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The Christmas Books. Being; A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man - Charles Dickens, Charles Brock (illustrator)

1905-1907 - J.M. Dent and Co., London - First Editions to be Illustrated by Charles Brock in Colour
An attractive set of these classic seasonal tales, splendidly illustrated and presented in festive green and cranberry red bindings, all housed in a bespoke fleece-lined cloth slipcase with ribbon pull.

Beginning with
A Christmas Carol when old, surly Ebenezer Scrooge receives a visit from the ghost of Marley, his late business partner, on Christmas eve, and he beholds a series of visions of the past, present, and future that make him decide to amend his ways…

‘After the success attained with
A Christmas Carol in 1843 Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining what he called "the Carol philosophy" to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. In typical Dickens fashion he drove his message home with a mixture of humour and good cheer’. [David Purdue]. 
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Price HK$ 20,000



Reports from Committees of the House of Commons. Vol. XI. Miscellaneous Subjects: 1782-1799 [containing] Report from the Committee upon the Distilleries in Scotland. Reported by the Right Honourable Sylvester Douglas, 11 June 1798; 12 July 1799. - William Eden, Sylvester Douglas

1803 - House of Commons, London - Re-printed by Order of the House, First Edition Thus.
This massive and scarce set of reports provides an in-depth study of the Scottish whisky industry, supported by hundreds of testimonies, and letters, provided by distillers, distiller’s agents, innkeepers, farmers, spirit dealers, grain merchants, the church, commissioners of excise, revenue officers, chemists, brewers, physicians, solicitors, landowners, and at least one butcher. There are also extensive lists and statistics of all the Scottish distillers, method of distilling, quantities produced, duties paid, quantities of grain used.

Nearly 500 pages, printed in double-columns, illustrated with eleven full page plates of stills and distilling apparatus, a large (47x60.5cm) folding hand coloured ‘
General Map of Scotland’ (by Laurie and Whittle, London, 1799) and 11 woodcuts in the text.

The extent of the problems of taxation and collection are evidenced by over 100 folio pages listing distillery prosecutions and seizures (527-640) combined with relevant extracts from court reports.

One interesting section compares other methods of producing spirits, which range from Spanish brandy and Dutch gin, to the distillation practised by the ‘
Natives at Chatra in Ramgur, and other Provinces in India’ (692-704).

In addition to the two main reports by Sylvester Douglas (pages 319-511, and 512-804), there is a three part report on ‘
Illicit Practices used in Defrauding the Revenue’ which relate to smuggling and ‘piratical practices’ and cover Whisky amongst other dutiable goods (pages 228-299). The remaining ten reports cover other areas of the Treasury (pages 3-226 & 303-317). 
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Price HK$ 30,000



1804 - Printed by T. Bensley for W. Miller, London - First Edition
This remarkable work contains forty-eight engraved plates of Scottish Landscapes and buildings etched by James Fittler (appointed engraver to King George III) from drawings by John Claude Nattes, each one accompanied by a detailed historic description. In addition to the more well known locations of Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands, Nattes included places such as Aberdeen, Banff, Moray and Inverness.

In a contemporary binding (35.5 x 29 cm), also illustrated with engraved frontispiece, additional engraved title page, and engraved tailpiece.
 
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Price HK$ 8,000



Goldfinger - Ian Lancaster Fleming

1959 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, First Issue, Second State, in First Edition, First Impression, First Issue dust jacket.
Auric Goldfinger, the most phenomenal criminal Bond has ever faced, is an evil genius who likes his cash in gold bars and his women dressed only in gold paint. After smuggling tons of gold out of Britain into secret vaults in Switzerland, this powerful villain is planning the biggest and most daring heist in history-robbing all the gold in Fort Knox. With two of the most memorable villains ever created, a human weapon named Oddjob, and a luscious female crime boss named Pussy Galore.

Appropriately housed in a bespoke black cloth clamshell case, lined in scarlet red felt, the spine with gilt stamped lettering and Skull logo.
 
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Price HK$ 36,000



On Her Majesty s Secret Service - Signed - Ian Lancaster Fleming

1963 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, Signed Limited Issue
One of 35 un-numbered private copies, signed by Ian Fleming to limitation page marked 'Presentation'.

A lovely example of the Signed Limited Edition printed on thicker mould-made paper, with a colour frontispiece of the author by Charles Amherst Villiers and bound in quarter vellum over black cloth with large white ‘ski-track’ motif, gilt titles to spine, and top edge gilt. This copy housed in felt lined morocco edged slipcase, protecting the original clear plastic wrapper.

This particular copy has the added provenance of being the one photographed for the definitive Bond bibliography by Jon Gilbert (Queen Anne Press, 2012), he has left a signed pencil note to the front pastedown dated 2011 confirming this.
 
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Price HK$ 180,000



You Only Live Twice - Ian Lancaster Fleming

1964 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, First Impression, First State
A wasted Bond is given a ‘mission impossible’ to the exotic orient, which in turn leads him to the maniacal westerner Dr. Shatterhand; a ‘collector of death’. ‘Shatterhand’ is the working title for the 25th James Bond film, currently in production.

Fabulously Fleming characters include Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Tiger Tanaka the head of the Japanese Secret Service, Kissy Suzuki, pearl diver and ex-movie star, and not to forget Irma Bunt, Stavro's henchwoman responsible for the death of Bond's wife Tracy Di Vicenzo.

First edition of the last title in what has become known as the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy and Fleming's last published novel before his death.

Appropriately housed in a bespoke felt lined clamshell case, with gilt lettering and logo to the spine.
 
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Price HK$ 14,000



Live and Let Die - Ian Lancaster Fleming

1954 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, in First Issue Dust Jacket
A bright sharp and superior example of the second Bond novel, the scarce ‘First, First, First’ edition, the dust jacket without any restoration, gilt lettering bright and sharp to the book spine (usually dulled). Appropriately housed in a bespoke black cloth clamshell case, lined in scarlet red felt, the spine with gilt stamped lettering and thematic gilt stamped gold voodoo top hat and crossbones.

Beautiful, fortune-telling Solitaire is the prisoner (and tool) of Mr. Big - master of fear, artist in crime, and Voodoo Baron of Death. James Bond has no time for superstition - he knows that Big is also a top SMERSH operative and a real threat. More than that, after tracking him through the jazz joints of Harlem to the Everglades and on the Caribbean, 007 has realised that Mr. Big is one of the most dangerous men he has ever faced, and nobody, not even the enigmatic Solitaire, can be sure how their battle of wills is going to end.
 
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Price HK$ 200,000



The Man with the Golden Gun - Ian Lancaster Fleming

1965 - Jonathan Cape, London - First edition, First Impression, First Issue, Second State
Fine first edition of the last of Fleming’s novels, involving the world’s most deadly assassin, the Cuban Paco ‘Pistols’ Scaramanga - the Man with the Golden Gun. Appropriately housed in a bespoke black cloth clamshell case, lined in scarlet red felt, the spine with gilt stamped lettering and thematic gilt stamped gold dum-dum bullet, as featured on the classic Richard Chopping designed dust jacket.

A brainwashed James Bond tried, and failed, to kill his boss, M. It's time for him to prove he can be trusted again.

Bond finds his man in the sweltering heat of Jamaica. His plan is to infiltrate Scaramanga's gang of criminals to get close to the man himself. But if he fails, Bond will be the next target for the golden gun.
 
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Price HK$ 11,000



 
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