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Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula -
Walter William Skeat, Charles Otto Blagden
1906 - Macmillan & Co., London - First Edition
A large and comprehensive two volume ethnographic study on the manners, customs, religion, and language of the peoples of the Malay Peninsula.
Profusely illustrated. Skeats adds a bibliography of most of the early literature, consisting of mainly travelogues and reports by colonial administrators and a few scholarly journal articles.
‘Skeat went to much trouble to obtain a large and comprehensive collection of photographs for use as illustrations, which are an excellent record of aboriginal life in his time. He also wrote an Introduction entitled 'Environment', which is a first-rate description of the Malayan jungle and its flora and fauna as a habitat, and he also included a bibliography which, among other things, takes in the work of continental scholars of his day on Malayan aborigines.’ - [J.M. Gullick, The Skeat Collection, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford]
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Price HK$ 3,800
1906 - Macmillan & Co., London - First Edition
A large and comprehensive two volume ethnographic study on the manners, customs, religion, and language of the peoples of the Malay Peninsula.Profusely illustrated. Skeats adds a bibliography of most of the early literature, consisting of mainly travelogues and reports by colonial administrators and a few scholarly journal articles.
‘Skeat went to much trouble to obtain a large and comprehensive collection of photographs for use as illustrations, which are an excellent record of aboriginal life in his time. He also wrote an Introduction entitled 'Environment', which is a first-rate description of the Malayan jungle and its flora and fauna as a habitat, and he also included a bibliography which, among other things, takes in the work of continental scholars of his day on Malayan aborigines.’ - [J.M. Gullick, The Skeat Collection, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford]
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Price HK$ 3,800
Contributions Towards The Materia Medica & Natural History of China -
Frederick Porter Smith
1871 - American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai - First Edition
First edition of this scarce work, being one of first books on Chinese medicine by a western author.
With text in English and names and terms in Chinese. Dedicated to Robert Hart of the Chinese Maritime Customs
Smith was the first British medical missionary in China, sent by the Wesleyan Missionary Committee to Hankow in 1863, where he opened the first hospital in central China in 1864. His detailed catalogue of medicinal drugs and compounds was compiled through his close work and personal exchanges with practitioners of traditional China medicine, and was meant for for use by both Western physicians and Chinese medical students. Smith also credits the early Chinese medical works from which he drew his knowledge of herbs, and of native and imported drugs from throughout Asia.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1871 - American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai - First Edition
First edition of this scarce work, being one of first books on Chinese medicine by a western author.With text in English and names and terms in Chinese. Dedicated to Robert Hart of the Chinese Maritime Customs
Smith was the first British medical missionary in China, sent by the Wesleyan Missionary Committee to Hankow in 1863, where he opened the first hospital in central China in 1864. His detailed catalogue of medicinal drugs and compounds was compiled through his close work and personal exchanges with practitioners of traditional China medicine, and was meant for for use by both Western physicians and Chinese medical students. Smith also credits the early Chinese medical works from which he drew his knowledge of herbs, and of native and imported drugs from throughout Asia.
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Price HK$ 9,000
Narrative of the Burmese War, Detailing the Operations of Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell’s Army, from its Landing at Rangoon in May 1824, to the Conclusion of a Treaty of Peace at Yandaboo, in February 1826 -
Major J. J. Snodgrass
1827 - John Murray, London - First Edition
The important first hand military account of the first Burma war by Sir Archibald Campbell’s Military Secretary and son-in-law. A full margined copy in original boards and spine.
With large folding engraved map Burmese Empire [46 x 40 cm], two wood-engraved illustrations Bandoola’s Look-Out Tree at Donoobew - Mounting Four Guns and Meeting of the British and Burmese Commissioners at Neoun-Ben-Zeik. Principal Figure: The Kee-Wongee.
Patricia Herbert in her bibliography of Burma notes that ‘the tone of Major Snodgrass’ narrative is fairly typical of British attitudes and accounts of this period. His concluding remarks upon the Burmese king are: ‘let him then vaunt and boast, and let us smile at his harmless vanity and arrogant imbecility. The appendix contains translations of captured Burmese military documents and the text of the Treaty of Yandabo.’
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Price HK$ 6,000
1827 - John Murray, London - First Edition
The important first hand military account of the first Burma war by Sir Archibald Campbell’s Military Secretary and son-in-law. A full margined copy in original boards and spine.With large folding engraved map Burmese Empire [46 x 40 cm], two wood-engraved illustrations Bandoola’s Look-Out Tree at Donoobew - Mounting Four Guns and Meeting of the British and Burmese Commissioners at Neoun-Ben-Zeik. Principal Figure: The Kee-Wongee.
Patricia Herbert in her bibliography of Burma notes that ‘the tone of Major Snodgrass’ narrative is fairly typical of British attitudes and accounts of this period. His concluding remarks upon the Burmese king are: ‘let him then vaunt and boast, and let us smile at his harmless vanity and arrogant imbecility. The appendix contains translations of captured Burmese military documents and the text of the Treaty of Yandabo.’
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Price HK$ 6,000
Sketches of Chinese Life & Character -
William R. Snow
1860 - Dickinson Bros., 114
A rare large folio of 17 hand-coloured lithographic plates by M. & N. Hanhart from sketches by William R. Snow. Some plates heightened with gum-arabic. Originally sold in three parts, probably loose for ease of framing, and housed in wrappers. It may be assumed that the plate of ‘The Game of Shuttlecock’ was used for that purpose as it is not included here. The three sets of original wrappers have been bound in, and the plate titles are as follows:
Part I.
Going to a Picnic, Mode of Travelling A Long Journey in China.
Rival Caravans, The Desert of To Day.
A Clean Shave.
A Slap on the Back, More Pleasant Than it Looks.
How This Little Pig Went to Market.
Ye Civil Force.
Part II.
Costermongers - Victoria Street, Hong Kong (named as ‘Canton’ in the Plate List).
Chinese funeral - Mode of Carrying the Coffin.
Musicians and Flag Bearers in Advance of a Funeral.
Sketch from the Wall on the Morning after the Grand Attack.
Dinner Hour of a Chinese Family on Board a Chop on the Canton River.
Part III.
On the Wall, Canton.
A Group of Coolies at a Portable Soup Kitchen.
Military Train Coolies Going Home.
Sketch of a Mandarin, Grand Stand Canton.
Astonishment of Ye Natives at Red Hair.
A Group of Coolies on the Road at Dinner.
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Price HK$ 140,000
1860 - Dickinson Bros., 114
A rare large folio of 17 hand-coloured lithographic plates by M. & N. Hanhart from sketches by William R. Snow. Some plates heightened with gum-arabic. Originally sold in three parts, probably loose for ease of framing, and housed in wrappers. It may be assumed that the plate of ‘The Game of Shuttlecock’ was used for that purpose as it is not included here. The three sets of original wrappers have been bound in, and the plate titles are as follows:Part I.
Going to a Picnic, Mode of Travelling A Long Journey in China.
Rival Caravans, The Desert of To Day.
A Clean Shave.
A Slap on the Back, More Pleasant Than it Looks.
How This Little Pig Went to Market.
Ye Civil Force.
Part II.
Costermongers - Victoria Street, Hong Kong (named as ‘Canton’ in the Plate List).
Chinese funeral - Mode of Carrying the Coffin.
Musicians and Flag Bearers in Advance of a Funeral.
Sketch from the Wall on the Morning after the Grand Attack.
Dinner Hour of a Chinese Family on Board a Chop on the Canton River.
Part III.
On the Wall, Canton.
A Group of Coolies at a Portable Soup Kitchen.
Military Train Coolies Going Home.
Sketch of a Mandarin, Grand Stand Canton.
Astonishment of Ye Natives at Red Hair.
A Group of Coolies on the Road at Dinner.
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Price HK$ 140,000
The Naturalist in Manchuria -
Arthur de Carle Sowerby
1922 - Tientsin Press, Tientsin - First Edition
A remarkably clean set in original illustrated cloth, profusely illustrated with three tipped-in colour plates, three folding maps, 127 black and white photographic illustrations on 79 plates, 38 black and white sketches on 9 plates, a folding black & white line drawing, and numerous in-text sketches and diagrams.
China-born Arthur Sowerby began his career as a naturalist by collecting specimens for the Museum in Tai-yuan Fu. In 1906, he was appointed to the staff of the Anglo-Chinese College at Tientsin as lecturer and curator of its Natural History Museum. In 1908, he joined American millionaire Robert Sterling Clark on an expedition into Shansi and Kansu provinces of north China for the Smithsonian Institute. This began a long association with Clark, who financed four expeditions into Manchuria from 1913 to 1915, during which Sowerby gathered new facts and made original observations on ‘every type of country-wide and fertile plains, heavy coniferous forests, or lighter woods of deciduous trees, low, grassy hills, or high, rocky peaks, reeking swamps, the valleys of great rolling rivers, or lesser stream-cut ravines’.
Five volumes bound in three, titled: Travel and Exploration; Mammals; Birds; The cold-blooded Vertebrates and Tunicates of the Manchurian Region; and The Invertebrates and Flora of the Manchurian Region.
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Price HK$ 32,000
1922 - Tientsin Press, Tientsin - First Edition
A remarkably clean set in original illustrated cloth, profusely illustrated with three tipped-in colour plates, three folding maps, 127 black and white photographic illustrations on 79 plates, 38 black and white sketches on 9 plates, a folding black & white line drawing, and numerous in-text sketches and diagrams.China-born Arthur Sowerby began his career as a naturalist by collecting specimens for the Museum in Tai-yuan Fu. In 1906, he was appointed to the staff of the Anglo-Chinese College at Tientsin as lecturer and curator of its Natural History Museum. In 1908, he joined American millionaire Robert Sterling Clark on an expedition into Shansi and Kansu provinces of north China for the Smithsonian Institute. This began a long association with Clark, who financed four expeditions into Manchuria from 1913 to 1915, during which Sowerby gathered new facts and made original observations on ‘every type of country-wide and fertile plains, heavy coniferous forests, or lighter woods of deciduous trees, low, grassy hills, or high, rocky peaks, reeking swamps, the valleys of great rolling rivers, or lesser stream-cut ravines’.
Five volumes bound in three, titled: Travel and Exploration; Mammals; Birds; The cold-blooded Vertebrates and Tunicates of the Manchurian Region; and The Invertebrates and Flora of the Manchurian Region.
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Price HK$ 32,000
Trout in New Zealand: Where to Go and How to Catch Them - AUTHOR’S COPY -
W.H. Spackman
1892 - George Disbury, Wellington - First Edition
Spackman’s own copy of the first edition, and the first published work by a New Zealander on New Zealand trout fishing, with his underlinings and annotations to the first chapter, possibly preparing for an extract to be published on Salmon in New Zealand, as he has crossed out trout Fishing in New Zealand, and inserted Acclimatization of Trout Salmonidae in New Zealand.
This work also also details for the first time the major fishing waters of the South Island, describing the Mataura River as ‘the best fly-fishing river in Otago or Southland’.
With the large folding map New Zealand Shewing Trout Streams [49 x 74 cm] which is usually missing, as well as two full page plates of Otago Trout from different Rivers, and a colour folding plan of the Acclimatisation Ponds at Masterton.
William Henry Spackman was a Barrister, as well as President of the Canterbury Angler’s Society, and Counsel to the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. He was the joint owner of a fishing hut at Selwyn Huts, by the Selwyn River near Christchurch.
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Price HK$ 3,800
1892 - George Disbury, Wellington - First Edition
Spackman’s own copy of the first edition, and the first published work by a New Zealander on New Zealand trout fishing, with his underlinings and annotations to the first chapter, possibly preparing for an extract to be published on Salmon in New Zealand, as he has crossed out trout Fishing in New Zealand, and inserted Acclimatization of Trout Salmonidae in New Zealand.This work also also details for the first time the major fishing waters of the South Island, describing the Mataura River as ‘the best fly-fishing river in Otago or Southland’.
With the large folding map New Zealand Shewing Trout Streams [49 x 74 cm] which is usually missing, as well as two full page plates of Otago Trout from different Rivers, and a colour folding plan of the Acclimatisation Ponds at Masterton.
William Henry Spackman was a Barrister, as well as President of the Canterbury Angler’s Society, and Counsel to the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. He was the joint owner of a fishing hut at Selwyn Huts, by the Selwyn River near Christchurch.
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Price HK$ 3,800
An Authentic Account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China -
Sir George Staunton, Earl of Macartney, Sir Erasmus Gower
1797 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G, London - First Edition
A clean and exquisitely bound set of this cornerstone of China related travel literature, together with the magnificent Elephant Folio Atlas showing forty-four engraved maps and plates (mainly after Alexander), of which two are folding and six are double-page.
‘An account of the first British embassy to China, under Lord Macartney. Great Britain was anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations, but centuries of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency presented a formidable obstacle to the embassy, and the Chinese emperor effectually resisted Lord Macartney’s arguments and gifts. The visit of the British embassy nonetheless resulted in this remarkable account of Chinese manners and customs at the close of the eighteenth century’ - The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.
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Price HK$ 220,000
1797 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G, London - First Edition
A clean and exquisitely bound set of this cornerstone of China related travel literature, together with the magnificent Elephant Folio Atlas showing forty-four engraved maps and plates (mainly after Alexander), of which two are folding and six are double-page.‘An account of the first British embassy to China, under Lord Macartney. Great Britain was anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations, but centuries of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency presented a formidable obstacle to the embassy, and the Chinese emperor effectually resisted Lord Macartney’s arguments and gifts. The visit of the British embassy nonetheless resulted in this remarkable account of Chinese manners and customs at the close of the eighteenth century’ - The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.
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Price HK$ 220,000
The Marriage of the Sun and the Moon - Signed & Inscribed -
Au-Young Sum Nung
1938 - March & Greenwood, New York - Number 73 of 350 numbered copies
Inscribed ‘With the best wishes of the author’ and signed in both English and Chinese.
A rare copy of Au-Young’s poem, with an introductory note. The front title page illustrated in silver, the remaining leaves lettered in red, all housed in yellow-gold silk covers bound in the traditional Chinese stitched accordion style.
Au-Young (1893-1942) was a Chinese diplomat, poet, and philosopher, educated in China, and then George Washington University and Columbia. After graduating he moved to Shanghai to practice law and then enter the diplomatic service, after which he emigrated to the U. S. founding the School of Chinese Philosophy and Cultural Studies in New York City.
In 1918 George Washington University’s magazine Cherry Tree wrote that ‘Sum Nung Au-Young is one of our illustrious students from the Far East who has absorbed all the knowledge in the Political Science Courses and is going back to China to run the country.’
The book is dedicated to Ruth St. Denis ‘Symbol of Rhythm and Grace’, famous American dancer and choreographer, who followed various Oriental doctrines and founded the ‘Society of Spiritual Arts’. In 1934 she began an affair with the young Au-Young who taught her the rudiments of Taoism.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1938 - March & Greenwood, New York - Number 73 of 350 numbered copies
Inscribed ‘With the best wishes of the author’ and signed in both English and Chinese.A rare copy of Au-Young’s poem, with an introductory note. The front title page illustrated in silver, the remaining leaves lettered in red, all housed in yellow-gold silk covers bound in the traditional Chinese stitched accordion style.
Au-Young (1893-1942) was a Chinese diplomat, poet, and philosopher, educated in China, and then George Washington University and Columbia. After graduating he moved to Shanghai to practice law and then enter the diplomatic service, after which he emigrated to the U. S. founding the School of Chinese Philosophy and Cultural Studies in New York City.
In 1918 George Washington University’s magazine Cherry Tree wrote that ‘Sum Nung Au-Young is one of our illustrious students from the Far East who has absorbed all the knowledge in the Political Science Courses and is going back to China to run the country.’
The book is dedicated to Ruth St. Denis ‘Symbol of Rhythm and Grace’, famous American dancer and choreographer, who followed various Oriental doctrines and founded the ‘Society of Spiritual Arts’. In 1934 she began an affair with the young Au-Young who taught her the rudiments of Taoism.
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Price HK$ 3,000