La Science Amusante -
Tom Tit (pseudonym Arthur Good)
Circa 1890s - Librairie Larousse, Paris - Fifth Edition
A bright copy of this wonderful book – in French – a collection of physical and scientific experiments for childrenand adults, which Good originally wrote as a series of weekly articles for the French magazine, L’Illustration.
Profusely illustrated throughout with numerous engravings, frequently described as ‘surrealist collages’.
Good’s experiments include geometrical demonstrations, crafts projects, and physics experiments, all of which can be carried out with everyday household materials.
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Price HK$ 1,100
Circa 1890s - Librairie Larousse, Paris - Fifth Edition
A bright copy of this wonderful book – in French – a collection of physical and scientific experiments for childrenand adults, which Good originally wrote as a series of weekly articles for the French magazine, L’Illustration. Profusely illustrated throughout with numerous engravings, frequently described as ‘surrealist collages’.
Good’s experiments include geometrical demonstrations, crafts projects, and physics experiments, all of which can be carried out with everyday household materials.
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Price HK$ 1,100
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth -
Jules Verne
1876 - Griffith and Farran, London - 4th Printing. [New Edition]
A smart copy with the same pictorial covers and 52 full page monochrome illustrations by Riou as the first English edition of 1871.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth literally plunges the reader into the centre of the earth through vivid description, detailed explanations, and the "eyewitness" accounts of the narrator. On the most basic level, Journey is an adventure story, a tale of the obstacles, encounters, and wonders.
The eccentric scientist Professor Hardwigg finds directions to the centre of the earth in an old book and sets out, along with his nephew Henry and the guide Hans, to Iceland where they find the mountain and the shaft that allows them access to the depths of the earth. On a deeper level the story can be seen as man's journey into himself, always probing deeper for what lies at his centre. [Mitchell]
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Price HK$ 4,500
1876 - Griffith and Farran, London - 4th Printing. [New Edition]
A smart copy with the same pictorial covers and 52 full page monochrome illustrations by Riou as the first English edition of 1871. Journey to the Centre of the Earth literally plunges the reader into the centre of the earth through vivid description, detailed explanations, and the "eyewitness" accounts of the narrator. On the most basic level, Journey is an adventure story, a tale of the obstacles, encounters, and wonders.
The eccentric scientist Professor Hardwigg finds directions to the centre of the earth in an old book and sets out, along with his nephew Henry and the guide Hans, to Iceland where they find the mountain and the shaft that allows them access to the depths of the earth. On a deeper level the story can be seen as man's journey into himself, always probing deeper for what lies at his centre. [Mitchell]
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Price HK$ 4,500
An Unsinkable Titanic. Every Ship its own Lifeboat -
John Bernard Walker
1912 - Dodd, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the scarcest and most sought after of books about the Titanic.
Published only three months after the tragedy of April 15th, 1912, this was the first in depth scientific analysis of the sinking, clearly laid out by Walker, a naval architect and editor of Scientific American, comparing construction techniques and the sacrifice of engineered safety for speed, size, and luxury over the previous 50 years. One premise of the book was, had the Titanic incorporated a double-skin, longitudinal bulkheads and watertight decks, similar to the configuration of the Great Eastern built in 1858, she would not have sunk.
Thoroughly illustrated throughout with 37 black and white plates from photographs, sketches and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1912 - Dodd, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the scarcest and most sought after of books about the Titanic.Published only three months after the tragedy of April 15th, 1912, this was the first in depth scientific analysis of the sinking, clearly laid out by Walker, a naval architect and editor of Scientific American, comparing construction techniques and the sacrifice of engineered safety for speed, size, and luxury over the previous 50 years. One premise of the book was, had the Titanic incorporated a double-skin, longitudinal bulkheads and watertight decks, similar to the configuration of the Great Eastern built in 1858, she would not have sunk.
Thoroughly illustrated throughout with 37 black and white plates from photographs, sketches and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 7,000
Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo -
John Whitehead
1893 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this stunningly illustrated and unsurpassed large folio containing 32 lithographed plates, comprising 11 natural history plates, hand-coloured and heightened with gum arabic, and 21 tinted lithographed views and ethnographic subjects, and with map and an additional 21 woodcut illustrations in the text.
The detailed narrative of John Whitehead's (1860-1899) travels from October 1884 to August 1888 in Borneo, Java, Palawan and Balabac Islands, especially of his three efforts (the last one successful) to ascend Mt. Kina Balu. He brought back examples of many new animals, including no fewer than forty-five new species of birds. The author's primary interest was ornithology, but he also provides much information on head-hunting, religion and custom of the peoples of the region. Besides visiting North Borneo he spent several months in Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the state of Malacca.
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Price HK$ 40,000
1893 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this stunningly illustrated and unsurpassed large folio containing 32 lithographed plates, comprising 11 natural history plates, hand-coloured and heightened with gum arabic, and 21 tinted lithographed views and ethnographic subjects, and with map and an additional 21 woodcut illustrations in the text.The detailed narrative of John Whitehead's (1860-1899) travels from October 1884 to August 1888 in Borneo, Java, Palawan and Balabac Islands, especially of his three efforts (the last one successful) to ascend Mt. Kina Balu. He brought back examples of many new animals, including no fewer than forty-five new species of birds. The author's primary interest was ornithology, but he also provides much information on head-hunting, religion and custom of the peoples of the region. Besides visiting North Borneo he spent several months in Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the state of Malacca.
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Price HK$ 40,000
The Genesis of the Diamond -
Alpheus F. Williams
1932 - Ernest Benn Limited, London - First Edition
A fine set of this 'truly monumental work of increasing scientific importance, not so much for its information on the diamond and its mining as for its detailed studies of the petrology and mineralogy of kimberlitic pipe-fillings. Such treatment of originally deep-seated mantle-derived rocks was well ahead of its time.
The significance of Williams' studies escaped even himself, and certainly most others. The lukewarm reception accorded the book resulted in an issue of relatively few copies and the book is now difficult to find.' - Capt. John Sinkankas no. 7224.
Two large volumes illustrated throughout, 31 photographic coloured plates, 306 black & white photographic plates, tables, maps and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 3,500
1932 - Ernest Benn Limited, London - First Edition
A fine set of this 'truly monumental work of increasing scientific importance, not so much for its information on the diamond and its mining as for its detailed studies of the petrology and mineralogy of kimberlitic pipe-fillings. Such treatment of originally deep-seated mantle-derived rocks was well ahead of its time.The significance of Williams' studies escaped even himself, and certainly most others. The lukewarm reception accorded the book resulted in an issue of relatively few copies and the book is now difficult to find.' - Capt. John Sinkankas no. 7224.
Two large volumes illustrated throughout, 31 photographic coloured plates, 306 black & white photographic plates, tables, maps and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 3,500
A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language -
S. Wells Williams
1874 - American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai - First Edition
‘Williams (1812-1884) began work on this dictionary in 1863, taking almost 10 years to organize his 53.000 examples and phrases and 12.527 characters. Joseph Edkins contributed a section on 'Ancient sounds' in the introduction and was responsible for lists of 'Old sounds* inserted at the head of each syllable. ‘ - Lowendahl.
‘Williams' Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language was an attempt to combine and synthesise the achievements of Western lexicography in China, in particular the method of dialect comparison (a field in which 'the natives have done nothing'), while making extensive use of Chinese reference works and traditional lexicographic sources. Thus Williams describes the Wufang Yuanyin or 'Original Sounds of the Five Regions' (1700) as 'the groundwork of the present dictionary'. The Syllabic Dictionary represents an ambitious attempt to compress into one work as far as possible all the information 'to satisfy all the needs of a foreigner', including information about 'general and vernacular' readings of characters, aspects of the etymology and history of characters and variant 'authorised and colloquial' meanings.’
British consular officer, sinologist and linguist, Sir Herbert Giles was highly critical of WIlliams’ work, publishing in 1879, a small work entitled ‘On Some Translations and Mistranslations’ in Dr. Williams’ Syllabic Dictionary…’. in which he states that ‘though in many ways an improvement upon its predecessors, is still unlikely to hold the fort for any indefinitely long period’ ingeniously though correctly ho goes on to say ‘It is indeed already felt by many that something more systematic in arrangement and more accurate in detail is wanted to meet the present extension of Chinese studies,’ it took Giles a further twenty years to compile his own dictionary.
A finely bound copy with two hand written sheets of Chinese characters and one small map torn out of a magazine with annotations and markings of a route. There is also a letter tipped into the front from the Chicago Imperial Academy of Sciences, sent to L. Wilkinson, offering three Chinese dictionaries, listing by importance ‘the big one by Giles’ ‘at the price of £4.12.6’ ‘next to this in importance are the two following dictionaries’ ‘Wells Williams Syllabic dict- of the Chinese Lang.’ ‘Shanghai 1874’ £2.18.0’ and ‘Wells Williams Tonic dict. of Canton dialect’ ‘Canton 1856’ which was ‘out of print the price would be about 30/-’.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1874 - American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai - First Edition
‘Williams (1812-1884) began work on this dictionary in 1863, taking almost 10 years to organize his 53.000 examples and phrases and 12.527 characters. Joseph Edkins contributed a section on 'Ancient sounds' in the introduction and was responsible for lists of 'Old sounds* inserted at the head of each syllable. ‘ - Lowendahl.‘Williams' Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language was an attempt to combine and synthesise the achievements of Western lexicography in China, in particular the method of dialect comparison (a field in which 'the natives have done nothing'), while making extensive use of Chinese reference works and traditional lexicographic sources. Thus Williams describes the Wufang Yuanyin or 'Original Sounds of the Five Regions' (1700) as 'the groundwork of the present dictionary'. The Syllabic Dictionary represents an ambitious attempt to compress into one work as far as possible all the information 'to satisfy all the needs of a foreigner', including information about 'general and vernacular' readings of characters, aspects of the etymology and history of characters and variant 'authorised and colloquial' meanings.’
British consular officer, sinologist and linguist, Sir Herbert Giles was highly critical of WIlliams’ work, publishing in 1879, a small work entitled ‘On Some Translations and Mistranslations’ in Dr. Williams’ Syllabic Dictionary…’. in which he states that ‘though in many ways an improvement upon its predecessors, is still unlikely to hold the fort for any indefinitely long period’ ingeniously though correctly ho goes on to say ‘It is indeed already felt by many that something more systematic in arrangement and more accurate in detail is wanted to meet the present extension of Chinese studies,’ it took Giles a further twenty years to compile his own dictionary.
A finely bound copy with two hand written sheets of Chinese characters and one small map torn out of a magazine with annotations and markings of a route. There is also a letter tipped into the front from the Chicago Imperial Academy of Sciences, sent to L. Wilkinson, offering three Chinese dictionaries, listing by importance ‘the big one by Giles’ ‘at the price of £4.12.6’ ‘next to this in importance are the two following dictionaries’ ‘Wells Williams Syllabic dict- of the Chinese Lang.’ ‘Shanghai 1874’ £2.18.0’ and ‘Wells Williams Tonic dict. of Canton dialect’ ‘Canton 1856’ which was ‘out of print the price would be about 30/-’.
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Price HK$ 18,000