Emerson’s Essay - First Series; Second Series; - and - Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson -
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Garnett
Circa 1893 - Wm. L. Allison Co., New York
‘There is a difference between one and another hour of life in their authority and subsequent effect. Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than all other experiences.’
A handsomely bound, 19th century collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first and second series of essays – including ‘Self-Reliance’, ‘The Over-Soul’, ‘Circles’, ‘The Poet’, ‘Experience’, and ‘Nature’ – his most important works, and those that represent the core of his thinking. Together with ‘Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson’ mostly compiled from Garnett’s earlier biography of Emerson titled ‘Life’, and a short bibliography. Volume I with a frontispiece portrait of Emerson.
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Price HK$ 900
Circa 1893 - Wm. L. Allison Co., New York
‘There is a difference between one and another hour of life in their authority and subsequent effect. Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than all other experiences.’A handsomely bound, 19th century collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first and second series of essays – including ‘Self-Reliance’, ‘The Over-Soul’, ‘Circles’, ‘The Poet’, ‘Experience’, and ‘Nature’ – his most important works, and those that represent the core of his thinking. Together with ‘Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson’ mostly compiled from Garnett’s earlier biography of Emerson titled ‘Life’, and a short bibliography. Volume I with a frontispiece portrait of Emerson.
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Price HK$ 900
Investigation Into the Causes of the Gold Panic. Report of the Majority of the Committee on Banking and Currency. March 1, 1870 -
James A. Garfield
1870 - Government Printing Office, Washington - First Edition
House of Representatives, 41st Congress, second session, Report No. 31.
‘…on the 23rd of September the market had risen to 162; the Treasury decided to sell four millions of gold; and within fifteen minutes the price fell from 160 to 133. A conspiracy was alleged with government officials, including even President Grant, directly or indirectly engaged.’
Black Friday, September 24, 1869 was caused by two speculators’ efforts, Jay Gould and James Fisk, to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange, with the alleged encouragement and the accused involvement of President Ulysses S. Grant.
This is the important and rare report and transcripts of the subsequent dramatic Congressional investigation, which was chaired by James A. Garfield. The investigation was alleged on the one hand to have been limited because Virginia Corbin and First Lady Julia Grant were not permitted to testify. Garfield's biographer, Alan Peskin, however, maintains the investigation was quite thorough. Garfield was chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency at the time (later the twentieth U.S. President, but assassinated only four months into his term).
The investigation was set up to examine the following topics: First. The Gold Exchange and the Gold Exchange Bank; their history, the character of their ordinary operations, and their relations to the gold panic of September. Second. The alleged conspiracy of September, to raise the price of gold; the persons engaged in it, and the instrumentalities made use of. Third. Whether any officers of the national government were directly or indirectly engaged in the alleged conspiracy.
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Price HK$ 7,500
1870 - Government Printing Office, Washington - First Edition
House of Representatives, 41st Congress, second session, Report No. 31.‘…on the 23rd of September the market had risen to 162; the Treasury decided to sell four millions of gold; and within fifteen minutes the price fell from 160 to 133. A conspiracy was alleged with government officials, including even President Grant, directly or indirectly engaged.’
Black Friday, September 24, 1869 was caused by two speculators’ efforts, Jay Gould and James Fisk, to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange, with the alleged encouragement and the accused involvement of President Ulysses S. Grant.
This is the important and rare report and transcripts of the subsequent dramatic Congressional investigation, which was chaired by James A. Garfield. The investigation was alleged on the one hand to have been limited because Virginia Corbin and First Lady Julia Grant were not permitted to testify. Garfield's biographer, Alan Peskin, however, maintains the investigation was quite thorough. Garfield was chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency at the time (later the twentieth U.S. President, but assassinated only four months into his term).
The investigation was set up to examine the following topics: First. The Gold Exchange and the Gold Exchange Bank; their history, the character of their ordinary operations, and their relations to the gold panic of September. Second. The alleged conspiracy of September, to raise the price of gold; the persons engaged in it, and the instrumentalities made use of. Third. Whether any officers of the national government were directly or indirectly engaged in the alleged conspiracy.
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Price HK$ 7,500
Robertson of Irvine - Poet-Preacher -
Arthur Guthrie
1890 - Ardrossan, London - Second Edition
A finely bound copy, illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait and calotype plate of Trinity Church, Irvine from a photograph.
William Bruce Robertson (1820 – 1886), Scottish divine, was born at Greenhill, St. Ninians, Stirling, 24 May, 1820, and was educated at the University of Glasgow and at the Secession Theological Hall, Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of Thomas de Quincey, and on his recommendation went to the University of Halle and studied under Friedrich Tholuck.
After travelling in Italy and Switzerland he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Stirling and Falkirk in 1843, and was soon after ordained at the United Secession Church (after 1847, the United Presbyterian Church) in Irvine, Ayrshire. In this charge he remained for 35 years, exercising from his pulpit a truly magnetic influence.’
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Price HK$ 1,500
1890 - Ardrossan, London - Second Edition
A finely bound copy, illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait and calotype plate of Trinity Church, Irvine from a photograph.William Bruce Robertson (1820 – 1886), Scottish divine, was born at Greenhill, St. Ninians, Stirling, 24 May, 1820, and was educated at the University of Glasgow and at the Secession Theological Hall, Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of Thomas de Quincey, and on his recommendation went to the University of Halle and studied under Friedrich Tholuck.
After travelling in Italy and Switzerland he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Stirling and Falkirk in 1843, and was soon after ordained at the United Secession Church (after 1847, the United Presbyterian Church) in Irvine, Ayrshire. In this charge he remained for 35 years, exercising from his pulpit a truly magnetic influence.’
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Price HK$ 1,500
An Essay Upon Money and Coins -
Joseph Harris
1757-58 - Sold by G. Hawkins at the Middle Temple Gate, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of ‘this influential 1757 work, considered by the Victorian economist J. R. McCulloch as 'one of the best and most valuable treatises on the subject of money that has ever seen the light', argues that it is vital to a country's economy that the value of precious metal in its coinage remains constant’ – Cambridge University Press.
‘One of the best eighteenth-century performances in the field of monetary analysis’. – Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis.
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Price HK$ 13,000
1757-58 - Sold by G. Hawkins at the Middle Temple Gate, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of ‘this influential 1757 work, considered by the Victorian economist J. R. McCulloch as 'one of the best and most valuable treatises on the subject of money that has ever seen the light', argues that it is vital to a country's economy that the value of precious metal in its coinage remains constant’ – Cambridge University Press.‘One of the best eighteenth-century performances in the field of monetary analysis’. – Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis.
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Price HK$ 13,000
The Monuments of Egypt; or, Egypt a witness for the Bible, - with - Notes of a Voyage up the Nile by an American. -
Francis L. Hawks (editor), John L. Stephens
1850 - Geo P. Putnam, New York - First Edition
Striking copy of this comprehensive description of Egypt in two parts, the first compiled from various well known works, and illustrated throughout with colour and tinted lithographs, and black and white in-text sketches and drawings. Uncommon in original publisher’s gilt illustrated cloth, without restoration or rebinding.
The second part titled ‘Journal of a Voyage up the Nile, made between November, 1848, and April, 1849’ is an entertaining travelogue commonly attributed to John Lloyd Stephens, the renowned American archaeologist, famed for his exploration of the Maya runs in Central America, and an acquaintance Hawks met in London.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1850 - Geo P. Putnam, New York - First Edition
Striking copy of this comprehensive description of Egypt in two parts, the first compiled from various well known works, and illustrated throughout with colour and tinted lithographs, and black and white in-text sketches and drawings. Uncommon in original publisher’s gilt illustrated cloth, without restoration or rebinding.The second part titled ‘Journal of a Voyage up the Nile, made between November, 1848, and April, 1849’ is an entertaining travelogue commonly attributed to John Lloyd Stephens, the renowned American archaeologist, famed for his exploration of the Maya runs in Central America, and an acquaintance Hawks met in London.
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Price HK$ 3,000
Illustrations of the Literature and Religion of the Buddhists -
Brian Houghton Hodgson
1841 - Self-published – Bound at the Baptist Mission Press, Serampore - First Edition in Book Form
Hodgson’s rare and important work – the first collected edition of papers on the literature and religion of Buddhism – fifteen in total, originally published in Transactions and Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and London, and which for the first time revealed to the West the Sanskrit literature of northern, or Mahayana, Buddhism, which had been preserved in Nepal. For the collection Hodgson adds a preface and many footnotes.
Features two folding lithographed alphabet tables. Interestingly, Hodgson published this book in Serampore, at the time a Danish colony, it would have been printed at the former Serampore Mission Press, set up by the Baptist missionary William Carey, which closed in 1837 merging with the Baptist Mission Press, where this copy was also bound (see small bookplate to front pastedown).
Hodgson later reprinted 12 of the 15 papers as part one of Essays on the Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet (1874), the second part being on the tribes and geography of Nepal and Tibet, and in 1880 he published Miscellaneous Essays Relating to Indian Subjects (2 volumes, 1880), containing his papers on Indian languages and ethnology.
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Price HK$ 16,500
1841 - Self-published – Bound at the Baptist Mission Press, Serampore - First Edition in Book Form
Hodgson’s rare and important work – the first collected edition of papers on the literature and religion of Buddhism – fifteen in total, originally published in Transactions and Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and London, and which for the first time revealed to the West the Sanskrit literature of northern, or Mahayana, Buddhism, which had been preserved in Nepal. For the collection Hodgson adds a preface and many footnotes.Features two folding lithographed alphabet tables. Interestingly, Hodgson published this book in Serampore, at the time a Danish colony, it would have been printed at the former Serampore Mission Press, set up by the Baptist missionary William Carey, which closed in 1837 merging with the Baptist Mission Press, where this copy was also bound (see small bookplate to front pastedown).
Hodgson later reprinted 12 of the 15 papers as part one of Essays on the Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet (1874), the second part being on the tribes and geography of Nepal and Tibet, and in 1880 he published Miscellaneous Essays Relating to Indian Subjects (2 volumes, 1880), containing his papers on Indian languages and ethnology.
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Price HK$ 16,500
Fluctuations in the Price of Gold in 1863 -
J. P. Howard
1863 - Snyder, New York - Entered according to an act of Congress in the year 1863 by J.P.Howard in the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New York. Address orders to H.B. Andrews care of Messrs. Kissam & Co. 36 Wall Str. New York.
These are extraordinary times, and extraordinary measures must be resorted to in order to save our Government, and preserve our nationality.'
Obama? Trump? No, Governor Spaulding presenting a draft of the 'First Legal Tender Act' which President Lincoln signed in February 1862, in order to issue a 'limited' $150,000 of new treasury notes. The birth of the US dollar note as we know it and the first of three rounds over 24 months, which saw the limit rise to US$450,000. Why? To pay off enormous Government debt, caused by expenditure on the military, and also to counter the loss of faith in Government paper.
Here you have an extremely scarce original 1.5 metre long chart of gold prices over this period from January 1862 up to September 1863 (dimensions 150 x 45.5 cm). With notations of current events added (Iron Clad attack on Fort Sumter, Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Gettysburg, Surrender at Fort Hudson (the lowest point of the year), etc.). Folded and enclosed in the printer’s original gilt titled green cloth covers. In addition, tipped inside the front cover is a contemporary facsimile of a chart (37.8 x 22.6 cm) showing the fluctuation of iron, flour, and cotton prices from 1834-1859.
The gold chart follows the sharp fluctuations in the value of gold from 101 in January 1862 to a peak of 171 in March 1863. They dropped to 123 on the Surrender of Port Hudson on July 18th. Recovering and continuing up as the variation in prices tempted speculators and investors to buy gold bullion in order to protect against a decline in the value of the freshly printed paper money.
In the following years this rise continued until 1869, the first 'Black Friday' and the collapse of gold over a period of 48 hours, caused by one highly influential finance house with political assistance cornering the market, and a subsequent surge in Gold prices, the threat of flooding the market with Treasury owned gold (which they didn't actually have), the failed attempts to convert gold holdings (on paper), bank runs, riots, investors and speculators wiped out, stock market plummets, economy weakens and the rest is history, which yes does have a habit of repeating itself....
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Price HK$ 58,000
1863 - Snyder, New York - Entered according to an act of Congress in the year 1863 by J.P.Howard in the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New York. Address orders to H.B. Andrews care of Messrs. Kissam & Co. 36 Wall Str. New York.
These are extraordinary times, and extraordinary measures must be resorted to in order to save our Government, and preserve our nationality.' Obama? Trump? No, Governor Spaulding presenting a draft of the 'First Legal Tender Act' which President Lincoln signed in February 1862, in order to issue a 'limited' $150,000 of new treasury notes. The birth of the US dollar note as we know it and the first of three rounds over 24 months, which saw the limit rise to US$450,000. Why? To pay off enormous Government debt, caused by expenditure on the military, and also to counter the loss of faith in Government paper.
Here you have an extremely scarce original 1.5 metre long chart of gold prices over this period from January 1862 up to September 1863 (dimensions 150 x 45.5 cm). With notations of current events added (Iron Clad attack on Fort Sumter, Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Gettysburg, Surrender at Fort Hudson (the lowest point of the year), etc.). Folded and enclosed in the printer’s original gilt titled green cloth covers. In addition, tipped inside the front cover is a contemporary facsimile of a chart (37.8 x 22.6 cm) showing the fluctuation of iron, flour, and cotton prices from 1834-1859.
The gold chart follows the sharp fluctuations in the value of gold from 101 in January 1862 to a peak of 171 in March 1863. They dropped to 123 on the Surrender of Port Hudson on July 18th. Recovering and continuing up as the variation in prices tempted speculators and investors to buy gold bullion in order to protect against a decline in the value of the freshly printed paper money.
In the following years this rise continued until 1869, the first 'Black Friday' and the collapse of gold over a period of 48 hours, caused by one highly influential finance house with political assistance cornering the market, and a subsequent surge in Gold prices, the threat of flooding the market with Treasury owned gold (which they didn't actually have), the failed attempts to convert gold holdings (on paper), bank runs, riots, investors and speculators wiped out, stock market plummets, economy weakens and the rest is history, which yes does have a habit of repeating itself....
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Price HK$ 58,000
Billionaire - Inscribed -
Peter James
1983 - W. H. Allen, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Peter James best seller, signed and with nice and personal inscription from the author in large black pen on title page ‘Jan 28th, 1983, To a fine fellow Old-Carthusian (Without Prejudice) To my second Dad! With very best wishes, Peter’.
An ‘Old-Carthusian’ is a former pupil of Charterhouse, the British public school.
“City stockbroker Alex Rocq leads a comfortable life – with a luxury flat in London, a country cottage, a very expensive car, and a lucrative job that still leaves time for leisure. But all this isn’t enough. After receiving a tip-off, Alex decides to play the commodities market for himself. He soon learns the hard way that fortune doesn’t always favour the brave, and his luck comes to an abrupt end.
When he is offered the chance to write off his debts – in exchange for special services and silence – Rocq can’t believe his luck. But how far will a desperate man go to harness the power players around him?”
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Price HK$ 3,000
1983 - W. H. Allen, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Peter James best seller, signed and with nice and personal inscription from the author in large black pen on title page ‘Jan 28th, 1983, To a fine fellow Old-Carthusian (Without Prejudice) To my second Dad! With very best wishes, Peter’.An ‘Old-Carthusian’ is a former pupil of Charterhouse, the British public school.
“City stockbroker Alex Rocq leads a comfortable life – with a luxury flat in London, a country cottage, a very expensive car, and a lucrative job that still leaves time for leisure. But all this isn’t enough. After receiving a tip-off, Alex decides to play the commodities market for himself. He soon learns the hard way that fortune doesn’t always favour the brave, and his luck comes to an abrupt end.
When he is offered the chance to write off his debts – in exchange for special services and silence – Rocq can’t believe his luck. But how far will a desperate man go to harness the power players around him?”
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Price HK$ 3,000