Real Sailor-Songs -
John Ashton (Editor)
1891 - The Leadenhall Press, London - First Edition
A magnificent and large folio, containing 129 historical naval songs in full page and broadsheet format, charmingly illustrated with over 200 engravings.
One third of the songs celebrate the great British naval victories up to the end of the 18th century, the balance gathered under the headings of - ‘Press Gang’, ‘Disaster’, ‘Ashore’, ‘Love’, and ‘Miscellaneous’.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1891 - The Leadenhall Press, London - First Edition
A magnificent and large folio, containing 129 historical naval songs in full page and broadsheet format, charmingly illustrated with over 200 engravings.One third of the songs celebrate the great British naval victories up to the end of the 18th century, the balance gathered under the headings of - ‘Press Gang’, ‘Disaster’, ‘Ashore’, ‘Love’, and ‘Miscellaneous’.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Yellow Book -
Aubrey Beardsley
April 1894-April 1897 - Elkin Mathews &, London
A complete, clean and better than normally encountered thirteen volume set of this groundbreaking art nouveau publication, in the publisher’s bright yellow illustrated covers with designs by Aubrey Beardsley. Together with ‘A Selection’ published in 1950 and bound in yellow cloth to match the earlier set. Fourteen volumes in total.
From its initial visually arresting issue, for which Aubrey Beardsley was art editor and for which Max Beerbohm wrote an essay, ‘A Defence of Cosmetics’, ‘The Yellow Book’ attained immediate notoriety.
Published by John Lane and edited by Henry Harland, ‘The Yellow Book’ attracted many outstanding writers and artists of the era, such as Arnold Bennett, Charlotte Mew, Henry James, Edmund Gosse, Richard Le Gallienne, and Walter Sickert.
Although dominated by the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, and his decadent fin de siècle aura, many other distinguished artists contributed to the quarterly, notably Frederic Leighton, Will Rothenstein, Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer; contributors to the text included Max Beerbohm, John Buchan, Baron Corvo, Edmund Gosse, Kenneth Grahame, Henry James, E. Nesbit and W. B. Yeats.
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Price HK$ 10,000
April 1894-April 1897 - Elkin Mathews &, London
A complete, clean and better than normally encountered thirteen volume set of this groundbreaking art nouveau publication, in the publisher’s bright yellow illustrated covers with designs by Aubrey Beardsley. Together with ‘A Selection’ published in 1950 and bound in yellow cloth to match the earlier set. Fourteen volumes in total.From its initial visually arresting issue, for which Aubrey Beardsley was art editor and for which Max Beerbohm wrote an essay, ‘A Defence of Cosmetics’, ‘The Yellow Book’ attained immediate notoriety.
Published by John Lane and edited by Henry Harland, ‘The Yellow Book’ attracted many outstanding writers and artists of the era, such as Arnold Bennett, Charlotte Mew, Henry James, Edmund Gosse, Richard Le Gallienne, and Walter Sickert.
Although dominated by the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, and his decadent fin de siècle aura, many other distinguished artists contributed to the quarterly, notably Frederic Leighton, Will Rothenstein, Walter Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer; contributors to the text included Max Beerbohm, John Buchan, Baron Corvo, Edmund Gosse, Kenneth Grahame, Henry James, E. Nesbit and W. B. Yeats.
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Price HK$ 10,000
The Stork Club Bar Book -
Lucius Beebe
1946 - Rinehart &, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the greatest and most entertaining of mixology works. In a highly presentable example of the delicate dust jacket. With recipes, humour, stories about the rich and famous who frequented this elegant club, and sly essays on such subjects as the mint julep and the zombie. A famous oasis after the ravages of Prohibition, the Stork Club was the place for celebrities to see and be seen.
Providing a historical glimpse into the high life in New York City at this legendary spot, and divided into sections for drinks consumed by Stork Club patrons at morning, noon, and night. Uncommon in such a nice dust jacket and binding, all designed together with the stylised typography by Paul Rand.
Legendary wit and bon vivant Lucius Morris Beebe (1902-1966) was born into a wealthy Boston mercantile and banking family and, flying in the face of a hopelessly proletarian 20th Century, he lived his life in the opulence and splendour of an earlier age. As an undergraduate at both Harvard and Yale, he was an outstanding student and a rake-hell of formidable accomplishment. It was his custom to appear for class Monday morning in full evening dress, wearing a monocle and carrying a gold-headed cane. He also had a roulette wheel and a fully equipped bar in his room. At the same time, he earned distinction as an undergraduate poet and won his Master’s degree with a thesis on the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1946 - Rinehart &, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the greatest and most entertaining of mixology works. In a highly presentable example of the delicate dust jacket. With recipes, humour, stories about the rich and famous who frequented this elegant club, and sly essays on such subjects as the mint julep and the zombie. A famous oasis after the ravages of Prohibition, the Stork Club was the place for celebrities to see and be seen. Providing a historical glimpse into the high life in New York City at this legendary spot, and divided into sections for drinks consumed by Stork Club patrons at morning, noon, and night. Uncommon in such a nice dust jacket and binding, all designed together with the stylised typography by Paul Rand.
Legendary wit and bon vivant Lucius Morris Beebe (1902-1966) was born into a wealthy Boston mercantile and banking family and, flying in the face of a hopelessly proletarian 20th Century, he lived his life in the opulence and splendour of an earlier age. As an undergraduate at both Harvard and Yale, he was an outstanding student and a rake-hell of formidable accomplishment. It was his custom to appear for class Monday morning in full evening dress, wearing a monocle and carrying a gold-headed cane. He also had a roulette wheel and a fully equipped bar in his room. At the same time, he earned distinction as an undergraduate poet and won his Master’s degree with a thesis on the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson.
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Price HK$ 8,000
The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: An Entertaining History -
John Bickerdyke, John Greville Fennell, J. M. Dixon
1889 - Field &, London - First Edition
A history of ale and beer brewing from 2000 BC to the 1880's. Ballads and songs on beer, porter and stouts, served at large feasts at inns and taverns. Early anecdotes and poems, with sections on the medicinal uses of ale and hops. Illustrated with over 50 ‘quaint woodcuts’ and woodcut initials taken mostly from rare old titles.
‘Since the dawn of our history Barley-wine has been the “naturall drinke” for an “Englysshe man,” and has had no unimportant influence on English life and manners. It is, therefore, somewhat curious that up to the present, among the thousands of books published annually, no comprehensive work on the antiquities of ale and beer has found place.’
A finely bound first edition of BIckerdyke’s ‘evocative 19th century masterpiece’ [Craft Beer & Brewing], a project begun by his friend, fellow angling author and lover of ale, John Greville Fennell, who due to failing health asked Cook to continue and finish the work.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1889 - Field &, London - First Edition
A history of ale and beer brewing from 2000 BC to the 1880's. Ballads and songs on beer, porter and stouts, served at large feasts at inns and taverns. Early anecdotes and poems, with sections on the medicinal uses of ale and hops. Illustrated with over 50 ‘quaint woodcuts’ and woodcut initials taken mostly from rare old titles.‘Since the dawn of our history Barley-wine has been the “naturall drinke” for an “Englysshe man,” and has had no unimportant influence on English life and manners. It is, therefore, somewhat curious that up to the present, among the thousands of books published annually, no comprehensive work on the antiquities of ale and beer has found place.’
A finely bound first edition of BIckerdyke’s ‘evocative 19th century masterpiece’ [Craft Beer & Brewing], a project begun by his friend, fellow angling author and lover of ale, John Greville Fennell, who due to failing health asked Cook to continue and finish the work.
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Price HK$ 9,000
Boat Racing: or The Arts of Rowing and Training -
Edwin Dampier Brickwood (Amateur Ex-Champion of The Thames)
1876 - Horace Cox, 346 Strand - New Edition
Fine example of the rare second edition of ‘the earliest comprehensive work on the technique of rowing’ which adds the wonderful albumen photograph of an elegantly calm Henley and has been expanded with alterations bringing it up to date with the addition of historical matter. The most important being the invention and acceptance of the sliding seat between the first edition of 1866 and this second edition of 1876.
Brickwood is insistent on a good balance of work, diet, sleep and cleanliness. Breakfast of mutton chops or rump steaks, to which can be added some cold chicken or hot grilled fowl, an egg or two, lettuce or watercress, brown bread, and two cups of tea, lunch includes a slice or two of bread and butter and a half a pint of good sound ale, perhaps with a chop, dinner, being the main meal of the day is too large to list here, but should include a pint and a half of sound beer in the summer months, with a couple of glasses of claret, sherry, or port wine to finish it all off with. A glass of warm port wine or cup of tea without milk or sugar but with a teaspoonful of brandy is recommended between heats on race day....
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Price HK$ 10,000
1876 - Horace Cox, 346 Strand - New Edition
Fine example of the rare second edition of ‘the earliest comprehensive work on the technique of rowing’ which adds the wonderful albumen photograph of an elegantly calm Henley and has been expanded with alterations bringing it up to date with the addition of historical matter. The most important being the invention and acceptance of the sliding seat between the first edition of 1866 and this second edition of 1876.Brickwood is insistent on a good balance of work, diet, sleep and cleanliness. Breakfast of mutton chops or rump steaks, to which can be added some cold chicken or hot grilled fowl, an egg or two, lettuce or watercress, brown bread, and two cups of tea, lunch includes a slice or two of bread and butter and a half a pint of good sound ale, perhaps with a chop, dinner, being the main meal of the day is too large to list here, but should include a pint and a half of sound beer in the summer months, with a couple of glasses of claret, sherry, or port wine to finish it all off with. A glass of warm port wine or cup of tea without milk or sugar but with a teaspoonful of brandy is recommended between heats on race day....
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Price HK$ 10,000
The Commentaries of Caesar, Translated into English. To which is prefixed a Discourse Concerning the Roman Art of War -
Caius Julius Caesar, William Duncan
1753 - J. &, London - First Edition
The magnificent folio edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, translated and with preliminary matter by William Duncan, with a superb array of 86 copper-engraved plates including six maps, most double-page.
These include the scarce fold-out "Bull" plate (The Ursus or Buffalo) and The Battle with Elephants. Together with numerous finely engraved battle plans, depictions of the various peoples conquered by Cæsar (Picts, Druids, Gauls, Germans, etc.), maps of the regions occupied, etc.
This is thought by many as the finest edition of Caesar's commentaries in English.
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Price HK$ 95,000
1753 - J. &, London - First Edition
The magnificent folio edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, translated and with preliminary matter by William Duncan, with a superb array of 86 copper-engraved plates including six maps, most double-page.These include the scarce fold-out "Bull" plate (The Ursus or Buffalo) and The Battle with Elephants. Together with numerous finely engraved battle plans, depictions of the various peoples conquered by Cæsar (Picts, Druids, Gauls, Germans, etc.), maps of the regions occupied, etc.
This is thought by many as the finest edition of Caesar's commentaries in English.
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Price HK$ 95,000
The Riddle of the Sands -
Erskine Childers
1903 - Smith, London - First Edition, First Impression
A crisp, clean and rare first edition, finely bound.
Written after Childers, an accomplished yachtsman, returned injured from action in South Africa. Highlighting the encroaching conflict with Germany, the novel was highly influential and is actually credited with the founding of British naval bases at Invergordon and Scapa Flow; newly regarded as strategically important after examination of the scenarios in Childers' text. Winston Churchill later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat.
Contentiously described as the first modern spy thriller, vying for the title with Kipling's 'Kim', published two years earlier.
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Price HK$ 21,000
1903 - Smith, London - First Edition, First Impression
A crisp, clean and rare first edition, finely bound.Written after Childers, an accomplished yachtsman, returned injured from action in South Africa. Highlighting the encroaching conflict with Germany, the novel was highly influential and is actually credited with the founding of British naval bases at Invergordon and Scapa Flow; newly regarded as strategically important after examination of the scenarios in Childers' text. Winston Churchill later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat.
Contentiously described as the first modern spy thriller, vying for the title with Kipling's 'Kim', published two years earlier.
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Price HK$ 21,000
My Early Life: A Roving Commission - together with - Thoughts and Adventures : Amid These Storms -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
Two finely bound first editions in custom made fleece-lined slipcase.
Representing Churchill's only autobiographical books, ‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years’, illustrated with 17 black and white photographs, a folding map, and additional in-text drawings.
In Thoughts and Adventures Churchill begins by asking what it would be like to live your life over again and ends by describing his love affair with painting. In between, he touches on subjects as diverse as spies, cartoons, submarines, elections, flying, and the future. Illustrated with black and white frontispiece and several in-text drawings.
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Price HK$ 21,000
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
Two finely bound first editions in custom made fleece-lined slipcase.Representing Churchill's only autobiographical books, ‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years’, illustrated with 17 black and white photographs, a folding map, and additional in-text drawings.
In Thoughts and Adventures Churchill begins by asking what it would be like to live your life over again and ends by describing his love affair with painting. In between, he touches on subjects as diverse as spies, cartoons, submarines, elections, flying, and the future. Illustrated with black and white frontispiece and several in-text drawings.
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Price HK$ 21,000