On Her Majesty s Secret Service - Signed -
Ian Lancaster Fleming
1963 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, Signed Limited Issue
One of 35 un-numbered private copies, signed by Ian Fleming to limitation page marked 'Presentation'.
A lovely example of the Signed Limited Edition printed on thicker mould-made paper, with a colour frontispiece of the author by Charles Amherst Villiers and bound in quarter vellum over black cloth with large white ‘ski-track’ motif, gilt titles to spine, and top edge gilt. This copy housed in felt lined morocco edged slipcase, protecting the original clear plastic wrapper.
This particular copy has the added provenance of being the one photographed for the definitive Bond bibliography by Jon Gilbert (Queen Anne Press, 2012), he has left a signed pencil note to the front pastedown dated 2011 confirming this.
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Price HK$ 170,000
1963 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition, Signed Limited Issue
One of 35 un-numbered private copies, signed by Ian Fleming to limitation page marked 'Presentation'.A lovely example of the Signed Limited Edition printed on thicker mould-made paper, with a colour frontispiece of the author by Charles Amherst Villiers and bound in quarter vellum over black cloth with large white ‘ski-track’ motif, gilt titles to spine, and top edge gilt. This copy housed in felt lined morocco edged slipcase, protecting the original clear plastic wrapper.
This particular copy has the added provenance of being the one photographed for the definitive Bond bibliography by Jon Gilbert (Queen Anne Press, 2012), he has left a signed pencil note to the front pastedown dated 2011 confirming this.
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Price HK$ 170,000
Flying Colours. Including A Ship Of The Line -
C. S. Forester
1938 - Michael Joseph Ltd. in conjunction with The Book Society Ltd., London - First Edition
One finely bound volume containing two classic Hornblower novels, in which Captain Horatio Hornblower commands his first ship of the line, HMS Sutherland. A Ship Of The Line and Flying Colours, are the second and third books in the Horatio Hornblower series. This is the first publication of Flying Colours which was released shortly afterwards as a stand alone title, making this the true first edition.
A Ship of the Line - May 1810, seventeen years deep into the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Horatio Hornblower is newly in command of his first ship of the line, the seventy-four-gun HMS Sutherland, which he deems ‘the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy List’. Moreover, she is 250 men short of a full crew, so Hornblower must enlist and train ‘poachers, bigamists, sheepstealers’, and other landlubbers. By the time the Sutherland reaches the blockaded Catalonian coast of Spain, the crew is capable of staging five astonishing solo raids against the French. But the grisly prospect of defeat and capture looms for both captain and crew as the Sutherland single-handedly takes on four French ships.
Flying Colours - Forced to surrender the Sutherland after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower now bides his time as a prisoner in a French fortress. Within days he and his first lieutenant, Bush, who was crippled in the last fight, are to be taken to Paris to be tried on trumped-up charges of violating the laws of war, and most probably executed as part of Napoleon's attempt to rally the war-weary empire behind him. Even if Hornblower escapes this fate and somehow finds his way back to England, he will face court-martial for his surrender of a British ship. As fears for his life and his reputation compete in his mind with worries about his pregnant wife and his possibly widowed lover, the indomitable captain impatiently awaits the chance to make his next move.
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Price HK$ 4,000
1938 - Michael Joseph Ltd. in conjunction with The Book Society Ltd., London - First Edition
One finely bound volume containing two classic Hornblower novels, in which Captain Horatio Hornblower commands his first ship of the line, HMS Sutherland. A Ship Of The Line and Flying Colours, are the second and third books in the Horatio Hornblower series. This is the first publication of Flying Colours which was released shortly afterwards as a stand alone title, making this the true first edition.A Ship of the Line - May 1810, seventeen years deep into the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Horatio Hornblower is newly in command of his first ship of the line, the seventy-four-gun HMS Sutherland, which he deems ‘the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy List’. Moreover, she is 250 men short of a full crew, so Hornblower must enlist and train ‘poachers, bigamists, sheepstealers’, and other landlubbers. By the time the Sutherland reaches the blockaded Catalonian coast of Spain, the crew is capable of staging five astonishing solo raids against the French. But the grisly prospect of defeat and capture looms for both captain and crew as the Sutherland single-handedly takes on four French ships.
Flying Colours - Forced to surrender the Sutherland after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower now bides his time as a prisoner in a French fortress. Within days he and his first lieutenant, Bush, who was crippled in the last fight, are to be taken to Paris to be tried on trumped-up charges of violating the laws of war, and most probably executed as part of Napoleon's attempt to rally the war-weary empire behind him. Even if Hornblower escapes this fate and somehow finds his way back to England, he will face court-martial for his surrender of a British ship. As fears for his life and his reputation compete in his mind with worries about his pregnant wife and his possibly widowed lover, the indomitable captain impatiently awaits the chance to make his next move.
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Price HK$ 4,000
The Shop Signs of Peking -
H. K. Fung
1931 - Issued by the Chinese Painting Association of Peking, China - First Edition limited to 100 Copies
A beautifully hand coloured book showing the signs used by Chinese shopkeepers to advertise their trade, with 101 hand-coloured illustrations of shop signs each accompanied by the Chinese and English description, together with a forward in English by H. K. Fung.
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Price HK$ 41,000
1931 - Issued by the Chinese Painting Association of Peking, China - First Edition limited to 100 Copies
A beautifully hand coloured book showing the signs used by Chinese shopkeepers to advertise their trade, with 101 hand-coloured illustrations of shop signs each accompanied by the Chinese and English description, together with a forward in English by H. K. Fung.
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Price HK$ 41,000
Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical -
Henry Gray F.R.S., Henry Vandyke Carter M.D. (illustrator)
1859 - Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia - First American Edition
A superb copy, in the original publisher’s sheep binding and endpapers, the black spine label complete, binding without restoration or rebind, text and illustrations clean, no attempts to colour the illustrations, no handwriting. Rare as such.
Gray’s Anatomy, the book that brought the beauty of the human form to the masses, has remained a landmark text in medical study since its first appearance in print. The first edition, published in England in 1858, was found to have a good many errors, most of which were corrected in this, the first American edition. The corrections, improvements and new index are outlined in the publisher’s note at the beginning of the work.
Illustrated with 363 wood-engraved illustrations by Gray’s colleague and assistant, Henry Vandyke Carter.
‘The success of the book was not due to an absence of rivals. There were already several texts on anatomy... Gray's Anatomy, however, eclipsed all others, partly for its meticulous detail, partly for its emphasis on surgical anatomy, but most of all perhaps for the excellence of the illustrations, based on drawings by H. V. Carter [1831-97], who assisted Gray with the dissections, and engraved by Messrs Butterworth and Heath with remarkable skill. The design of the book, and the skill with which the illustrations were interpolated in the text, could hardly have been improved. For a man in his early thirties it was a remarkable achievement’ [ODNB].
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Price HK$ 65,000
1859 - Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia - First American Edition
A superb copy, in the original publisher’s sheep binding and endpapers, the black spine label complete, binding without restoration or rebind, text and illustrations clean, no attempts to colour the illustrations, no handwriting. Rare as such.Gray’s Anatomy, the book that brought the beauty of the human form to the masses, has remained a landmark text in medical study since its first appearance in print. The first edition, published in England in 1858, was found to have a good many errors, most of which were corrected in this, the first American edition. The corrections, improvements and new index are outlined in the publisher’s note at the beginning of the work.
Illustrated with 363 wood-engraved illustrations by Gray’s colleague and assistant, Henry Vandyke Carter.
‘The success of the book was not due to an absence of rivals. There were already several texts on anatomy... Gray's Anatomy, however, eclipsed all others, partly for its meticulous detail, partly for its emphasis on surgical anatomy, but most of all perhaps for the excellence of the illustrations, based on drawings by H. V. Carter [1831-97], who assisted Gray with the dissections, and engraved by Messrs Butterworth and Heath with remarkable skill. The design of the book, and the skill with which the illustrations were interpolated in the text, could hardly have been improved. For a man in his early thirties it was a remarkable achievement’ [ODNB].
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Price HK$ 65,000
The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm -
Norman Hunter, W. Heath Robinson (illustrator)
1933 - John Lane, London - First Edition
Eccentric, absent-minded inventor Professor Branestawm embarks on a series of adventures with his friend Colonel Dedshott. Various machines are invented: a time travel-machine, a device to capture and tie up burglars, and a spring-cleaning machine. Inevitably, something goes wrong and Professor Branestawm is again in a pickle, exasperating his housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop and delighting us.
Inventively and wackily illustrated by the most appropriate Heath Robinson, who was famous for his rickety contraptions, and the illustrations were a perfect foil to the outlandish plots of these short stories, each picture typically featuring the professor's unfeasibly large forehead. The seventy-six illustrations each comes with an evocative title such as A telescope of his own invention or With nothing on at all but a big smile.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1933 - John Lane, London - First Edition
Eccentric, absent-minded inventor Professor Branestawm embarks on a series of adventures with his friend Colonel Dedshott. Various machines are invented: a time travel-machine, a device to capture and tie up burglars, and a spring-cleaning machine. Inevitably, something goes wrong and Professor Branestawm is again in a pickle, exasperating his housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop and delighting us.Inventively and wackily illustrated by the most appropriate Heath Robinson, who was famous for his rickety contraptions, and the illustrations were a perfect foil to the outlandish plots of these short stories, each picture typically featuring the professor's unfeasibly large forehead. The seventy-six illustrations each comes with an evocative title such as A telescope of his own invention or With nothing on at all but a big smile.
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Price HK$ 4,500
Golf - The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes. With contributions by Lord Wellwood, Sir Walter Simpson, Bart., Right Hon. A. J. Balfour M.P., Andrew Lang, H.F.C. Everard and others -
Horace G. Hutchinson (Duke of Beaufort, editor), Assisted by Alfred E.T. Watson
1890 - Longmans, London - First Edition
‘One of the great books of the sport and deserves an honoured spot in every golf library.’ - Joseph Murdoch, The Library of Golf.
An unusually bright and fine first edition. Covering the history of golf, celebrated golfers and celebrated links, styles, etiquette, giving odds, and, I assume, relevant for the day - ‘hints to cricketers who are taking up golf’. Illustrated by Thomas Hodge and Harry Furniss with 22 plates, several woodcuts in text, and many further illustrations.
Hutchinson, one of the best sports writers and editors of his era, was also an accomplished golfer, captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, winner of the first two official British Amateur Championships in 1886 and 1887, and known for his comment that ‘if profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is.’
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Price HK$ 3,500
1890 - Longmans, London - First Edition
‘One of the great books of the sport and deserves an honoured spot in every golf library.’ - Joseph Murdoch, The Library of Golf.An unusually bright and fine first edition. Covering the history of golf, celebrated golfers and celebrated links, styles, etiquette, giving odds, and, I assume, relevant for the day - ‘hints to cricketers who are taking up golf’. Illustrated by Thomas Hodge and Harry Furniss with 22 plates, several woodcuts in text, and many further illustrations.
Hutchinson, one of the best sports writers and editors of his era, was also an accomplished golfer, captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, winner of the first two official British Amateur Championships in 1886 and 1887, and known for his comment that ‘if profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is.’
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Price HK$ 3,500
Shooting in China -
Thomas R. Jernigan
1908 - Methodist Publishing House, Shanghai - First and Only Edition
The rare first edition of this work on wildfowl shooting in China, and one of only a small number of eighteenth and early nineteenth century books written on the subject by expatriates based in China. Illustrated with 23 full page plates of 26 images, mostly from photographs (including the Snipe plate opposite page 77 which is not listed).
‘I remember my first shooting trip in China as clearly and distinctly as if it were but an event of yesterday, It was in December 1866, a few days after my arrival in Shanghai...’ - thus begins ‘Notes by an Old Sportsman’, a chapter of reminisces contributed by Jernigan’s friend H. T. Wade.
Jernigan (1847-1920) was US consul general in Shanghai, attorney in China for Standard Oil Company, chairman of the Shanghai International Settlement, and on publication of this work he was in private practice. In this work Jernigan provides long chapters on houseboating for waterfowl and small game shooting, there are also separate sections on shooting along the ‘Yang-tze River’, the ‘Ch’ien-Tang River’ and the ‘Lakes near Ningpo’. Other chapters cover ‘Customs’, ‘Government’, and to the rear is a short ‘Vocabulary’ of Chinese hunting terms. While Jernigan does not hunt big game himself, he does include a chapter describing big game that he has been informed of, including lion, tiger, leopard, bear and wild boar.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1908 - Methodist Publishing House, Shanghai - First and Only Edition
The rare first edition of this work on wildfowl shooting in China, and one of only a small number of eighteenth and early nineteenth century books written on the subject by expatriates based in China. Illustrated with 23 full page plates of 26 images, mostly from photographs (including the Snipe plate opposite page 77 which is not listed).‘I remember my first shooting trip in China as clearly and distinctly as if it were but an event of yesterday, It was in December 1866, a few days after my arrival in Shanghai...’ - thus begins ‘Notes by an Old Sportsman’, a chapter of reminisces contributed by Jernigan’s friend H. T. Wade.
Jernigan (1847-1920) was US consul general in Shanghai, attorney in China for Standard Oil Company, chairman of the Shanghai International Settlement, and on publication of this work he was in private practice. In this work Jernigan provides long chapters on houseboating for waterfowl and small game shooting, there are also separate sections on shooting along the ‘Yang-tze River’, the ‘Ch’ien-Tang River’ and the ‘Lakes near Ningpo’. Other chapters cover ‘Customs’, ‘Government’, and to the rear is a short ‘Vocabulary’ of Chinese hunting terms. While Jernigan does not hunt big game himself, he does include a chapter describing big game that he has been informed of, including lion, tiger, leopard, bear and wild boar.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Works of Rudyard Kipling - Signed -
Rudyard Kipling
1914-1926 - Doubleday, Garden City - Seven Seas Edition. Number 487 of 1050 limited copies. (The counterpart to the London Bombay Edition)
A handsomely bound complete set of Kipling’s works in twenty-seven volumes, the de luxe issue limited to 1,050 sets, the first volume, Plain Tales from the Hills, is signed by Kipling.
Printed at the Country Life Press, Gardem City, Long Island from Florentine Press type on special hand-made paper with watermark bearing “R [Ganesha device with lotus and swastika] K” on each second leaf.
Including such titles as Soldiers Three, Kim, The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, Stalky & Co., Just So Stories, The Five Nations, Plain Tales from the Hills and the Seven Seas
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Price HK$ 45,000
1914-1926 - Doubleday, Garden City - Seven Seas Edition. Number 487 of 1050 limited copies. (The counterpart to the London Bombay Edition)
A handsomely bound complete set of Kipling’s works in twenty-seven volumes, the de luxe issue limited to 1,050 sets, the first volume, Plain Tales from the Hills, is signed by Kipling. Printed at the Country Life Press, Gardem City, Long Island from Florentine Press type on special hand-made paper with watermark bearing “R [Ganesha device with lotus and swastika] K” on each second leaf.
Including such titles as Soldiers Three, Kim, The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, Stalky & Co., Just So Stories, The Five Nations, Plain Tales from the Hills and the Seven Seas
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Price HK$ 45,000