Results 49 - 56 of 73 results

Profiles in Courage - Senator John F. Kennedy

1956 - Harper &, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition in bright clean and delicate dust jacket, which is usually encountered in a far worse state.

Profiles in Courage’, which Kennedy dedicated to his wife Jacqueline Kennedy, received the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1957.

This is a book about that most admirable of human virtues – courage. “Grace under pressure,” Ernest Hemingway defined it.’

Kennedy’s election to the House in 1946 and the Senate in 1952 gave him personal experience in dealing with the conflicting pressures that legislators face. Kennedy took a leave of absence to recover from back surgery, giving him the opportunity to study the topic of political courage. The result,
Profiles in Courage, focuses on the careers of eight Senators whom Kennedy felt had shown great courage under enormous pressure from their parties and their constituents. His own battles with physical pain and his experiences in World War II as a PT boat commander also gave him inspiration.

 
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Price HK$ 15,000



The Three Lieutenants, or, Naval Life in the Nineteenth Century - W. H. G. Kingston

1897 - Griffith Farran Browne &, London
Illustrations by Charles J. de Lacy. From the Boys’ Own Favourite Library series. The second novel in Kingstons series which began with ‘The Midshipmen’. A lovely copy in pictorial boardsand gilt edges.

Kingston's reputation was made by these books, that first appeared about 1860, and dealt with an officer's life in the Navy at about that time. By an extraordinary coincidence, the three young men who had met as midshipmen, get postings that enable them to keep their friendships alive when they are lieutenants. Another old friend is Admiral Triton, who, though retired, takes a great interest in their careers.
 
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Price HK$ 900



Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan, of Kabul; with his political proceedings towards the English, Russian, and Persian governments, including the victory and disasters of the British army in Afghanistan - Mohan Lal

1846 - Longman, London - First Edition
A rare and important work. Illustrated with nineteen portraits printed on India paper.

In this two-volume biography, Indian diplomat and author Mohan Lal (1812–77) describes the life of Amir Dost Mohammed Khan (1793–1863), the ruler of Afghanistan. The work also includes an eye-witness account of the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War.

Lal, who was attached to the British mission to Kabul, had prepared an account in English and Persian which was lost during the chaos of the War, but he later put the story together again. In his Preface, Lal apologises to the reader for his abundant errors both in grammar and idiom and explains that anecdotes about the Amir's adventures and morals were generally communicated to him second-hand. However, the book, which contains illustrations and draws on personal correspondence, is a fascinating account of the ruler himself and of his political dealings with the English, Russian and Persian governments at the time of the 'Great Game' in Central Asia. [CUP]
 
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Price HK$ 21,000



Voyage dans les Mers de l'Inde - Guillaume Joseph Le Gentil de la Galaisiere

1779 - Imprimerie Royale, Paris - First Editions
‘Two monumental volumes... crammed with details on astronomy, navigation, and natural history... His descriptions of life in Manila, Pondicherry, and Madagascar are invaluable’ (Dunmore).

A stunning set In contemporary bindings and illustrated with twenty seven folding copper engravings showing two world maps, maps charts and plans of Eastern and Western Philippines, Bay of Manila, Philippine Harbours, Manilla, Madagascar and it’s coastline, Isle de France (Mauritius), Isle de Bourbon (Réunion), Quartier S. Denis on Réunion, Eastern and Western Straits of Malacca, and Pondicherry. Together with engraved plates of animals and plant life, the ruins of Pondicherry, pagodas, Indian deities, and charts of comets and constellations.

‘In addition to the scientific details for which the voyage was undertaken, the first volume treats of the manners, customs, and religion or the people of the Malabar Coast and of the astronomy of the Brahmins. The second volume contains elaborate accounts of the Philippine Islands, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Bourbon and their inhabitants, including views and charts of the Philippines. Le Gentil gives details of the Islands, their climate, volcanoes, fertility, fruits, birds, animals, peoples, language, history, and description of Manila, the government, ecclesiastical and civil, commerce, &c.’ (Edwards).
 
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Price HK$ 51,000



Golf - Cecil Leitch

1922 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia & - First American Edition issued same year as the First English Edition.
The golfing life and experiences of this very great English lady golfer’ - Joseph Murdoch, The Library of Golf.

Charlotte Cecilia Pitcairn Leitch (nicknamed Cecil) was
the first superstar of women’s golf. In 1914 she won the first of her four British Ladies Amateurs, taking the title from Muriel Dodd. Her opportunity to possibly win several more was interrupted for five years during the First World War. She retired having won 12 national titles, five French Ladies Amateurs and one Canadian Women's Amateur.

With fifty illustrations, including photographic plate laid onto front covers, and full page black and white photographs.
 
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Price HK$ 1,800



1953-1955 - Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick
A handsomely bound nine volume set of the most comprehensive collection to date of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, letters and notes, together with a one volume index. A massive undertaking by the Abraham Lincoln Association of Springfield, Illinois.

Illustrated with photographs and plates reproducing documents, and engraved portrait frontispiece to volume I
 
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Price HK$ 24,000



The Chronicles of Scotland. Published from Several Old Manuscripts - Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, John Graham Dalyell (editor)

1814 - Printed by George Ramsay for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh
An early and rare publication of Lindsay’s Historie and Chronicles of Scotland, the first history of Scotland to be composed in Scots rather than Latin, and first published in 1728. This edition was compiled by Dalyell from four different manuscripts, and even Dalyell says that ‘perhaps it is not inconsistent to admit, that [Lindsay] may have availed himself of the materials collected by his predecessors.’

The
Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen gives Lindsay some credit, by stating that ‘the earnest and honest simplicity of the good old chronicler, however, is exceedingly amusing.’ But, they go on to say that ‘as to the Chronicles themselves, it is not perhaps very easy to determine in what language they should be spoken of. They present a strange compound of endless and aimless garrulity, simplicity, credulity, and graphic delineation; the latter, however, evidently the effect not of art or design, but of a total want of them. He describes events with all the circumstantiality of an eyewitness, and with all the prolixity of one who is determined to leave nothing untold, however trifling it may be. But his credulity, in particular, seems to have been boundless, and is remarkable even for the credulous age in which he lived. He appears to have believed, without question, every thing which was told him; and, believing it, has carefully recorded it.’ 
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Price HK$ 5,000



Voodoo Fire in Haiti - Richard A. Loederer

1935 - Jarrolds Publishers London Limited, London - First Edition in English
‘The drums took on a different rhythm, rattling out a sharp staccato message, accompanied by the heavy pounding of the bass. Faster and faster flew the feet of the dancers as they whirled round the fire. Their smooth muscles writhed and cramped as under the blows of an invisible whip.’

From his steamer voyage from Jazz Age New York to Cap Haitien to his punishing trek through the island's interior jungle to a rapt, yet fearful, attendance at an authentic voodoo ceremony, Loederer captures the sights, sounds, and sensations of this mysterious Caribbean republic.

A selection of the magnificent chapter headings tell all... Congo Bean Stew; Massacre River; Jungle Magic; Tropical Fever; Polychromata; Black Magic; Voodoo Fire.

Illustrated by fifty one of the author's own art deco-style woodcuts, and his wonderful piratical map of Haiti used for the endpapers, which only add to the exotic appeal.
 
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Price HK$ 3,000



 
Results 49 - 56 of 73 results