bakst and Bakst's stage work for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes’ – Ann Hughey, Edmund Dulac - His Book Illustrations.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1916 - Hodder & Stoughton, London - First Trade Edition
A finely bound first edition of Dulac’s large and beautifully illustrated ‘Fairy-Book’, with thirteen tipped-in colour plates.‘The tales of this book, both written and illustrated by Dulac, were drawn from the folklore of Russia, England, Flanders, Belgium, Italy, France, Ireland, Serbia and Japan. Dulac was able to employ the full scope of his versatility in creating a national mood in each illustration. During this period of his work, Dulac had immersed himself in the artistic traditions of folklore.
He was partly stimulated by his friendship with Yeats (whose interest in Celtic folklore was legendary) and partly awakened to ethnic themes by his 1913 cruise through the eastern Mediterranean. Also at this time he was influenced by his encounters with the Russian-born designer Léon Bakst and Bakst's stage work for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes’ – Ann Hughey, Edmund Dulac - His Book Illustrations.
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Price HK$ 8,000