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Down the River - Signed -
Edward Abbey
1982 - E. P. Dutton, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, signed ‘Edmund Abbey, SLC, May 10, 1984’. An important collection of insightful, powerful and punchy essays, illustrated by Abbey.
From the front cover – "Be of good cheer," our favorite war-horse advises, "the military-industrial state will soon collapse." This sparkling book, which takes us up and down rivers and across mountains and deserts, is the perfect antidote to despair. Along the way, Ed Abbey makes time for Henry David Thoreau while he takes a hard look at the Air Force's MX missile system, currently slated for the American West.
Ed writes: "For twenty-three years now I've been floating rivers. Always downstream, the easy and natural way. The way Huck Finn and Jim did it, La Salle and Marquette, the mountain men, and Major Powell..."’
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Price HK$ 4,500
1982 - E. P. Dutton, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, signed ‘Edmund Abbey, SLC, May 10, 1984’. An important collection of insightful, powerful and punchy essays, illustrated by Abbey.From the front cover – "Be of good cheer," our favorite war-horse advises, "the military-industrial state will soon collapse." This sparkling book, which takes us up and down rivers and across mountains and deserts, is the perfect antidote to despair. Along the way, Ed Abbey makes time for Henry David Thoreau while he takes a hard look at the Air Force's MX missile system, currently slated for the American West.
Ed writes: "For twenty-three years now I've been floating rivers. Always downstream, the easy and natural way. The way Huck Finn and Jim did it, La Salle and Marquette, the mountain men, and Major Powell..."’
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Price HK$ 4,500
Abbey's Road - Inscribed -
Edward Abbey, Jean Pruchnik (illustrator)
1979 - E. P. Dutton, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, illustrated by Jean Pruchnik, signed and inscribed ‘all the best! Edward Abbey Santa Fe 11/56/88’
‘In the spirit of Desert Solitaire and The Journey Home, Abbey's Road is a personal odyssey. Edward Abbey's explorations include the familiar territory of the Rio Grande in Texas and Canyonlands National Park and Lake Powell in Utah. He also takes us to such varied places as Scotland, the interior of Australia, and the Sierra Madre and Isla de la Sombra in Mexico.’
‘I've been along a few of Mr. Abbey's roads. He sees much more than I did. Indeed, reading him is often better than being there was.’ – John Leonard.
‘Abbey's the original fly in the ointment. Give him money and prizes. Don't let anything happen to him.’ – Thomas McGuane.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1979 - E. P. Dutton, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, illustrated by Jean Pruchnik, signed and inscribed ‘all the best! Edward Abbey Santa Fe 11/56/88’‘In the spirit of Desert Solitaire and The Journey Home, Abbey's Road is a personal odyssey. Edward Abbey's explorations include the familiar territory of the Rio Grande in Texas and Canyonlands National Park and Lake Powell in Utah. He also takes us to such varied places as Scotland, the interior of Australia, and the Sierra Madre and Isla de la Sombra in Mexico.’
‘I've been along a few of Mr. Abbey's roads. He sees much more than I did. Indeed, reading him is often better than being there was.’ – John Leonard.
‘Abbey's the original fly in the ointment. Give him money and prizes. Don't let anything happen to him.’ – Thomas McGuane.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West - Signed -
Edward Abbey, Jim Stiles (illustrator)
1977 - Dutton, New York - First Edition
A bright fresh first edition of Abbey’s first major non-fiction work since Desert Solitaire, signed by him to the title page, and illustrated by Jim Stiles.
‘Alive with ranchers, dam builders, kissing bugs and mountain lions. In a voice edged with inner chagrin, he offers a portrait of the American West what we'll not soon forget, offering us the observations of a man who left the urban world behind to think about the natural world and the myths buried therein’.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1977 - Dutton, New York - First Edition
A bright fresh first edition of Abbey’s first major non-fiction work since Desert Solitaire, signed by him to the title page, and illustrated by Jim Stiles.‘Alive with ranchers, dam builders, kissing bugs and mountain lions. In a voice edged with inner chagrin, he offers a portrait of the American West what we'll not soon forget, offering us the observations of a man who left the urban world behind to think about the natural world and the myths buried therein’.
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Price HK$ 3,000
A Pilgrimage To Nejd -
Lady Anne Blunt
1881 - John Murray, London - First Edition
First edition of the second of Lady Blunt’s two classic travel accounts, in publisher’s original gilt pictorial cloth, and describing the journey that she and her husband, the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, made in the winter of 1878–7, across the Nejd from Beirut, south into the Great Nefud, north to Baghdad and east to the Persian Gulf. Lady Anne was the first European woman to reach the Nejd and, together with her husband, they were the first Europeans to enter the Jebel Shammar in the Nejd. At Hail they met the Emir who received them courteously, having recently knifed his nephew and cut off the feet of his cousins, leaving them to bleed to death.
With over 30 black and white illustrations including fifteen wood-engraved plates, and large folding colour map.
‘To find out how the Bedouin lived, Lady Anne lived like one herself: she became a temporary nomad, riding the two thousand miles from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf for the most part in Arab dress, and without guides or the usual caravan. This was quite an innovation, and prompted Blunt to dub his wife ‘the first bona-fide tourist who has taken the Euphrates road'. - Jane Robinson, Wayward Women.
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Price HK$ 12,000
1881 - John Murray, London - First Edition
First edition of the second of Lady Blunt’s two classic travel accounts, in publisher’s original gilt pictorial cloth, and describing the journey that she and her husband, the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, made in the winter of 1878–7, across the Nejd from Beirut, south into the Great Nefud, north to Baghdad and east to the Persian Gulf. Lady Anne was the first European woman to reach the Nejd and, together with her husband, they were the first Europeans to enter the Jebel Shammar in the Nejd. At Hail they met the Emir who received them courteously, having recently knifed his nephew and cut off the feet of his cousins, leaving them to bleed to death.With over 30 black and white illustrations including fifteen wood-engraved plates, and large folding colour map.
‘To find out how the Bedouin lived, Lady Anne lived like one herself: she became a temporary nomad, riding the two thousand miles from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf for the most part in Arab dress, and without guides or the usual caravan. This was quite an innovation, and prompted Blunt to dub his wife ‘the first bona-fide tourist who has taken the Euphrates road'. - Jane Robinson, Wayward Women.
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Price HK$ 12,000
Atlas, Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens -
Elijah H. Burritt
1835 - F. J. Huntington and Co., New York - New Edition
A large early 19th century decorative celestial atlas containing stunning hand-coloured engraved plates (1 double page and 7 full page), and a two page black and white plate engraved plate ‘Exhibiting the Relative Magnitudes, Distances and Positions of the Different Bodies which Compose the Solar System’.
Scarce, especially in this condition. First published in 1833, this ‘New edition’ is actually a thoroughly revised edition with newly engraved maps by W. G. Evans.
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Price HK$ 12,000
1835 - F. J. Huntington and Co., New York - New Edition
A large early 19th century decorative celestial atlas containing stunning hand-coloured engraved plates (1 double page and 7 full page), and a two page black and white plate engraved plate ‘Exhibiting the Relative Magnitudes, Distances and Positions of the Different Bodies which Compose the Solar System’.Scarce, especially in this condition. First published in 1833, this ‘New edition’ is actually a thoroughly revised edition with newly engraved maps by W. G. Evans.
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Price HK$ 12,000
The Borders and Beyond -
Abel Chapman
1924 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A bright copy of this informative work of field exploration and natural history in Northumberland and the Anglo-Scottish borderlands.
Hunter-naturalist Chapman includes chapters on the British red grouse, the wildfowl of the north east coast, a search for the ‘moorland nymph’, salmonology, seagulls, woodcocks and herons, ravens, and the otter, together with a commentary on ‘modern zoology’, and extensive particulars on the migrations and plumage-phases in certain waders, to which he gave the name ‘Globe-Spanners’.
Profusely illustrated throughout with seventeen wonderful colour illustrations (on fourteen plates) by W.H. Riddell, twenty one black and white plates, two folding maps, and 170 sketches by the author.
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Price HK$ 1,000
1924 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A bright copy of this informative work of field exploration and natural history in Northumberland and the Anglo-Scottish borderlands. Hunter-naturalist Chapman includes chapters on the British red grouse, the wildfowl of the north east coast, a search for the ‘moorland nymph’, salmonology, seagulls, woodcocks and herons, ravens, and the otter, together with a commentary on ‘modern zoology’, and extensive particulars on the migrations and plumage-phases in certain waders, to which he gave the name ‘Globe-Spanners’.
Profusely illustrated throughout with seventeen wonderful colour illustrations (on fourteen plates) by W.H. Riddell, twenty one black and white plates, two folding maps, and 170 sketches by the author.
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Price HK$ 1,000
La Montre Chinois. Relations de l Horologie Suisse avec la China -
Alfred Chapuis, Gustave Loup
1919 - Attinger Freres, Neuchatel - First Edition
A superb and fine copy, text in French, illustrated with 33 colour and black & white plates, and 245 half-tone illustrations. Included is an introduction on ‘L’Horométrie et le Système cosmologique des Chinois’ by Léopold de Saussure.
A survey of European cosmological instruments and mechanical amusements introduced to the Chinese Imperial Court from the 14th century, and the elaborate Swiss timepieces made for that market in Europe and in China, the first seeming to be by Francois-Louis Stadlin, a Swiss Jesuit in China from 1707-1740. The whole is referenced with texts from the contemporary writings of ambassadors, merchant traders and churchmen; preceded by de Saussure’s essay on ancient Chinese cosmology.
Prominent Swiss makers included Charles de Constant in the 18th century and the Bovet family in the 19th century, and many examples of their timekeepers could be found in the imperial palaces.
Formerly owned by Le Comte Alain de Suzannet.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1919 - Attinger Freres, Neuchatel - First Edition
A superb and fine copy, text in French, illustrated with 33 colour and black & white plates, and 245 half-tone illustrations. Included is an introduction on ‘L’Horométrie et le Système cosmologique des Chinois’ by Léopold de Saussure.A survey of European cosmological instruments and mechanical amusements introduced to the Chinese Imperial Court from the 14th century, and the elaborate Swiss timepieces made for that market in Europe and in China, the first seeming to be by Francois-Louis Stadlin, a Swiss Jesuit in China from 1707-1740. The whole is referenced with texts from the contemporary writings of ambassadors, merchant traders and churchmen; preceded by de Saussure’s essay on ancient Chinese cosmology.
Prominent Swiss makers included Charles de Constant in the 18th century and the Bovet family in the 19th century, and many examples of their timekeepers could be found in the imperial palaces.
Formerly owned by Le Comte Alain de Suzannet.
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Price HK$ 8,000
A Treatise on Cobbett's Corn -
William Cobbett
1828 - By William Cobbett, London - First Edition
In 1820 on returning from the United States, were he had fled fearing arrest for his arguably seditious writings, Cobbett established a plant nursery at Kensington, where he trialed a dwarf strain of maize he found growing in a French cottage garden which grew well in England’s shorter summer. To help sell this variety, Cobbett published Treatise on Cobbett’s Corn. Charmingly written, including anecdotes of his travels through America, and the farming techniques and people he encounters there. The title and contents pages are printed on paper made from the husks and stalks of ‘Indian Corn’ (Maize).
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Price HK$ 2,500
1828 - By William Cobbett, London - First Edition
In 1820 on returning from the United States, were he had fled fearing arrest for his arguably seditious writings, Cobbett established a plant nursery at Kensington, where he trialed a dwarf strain of maize he found growing in a French cottage garden which grew well in England’s shorter summer. To help sell this variety, Cobbett published Treatise on Cobbett’s Corn. Charmingly written, including anecdotes of his travels through America, and the farming techniques and people he encounters there. The title and contents pages are printed on paper made from the husks and stalks of ‘Indian Corn’ (Maize).
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Price HK$ 2,500