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Found Money -
George A. Birmingham (pseud. James Owen Hannay)
1923 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First American Edition
A humorous Irish mystery of buried treasure. A fine copy in delicate dust jacket.
George A. Birmingham was the pen name of James Owen Hannay (1865-1950), Irish clergyman and prolific and successful novelist.
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Price HK$ 800
1923 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First American Edition
A humorous Irish mystery of buried treasure. A fine copy in delicate dust jacket.George A. Birmingham was the pen name of James Owen Hannay (1865-1950), Irish clergyman and prolific and successful novelist.

Price HK$ 800
You Can't Win -
Jack Black, Robert Herrick (Foreword)
1926 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
The classic American anti-hero narrative of West Coast hobo safecracker and petty thief, Jack Black—a work which William S. Burroughs cited as one of his favorite books. The acknowledgment page sets the tone for Black's journey through the American underworld, "This book is dedicated to Fremont Older, to Judge Frank H. Dunne, to the unnamed friend who sawed me out of the San Francisco jail and to that dirty, drunken, disreputable, crippled beggar, 'Sticks' Sullivan, who picked the buckshot out of my back—under the bridge—at Baraboo, Wisconsin".
‘A journey into the hobo underworld, freight hopping around the still Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, doing stints in jail or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges.’ - A K Press.
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Price HK$ 7,500
1926 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
The classic American anti-hero narrative of West Coast hobo safecracker and petty thief, Jack Black—a work which William S. Burroughs cited as one of his favorite books. The acknowledgment page sets the tone for Black's journey through the American underworld, "This book is dedicated to Fremont Older, to Judge Frank H. Dunne, to the unnamed friend who sawed me out of the San Francisco jail and to that dirty, drunken, disreputable, crippled beggar, 'Sticks' Sullivan, who picked the buckshot out of my back—under the bridge—at Baraboo, Wisconsin".‘A journey into the hobo underworld, freight hopping around the still Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, doing stints in jail or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges.’ - A K Press.

Price HK$ 7,500
The Sheltering Sky -
Paul Bowles
1949 - John Lehmann, London - First Edition
First edition of Bowles’ most celebrated work, the unravelling of a young, sophisticated and adventurous American couple as they make their way into the Sahara.
‘I suspect that a good many people will read this book and be enthralled by it without once suspecting that it contains a mirror of what is most terrifying and cryptic within the Sahara of moral nihilism, into which the race of man now seems to be wandering blindly’ – Tennessee Williams, The New York Times.
‘One of the most original, even visionary, works of fiction to appear in this century’ – Tobias Wolff.
‘His art far exceeds that of the greatest American writers of our day’ – Gore Vidal.
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Price HK$ 16,000
1949 - John Lehmann, London - First Edition
First edition of Bowles’ most celebrated work, the unravelling of a young, sophisticated and adventurous American couple as they make their way into the Sahara.‘I suspect that a good many people will read this book and be enthralled by it without once suspecting that it contains a mirror of what is most terrifying and cryptic within the Sahara of moral nihilism, into which the race of man now seems to be wandering blindly’ – Tennessee Williams, The New York Times.
‘One of the most original, even visionary, works of fiction to appear in this century’ – Tobias Wolff.
‘His art far exceeds that of the greatest American writers of our day’ – Gore Vidal.

Price HK$ 16,000
Fahrenheit 451 - Signed -
Ray Bradbury
1953 - Ballantine Books, New York - First edition
One of the Most Desirable Rarities in Modern Science Fiction.
First edition, one of 200 copies, of which this is number 36, signed by Bradbury and bound in ‘an asbestos material with exceptional resistance to pyrolysis’.
An outstanding, tight and bright copy, whose magnificently named binding material ‘Johns-Manville Quinterra’, a fireproof asbestos material, is prone to crumbling, staining, and soiling.
‘Frightening in its implications.’ - New York Times.
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Price HK$ 250,000
1953 - Ballantine Books, New York - First edition
One of the Most Desirable Rarities in Modern Science Fiction.First edition, one of 200 copies, of which this is number 36, signed by Bradbury and bound in ‘an asbestos material with exceptional resistance to pyrolysis’.
An outstanding, tight and bright copy, whose magnificently named binding material ‘Johns-Manville Quinterra’, a fireproof asbestos material, is prone to crumbling, staining, and soiling.
‘Frightening in its implications.’ - New York Times.

Price HK$ 250,000
Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat -
Ernest Bramah
1928 - The Richards Press Ltd., London - First Edition, in first issue dust jacket
‘The more you can consume, the less will be this self-conscious person’s shame at the insipidity of what he puts before you; the longer you can tolerate his worn-out roof, the greater will be the confidence with which he can henceforth continue to dwell beneath it...’
The third collection of stories in Brahmah’s ‘Kai Lung’ series: a brilliant literary fusion of myths, legends, and cosmology from the Golden age of Han, tied together with Bramah’s keen eye for combining historic fiction and comedy. Kai Lung, our hapless yet loveable protagonist, must once again defeat his enemies and win back his kidnapped wife; Hwa-Mei, by weaving together seemingly unconnected parables and tales until an overarching narrative is skilfully revealed.
A seminal influence in the genre of speculative fiction, Bramah’s works have been compared with those of Jerome K. Jerome, and PG Wodehouse. His work went on to inspire writers such as Dorothy L Sayers, Jorge Luis Borges, and George Orwell, among many others.
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Price HK$ 2,000
1928 - The Richards Press Ltd., London - First Edition, in first issue dust jacket
‘The more you can consume, the less will be this self-conscious person’s shame at the insipidity of what he puts before you; the longer you can tolerate his worn-out roof, the greater will be the confidence with which he can henceforth continue to dwell beneath it...’The third collection of stories in Brahmah’s ‘Kai Lung’ series: a brilliant literary fusion of myths, legends, and cosmology from the Golden age of Han, tied together with Bramah’s keen eye for combining historic fiction and comedy. Kai Lung, our hapless yet loveable protagonist, must once again defeat his enemies and win back his kidnapped wife; Hwa-Mei, by weaving together seemingly unconnected parables and tales until an overarching narrative is skilfully revealed.
A seminal influence in the genre of speculative fiction, Bramah’s works have been compared with those of Jerome K. Jerome, and PG Wodehouse. His work went on to inspire writers such as Dorothy L Sayers, Jorge Luis Borges, and George Orwell, among many others.

Price HK$ 2,000
The Works of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte -
Anne, Charlotte & Emily Bront
1893 - J.M. Dent and Company, London
An elegantly bound twelve volume set of the Brontë sisters works, each volume with a decorated title page and frontispiece, and two further black and white illustrated plates by Greig and Tilney (three to volume I).
Presented in a matching navy fleece-lined slipcase with ribbon-pull.
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Price HK$ 25,000
1893 - J.M. Dent and Company, London
An elegantly bound twelve volume set of the Brontë sisters works, each volume with a decorated title page and frontispiece, and two further black and white illustrated plates by Greig and Tilney (three to volume I).Presented in a matching navy fleece-lined slipcase with ribbon-pull.

Price HK$ 25,000
Sick Heart River -
John Buchan
1941 - Hodder Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Buchan’s last book, published posthumously.
The review in the April 1941 edition of Punch sums it up nicely:-
‘"If thou hast a woe, tell it not to the weakling, tell it to thy saddle-bow, and ride singing forth." John Buchan took this Proverb of Alfred as text for his book Sick Heart River (Hodder and Stoughton, 8/3) which is as good a sermon to lift the downhearted as has ever been given in the form of a novel. When Sir Edward Leithen, a former British Attorney-General, received his notice of death from a specialist, "his memory sprawled over places he had seen" and he decided to go to Quebec to make his soul and to "die standing". One journey led to another in quest of a famous French-Canadian who, in a mood of mental sickness, had suddenly left his wife and important office in New York; and was "wanted" by American people because of his genius over international affairs. The tale that follows of two white men, their half-breed guides and some "Hare Indians", their fight with and against Nature in a lonely place is soul-stirring in more than one way and makes as brave a book as the late Governor-General of Canada ever gave us.’
The fictional Sick Heart River is in the real region of the Nahanni River in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is in some of the most rugged terrain in Canada. The area was only just being mapped when Buchan, as Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, passed nearby during his voyage down the Mackenzie River in the summer of 1937. Having heard much about the mysterious South Nahanni, Buchan was fascinated by it and wanted to go there, but did not make it before he died in February, 1940. [Galbraith, 2001]
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Price HK$ 3,500
1941 - Hodder Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Buchan’s last book, published posthumously. The review in the April 1941 edition of Punch sums it up nicely:-
‘"If thou hast a woe, tell it not to the weakling, tell it to thy saddle-bow, and ride singing forth." John Buchan took this Proverb of Alfred as text for his book Sick Heart River (Hodder and Stoughton, 8/3) which is as good a sermon to lift the downhearted as has ever been given in the form of a novel. When Sir Edward Leithen, a former British Attorney-General, received his notice of death from a specialist, "his memory sprawled over places he had seen" and he decided to go to Quebec to make his soul and to "die standing". One journey led to another in quest of a famous French-Canadian who, in a mood of mental sickness, had suddenly left his wife and important office in New York; and was "wanted" by American people because of his genius over international affairs. The tale that follows of two white men, their half-breed guides and some "Hare Indians", their fight with and against Nature in a lonely place is soul-stirring in more than one way and makes as brave a book as the late Governor-General of Canada ever gave us.’
The fictional Sick Heart River is in the real region of the Nahanni River in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is in some of the most rugged terrain in Canada. The area was only just being mapped when Buchan, as Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, passed nearby during his voyage down the Mackenzie River in the summer of 1937. Having heard much about the mysterious South Nahanni, Buchan was fascinated by it and wanted to go there, but did not make it before he died in February, 1940. [Galbraith, 2001]

Price HK$ 3,500
Trouble A-Brewing. A Novel of Detection -
John Bude (Pseud. Ernest Carpenter Elmore)
1946 - Macdonald and Co.(Publishers) Ltd., London - First Edition
An exceptional example of this scarce first edition, in the dust jacket without price-clipping and only a little colour touch-up to spine and outer corners.
Featuring Chief Inspector Meredith who ‘proves himself more than a match for any murderer; even for one who first poisons his victim and then hides the body in a hogshead of beer’.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1946 - Macdonald and Co.(Publishers) Ltd., London - First Edition
An exceptional example of this scarce first edition, in the dust jacket without price-clipping and only a little colour touch-up to spine and outer corners.Featuring Chief Inspector Meredith who ‘proves himself more than a match for any murderer; even for one who first poisons his victim and then hides the body in a hogshead of beer’.

Price HK$ 3,000