History·Travel
Aviation
Maritime
Military
Polar
Voyages
Africa
Britain
Europe
Latin America
North America
Middle East
Scotland
Churchill
Wayward Women
The Great Domesday Book - Surrey -
1988 - Alecto Historical Editions, London - Set number 35 of a limited edition of 1, 000.
‘Domesday Book is England's first - and arguably most remarkable - public record. Although written more than nine centuries ago it is still legally admissible evidence on title to land. It is at once the foundation document of our national archival heritage, a matchless historical source and an icon linking England's past with her present and future.’ - Dr. Elizabeth Hallam, Public Record Office.
For anyone interested in where they live now or where they come from, Domesday reveals fascinating facts about customs, value and ownership of their village, town and county more than 900 years ago. It is the beginning of all local history.
In 1984 the Public Record Office at Kew took the historic decision to unbind the original Domesday manuscripts and invited Alecto Historical Editions to undertake the publication of the first and only ‘brilliant forgery’ or ‘indecently exact facsimile’, to quote Professor Geoffrey Martin, the then Keeper of Public Records and custodian of the original Domesday. Due to the fragility of the original, it is unlikely that this will be done again.
Three large folio volumes housed in their original slipcase, together with the prospectus, correspondence and limited edition certificate.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
1988 - Alecto Historical Editions, London - Set number 35 of a limited edition of 1, 000.
‘Domesday Book is England's first - and arguably most remarkable - public record. Although written more than nine centuries ago it is still legally admissible evidence on title to land. It is at once the foundation document of our national archival heritage, a matchless historical source and an icon linking England's past with her present and future.’ - Dr. Elizabeth Hallam, Public Record Office. For anyone interested in where they live now or where they come from, Domesday reveals fascinating facts about customs, value and ownership of their village, town and county more than 900 years ago. It is the beginning of all local history.
In 1984 the Public Record Office at Kew took the historic decision to unbind the original Domesday manuscripts and invited Alecto Historical Editions to undertake the publication of the first and only ‘brilliant forgery’ or ‘indecently exact facsimile’, to quote Professor Geoffrey Martin, the then Keeper of Public Records and custodian of the original Domesday. Due to the fragility of the original, it is unlikely that this will be done again.
Three large folio volumes housed in their original slipcase, together with the prospectus, correspondence and limited edition certificate.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
Ritz's Carlton Restaurant - On Board The SS. “Kaiserin Auguste Victoria” -
Circa 1906 - Printed by Hudson and Kearns Printers, London - First Edition
‘A short account of the further development of the greatest improvement which has ever been effected towards the comfort of ocean travellers’.
Elaborately produced record of the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria's maiden voyage from Hamburg to America, especially notable for its onboard Ritz Carlton Restaurant.
‘The man responsible for the interior design was the French architect Charles Mewès, who introduced the à-la-carte restaurant on the high seas. staffed and run by Ceasar Ritz himself, with dedicated kitchens were staffed and run by Auguste Escoffier, this was the first time that diners were offered an alternative to the first class dining saloon, but where the meals in the dining saloon were included in the ticket-price, passengers had to pay a special admittance fee when dining in the à-la-carte restaurant. Ironically, this fee could cost the same as a one-way ticket in third class.
A near fine and thus rare copy of this lovely work, which features twenty five tipped-in black and white photographs of the ship and it’s interiors, including the dining rooms, state room, and smoking room, as well as prominent sites in Hamburg and New York.
More details
Price HK$ 3,000
Circa 1906 - Printed by Hudson and Kearns Printers, London - First Edition
‘A short account of the further development of the greatest improvement which has ever been effected towards the comfort of ocean travellers’.Elaborately produced record of the S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria's maiden voyage from Hamburg to America, especially notable for its onboard Ritz Carlton Restaurant.
‘The man responsible for the interior design was the French architect Charles Mewès, who introduced the à-la-carte restaurant on the high seas. staffed and run by Ceasar Ritz himself, with dedicated kitchens were staffed and run by Auguste Escoffier, this was the first time that diners were offered an alternative to the first class dining saloon, but where the meals in the dining saloon were included in the ticket-price, passengers had to pay a special admittance fee when dining in the à-la-carte restaurant. Ironically, this fee could cost the same as a one-way ticket in third class.
A near fine and thus rare copy of this lovely work, which features twenty five tipped-in black and white photographs of the ship and it’s interiors, including the dining rooms, state room, and smoking room, as well as prominent sites in Hamburg and New York.
More details
Price HK$ 3,000
Captain Scott's Message to England -
1913 - St. Catherine's Press, London - First Edition
A nice copy of this memorial to Scott, containing ‘Scott’s Last Message’ quoting from the last pages of Scott’s diary, obituaries and tipped-in photographs of Scott, Oates and Bowers,; a photograph of a ‘Group of Officers on board the “Discovery”’ ; the patriotic poem ‘England’s Debt’, followed by ‘A Brief Record of the Dead
Normally found in poor condition.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
1913 - St. Catherine's Press, London - First Edition
A nice copy of this memorial to Scott, containing ‘Scott’s Last Message’ quoting from the last pages of Scott’s diary, obituaries and tipped-in photographs of Scott, Oates and Bowers,; a photograph of a ‘Group of Officers on board the “Discovery”’ ; the patriotic poem ‘England’s Debt’, followed by ‘A Brief Record of the DeadNormally found in poor condition.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
A Book of Designs of Deep Sea Racing Craft -
1933 - Ernest J. Day & Company, London - First Edition
A fine copy of this large and beautifully presented work, containing the twenty nine of the best racing yacht designs selected from more than sixty submitted for an international competition organised by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for racing yachts in the 55 class (over 16.5 metres) and the 35 class (over 10 metres). With an Introduction by Malden Heckstall-Smith.
The designs are presented here over 116 full page illustrations, and the designers include the who’s who of international yacht designers such as J. Read, David Boyd, Alfred Pyszka, Laurent Giles & Partners, Charles A. Nicholson, H. W. de Voogt, Harry Jacobs, Olin Stephens, Jarl Lindblom, and John M. Tate.
More details
Price HK$ 6,000
1933 - Ernest J. Day & Company, London - First Edition
A fine copy of this large and beautifully presented work, containing the twenty nine of the best racing yacht designs selected from more than sixty submitted for an international competition organised by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for racing yachts in the 55 class (over 16.5 metres) and the 35 class (over 10 metres). With an Introduction by Malden Heckstall-Smith.The designs are presented here over 116 full page illustrations, and the designers include the who’s who of international yacht designers such as J. Read, David Boyd, Alfred Pyszka, Laurent Giles & Partners, Charles A. Nicholson, H. W. de Voogt, Harry Jacobs, Olin Stephens, Jarl Lindblom, and John M. Tate.
More details
Price HK$ 6,000
California from 1769 to 1909: An Illustrated History Issued in Commemoration of the Portola Festival -
Benjamin Shannon Allen (editor)
1910 - Privately Printed - Benjamin Shannon Allen - editor., San Francisco
Elegantly produced tribute to the Golden State, in two large format volumes, the first volume consisting of historical sketches, the second of biographies of leading Californians. Each page is separated by a glassine guard, with vignette sketch of a miner in the margins throughout.
Profusely illustrated from photographs. Includes 11½x16" colour silk American flag with 48 stars (approximately 100 years old), folded and laid in.
More details
Price HK$ 6,800
1910 - Privately Printed - Benjamin Shannon Allen - editor., San Francisco
Elegantly produced tribute to the Golden State, in two large format volumes, the first volume consisting of historical sketches, the second of biographies of leading Californians. Each page is separated by a glassine guard, with vignette sketch of a miner in the margins throughout. Profusely illustrated from photographs. Includes 11½x16" colour silk American flag with 48 stars (approximately 100 years old), folded and laid in.
More details
Price HK$ 6,800
RESERVED - The Wanderer: or, Surprizing Escape. -
Anon.
1752Glasgow - First Glasgow Edition (first published London 1747)
One of a number of novellas published not long after the Rebellion of 1745, purporting to describe the adventures of the Young Pretender. The anonymous author professes himself an anti-Jacobite, but his account of the prince's terrifying flight after the Battle of Culloden is essentially sympathetic. The text includes an attack on John Burton's Ascanius (1746), as a vilification of the Young Chevalier.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
1752Glasgow - First Glasgow Edition (first published London 1747)
One of a number of novellas published not long after the Rebellion of 1745, purporting to describe the adventures of the Young Pretender. The anonymous author professes himself an anti-Jacobite, but his account of the prince's terrifying flight after the Battle of Culloden is essentially sympathetic. The text includes an attack on John Burton's Ascanius (1746), as a vilification of the Young Chevalier.
More details
Price HK$ 2,000
Round the Coast -
Anonymous
1895 - George Newnes Limited, London - First Edition
‘We love our haunts by the sea; the poorest among us regards his favourite resort pretty much as the rich man does his country seat – as a place of relaxation from the hurly-burly of life, and yet a home withal.’
A handsome and large (35.5 x 27.5 cm) folio album of photographs of sea side places around the coast of England and Ireland, including Dover, Brighton, Guernsey, Plymouth, and Scarborough, among many others, profusely illustrated throughout with 284 photographs, descriptive passages accompanying each one.
More details
Price HK$ 3,000
1895 - George Newnes Limited, London - First Edition
‘We love our haunts by the sea; the poorest among us regards his favourite resort pretty much as the rich man does his country seat – as a place of relaxation from the hurly-burly of life, and yet a home withal.’A handsome and large (35.5 x 27.5 cm) folio album of photographs of sea side places around the coast of England and Ireland, including Dover, Brighton, Guernsey, Plymouth, and Scarborough, among many others, profusely illustrated throughout with 284 photographs, descriptive passages accompanying each one.
More details
Price HK$ 3,000
A Voyage Round the World, In the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV. -
George Anson, Richard Walter
1748 - Printed for the Author, London - First Edition
A finely bound ‘Royal Paper’ copy of the this beautifully illustrated work which ‘has long occupied a distinguished position as a masterpiece of descriptive travel’ (Hill), and ‘a model of what such literature should be’ (Cox).
Containing forty two copper-engraved maps, charts, views, and coastal profiles, all but one folding, including views of Brazilian harbours and cities, Acapulco, Tenian, Port St. Julian, Magellan’s Straits, the Bay of Manila, Saipan, Lama, Lantau, Chinese Junks, and others, and large folding maps of South America, the Philippines, and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the twelve page subscriber list, and the two page instructions to the binder.
England, at war with Spain in 1739, equipped eight ships under the command of George Anson to harass the Spaniards on the western coast of South America, for the purpose of cutting off Spanish supplies of wealth from the Pacific area. Seven ships were lost and out of 900 men, 600 perished. As usual scurvy took an appalling toll.
The Spanish fleet sent out to oppose the British ran into storms; provisions ran out and many ships were wrecked. Thus the primary object of the expedition was not attained, however Anson continued taking prizes off the Pacific coast during 1741-42, and in June 1743, near the Philippines he captured the Spanish galleon Nostra Seigniora de Cabadonga and its treasure of £400,000 sterling, which allowed Anson and the surviving members of his crew to reach England much the richer.
More details
Price HK$ 59,000
1748 - Printed for the Author, London - First Edition
A finely bound ‘Royal Paper’ copy of the this beautifully illustrated work which ‘has long occupied a distinguished position as a masterpiece of descriptive travel’ (Hill), and ‘a model of what such literature should be’ (Cox).Containing forty two copper-engraved maps, charts, views, and coastal profiles, all but one folding, including views of Brazilian harbours and cities, Acapulco, Tenian, Port St. Julian, Magellan’s Straits, the Bay of Manila, Saipan, Lama, Lantau, Chinese Junks, and others, and large folding maps of South America, the Philippines, and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the twelve page subscriber list, and the two page instructions to the binder.
England, at war with Spain in 1739, equipped eight ships under the command of George Anson to harass the Spaniards on the western coast of South America, for the purpose of cutting off Spanish supplies of wealth from the Pacific area. Seven ships were lost and out of 900 men, 600 perished. As usual scurvy took an appalling toll.
The Spanish fleet sent out to oppose the British ran into storms; provisions ran out and many ships were wrecked. Thus the primary object of the expedition was not attained, however Anson continued taking prizes off the Pacific coast during 1741-42, and in June 1743, near the Philippines he captured the Spanish galleon Nostra Seigniora de Cabadonga and its treasure of £400,000 sterling, which allowed Anson and the surviving members of his crew to reach England much the richer.
More details
Price HK$ 59,000