The Works of Jane Austen. Being: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park -
Jane Austen, Charles Brock and Hugh Thomson (illustrators)
1895 to 1897 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Thomson or Brock Illustrated Editions
‘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 five volume set of Austen's novels, each being the first edition to be illustrated by Hugh Thomson with the exception of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ which is the first edition to be fully illustrated by Charles Brock. Profusely illustrated throughout, and with an introduction by Austin Dobson in each volume.
‘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$ 24,000
1895 to 1897 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Thomson or Brock Illustrated Editions
‘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 five volume set of Austen's novels, each being the first edition to be illustrated by Hugh Thomson with the exception of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ which is the first edition to be fully illustrated by Charles Brock. Profusely illustrated throughout, and with an introduction by Austin Dobson in each volume.
‘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$ 24,000
Days and Nights of Shikar -
Mrs. W. W. Baillie
1921 - John Lane, London and New York - First Edition
‘Mrs Baillie seems to have been an incurable big-game hunter. She was married to a clergyman stationed in the Deccan; from there (rarely accompanied by the gentle padre) she made expeditions as far afield as Chamba in the Himalaya and Dharwar towards the south, in search of trophies to bring home to England.
‘This book is less bloodthirsty, than many; the worst moments in it are not concerned with the poor animals’ appointment with death, but with the author's own, which she managed to postpone twice at the very last minute.
‘The first time was on a night shoot from Bilaspur, near Simla. She had placed a goat’s carcass as a decoy under the hammock; unfortunately, just as an obliging tiger was approaching, the hammock string snapped and bowled Mrs Baillie into the mess below. Meanwhile the tiger fled away.
‘A closer shave involved a black bear, who caught our heroine as she fell from a rock, first chewing her leg and then making off with her head–for which it luckily mistook her sola topi, The leg healed after five weeks in hospital, and nothing daunted, Mrs Baillie lived to shoot another day.’ – Jane Robinson, Wayward Women.
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Price HK$ 900
1921 - John Lane, London and New York - First Edition
‘Mrs Baillie seems to have been an incurable big-game hunter. She was married to a clergyman stationed in the Deccan; from there (rarely accompanied by the gentle padre) she made expeditions as far afield as Chamba in the Himalaya and Dharwar towards the south, in search of trophies to bring home to England.‘This book is less bloodthirsty, than many; the worst moments in it are not concerned with the poor animals’ appointment with death, but with the author's own, which she managed to postpone twice at the very last minute.
‘The first time was on a night shoot from Bilaspur, near Simla. She had placed a goat’s carcass as a decoy under the hammock; unfortunately, just as an obliging tiger was approaching, the hammock string snapped and bowled Mrs Baillie into the mess below. Meanwhile the tiger fled away.
‘A closer shave involved a black bear, who caught our heroine as she fell from a rock, first chewing her leg and then making off with her head–for which it luckily mistook her sola topi, The leg healed after five weeks in hospital, and nothing daunted, Mrs Baillie lived to shoot another day.’ – Jane Robinson, Wayward Women.
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Price HK$ 900
Great Expectations -
Charles Dickens, F. A. Fraser (illustrator)
1876 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Fraser illustrated edition
A handsomely bound, nineteenth century edition of Dickens's haunting late novel depicting the education and development of the young Pip as his life is changed by a series of events - a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - and he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.
With 30 illustrations by Frank Fraser, and text in double column format.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1876 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Fraser illustrated edition
A handsomely bound, nineteenth century edition of Dickens's haunting late novel depicting the education and development of the young Pip as his life is changed by a series of events - a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - and he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.With 30 illustrations by Frank Fraser, and text in double column format.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Fashionable Savages - Inscribed -
John Fairchild
1965 - Doubleday & Company, New York - First Edition
“Fashion is temptation and thousands of busy minds and busy hands are at work”
First edition, inscribed: "Thank you for enjoying the chapter on Chanel, John Fairchild !"
‘John Fairchild, the pugnacious, eagle-eyed Princeton grad and newspaper scion who died today, transformed fashion reporting by refusing to treat designers with deference, and by turning the spotlight on the beautiful society people who wore it. He leaves an enormous legacy, two pieces of which are the books he published in 1965 and 1989 respectively: The Fashionable Savages and Chic Savages, which contain profiles of designers and their acolytes, as well as many pithy bon mots.’ – Vogue February 27, 2015.
“Clothes don’t change each season. Designers just work on the cut and change the technique. No designer can escape the three shapes.”
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Price HK$ 3,500
1965 - Doubleday & Company, New York - First Edition
“Fashion is temptation and thousands of busy minds and busy hands are at work”First edition, inscribed: "Thank you for enjoying the chapter on Chanel, John Fairchild !"
‘John Fairchild, the pugnacious, eagle-eyed Princeton grad and newspaper scion who died today, transformed fashion reporting by refusing to treat designers with deference, and by turning the spotlight on the beautiful society people who wore it. He leaves an enormous legacy, two pieces of which are the books he published in 1965 and 1989 respectively: The Fashionable Savages and Chic Savages, which contain profiles of designers and their acolytes, as well as many pithy bon mots.’ – Vogue February 27, 2015.
“Clothes don’t change each season. Designers just work on the cut and change the technique. No designer can escape the three shapes.”
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Price HK$ 3,500
Tales of the Jazz Age -
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1922 - Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York - First Edition, First State [See Bibliographical Note for details]
A tight and bright first edition of Fitzgerald’s second collection of short stories.
Eleven tales of the roaring twenties which brings to life the dazzling excesses, stunning contrasts, and simmering unrest of a glittering era. This celebrated anthology features several of Fitzgerald’s acclaimed works, including the novella ‘May Day’, ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’, a fable of fortune and greed, and his more fanciful creation of a man who ages in reverse, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, later adapted for the 2008 film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
'He was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation' – NY Times.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1922 - Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York - First Edition, First State [See Bibliographical Note for details]
A tight and bright first edition of Fitzgerald’s second collection of short stories.Eleven tales of the roaring twenties which brings to life the dazzling excesses, stunning contrasts, and simmering unrest of a glittering era. This celebrated anthology features several of Fitzgerald’s acclaimed works, including the novella ‘May Day’, ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’, a fable of fortune and greed, and his more fanciful creation of a man who ages in reverse, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, later adapted for the 2008 film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
'He was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation' – NY Times.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Almanach du Masque d'Or -
Edouard Halouze (illustrator)
1920 - chez Devambez, 23 - Premiere Année
A lovely copy of this delightful Almanach. A stunning example of beauty, finesse and luxury from the Art-Deco period. Only 1000 copies were printed and this is numbered 68. The hand-coloured illustrations are by Edouard Halouze and include four plates of the seasons as well as 17 full page plates which decorate the ‘Petit Guide de la Vie Elégante’ presented in the form of a collection of advertisements for the Moulin Bleu, Cartier, Prunier, Gaveau, les couturiers Raimon et Martial & Armand, etc. Suitably housed in a one of a kind, hand-tooled case by Bayntun-Riviere.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1920 - chez Devambez, 23 - Premiere Année
A lovely copy of this delightful Almanach. A stunning example of beauty, finesse and luxury from the Art-Deco period. Only 1000 copies were printed and this is numbered 68. The hand-coloured illustrations are by Edouard Halouze and include four plates of the seasons as well as 17 full page plates which decorate the ‘Petit Guide de la Vie Elégante’ presented in the form of a collection of advertisements for the Moulin Bleu, Cartier, Prunier, Gaveau, les couturiers Raimon et Martial & Armand, etc. Suitably housed in a one of a kind, hand-tooled case by Bayntun-Riviere.
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Price HK$ 22,000
Tess of The D'Urbervilles -
Thomas Hardy
1895 - Osgood, London - First Single Volume Edition
Finely bound early edition, and the first to contain a new additional preface by Thomas Hardy, as well as a frontispiece portrait of the author by H Macbeth-Raeburn
‘In Tess, Hardy presents a world in which the human spirit is battered down by the forces, not of fate, but of social hierarchy. Tess’s eventual death, one of the most famous in literature, is a direct result of human cruelty and as such represents one of the most moving indictments of the lives of nineteenth-century English women in all of literature’ – Alvin Birdy.
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Price HK$ 5,500
1895 - Osgood, London - First Single Volume Edition
Finely bound early edition, and the first to contain a new additional preface by Thomas Hardy, as well as a frontispiece portrait of the author by H Macbeth-Raeburn‘In Tess, Hardy presents a world in which the human spirit is battered down by the forces, not of fate, but of social hierarchy. Tess’s eventual death, one of the most famous in literature, is a direct result of human cruelty and as such represents one of the most moving indictments of the lives of nineteenth-century English women in all of literature’ – Alvin Birdy.
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Price HK$ 5,500
The Lady and the Panda: An Adventure -
Ruth Harkness
1938 - Carrick & Evans, New York - First Edition
A bright copy – in the rare original dust jacket – of this uncommon book, American socialite Ruth Harkness’ account of her panda-hunting expedition to China in 1936. Successfully – and unexpectedly – capturing an infant panda, which she named Su-Lin,
Harkness brazenly side-stepped Chinese bureaucracy, and garbed in fur with a cigarette dangling from her lipsticked mouth and a baby bottle propped in hand, she waged a savvy public battle to extricate Su-Lin from his native land, eventually finding a home for him at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where he attracted record crowds: 53,000 visitors the first day, a number yet to be matched.
Wonderfully illustrated throughout with 16 pages of black and white photographs taken during Harkness’ journey and of panda, Su-Lin.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1938 - Carrick & Evans, New York - First Edition
A bright copy – in the rare original dust jacket – of this uncommon book, American socialite Ruth Harkness’ account of her panda-hunting expedition to China in 1936. Successfully – and unexpectedly – capturing an infant panda, which she named Su-Lin, Harkness brazenly side-stepped Chinese bureaucracy, and garbed in fur with a cigarette dangling from her lipsticked mouth and a baby bottle propped in hand, she waged a savvy public battle to extricate Su-Lin from his native land, eventually finding a home for him at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where he attracted record crowds: 53,000 visitors the first day, a number yet to be matched.
Wonderfully illustrated throughout with 16 pages of black and white photographs taken during Harkness’ journey and of panda, Su-Lin.
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Price HK$ 9,000