British Yachts and Yachtsmen. A Complete History of British Yachting from the Middle of the Sixteenth Century of the Present Day -
1907 - The Yachtsman Publishing Company, London - First Edition
This is a seriously massive and luxurious tome, a comprehensive reference, illustrated with 58 plates and 500 valuable photographs. In the publisher’s original navy blue leather and gilt binding, usually found in pieces or rebound in two volumes due to the size.
Containing a lengthy history of yachting in the British Isles, from Elizabethan times, with coverage of the America’s cup, yachting in Canada and Australia, biographical sketches of many prominent yachtsmen, brief histories of yacht clubs, and an account of the founding and influence of the Yacht Racing Association. Indexes of personal, yacht, and club names are provided.’ [Toy].
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Price HK$ 10,000
1907 - The Yachtsman Publishing Company, London - First Edition
This is a seriously massive and luxurious tome, a comprehensive reference, illustrated with 58 plates and 500 valuable photographs. In the publisher’s original navy blue leather and gilt binding, usually found in pieces or rebound in two volumes due to the size.Containing a lengthy history of yachting in the British Isles, from Elizabethan times, with coverage of the America’s cup, yachting in Canada and Australia, biographical sketches of many prominent yachtsmen, brief histories of yacht clubs, and an account of the founding and influence of the Yacht Racing Association. Indexes of personal, yacht, and club names are provided.’ [Toy].
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Price HK$ 10,000
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
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$ 98,000
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$ 98,000
My Early Life: A Roving Commission -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Edition
Finely bound first edition, in the earliest state (with eleven Churchill books advertised on the half-title verso).
‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch, covering his years as a soldier and correspondent, 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, as well as in-text drawings.
With frontispiece portrait of Lady Randolph Churchill, together with several illustrations and maps.
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Price HK$ 13,000
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Edition
Finely bound first edition, in the earliest state (with eleven Churchill books advertised on the half-title verso).‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch, covering his years as a soldier and correspondent, 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, as well as in-text drawings.
With frontispiece portrait of Lady Randolph Churchill, together with several illustrations and maps.
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Price HK$ 13,000
The Second World War -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill.
A finely bound set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II - The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy.
Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill. A finely bound set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II - The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy.
Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.
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Price HK$ 22,000
Golf: A Royal & Ancient Game -
Robert Clark (editor)
1875 - R. &, Edinburgh - First Edition
A near fine first edition of this history of golf, a rare golfing classic, in original cloth without repair or restoration. Formerly from the libraries of John Hamilton Buchanan (1861-1919) and Scottish lawyer John Kermack (1847-99), with their engraved armourial bookplates.
Illustrated with nine plates from paintings, engravings, etchings, etc., including two duotone lithographs, one colour plan of the golf course over St. Andrew's Links and frontispiece, with tissue-guards; plus numerous wood engravings and facsimiles throughout the text; title page with decorative gilt margins; decorative initials. Illustrations by Clark Stanton, C.A. Doyle and G. Aikman.
‘This book is one of the masterpieces of golf literature. It is also one of the most important contributions to the library of golf and one of the most handsomely produced of all golf books, even to this date.’ – Joseph Murdoch, ‘The Library of Golf 1743-1966’.
‘Widely regarded as one of the most significant, as well as best produced, early books on the history of golf, Clark's work is a compilation of the earliest literature on the game. In assembling the book, Clark, a well-known Edinburgh printer, collected early press reports, biographical sketches, significant acts of Parliament, municipal records, diaries, and extracts from the minutes of the earliest golf clubs. The book also contains obituary of Allan Robertson.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
1875 - R. &, Edinburgh - First Edition
A near fine first edition of this history of golf, a rare golfing classic, in original cloth without repair or restoration. Formerly from the libraries of John Hamilton Buchanan (1861-1919) and Scottish lawyer John Kermack (1847-99), with their engraved armourial bookplates.Illustrated with nine plates from paintings, engravings, etchings, etc., including two duotone lithographs, one colour plan of the golf course over St. Andrew's Links and frontispiece, with tissue-guards; plus numerous wood engravings and facsimiles throughout the text; title page with decorative gilt margins; decorative initials. Illustrations by Clark Stanton, C.A. Doyle and G. Aikman.
‘This book is one of the masterpieces of golf literature. It is also one of the most important contributions to the library of golf and one of the most handsomely produced of all golf books, even to this date.’ – Joseph Murdoch, ‘The Library of Golf 1743-1966’.
‘Widely regarded as one of the most significant, as well as best produced, early books on the history of golf, Clark's work is a compilation of the earliest literature on the game. In assembling the book, Clark, a well-known Edinburgh printer, collected early press reports, biographical sketches, significant acts of Parliament, municipal records, diaries, and extracts from the minutes of the earliest golf clubs. The book also contains obituary of Allan Robertson.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
Bordeaux and its Wines -
Charles Cocks,
1899 - Fé, Bordeaux - Third English Edition Improved
‘The classic reference work on Bordeaux wines’ - Jancis Robinson, The Oxford Companion to Wine.
A comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated third English edition of ‘The Bordeaux Bible’. This edition was greatly expanded from the second edition, with 215 more pages, 11 colour maps (up from 8) and 374 in-text engravings of the Châteaux (up from 193). Also included are numerous tables, lists, and comprehensive indices of principal proprietors, villages and communes, and principal growths.
A presentation copy from the great Bordeaux wine merchants Nath. Johnston & Fils.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1899 - Fé, Bordeaux - Third English Edition Improved
‘The classic reference work on Bordeaux wines’ - Jancis Robinson, The Oxford Companion to Wine.A comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated third English edition of ‘The Bordeaux Bible’. This edition was greatly expanded from the second edition, with 215 more pages, 11 colour maps (up from 8) and 374 in-text engravings of the Châteaux (up from 193). Also included are numerous tables, lists, and comprehensive indices of principal proprietors, villages and communes, and principal growths.
A presentation copy from the great Bordeaux wine merchants Nath. Johnston & Fils.
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Price HK$ 5,000