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The Player of Games -
Iain M. Banks
1988 - St. Martin's Press, New York - First American Edition
A fine first American edition of the second volume in Banks’ acclaimed ‘Culture Series’.
The story of Gurgeh, one of the Culture’s greatest game masters who, bored with success, travels to the cruel and wealthy Empire of Azad, where he becomes entangled in the most dangerous and complex game he has ever played.
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Price HK$ 2,400
1988 - St. Martin's Press, New York - First American Edition
A fine first American edition of the second volume in Banks’ acclaimed ‘Culture Series’.The story of Gurgeh, one of the Culture’s greatest game masters who, bored with success, travels to the cruel and wealthy Empire of Azad, where he becomes entangled in the most dangerous and complex game he has ever played.
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Price HK$ 2,400
The Wasp Factory -
Iain Banks
1984 - Macmillan, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Banks’ important first novel. A fabulous twisted story of incidents in the lives of Scottish islanders and one child in particular, highly controversial at the time of its release:-
‘Brilliant’ - The New York Times.
‘Rubbish’ - The Times.
‘Macabre, bizarre, and impossible to put down’ - The Financial Times.
‘A work of unparalleled depravity’ - The Irish Times.
‘One of the top 100 novels of the century’ - The Independent.
So there you have it, to be read with caution.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1984 - Macmillan, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Banks’ important first novel. A fabulous twisted story of incidents in the lives of Scottish islanders and one child in particular, highly controversial at the time of its release:-‘Brilliant’ - The New York Times.
‘Rubbish’ - The Times.
‘Macabre, bizarre, and impossible to put down’ - The Financial Times.
‘A work of unparalleled depravity’ - The Irish Times.
‘One of the top 100 novels of the century’ - The Independent.
So there you have it, to be read with caution.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Sot-Weed Factor -
John Barth
1960 - Doubleday, Garden City - First Edition
First edition of John Barth's satirical epic set in the 1680s–90s in London and colonial Maryland, cementing his reputation as one of the leading experimental writers of his generation. Accompanied by two examples of the scarce and delicate dust jacket, suitably designed by Edward Gorey.
The main character - Ebenezer Cooke - was considered by Time to be ‘one of the most diverting... to roam the world since Candide’.
The Sot-Weed Factor ‘recounts the widely chaotic odyssey of hapless, ungainly Ebenezer Cooke, sent to the New World to look after his father’s tobacco business and to record the struggles of the Maryland colony in an epic poem. On his mission, Cooke experiences capture by pirates and Indians; the loss of his father’s estate to roguish impostors; love for a former prostitute; stealthy efforts to rob him of his virginity, which he is (almost) determined to protect; and an extraordinary gallery of treacherous characters who continually switch identities. “ [Atlantic]
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Price HK$ 6,000
1960 - Doubleday, Garden City - First Edition
First edition of John Barth's satirical epic set in the 1680s–90s in London and colonial Maryland, cementing his reputation as one of the leading experimental writers of his generation. Accompanied by two examples of the scarce and delicate dust jacket, suitably designed by Edward Gorey.The main character - Ebenezer Cooke - was considered by Time to be ‘one of the most diverting... to roam the world since Candide’.
The Sot-Weed Factor ‘recounts the widely chaotic odyssey of hapless, ungainly Ebenezer Cooke, sent to the New World to look after his father’s tobacco business and to record the struggles of the Maryland colony in an epic poem. On his mission, Cooke experiences capture by pirates and Indians; the loss of his father’s estate to roguish impostors; love for a former prostitute; stealthy efforts to rob him of his virginity, which he is (almost) determined to protect; and an extraordinary gallery of treacherous characters who continually switch identities. “ [Atlantic]
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Price HK$ 6,000
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.
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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$ 28,000
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.
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Price HK$ 28,000
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.
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Price HK$ 250,000
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]
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Price HK$ 3,500
The Last Night of the Earth Poems -
Charles Bukowski
1992 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa - Letter ‘U’ of 26 lettered and signed copies. First Edition
A special deluxe copy with an original Bukowski silkscreen print signed ‘Buk ‘92’, also signed in the colophon, only 26 were produced each hand-bound by Earle Gray.
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$ 9,000
1992 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa - Letter ‘U’ of 26 lettered and signed copies. First Edition
A special deluxe copy with an original Bukowski silkscreen print signed ‘Buk ‘92’, also signed in the colophon, only 26 were produced each hand-bound by Earle Gray.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$ 9,000