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Night Clubs -
Jimmy Durante, Jack Kofoed
1931 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Edition
Inscribed by Jimmy Durante ‘To Anne – a pleasure to know you – Jimmy Durante, Mar 30-42’.
This is not a ‘guide’, it contains anecdotes, characters, deals, entertainers and speakeasy challenges that only someone deeply connected with the scene could piece together, and if anyone knew the night clubs of New York it was the great entertainer Jimmy ‘Schnozzola’ Durante. Performing from 17 in Coney Island dives, Manhattan slums and gangster hangouts in Harlem, moving from a Mafia club ‘The Alamo’ to open his own small establishment ‘The Durant’ (the signmaker forgot to paint the ‘e’), but this was prohibition and soon after they were raided. Durante with his by now well known partners Eddie Jackson and Lou Clayton, moved on from there to become one of the all-time great night club acts. All this before becoming a film star, radio star, and television star.....
Illustrated with 16 photographs, illustrated title page and endpapers. The fabulous and rather risqué dust jacket was illustrated by Herbert Roese.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1931 - Alfred A. Knopf, New York - First Edition
Inscribed by Jimmy Durante ‘To Anne – a pleasure to know you – Jimmy Durante, Mar 30-42’.This is not a ‘guide’, it contains anecdotes, characters, deals, entertainers and speakeasy challenges that only someone deeply connected with the scene could piece together, and if anyone knew the night clubs of New York it was the great entertainer Jimmy ‘Schnozzola’ Durante. Performing from 17 in Coney Island dives, Manhattan slums and gangster hangouts in Harlem, moving from a Mafia club ‘The Alamo’ to open his own small establishment ‘The Durant’ (the signmaker forgot to paint the ‘e’), but this was prohibition and soon after they were raided. Durante with his by now well known partners Eddie Jackson and Lou Clayton, moved on from there to become one of the all-time great night club acts. All this before becoming a film star, radio star, and television star.....
Illustrated with 16 photographs, illustrated title page and endpapers. The fabulous and rather risqué dust jacket was illustrated by Herbert Roese.
More details
Price HK$ 9,000
“Tried Favourites.” Being a collection of Recipes by some Mamsahibs of Bombay together with Menus and useful Information to House=keepers of both sexes -
Mrs. Fett
1928 - Published in aid of A Special Branch of Y.W.C.A. Work. Printed at The Industrial Press, Bombay - First Edition
‘When the Memsahib has chewed off the end of her pencil in her effort to think of “something different” – and when the cook has achieved his blankest and most aloof expression then will this little book be triumphantly brought forth and opened at the “MENU” pages, and calm will be restored ! !’
Rare little work, which not only provides recipes and menus but also prie lists of the Bombay market, details on domestic servants, stores, and more. With a number of wonderfully illustrated advertisements targeting the modern Memsahib.
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Price HK$ 900
1928 - Published in aid of A Special Branch of Y.W.C.A. Work. Printed at The Industrial Press, Bombay - First Edition
‘When the Memsahib has chewed off the end of her pencil in her effort to think of “something different” – and when the cook has achieved his blankest and most aloof expression then will this little book be triumphantly brought forth and opened at the “MENU” pages, and calm will be restored ! !’Rare little work, which not only provides recipes and menus but also prie lists of the Bombay market, details on domestic servants, stores, and more. With a number of wonderfully illustrated advertisements targeting the modern Memsahib.
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Price HK$ 900
Traité sur les Vins du Médoc -
Wm. Franck
1864 - P. Chaumas, Bordeaux - Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged
The first ‘Bible of Bordeaux’, first published in 1824 and frequently revised until its final publication in 1871, and the forerunner of the better known Bordeaux wine directory created by Cocks & Feret. This is ‘the first major book dealing solely with the wines of Bordeaux’ (Jancis Robinson - Oxford Companion to Wine.), and one of the first Bordeaux classifications.
The fifth edition with twenty-nine full-page illustrations of the Chateaux (13 two-tone lithographs, 1 monochrome lithograph, 15 woodcuts), three woodcut title pages, one woodcut scene of the vendage, two partially coloured full page maps, and the large folding colour map titled Carte du Département de la Gironde. 53x71.5cm (in pocket at rear). In addition to the illustrations are numerous tables (six folding).
The wine classification listed (pages 209-16] is the one ‘drawn up in 1855 by the association of commercial [wine] brokers at the Bordeaux Stock Exchange, and at the request of the Chamber of Commerce’.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1864 - P. Chaumas, Bordeaux - Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged
The first ‘Bible of Bordeaux’, first published in 1824 and frequently revised until its final publication in 1871, and the forerunner of the better known Bordeaux wine directory created by Cocks & Feret. This is ‘the first major book dealing solely with the wines of Bordeaux’ (Jancis Robinson - Oxford Companion to Wine.), and one of the first Bordeaux classifications.The fifth edition with twenty-nine full-page illustrations of the Chateaux (13 two-tone lithographs, 1 monochrome lithograph, 15 woodcuts), three woodcut title pages, one woodcut scene of the vendage, two partially coloured full page maps, and the large folding colour map titled Carte du Département de la Gironde. 53x71.5cm (in pocket at rear). In addition to the illustrations are numerous tables (six folding).
The wine classification listed (pages 209-16] is the one ‘drawn up in 1855 by the association of commercial [wine] brokers at the Bordeaux Stock Exchange, and at the request of the Chamber of Commerce’.
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Price HK$ 6,000
A Sleep of Prisoners, A Play - with - The Dark Is Light Enough -
Christopher Fry, Ronald Searle (illustrator)
1951 - Geoffrey Cumberlege, London New York Toronto - First Editions
Dark and cold we may be, but this
Is no winter now. The frozen misery
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;
The thunder is the thunder of the floes,
The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.
Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to face us everywhere,
Never to leave us till we take
The longest stride of soul we ever took.
Affairs are now soul size.
The enterprise
Is exploration into God.
Where are you making for? It takes
So many thousand years to wake,
But will you wake for pity's sake!
A highly imaginative, poignant drama about four prisoners of war locked up in a church in enemy territory, together with Fry’s 1954 play The Dark is Light Enough, his ‘winter comedy’ set during the nineteenth century Hungarian Revolution, and companion play to his earlier works The Lady’s Not for Burning, and Venus Observed. Two volumes in dust jackets illustrated by Ronald Searle.
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Price HK$ 1,200
1951 - Geoffrey Cumberlege, London New York Toronto - First Editions
Dark and cold we may be, but thisIs no winter now. The frozen misery
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;
The thunder is the thunder of the floes,
The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.
Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to face us everywhere,
Never to leave us till we take
The longest stride of soul we ever took.
Affairs are now soul size.
The enterprise
Is exploration into God.
Where are you making for? It takes
So many thousand years to wake,
But will you wake for pity's sake!
A highly imaginative, poignant drama about four prisoners of war locked up in a church in enemy territory, together with Fry’s 1954 play The Dark is Light Enough, his ‘winter comedy’ set during the nineteenth century Hungarian Revolution, and companion play to his earlier works The Lady’s Not for Burning, and Venus Observed. Two volumes in dust jackets illustrated by Ronald Searle.
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Price HK$ 1,200
Architectura Navalis - bound with - Architectura Civilis, Nova & Antiqua -
Josephum Furttenbach, Georg Andreas Böckler [Boeckler]
1629 - Johan Saurn, Ulm - First Editions
A stunning, clean and complete copy of Joseph Furttenbach’s famous treaty on shipbuilding, Architectura Navalis with double-page engraved title, title in red and black, twenty stunning double-page engraved plates showing boat design, and various types of boats many engaged in action with other boats and monsters of the sea. Furttenbach was a highly influential German architect, who attempted to cover all fields of architecture in his writings. Böckler corresponded with Furttenbach and his works on architecture were intended to contribute to the rebuilding of Germany after the devastation of the Thirty Years War, his Architectura Civilis, Nova & Antiqua presents a comparative treatment of the Orders [Architectural Styles] and is illustrated with forty engraved plates, woodcut printer’s device and red and black text to title page, woodcut head pieces, and initials.
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Price HK$ 95,000
1629 - Johan Saurn, Ulm - First Editions
A stunning, clean and complete copy of Joseph Furttenbach’s famous treaty on shipbuilding, Architectura Navalis with double-page engraved title, title in red and black, twenty stunning double-page engraved plates showing boat design, and various types of boats many engaged in action with other boats and monsters of the sea. Furttenbach was a highly influential German architect, who attempted to cover all fields of architecture in his writings. Böckler corresponded with Furttenbach and his works on architecture were intended to contribute to the rebuilding of Germany after the devastation of the Thirty Years War, his Architectura Civilis, Nova & Antiqua presents a comparative treatment of the Orders [Architectural Styles] and is illustrated with forty engraved plates, woodcut printer’s device and red and black text to title page, woodcut head pieces, and initials.
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Price HK$ 95,000
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy -
Hannah Glasse
1763 - A. Millar, London - Eighth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic 18th century cookbook, which ‘revolutionised the way the British cook’.
‘She's the first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party and the most important cookery writer to know about. No, not Isabella Beeton; not Delia Smith nor Nigella Lawson, but an earlier incarnation of a kitchen trouble-shooter, Hannah Glasse’ - Rose Prince, The Independent (2006).
‘The Art of Cookery has a River Cafe Cookbook quality - in fact her excessive use of butter, which can have a lovely clear flavour, can be likened to the liberal dribbling of olive oil in Rogers' and Gray's recipes. The power of the book, though, is the clarity of the writing. She's authoritative but she is also intimate, treating you as an equal’ – Bee Wilson (food journalist and author).
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Price HK$ 6,500
1763 - A. Millar, London - Eighth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic 18th century cookbook, which ‘revolutionised the way the British cook’.‘She's the first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party and the most important cookery writer to know about. No, not Isabella Beeton; not Delia Smith nor Nigella Lawson, but an earlier incarnation of a kitchen trouble-shooter, Hannah Glasse’ - Rose Prince, The Independent (2006).
‘The Art of Cookery has a River Cafe Cookbook quality - in fact her excessive use of butter, which can have a lovely clear flavour, can be likened to the liberal dribbling of olive oil in Rogers' and Gray's recipes. The power of the book, though, is the clarity of the writing. She's authoritative but she is also intimate, treating you as an equal’ – Bee Wilson (food journalist and author).
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Price HK$ 6,500
The Kingdom of Swing - Signed -
Benny Goodman, Irving Kolodin
1939 - Stackpole Sons, New York - First Edition
Signed by the great Benny Goodman on the frontispiece portrait, a nice example in the scarce and rather delicate dust jacket.
‘”The Kingdom of Swing," written in collaboration with Irving Kolodin, might be called "From Rags to Riches." It's the narrative of a boy who learned to play clarinet in a synagogue music class for "maybe a quarter a lesson," and who has risen, by way of jazz, to an eminence where he earns maybe a quarter a note for playing the instrument as leader of one of the most famous of all dance bands.
"The Kingdom of Swing" is a success story, but it's more than a chronicle of afflatus and affluence. It "sets" swing music in a clear perspective, explains it, gives out, as swingumbobs have it, with solid stuff about an important musical influence.’ – taken from a 1939 review by Robert A. Simon, music critic for The New Yorker.
With five full page black and white photographic illustrations.
‘My memory of those early days is hazier than that of most kids, because we moved around a lot. But I can remember a time when we lived in a basement without heat during the winter, and a couple of times when there wasn't anything to eat. I don't mean much to eat. I mean anything. That isn't an experience you forget in a hurry. I haven't ever forgotten it.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
1939 - Stackpole Sons, New York - First Edition
Signed by the great Benny Goodman on the frontispiece portrait, a nice example in the scarce and rather delicate dust jacket.‘”The Kingdom of Swing," written in collaboration with Irving Kolodin, might be called "From Rags to Riches." It's the narrative of a boy who learned to play clarinet in a synagogue music class for "maybe a quarter a lesson," and who has risen, by way of jazz, to an eminence where he earns maybe a quarter a note for playing the instrument as leader of one of the most famous of all dance bands.
"The Kingdom of Swing" is a success story, but it's more than a chronicle of afflatus and affluence. It "sets" swing music in a clear perspective, explains it, gives out, as swingumbobs have it, with solid stuff about an important musical influence.’ – taken from a 1939 review by Robert A. Simon, music critic for The New Yorker.
With five full page black and white photographic illustrations.
‘My memory of those early days is hazier than that of most kids, because we moved around a lot. But I can remember a time when we lived in a basement without heat during the winter, and a couple of times when there wasn't anything to eat. I don't mean much to eat. I mean anything. That isn't an experience you forget in a hurry. I haven't ever forgotten it.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
Things that Happen. Published in the Interests of Good Health & Good Cheer. -
Charles Grave & other Well-known Artists
1926 - WorthingtonFirst Edition
‘If you do miss the Boat race, the race for Worthington is worth winning!’
27 full page amusing advertisements and other cartoons for Worthington Beer. Covering many topics including golf, skiing, driving, football, swimming and rowing, and how they can be remedied with Worthington.
Note this is the scarce original edition, in tanned illustrated wrappers, not the facsimile edition produced by Bass Brewery in 1977.
[27x18.7 cm]
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
1926 - WorthingtonFirst Edition
‘If you do miss the Boat race, the race for Worthington is worth winning!’27 full page amusing advertisements and other cartoons for Worthington Beer. Covering many topics including golf, skiing, driving, football, swimming and rowing, and how they can be remedied with Worthington.
Note this is the scarce original edition, in tanned illustrated wrappers, not the facsimile edition produced by Bass Brewery in 1977.
[27x18.7 cm]
More details
Price HK$ 2,000