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A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts -
Mary Kettilby, ’By Several Hands’
1734 - First Part - Printed for Executrix of Mary Kettilby, London - Fifth Edition of Part I, Fourth Edition of Part II
Originally published in 1714, Kettilby's book was a collective effort, with recipes taken from various sources, as indicated in the Preface: ‘a Number of very Curious and Delicate House-wives Clubb'd to furnish out this Collection’.
It contains a wide-range of recipes and home remedies; the second part, with a separate title-page 'A collection of receipts in cookery, physick and surgery’, as well as 'a great Number of Excellent Receipts, for Preserving and Conserving of Sweet-Meats, &c.'
This work is usually credited with having the first recipe for marmalade. Many of the recipes seem irresistible, like ‘The best orange pudding that ever was tasted’. Of course there are other important and wonderful ‘receipts’ included, covering many areas from mad dog bites, in-growing toenails, thicker hair, and apoplectick pain in the head, to scurvy in the teeth.
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Price HK$ 6,200
1734 - First Part - Printed for Executrix of Mary Kettilby, London - Fifth Edition of Part I, Fourth Edition of Part II
Originally published in 1714, Kettilby's book was a collective effort, with recipes taken from various sources, as indicated in the Preface: ‘a Number of very Curious and Delicate House-wives Clubb'd to furnish out this Collection’. It contains a wide-range of recipes and home remedies; the second part, with a separate title-page 'A collection of receipts in cookery, physick and surgery’, as well as 'a great Number of Excellent Receipts, for Preserving and Conserving of Sweet-Meats, &c.'
This work is usually credited with having the first recipe for marmalade. Many of the recipes seem irresistible, like ‘The best orange pudding that ever was tasted’. Of course there are other important and wonderful ‘receipts’ included, covering many areas from mad dog bites, in-growing toenails, thicker hair, and apoplectick pain in the head, to scurvy in the teeth.
More details
Price HK$ 6,200
The Book of the Pearl -
George Fredrick Kunz, Charles Hugh Stevenson
1908 - The Century Co., New York - First Edition
A stunning copy of what is considered the most comprehensive and lavishly illustrated work on the subject to have been produced.
‘This beautiful example of modern book design, executed in high quality materials, is prized not only for the enormous amount of reliable information that it contains, indeed still unmatched in any work since, but also for the large number of high quality illustrations’.
‘The text covers the entire span of ancient to modern knowledge of the pearl, its host, formation, the natural history of the several shellfish, salt- and fresh-water, methods of fishing, preparation of pearls, marketing, fashion, lore, and many other topics directly or indirectly related to the central theme... [a] truly monumental work’ - [Sinkankas]
Kunz was the legendary gem scholar, gemologist, and gem buyer for Tiffany & Co at the turn of the century, named vice president of Tiffany & Co. at the age of 23.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1908 - The Century Co., New York - First Edition
A stunning copy of what is considered the most comprehensive and lavishly illustrated work on the subject to have been produced.‘This beautiful example of modern book design, executed in high quality materials, is prized not only for the enormous amount of reliable information that it contains, indeed still unmatched in any work since, but also for the large number of high quality illustrations’.
‘The text covers the entire span of ancient to modern knowledge of the pearl, its host, formation, the natural history of the several shellfish, salt- and fresh-water, methods of fishing, preparation of pearls, marketing, fashion, lore, and many other topics directly or indirectly related to the central theme... [a] truly monumental work’ - [Sinkankas]
Kunz was the legendary gem scholar, gemologist, and gem buyer for Tiffany & Co at the turn of the century, named vice president of Tiffany & Co. at the age of 23.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Atlas de la France Vinicole - III. Les Vins du Côte du Rhône - with - V. Les Vins des Côteaux de la Loire, Touraine et Centre -
Louis Larmat
1943 - Louis Larmat, Paris - First Editions
Two large folios (49.5x33cm) of this beautifully detailed and produced work, rare to find in the publisher’s original coloured embossed wrappers in such fine condition.
The text is generally in French, with portions also translated into English, German and Italian.
Each folio contains four large folding colour maps, Côte du Rhône is illustrated with eight woodblock prints, Côteaux de la Loire is illustrated with twenty five black and white photographs and eleven coats of arms.
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Price HK$ 12,000
1943 - Louis Larmat, Paris - First Editions
Two large folios (49.5x33cm) of this beautifully detailed and produced work, rare to find in the publisher’s original coloured embossed wrappers in such fine condition.The text is generally in French, with portions also translated into English, German and Italian.
Each folio contains four large folding colour maps, Côte du Rhône is illustrated with eight woodblock prints, Côteaux de la Loire is illustrated with twenty five black and white photographs and eleven coats of arms.
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Price HK$ 12,000
Atlas de la France Vinicole - Tome IV. Les Vins de Champagne -
Louis Larmat
1944 - Louis Larmat, Paris - First Edition
Beautiful and finely bound large format folio, profusely illustrated with colour maps, chart, photographs and vignettes, with descriptions and history of the Champagne areas, text in French apart from the preface which is also in English, German and Spanish.
Containing seven large colour folding maps of: Champagne (size 100x52cm); Montagne de Reims; Vallée de la Marne; La Cote des Blancs; Vallée de la Marne et L’Aisne (100x42cm); Montagne de Reims & Vallée de L’Ardre; Vignobles du Bar-Séquanais et du Bar-Sur-Aubois (62x40cm).
The large folding chart in colour shows the annual production of Champagne between 1844-1942, colour coded with the quality of each Vintage from Trés Bon to Trés Mauvais. In addiiton to the chart and maps are twelve full page illustrations, some from photographs, and numerous vignettes throughout.
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Price HK$ 10,500
1944 - Louis Larmat, Paris - First Edition
Beautiful and finely bound large format folio, profusely illustrated with colour maps, chart, photographs and vignettes, with descriptions and history of the Champagne areas, text in French apart from the preface which is also in English, German and Spanish.Containing seven large colour folding maps of: Champagne (size 100x52cm); Montagne de Reims; Vallée de la Marne; La Cote des Blancs; Vallée de la Marne et L’Aisne (100x42cm); Montagne de Reims & Vallée de L’Ardre; Vignobles du Bar-Séquanais et du Bar-Sur-Aubois (62x40cm).
The large folding chart in colour shows the annual production of Champagne between 1844-1942, colour coded with the quality of each Vintage from Trés Bon to Trés Mauvais. In addiiton to the chart and maps are twelve full page illustrations, some from photographs, and numerous vignettes throughout.
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Price HK$ 10,500
Whisky - Signed -
Aeneas MacDonald (pseud. George Malcolm Thomson)
1930 - Henry & Longwell, Garden City - First American Edition. Copy number 66 from a limitation of 307, 7 of which are issued ‘for hilarity’
Signed by Christopher Morley (literary adviser) and the publishers Frank Henry and Dan Longwell. The Aeneas MacDonald signature is unlikely to be that of George Malcolm ‘Aeneas MacDonald’ Thomson, which was kindly pointed out to us by Ian Buxton (101 Legendary Whiskies, etc.), Thomson was not in the states at the time and it is signed ‘McDonald’ instead of ‘MacDonald’, hardly a schoolboy error for a Scotsman, even if it was his pseudonym...
This beautiful limited and privately printed ‘Briefcase Breviary’ was published before the full book in the United States and the same year as the Edinburgh edition, as a sort of ‘advance review’. In it is Aeneas MacDonald’s stand alone piece - ‘The Nature of Whisky’ which was incorporated into the later book as the first chapter.
Per the colophon, ‘This is an advance publication for a few connoisseurs of the first chapter of Aeneas MacDonald's wise and witty little treatise on Whisky... The printers have adhered to the Scottish spelling of 'Whisky'...’
MacDonald's ‘Whisky’ is today regarded as perhaps the earliest modern book on whisky and certainly the first to treat the subject from the point of view of the drinker. It provides a passionate and energetic defence of the interests of the consumer against the producers and, well ahead of its time, promotes single malt whisky over blends.
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Price HK$ 5,200
1930 - Henry & Longwell, Garden City - First American Edition. Copy number 66 from a limitation of 307, 7 of which are issued ‘for hilarity’
Signed by Christopher Morley (literary adviser) and the publishers Frank Henry and Dan Longwell. The Aeneas MacDonald signature is unlikely to be that of George Malcolm ‘Aeneas MacDonald’ Thomson, which was kindly pointed out to us by Ian Buxton (101 Legendary Whiskies, etc.), Thomson was not in the states at the time and it is signed ‘McDonald’ instead of ‘MacDonald’, hardly a schoolboy error for a Scotsman, even if it was his pseudonym...This beautiful limited and privately printed ‘Briefcase Breviary’ was published before the full book in the United States and the same year as the Edinburgh edition, as a sort of ‘advance review’. In it is Aeneas MacDonald’s stand alone piece - ‘The Nature of Whisky’ which was incorporated into the later book as the first chapter.
Per the colophon, ‘This is an advance publication for a few connoisseurs of the first chapter of Aeneas MacDonald's wise and witty little treatise on Whisky... The printers have adhered to the Scottish spelling of 'Whisky'...’
MacDonald's ‘Whisky’ is today regarded as perhaps the earliest modern book on whisky and certainly the first to treat the subject from the point of view of the drinker. It provides a passionate and energetic defence of the interests of the consumer against the producers and, well ahead of its time, promotes single malt whisky over blends.
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Price HK$ 5,200
Smuggling in the Highlands -
Ian MacDonald I.S.O. (Late of the Inland Revenue)
1914 - Eneas Mackay, Stirling - First Edition
First edition of this seminal volume of whisky history, with illustrations. The author was a highly regarded and long-serving excise officer, who spent much of his career in the Scottish Highlands where he came to know the people and their whisky-related 'ploys' very well.
‘There can be no doubt that 'good, pious men' engaged in smuggling, and there is less doubt that equally good, pious men - ministers and priests - were grateful recipients of a large share of the smugglers' produce. Some of the old lairds not only winked at the practice, but actively encouraged it.’
As described in the introduction to Ian Buxton and Neil Wilson’s Classic Expressions facsimile of this work, ‘MacDonald had a keen eye for a good story, and many of the enthralling anecdotes recounted in the chapter entitled Smuggling Stories and Detections have never subsequently been published.
Despite his ability to tell a good smuggling story, however, there is no doubt that MacDonald had little sympathy with the law breakers whose activities he chronicled. Indeed, it is typical of the man, and his era, that an entire, and wholly fascinating, chapter is devoted to Moral Aspects of Smuggling.
Much of the material in Smuggling in the Highlands was first read before the Gaelic Society of Inverness during the late 1880s, at a time when whisky smuggling was resurgent in the north of Scotland. It was subsequently printed in the Transactions of the Society and was published as a series of articles in The Highlander and Celtic Magazine.’
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Price HK$ 3,000
1914 - Eneas Mackay, Stirling - First Edition
First edition of this seminal volume of whisky history, with illustrations. The author was a highly regarded and long-serving excise officer, who spent much of his career in the Scottish Highlands where he came to know the people and their whisky-related 'ploys' very well.‘There can be no doubt that 'good, pious men' engaged in smuggling, and there is less doubt that equally good, pious men - ministers and priests - were grateful recipients of a large share of the smugglers' produce. Some of the old lairds not only winked at the practice, but actively encouraged it.’
As described in the introduction to Ian Buxton and Neil Wilson’s Classic Expressions facsimile of this work, ‘MacDonald had a keen eye for a good story, and many of the enthralling anecdotes recounted in the chapter entitled Smuggling Stories and Detections have never subsequently been published.
Despite his ability to tell a good smuggling story, however, there is no doubt that MacDonald had little sympathy with the law breakers whose activities he chronicled. Indeed, it is typical of the man, and his era, that an entire, and wholly fascinating, chapter is devoted to Moral Aspects of Smuggling.
Much of the material in Smuggling in the Highlands was first read before the Gaelic Society of Inverness during the late 1880s, at a time when whisky smuggling was resurgent in the north of Scotland. It was subsequently printed in the Transactions of the Society and was published as a series of articles in The Highlander and Celtic Magazine.’
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Price HK$ 3,000
Around the Orkney Peat Fires -
W. R. Mackintosh
1894 - Printed at the "Orcadian" Office, Kirkwall - First Edition
First edition of this compilation of fireside stories containing recollections of notable Orcadians, smuggling anecdotes, stirring tales of the press-gang (the practice ‘impressing seaman to man the Royal Navy’, a custom dating to the 14th Century), and stories of ghosts and witches. These stories first appeared in The Orcadian newspaper.
‘Prior to the days of cheap periodical literature, neighbours were in the habit of meeting in each other's houses, and seated round a rousing peat-fire, whiled away the long winter evenings recounting the achievements of notable Orcadians in every part of the world, telling of the eccentricities of local characters, describing all kinds of smuggling exploits, and relating many thrilling incidents connected with the press-gang.
Before 'the amers were raiked' for the night, something creepy, generally in the shape of a witch story, was usually thrown in, so that the members of the company wended their way home in the dark, prepared to see a ghost in each waving thistle, or troops of fairies on every rising knoll.’ [from the Introduction]
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Price HK$ 2,000
1894 - Printed at the "Orcadian" Office, Kirkwall - First Edition
First edition of this compilation of fireside stories containing recollections of notable Orcadians, smuggling anecdotes, stirring tales of the press-gang (the practice ‘impressing seaman to man the Royal Navy’, a custom dating to the 14th Century), and stories of ghosts and witches. These stories first appeared in The Orcadian newspaper.‘Prior to the days of cheap periodical literature, neighbours were in the habit of meeting in each other's houses, and seated round a rousing peat-fire, whiled away the long winter evenings recounting the achievements of notable Orcadians in every part of the world, telling of the eccentricities of local characters, describing all kinds of smuggling exploits, and relating many thrilling incidents connected with the press-gang.
Before 'the amers were raiked' for the night, something creepy, generally in the shape of a witch story, was usually thrown in, so that the members of the company wended their way home in the dark, prepared to see a ghost in each waving thistle, or troops of fairies on every rising knoll.’ [from the Introduction]
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Price HK$ 2,000
The Lady's Assistant for Regulating and Supplying her Table, Being a Complete System of Cookery -
Charlotte Mason
1777 - J. Walter, London - Third Edition
A particularly clean copy of this important but much neglected eighteenth century cookery book. Unusually, the table settings show layouts for more ordinary households as well as affluent ones, and the recipes follow this pattern. Scarce in any early editions.
‘Mrs Mason's lucidly composed English makes her delightful recipes as easy to follow today as they were in the eighteenth century, enabling the adventurous modern cook to re-create the extraordinary food of the Age of George III without a great deal of difficulty. Her fascinating bills of fare are invaluable to historians of food and dining for the insight they afford into the mores of Georgian table service.'
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Price HK$ 8,000
1777 - J. Walter, London - Third Edition
A particularly clean copy of this important but much neglected eighteenth century cookery book. Unusually, the table settings show layouts for more ordinary households as well as affluent ones, and the recipes follow this pattern. Scarce in any early editions.‘Mrs Mason's lucidly composed English makes her delightful recipes as easy to follow today as they were in the eighteenth century, enabling the adventurous modern cook to re-create the extraordinary food of the Age of George III without a great deal of difficulty. Her fascinating bills of fare are invaluable to historians of food and dining for the insight they afford into the mores of Georgian table service.'
More details
Price HK$ 8,000