Duty - With illustrations of Courage Patience and Endurance -
Samuel Smiles
1905 - John Murray, London - Early edition (first published 1880)
‘Not once or twice in our rough island story,
The path of Duty was the way to glory’ - Tennyson.
The last in Samuel Smiles’ wise and popular ‘Self-Help’ series, in which ‘the reader will find, in the following pages, numerous examples given of thee best and bravest men and women in the career of well-doing’.
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Price HK$ 1,200
1905 - John Murray, London - Early edition (first published 1880)
‘Not once or twice in our rough island story,The path of Duty was the way to glory’ - Tennyson.
The last in Samuel Smiles’ wise and popular ‘Self-Help’ series, in which ‘the reader will find, in the following pages, numerous examples given of thee best and bravest men and women in the career of well-doing’.
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Price HK$ 1,200
An Inquiry into the Natures and Causes of the Wealth of Nations -
Adam Smith
1796 - Printed for A. Strahan, London - Eighth Edition
‘Published in the same year as the American Declaration of Independence it has been argued that the global effect of Smith’s work has exceeded that of American constitutionalists. And if the wealth of a nation or a people is the foundation of all else, then from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Peru, from the oil and gas fields of Russia to the United States itself, from Estonia to Australia, it can be claimed that the principles and economic dynamics at work in all these places come from a book by a scholar of Scotland published before the French Revolution, before the Industrial Revolution and eighty four years before Das Kapital by Karl Marx.’ - Melvyn Bragg – 12 Books That Changed the World.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1796 - Printed for A. Strahan, London - Eighth Edition
‘Published in the same year as the American Declaration of Independence it has been argued that the global effect of Smith’s work has exceeded that of American constitutionalists. And if the wealth of a nation or a people is the foundation of all else, then from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Peru, from the oil and gas fields of Russia to the United States itself, from Estonia to Australia, it can be claimed that the principles and economic dynamics at work in all these places come from a book by a scholar of Scotland published before the French Revolution, before the Industrial Revolution and eighty four years before Das Kapital by Karl Marx.’ - Melvyn Bragg – 12 Books That Changed the World.
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Price HK$ 22,000
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
RESERVED - Poems -
Alfred Lord Tennyson
1857 - Edward Moxon, Dover Street - First Illustrated Edition
‘It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.’
A superbly bound, illustrated collection of Tennyson’s poetry featuring his celebrated works ‘Mariana’, ‘The Lotos-Eaters’, ‘Godiva’, and ‘Ulysses’, among many others. Beautifully illustrated with portrait frontispiece and 54 engraved vignettes designed by prominent Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, William Holman Hunt, Thomas Creswick, and Clarkson Stanfield. Many of the artists much-admired Tennyson, and found inspiration from his poems.
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Price HK$ 8,500
1857 - Edward Moxon, Dover Street - First Illustrated Edition
‘It little profits that an idle king,By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.’
A superbly bound, illustrated collection of Tennyson’s poetry featuring his celebrated works ‘Mariana’, ‘The Lotos-Eaters’, ‘Godiva’, and ‘Ulysses’, among many others. Beautifully illustrated with portrait frontispiece and 54 engraved vignettes designed by prominent Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, William Holman Hunt, Thomas Creswick, and Clarkson Stanfield. Many of the artists much-admired Tennyson, and found inspiration from his poems.
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Price HK$ 8,500
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
Coaching Days and Coaching Ways -
W. Outram Tristram
1893 - Macmillan and Co., London - Second Edition
A well illustrated and detailed record of the history and types of horse drawn transport along the main travel routes of England, with vivid descriptions of many hostelries and their clientele. With 214 illustrations by Hugh Thomson and Herbert Railton. Contents : The Bath Road; The Exeter Road; The Portsmouth Road; The Brighton Road; The Dover Road; The York Road and The Holyhead Road.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1893 - Macmillan and Co., London - Second Edition
A well illustrated and detailed record of the history and types of horse drawn transport along the main travel routes of England, with vivid descriptions of many hostelries and their clientele. With 214 illustrations by Hugh Thomson and Herbert Railton. Contents : The Bath Road; The Exeter Road; The Portsmouth Road; The Brighton Road; The Dover Road; The York Road and The Holyhead Road.
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Price HK$ 1,800
Works of Jules Verne -
Jules Verne, Charles F. Horne (editor)
1911 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Prince of Wales Edition, Number 25 of 500 Limited Copies
‘The reason Verne is still read by millions today is simply that he was one of the best storytellers who ever lived’ – Arthur C. Clarke
A superb 15 volume limited edition set of the works of Jules Verne, handsomely bound, each illustrated with full page colour and tinted plates protected by descriptive tissue guards.
This collection features Verne’s most famous stories, including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, From the Earth to the Moon, Five Weeks in a Balloon, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Mysterious Island, and Around the World in Eighty Days, among many others.
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Price HK$ 38,000
1911 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Prince of Wales Edition, Number 25 of 500 Limited Copies
‘The reason Verne is still read by millions today is simply that he was one of the best storytellers who ever lived’ – Arthur C. ClarkeA superb 15 volume limited edition set of the works of Jules Verne, handsomely bound, each illustrated with full page colour and tinted plates protected by descriptive tissue guards.
This collection features Verne’s most famous stories, including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, From the Earth to the Moon, Five Weeks in a Balloon, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Mysterious Island, and Around the World in Eighty Days, among many others.
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Price HK$ 38,000
The Compleat Angler. -
Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton
1929 - The Nonesuch Press, London - Number 18 of 1600 limited copies. First Thus, Illustrated by Thomas Poulton and Charles Sigrist
‘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.’
A lovely limited edtion of this handsomely produced edition of Izaak Walton's works, printed on fine laid paper, and edited by Geoffrey Keynes.
Wonderfully illustrated with six copperplate portraits of Walton, Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson, engraved by A. Alexander and Son with tissue; ten drawings of fish and lead weight by Charles Sigrist printed from line blocks and hand-coloured through stencil by the Curwen Press; and two seals of Donne redrawn by Thomas Poulton and printed in red.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1929 - The Nonesuch Press, London - Number 18 of 1600 limited copies. First Thus, Illustrated by Thomas Poulton and Charles Sigrist
‘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.’
A lovely limited edtion of this handsomely produced edition of Izaak Walton's works, printed on fine laid paper, and edited by Geoffrey Keynes.
Wonderfully illustrated with six copperplate portraits of Walton, Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson, engraved by A. Alexander and Son with tissue; ten drawings of fish and lead weight by Charles Sigrist printed from line blocks and hand-coloured through stencil by the Curwen Press; and two seals of Donne redrawn by Thomas Poulton and printed in red.
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Price HK$ 3,000