The Personal History of David Copperfield -
Charles DIckens, H. K. Browne aka Phiz (Illustrator)
1850 - Bradbury &, London - First Edition
‘Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.’
A handsomely bound first edition of arguably Charles Dickens’ most acclaimed work, wonderfully illustrated throughout with 39 engraved plates and engraved title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ‘Phiz’.
‘In this book of David Copperfield, [Dickens] has created creatures who cling to us and tyrannise over us, creatures whom we would not forget if we could, creatures whom we could not forget if we would, creatures who are more actual than the man who made them.’ – G. K. Chesterton
The story of a boy making his way in the world, and finding himself as a man and as a writer. In the first half, before Dickens's irrepressible storytelling kicks in and the motor of the novel starts to hum with incident, we find him almost meditating on his literary beginnings. The second half displays Dickens at his magnificent, and often uneven, best. There are the characteristic prose arpeggios, the virtuoso similes and metaphors, and the parade of timeless characters: Mr Micawber, Mrs Gummidge, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Mr Spenlow (of Spenlow and Jorkins) and Miss Mowcher.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1850 - Bradbury &, London - First Edition
‘Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.’A handsomely bound first edition of arguably Charles Dickens’ most acclaimed work, wonderfully illustrated throughout with 39 engraved plates and engraved title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ‘Phiz’.
‘In this book of David Copperfield, [Dickens] has created creatures who cling to us and tyrannise over us, creatures whom we would not forget if we could, creatures whom we could not forget if we would, creatures who are more actual than the man who made them.’ – G. K. Chesterton
The story of a boy making his way in the world, and finding himself as a man and as a writer. In the first half, before Dickens's irrepressible storytelling kicks in and the motor of the novel starts to hum with incident, we find him almost meditating on his literary beginnings. The second half displays Dickens at his magnificent, and often uneven, best. There are the characteristic prose arpeggios, the virtuoso similes and metaphors, and the parade of timeless characters: Mr Micawber, Mrs Gummidge, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Mr Spenlow (of Spenlow and Jorkins) and Miss Mowcher.
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Price HK$ 22,000
Bleak House -
Charles DIckens, Hablot Knight Browne (illustrator)
1853 - Bradbury and Evans, London - First Edition
A handsomely bound first edition of Dickens’ best and most popular works, described by Claire Tomalin (Charles Dickens: A Life) as a ‘masterpiece, with the best opening page and the richest plot, part detective story, part attack on the abuses of the legal system and sexual hypocrisy as he lays out the condition of England, moving from child workers to comfortable aristocrats’.
Wonderfully illustrated with 38 engraved plates and title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ”Phiz”.
Introducing Inspector Bucket, the first English fictional detective, who was probably based on C.K. Field of the recently formed Scotland Yard.
‘As the interminable case of 'Jarndyce and Jarndyce' grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens's most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.’ – from the Penguin Classics introduction.
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Price HK$ 14,000
1853 - Bradbury and Evans, London - First Edition
A handsomely bound first edition of Dickens’ best and most popular works, described by Claire Tomalin (Charles Dickens: A Life) as a ‘masterpiece, with the best opening page and the richest plot, part detective story, part attack on the abuses of the legal system and sexual hypocrisy as he lays out the condition of England, moving from child workers to comfortable aristocrats’.Wonderfully illustrated with 38 engraved plates and title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ”Phiz”.
Introducing Inspector Bucket, the first English fictional detective, who was probably based on C.K. Field of the recently formed Scotland Yard.
‘As the interminable case of 'Jarndyce and Jarndyce' grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens's most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.’ – from the Penguin Classics introduction.
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Price HK$ 14,000
His Last Bow. Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1917 - John Murray, London - First Edition
First edition of this collection of eight Sherlock Holmes short stories.
Includes the titular ‘His Last Bow’ and a brief preface that reveals the fate of Sherlock after his tumble from the Reichenbach falls while combating his arch-nemesis Moriarty...
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Price HK$ 6,000
1917 - John Murray, London - First Edition
First edition of this collection of eight Sherlock Holmes short stories.Includes the titular ‘His Last Bow’ and a brief preface that reveals the fate of Sherlock after his tumble from the Reichenbach falls while combating his arch-nemesis Moriarty...
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Adventures and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1892 - George Newnes, London - First Editions
A finely bound set of first editions of the first two short story collections, up to the Reichenbach Falls episode of The Final Problem.
Magnificently illustrated throughout from wood engravings by Sidney Paget
The Adventures containing twelve stories including A Scandal in Bohemia, introducing Irene Adler and The Speckled Band. .
The Memoirs containing eleven stories including The Final Problem, and “Silver Blaze”.
These legendary Sherlock Holmes stories all initially appeared in The Strand Magazine, the year before.
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Price HK$ 45,000
1892 - George Newnes, London - First Editions
A finely bound set of first editions of the first two short story collections, up to the Reichenbach Falls episode of The Final Problem. Magnificently illustrated throughout from wood engravings by Sidney Paget
The Adventures containing twelve stories including A Scandal in Bohemia, introducing Irene Adler and The Speckled Band. .
The Memoirs containing eleven stories including The Final Problem, and “Silver Blaze”.
These legendary Sherlock Holmes stories all initially appeared in The Strand Magazine, the year before.
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Price HK$ 45,000
The Hound of the Baskervilles. Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sidney Paget (illustrator)
1902 - George Newnes, London - First Edition First Issue [misprint 'you' for 'your' pg.13 line 3]
A finely bound first edition of this legendary and terrifying mystery in which Holmes and Watson must investigate the menacing devil-beast that haunts the moors around the Baskerville ancestral home. Dramatically illustrated with sixteen plates by Sidney Paget. To be read in a big leather armchair on a stormy night, whisky to hand.
Sherlock Holmes still remains the world’s best-known and best-loved fictional detective’ and The Hound of the Baskervilles one of the most desirable and classic works of detective fiction. Arguably the great detective's most charismatic case; "Holmes is at his very best, and it is a highly dramatic idea" - Doyle, to his mother, 2nd April 1902.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1902 - George Newnes, London - First Edition First Issue [misprint 'you' for 'your' pg.13 line 3]
A finely bound first edition of this legendary and terrifying mystery in which Holmes and Watson must investigate the menacing devil-beast that haunts the moors around the Baskerville ancestral home. Dramatically illustrated with sixteen plates by Sidney Paget. To be read in a big leather armchair on a stormy night, whisky to hand. Sherlock Holmes still remains the world’s best-known and best-loved fictional detective’ and The Hound of the Baskervilles one of the most desirable and classic works of detective fiction. Arguably the great detective's most charismatic case; "Holmes is at his very best, and it is a highly dramatic idea" - Doyle, to his mother, 2nd April 1902.
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Price HK$ 18,000
The Pipe Book -
Alfred Dunhill
1924 - A. &, London - First Edition
‘You do not need to be a smoker of pipes, or of tobacco in any form, to enjoy this book. If you like to be entertained and instructed by unique information, you will find it a fascinating volume.’ – New York Times.
A finely bound first edition of this remarkable reference work, profusely illustrated throughout with 28 full page plates (four in colour) and 230 illustrations in the text of the vast variety of pipes available up to that time.
In 1907, in London, Alfred Dunhill, a young man in his early 30s, opened his first tobacconist's shop. It was an instant success, custom blending individual tobaccos as well as carrying smokers' accoutrements. Dunhill began to develop a collection of pipes from around the world, which was then catalogued. From this emerged, in 1924, The Pipe Book, which has rarely been out of print since that date.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1924 - A. &, London - First Edition
‘You do not need to be a smoker of pipes, or of tobacco in any form, to enjoy this book. If you like to be entertained and instructed by unique information, you will find it a fascinating volume.’ – New York Times. A finely bound first edition of this remarkable reference work, profusely illustrated throughout with 28 full page plates (four in colour) and 230 illustrations in the text of the vast variety of pipes available up to that time.
In 1907, in London, Alfred Dunhill, a young man in his early 30s, opened his first tobacconist's shop. It was an instant success, custom blending individual tobaccos as well as carrying smokers' accoutrements. Dunhill began to develop a collection of pipes from around the world, which was then catalogued. From this emerged, in 1924, The Pipe Book, which has rarely been out of print since that date.
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Price HK$ 5,000
A Time Of Gifts, Between The Woods And The Water, The Broken Road -
Patrick Leigh Fermor
1977 - John Murray, London - First Editions
A bright, brilliant first edition trilogy of these erudite, high-spirited, and much-loved biographical classics of travel literature by Patrick Leigh Fermor, who was once described by a BBC journalist as a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Graham Greene.
On the 8th of December 1933, at the tender age of eighteen, shortly after being expelled from The King’s School, Canterbury for reportedly holding hands with a greengrocer’s daughter, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off on an incredible journey: walking the length of Europe, from Hook Holland all the way to Istanbul....
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Price HK$ 4,500
1977 - John Murray, London - First Editions
A bright, brilliant first edition trilogy of these erudite, high-spirited, and much-loved biographical classics of travel literature by Patrick Leigh Fermor, who was once described by a BBC journalist as a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Graham Greene.On the 8th of December 1933, at the tender age of eighteen, shortly after being expelled from The King’s School, Canterbury for reportedly holding hands with a greengrocer’s daughter, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off on an incredible journey: walking the length of Europe, from Hook Holland all the way to Istanbul....
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Price HK$ 4,500
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. Scarce in the original cloth and bright gilt.
This is 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.
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Price HK$ 12,000
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. Scarce in the original cloth and bright gilt.
This is 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.
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Price HK$ 12,000