Asia
Australia
Borneo
Burma
Cambodia
China
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Japan
Macao
Malaysia
Nepal
New Zealand
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Tibet
Vietnam
Son of Heaven -
Princess Der Ling
1935 - D. Appleton-Century Company, New York - First Edition
The story of the colourful, dramatic, and tragic life of Kwang Hsu, taken from his parents at the age of four to be placed as Emperor on a puppet throne, handsome, attractive, diligent as he grew into a realisation of his potential power, loving no one save the concubine Pearl, dying at the age of 37 at the hand of his aunt, the relentless Empress Dowager Cixi, a day before her own death. Princess Der Ling herself had served as first lady-in-waiting to Empress Dowager Cixi.
‘Princess’ Der Ling - daughter of a Manchu aristocrat, granddaughter of a Boston merchant, educated like a boy in the Confucian classics, a baptised Catholic blessed by the hand of Pope Leo XIII, a woman who donned chic Western fashions in China and her ceremonial court robes in the United States, and wife of an American soldier of fortune... Der Ling was a fascinating human battleground of warring identities, a victim of the hallucinogenic effects of too much publicity, much of it prompted by Der Ling herself, and a figure whose life provides a glimpse into one woman’s experience of living not just between two cultures—that of China and the West—but among many worlds: social, religious, moral, political. - Grant Hayter-Menzies author of Imperial Masquerade, the Legend of Princess Der Ling.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
1935 - D. Appleton-Century Company, New York - First Edition
The story of the colourful, dramatic, and tragic life of Kwang Hsu, taken from his parents at the age of four to be placed as Emperor on a puppet throne, handsome, attractive, diligent as he grew into a realisation of his potential power, loving no one save the concubine Pearl, dying at the age of 37 at the hand of his aunt, the relentless Empress Dowager Cixi, a day before her own death. Princess Der Ling herself had served as first lady-in-waiting to Empress Dowager Cixi.‘Princess’ Der Ling - daughter of a Manchu aristocrat, granddaughter of a Boston merchant, educated like a boy in the Confucian classics, a baptised Catholic blessed by the hand of Pope Leo XIII, a woman who donned chic Western fashions in China and her ceremonial court robes in the United States, and wife of an American soldier of fortune... Der Ling was a fascinating human battleground of warring identities, a victim of the hallucinogenic effects of too much publicity, much of it prompted by Der Ling herself, and a figure whose life provides a glimpse into one woman’s experience of living not just between two cultures—that of China and the West—but among many worlds: social, religious, moral, political. - Grant Hayter-Menzies author of Imperial Masquerade, the Legend of Princess Der Ling.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
A Description of the Empire of China -
Jean-Baptiste Du Halde
1738-41 - Printed by T. Gardner...for Edward Cave, London - First folio edition in English.
Two large folio volumes in contemporary bindings, housed in separate cloth slipcases.
One of the most celebrated of all 18th century works on China, illustrated with 64 engraved plates, including D’Anville’s exceptional maps (42 large maps most engraved by Bowen), 9 city and temple plans, and 13 full-page plates depicting dress, customs and ceremonies. With exquisitely engraved headpieces and initial letters.
The completest [sic] and most valuable history of the Chinese Empire which had appeared up to the time of its publication.’ [Cox, Literature of Travel]
The maps by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville are based on the extensive Jesuit surveys carried out for the Emperor Kangxi between 1708 and 1718. These maps ‘remained the principal cartographical authority on China during the rest of the 18th century’. [Tooley]
More details
Price HK$ 245,000
1738-41 - Printed by T. Gardner...for Edward Cave, London - First folio edition in English.
Two large folio volumes in contemporary bindings, housed in separate cloth slipcases. One of the most celebrated of all 18th century works on China, illustrated with 64 engraved plates, including D’Anville’s exceptional maps (42 large maps most engraved by Bowen), 9 city and temple plans, and 13 full-page plates depicting dress, customs and ceremonies. With exquisitely engraved headpieces and initial letters.
The completest [sic] and most valuable history of the Chinese Empire which had appeared up to the time of its publication.’ [Cox, Literature of Travel]
The maps by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville are based on the extensive Jesuit surveys carried out for the Emperor Kangxi between 1708 and 1718. These maps ‘remained the principal cartographical authority on China during the rest of the 18th century’. [Tooley]
More details
Price HK$ 245,000
“Tried Favourites.” Being a collection of Recipes by some Mamsahibs of Bombay together with Menus and useful Information to House=keepers of both sexes -
Mrs. Fett
1928 - Published in aid of A Special Branch of Y.W.C.A. Work. Printed at The Industrial Press, Bombay - First Edition
‘When the Memsahib has chewed off the end of her pencil in her effort to think of “something different” – and when the cook has achieved his blankest and most aloof expression then will this little book be triumphantly brought forth and opened at the “MENU” pages, and calm will be restored ! !’
Rare little work, which not only provides recipes and menus but also prie lists of the Bombay market, details on domestic servants, stores, and more. With a number of wonderfully illustrated advertisements targeting the modern Memsahib.
More details
Price HK$ 900
1928 - Published in aid of A Special Branch of Y.W.C.A. Work. Printed at The Industrial Press, Bombay - First Edition
‘When the Memsahib has chewed off the end of her pencil in her effort to think of “something different” – and when the cook has achieved his blankest and most aloof expression then will this little book be triumphantly brought forth and opened at the “MENU” pages, and calm will be restored ! !’Rare little work, which not only provides recipes and menus but also prie lists of the Bombay market, details on domestic servants, stores, and more. With a number of wonderfully illustrated advertisements targeting the modern Memsahib.
More details
Price HK$ 900
Personal Narrative of Three Years’ Service in China -
Lt.-Colonel Arthur A’Court Fisher – Royal Engineers
1863 - Richard Bentley, London - First Edition
Lt.-Colonel Fisher’s three years of service, are in Canton, the Pei-Ho River, and Taku Fort battles, throughout the Second Opium War. Illustrated with three wood-engraved plates, engraved plan, six in-text engravings and three folding maps at rear.
This not one of your more dry ‘Personal Narrative’ accounts, and is very much in the ‘Personal’. Entertainingly written, one wonders if Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Agincourt Fisher was in any way related to Harry Flashman....
Lt-Colonel Fisher begins his tales with the action at the Battle of Canton in late 1857, he remains in Canton, occupying his spare time with various adventures and sport (Cricket in Hong Kong, shooting snipe and riding ponies across the Canton countryside ‘Paper-Hunt’ style), and visits to Hong Kong and islands. Fisher then moves up the Pei-Ho River and is involved with the battles around the Taku Forts, as well as surveying the ‘Great Wall’, returning once again to the skirmishes on the Pei-Ho and around Canton. After the third and final ‘Battle of Taku Forts’ at the end of August 1860, Fisher is preparing to head to Peking but is taken sick and forced to spend two months on the hospital ship ‘Mauritius’ whilst hearing news from other wounded officers of the battles around Peking and the looting of the Summer Palace. In November of 1860 Fisher’s service in China ends with his shipment back to England.
More details
Price HK$ 11,000
1863 - Richard Bentley, London - First Edition
Lt.-Colonel Fisher’s three years of service, are in Canton, the Pei-Ho River, and Taku Fort battles, throughout the Second Opium War. Illustrated with three wood-engraved plates, engraved plan, six in-text engravings and three folding maps at rear.This not one of your more dry ‘Personal Narrative’ accounts, and is very much in the ‘Personal’. Entertainingly written, one wonders if Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Agincourt Fisher was in any way related to Harry Flashman....
Lt-Colonel Fisher begins his tales with the action at the Battle of Canton in late 1857, he remains in Canton, occupying his spare time with various adventures and sport (Cricket in Hong Kong, shooting snipe and riding ponies across the Canton countryside ‘Paper-Hunt’ style), and visits to Hong Kong and islands. Fisher then moves up the Pei-Ho River and is involved with the battles around the Taku Forts, as well as surveying the ‘Great Wall’, returning once again to the skirmishes on the Pei-Ho and around Canton. After the third and final ‘Battle of Taku Forts’ at the end of August 1860, Fisher is preparing to head to Peking but is taken sick and forced to spend two months on the hospital ship ‘Mauritius’ whilst hearing news from other wounded officers of the battles around Peking and the looting of the Summer Palace. In November of 1860 Fisher’s service in China ends with his shipment back to England.
More details
Price HK$ 11,000
Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad -
F. W. F. Fletcher
1911 - Macmillan & Co., London - First Edition
‘Fletcher introduces both the terrain and the history of the Nilgiris and Wynaad regions in India, then provides big game chapters on a species-by-species basis. Each of these chapters features not only the natural history of the animals, but also the author's experiences hunting them. Included are chapters devoted to elephant, tiger, leopards, bison, beer, tahr, ibex, sambur, and other deer species.
Fletcher switched from a .450 rifle to a .600 Jeffery: “In cold blood the recoil from his rifle is somewhat severe; but in the excitement of shooting it is not noticeable.”’ - Czech.
Illustrated with 18 plates, and folding coloured map as frontispiece.
More details
Price HK$ 2,200
1911 - Macmillan & Co., London - First Edition
‘Fletcher introduces both the terrain and the history of the Nilgiris and Wynaad regions in India, then provides big game chapters on a species-by-species basis. Each of these chapters features not only the natural history of the animals, but also the author's experiences hunting them. Included are chapters devoted to elephant, tiger, leopards, bison, beer, tahr, ibex, sambur, and other deer species.Fletcher switched from a .450 rifle to a .600 Jeffery: “In cold blood the recoil from his rifle is somewhat severe; but in the excitement of shooting it is not noticeable.”’ - Czech.
Illustrated with 18 plates, and folding coloured map as frontispiece.
More details
Price HK$ 2,200
The Shop Signs of Peking -
H. K. Fung
1931 - Issued by the Chinese Painting Association of Peking, China - First Edition limited to 100 Copies
A beautifully hand coloured book showing the signs used by Chinese shopkeepers to advertise their trade, with 101 hand-coloured illustrations of shop signs each accompanied by the Chinese and English description, together with a forward in English by H. K. Fung.
More details
Price HK$ 41,000
1931 - Issued by the Chinese Painting Association of Peking, China - First Edition limited to 100 Copies
A beautifully hand coloured book showing the signs used by Chinese shopkeepers to advertise their trade, with 101 hand-coloured illustrations of shop signs each accompanied by the Chinese and English description, together with a forward in English by H. K. Fung.
More details
Price HK$ 41,000
![Morokoshi Meishô Zue [Description of Famous Places in China]](http://lokmanbooks.com/fmp/images/105709a.jpg)
Morokoshi Meishô Zue [Description of Famous Places in China] -
Okada Gyokuzan, Oka Yûgaku, Ôhara Toya Minsei
1806 [Bunka 3] - Kawachiya Kichibei [and 11 others], Ôsaika - First Edition
Very scarce first edition of this magnificently illustrated six volume work on the famous places of Qing Dynasty China, with approximately 327 full-page woodblock prints (xylographic printing on mulberry paper) of which there are 135 double-page illustrations, 1 triple page illustration and three eight-page illustrations (a few of the maps being outlined in red ink). Edited and illustrated by Japanese artists Okada Gyokuzan, (1737-1812), Oka Yûgaku (1762-1833) and Ôhara Toya (1771-1840).
The text printed in Chinese and Japanese with Japanese reading marks. In original publishers blue wrappers, and housed in a custom made navy morocco leather and cloth clamshell case, titled in gilt.
The illustrations depict mostly topographical views: natural archaeological or sacred sites (the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism, monasteries) and palaces, or historical and legendary scenes based on classical literature. Specifically a map of China and Korea, a map of Peking, a plan of the the Forbidden City, a fine double-page plate depicting the astronomical observatory of Peking set up by the Jesuits Johann Adam Schall and Ferdinand Verbiest, maps and views of the Great Wall and its numerous gates. There are also views of buildings no longer extant, such as the Imperial Elephant Stables.
In summary - Eleven 2-page maps, thirteen 2-page city plans, six 2-page temple plans, three 8-page scenery print, one 3-page scenery print, one-hundred and five 2-page scenery prints, thirty 1-page scenery prints, nineteen in-text prints, four pages of Chinese costume prints, two circular prints of Chinese dignitaries, one full page print of patterns, nine pages of prints of Chinese weapons, armour, and tents, four pages of prints of Chinese vessels and containers, five pages of prints of costumes and jewellery, ten pages of prints of musical instruments, two pages of prints of scales, nineteen pages of prints of modes of transport and accompanying banners and musicians, eight pages of prints of globes and other related instruments, a two page army schematic, four pages of prints of Chinese military costumes, two pages of elephant accessories, and numerous vignettes and samples of Chinese text.
More details
Price HK$ 110,000
1806 [Bunka 3] - Kawachiya Kichibei [and 11 others], Ôsaika - First Edition
Very scarce first edition of this magnificently illustrated six volume work on the famous places of Qing Dynasty China, with approximately 327 full-page woodblock prints (xylographic printing on mulberry paper) of which there are 135 double-page illustrations, 1 triple page illustration and three eight-page illustrations (a few of the maps being outlined in red ink). Edited and illustrated by Japanese artists Okada Gyokuzan, (1737-1812), Oka Yûgaku (1762-1833) and Ôhara Toya (1771-1840).The text printed in Chinese and Japanese with Japanese reading marks. In original publishers blue wrappers, and housed in a custom made navy morocco leather and cloth clamshell case, titled in gilt.
The illustrations depict mostly topographical views: natural archaeological or sacred sites (the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism, monasteries) and palaces, or historical and legendary scenes based on classical literature. Specifically a map of China and Korea, a map of Peking, a plan of the the Forbidden City, a fine double-page plate depicting the astronomical observatory of Peking set up by the Jesuits Johann Adam Schall and Ferdinand Verbiest, maps and views of the Great Wall and its numerous gates. There are also views of buildings no longer extant, such as the Imperial Elephant Stables.
In summary - Eleven 2-page maps, thirteen 2-page city plans, six 2-page temple plans, three 8-page scenery print, one 3-page scenery print, one-hundred and five 2-page scenery prints, thirty 1-page scenery prints, nineteen in-text prints, four pages of Chinese costume prints, two circular prints of Chinese dignitaries, one full page print of patterns, nine pages of prints of Chinese weapons, armour, and tents, four pages of prints of Chinese vessels and containers, five pages of prints of costumes and jewellery, ten pages of prints of musical instruments, two pages of prints of scales, nineteen pages of prints of modes of transport and accompanying banners and musicians, eight pages of prints of globes and other related instruments, a two page army schematic, four pages of prints of Chinese military costumes, two pages of elephant accessories, and numerous vignettes and samples of Chinese text.
More details
Price HK$ 110,000
Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island -
Captain Basil Hall, H. J. Clifford
1818 - John Murray, London - First Edition
A fine full margined copy, with nine aquatint plates by William Havell, all but one hand-coloured, five engraved maps, including two folding, and an engraved plate of ‘Wollaston’s Dip Sector’ instrument.
‘This expedition took Lord Amherst's embassy to China and explored the relatively little-known East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Visits were made to Korea and the Ryukyu Archipelago. Korea had been sketchily explored by Europeans, but it was not until this 1816-7 expedition of the Alceste and Lyra, under Captains Murray Maxwell and Basil Hall, that detailed information was obtained about the Ryukus. On the homeward passage, the Alceste was wrecked in Gaspar Strait off Sumatra. Captain Hall served in the Royal Navy from 1802-23 and achieved the rank of post-captain. He saw extensive duty on the Pacific coast of America, and continued his travels as a private citizen. He wrote many other books about his travels and experiences.’ - Hill.
More details
Price HK$ 30,000
1818 - John Murray, London - First Edition
A fine full margined copy, with nine aquatint plates by William Havell, all but one hand-coloured, five engraved maps, including two folding, and an engraved plate of ‘Wollaston’s Dip Sector’ instrument.‘This expedition took Lord Amherst's embassy to China and explored the relatively little-known East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Visits were made to Korea and the Ryukyu Archipelago. Korea had been sketchily explored by Europeans, but it was not until this 1816-7 expedition of the Alceste and Lyra, under Captains Murray Maxwell and Basil Hall, that detailed information was obtained about the Ryukus. On the homeward passage, the Alceste was wrecked in Gaspar Strait off Sumatra. Captain Hall served in the Royal Navy from 1802-23 and achieved the rank of post-captain. He saw extensive duty on the Pacific coast of America, and continued his travels as a private citizen. He wrote many other books about his travels and experiences.’ - Hill.
More details
Price HK$ 30,000