The Personal History of David Copperfield -
Charles DIckens, H. K. Browne aka ‘Phiz’ (Illustrator)
1850 - Bradbury & Evans, London - First Edition
‘Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.’
A handsomely bound first edition of arguably Charles Dickens’ most acclaimed work, wonderfully illustrated throughout with 39 engraved plates and engraved title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ‘Phiz’.
‘In this book of David Copperfield, [Dickens] has created creatures who cling to us and tyrannise over us, creatures whom we would not forget if we could, creatures whom we could not forget if we would, creatures who are more actual than the man who made them.’ – G. K. Chesterton
The story of a boy making his way in the world, and finding himself as a man and as a writer. In the first half, before Dickens's irrepressible storytelling kicks in and the motor of the novel starts to hum with incident, we find him almost meditating on his literary beginnings. The second half displays Dickens at his magnificent, and often uneven, best. There are the characteristic prose arpeggios, the virtuoso similes and metaphors, and the parade of timeless characters: Mr Micawber, Mrs Gummidge, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Mr Spenlow (of Spenlow and Jorkins) and Miss Mowcher.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1850 - Bradbury & Evans, London - First Edition
‘Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.’A handsomely bound first edition of arguably Charles Dickens’ most acclaimed work, wonderfully illustrated throughout with 39 engraved plates and engraved title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ‘Phiz’.
‘In this book of David Copperfield, [Dickens] has created creatures who cling to us and tyrannise over us, creatures whom we would not forget if we could, creatures whom we could not forget if we would, creatures who are more actual than the man who made them.’ – G. K. Chesterton
The story of a boy making his way in the world, and finding himself as a man and as a writer. In the first half, before Dickens's irrepressible storytelling kicks in and the motor of the novel starts to hum with incident, we find him almost meditating on his literary beginnings. The second half displays Dickens at his magnificent, and often uneven, best. There are the characteristic prose arpeggios, the virtuoso similes and metaphors, and the parade of timeless characters: Mr Micawber, Mrs Gummidge, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Mr Spenlow (of Spenlow and Jorkins) and Miss Mowcher.
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Price HK$ 22,000
Jock of the Bushveld -
Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Ernest Caldwell (illustrator)
1907 - Longmans, London - First Edition, Second Impression
A finely bound copy of this legendary tale, illustrated by the British wildlife artist Ernest Caldwell with colour frontispiece, 22 full page monochrome plates and charming vignettes to all the pages.
Sir (James) Percy Fitzpatrick`s travels with his dog Jock, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, during the 1880s, when he worked as a storeman, prospector`s assistant, journalist and ox-wagon transport-rider in the Bushveld region of the Transvaal (then the South African Republic). Fitzpatrick (1862-1931) later recounted these adventures as bedtime stories to his four children. Rudyard Kipling, a good friend of Fitzpatrick, also took part in these story-telling evenings and eventually persuaded him to collect the tales in book form.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1907 - Longmans, London - First Edition, Second Impression
A finely bound copy of this legendary tale, illustrated by the British wildlife artist Ernest Caldwell with colour frontispiece, 22 full page monochrome plates and charming vignettes to all the pages.Sir (James) Percy Fitzpatrick`s travels with his dog Jock, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, during the 1880s, when he worked as a storeman, prospector`s assistant, journalist and ox-wagon transport-rider in the Bushveld region of the Transvaal (then the South African Republic). Fitzpatrick (1862-1931) later recounted these adventures as bedtime stories to his four children. Rudyard Kipling, a good friend of Fitzpatrick, also took part in these story-telling evenings and eventually persuaded him to collect the tales in book form.
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Price HK$ 5,000
Flying Colours. Including A Ship Of The Line -
C. S. Forester
1938 - Michael Joseph Ltd. in conjunction with The Book Society Ltd., London - First Edition
One finely bound volume containing two classic Hornblower novels, in which Captain Horatio Hornblower commands his first ship of the line, HMS Sutherland. A Ship Of The Line and Flying Colours, are the second and third books in the Horatio Hornblower series. This is the first publication of Flying Colours which was released shortly afterwards as a stand alone title, making this the true first edition.
A Ship of the Line - May 1810, seventeen years deep into the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Horatio Hornblower is newly in command of his first ship of the line, the seventy-four-gun HMS Sutherland, which he deems ‘the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy List’. Moreover, she is 250 men short of a full crew, so Hornblower must enlist and train ‘poachers, bigamists, sheepstealers’, and other landlubbers. By the time the Sutherland reaches the blockaded Catalonian coast of Spain, the crew is capable of staging five astonishing solo raids against the French. But the grisly prospect of defeat and capture looms for both captain and crew as the Sutherland single-handedly takes on four French ships.
Flying Colours - Forced to surrender the Sutherland after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower now bides his time as a prisoner in a French fortress. Within days he and his first lieutenant, Bush, who was crippled in the last fight, are to be taken to Paris to be tried on trumped-up charges of violating the laws of war, and most probably executed as part of Napoleon's attempt to rally the war-weary empire behind him. Even if Hornblower escapes this fate and somehow finds his way back to England, he will face court-martial for his surrender of a British ship. As fears for his life and his reputation compete in his mind with worries about his pregnant wife and his possibly widowed lover, the indomitable captain impatiently awaits the chance to make his next move.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1938 - Michael Joseph Ltd. in conjunction with The Book Society Ltd., London - First Edition
One finely bound volume containing two classic Hornblower novels, in which Captain Horatio Hornblower commands his first ship of the line, HMS Sutherland. A Ship Of The Line and Flying Colours, are the second and third books in the Horatio Hornblower series. This is the first publication of Flying Colours which was released shortly afterwards as a stand alone title, making this the true first edition.A Ship of the Line - May 1810, seventeen years deep into the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Horatio Hornblower is newly in command of his first ship of the line, the seventy-four-gun HMS Sutherland, which he deems ‘the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy List’. Moreover, she is 250 men short of a full crew, so Hornblower must enlist and train ‘poachers, bigamists, sheepstealers’, and other landlubbers. By the time the Sutherland reaches the blockaded Catalonian coast of Spain, the crew is capable of staging five astonishing solo raids against the French. But the grisly prospect of defeat and capture looms for both captain and crew as the Sutherland single-handedly takes on four French ships.
Flying Colours - Forced to surrender the Sutherland after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower now bides his time as a prisoner in a French fortress. Within days he and his first lieutenant, Bush, who was crippled in the last fight, are to be taken to Paris to be tried on trumped-up charges of violating the laws of war, and most probably executed as part of Napoleon's attempt to rally the war-weary empire behind him. Even if Hornblower escapes this fate and somehow finds his way back to England, he will face court-martial for his surrender of a British ship. As fears for his life and his reputation compete in his mind with worries about his pregnant wife and his possibly widowed lover, the indomitable captain impatiently awaits the chance to make his next move.
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Young Bond Series -
Charlie Higson, Steve Cole
2005-2014 - Puffin Books, London - First Editions
A complete six volume first edition set of Charlie Higson’s extremely successful Young Bond series, three of which are signed. Covering the adventures of a teenage James Bond whilst at Eton.
Consisting of SilverFin (number 966 of 999 limited signed first editions in slipcase), Blood Fever (signed first edition, in wrappers), Double or Die (first edition in wrappers, with original packaging giving the title as ‘Young Blood 3’), Hurricane Gold (number 979 of 1500 limited signed first editions, with publisher’s wraparound band), By Royal Command, and Danger Society : The Young Bond Dossier (with publisher’s wraparound band).
Together with the first of Steve Cole’s follow on novels ‘Shoot to Kill’ in which the young Bond attends Dartington Hall after being expelled from Eton in 1934.
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Price HK$ 4,000
2005-2014 - Puffin Books, London - First Editions
A complete six volume first edition set of Charlie Higson’s extremely successful Young Bond series, three of which are signed. Covering the adventures of a teenage James Bond whilst at Eton.Consisting of SilverFin (number 966 of 999 limited signed first editions in slipcase), Blood Fever (signed first edition, in wrappers), Double or Die (first edition in wrappers, with original packaging giving the title as ‘Young Blood 3’), Hurricane Gold (number 979 of 1500 limited signed first editions, with publisher’s wraparound band), By Royal Command, and Danger Society : The Young Bond Dossier (with publisher’s wraparound band).
Together with the first of Steve Cole’s follow on novels ‘Shoot to Kill’ in which the young Bond attends Dartington Hall after being expelled from Eton in 1934.
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Price HK$ 4,000
Winnie-the-Pooh -
A. A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard (illustrator)
1926 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Edition
‘On Wednesday, when the sky is blue, And I have nothing else to do, I sometimes wonder if it's true That who is what and what is who.’
A fine first edition of A.A. Milne’s most famous children’s story.
Winnie was the name of the Canadian Black Bear at London Zoo, befriended by Christopher Robin, and originally the Mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. The Pooh is believed to have come from the name of a royal swan in the park and the two combined by Christopher Robin himself.
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Price HK$ 14,000
1926 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Edition
‘On Wednesday, when the sky is blue, And I have nothing else to do, I sometimes wonder if it's true That who is what and what is who.’A fine first edition of A.A. Milne’s most famous children’s story.
Winnie was the name of the Canadian Black Bear at London Zoo, befriended by Christopher Robin, and originally the Mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. The Pooh is believed to have come from the name of a royal swan in the park and the two combined by Christopher Robin himself.
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Price HK$ 14,000
The Christopher Robin Story Book -
A. A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard (illustrator)
1929 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of this wonderful collection of poems and stories compiled from the four Winnie-the-Pooh books, together with Milne’s masterful introductory essay.
Illustrated throughout with Ernest Shephard’s delightful drawings.
Winnie was the name of the Canadian Black Bear at London Zoo, befriended by Christopher Robin, and originally the Mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. The Pooh is believed to have come from the name of a royal swan in the park and the two combined by Christopher Robin himself.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1929 - Methuen & Co. Ltd., London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of this wonderful collection of poems and stories compiled from the four Winnie-the-Pooh books, together with Milne’s masterful introductory essay.Illustrated throughout with Ernest Shephard’s delightful drawings.
Winnie was the name of the Canadian Black Bear at London Zoo, befriended by Christopher Robin, and originally the Mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. The Pooh is believed to have come from the name of a royal swan in the park and the two combined by Christopher Robin himself.
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Price HK$ 4,500
His Dark Materials Trilogy - Northern Lights [Golden Compass]; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass. -
Philip Pullman
1995-2000 - Scholastic Press, London - First Editions
Fine first editions of this exceptional fantasy trilogy, whose titles were derived from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. ‘Northern Lights’ with the publisher's bookplate signed by the author loosely inserted.
Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary epic trilogy, written by ‘one of the supreme literary dreamers and magicians of our time’. [The Guardian].
Northern Lights was listed in both Newsweek and The Observer's top 100 novels of all time, The Times' Novel List Top 60 Poll (2013) and was selected for World Book Night (2011). Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Prize, also shortlisted for Booker Prize.
‘War, politics, magic, science, individual lives and cosmic destinies are all here... shaped and assembled into a narrative of tremendous pace by a man with a generous, precise intelligence. I am completely enchanted.’ – The New York Times Book Review.
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Price HK$ 25,000
1995-2000 - Scholastic Press, London - First Editions
Fine first editions of this exceptional fantasy trilogy, whose titles were derived from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. ‘Northern Lights’ with the publisher's bookplate signed by the author loosely inserted. Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary epic trilogy, written by ‘one of the supreme literary dreamers and magicians of our time’. [The Guardian].
Northern Lights was listed in both Newsweek and The Observer's top 100 novels of all time, The Times' Novel List Top 60 Poll (2013) and was selected for World Book Night (2011). Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Prize, also shortlisted for Booker Prize.
‘War, politics, magic, science, individual lives and cosmic destinies are all here... shaped and assembled into a narrative of tremendous pace by a man with a generous, precise intelligence. I am completely enchanted.’ – The New York Times Book Review.
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Price HK$ 25,000
