Silent Spring - Signed -
Rachel Carson
1962 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
‘Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.’
A signed first edition of what is widely considered the most important environmental book of the 20th century. Signed copies are uncommon, as Carson died barely eighteen months later in the spring of 1964, at the age of fifty-six.
‘The book that most changed the scientific world, after Darwin’s Origin of Species is Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.’ – Sir David Attenborough.
‘In the few months between the New Yorker’s serialisation of Silent Spring in June and its publication in book form that September, Rachel Carson’s alarm touched off a national debate on the use of chemical pesticides, the responsibility of science, and the limits of technological progress. With ‘Silent Spring’ Carson had set in motion a course of events that would result in a ban on the domestic production of DDT and the creation of a grass-roots movement demanding protection of the environment through state and federal regulation. Carson’s writing initiated a transformation in the relationship between humans and the natural world and stirred an awakening of public environmental consciousness’. – Dr. Linda Lear.
‘In her new book [Rachel Carson] tries to scare the living daylights out of us and, in large measure, succeeds. Her work tingles with anger, outrage and protest. It is a 20th-century “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”’ – Walter Sullivan, New York Times, 1962.
Recognition, a small selection:-
- One of the 25 greatest science books of all time – Discover Magazine, 2006.
- One of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books written since 1923 – Time Magazine, 2011.
- 100 Best Nonfiction books of the twentieth century - Number 5 – Random House’s Modern Library, 1998.
- Fifty Books to Change the World – Guardian newspaper, 2010.
- 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century – National Review, 1999.
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Price HK$ 23,000
1962 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston - First Edition
‘Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.’A signed first edition of what is widely considered the most important environmental book of the 20th century. Signed copies are uncommon, as Carson died barely eighteen months later in the spring of 1964, at the age of fifty-six.
‘The book that most changed the scientific world, after Darwin’s Origin of Species is Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.’ – Sir David Attenborough.
‘In the few months between the New Yorker’s serialisation of Silent Spring in June and its publication in book form that September, Rachel Carson’s alarm touched off a national debate on the use of chemical pesticides, the responsibility of science, and the limits of technological progress. With ‘Silent Spring’ Carson had set in motion a course of events that would result in a ban on the domestic production of DDT and the creation of a grass-roots movement demanding protection of the environment through state and federal regulation. Carson’s writing initiated a transformation in the relationship between humans and the natural world and stirred an awakening of public environmental consciousness’. – Dr. Linda Lear.
‘In her new book [Rachel Carson] tries to scare the living daylights out of us and, in large measure, succeeds. Her work tingles with anger, outrage and protest. It is a 20th-century “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”’ – Walter Sullivan, New York Times, 1962.
Recognition, a small selection:-
- One of the 25 greatest science books of all time – Discover Magazine, 2006.
- One of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books written since 1923 – Time Magazine, 2011.
- 100 Best Nonfiction books of the twentieth century - Number 5 – Random House’s Modern Library, 1998.
- Fifty Books to Change the World – Guardian newspaper, 2010.
- 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century – National Review, 1999.
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Price HK$ 23,000
The Urgent Hangman -
Peter Cheyney
1938 - Collins, London - First Edition
Dennis Wheatley’s copy, inscribed by Peter Cheyney ‘To my good friend Dennis’ and dated ‘14. 6. 38’. With Wheatley’s illustrated bookplate.
A near fine copy of the first ‘Slim Callaghan’ novel, in fine and thus rare dust jacket.
Cheyney’s action-filled and action filled plots ran counter to the comfortable murder mysteries of the time, and Slim Callaghan was, like his American hard-boiled cousins, cynical tough and marginally mannered.
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Price HK$ 15,000
1938 - Collins, London - First Edition
Dennis Wheatley’s copy, inscribed by Peter Cheyney ‘To my good friend Dennis’ and dated ‘14. 6. 38’. With Wheatley’s illustrated bookplate.A near fine copy of the first ‘Slim Callaghan’ novel, in fine and thus rare dust jacket.
Cheyney’s action-filled and action filled plots ran counter to the comfortable murder mysteries of the time, and Slim Callaghan was, like his American hard-boiled cousins, cynical tough and marginally mannered.
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Price HK$ 15,000
Kiss Kiss -
Roald Dahl
1960 - Michael Joseph, London - First Edition
A razor sharp copy containing eleven dark and cunningly woven stories, which, without becoming pure tales of horror, are some of Dahl's most macabre stories.
With photograph of Roald Dahl and his wife Patricia Neal, on the rear panel taken by Eli Wallach, cult actor and star of 'The Good, The Bad and the Ugly', 'The Misfits', 'Baby Doll', 'The Magnificent Seven', 'Mystic River', 'The Godfather pt.III', etc.
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Price HK$ 1,600
1960 - Michael Joseph, London - First Edition
A razor sharp copy containing eleven dark and cunningly woven stories, which, without becoming pure tales of horror, are some of Dahl's most macabre stories.With photograph of Roald Dahl and his wife Patricia Neal, on the rear panel taken by Eli Wallach, cult actor and star of 'The Good, The Bad and the Ugly', 'The Misfits', 'Baby Doll', 'The Magnificent Seven', 'Mystic River', 'The Godfather pt.III', etc.
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Price HK$ 1,600
The Valley of Fear. A Sherlock Holmes Story. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Arthur I. Keller (illustrator)
1914 - George H. Doran Company, New York - First Edition
The fourth and final full-length Sherlock Holmes novel, the true first edition, illustrated with seven colour plates by Arthur Keller, preceding the English edition which was published the following year with a single black and white frontispiece replacing Keller’s seven colour plates.
A retrospective or 'flashback' adventure set in Pennsylvania, 1888. 'The Valley of Fear' is also notable for the involvement of Holmes arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. The plot is based on the activities of Molly Maguires, an Irish-American activist group known for their violent conflicts and long held status as a secret society.
‘Mr Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at the annals of crime.’
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Price HK$ 4,600
1914 - George H. Doran Company, New York - First Edition
The fourth and final full-length Sherlock Holmes novel, the true first edition, illustrated with seven colour plates by Arthur Keller, preceding the English edition which was published the following year with a single black and white frontispiece replacing Keller’s seven colour plates.A retrospective or 'flashback' adventure set in Pennsylvania, 1888. 'The Valley of Fear' is also notable for the involvement of Holmes arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty. The plot is based on the activities of Molly Maguires, an Irish-American activist group known for their violent conflicts and long held status as a secret society.
‘Mr Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at the annals of crime.’
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Price HK$ 4,600
Intruder in the Dust -
William Faulkner
1948 - Random House, New York - First Edition
William Faulkner’s savage tale of racial injustice in a sleepy southern town, this engrossing murder mystery follows the story of Lucas Beauchamp, a black man wrongly accused of the murder of a white man. Confronted with the threat of lynching, Lucas – aided by a white lawyer and his young nephew – sets out to prove his innocence.
First edition in the beautiful jacket designed by E. McKnight Kauffer.
A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone of crime and detective fiction, as named by Howard Haycraft and Ellery Queen on their definitive list of mystery novels.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1948 - Random House, New York - First Edition
William Faulkner’s savage tale of racial injustice in a sleepy southern town, this engrossing murder mystery follows the story of Lucas Beauchamp, a black man wrongly accused of the murder of a white man. Confronted with the threat of lynching, Lucas – aided by a white lawyer and his young nephew – sets out to prove his innocence.First edition in the beautiful jacket designed by E. McKnight Kauffer.
A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone of crime and detective fiction, as named by Howard Haycraft and Ellery Queen on their definitive list of mystery novels.
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Price HK$ 2,500
The Town -
William Faulkner
1957 - Random House, New York - First Edition, First State
The second novel in Faulkner’s ‘Snopes Trilogy’. The other two being ‘The Hamlet’ and ‘The Mansion’.
First printing with ‘First Printing’ stated on the copyright page, first state, with line 10 repeating line 8 on page 327, in first printing dust jacket with 5/57 to lower corner of the front flap, and not price clipped.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1957 - Random House, New York - First Edition, First State
The second novel in Faulkner’s ‘Snopes Trilogy’. The other two being ‘The Hamlet’ and ‘The Mansion’.First printing with ‘First Printing’ stated on the copyright page, first state, with line 10 repeating line 8 on page 327, in first printing dust jacket with 5/57 to lower corner of the front flap, and not price clipped.
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Price HK$ 2,500
The Kingdom of Swing - Signed -
Benny Goodman, Irving Kolodin
1939 - Stackpole Sons, New York - First Edition
Signed by Goodman on the frontispiece portrait, a nice example in the scarce and rather delicate dust jacket.
‘”The Kingdom of Swing," written in collaboration with Irving Kolodin, might be called "From Rags to Riches." It's the narrative of a boy who learned to play clarinet in a synagogue music class for "maybe a quarter a lesson," and who has risen, by way of jazz, to an eminence where he earns maybe a quarter a note for playing the instrument as leader of one of the most famous of all dance bands. "The Kingdom of Swing" is a success story, but it's more than a chronicle of afflatus and affluence. It "sets" swing music in a clear perspective, explains it, gives out, as swingumbobs have it, with solid stuff about an important musical influence.’ – taken from a 1939 review by Robert A. Simon, music critic for The New Yorker.
With five full page black and white photographic illustrations.
‘My memory of those early days is hazier than that of most kids, because we moved around a lot. But I can remember a time when we lived in a basement without heat during the winter, and a couple of times when there wasn't anything to eat. I don't mean much to eat. I mean anything. That isn't an experience you forget in a hurry. I haven't ever forgotten it.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
1939 - Stackpole Sons, New York - First Edition
Signed by Goodman on the frontispiece portrait, a nice example in the scarce and rather delicate dust jacket.‘”The Kingdom of Swing," written in collaboration with Irving Kolodin, might be called "From Rags to Riches." It's the narrative of a boy who learned to play clarinet in a synagogue music class for "maybe a quarter a lesson," and who has risen, by way of jazz, to an eminence where he earns maybe a quarter a note for playing the instrument as leader of one of the most famous of all dance bands. "The Kingdom of Swing" is a success story, but it's more than a chronicle of afflatus and affluence. It "sets" swing music in a clear perspective, explains it, gives out, as swingumbobs have it, with solid stuff about an important musical influence.’ – taken from a 1939 review by Robert A. Simon, music critic for The New Yorker.
With five full page black and white photographic illustrations.
‘My memory of those early days is hazier than that of most kids, because we moved around a lot. But I can remember a time when we lived in a basement without heat during the winter, and a couple of times when there wasn't anything to eat. I don't mean much to eat. I mean anything. That isn't an experience you forget in a hurry. I haven't ever forgotten it.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
Gun Cotton - Adventurer -
Rupert Grayson
1933 - Grayson & Grayson, London - First Edition
Inscribed ‘With best wishes to my old friend Arthur Richardson from Rupert Grayson’.
This time Gun Cotton sails for New York.
First edition of the third ‘Gun Cotton’ book, in a bright example of the scarce and delicate dust jacket.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1933 - Grayson & Grayson, London - First Edition
Inscribed ‘With best wishes to my old friend Arthur Richardson from Rupert Grayson’. This time Gun Cotton sails for New York.
First edition of the third ‘Gun Cotton’ book, in a bright example of the scarce and delicate dust jacket.
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Price HK$ 8,000