Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám -
Omar Khayyám, Richard Le Gallienne
1925 - Dodd, New York - A New Edition with Fifty added Quatrains
Awake ! my soul, and haste betimes to drink,
This sun that rises all too soon shall sink,–
Come,come, O vintner, ope thy drowsy door !
We die of thirst upon the fountains brink.
A fine John Grabau binding of the Persian poem of life, by the renowned 11th century philosopher, poet, mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám, paraphrased by Richard Le Gallienne.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1925 - Dodd, New York - A New Edition with Fifty added Quatrains
Awake ! my soul, and haste betimes to drink,This sun that rises all too soon shall sink,–
Come,come, O vintner, ope thy drowsy door !
We die of thirst upon the fountains brink.
A fine John Grabau binding of the Persian poem of life, by the renowned 11th century philosopher, poet, mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám, paraphrased by Richard Le Gallienne.
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Price HK$ 7,000
Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert -
Charles Langdale
1856 - Richard Bentley, London - First Edition
Extra-illustrated with an additional 37 plates, combined with the original 38 plates of which 10 are colour.
Maria Fitzherbert (1756–1837) was already twice widowed when the young Prince of Wales began his pursuit of her in 1784. Initially refusing his offer of marriage, she eventually accepted it and the couple were wed in secret the following year. Though legitimate in her eyes, the union was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, and controversial because of her Catholicism.
A posthumous attack on her faith and morals, penned by Lord Holland in his Memoirs of the Whig Party, provoked her close friend Charles Langdale (1787–1868) into publishing this defence in 1856. A champion of Catholic emancipation, Langdale was one of the first Catholics elected to Parliament. These memoirs are based on Maria Fitzherbert's own recollections, recounted to Langdale's brother, Lord Stourton. They reveal the values and beliefs of an exceptional woman who occupied a unique and precarious position within British high society.
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Price HK$ 16,000
1856 - Richard Bentley, London - First Edition
Extra-illustrated with an additional 37 plates, combined with the original 38 plates of which 10 are colour.Maria Fitzherbert (1756–1837) was already twice widowed when the young Prince of Wales began his pursuit of her in 1784. Initially refusing his offer of marriage, she eventually accepted it and the couple were wed in secret the following year. Though legitimate in her eyes, the union was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, and controversial because of her Catholicism.
A posthumous attack on her faith and morals, penned by Lord Holland in his Memoirs of the Whig Party, provoked her close friend Charles Langdale (1787–1868) into publishing this defence in 1856. A champion of Catholic emancipation, Langdale was one of the first Catholics elected to Parliament. These memoirs are based on Maria Fitzherbert's own recollections, recounted to Langdale's brother, Lord Stourton. They reveal the values and beliefs of an exceptional woman who occupied a unique and precarious position within British high society.
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Price HK$ 16,000
Verses Written in India -
Sir Alfred Lyall
1889 - Kegan Paul, London - First Edition
‘Here, in this mystical India, the deities hover and swarm,
Like the wild bees heard in the tree-tops, or the gusts of a gathering storm...’
A collection of twenty-four sentimental verses by Sir Alfred Lyall, and signed from him on the front free endpaper, elegantly bound by Rivière & Son.
Sir Alfred Lyall (1796-1865) was a British civil servant, philosopher, editor, clergyman and traveller. He first arrived in Calcutta in 1856, and served a long career in the Indian Civil Service.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1889 - Kegan Paul, London - First Edition
‘Here, in this mystical India, the deities hover and swarm,Like the wild bees heard in the tree-tops, or the gusts of a gathering storm...’
A collection of twenty-four sentimental verses by Sir Alfred Lyall, and signed from him on the front free endpaper, elegantly bound by Rivière & Son.
Sir Alfred Lyall (1796-1865) was a British civil servant, philosopher, editor, clergyman and traveller. He first arrived in Calcutta in 1856, and served a long career in the Indian Civil Service.
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Price HK$ 3,000
Love Night, A Laotian Gallantry -
Powys Mathers, John Buckland Wright (engraver)
1936 - The Golden Cockerel Press, London - First Edition - Number 112 of 195 copies.
Number 112 of 120 copies on English vellum-paper, out of a total printing of 200. Exquisitely illustrated with fifteen wood engravings, consisting of ten full page engravings, four half page engravings, and the illustrated title page. In the publisher’s fine binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
Powys Mathers’ play about a festival night in a Laotian village. John Buckland Wright’s first work for the Golden Cockerel Press.
Although less explicit than the Paris based John Buckland Wright would have liked, ‘when ‘Love Night’ appeared in Autumn of 1936, it was warm, but not too warm. The production was superbly successful. Printed on a smooth-surfaced Japon vellum, the presswork was immaculate, and the book’s effect was what both publisher’ and artist had hoped for.’ [Cave & Manson].
Powys Mathers’ ‘Love Nights’ was considered for publication in 1934, but postponed because the partners wished to find the right illustrator, two years later it became John Buckland Wright’s first commission for the press.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1936 - The Golden Cockerel Press, London - First Edition - Number 112 of 195 copies.
Number 112 of 120 copies on English vellum-paper, out of a total printing of 200. Exquisitely illustrated with fifteen wood engravings, consisting of ten full page engravings, four half page engravings, and the illustrated title page. In the publisher’s fine binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.Powys Mathers’ play about a festival night in a Laotian village. John Buckland Wright’s first work for the Golden Cockerel Press.
Although less explicit than the Paris based John Buckland Wright would have liked, ‘when ‘Love Night’ appeared in Autumn of 1936, it was warm, but not too warm. The production was superbly successful. Printed on a smooth-surfaced Japon vellum, the presswork was immaculate, and the book’s effect was what both publisher’ and artist had hoped for.’ [Cave & Manson].
Powys Mathers’ ‘Love Nights’ was considered for publication in 1934, but postponed because the partners wished to find the right illustrator, two years later it became John Buckland Wright’s first commission for the press.
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Price HK$ 8,000
The Idylls and Epigrams of Theocritus Bion and Moschus -
Henry Aiken Metcalf (editor), Theocritus, Bion, Moschus
1905 - The Bibliophile Society, Boston - One of a limited 477 sets printed for members only
Three elegantly bound volumes of works by the three Greek pastoral poets, Theocritus, Bion and Moschus. Finely printed by the De Vinne Press, with the text in Greek with the English translation on the opposing page. Illustrated title pages, and an introduction by William Cranston Lawton.
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Price HK$ 7,500
1905 - The Bibliophile Society, Boston - One of a limited 477 sets printed for members only
Three elegantly bound volumes of works by the three Greek pastoral poets, Theocritus, Bion and Moschus. Finely printed by the De Vinne Press, with the text in Greek with the English translation on the opposing page. Illustrated title pages, and an introduction by William Cranston Lawton.
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Price HK$ 7,500
A Literary History of Scotland -
John Hepburn Millar
1903 - T. Fisher Unwin, London - Number 6 of 25 copies.
A finely bound limited edition of this detailed work. Over 700 pages with chapters covering Scottish poetry, prose, reviews, histories and novels.
‘Miller’s scholarly A Literary History of Scotland was for many years the standard work on Scottish Literature and remains a useful work of reference. In it he maintained his attack on the then fashionable Kailyard writers (late 19th-century movement in Scottish fiction characterised by a sentimental idealisation of humble village life), whom he had first criticised in the April 1895 issue of The New Review.’ - Famous Scots
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Price HK$ 3,000
1903 - T. Fisher Unwin, London - Number 6 of 25 copies.
A finely bound limited edition of this detailed work. Over 700 pages with chapters covering Scottish poetry, prose, reviews, histories and novels.‘Miller’s scholarly A Literary History of Scotland was for many years the standard work on Scottish Literature and remains a useful work of reference. In it he maintained his attack on the then fashionable Kailyard writers (late 19th-century movement in Scottish fiction characterised by a sentimental idealisation of humble village life), whom he had first criticised in the April 1895 issue of The New Review.’ - Famous Scots
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Pooh Books - When We Were Very Young; Winnie the Pooh; Now We Are Six; and The House at Pooh Corner -
A. A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard (illustrator)
1924 to 1928 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
'Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to begin.'
A lovely set of the Pooh books, finely bound to match their respective original published colours, and housed in custom made felt-lined slipcase.
‘I often wish I were a King, And then I could do anything.
If only I were King of Spain, I’d take my hat off in the rain.
If I were King of Norroway, I’d ask an elephant to stay.
If I were King of Timbuctoo, I’d think of lovely things to do.’
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Price HK$ 38,000
1924 to 1928 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
'Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other one was the left, but he never could remember how to begin.'A lovely set of the Pooh books, finely bound to match their respective original published colours, and housed in custom made felt-lined slipcase.
‘I often wish I were a King, And then I could do anything.
If only I were King of Spain, I’d take my hat off in the rain.
If I were King of Norroway, I’d ask an elephant to stay.
If I were King of Timbuctoo, I’d think of lovely things to do.’
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Price HK$ 38,000
Old Burma - Eight Works on Burma in Four Volumes -
U Myo Min, Taw Sein Ko, Ma (Daw) Mya Sein, F. Haskings, U Tun Pe, et al.
1938 to 1949 - Various, Various - Various
Eight works on Burma bound into four charming volumes for Charles Booth, British diplomat who served in Burma three times between 1950 and 1978.
A compilation of memoir, history, and tourist guides to Burma, these books are profusely illustrated with maps, photographic plates, and illustrations, and will provide wonderful material for armchair travellers, and nostalgia to those who have already visited Burma.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1938 to 1949 - Various, Various - Various
Eight works on Burma bound into four charming volumes for Charles Booth, British diplomat who served in Burma three times between 1950 and 1978.A compilation of memoir, history, and tourist guides to Burma, these books are profusely illustrated with maps, photographic plates, and illustrations, and will provide wonderful material for armchair travellers, and nostalgia to those who have already visited Burma.
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Price HK$ 2,500