Food·Wine·Art
Cocktails
Food
Wine Whisky
Art & Architecture
Ceramics Jade
Fashion
Film Theatre
Music
Photography
Johnson Over Jordan - The Play. And All About It (An Essay) -
J. B. Priestley
1939 - William Heinemann Ltd, London - First Edition
‘J.B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century. And it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius’ – Dame Judi Dench
A smartly bound copy of J.B. Priestley’s ‘adventure in theatre’, Johnson Over Jordan – the story of ‘everyman’ Robert Johnson who attempts to make sense of a life half lived – was the play he considered his finest and most ambitious achievement. Also features an essay by Priestly on the writing of the play and its origins, and the critical reception of the stage production.
Illustrated with 8 full page black and white photographic plates of the original 1939 stage production, which starred Ralph Richardson and featured a musical score by Benjamin Britten.
With a black and white photographic portrait of the playwright tipped in to front endpaper and the front panel of the original dust jacket laid in.
More details
Price HK$ 1,500
1939 - William Heinemann Ltd, London - First Edition
‘J.B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century. And it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius’ – Dame Judi DenchA smartly bound copy of J.B. Priestley’s ‘adventure in theatre’, Johnson Over Jordan – the story of ‘everyman’ Robert Johnson who attempts to make sense of a life half lived – was the play he considered his finest and most ambitious achievement. Also features an essay by Priestly on the writing of the play and its origins, and the critical reception of the stage production.
Illustrated with 8 full page black and white photographic plates of the original 1939 stage production, which starred Ralph Richardson and featured a musical score by Benjamin Britten.
With a black and white photographic portrait of the playwright tipped in to front endpaper and the front panel of the original dust jacket laid in.
More details
Price HK$ 1,500
History of the Royal Residences -
William Henry Pyne
1819 - Printed for A. Dry, London - First Edition
A beautiful and luxurious first edition of one of the most ambitious aquatint books to be published on English interiors. Three finely bound volumes containing one hundred exquisite hand-coloured plates with accompanying text.
This celebrated work was the first to illustrate royal palaces and houses in any detail: volume I is a valuable record of the state rooms of Windsor Castle formed for Charles II, and concludes with the more domestic scenes of Frogmore, purchased by Queen Charlotte as a country retreat in 1793; volume II is devoted to Hampton Court, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace; volume III's subjects are St James's Palace and Carlton House; the twenty plates devoted to the Prince Regent's residence depict what were regarded as the most spectacular interiors in Regency London.
More details
Price HK$ 80,000
1819 - Printed for A. Dry, London - First Edition
A beautiful and luxurious first edition of one of the most ambitious aquatint books to be published on English interiors. Three finely bound volumes containing one hundred exquisite hand-coloured plates with accompanying text.This celebrated work was the first to illustrate royal palaces and houses in any detail: volume I is a valuable record of the state rooms of Windsor Castle formed for Charles II, and concludes with the more domestic scenes of Frogmore, purchased by Queen Charlotte as a country retreat in 1793; volume II is devoted to Hampton Court, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace; volume III's subjects are St James's Palace and Carlton House; the twenty plates devoted to the Prince Regent's residence depict what were regarded as the most spectacular interiors in Regency London.
More details
Price HK$ 80,000
The Experienced English Housekeeper, for the use and ease of Ladies, Housekeepers, Cooks -
Elizabeth Raffald
1799 - R. Baldwin, London - The Twelfth Edition
Eighteenth century edition in contemporary binding, illustrated with one folding plate of a copper stove, two folding plates of table settings, and engraved frontispiece of the author. Organised into three sections - I: Soups, Fish, Meat, Game... II: Confectionary, Puddings, Directions to set out a Table... III: Pickling, Wines, Catchups, and a Correct List of every Thing in Season for every Month in the Year.
The amazing Elizabeth Raffald [1733-81] of Doncaster, spent fifteen years as housekeeper to Lady Elizabeth Warburton, and married the gardener in 1763, she then opened firstly a confectioner’s shop and then three inns in succession as well as a cookery school. She is said to have had sixteen daughters in eighteen years, founded Salford's first newspaper, established a registry office for servants and compiled Manchester's first Directory which she brought out in 1772, 1773 and 1781.
More details
Price HK$ 3,500
1799 - R. Baldwin, London - The Twelfth Edition
Eighteenth century edition in contemporary binding, illustrated with one folding plate of a copper stove, two folding plates of table settings, and engraved frontispiece of the author. Organised into three sections - I: Soups, Fish, Meat, Game... II: Confectionary, Puddings, Directions to set out a Table... III: Pickling, Wines, Catchups, and a Correct List of every Thing in Season for every Month in the Year.The amazing Elizabeth Raffald [1733-81] of Doncaster, spent fifteen years as housekeeper to Lady Elizabeth Warburton, and married the gardener in 1763, she then opened firstly a confectioner’s shop and then three inns in succession as well as a cookery school. She is said to have had sixteen daughters in eighteen years, founded Salford's first newspaper, established a registry office for servants and compiled Manchester's first Directory which she brought out in 1772, 1773 and 1781.
More details
Price HK$ 3,500
The Epicurean -
Charles Ranhofer
1894 - Charles Ranhofer, New York - First Edition
Inscribed by Ranhofer to Monsieur Louis Bouchard as a ‘Souvenir de bonne amitié’.
Rare, majestic, and fine copy of ‘one of the most important books in modern cooking - a treasure trove of culinary information and a fascinating look at elite restaurant cooking from the Civil War to the turn of the last century.’ [Los Angeles Times 2005].
‘The turn-of-the-century Delmonico's chef spills everything he knows about cooking. Ranhofer's work was unprecedented - and was considered high treason by his peers at the time. A fascinating and imposing tome and an important piece of culinary history.’ - Anthony Bourdain.
Delmonico’s was one of the famous restaurant in New York in the 19th century; his clients included the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, Charles-Louis Napoleon, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, amongst many others. Ranhofer himself ‘was the greatest cook America ever knew, "one who moved among the great chefs of France as peer and equal"’. [O’Connell. Thomas 86].
This massive volume contains over 3,500 recipes, illustrated throughout with more than 800 plates from woodcuts, accompanied by hundreds of menus, a history of table settings and instructions for American, French and Russian service.
More details
Price HK$ 30,000
1894 - Charles Ranhofer, New York - First Edition
Inscribed by Ranhofer to Monsieur Louis Bouchard as a ‘Souvenir de bonne amitié’.Rare, majestic, and fine copy of ‘one of the most important books in modern cooking - a treasure trove of culinary information and a fascinating look at elite restaurant cooking from the Civil War to the turn of the last century.’ [Los Angeles Times 2005].
‘The turn-of-the-century Delmonico's chef spills everything he knows about cooking. Ranhofer's work was unprecedented - and was considered high treason by his peers at the time. A fascinating and imposing tome and an important piece of culinary history.’ - Anthony Bourdain.
Delmonico’s was one of the famous restaurant in New York in the 19th century; his clients included the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, Charles-Louis Napoleon, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, amongst many others. Ranhofer himself ‘was the greatest cook America ever knew, "one who moved among the great chefs of France as peer and equal"’. [O’Connell. Thomas 86].
This massive volume contains over 3,500 recipes, illustrated throughout with more than 800 plates from woodcuts, accompanied by hundreds of menus, a history of table settings and instructions for American, French and Russian service.
More details
Price HK$ 30,000
The Kingdom of the Pearl -
L Rosenthal, Edmund Dulac (illustrator)
1920 - Nisbet &, London - Limited Edition copy 12 of 100, signed by Dulac
A superb large quarto limited and signed edition of Dulac's illustrated book masterpiece. One of 100 copies, commissioned by famed Parisian jeweller, Léonard Rosenthal.
‘Each one of these plates is a work of art, and the matter of the book itself is an engrossing history of pearls, their culture, their treatment, their myths and legends, and the narratives of famous stones. The book combines romance and instruction.’ - The New York Times (4 December, 1921)
Dulac uses techniques borrowed from Persian manuscripts, such as overwashing the watercolours with silver and gold. Those approaches produced stunning results, contributing to the gem-like quality of the ten exquisite tipped-in plates with captioned tissue guards.
More details
Price HK$ 14,000
1920 - Nisbet &, London - Limited Edition copy 12 of 100, signed by Dulac
A superb large quarto limited and signed edition of Dulac's illustrated book masterpiece. One of 100 copies, commissioned by famed Parisian jeweller, Léonard Rosenthal.‘Each one of these plates is a work of art, and the matter of the book itself is an engrossing history of pearls, their culture, their treatment, their myths and legends, and the narratives of famous stones. The book combines romance and instruction.’ - The New York Times (4 December, 1921)
Dulac uses techniques borrowed from Persian manuscripts, such as overwashing the watercolours with silver and gold. Those approaches produced stunning results, contributing to the gem-like quality of the ten exquisite tipped-in plates with captioned tissue guards.
More details
Price HK$ 14,000
A Practical Treatise on Brewing, Distilling, and Rectification -
Robert Shannon
1805 - Robert Scholey, London - First and Only Edition
Rare first edition of this comprehensive and landmark work on wines, spirits, and beers, that ‘may be considered the first modern book in English treating the subject’ of distillation’ [Buxton & Hughes] and the second book in English to discuss ‘modern wines’. [Gabler]
A finely bound large thick quarto volume of over 900 pages split into four parts: Book I: Brewing for Malt Liquors (beer); Book II: Brewing for Distilling (spirits e.g. Gin, whisky, rum, brandy); Book III: Made Wines, Vinegar, Cider, and Perry; Appendix: Wines, Brandies, and Vinegars (mostly descriptions of foreign wines from Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, and South Africa).
Illustrated with eight engraved plates and six tables.
According to Buxton and Hughes, ‘Shannon is credited with taking a recognisably systematic approach to the subject aiming, as he says to ‘shew the distiller how he may proceed on rational principles’. ’Curiously for such a comprehensive work there appears to only ever have been one edition’.
More details
Price HK$ 45,000
1805 - Robert Scholey, London - First and Only Edition
Rare first edition of this comprehensive and landmark work on wines, spirits, and beers, that ‘may be considered the first modern book in English treating the subject’ of distillation’ [Buxton & Hughes] and the second book in English to discuss ‘modern wines’. [Gabler]A finely bound large thick quarto volume of over 900 pages split into four parts: Book I: Brewing for Malt Liquors (beer); Book II: Brewing for Distilling (spirits e.g. Gin, whisky, rum, brandy); Book III: Made Wines, Vinegar, Cider, and Perry; Appendix: Wines, Brandies, and Vinegars (mostly descriptions of foreign wines from Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, and South Africa).
Illustrated with eight engraved plates and six tables.
According to Buxton and Hughes, ‘Shannon is credited with taking a recognisably systematic approach to the subject aiming, as he says to ‘shew the distiller how he may proceed on rational principles’. ’Curiously for such a comprehensive work there appears to only ever have been one edition’.
More details
Price HK$ 45,000
A Treatise on Cyder-Making -
Hugh Stafford, Anonymous
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.
Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
More details
Price HK$ 42,000
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
More details
Price HK$ 42,000
Scar-Strangled Banger -
Ralph Steadman
1988 - Salem House Publishers, Massachusetts - First American Edition
Scar Strangled Banger is one of two large books (the other one being America) giving Steadman's view of America in retrospect-sharply satirizing all aspects of 1970’s and 1980’s life in American society, peppered with his sharp, powerful and incredible full-page and double-spread, colour and black & white drawings.
‘In Scar-Strangled Banger, Ralph Steadman turns his satirical attentions to America, the Land of the Free, where even God can be acquired with a credit card. In this land of seemingly limitless opportunities, of All-Nite Liquor stores, aerobic work-outs, silicone lifts and Saturday Night Specials, a country where lettuce is served with everything, he finds that the quality of life is dependent mainly on personal wealth and air conditioning.
This extraordinary collection of paintings and drawings, in colour and black and white, gleefully satirizes all aspects of life in modern America. Whether it be people, places or politics, nothing is safe from Ralph Steadman’s razor sharp pen and even sharper wit. Nixon is “a satirists dream”, Texas is where “ the oil wells are so deep they have lease land rights from the Australian government before they drill” and political conventions are “campaigns in the ass”. His portraits of the Nixon years, Vietnam and Watergate, the Reagan years, Pearlygate and the 1988 Presidential Election are powerful, disturbing and above all savagely funny. It will leave you asking has anything really changed.’
More details
Price HK$ 1,000
1988 - Salem House Publishers, Massachusetts - First American Edition
Scar Strangled Banger is one of two large books (the other one being America) giving Steadman's view of America in retrospect-sharply satirizing all aspects of 1970’s and 1980’s life in American society, peppered with his sharp, powerful and incredible full-page and double-spread, colour and black & white drawings.‘In Scar-Strangled Banger, Ralph Steadman turns his satirical attentions to America, the Land of the Free, where even God can be acquired with a credit card. In this land of seemingly limitless opportunities, of All-Nite Liquor stores, aerobic work-outs, silicone lifts and Saturday Night Specials, a country where lettuce is served with everything, he finds that the quality of life is dependent mainly on personal wealth and air conditioning.
This extraordinary collection of paintings and drawings, in colour and black and white, gleefully satirizes all aspects of life in modern America. Whether it be people, places or politics, nothing is safe from Ralph Steadman’s razor sharp pen and even sharper wit. Nixon is “a satirists dream”, Texas is where “ the oil wells are so deep they have lease land rights from the Australian government before they drill” and political conventions are “campaigns in the ass”. His portraits of the Nixon years, Vietnam and Watergate, the Reagan years, Pearlygate and the 1988 Presidential Election are powerful, disturbing and above all savagely funny. It will leave you asking has anything really changed.’
More details
Price HK$ 1,000