The True Prophecies or Prognostications - A Work Full of Curiosity and Learning -
Michael Nostradamus, Translated and Commented by Theophilus de Garencieres, Doctor in Physick Colleg. London
1672 - Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and Nathaniel Thompson, London - First Edition in English
A nice clean copy of the first English translation of Nostradamus, with the engraved frontispiece. With the original French quatrains, followed by the English translations and commentary. Prefacing this is ‘The Life of Michael Nostradamus’.
Michel de Nostredame ‘began his prophetic writings in the early 1540s with a series of short yearly almanacs in which he made predictions in verse. The new art of printing gratified a popular demand for supernaturally acquired 'certainty,' and such almanacs were a common literary production of the day. It was with Les Prophéties (1555), however, that Nostradamus became an author of contemporary reputation and a figure who has had an impact on later history… [His more than 1000 rhyming quatrains, arranged in ‘centuries’ of 100] constitute the largest body of prophetic verse prepared to that day, perhaps in all literature’. (Clute & Grant).
Theophilus de Garencières, a French apothecary and occultist living in England, provided the first English translation of the famous prophecies of Nostradamus, along with explanations for each, (with a few exceptions for those entries either too obvious to require it or too obscure to interpret). However, Garencières unknowingly used a fake edition of Nostradamus’s work, printed in 1649, which contained two quatrains, known as the Mazarin Quatrains, that were forged by an unknown author in order to discredit and foretell the downfall of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, prime minister of France.
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Price HK$ 95,000
1672 - Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and Nathaniel Thompson, London - First Edition in English
A nice clean copy of the first English translation of Nostradamus, with the engraved frontispiece. With the original French quatrains, followed by the English translations and commentary. Prefacing this is ‘The Life of Michael Nostradamus’.Michel de Nostredame ‘began his prophetic writings in the early 1540s with a series of short yearly almanacs in which he made predictions in verse. The new art of printing gratified a popular demand for supernaturally acquired 'certainty,' and such almanacs were a common literary production of the day. It was with Les Prophéties (1555), however, that Nostradamus became an author of contemporary reputation and a figure who has had an impact on later history… [His more than 1000 rhyming quatrains, arranged in ‘centuries’ of 100] constitute the largest body of prophetic verse prepared to that day, perhaps in all literature’. (Clute & Grant).
Theophilus de Garencières, a French apothecary and occultist living in England, provided the first English translation of the famous prophecies of Nostradamus, along with explanations for each, (with a few exceptions for those entries either too obvious to require it or too obscure to interpret). However, Garencières unknowingly used a fake edition of Nostradamus’s work, printed in 1649, which contained two quatrains, known as the Mazarin Quatrains, that were forged by an unknown author in order to discredit and foretell the downfall of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, prime minister of France.
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Price HK$ 95,000
Life and Writings of Thomas Paine -
Thomas Paine, Daniel Edwin Wheeler (editor)
1908 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Independence Edition of the Centenary Issue
‘These are the times that try men's souls’
Elegantly bound ten volume set of the de luxe independence edition, number 166 of just 500 hand-numbered sets signed by the editor Daniel Edwin Wheeler, published to celebrate the centenary of Paine's death.
Included are Paine’s ‘Common Sense’, ‘The American Crises’, ‘The Rights of Man’, and ‘The Age of Reason’, as well as essays, letters and speeches. Each volume with three photogravure or facsimile plates, as well as a frontispiece, title-pages printed in two colours, autographed limitation leaf to volume one.
‘On January 10, 1776, an obscure immigrant published a small pamphlet that ignited independence in America and shifted the political landscape of the patriot movement from reform within the British imperial system to independence from it. One hundred twenty thousand copies sold in the first three months in a nation of three million people, making Common Sense the best-selling printed work by a single author in American history up to that time. Never before had a personally written work appealed to all classes of colonists. Never before had a pamphlet been written in an inspiring style so accessible to the “common” folk of America.’ - Jack Miller Center.
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Price HK$ 35,000
1908 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Independence Edition of the Centenary Issue
‘These are the times that try men's souls’Elegantly bound ten volume set of the de luxe independence edition, number 166 of just 500 hand-numbered sets signed by the editor Daniel Edwin Wheeler, published to celebrate the centenary of Paine's death.
Included are Paine’s ‘Common Sense’, ‘The American Crises’, ‘The Rights of Man’, and ‘The Age of Reason’, as well as essays, letters and speeches. Each volume with three photogravure or facsimile plates, as well as a frontispiece, title-pages printed in two colours, autographed limitation leaf to volume one.
‘On January 10, 1776, an obscure immigrant published a small pamphlet that ignited independence in America and shifted the political landscape of the patriot movement from reform within the British imperial system to independence from it. One hundred twenty thousand copies sold in the first three months in a nation of three million people, making Common Sense the best-selling printed work by a single author in American history up to that time. Never before had a personally written work appealed to all classes of colonists. Never before had a pamphlet been written in an inspiring style so accessible to the “common” folk of America.’ - Jack Miller Center.
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Price HK$ 35,000
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Signed -
Robert M. Pirsig
1974 - William Morrow &, New York - First Edition
Signed true first edition of a modern classic that was rejected by 121 publishers before William Morrow stepped up.
Well, as Robert Pirsig points out, this ‘should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either’. The motorcycle being a 1966 Honda Super Hawk, now on permanent display at the Smithsonian.
‘Inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.’ – The New Yorker.
‘The truly great road trip novel. … Many former angsty teens will surely fondly recall their own dog-eared, heavily underlined copies of Pirsig’s book, and the initial joy that accompanied reading something that felt so specifically personal and yet so urgently universal.’ – GQ Magazine.
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Price HK$ 30,000
1974 - William Morrow &, New York - First Edition
Signed true first edition of a modern classic that was rejected by 121 publishers before William Morrow stepped up.Well, as Robert Pirsig points out, this ‘should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either’. The motorcycle being a 1966 Honda Super Hawk, now on permanent display at the Smithsonian.
‘Inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.’ – The New Yorker.
‘The truly great road trip novel. … Many former angsty teens will surely fondly recall their own dog-eared, heavily underlined copies of Pirsig’s book, and the initial joy that accompanied reading something that felt so specifically personal and yet so urgently universal.’ – GQ Magazine.
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Price HK$ 30,000
Temple Bar, or Some Account of ye Marygold, No. 1, Fleet Street - Inscribed -
F. G. H. Price
1875 - Printed by Taylor and Francis, London - First Edition
A scarce, fine and inscribed first edition of the history of private banking house of Child & Co., one of the oldest private banks in the United Kingdom, who has traded from No. 1 Fleet Street since 1673, under the ‘Marygold’ sign.
This copy is inscribed from the author, F.G.H. Price to the Marquess of Tavistock, 8th Duke of Bedford, whose family had at that date been banking with Chlid & Co., for two centuries, the first Duke of Bedford opened his account in 1679.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1875 - Printed by Taylor and Francis, London - First Edition
A scarce, fine and inscribed first edition of the history of private banking house of Child & Co., one of the oldest private banks in the United Kingdom, who has traded from No. 1 Fleet Street since 1673, under the ‘Marygold’ sign.This copy is inscribed from the author, F.G.H. Price to the Marquess of Tavistock, 8th Duke of Bedford, whose family had at that date been banking with Chlid & Co., for two centuries, the first Duke of Bedford opened his account in 1679.
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Works -
Theodore Roosevelt, Hermann Hagedorn (editor), under the Auspices of The Roosevelt Memorial Association
1923-6 - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York - The National Edition
A finely bound twenty volume set of Roosevelt’s works. With additional notes to the beginning of each volume, sometimes biographical sometimes Roosevelt’s own notes.
The complete set of writings and essays including: The Rough Riders, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, The Winning of the West, African Game Trails, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, etc.
Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, and an orator. His prodigious literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and letters. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906, in his position as President of the United States of America and collaborator of various peace treaties.
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Price HK$ 36,000
1923-6 - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York - The National Edition
A finely bound twenty volume set of Roosevelt’s works. With additional notes to the beginning of each volume, sometimes biographical sometimes Roosevelt’s own notes.The complete set of writings and essays including: The Rough Riders, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, The Winning of the West, African Game Trails, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, etc.
Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, and an orator. His prodigious literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and letters. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906, in his position as President of the United States of America and collaborator of various peace treaties.
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Price HK$ 36,000
The Stones of Venice - The Foundations, The Sea-Stories; The Fall. With Illustrations drawn by the Author -
John Ruskin
1873-1874 - Smith, London - Signed Limited Edition
Illustrated with 53 mixed technique plates (including lithograph, mezzotint, aquatint and engraved, some tinted or hand-coloured), together with wood engraved illustrations and diagrams throughout the text.
‘Among the many strange things that have befallen Venice, she had the good fortune to become the object of passion to a man of splendid genius’ - Henry James on John Ruskin.
The book aroused considerable interest in Victorian Britain and beyond. The chapter "The Nature of Gothic" (from volume 2) was admired by William Morris, who published it separately in an edition which is in itself an example of Gothic revival. It inspired Marcel Proust; the narrator of the Recherche visits Venice with his mother in a state of enthusiasm for Ruskin
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Price HK$ 30,000
1873-1874 - Smith, London - Signed Limited Edition
Illustrated with 53 mixed technique plates (including lithograph, mezzotint, aquatint and engraved, some tinted or hand-coloured), together with wood engraved illustrations and diagrams throughout the text.‘Among the many strange things that have befallen Venice, she had the good fortune to become the object of passion to a man of splendid genius’ - Henry James on John Ruskin.
The book aroused considerable interest in Victorian Britain and beyond. The chapter "The Nature of Gothic" (from volume 2) was admired by William Morris, who published it separately in an edition which is in itself an example of Gothic revival. It inspired Marcel Proust; the narrator of the Recherche visits Venice with his mother in a state of enthusiasm for Ruskin
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Price HK$ 30,000
Baronagium Genealogicum: or the Pedigrees of the English Peers -
Sir William Segar, Joseph Edmondson
1764-84 - Engraved and printed for the author, London - First Editions
The most beautifully illustrated and comprehensive record of 18th century Heraldry. A magnificent and extremely rare complete set of six enormous uncut folio volumes, with 658 copperplate engravings (104 of which are double page) many by the master engraver Francesco Bartolozzi a founder member of the Royal Academy. The plates consist of 279 coats-of-arms (3 double-page), 364 genealogical tables (101 double-page), six titles, six dedication pages, and three specific family dedication pages.
Ranked to begin with Royalty, this massive work took 20 years to produce, making it necessary to publish a supplement with new peerages. Provenance - Sir John Smith, Bart., F.R.S. of Sydling St.Nicholas, Dorset, whose initials JS are gilt-stamped to the morocco spine labels and engraved bookplates to the front pastedowns.
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Price HK$ 150,000
1764-84 - Engraved and printed for the author, London - First Editions
The most beautifully illustrated and comprehensive record of 18th century Heraldry. A magnificent and extremely rare complete set of six enormous uncut folio volumes, with 658 copperplate engravings (104 of which are double page) many by the master engraver Francesco Bartolozzi a founder member of the Royal Academy. The plates consist of 279 coats-of-arms (3 double-page), 364 genealogical tables (101 double-page), six titles, six dedication pages, and three specific family dedication pages.Ranked to begin with Royalty, this massive work took 20 years to produce, making it necessary to publish a supplement with new peerages. Provenance - Sir John Smith, Bart., F.R.S. of Sydling St.Nicholas, Dorset, whose initials JS are gilt-stamped to the morocco spine labels and engraved bookplates to the front pastedowns.
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Price HK$ 150,000
The Jungle -
Upton Sinclair
1906 - Doubleday, New York - First Edition
‘Pierces the thickest skull and most leathery heart.’ - Winston Churchill
‘The brutally grim story of a Slavic family who emigrates to America, The Jungle tells of their rapid and inexorable descent into numbing poverty, moral degradation, and social and economic despair.
‘Sinclair's nightmarish narrative of the immigrant Rudken family instigated a series of legislative measures that were highly successful. His lurid scenes of a meat packing industry that ground both rates and fingers into sausage aroused the middle class to demand sanitary conditions for food preparation.
Yet far less effective by comparison was his severe indictment of the working conditions that regularly reduced laborers to impoverished insanity. As Sinclair later wryly observed, “I aimed for the heart and hit the stomach of America”.’ – Emory Elliot, The Columbia Literary History of the United States.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1906 - Doubleday, New York - First Edition
‘Pierces the thickest skull and most leathery heart.’ - Winston Churchill‘The brutally grim story of a Slavic family who emigrates to America, The Jungle tells of their rapid and inexorable descent into numbing poverty, moral degradation, and social and economic despair.
‘Sinclair's nightmarish narrative of the immigrant Rudken family instigated a series of legislative measures that were highly successful. His lurid scenes of a meat packing industry that ground both rates and fingers into sausage aroused the middle class to demand sanitary conditions for food preparation.
Yet far less effective by comparison was his severe indictment of the working conditions that regularly reduced laborers to impoverished insanity. As Sinclair later wryly observed, “I aimed for the heart and hit the stomach of America”.’ – Emory Elliot, The Columbia Literary History of the United States.
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Price HK$ 9,000