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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]
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Price HK$ 3,500
The Chinese Novel. Nobel Lecture Delivered Before the Swedish Academy at Stockholm, December 12, 1938. - Signed -
Pearl S. Buck
1939 - The John Day Company, New York - First Edition
Signed by Pearl S. Buck on front free endpaper, a fine copy in a superior example of the delicate black and gilt foil dust jacket.
This lecture, presented on receipt of the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature, detailed Buck's thoughts on the history, evolution, and impact of the Chinese novel, as well as her perception of its effects on her writing style.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1939 - The John Day Company, New York - First Edition
Signed by Pearl S. Buck on front free endpaper, a fine copy in a superior example of the delicate black and gilt foil dust jacket.This lecture, presented on receipt of the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature, detailed Buck's thoughts on the history, evolution, and impact of the Chinese novel, as well as her perception of its effects on her writing style.
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Price HK$ 5,000
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’.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Last Night of the Earth Poems - Signed and with Silkscreen Print -
Charles Bukowski
1992 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa - No. 105 of 225 signed and numbered copies. First Edition
No. 105 of 225 numbered copies with an original signed and dated silkscreen print, also signed in the colophon.
One of Bukowski’s most successful collections of poetry.
‘These poems were written when Bukowski was in his seventies. Old man Bukowski reflects on his life in his typical raw style. It features classic Bukowski poems like the beautiful ‘The Bluebird’ and the epic apocalyptic horror that is ‘Dinosauria, we’.’ - Outsiders & Misfits.
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Price HK$ 7,500
1992 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa - No. 105 of 225 signed and numbered copies. First Edition
No. 105 of 225 numbered copies with an original signed and dated silkscreen print, also signed in the colophon.One of Bukowski’s most successful collections of poetry.
‘These poems were written when Bukowski was in his seventies. Old man Bukowski reflects on his life in his typical raw style. It features classic Bukowski poems like the beautiful ‘The Bluebird’ and the epic apocalyptic horror that is ‘Dinosauria, we’.’ - Outsiders & Misfits.
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Price HK$ 7,500
Hot Water Music - Signed -
Charles Bukowski
1983 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara - No. 60 of 400 signed and numbered copies. First Edition
A signed first edition of what is considered one of Bukowki’s best short story collections, the other two being ‘Notes of a Dirty Old Man’ and ‘Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness’.
‘With his characteristic raw and minimalist style, Charles Bukowski takes us on a walk through his side of town in Hot Water Music. He gives us little vignettes of depravity and lasciviousness, bite sized pieces of what is both beautiful and grotesque.
The stories in Hot Water Music dash around the worst parts of town – a motel room stinking of sick, a decrepit apartment housing a perpetually arguing couple, a bar tended by a skeleton – and depict the darkest parts of human existence. Bukowski talks simply and profoundly about the underbelly of the working class without raising judgement.
In the way he writes about sex, relationships, writing, and inebriation, Bukowski sets the bar for irreverent art – his work inhabits the basest part of the mind and the most extreme absurdity of the everyday.’ - from the Harper Collins edition.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1983 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara - No. 60 of 400 signed and numbered copies. First Edition
A signed first edition of what is considered one of Bukowki’s best short story collections, the other two being ‘Notes of a Dirty Old Man’ and ‘Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness’.‘With his characteristic raw and minimalist style, Charles Bukowski takes us on a walk through his side of town in Hot Water Music. He gives us little vignettes of depravity and lasciviousness, bite sized pieces of what is both beautiful and grotesque.
The stories in Hot Water Music dash around the worst parts of town – a motel room stinking of sick, a decrepit apartment housing a perpetually arguing couple, a bar tended by a skeleton – and depict the darkest parts of human existence. Bukowski talks simply and profoundly about the underbelly of the working class without raising judgement.
In the way he writes about sex, relationships, writing, and inebriation, Bukowski sets the bar for irreverent art – his work inhabits the basest part of the mind and the most extreme absurdity of the everyday.’ - from the Harper Collins edition.
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Price HK$ 7,000
East of Mansion House -
Thomas Burke
1928 - Cassell and Company, London - First Edition
‘A London native, Burke knew the city intimately and brought it to life in essays, mood pieces, and short stories, most of which had a melodramatic atmosphere of crime.’ – Stenbrunner & Penzler.
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Price HK$ 1,200
1928 - Cassell and Company, London - First Edition
‘A London native, Burke knew the city intimately and brought it to life in essays, mood pieces, and short stories, most of which had a melodramatic atmosphere of crime.’ – Stenbrunner & Penzler.
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Price HK$ 1,200
Nova Express -
William S. Burroughs
1964 - Grove Press, New York - First Edition
‘A masterpiece of fantasy and reality, a carnival of horrors, a doomsday confrontation of man and his world.’
Burroughs’ ferociously political and prophetic novel – a parody of bureaucracy and human frailty, and the third in his linguistically ‘cut-up’ trilogy, following The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded –fires the reader into the diabolical world of the Nova Mob, poised to wreak havoc and destruction upon the planet. Can Inspector J. Lee of the Nova Police stop them before it’s too late…?
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Price HK$ 1,600
1964 - Grove Press, New York - First Edition
‘A masterpiece of fantasy and reality, a carnival of horrors, a doomsday confrontation of man and his world.’Burroughs’ ferociously political and prophetic novel – a parody of bureaucracy and human frailty, and the third in his linguistically ‘cut-up’ trilogy, following The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded –fires the reader into the diabolical world of the Nova Mob, poised to wreak havoc and destruction upon the planet. Can Inspector J. Lee of the Nova Police stop them before it’s too late…?
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Price HK$ 1,600
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night -
Richard F. Burton, Leonard C. Smithers (editor)
1894 - H. S. Nichols &, London - The Library Edition
A magnificent twelve volume set of Burton’s outstanding work of translation. ‘As a monument of his Arabic learning and his encyclopaedic knowledge of Eastern life this was his greatest achievement’ [Encyclopaedia Britannica]. The first editions to be published by Nichols and edited by Leonard Smithers, in bright intricately gilt decorated bindings.
This edition followed on from Lady Burton’s disastrous 1886 abridged six volume edition (without the naughty bits or ‘Supplemental Nights’) and the original Kamashastra Society of 1885 edition whose facsimile title pages are inserted in their correct places (as Nichols fits the original sixteen volumes into twelve for this set).
‘...But when it was midnight Shahrázád awoke and signalled to her sister Dunyázád who sat up and said, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, recite to us some new story, delightsome and delectable wherewith to while away the waking hours of our latter night." "With joy and goodly gree," answered Shahrázád, "if this pious and auspicious King permit me." "Tell on," quoth the King who chanced to be sleepless and restless and therefore was pleased with the prospect of hearing her story.’
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Price HK$ 8,000
1894 - H. S. Nichols &, London - The Library Edition
A magnificent twelve volume set of Burton’s outstanding work of translation. ‘As a monument of his Arabic learning and his encyclopaedic knowledge of Eastern life this was his greatest achievement’ [Encyclopaedia Britannica]. The first editions to be published by Nichols and edited by Leonard Smithers, in bright intricately gilt decorated bindings.This edition followed on from Lady Burton’s disastrous 1886 abridged six volume edition (without the naughty bits or ‘Supplemental Nights’) and the original Kamashastra Society of 1885 edition whose facsimile title pages are inserted in their correct places (as Nichols fits the original sixteen volumes into twelve for this set).
‘...But when it was midnight Shahrázád awoke and signalled to her sister Dunyázád who sat up and said, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, recite to us some new story, delightsome and delectable wherewith to while away the waking hours of our latter night." "With joy and goodly gree," answered Shahrázád, "if this pious and auspicious King permit me." "Tell on," quoth the King who chanced to be sleepless and restless and therefore was pleased with the prospect of hearing her story.’
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Price HK$ 8,000