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I Claudius -
Robert Graves
1934 - Arthur Barker, London - First Edition
With large fold out table ‘Tree of the Imperial Family and Connexions’ to the rear. Formerly the property of Eleanor Campbell-Orde née Watts who, during her years at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, ‘enjoyed friendships with Osbert Lancaster, John Betjeman, Stephen Spender, Christopher Hawkes and Evelyn Waugh, whose wife eloped with her boyfriend.’
‘Written in the form of Claudius' autobiography, this is the first part of Robert Graves' brilliant account of the madness and debauchery of ancient Rome, and stands as one of the most celebrated, gripping historical novels ever produced.
Despised for his weakness and regarded by his family as little more than a stammering fool, the nobleman Claudius quietly survives the intrigues, bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the imperial Roman dynasties. In I, Claudius he watches from the sidelines to record the reigns of its emperors: from the wise Augustus and his villainous wife Livia to the sadistic Tiberius and the insane excesses of Caligula.’
'Still an acknowledged masterpiece and a model for historical fiction ... sympathetic and intensely involving: a great feat of imagination'. – Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall.
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Price HK$ 1,100
1934 - Arthur Barker, London - First Edition
With large fold out table ‘Tree of the Imperial Family and Connexions’ to the rear. Formerly the property of Eleanor Campbell-Orde née Watts who, during her years at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, ‘enjoyed friendships with Osbert Lancaster, John Betjeman, Stephen Spender, Christopher Hawkes and Evelyn Waugh, whose wife eloped with her boyfriend.’‘Written in the form of Claudius' autobiography, this is the first part of Robert Graves' brilliant account of the madness and debauchery of ancient Rome, and stands as one of the most celebrated, gripping historical novels ever produced.
Despised for his weakness and regarded by his family as little more than a stammering fool, the nobleman Claudius quietly survives the intrigues, bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the imperial Roman dynasties. In I, Claudius he watches from the sidelines to record the reigns of its emperors: from the wise Augustus and his villainous wife Livia to the sadistic Tiberius and the insane excesses of Caligula.’
'Still an acknowledged masterpiece and a model for historical fiction ... sympathetic and intensely involving: a great feat of imagination'. – Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall.
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Price HK$ 1,100
Highland Sport -
A Grimble
1894 - Chapman and Hall Ltd., London - First Edition
A large and beautifully bound work Illustrated with eleven full page plates by Archibald Thorburn.
Personal recollections and views on fishing and shooting in the highlands of Scotland. Grimble was the first to call for a close time to the Salmon fishing season in Scotland after witnessing the alarming drop in catch, and rise in netting technology and quantity. He was successful.
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Price HK$ 4,200
1894 - Chapman and Hall Ltd., London - First Edition
A large and beautifully bound work Illustrated with eleven full page plates by Archibald Thorburn. Personal recollections and views on fishing and shooting in the highlands of Scotland. Grimble was the first to call for a close time to the Salmon fishing season in Scotland after witnessing the alarming drop in catch, and rise in netting technology and quantity. He was successful.
More details
Price HK$ 4,200
The Antiquities of Scotland -
Francis Grose
1797 - Hooper & Wigstead, London - First Hooper & Wigstead edition
Two magnificently illustrated volumes, of this comprehensive work, with 190 full page engraved plates, large engraved folding Index Map to the Antiquities of Scotland. Shewing the Situation of Every Building Described in this Work, two engraved title pages, and one in text Plan of Druidical Stone.
Grose (1731-91), English antiquary draughtsman and lexicographer, initiated the eighteenth-century's most extensive series of published illustrations of ancient monuments.
In 1788 he began the first of several tours of Scotland in order to produce The Antiquities of Scotland. It was on the second of these tours, in summer 1789, that he met and immediately formed a friendship with the poet Robert Burns. Burns met him while he was staying with Robert Riddell at the Friar's Carse, collecting material for his Scottish work. Burns suggested to him that he should include Alloway Kirk in his Scottish Antiquities, and Grose agreed on condition that Burns provided a witch tale to go with his drawing. In June 1790, Burns sent Grose a prose tale with a variant in a letter to Grose, following it up with a rhymed version, "Tam o' Shanter" (see Volume II, page 31).
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Price HK$ 8,000
1797 - Hooper & Wigstead, London - First Hooper & Wigstead edition
Two magnificently illustrated volumes, of this comprehensive work, with 190 full page engraved plates, large engraved folding Index Map to the Antiquities of Scotland. Shewing the Situation of Every Building Described in this Work, two engraved title pages, and one in text Plan of Druidical Stone.Grose (1731-91), English antiquary draughtsman and lexicographer, initiated the eighteenth-century's most extensive series of published illustrations of ancient monuments.
In 1788 he began the first of several tours of Scotland in order to produce The Antiquities of Scotland. It was on the second of these tours, in summer 1789, that he met and immediately formed a friendship with the poet Robert Burns. Burns met him while he was staying with Robert Riddell at the Friar's Carse, collecting material for his Scottish work. Burns suggested to him that he should include Alloway Kirk in his Scottish Antiquities, and Grose agreed on condition that Burns provided a witch tale to go with his drawing. In June 1790, Burns sent Grose a prose tale with a variant in a letter to Grose, following it up with a rhymed version, "Tam o' Shanter" (see Volume II, page 31).
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Price HK$ 8,000
Robertson of Irvine - Poet-Preacher -
Arthur Guthrie
1890 - Ardrossan, London - Second Edition
A finely bound copy, illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait and calotype plate of Trinity Church, Irvine from a photograph.
William Bruce Robertson (1820 – 1886), Scottish divine, was born at Greenhill, St. Ninians, Stirling, 24 May, 1820, and was educated at the University of Glasgow and at the Secession Theological Hall, Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of Thomas de Quincey, and on his recommendation went to the University of Halle and studied under Friedrich Tholuck.
After travelling in Italy and Switzerland he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Stirling and Falkirk in 1843, and was soon after ordained at the United Secession Church (after 1847, the United Presbyterian Church) in Irvine, Ayrshire. In this charge he remained for 35 years, exercising from his pulpit a truly magnetic influence.’
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Price HK$ 1,500
1890 - Ardrossan, London - Second Edition
A finely bound copy, illustrated with engraved frontispiece portrait and calotype plate of Trinity Church, Irvine from a photograph.William Bruce Robertson (1820 – 1886), Scottish divine, was born at Greenhill, St. Ninians, Stirling, 24 May, 1820, and was educated at the University of Glasgow and at the Secession Theological Hall, Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of Thomas de Quincey, and on his recommendation went to the University of Halle and studied under Friedrich Tholuck.
After travelling in Italy and Switzerland he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Stirling and Falkirk in 1843, and was soon after ordained at the United Secession Church (after 1847, the United Presbyterian Church) in Irvine, Ayrshire. In this charge he remained for 35 years, exercising from his pulpit a truly magnetic influence.’
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Price HK$ 1,500
The Glorious Adventure -
Richard Halliburton
1927 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First Edition, Second State.
‘I thought of Ulysses and his stirring drama, and then looked at my own life, imprisoned by apartment walls, surrounded by self-satisfied people who were caught in the ruts of convention and responsibility. All that seemed drab. I had tasted the drug of romantic travel, and I could not rest from it’.
Halliburton wrote these words before setting off for the blue Mediterranean, where he roamed searching for adventure and romance, both of which he was happy to report were still in abundant supply.
Come my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset . . . till I die . . .
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1927 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First Edition, Second State.
‘I thought of Ulysses and his stirring drama, and then looked at my own life, imprisoned by apartment walls, surrounded by self-satisfied people who were caught in the ruts of convention and responsibility. All that seemed drab. I had tasted the drug of romantic travel, and I could not rest from it’. Halliburton wrote these words before setting off for the blue Mediterranean, where he roamed searching for adventure and romance, both of which he was happy to report were still in abundant supply.
Come my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset . . . till I die . . .
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Price HK$ 1,800
The Monuments of Egypt; or, Egypt a witness for the Bible, - with - Notes of a Voyage up the Nile by an American. -
Francis L. Hawks (editor), John L. Stephens
1850 - Geo P. Putnam, New York - First Edition
Striking copy of this comprehensive description of Egypt intwo parts, the first compiled from various well known works, and illustrated throughout with colour and tinted lithographs, and black and white in-text sketches and drawings. Uncommon in original publisher’s gilt illustrated cloth, without restoration or rebinding.
The second part titled ‘Journal of a Voyage up the Nile, made between November, 1848, and April, 1849’ is an entertaining travelogue commonly attributed to John Lloyd Stephens, the renowned American archaeologist, famed for his exploration of the Maya runs in Central America, and an acquaintance Hawks met in London.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1850 - Geo P. Putnam, New York - First Edition
Striking copy of this comprehensive description of Egypt intwo parts, the first compiled from various well known works, and illustrated throughout with colour and tinted lithographs, and black and white in-text sketches and drawings. Uncommon in original publisher’s gilt illustrated cloth, without restoration or rebinding.The second part titled ‘Journal of a Voyage up the Nile, made between November, 1848, and April, 1849’ is an entertaining travelogue commonly attributed to John Lloyd Stephens, the renowned American archaeologist, famed for his exploration of the Maya runs in Central America, and an acquaintance Hawks met in London.
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Price HK$ 3,000
A Book of Designs of Deep Sea Racing Craft -
Malden Heckstall-Smith
1933 - Ernest J. Day & Company, London - First Edition
A fine copy of this large and beautifully presented work, containing the twenty nine of the best racing yacht designs selected from more than sixty submitted for an international competition organised by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for racing yachts in the 55 class (over 16.5 metres) and the 35 class (over 10 metres). With an Introduction by Malden Heckstall-Smith.
The designs are presented here over 116 full page illustrations, and the designers include the who’s who of international yacht designers such as J. Read, David Boyd, Alfred Pyszka, Laurent Giles & Partners, Charles A. Nicholson, H. W. de Voogt, Harry Jacobs, Olin Stephens, Jarl Lindblom, and John M. Tate.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1933 - Ernest J. Day & Company, London - First Edition
A fine copy of this large and beautifully presented work, containing the twenty nine of the best racing yacht designs selected from more than sixty submitted for an international competition organised by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for racing yachts in the 55 class (over 16.5 metres) and the 35 class (over 10 metres). With an Introduction by Malden Heckstall-Smith.The designs are presented here over 116 full page illustrations, and the designers include the who’s who of international yacht designers such as J. Read, David Boyd, Alfred Pyszka, Laurent Giles & Partners, Charles A. Nicholson, H. W. de Voogt, Harry Jacobs, Olin Stephens, Jarl Lindblom, and John M. Tate.
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Price HK$ 6,000
Yorkshire: Coast and Moorland Scenes -
Gordon Home
1904 - A. & C. Black, London - First Edition. Number 84 of 200 of the Edition de Luxe.
A scarce copy of the large edition deluxe. One of 200 copies signed by the Gordon Home.
Yorkshire described at the beginning of the 20th Century, over 450 pages beautifully illustrated with 32 full colour plates from paintings by Gordon Home, each with descriptive tissue guard. Fold-out map to the rear.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1904 - A. & C. Black, London - First Edition. Number 84 of 200 of the Edition de Luxe.
A scarce copy of the large edition deluxe. One of 200 copies signed by the Gordon Home. Yorkshire described at the beginning of the 20th Century, over 450 pages beautifully illustrated with 32 full colour plates from paintings by Gordon Home, each with descriptive tissue guard. Fold-out map to the rear.
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Price HK$ 3,000