The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy - In Five Parts -
Douglas Adams
1979 - Arthur Barker Limited x3, London - First Editions
Well, not much to say here, the complete trilogy of five books, with Hitch Hiker’s Guide in unclipped first issue dust jacket. You could ‘OK Google’ to find out more, or years ago use Babel fish to translate into whatever language you wanted to, or wait a few years and take them to Mars with you, courtesy of SpaceX or... well, without the Guide, you would not..
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Price HK$ 18,000
1979 - Arthur Barker Limited x3, London - First Editions
Well, not much to say here, the complete trilogy of five books, with Hitch Hiker’s Guide in unclipped first issue dust jacket. You could ‘OK Google’ to find out more, or years ago use Babel fish to translate into whatever language you wanted to, or wait a few years and take them to Mars with you, courtesy of SpaceX or... well, without the Guide, you would not..
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Price HK$ 18,000
The Complete Works - Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; Mansfield Park; Emma; Northanger Abbey and Persuasion; Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Letters -
Jane Austen
1911-12 - John Grant, Edinburgh - The Winchester Edition
‘I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'
An elegantly bound twelve volume set, comprising all of Austen's works. With a portrait frontispiece to first volume, and title pages printed in red and black with a vignette 'JA' monogram.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 35,000
1911-12 - John Grant, Edinburgh - The Winchester Edition
‘I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'An elegantly bound twelve volume set, comprising all of Austen's works. With a portrait frontispiece to first volume, and title pages printed in red and black with a vignette 'JA' monogram.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 35,000
Ismailia. A Narrative of The Expedition to Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. Organized by Ismail, Khedive of Egypt -
Sir Samuel W. Baker, Pacha
1874 - Macmillan And Co., London - First Edition
A near fine two-volume first edition by one of the great explorers of the era, in which Sir Samuel White Baker describes leading a military expedition beginning in 1869 to annex the lawless upper Nile, suppress its barbaric slave trade, establish trade routes and open up navigation on the Great Lakes for the cotton trade.
Profusely illustrated with fifty two full-page plates and two maps in colour, one folding.
Tasked with the assignment by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt at a ball in Cairo, Baker was given four years, the rank of major-general, and the title of pasha – the most senior positions ever given to a European under an Egyptian administration. The books begin in the same way as the expedition: with the commission of four boats, including a 251-ton paddle steamer that were shipped from England, and with hundreds of camels and an additional nine steamers and 55 sailing boats in Egypt.
In Baker’s view the slave trade led to ‘treachery, devastation and ruin.’ ‘It is impossible to know the actual number of slaves taken from Central Africa annually; but I should imagine that at least fifty thousand…the loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent treatment of the slaves is frightful.’
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Price HK$ 9,000
1874 - Macmillan And Co., London - First Edition
A near fine two-volume first edition by one of the great explorers of the era, in which Sir Samuel White Baker describes leading a military expedition beginning in 1869 to annex the lawless upper Nile, suppress its barbaric slave trade, establish trade routes and open up navigation on the Great Lakes for the cotton trade.Profusely illustrated with fifty two full-page plates and two maps in colour, one folding.
Tasked with the assignment by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt at a ball in Cairo, Baker was given four years, the rank of major-general, and the title of pasha – the most senior positions ever given to a European under an Egyptian administration. The books begin in the same way as the expedition: with the commission of four boats, including a 251-ton paddle steamer that were shipped from England, and with hundreds of camels and an additional nine steamers and 55 sailing boats in Egypt.
In Baker’s view the slave trade led to ‘treachery, devastation and ruin.’ ‘It is impossible to know the actual number of slaves taken from Central Africa annually; but I should imagine that at least fifty thousand…the loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent treatment of the slaves is frightful.’
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Price HK$ 9,000
Observations Historical, Critical, and Medical, on the Wines of the Ancients. And the Analogy between them and Modern Wines. With General Observations on the Principles and Qualities of Water, and in particular those of Bath. -
Sir Edward Barry
1775 - T. Cadell, London - First Edition
‘The earliest work of any importance written in English about wines.’ - Andre Simon.
A fine and finely bound first edition of this classic text on the history of wine-making from the ancient times to the late 18th century. The appendix provides a survey of the principal wine-making regions of Europe. This is also the first book in English to discuss ‘modern wines’ [Gabler]. Illustrated with the wonderful engraved frontispiece and two engraved vignettes on title-page.
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Price HK$ 40,000
1775 - T. Cadell, London - First Edition
‘The earliest work of any importance written in English about wines.’ - Andre Simon.A fine and finely bound first edition of this classic text on the history of wine-making from the ancient times to the late 18th century. The appendix provides a survey of the principal wine-making regions of Europe. This is also the first book in English to discuss ‘modern wines’ [Gabler]. Illustrated with the wonderful engraved frontispiece and two engraved vignettes on title-page.
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Price HK$ 40,000
Flora Hongkongensis: A Description of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Island of Hongkong. With a Map of the Island. Published Under the Authority of Her Majesty s Secretary of State for the Colonies -
George Bentham
1861 - Lovell Reeve, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first and most important work on the Flora of Hong Kong ever produced, in the publisher’s original cloth covers, rare.
Dedicated to Sir Hercules George R. Robinson, Governor, Commander-in-Chief, and Vice-Admiral in the Colony of Hongkong.
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Price HK$ 20,000
1861 - Lovell Reeve, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first and most important work on the Flora of Hong Kong ever produced, in the publisher’s original cloth covers, rare.Dedicated to Sir Hercules George R. Robinson, Governor, Commander-in-Chief, and Vice-Admiral in the Colony of Hongkong.
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Price HK$ 20,000
La Chine et les Chinois -
Auguste Borget
1842 - Goupil &, Paris - First Edition
Complete set of this renowned and highly prized collection of plates on China, including views of Hong Kong, Macao, and Canton.
Tinted lithographic title page and thirty two sepia tinted lithographic plates on 25 sheets by Eugène Cicéri after Borget, letterpress text and title page, and two leaves of dedication.
‘The feeling of superiority to the Chinese, so characteristic of accounts from the 1840s, is absent here. The artist observes with a fresh eye.’ - Lust, Western Travellers in China.
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Price HK$ 210,000
1842 - Goupil &, Paris - First Edition
Complete set of this renowned and highly prized collection of plates on China, including views of Hong Kong, Macao, and Canton.Tinted lithographic title page and thirty two sepia tinted lithographic plates on 25 sheets by Eugène Cicéri after Borget, letterpress text and title page, and two leaves of dedication.
‘The feeling of superiority to the Chinese, so characteristic of accounts from the 1840s, is absent here. The artist observes with a fresh eye.’ - Lust, Western Travellers in China.
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Price HK$ 210,000
Ham on Rye - Signed -
Charles Bukowski
1982 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara - First Edition. No. 277 of 350 signed copies.
A fine first edition, signed with an additional drawing of Bukowski’s little man and a bottle, number 277 of 350 copies.
The first of Bukowski’s intentionally? poorly disguised autobiographies, which was followed by ‘Factotum ‘Post Office’ and ‘Women.
‘Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, woman, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D.H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.’ [from the later HarperCollins edition]
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Price HK$ 18,000
1982 - Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara - First Edition. No. 277 of 350 signed copies.
A fine first edition, signed with an additional drawing of Bukowski’s little man and a bottle, number 277 of 350 copies.The first of Bukowski’s intentionally? poorly disguised autobiographies, which was followed by ‘Factotum ‘Post Office’ and ‘Women.
‘Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, woman, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D.H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.’ [from the later HarperCollins edition]
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Price HK$ 18,000
Peking Studies -
Ellen Catleen (Thorbecke), Friedrich Schiff (illustrator)
1934 - Kelly &, Shanghai - First Edition
Describing the visit of Mr.Pim to Peking, where he meets with his colleague Mr Wu, and together they tour the wonderful city that is 1930’s Peking. As a gift to someone who is moving to China or has recently visited this is hard to beat. Things may have changed slightly though.
A clean, bright and thus scarce first edition of this charming large format book (38x27cm) beautifully illustrated throughout by Friedrich Schiff with a mixture of black and white or colour sketches, combined with photographs taken by Catleen on her Roliflex camera, with colour applied and a full page hand sketched colour map.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1934 - Kelly &, Shanghai - First Edition
Describing the visit of Mr.Pim to Peking, where he meets with his colleague Mr Wu, and together they tour the wonderful city that is 1930’s Peking. As a gift to someone who is moving to China or has recently visited this is hard to beat. Things may have changed slightly though.A clean, bright and thus scarce first edition of this charming large format book (38x27cm) beautifully illustrated throughout by Friedrich Schiff with a mixture of black and white or colour sketches, combined with photographs taken by Catleen on her Roliflex camera, with colour applied and a full page hand sketched colour map.
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Price HK$ 10,000