A Practical Treatise on Brewing, Distilling, and Rectification -
Robert Shannon
1805 - Robert Scholey, London - First and Only Edition
Rare first edition of this comprehensive and landmark work on wines, spirits, and beers, that ‘may be considered the first modern book in English treating the subject’ of distillation’ [Buxton & Hughes] and the second book in English to discuss ‘modern wines’. [Gabler]
A finely bound large thick quarto volume of over 900 pages split into four parts: Book I: Brewing for Malt Liquors (beer); Book II: Brewing for Distilling (spirits e.g. Gin, whisky, rum, brandy); Book III: Made Wines, Vinegar, Cider, and Perry; Appendix: Wines, Brandies, and Vinegars (mostly descriptions of foreign wines from Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, and South Africa).
Illustrated with eight engraved plates and six tables.
According to Buxton and Hughes, ‘Shannon is credited with taking a recognisably systematic approach to the subject aiming, as he says to ‘shew the distiller how he may proceed on rational principles’. ’Curiously for such a comprehensive work there appears to only ever have been one edition’.
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Price HK$ 45,000
1805 - Robert Scholey, London - First and Only Edition
Rare first edition of this comprehensive and landmark work on wines, spirits, and beers, that ‘may be considered the first modern book in English treating the subject’ of distillation’ [Buxton & Hughes] and the second book in English to discuss ‘modern wines’. [Gabler]A finely bound large thick quarto volume of over 900 pages split into four parts: Book I: Brewing for Malt Liquors (beer); Book II: Brewing for Distilling (spirits e.g. Gin, whisky, rum, brandy); Book III: Made Wines, Vinegar, Cider, and Perry; Appendix: Wines, Brandies, and Vinegars (mostly descriptions of foreign wines from Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, and South Africa).
Illustrated with eight engraved plates and six tables.
According to Buxton and Hughes, ‘Shannon is credited with taking a recognisably systematic approach to the subject aiming, as he says to ‘shew the distiller how he may proceed on rational principles’. ’Curiously for such a comprehensive work there appears to only ever have been one edition’.
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Price HK$ 45,000
The Art of Golf -
Sir W. G. Simpson, Bart.
1887 - David Douglas, Edinburgh - First Edition
‘One of the great classic books on golf literature, it includes the first use of photographs to demonstrate the swing.’- Joseph Murdoch, The Library of Golf.
Dedicated to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Fully illustrated with photographic plates of old Tom Morris Jim Morris and Ben Sayers, and with figure drawings. Scarce copy with the original spine, and without being rebacked.
‘One of the classics of golf literature... a book of great charm and wit, one of the few of the very early books that can be read today with as much pleasure as the latest best seller.’ Cecil Hopkinson said, ‘It contained many diagrams and illustrations from instantaneous photographs, which was the first occasion on which the camera was called in to demonstrate correct methods of play.’ Bernard Darwin said of this book ‘one of the earliest and still the best book on golf.’
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Price HK$ 10,000
1887 - David Douglas, Edinburgh - First Edition
‘One of the great classic books on golf literature, it includes the first use of photographs to demonstrate the swing.’- Joseph Murdoch, The Library of Golf.Dedicated to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Fully illustrated with photographic plates of old Tom Morris Jim Morris and Ben Sayers, and with figure drawings. Scarce copy with the original spine, and without being rebacked.
‘One of the classics of golf literature... a book of great charm and wit, one of the few of the very early books that can be read today with as much pleasure as the latest best seller.’ Cecil Hopkinson said, ‘It contained many diagrams and illustrations from instantaneous photographs, which was the first occasion on which the camera was called in to demonstrate correct methods of play.’ Bernard Darwin said of this book ‘one of the earliest and still the best book on golf.’
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Price HK$ 10,000
A Treatise on Cyder-Making -
Hugh Stafford, Anonymous
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.
Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
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Price HK$ 42,000
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
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Price HK$ 42,000
Yachting - The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes -
Sir Edward Sullivan, Lord Brassey, C.E. Seth-Smith, G.L. Watson, R.T. Pritchett, Sir George Leach et al.
1894-5 - Longmans, London - First Editions
‘To some, I believe, Paradise means yachting, and for my own part, I think a 200-ton schooner, a ten -knot breeze, and a summer sea hard to beat’. - From the introduction by Sir Edward Sullivan.
A famous yachting work, covering the golden age of yachting, including chapters on: Ocean Cruising; The Evolution of the Modern Racing Yacht; Recollections of Schooner Racing; Fitting out a Fifty-Tonner to go Foreign; Some Famous Races; Yachting in America; Foreign and Colonial Yachting; and The America Cup Races.
Two volumes profusely illustrated with 57 full page plates and over 240 in-text illustrations plans and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1894-5 - Longmans, London - First Editions
‘To some, I believe, Paradise means yachting, and for my own part, I think a 200-ton schooner, a ten -knot breeze, and a summer sea hard to beat’. - From the introduction by Sir Edward Sullivan. A famous yachting work, covering the golden age of yachting, including chapters on: Ocean Cruising; The Evolution of the Modern Racing Yacht; Recollections of Schooner Racing; Fitting out a Fifty-Tonner to go Foreign; Some Famous Races; Yachting in America; Foreign and Colonial Yachting; and The America Cup Races.
Two volumes profusely illustrated with 57 full page plates and over 240 in-text illustrations plans and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 7,000
The Lawson History of the America's Cup. A Record of Fifty Years -
Winfield. M. Thompson, Thomas W. Lawson
1902 - Privately Printed, Boston - First and Limited Edition
A handsomely bound volume, over 400 pages illustrated with eighty-nine full page plates of which sixteen are colour and two are maps outlined in colour.
Detailing the history of the America’s Cup from 1851 to 1902, it’s challenges, yachts, protests, characters and an appendix of press articles. There is nothing finer.
Privately printed for private distribution only, and limited to 3,000 copies most of which were presented to prominent members of the yachting community.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1902 - Privately Printed, Boston - First and Limited Edition
A handsomely bound volume, over 400 pages illustrated with eighty-nine full page plates of which sixteen are colour and two are maps outlined in colour.Detailing the history of the America’s Cup from 1851 to 1902, it’s challenges, yachts, protests, characters and an appendix of press articles. There is nothing finer.
Privately printed for private distribution only, and limited to 3,000 copies most of which were presented to prominent members of the yachting community.
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Price HK$ 22,000
Travers' Golf Book -
Jerome D. Travers
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first book by this golfing legend, illustrated with a colour frontispiece and 46 black and white photographic plates. A combination of autobiography and instructional.
‘Although he was of slight stature, Travers dominated golf in the decade before World War I with his stunning iron shots and expert putting. He won many tournaments because of his calm temperament, patience, and ability to make precise shots. He won the United States Amateur in 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913, and was runner-up in 1914. His victory in 1913 set a record for that tournament – not broken until Bobby Jones won it five times. He was among the first members of the Golf Hall of Fame established by the United States Golf Association’. [DAB]
‘Some of the words used to describe Jerry Travers have not been kind – cold, somber, ruthless – yet these were the qualities that made him the most feared golfer of his time. In a nine-year stretch from 1906-1915, Travers won four U.S. Amateurs, five Metropolitan Amateurs and a U.S. Open. Only Bob Jones won more amateur titles and Travers was one of only five amateurs to win the Open. And his battles with Walter Travis, in the words of Herbert Warren Wind, “formed the crucible in which a talented young golfer was made into the greatest match player of his decade”‘. [World Golf Hall of Fame]
And in 1915 at the age of 28, Travers ended his championship career.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first book by this golfing legend, illustrated with a colour frontispiece and 46 black and white photographic plates. A combination of autobiography and instructional.‘Although he was of slight stature, Travers dominated golf in the decade before World War I with his stunning iron shots and expert putting. He won many tournaments because of his calm temperament, patience, and ability to make precise shots. He won the United States Amateur in 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913, and was runner-up in 1914. His victory in 1913 set a record for that tournament – not broken until Bobby Jones won it five times. He was among the first members of the Golf Hall of Fame established by the United States Golf Association’. [DAB]
‘Some of the words used to describe Jerry Travers have not been kind – cold, somber, ruthless – yet these were the qualities that made him the most feared golfer of his time. In a nine-year stretch from 1906-1915, Travers won four U.S. Amateurs, five Metropolitan Amateurs and a U.S. Open. Only Bob Jones won more amateur titles and Travers was one of only five amateurs to win the Open. And his battles with Walter Travis, in the words of Herbert Warren Wind, “formed the crucible in which a talented young golfer was made into the greatest match player of his decade”‘. [World Golf Hall of Fame]
And in 1915 at the age of 28, Travers ended his championship career.
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Price HK$ 7,000
The Way to Health, Long Life and Happiness -
T. Tryon
1697 - -, London - Third Edition
‘Communicated to the World for General Good’ - the third edition ‘To which is added a Discourse of the Philosophers Stone, or Universal Medicine, Discovering the Cheats and Abuses of those Chymical Pretenders"
‘My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books.’ - Benjamin Franklin.
A rare and influential work on health and diet, i.a. promoting vegetarianism with regard to animal welfare and as a healthy lifestyle.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1697 - -, London - Third Edition
‘Communicated to the World for General Good’ - the third edition ‘To which is added a Discourse of the Philosophers Stone, or Universal Medicine, Discovering the Cheats and Abuses of those Chymical Pretenders"‘My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books.’ - Benjamin Franklin.
A rare and influential work on health and diet, i.a. promoting vegetarianism with regard to animal welfare and as a healthy lifestyle.
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Price HK$ 18,000
La Vigne - Voyage Autour des Vins de France -
Charles Albert Vicomte d'Arnoux Bertall
1878 - E. Plon et Cie., Paris - First Edition
A superb example of this richly illustrated wine book landmark, text in French, with numerous humorous anecdotes about winemakers, merchants, innkeepers... Housed in the publisher’s luxury full red morocco binding.
The author and illustrator ‘Bertall’ is the pseudonym of the designer, caricaturist and photographer Charles Albert Vicomte d'Arnoux (1820-1882), who provides 95 full page captioned illustrations and close to 400 in-text wood-engraved illustrations.
The a vast array of illustrations by ‘Bertall’ are combined with an interesting potpourri of French viniana. For example, wines are divided into three big categories: white wines, red wines and blue wines, matching the French national colours. The whites are generally luxury wines, from Chablis and Saumur to Champagne and Sauterne - wines of the rich. Red wines are for general use and for tasting, they make glad the heart and the mind, etc. Blue wines are the wines of the workers and of those who prefer not to work, wines warm in the gut but hard on the gullet, good for vitality in moderation, but bad when taken to excess [pages 23-24].
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Price HK$ 8,000
1878 - E. Plon et Cie., Paris - First Edition
A superb example of this richly illustrated wine book landmark, text in French, with numerous humorous anecdotes about winemakers, merchants, innkeepers... Housed in the publisher’s luxury full red morocco binding.The author and illustrator ‘Bertall’ is the pseudonym of the designer, caricaturist and photographer Charles Albert Vicomte d'Arnoux (1820-1882), who provides 95 full page captioned illustrations and close to 400 in-text wood-engraved illustrations.
The a vast array of illustrations by ‘Bertall’ are combined with an interesting potpourri of French viniana. For example, wines are divided into three big categories: white wines, red wines and blue wines, matching the French national colours. The whites are generally luxury wines, from Chablis and Saumur to Champagne and Sauterne - wines of the rich. Red wines are for general use and for tasting, they make glad the heart and the mind, etc. Blue wines are the wines of the workers and of those who prefer not to work, wines warm in the gut but hard on the gullet, good for vitality in moderation, but bad when taken to excess [pages 23-24].
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Price HK$ 8,000