Principles of Economics. Vol. I. [all published]. - Alfred Marshall

1890 - Macmillan and Co., London - First Edition
A fine bright first edition of Marshall’s masterpiece, in the original cloth, and housed in a bespoke cloth clamshell case.

The seminal text of Neoclassical economics, effectively reconciling the classical and more modern theories of value by bringing together the principles of supply and demand, marginal utility and costs of production into a coherent whole. One of the few works in the history of economic thought that can claim to contain an original treatment of almost the entire economic theory of its time.

‘Marshall's great work is the classical achievement of the period, that is, the work that embodies more perfectly than any other, the classical situation that emerged around 1900 ... More than any other economist – with the exception, perhaps, of Pareto – Marshall pointed beyond himself....’ (Schumpeter).
 
More details

Price HK$ 80,000



Haraszthy at the Mint - Famous Californian Trials, Volume 10 - Brian McGinty

1975 - Printed by Richard J. Hoffman, Los Angeles - First Edition, limited to 300 copies
Agoston Haraszthy, the ‘father of Californian wine’, best known for his pioneering work in the vineyards of Sonoma, was indicted in 1857 for alleged embezzlement of gold from the San Francisco Mint. He was acquitted of all charges after a four year trial. This is the story of this early adventure in Haraszthy’s colourful and fascinating life.

One of only 300 copies printed, a lovely private press presentation with ten illustrations, and the original advertisement/flier loosely inserted.

‘Decorated initials went out of fashion in the late 18th century as book design became more austere. They returned in modern times with the fine printing renaissance. Brian McGinty’s Haraszthy at the Mint (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1975), also from the “Law Books Bright and Beautiful” exhibit, is an example.’ – Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library.
 
More details

Price HK$ 2,000



Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Signed - Robert M. Pirsig

1974 - William Morrow &, New York - First Edition
Signed true first edition of a modern classic that was rejected by 121 publishers before William Morrow stepped up.

Well, as Robert Pirsig points out, this ‘
should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either’. The motorcycle being a 1966 Honda Super Hawk, now on permanent display at the Smithsonian.

‘Inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.’ –
The New Yorker.

‘The truly great road trip novel. … Many former angsty teens will surely fondly recall their own dog-eared, heavily underlined copies of Pirsig’s book, and the initial joy that accompanied reading something that felt so specifically personal and yet so urgently universal.’ –
GQ Magazine. 
More details

Price HK$ 30,000



Temple Bar, or Some Account of ye Marygold, No. 1, Fleet Street - Inscribed - F. G. H. Price

1875 - Printed by Taylor and Francis, London - First Edition
A scarce, fine and inscribed first edition of the history of private banking house of Child & Co., one of the oldest private banks in the United Kingdom, who has traded from No. 1 Fleet Street since 1673, under the ‘Marygold’ sign.

This copy is inscribed from the author, F.G.H. Price to the Marquess of Tavistock, 8th Duke of Bedford, whose family had at that date been banking with Chlid & Co., for two centuries, the first Duke of Bedford opened his account in 1679.
 
More details

Price HK$ 5,000



The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

1906 - Doubleday, New York - First Edition
‘Pierces the thickest skull and most leathery heart.’ - Winston Churchill

‘The brutally grim story of a Slavic family who emigrates to America,
The Jungle tells of their rapid and inexorable descent into numbing poverty, moral degradation, and social and economic despair.

‘Sinclair's nightmarish narrative of the immigrant Rudken family instigated a series of legislative measures that were highly successful. His lurid scenes of a meat packing industry that ground both rates and fingers into sausage aroused the middle class to demand sanitary conditions for food preparation.

Yet far less effective by comparison was his severe indictment of the working conditions that regularly reduced laborers to impoverished insanity. As Sinclair later wryly observed, “
I aimed for the heart and hit the stomach of America”.’ – Emory Elliot, The Columbia Literary History of the United States. 
More details

Price HK$ 9,000



The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior - John Von Neumann, Oscar Morgenstern

1944 - Princeton University Press, Princeton - First Edition
A fine first edition of Von Neumann and Morgenstern’s monumental presentation of Game Theory, in the rare dust jacket and complete with ‘Corrigenda’ slip. Together with Nobel prize winning economist Richard Stone’s rare and detailed 1948 review of ‘Theory of Games’, finely bound. Each housed in bespoke cloth cases.

‘Game theory, it may reasonably be claimed, has proved to be one of the more significant scientific contributions of the twentieth century. Albeit haltingly and unevenly, and in a manner quite unforeseeable in 1944 when the
Theory of Games and Economic Behavior was published, it has affected not only economics and political science but also evolutionary biology, ethics, and philosophy proper. Within economics, particular areas such as microeconomic theory, industrial organization, international trade, and experimental economics have all been reshaped under the theory’s influence.’ (Leonard)

‘The classic work in both game theory and its application to decision-making in economics and business’. (Bernstein).

‘Had it merely called our attention to the existence and exact nature of certain fundamental gaps in economic theory,
Theory of Games would have been a book of outstanding importance. But it does more than that. It is essentially constructive: where existing theory is considered to be inadequate, the authors put in its place a highly novel analytical apparatus designed to cope with the problem’. (Hurwicz) 
More details

Price HK$ 120,000