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Eighty-eight Years of Commercial Progress Ruined. Shanghai Shelled and Bombed -
Sargent Key (editor)
1932 - Privately Printed, Shanghai - First Edition
‘A collection of editorials and reports written by impartial foreign observers on the local war situation for leading American and British papers including “The Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury”, “The China Press”, “North China Daily News”, etc.
Rare and highly detailed account of the Shanghai war of 1932, also known as the January 28 incident, and a plea for foreign intervention, compiled over the two months of the war and Illustrated with 34 black and white photographs, many of which are of a graphic nature.
In January 1932 Japanese agents incited unrest to justify further Japanese military action in Shanghai. This descended into war after the Japanese bombed Shanghai in what many consider to be the first mass aerial bombing of a civilian population (five years before the bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War). The battle ended on March 3rd, with Chinese troops retreating from the city. After much international pressure China and Japan signed an agreement which made Shanghai a demilitarised zone and forbade China to garrison troops in areas surrounding Shanghai, Suzhou, and Kunshan, while allowing the presence of a few Japanese units in the city. China was allowed to keep only a small police force within the city.
With a foreword by H. E. C. dated Shanghai, February, 1932, and an introduction by D. J. Evans, a British resident with over 25 years experience in Asia.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1932 - Privately Printed, Shanghai - First Edition
‘A collection of editorials and reports written by impartial foreign observers on the local war situation for leading American and British papers including “The Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury”, “The China Press”, “North China Daily News”, etc.Rare and highly detailed account of the Shanghai war of 1932, also known as the January 28 incident, and a plea for foreign intervention, compiled over the two months of the war and Illustrated with 34 black and white photographs, many of which are of a graphic nature.
In January 1932 Japanese agents incited unrest to justify further Japanese military action in Shanghai. This descended into war after the Japanese bombed Shanghai in what many consider to be the first mass aerial bombing of a civilian population (five years before the bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War). The battle ended on March 3rd, with Chinese troops retreating from the city. After much international pressure China and Japan signed an agreement which made Shanghai a demilitarised zone and forbade China to garrison troops in areas surrounding Shanghai, Suzhou, and Kunshan, while allowing the presence of a few Japanese units in the city. China was allowed to keep only a small police force within the city.
With a foreword by H. E. C. dated Shanghai, February, 1932, and an introduction by D. J. Evans, a British resident with over 25 years experience in Asia.
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Price HK$ 5,000
Kim -
Rudyard Kipling
1901 - Macmillan and Co., London - First English Edition (preceded by the American edition by 16 days)
‘He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher – the Wonder House, as the natives call the Lahore museum. Who hold Zam-Zammah, that 'fire-breathing dragon', hold the Punjab; for the great green-bronze piece is always first of the conqueror's loot.’
A bright copy of Kipling’s legendary Indian spy novel, set amongst the background of the Great Game, and one of the author’s most enduring thrillers. Considered to be Kipling’s greatest work, and the finest novel about the India of the British Empire.
‘Though he was burned black as any native; though he spoke the vernacular by preference, and his mother-tongue in a clipped uncertain sing-song; though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white – a poor white of the very poorest.’
Illustrated with 10 plates from photographs of bas-reliefs by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. The basis for the classic 1950 movie starring Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell. This is the book for boys.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1901 - Macmillan and Co., London - First English Edition (preceded by the American edition by 16 days)
‘He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher – the Wonder House, as the natives call the Lahore museum. Who hold Zam-Zammah, that 'fire-breathing dragon', hold the Punjab; for the great green-bronze piece is always first of the conqueror's loot.’A bright copy of Kipling’s legendary Indian spy novel, set amongst the background of the Great Game, and one of the author’s most enduring thrillers. Considered to be Kipling’s greatest work, and the finest novel about the India of the British Empire.
‘Though he was burned black as any native; though he spoke the vernacular by preference, and his mother-tongue in a clipped uncertain sing-song; though he consorted on terms of perfect equality with the small boys of the bazar; Kim was white – a poor white of the very poorest.’
Illustrated with 10 plates from photographs of bas-reliefs by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. The basis for the classic 1950 movie starring Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell. This is the book for boys.
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Price HK$ 2,500
Tibet and Imperial China. -
Josef Kolmas
1967 - The Australian National University, Canberra - First Edition
An occasional paper for the Centre of Oriental Studies.
With thirteen pages of relevant bibliography. In original wrappers.
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Price HK$ 800
1967 - The Australian National University, Canberra - First Edition
An occasional paper for the Centre of Oriental Studies.With thirteen pages of relevant bibliography. In original wrappers.
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Price HK$ 800
Shanghai: its Mixed Court and Council -
A. M. Kotenev
1925 - North-China Daily News & Herald, Shanghai - First Edition
A rare first edition of the most detailed work on Shanghai’s Municipal Council and Mixed Court from 1842 to 1924, the year before its demise.
Contents: Rules for the Mixed court, 1869. Rules of procedure of the International mixed court, 1914 and 1919, supplemented with provisions on general principles of the modern procedural laws of China, 1921. The provisional Criminal code of the republic of China. The provisional Criminal code amendment act.--The revised draft of the law on offences relating to morphine. The Chinese Supreme court decisions (1923). Rules for application of foreign laws (1921). Regulations relating to commerce. Copyright, 1916. The Law of publication, 1914. Rules of the Court of consuls. Land regulations and bye-laws for the Foreign settlement of Shanghai.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1925 - North-China Daily News & Herald, Shanghai - First Edition
A rare first edition of the most detailed work on Shanghai’s Municipal Council and Mixed Court from 1842 to 1924, the year before its demise.Contents: Rules for the Mixed court, 1869. Rules of procedure of the International mixed court, 1914 and 1919, supplemented with provisions on general principles of the modern procedural laws of China, 1921. The provisional Criminal code of the republic of China. The provisional Criminal code amendment act.--The revised draft of the law on offences relating to morphine. The Chinese Supreme court decisions (1923). Rules for application of foreign laws (1921). Regulations relating to commerce. Copyright, 1916. The Law of publication, 1914. Rules of the Court of consuls. Land regulations and bye-laws for the Foreign settlement of Shanghai.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Hong-Kong to London; or Our New Road Home from China. by the author of "A reminiscence of Canton", &c. -
Peter George Laurie
1872 Circa - Simmons & Co., London - First Edition
A fine and rare travelogue of an expatriate’s journey home from the Far East in the 1870’s. With his signature to the title page.
This is no twelve hour Cathay business class flight for Peter Laurie [1838 - 1912] who worked with Jardine Matheson & Co. as an agent in Hong Kong, then Shanghai.
The twelve month journey begins with ‘a good blow down the China Sea to Singapore, and fine weather thence to Penang and Calcutta’. Then overland on the new main railway line from Calcutta to Benares, which he describes as in a state of incompletion, with the stations not yet finished. From Benares they tour India on the old railway lines between Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi, returning to Allahabad. The final leg of the recenyl completed Calcutta to Bombay rail link, took them through Jubbulpore ‘the junction of the two great Indian railways’ (a combined network of 4,000 miles). This route was one inspiration for Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’.
Interlaced with Laurie’s details of the railways are thoughts and observations on the recent Indian rebellion and the sieges of both Cawnpore and Lucknow and subsequent massacres.
Embarking on one of the Peninsular & Oriental Company’s steamers, Laurie proceeds direct through the Suez Canal to Port Said and then Alexandria.
Squeezed into the last two pages is the final leg, being passage to Brindisi, rail through Europe - Rome, Florence, and ‘owing to the Franco-Prussian war, and the impossibility of passing through France’, Venice, Munich, Cologne, Brussels, and they ‘are once again in “Merrie England”’
More details
Price HK$ 8,000
1872 Circa - Simmons & Co., London - First Edition
A fine and rare travelogue of an expatriate’s journey home from the Far East in the 1870’s. With his signature to the title page.This is no twelve hour Cathay business class flight for Peter Laurie [1838 - 1912] who worked with Jardine Matheson & Co. as an agent in Hong Kong, then Shanghai.
The twelve month journey begins with ‘a good blow down the China Sea to Singapore, and fine weather thence to Penang and Calcutta’. Then overland on the new main railway line from Calcutta to Benares, which he describes as in a state of incompletion, with the stations not yet finished. From Benares they tour India on the old railway lines between Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi, returning to Allahabad. The final leg of the recenyl completed Calcutta to Bombay rail link, took them through Jubbulpore ‘the junction of the two great Indian railways’ (a combined network of 4,000 miles). This route was one inspiration for Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’.
Interlaced with Laurie’s details of the railways are thoughts and observations on the recent Indian rebellion and the sieges of both Cawnpore and Lucknow and subsequent massacres.
Embarking on one of the Peninsular & Oriental Company’s steamers, Laurie proceeds direct through the Suez Canal to Port Said and then Alexandria.
Squeezed into the last two pages is the final leg, being passage to Brindisi, rail through Europe - Rome, Florence, and ‘owing to the Franco-Prussian war, and the impossibility of passing through France’, Venice, Munich, Cologne, Brussels, and they ‘are once again in “Merrie England”’
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Price HK$ 8,000
China and Japan, and A Voyage Thither; an Account of a Cruise in the Waters of the East Indies, China, and Japan -
James B. Lawrence USMC
1870 - Case, Hartford - First American Edition
A scarce work in the form of letters covering Lawrence’s service in the marine corps on the US Steamer Wachuset, sailing from Boston in 1865 through the West Indies, via South America, the Cape and up to Java, arriving in Hong Kong to join the Asiatic Squadron in March 1866. The majority of this work covers his two years service mostly in China, with a short description of Japan of about 50 pages. Lawrence later served as a surgeon in the Army.
Very personal and interesting observations of the people, places and happenings throughout his tour. With nine full page illustrations.
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Price HK$ 2,900
1870 - Case, Hartford - First American Edition
A scarce work in the form of letters covering Lawrence’s service in the marine corps on the US Steamer Wachuset, sailing from Boston in 1865 through the West Indies, via South America, the Cape and up to Java, arriving in Hong Kong to join the Asiatic Squadron in March 1866. The majority of this work covers his two years service mostly in China, with a short description of Japan of about 50 pages. Lawrence later served as a surgeon in the Army. Very personal and interesting observations of the people, places and happenings throughout his tour. With nine full page illustrations.
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Price HK$ 2,900
Voyage dans les Mers de l'Inde -
Guillaume Joseph Le Gentil de la Galaisière
1779 - Imprimerie Royale, Paris - First Edition
‘Two monumental volumes... crammed with details on astronomy, navigation, and natural history... His descriptions of life in Manila, Pondicherry, and Madagascar are invaluable’ (Dunmore I, 51-52).
Volume one is devoted to India, volume two covers the Philippines, Madagascar and the Mascarenhas Archipelago (Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles). In contemporary bindings and illustrated with twenty seven folding copper engravings showing two world maps, maps charts and plans of Eastern and Western Philippines, Bay of Manila, Philippine Harbours, Manilla, Madagascar and it’s coastline, Isle de France (Mauritius), Isle de Bourbon (Réunion), Quartier S. Denis on Réunion, Eastern and Western Straits of Malacca, and Pondicherry. Together with engraved plates of animals and plant life, the ruins of Pondicherry, pagodas, Indian deities, and charts of comets and constellations.
‘His book of travels brought interesting insights into the winds and currents of the Indian Ocean, on the land and people visited the shore and islands, and a large number of the native laws and customs’ (Henze).
‘Vol. 2, pp. 1-366 are devoted to a description of the Philippines, based upon scientific investigations, principally at Manila... observations carried on from September 1766 - Feb. 1, 1768’ (Griffin).
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Price HK$ 30,000
1779 - Imprimerie Royale, Paris - First Edition
‘Two monumental volumes... crammed with details on astronomy, navigation, and natural history... His descriptions of life in Manila, Pondicherry, and Madagascar are invaluable’ (Dunmore I, 51-52). Volume one is devoted to India, volume two covers the Philippines, Madagascar and the Mascarenhas Archipelago (Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles). In contemporary bindings and illustrated with twenty seven folding copper engravings showing two world maps, maps charts and plans of Eastern and Western Philippines, Bay of Manila, Philippine Harbours, Manilla, Madagascar and it’s coastline, Isle de France (Mauritius), Isle de Bourbon (Réunion), Quartier S. Denis on Réunion, Eastern and Western Straits of Malacca, and Pondicherry. Together with engraved plates of animals and plant life, the ruins of Pondicherry, pagodas, Indian deities, and charts of comets and constellations.
‘His book of travels brought interesting insights into the winds and currents of the Indian Ocean, on the land and people visited the shore and islands, and a large number of the native laws and customs’ (Henze).
‘Vol. 2, pp. 1-366 are devoted to a description of the Philippines, based upon scientific investigations, principally at Manila... observations carried on from September 1766 - Feb. 1, 1768’ (Griffin).
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Price HK$ 30,000
China, Its Marvel and Mystery -
T. Hodgson Liddell
1909 - George Allen & Sons, London - First Edition
A large, scarce, and nicely illustrated work with forty colour plates from paintings by Liddell.
"I undertook this journey to China solely to paint pictures of a country I had during all my life heard a great deal of, and, in my book, I try to convey my impressions as an artist."
The journey took Liddell to Hong Kong, Macau, Canton, Shanghai, Soochow, Hangchow, a short spell in Japan to avoid the summer heat, Pei-Tai-Ho, Tientsin, and Peking where he is issued with an edict by the Empress Dowager allowing him to visit the Summer Palace and paint there.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1909 - George Allen & Sons, London - First Edition
A large, scarce, and nicely illustrated work with forty colour plates from paintings by Liddell. "I undertook this journey to China solely to paint pictures of a country I had during all my life heard a great deal of, and, in my book, I try to convey my impressions as an artist."
The journey took Liddell to Hong Kong, Macau, Canton, Shanghai, Soochow, Hangchow, a short spell in Japan to avoid the summer heat, Pei-Tai-Ho, Tientsin, and Peking where he is issued with an edict by the Empress Dowager allowing him to visit the Summer Palace and paint there.
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Price HK$ 4,500