The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King -
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
1965 - George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London - First Editions, 14th 11th & 11th impressions
‘One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.’
A finely bound set of these early impressions of the first edition, each volume with fabulous folding maps of Middle Earth, drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien and his son, Christopher Tolkien, outlined in red and black, bound in at the rear. The set also includes Tolkien’s additional foreword to the first volume.
Tolkien’s epic fantastical trilogy, one of the most memorable stories of the 20th century, containing amazing details of a new mythology, never really surpassed. The tale of young Hobbit Frodo Baggins and his faithful band of companions as they journey across Middle-Earth to destroy the Ring of Power and the evil Lord Sauron.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1965 - George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London - First Editions, 14th 11th & 11th impressions
‘One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.’
A finely bound set of these early impressions of the first edition, each volume with fabulous folding maps of Middle Earth, drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien and his son, Christopher Tolkien, outlined in red and black, bound in at the rear. The set also includes Tolkien’s additional foreword to the first volume.
Tolkien’s epic fantastical trilogy, one of the most memorable stories of the 20th century, containing amazing details of a new mythology, never really surpassed. The tale of young Hobbit Frodo Baggins and his faithful band of companions as they journey across Middle-Earth to destroy the Ring of Power and the evil Lord Sauron.
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Price HK$ 18,000
The Ring of the Niblung -
Richard Wagner, Arthur Rackham (illustrator), Margaret Armour (translator)
1910 - William Heinemann, London - Edition de luxes, each one limited to 1, 150 copies signed by Rackham
A magnificent set of Rackham's dramatic interpretation of Wagner's libretti, in the large deluxe vellum bindings, each one numbered and signed by Rackham.
Wagner’s ‘Trilogy, with a Prelude’, his libretti for The Ring of Niblung cycle, stunningly illustrated by Arthur Rackham, featuring sixty-four beautiful tipped-in colour plates each with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-three black and white drawings across two volumes.
Translated from the German into English by Margaret Armour.
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Price HK$ 48,000
1910 - William Heinemann, London - Edition de luxes, each one limited to 1, 150 copies signed by Rackham
A magnificent set of Rackham's dramatic interpretation of Wagner's libretti, in the large deluxe vellum bindings, each one numbered and signed by Rackham.Wagner’s ‘Trilogy, with a Prelude’, his libretti for The Ring of Niblung cycle, stunningly illustrated by Arthur Rackham, featuring sixty-four beautiful tipped-in colour plates each with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-three black and white drawings across two volumes.
Translated from the German into English by Margaret Armour.
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Price HK$ 48,000
The Ring of the Niblung -
Richard Wagner, Arthur Rackham (illustrator), Margaret Armour (translator)
1914 - William Heinemann, London
‘What is it, sleek ones,
That yonder gleams and shines?’
An elegantly bound set of Rackham's dramatic interpretation of Wagner's libretti..
Wagner’s ‘Trilogy, with a Prelude’, his libretti for The Ring of Niblung cycle, stunningly illustrated by Arthur Rackham, featuring sixty-four beautiful tipped-in colour plates each with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-three black and white drawings across two volumes.
Translated from the German into English by Margaret Armour.
More details
Price HK$ 12,000
1914 - William Heinemann, London
‘What is it, sleek ones,That yonder gleams and shines?’
An elegantly bound set of Rackham's dramatic interpretation of Wagner's libretti..
Wagner’s ‘Trilogy, with a Prelude’, his libretti for The Ring of Niblung cycle, stunningly illustrated by Arthur Rackham, featuring sixty-four beautiful tipped-in colour plates each with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-three black and white drawings across two volumes.
Translated from the German into English by Margaret Armour.
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Price HK$ 12,000
The Complete Angler -
Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton, Edward Jesse (editor)
1861 - Henry G. Bohn, London - The Second Jesse Edition
A finely bound copy of one of the most profusely illustrated editions, the second to be edited by Edward Jesse. According to Oliver, ‘this edition has been criticized as having been somewhat too fully annotated and illustrated, but the illustrations, in our opinion, add as much to the charm of the book, as the notes do to its interest’.
‘Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries,
" Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ";
and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.’
The most enduring distinction of the Complete Angler is the one cast off by its subtitle The Contemplative Man's Recreation with its graceful evocations of a life free from hurly-burly in the company of friends intent on physical and moral sustenance. The range of perspectives that Walton brings to bear on his rural descriptions embrace literature, poetry, music and anecdote.
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Price HK$ 9,500
1861 - Henry G. Bohn, London - The Second Jesse Edition
A finely bound copy of one of the most profusely illustrated editions, the second to be edited by Edward Jesse. According to Oliver, ‘this edition has been criticized as having been somewhat too fully annotated and illustrated, but the illustrations, in our opinion, add as much to the charm of the book, as the notes do to its interest’.‘Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries,
" Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ";
and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.’
The most enduring distinction of the Complete Angler is the one cast off by its subtitle The Contemplative Man's Recreation with its graceful evocations of a life free from hurly-burly in the company of friends intent on physical and moral sustenance. The range of perspectives that Walton brings to bear on his rural descriptions embrace literature, poetry, music and anecdote.
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Price HK$ 9,500
Ten Thousand A-Year -
Samuel Warren
1889 - Little, Boston - Number 69 of a limited 200 copies
One of the most popular novels of the era and some consider the first to feature a lawyer as the main character.
Featuring a firm of attorneys who discover that Tittlebat Titmouse, a poor draper's clerk, may have a claim to the large estate of Yatton. The attorneys commence an action which results in Titmouse displacing the unbelievably pious John Aubrey as the owner of the estate, and its annual income of £10,000. Titmouse revels in his new found wealth, until a new round of litigation is commenced which returns Aubrey to his place as squire of Yatton. Titmouse is disgraced, and ends his life in a lunatic asylum.
The author, Samuel Warren (1807-77), was an English barrister, Member of Parliament, and his narrator repeatedly tells the reader that the English legal system is close to perfection, but the actual workings of the law in ‘Ten Thousand a-Year’ paint a more negative picture. Dickens seems to have read Warren's fiction and non-fiction, and to have borrowed images and ideas. [ODNB].
In addition to Warren’s knowledge of the law, he was well versed on asylum and the welfare of the mentally ill, occupying the position of ‘Master in Lunacy’ from 1859 to 1877.
A fine and finely bound three volume set, the upper covers blocked in gilt with the crest, coat of arms and motto of ‘Tittlebat Titmouse Esq M.P. according to the description of Sir Gorgeous Tintack, Garter King at Arms.’ Volume I with sepia toned portrait frontispiece on vellum.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1889 - Little, Boston - Number 69 of a limited 200 copies
One of the most popular novels of the era and some consider the first to feature a lawyer as the main character.Featuring a firm of attorneys who discover that Tittlebat Titmouse, a poor draper's clerk, may have a claim to the large estate of Yatton. The attorneys commence an action which results in Titmouse displacing the unbelievably pious John Aubrey as the owner of the estate, and its annual income of £10,000. Titmouse revels in his new found wealth, until a new round of litigation is commenced which returns Aubrey to his place as squire of Yatton. Titmouse is disgraced, and ends his life in a lunatic asylum.
The author, Samuel Warren (1807-77), was an English barrister, Member of Parliament, and his narrator repeatedly tells the reader that the English legal system is close to perfection, but the actual workings of the law in ‘Ten Thousand a-Year’ paint a more negative picture. Dickens seems to have read Warren's fiction and non-fiction, and to have borrowed images and ideas. [ODNB].
In addition to Warren’s knowledge of the law, he was well versed on asylum and the welfare of the mentally ill, occupying the position of ‘Master in Lunacy’ from 1859 to 1877.
A fine and finely bound three volume set, the upper covers blocked in gilt with the crest, coat of arms and motto of ‘Tittlebat Titmouse Esq M.P. according to the description of Sir Gorgeous Tintack, Garter King at Arms.’ Volume I with sepia toned portrait frontispiece on vellum.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Bridge of San Luis Rey -
Thornton Wilder
1927 - Albert & Charles Boni, New York - First American Edition
A finely bound example of WIlder’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.”
With this celebrated sentence Thornton Wilder begins ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’, one of the towering achievements in American fiction.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1927 - Albert & Charles Boni, New York - First American Edition
A finely bound example of WIlder’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel.“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.”
With this celebrated sentence Thornton Wilder begins ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’, one of the towering achievements in American fiction.
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Price HK$ 5,000