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The Hoods -
Harry Grey (Pseud. Herschel Goldberg)
1952 - Crown Publishers, New York - First Edition
A rare first edition in unfaded dust jacket. The first novel by Harry Grey (Herschel Goldberg) later to become Sergio Leone’s epic ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (1984) starring Robert DeNiro loosely playing Harry's life as David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson.
A partly autobiographical account of Goldberg, a Ukrainian born Jewish gangster in New York's Lower East Side between 1910 and 1933, legend has it that this was written whilst incarcerated in the notorious Sing-Sing prison, using the pseudonym Harry Grey to protect his family.
Housed in a bespoke black clamshell case with red morocco spine label lettered in gilt.
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Price HK$ 17,000
1952 - Crown Publishers, New York - First Edition
A rare first edition in unfaded dust jacket. The first novel by Harry Grey (Herschel Goldberg) later to become Sergio Leone’s epic ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (1984) starring Robert DeNiro loosely playing Harry's life as David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson.A partly autobiographical account of Goldberg, a Ukrainian born Jewish gangster in New York's Lower East Side between 1910 and 1933, legend has it that this was written whilst incarcerated in the notorious Sing-Sing prison, using the pseudonym Harry Grey to protect his family.
Housed in a bespoke black clamshell case with red morocco spine label lettered in gilt.
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Price HK$ 17,000
The Secret of Tangles. Another Case for Anthony Slade and Department X -
Leonard R. Gribble
1934 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia - First American Edition
Fine publisher’s copy with ‘File Copy. Not to be removed from office’ stamped to front fly leaf.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1934 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia - First American Edition
Fine publisher’s copy with ‘File Copy. Not to be removed from office’ stamped to front fly leaf.
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Price HK$ 1,800
The Well of Loneliness -
Radclyffe Hall
1928 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of this groundbreaking and for that reason, controversial novel, which follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver during the First World War, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection, which Hall depicts as the typical sufferings of "inverts", with predictably debilitating effects. The novel portrays "inversion" as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence".
Shortly after the book's publication, it became the target of a campaign by James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express. Douglas wrote that "I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel." A British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women"; it was not published again in England until 1949.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1928 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of this groundbreaking and for that reason, controversial novel, which follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver during the First World War, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection, which Hall depicts as the typical sufferings of "inverts", with predictably debilitating effects. The novel portrays "inversion" as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence".Shortly after the book's publication, it became the target of a campaign by James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express. Douglas wrote that "I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel." A British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women"; it was not published again in England until 1949.
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Price HK$ 5,000
Gas Light. A Victorian Thriller in Three Acts -
Patrick Hamilton
1939 - Constable and Company Ltd., London - First Edition
First edition of this highlight work, scarce in this condition.
‘A Broadway hit first produced in London under the title ‘Gaslight’, 'Gas Light' tells the story of the Manninghams who live on Angel Street in the 19th Century. The secret of the dimming gaslight and the mystery of the hidden rubies will captivate all.’ [Stageplays]
Vincent Price arranged the rights for the Broadway production renamed it 'Angel Street' and starred in it, closing after 1,295 performances.
'Gas Light' was also twice adapted for film, in Britain in 1940, and the 1944 American film which was nominated for seven academy awards, including best actress for Ingrid Bergman.
‘Gas Light’ gave rise to the term "gaslighting", meaning a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to victims with the intent of making them doubt their own memories, perceptions and judgements.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1939 - Constable and Company Ltd., London - First Edition
First edition of this highlight work, scarce in this condition.‘A Broadway hit first produced in London under the title ‘Gaslight’, 'Gas Light' tells the story of the Manninghams who live on Angel Street in the 19th Century. The secret of the dimming gaslight and the mystery of the hidden rubies will captivate all.’ [Stageplays]
Vincent Price arranged the rights for the Broadway production renamed it 'Angel Street' and starred in it, closing after 1,295 performances.
'Gas Light' was also twice adapted for film, in Britain in 1940, and the 1944 American film which was nominated for seven academy awards, including best actress for Ingrid Bergman.
‘Gas Light’ gave rise to the term "gaslighting", meaning a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to victims with the intent of making them doubt their own memories, perceptions and judgements.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Cleek, The Master Detective -
Thomas W. Hanshew, Gordon Grant (illustrator)
1918 - Doubleday, Garden City - First American Edition
Fine example of this collection of short stories featuring Detective Hamilton Cleek, known as the man of forty faces for his masterful ability to disguise himself. Formerly the villainous ‘Vanishing Cracksman’ but now reformed chief riddle solver for Scotland Yard.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1918 - Doubleday, Garden City - First American Edition
Fine example of this collection of short stories featuring Detective Hamilton Cleek, known as the man of forty faces for his masterful ability to disguise himself. Formerly the villainous ‘Vanishing Cracksman’ but now reformed chief riddle solver for Scotland Yard.
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Price HK$ 2,800
Eustace and Hilda: A Trilogy -
L. P. Hartley
1958 - Putnam, New York - First Trilogy Edition
A finely bound trilogy in four parts – ‘The Shrimp and the Anemone’, ‘Hilda's Letter’, ‘The Sixth Heaven’, and ‘Eustace and Hilda’.
Preceded by an introduction by Leslie Poles Hartley.
“The three books gathered together as Eustace and Hilda explore a brother and sister’s lifelong relationship. Hilda, the older child, is both self-sacrificing and domineering, as puritanical as she is gorgeous; Eustace is a gentle, dreamy, pleasure-loving boy: the two siblings could hardly be more different, but they are also deeply devoted. And yet as Eustace and Hilda grow up and seek to go their separate ways in a world of power and position, money and love, their relationship is marked by increasing pain.
L. P. Hartley’s much-loved novel, the magnum opus of one of twentieth-century England’s best writers, is a complex and spellbinding work: a comedy of upper-class manners; a study in the subtlest nuances of feeling; a poignant reckoning with the ironies of character and fate. Above all, it is about two people who cannot live together or apart, about the ties that bind—and break” – New York Review of Books.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1958 - Putnam, New York - First Trilogy Edition
A finely bound trilogy in four parts – ‘The Shrimp and the Anemone’, ‘Hilda's Letter’, ‘The Sixth Heaven’, and ‘Eustace and Hilda’.Preceded by an introduction by Leslie Poles Hartley.
“The three books gathered together as Eustace and Hilda explore a brother and sister’s lifelong relationship. Hilda, the older child, is both self-sacrificing and domineering, as puritanical as she is gorgeous; Eustace is a gentle, dreamy, pleasure-loving boy: the two siblings could hardly be more different, but they are also deeply devoted. And yet as Eustace and Hilda grow up and seek to go their separate ways in a world of power and position, money and love, their relationship is marked by increasing pain.
L. P. Hartley’s much-loved novel, the magnum opus of one of twentieth-century England’s best writers, is a complex and spellbinding work: a comedy of upper-class manners; a study in the subtlest nuances of feeling; a poignant reckoning with the ironies of character and fate. Above all, it is about two people who cannot live together or apart, about the ties that bind—and break” – New York Review of Books.
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Price HK$ 3,000
Ancient Metrical Tales: Printed Chiefly from Original Sources -
Rev. Charles Henry Hartshorne
1829 - William Pickering, London - First Edition
Finely bound and with the engraved frontispiece ‘Poetry’ which is usually lacking.
A two hundred year old collection of of metrical (in poetic meters) romances, fables, and historical accounts written in Middle English that offer a fascinating glimpse into the storytelling traditions of the past.
Transcribed and edited by Charles Henry Hartshorne (1802-1865) from manuscripts held at the time in the libraries of the University of Cambridge dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1829 - William Pickering, London - First Edition
Finely bound and with the engraved frontispiece ‘Poetry’ which is usually lacking.A two hundred year old collection of of metrical (in poetic meters) romances, fables, and historical accounts written in Middle English that offer a fascinating glimpse into the storytelling traditions of the past.
Transcribed and edited by Charles Henry Hartshorne (1802-1865) from manuscripts held at the time in the libraries of the University of Cambridge dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries.
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Price HK$ 1,800
Darkey Ditties. Poems. -
Elliott B. Henderson
1915 - Self Published, Columbus - First Edition
Elliott Blaine Henderson’s ninth collection of African-American poetry.
Amongst the poems are such titles as ‘Cispus Attucks’, ‘De Bes’ State in de Lan’’, ‘A Plantation “Step-erbout”’, ‘Some Negro Characteristics’; ‘A Retrospection’, and ‘Sich an Itchin’ in Mah Shin’.
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Price HK$ 1,200
1915 - Self Published, Columbus - First Edition
Elliott Blaine Henderson’s ninth collection of African-American poetry.Amongst the poems are such titles as ‘Cispus Attucks’, ‘De Bes’ State in de Lan’’, ‘A Plantation “Step-erbout”’, ‘Some Negro Characteristics’; ‘A Retrospection’, and ‘Sich an Itchin’ in Mah Shin’.
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Price HK$ 1,200