An Authentic Account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China -
Sir George Staunton, Earl of Macartney, Sir Erasmus Gower
1797 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G, London - First Edition
A clean and exquisitely bound set of this cornerstone of China related travel literature, together with the magnificent Elephant Folio Atlas showing forty-four engraved maps and plates (mainly after Alexander), of which two are folding and six are double-page.
‘An account of the first British embassy to China, under Lord Macartney. Great Britain was anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations, but centuries of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency presented a formidable obstacle to the embassy, and the Chinese emperor effectually resisted Lord Macartney’s arguments and gifts. The visit of the British embassy nonetheless resulted in this remarkable account of Chinese manners and customs at the close of the eighteenth century’ - The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.
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Price HK$ 220,000
1797 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G, London - First Edition
A clean and exquisitely bound set of this cornerstone of China related travel literature, together with the magnificent Elephant Folio Atlas showing forty-four engraved maps and plates (mainly after Alexander), of which two are folding and six are double-page.‘An account of the first British embassy to China, under Lord Macartney. Great Britain was anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations, but centuries of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency presented a formidable obstacle to the embassy, and the Chinese emperor effectually resisted Lord Macartney’s arguments and gifts. The visit of the British embassy nonetheless resulted in this remarkable account of Chinese manners and customs at the close of the eighteenth century’ - The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.
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Price HK$ 220,000
My Days With the Fairies -
Mrs. Rodolph Stawell, Edmund Dulac (Illustrator)
1913 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Edition
An elegantly bound magical collection of seventeen children fairy stories, including ‘The Bird of Shadows and the Sun-Bird’; ‘The Adventurous Life of an Acorn-Fairy’; ‘The Box of Dreams’; and ‘The Sea-Fairy and the Land-Fairy’.
Enhanced by eight of Dulac’s most beautiful illustrations tipped on to beige decorated card, each with a lettered tissue guard.
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Price HK$ 5,500
1913 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Edition
An elegantly bound magical collection of seventeen children fairy stories, including ‘The Bird of Shadows and the Sun-Bird’; ‘The Adventurous Life of an Acorn-Fairy’; ‘The Box of Dreams’; and ‘The Sea-Fairy and the Land-Fairy’.Enhanced by eight of Dulac’s most beautiful illustrations tipped on to beige decorated card, each with a lettered tissue guard.
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Price HK$ 5,500
Yachting - The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes -
Sir Edward Sullivan, Lord Brassey, C.E. Seth-Smith, G.L. Watson, R.T. Pritchett, Sir George Leach et al.
1894-5 - Longmans, London - First Editions
‘To some, I believe, Paradise means yachting, and for my own part, I think a 200-ton schooner, a ten -knot breeze, and a summer sea hard to beat’. - From the introduction by Sir Edward Sullivan.
A famous yachting work, covering the golden age of yachting, including chapters on: Ocean Cruising; The Evolution of the Modern Racing Yacht; Recollections of Schooner Racing; Fitting out a Fifty-Tonner to go Foreign; Some Famous Races; Yachting in America; Foreign and Colonial Yachting; and The America Cup Races.
Two volumes profusely illustrated with 57 full page plates and over 240 in-text illustrations plans and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 5,500
1894-5 - Longmans, London - First Editions
‘To some, I believe, Paradise means yachting, and for my own part, I think a 200-ton schooner, a ten -knot breeze, and a summer sea hard to beat’. - From the introduction by Sir Edward Sullivan. A famous yachting work, covering the golden age of yachting, including chapters on: Ocean Cruising; The Evolution of the Modern Racing Yacht; Recollections of Schooner Racing; Fitting out a Fifty-Tonner to go Foreign; Some Famous Races; Yachting in America; Foreign and Colonial Yachting; and The America Cup Races.
Two volumes profusely illustrated with 57 full page plates and over 240 in-text illustrations plans and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 5,500
An Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava -
Michael Symes
1800 - W. Bulmer and Co., London - First Edition, Large Paper Copy
A stunning and rare large paper copy of ‘the first full account of Burma to be published’, finely illustrated with two folding engraved maps, eighteen engraved plates, and eight engraved botanical plates (four of which are folding). In contemporary full polished calf armourial binding of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet, and once housed in the Hoare Library at Stourhead.
Michael Symes was sent by Sir John Shore, governor-general of India, on a mission to Ava in Burma, to obtain from the emperor of Ava a permit to allow a British agent to reside at Rangoon, and to induce him to close his borders to French shipping. In diplomatic terms Symes’ mission was a success.
His detailed account, is highly interesting with keen observations and insight. ‘It is a mass of information on the history, religion, government, social systems, language, geography and economy of Burma, together with a narrative of Symes’ seven months stay in Burma, his journey to the capital and reception at court.’
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Price HK$ 42,000
1800 - W. Bulmer and Co., London - First Edition, Large Paper Copy
A stunning and rare large paper copy of ‘the first full account of Burma to be published’, finely illustrated with two folding engraved maps, eighteen engraved plates, and eight engraved botanical plates (four of which are folding). In contemporary full polished calf armourial binding of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet, and once housed in the Hoare Library at Stourhead.Michael Symes was sent by Sir John Shore, governor-general of India, on a mission to Ava in Burma, to obtain from the emperor of Ava a permit to allow a British agent to reside at Rangoon, and to induce him to close his borders to French shipping. In diplomatic terms Symes’ mission was a success.
His detailed account, is highly interesting with keen observations and insight. ‘It is a mass of information on the history, religion, government, social systems, language, geography and economy of Burma, together with a narrative of Symes’ seven months stay in Burma, his journey to the capital and reception at court.’
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Price HK$ 42,000
War and Peace: Before Tilsit; The Invasion; The French at Moscow -
Count Lyof [Lev] N. Tolstoi [Tolstoy], Clara Bell (translator)
1887 - Vizetelly & Co., London - Vizetelly’s Second Edition
A finely bound and rare second London printing of the first edition in English, which was published the year before. Vizetelly first pirated the 1886 Gottsberger American edition (translated from the second French edition 1884 by Bell) of 'War and Peace' in the autumn of that year. The second and third edition appeared in 1887 and the fourth followed in 1888. Vizetelly’s first printing is incredibly rare, second and third printings are also scarce.
Considered by many one of the greatest novels ever written,War and Peace follows the lives of the aristocratic Bolkonsky and Rostov families, their changing fortunes set against the epic backdrop of Napoleonic Europe, and culminating in the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
‘Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.’ – from the Penguin Classics edition
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Price HK$ 56,000
1887 - Vizetelly & Co., London - Vizetelly’s Second Edition
A finely bound and rare second London printing of the first edition in English, which was published the year before. Vizetelly first pirated the 1886 Gottsberger American edition (translated from the second French edition 1884 by Bell) of 'War and Peace' in the autumn of that year. The second and third edition appeared in 1887 and the fourth followed in 1888. Vizetelly’s first printing is incredibly rare, second and third printings are also scarce.Considered by many one of the greatest novels ever written,War and Peace follows the lives of the aristocratic Bolkonsky and Rostov families, their changing fortunes set against the epic backdrop of Napoleonic Europe, and culminating in the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
‘Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.’ – from the Penguin Classics edition
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Price HK$ 56,000
The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - Twenty Four Volumes -
Count Lyof [Lev] N. Tolstoï [Tolstoy], Nathan Haskell Dole, Isabel Hapgood, Louise Maude (translators)
1898-1899 - E. R. DuMont, New York - The Emancipation Edition
A finely bound twenty four volume set of Tolstoy’s complete works, including Anna Karenina; War and Peace; Resurrection; The Death of Ivan Ilyich; The Cossacks; A Confession; Sevastopol; The Kreutzer Sonata; What I Believe; The Kingdom of God Is Within You; etc.
Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece, many in colour, and a number of additional plates. With introductions by the translators, mostly Nathan Doyle, some with additional prefaces by the author, and for some of the longer works there is a useful summary of the principal characters.
Described by Dole as the first properly complete edition of Tolstoy in English, including several revised translations making far greater use of the original Russian.
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Price HK$ 33,000
1898-1899 - E. R. DuMont, New York - The Emancipation Edition
A finely bound twenty four volume set of Tolstoy’s complete works, including Anna Karenina; War and Peace; Resurrection; The Death of Ivan Ilyich; The Cossacks; A Confession; Sevastopol; The Kreutzer Sonata; What I Believe; The Kingdom of God Is Within You; etc.Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece, many in colour, and a number of additional plates. With introductions by the translators, mostly Nathan Doyle, some with additional prefaces by the author, and for some of the longer works there is a useful summary of the principal characters.
Described by Dole as the first properly complete edition of Tolstoy in English, including several revised translations making far greater use of the original Russian.
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Price HK$ 33,000
Record of the University Boat Race, 1829-1880 and of the Commemoration Dinner 1881 -
George G. T. Treherne, J. H. D. Goldie
1883 - Bickers & Son, London - First Edition
James Neville McQueen’s own copy. McQueen (page 83) rowed bow in the 1860 Oxford crew, and according to Goldie ‘a better race than that of 1860 has seldom been seen’ (page 173).
Illustrated with two large and beautiful engraved plates - A Boat-race on the Cam in 1838, and The Oxford Boat in 1829, as well a facsimile of The Card of the Invitation to Dinner, a Plan of the Tables, and two vignettes titled The Old Style and The New Style. A copy of the ornate and decorated original letter press Menu is also tipped in.
‘The account of the dinner is followed by verbatim reports of the speeches, the text of two odes on the jubilee of the race, and alphabetical lists of Blues. The analytical appendices include summaries of the races, and lists of the schools, colleges, academic and athletic honours and subsequent professions of the oarsmen and coxswains. No less than 188 of 285 took Holy Orders.
Pages 131 to 201, Old Blues and Their Battles, give a detailed account of each race by W. B. Woodgate, slightly altered by the compilers.’ – Brittain, Oar, Scull & Rudder .
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Price HK$ 4,500
1883 - Bickers & Son, London - First Edition
James Neville McQueen’s own copy. McQueen (page 83) rowed bow in the 1860 Oxford crew, and according to Goldie ‘a better race than that of 1860 has seldom been seen’ (page 173).Illustrated with two large and beautiful engraved plates - A Boat-race on the Cam in 1838, and The Oxford Boat in 1829, as well a facsimile of The Card of the Invitation to Dinner, a Plan of the Tables, and two vignettes titled The Old Style and The New Style. A copy of the ornate and decorated original letter press Menu is also tipped in.
‘The account of the dinner is followed by verbatim reports of the speeches, the text of two odes on the jubilee of the race, and alphabetical lists of Blues. The analytical appendices include summaries of the races, and lists of the schools, colleges, academic and athletic honours and subsequent professions of the oarsmen and coxswains. No less than 188 of 285 took Holy Orders.
Pages 131 to 201, Old Blues and Their Battles, give a detailed account of each race by W. B. Woodgate, slightly altered by the compilers.’ – Brittain, Oar, Scull & Rudder .
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Price HK$ 4,500
The Prince and the Pauper. A Tale for Young People of All Ages -
Mark Twain [Samuel L. Clemens]
1882 - James R Osgood and Company, Boston - First Edition, First Issue
The hilarious adventures of Tom Canty, a ragged street urchin who bears a striking resemblance to Edward VI, son of Henry VIII. Longing to experience the excitement of the outside world, the young prince persuades Tom to exchange places in society.
Finely bound and wonderfully illustrated throughout with 192 in text engravings by by Frank Thayer Merrill and John Harley.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1882 - James R Osgood and Company, Boston - First Edition, First Issue
The hilarious adventures of Tom Canty, a ragged street urchin who bears a striking resemblance to Edward VI, son of Henry VIII. Longing to experience the excitement of the outside world, the young prince persuades Tom to exchange places in society.Finely bound and wonderfully illustrated throughout with 192 in text engravings by by Frank Thayer Merrill and John Harley.
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Price HK$ 7,000