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Whisky Galore - Compton MacKenzie

1947 - Chatto and Windus, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of this whisky highlight.

Love makes the world go round? Not at all. Whisky makes it go round twice as fast

It's 1943, and the war has brought rationing to the Hebridean Islands of Great and Little Todday. When food is in short supply, it is bad enough, but when the whisky runs out, it looks like the end of the world. Morale is at rock bottom. George Campbell needs a wee dram to give him the courage to stand up to his mother and marry Catriona. The priest, the doctor, and, of course, the landlord at the inn are all having a very thin time of it. There's no conversation, no jollity, no fun, until a ship-wreck off the coast brings a piece of extraordinary good fortune.

‘The genre of Scotch whisky fiction is not an expansive one, and would barely make a credible Mastermind specialist subject, but one title stands out above all others in terms of its profile with both aficionados and the general public. That title is Whisky Galore’ – Gavin D. Smith,
Famous Whisky Drinkers, (ScotchWhisky.com).

‘Compton Mackenzie's timeless text is a triumph. Inspired by the real events of 1941, when a cargo ship ran aground in the channel between Eriskay and South Uist, Whisky Galore is the gentle, comical story of how the booty on board became appropriated by a group of Scottish islanders. ‘ -
100 Best Scottish Books of All Time, The List. 
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Price HK$ 4,000



The Natural - Bernard Malamud

1952 - Harcourt, New York - First Edition
First edition of Bernard Malamud’s first novel, widely considered as one of the greatest baseball narratives of all time, the basis for the acclaimed 1984 film of the same name directed by Barry Levinson, and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Kim Basinger.

‘This book established that we could have a serious adult baseball novel by playing with the parallels between mythical elements in the game and mythical elements in literature’. –
Chicago Tribune.

‘A brilliant and unusually fine novel.’ –
The New York Times. 
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Price HK$ 16,000



Burgundiae [Burgundy] Comitatus Recentiss. Descriptio D - Abraham Ortelius

1585Antwerpen
A handsome early and large map of Burgundy by the great engraver ad cartographer Abraham Ortelius [map size 36.5 x 50.5 cm], based on the 1563 map of Ferdinand de Lannoy that was suppressed by the Spaniards for political reasons. With place names mainly in French, some in Latin, titles and scale in Latin.

With contemporary hand colouring, and embellished with elaborate strapwork title cartouche and coat of arms. Showing rivers, mountains, forests, fortifications, towns and cities. From Ortelius’ ‘
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’.

The orientation is from
Oriens or East (top) to Occidens or West (bottom), Septemtrio (the seven stars of Ursa Major) or North (left) to Meridies or South (right).

Finely framed in gilt wood, acid free boarder and backing, and Tru-Vue 98% UV glass [frame size 57 x 71 cm].
 
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Price HK$ 15,000



Life and Writings of Thomas Paine - Thomas Paine, Daniel Edwin Wheeler (editor)

1908 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Independence Edition of the Centenary Issue
These are the times that try men's souls

Elegantly bound ten volume set of the de luxe independence edition, number 166 of just 500 hand-numbered sets signed by the editor Daniel Edwin Wheeler, published to celebrate the centenary of Paine's death.

Included are Paine’s ‘
Common Sense’, ‘The American Crises’, ‘The Rights of Man’, and ‘The Age of Reason’, as well as essays, letters and speeches. Each volume with three photogravure or facsimile plates, as well as a frontispiece, title-pages printed in two colours, autographed limitation leaf to volume one.

‘On January 10, 1776, an obscure immigrant published a small pamphlet that ignited independence in America and shifted the political landscape of the patriot movement from reform within the British imperial system to independence from it. One hundred twenty thousand copies sold in the first three months in a nation of three million people, making
Common Sense the best-selling printed work by a single author in American history up to that time. Never before had a personally written work appealed to all classes of colonists. Never before had a pamphlet been written in an inspiring style so accessible to the “common” folk of America.’ - Jack Miller Center. 
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Price HK$ 35,000



Backgammon: Its History and Practice - George Frederick Pardon, Kenny Meadows (illustrator)

1844 - D. Bogue, London - First Edition
A rare and superior first edition of this wonderfully illustrated little work on Backgammon. Surprisingly for a game that may have originated around 2,500 BC this is one of the earliest English treatise to focus on the game.

Quite comprehensive, the cheeky ‘
Punch’ style vignettes enhancing the more humorous anecdotes and quotes. The final chapter ‘Definition of Technicalities’ is not as dull as it sounds, for example -

“Covering your man to make sure of him” – A procedure to prevent your man being hit in the game – to ensure it in a duel.

“Gammon.” – A thing that abounds in many huge, old, smoky chimneys in the country, and in many well-ventilated public apartments in town’.

“High Doublets” – Twinned sixes or cinqs – frequent and highly ridiculous in operas, when melodious ladies enact truculent warriors.’
 
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Price HK$ 8,000



Sandow on Physical Training - Eugen Sandow

1894 - Gale &, London - First Edition
A scarce and remarkably clean copy of the rare first edition in it’s original pictorial covers, by the ‘Father of Bodybuilding’. ‘Sandow The Magnificent’ also opened one of the first ‘health clubs’ in the world. He was friends with Conan-Doyle, Thomas Edison and King George V. Large [26x20cm] and richly illustrated from photographs, drawings and diagrams.

Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classical Greek and Roman sculpture was no accident, as he measured the statues in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique." He is seen as one of the first athletes to intentionally develop his musculature to predetermined dimensions. In
Strength and How to Obtain It Sandow lays out specific prescriptions of weights and repetitions in order to achieve his ideal proportion.

Sandow was the promoter and judge at the first bodybuilding contest ever held, at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 14, 1901, and his importance was such that the trophy for Mr. Olympia is a statuette of Sandow, one could even say that Sandow was the inspiration for a recent Governor of California.
 
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Price HK$ 7,000



South - The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917 - Sir Ernest Shackleton

1919 - William Heinemann, London - First Edition, First Impression
A legendary account of leadership. It was on this expedition that the marooned Shackleton made his famous voyage in a 22-foot boat with five companions through 800 miles of some of the stormiest seas in the world, finally reaching South Georgia and a Norwegian whaling station [Spence].

With 86 full page plates, and large folding map to the rear, many classic photographs existing only due to the stubbornness of Hurley, Shackleton’s photographer, in refusing to leave the plates behind to conserve energy and food.

An exceptionally fine and thus scarce first edition of this large book that is notorious for its poor quality of paper and binding, the silver to spine and covers is bright and sharp, paper toned as is usually the case. Housed in a bespoke blue solander slipcase.
 
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Price HK$ 50,000



The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare - William Shakespeare, William Watkiss Lloyd, Samuel Weller Singer

1856 - Bell and Daldy, London
An elegant ten volume mid-nineteenth century set of Shakespeare's works, finely bound by Bayntun-Rivière of Bath.

Illustrated with wood engravings by John Thompson from drawings by Thomas Stothard, and photographs, decorated with headpieces and floriated initials.

The text carefully revised with notes by Samuel Weller Singer, together with a biography and critical essays on the plays by William Watkiss Lloyd.
 
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Price HK$ 15,000



 
Results 33 - 40 of 53 results