An Essay on the Principle of Population -
Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus
1826 - John Murray, London - Sixth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic text proposing a limit to global human population, an important and influential work on economics. ‘There can be no doubt that [Keynes’] importance for economists today rests mainly on Principles of Political Economy. It was because of the latter work that J. M. Keynes reinstated Malthus as a major figure in modern economic thought’ - (New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics).
In his Theory of Economic Analysis, Schumpeter, reviewing ‘Principles of Political Economy’, and Malthus’ presentation of the theory of demand and supply, comes to the conclusion that Malthus should ‘stand in the history of analysis not only as the author of a valid alternative to Ricardo's theory but as the sponsor (or rather as one of the sponsors) of the victorious one.’
‘If only Malthus, instead of Ricardo, had been the parent stem from which nineteenth-century economics proceeded, what a much wiser and richer place the world would be today’ - J. M. Keynes.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1826 - John Murray, London - Sixth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic text proposing a limit to global human population, an important and influential work on economics. ‘There can be no doubt that [Keynes’] importance for economists today rests mainly on Principles of Political Economy. It was because of the latter work that J. M. Keynes reinstated Malthus as a major figure in modern economic thought’ - (New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics). In his Theory of Economic Analysis, Schumpeter, reviewing ‘Principles of Political Economy’, and Malthus’ presentation of the theory of demand and supply, comes to the conclusion that Malthus should ‘stand in the history of analysis not only as the author of a valid alternative to Ricardo's theory but as the sponsor (or rather as one of the sponsors) of the victorious one.’
‘If only Malthus, instead of Ricardo, had been the parent stem from which nineteenth-century economics proceeded, what a much wiser and richer place the world would be today’ - J. M. Keynes.
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Price HK$ 8,000
An Old Chinese Garden. A Three-fold Masterpiece of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting -
Wen Chen Ming, Kate Kerby and Mo Zung Chung
1923 - Chung Hwa Book Company, Shanghai - First Edition
Rare and large presentation of poetry and calligraphy by ‘Wen Chen Ming [Wen Zhengming], famous landscape artist of the Ming Dynasty’, with ‘studies written by Kate Kerby’, translations by Mo Zung Chung, and a two page introduction by her husband Philip Kerby.
Representing a fusion of painting, calligraphy, and pastoral poetry honouring the tradition of Chinese landscape design. Illustrated with eighty eight finely printed plates, consisting of thirty three calligraphy plates of poems matched to thirty three plates of paintings, eleven individual plates of calligraphy, one calligraphic title page.
Printed on thin handmade mulberry paper, with separate sheets of translations, descriptions, and title pages, all separated by blank sheets, and one additional facsimile letter of appreciation from Frank B. Noyes, President of The Associated Press, Hong Kong.
Housed in the publisher’s original and delicate blue silk covers, bound in Chinese style with gilt braided ties, and separate art-deco gilt braided bookmark, usually lacking.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1923 - Chung Hwa Book Company, Shanghai - First Edition
Rare and large presentation of poetry and calligraphy by ‘Wen Chen Ming [Wen Zhengming], famous landscape artist of the Ming Dynasty’, with ‘studies written by Kate Kerby’, translations by Mo Zung Chung, and a two page introduction by her husband Philip Kerby.Representing a fusion of painting, calligraphy, and pastoral poetry honouring the tradition of Chinese landscape design. Illustrated with eighty eight finely printed plates, consisting of thirty three calligraphy plates of poems matched to thirty three plates of paintings, eleven individual plates of calligraphy, one calligraphic title page.
Printed on thin handmade mulberry paper, with separate sheets of translations, descriptions, and title pages, all separated by blank sheets, and one additional facsimile letter of appreciation from Frank B. Noyes, President of The Associated Press, Hong Kong.
Housed in the publisher’s original and delicate blue silk covers, bound in Chinese style with gilt braided ties, and separate art-deco gilt braided bookmark, usually lacking.
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Price HK$ 9,000
Boogie-Woogie - Signed -
Danny Moynihan, Damien Hirst
2000 - Duck Editions, London - First Edition, One of 500.
A fine first and limited edition signed by Damian Hirst who designed the dust jacket and by the author Danny Moynihan, art dealer and gallery manager.
‘Art is about life; the art world is about money. Boogie Woogie is where the two collide’ - Damian Hirst.
‘Boogie Woogie is a fast-paced satirical novel that dives into the dark excesses of the international art scene of the 1990s. The movement within the book has a constant beat. Driven by the pursuit of fame, fortune and the 20th century masterpiece, Boogie Woogie reveals the inner workings of these circles through ambition and borderline obsession, sex, money, and drugs’ – Aesthetica.
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Price HK$ 4,000
2000 - Duck Editions, London - First Edition, One of 500.
A fine first and limited edition signed by Damian Hirst who designed the dust jacket and by the author Danny Moynihan, art dealer and gallery manager.‘Art is about life; the art world is about money. Boogie Woogie is where the two collide’ - Damian Hirst.
‘Boogie Woogie is a fast-paced satirical novel that dives into the dark excesses of the international art scene of the 1990s. The movement within the book has a constant beat. Driven by the pursuit of fame, fortune and the 20th century masterpiece, Boogie Woogie reveals the inner workings of these circles through ambition and borderline obsession, sex, money, and drugs’ – Aesthetica.
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Price HK$ 4,000
The History of Java - with - Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles - together with the folio atlas – Plates to Raffles History of Java -
Sir Thomas Stamford and Sophia Raffles, Sophia Raffles
1830 - John Murray, London - Second Editions
A very rare and near fine set of the two most comprehensive works on the history of Indonesia and Singapore in the publisher’s uniform cloth bindings including the folio atlas, nearly all of which were apparently remaindered by the publisher Henry Bohn, who then reissued them separately [Abbey Travel].
The folio Atlas contains all seventy-two engravings originally in the first edition of ‘History of Java’ and together with twenty-two additional plates, not originally included. Those illustrations include a large (114x44cm) folding map ‘Map of Java’ with inset ‘Mineralogical Sketch of the Island of Java’ and an engraved map of the ‘Countries referred to in the Brata Yud’ha &c’ and ten finely hand coloured aquatint costume plates engraved by William Daniell who visited the island in 1785 and 1793.
The ‘Memoir’ is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, a folding map of ‘The Island of Singapore’, and a larger folding ‘Map of the Indian Archipelago’, a large folding facsimile of a letter from Raffles to Thomas Horsfield, and five folding aquatint lithograph plates, four of which are by William Daniell, made during his two visits to Java.
Raffles ‘History of Java’ is a magnificent survey of the customs, dress, language, religion, culture, and history of the Javanese people as written by Thomas Stamford Raffles, British colonial agent cum Imperial statesman and later founder of modern Singapore. ‘The marriage of a scientifically original text with beautiful illustrations by an accomplished aquatint engraver resulted in a book about Indonesia of outstanding quality; indeed a masterpiece.’ [Bastin and Brommer]
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) ‘was interested in every aspect of his subject, and devotes whole sections to Javan ethics, literature, poetry, music and musical instruments, drama, games of skill and methods of hunting, besides the more ordinary matters of interest, population, natural history, religion, antiquities, and the military system. At the end of the second volume a hundred and fifty pages are given up to the comparative vocabularies of Java and the neighbouring islands, and the whole is a unique monument erected by a great ruler to those over whom he rules, and incidentally, to his own honour, stands very high in its own class and the aquatint plates are full of interest’ [Prideaux]
‘During his last voyage back to England, the ship of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826) caught fire, consuming many of the papers from which future biographers might have worked. When he died two years later, the task of sifting through the surviving materials and recording his life and career fell to his widow Sophia (1786–1858). Her substantial biography, remains an essential source of information about one of the key figures of British colonialism in the East Indies. At the centre of the book, interspersed with many of her husband's letters, is Raffles' struggle against his Dutch opponents, with whom he clashed on ideological grounds - he noted with distaste their mistreatment of the local population and their advocacy of slavery. It was this rivalry which convinced Raffles to found Singapore as a trading post’. [CUP]
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Price HK$ 48,000
1830 - John Murray, London - Second Editions
A very rare and near fine set of the two most comprehensive works on the history of Indonesia and Singapore in the publisher’s uniform cloth bindings including the folio atlas, nearly all of which were apparently remaindered by the publisher Henry Bohn, who then reissued them separately [Abbey Travel].The folio Atlas contains all seventy-two engravings originally in the first edition of ‘History of Java’ and together with twenty-two additional plates, not originally included. Those illustrations include a large (114x44cm) folding map ‘Map of Java’ with inset ‘Mineralogical Sketch of the Island of Java’ and an engraved map of the ‘Countries referred to in the Brata Yud’ha &c’ and ten finely hand coloured aquatint costume plates engraved by William Daniell who visited the island in 1785 and 1793.
The ‘Memoir’ is illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, a folding map of ‘The Island of Singapore’, and a larger folding ‘Map of the Indian Archipelago’, a large folding facsimile of a letter from Raffles to Thomas Horsfield, and five folding aquatint lithograph plates, four of which are by William Daniell, made during his two visits to Java.
Raffles ‘History of Java’ is a magnificent survey of the customs, dress, language, religion, culture, and history of the Javanese people as written by Thomas Stamford Raffles, British colonial agent cum Imperial statesman and later founder of modern Singapore. ‘The marriage of a scientifically original text with beautiful illustrations by an accomplished aquatint engraver resulted in a book about Indonesia of outstanding quality; indeed a masterpiece.’ [Bastin and Brommer]
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) ‘was interested in every aspect of his subject, and devotes whole sections to Javan ethics, literature, poetry, music and musical instruments, drama, games of skill and methods of hunting, besides the more ordinary matters of interest, population, natural history, religion, antiquities, and the military system. At the end of the second volume a hundred and fifty pages are given up to the comparative vocabularies of Java and the neighbouring islands, and the whole is a unique monument erected by a great ruler to those over whom he rules, and incidentally, to his own honour, stands very high in its own class and the aquatint plates are full of interest’ [Prideaux]
‘During his last voyage back to England, the ship of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826) caught fire, consuming many of the papers from which future biographers might have worked. When he died two years later, the task of sifting through the surviving materials and recording his life and career fell to his widow Sophia (1786–1858). Her substantial biography, remains an essential source of information about one of the key figures of British colonialism in the East Indies. At the centre of the book, interspersed with many of her husband's letters, is Raffles' struggle against his Dutch opponents, with whom he clashed on ideological grounds - he noted with distaste their mistreatment of the local population and their advocacy of slavery. It was this rivalry which convinced Raffles to found Singapore as a trading post’. [CUP]
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Price HK$ 48,000
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction -
J.D. Salinger
1959 - Little Brown, Boston - First Edition, First Issue, without the dedication leaf, as called for
‘Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters’ is written with a dazzling, almost showy, technical brilliance. Its dialogue is expert, its satirical comedy amusing, its style fluid and graceful. There can be no question that J. D. Salinger is a finished literary craftsman. What he sets out to do he does with consummate skill.’ - New York Times
First edition, first state, of this collection of stories about the Glass Family, in beautiful condition, and scarce as such.
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Price HK$ 15,000
1959 - Little Brown, Boston - First Edition, First Issue, without the dedication leaf, as called for
‘Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters’ is written with a dazzling, almost showy, technical brilliance. Its dialogue is expert, its satirical comedy amusing, its style fluid and graceful. There can be no question that J. D. Salinger is a finished literary craftsman. What he sets out to do he does with consummate skill.’ - New York Times First edition, first state, of this collection of stories about the Glass Family, in beautiful condition, and scarce as such.
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Price HK$ 15,000
Franny and Zooey -
J.D. Salinger
1961 - Little, Boston - First Edition
A fine first edition of Salinger’s third book. Two stories about the Glass family, which originally appeared in the New Yorker, following on from ‘Raise High the Roof Beam’ [1959].
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Price HK$ 6,000
1961 - Little, Boston - First Edition
A fine first edition of Salinger’s third book. Two stories about the Glass family, which originally appeared in the New Yorker, following on from ‘Raise High the Roof Beam’ [1959].
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Price HK$ 6,000
Maskee - A Shanghai Sketchbook by Schiff - Signed -
Friedrich Schiff
Circa 1938Shanghai - First Edition. Number A458 of an unspecified Limited Edition
Fabulously Shanghai Art-Deco 15 foot (4.6 metres) long accordion folio in the original silk covers.
Folding out to show 21 illustrated panels hand-coloured by Friedrich Schiff. Each panel depicting a view of 1930’s expatriate life in Shanghai through the unique eyes of Schiff. More a folio of art-deco artwork than a book, although many of the panels include amusing comments and rhymes for example:
Miss Shanghai
Me No Worry – Me No Care!
Me Go Marry Millionaire!
If He Die – Me No Cry!
Me Go Marry Other Guy!!
Signed to the first panel by Friedrich Schiff (1908-68), an Austrian Jewish artist who moved to Shanghai in 1930 after an invite to visit from a cousin and lived there for 17 years. He had worked as a newspaper cartoonist in Vienna and continued this line of work in Shanghai, soon becoming famous for his amusing caricatures of the city's inhabitants. Prolific, Schiff’s cartoons appeared in books, newspapers, magazines and advertisements throughout China and the Far East, and collaborations with Ellen Thorbecke (Peking Studies; People in China; Hong Kong; and Shanghai).
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Price HK$ 20,000
Circa 1938Shanghai - First Edition. Number A458 of an unspecified Limited Edition
Fabulously Shanghai Art-Deco 15 foot (4.6 metres) long accordion folio in the original silk covers.Folding out to show 21 illustrated panels hand-coloured by Friedrich Schiff. Each panel depicting a view of 1930’s expatriate life in Shanghai through the unique eyes of Schiff. More a folio of art-deco artwork than a book, although many of the panels include amusing comments and rhymes for example:
Miss Shanghai
Me No Worry – Me No Care!
Me Go Marry Millionaire!
If He Die – Me No Cry!
Me Go Marry Other Guy!!
Signed to the first panel by Friedrich Schiff (1908-68), an Austrian Jewish artist who moved to Shanghai in 1930 after an invite to visit from a cousin and lived there for 17 years. He had worked as a newspaper cartoonist in Vienna and continued this line of work in Shanghai, soon becoming famous for his amusing caricatures of the city's inhabitants. Prolific, Schiff’s cartoons appeared in books, newspapers, magazines and advertisements throughout China and the Far East, and collaborations with Ellen Thorbecke (Peking Studies; People in China; Hong Kong; and Shanghai).
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Price HK$ 20,000
The Complete Plays of Bernard Shaw -
George Bernard Shaw
1931 - Constable and Co Ltd, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of the complete collection of George Bernard Shaw’s plays,
Containing: Widowers' Houses: The Philanderer: Mrs. Warren's Profession: Arms and the Man: Candida: The Man of Destiny: You Never Can Tell: The Devil's Disciple: Cæsar and Cleopatra: Captain Brassbound's Conversion: Man and Superman: John Bull's Other Island: How He Lied to Her Husband: Major Barbara: The Doctor's Dilemma: Getting Married: The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet: Misalliance: The Dark Lady of the Sonnets: Fanny's First Play: Androcles and the Lion : Over- Ruled: Pygmalion: Heartbreak House: Great Catherine: O'Flaherty V.C.: The Inca of Perusalem: Augustus Does His Bit: Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress: Back to Methuselah: Saint Joan: The Apple Cart: Jitta's Atonement: the Admirable Bashville; or, Constancy Unrewarded: Press Cuttings: The Glimpse of Reality: Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction; or, The Fatal Gazo-Gene: The Fascinating Foundling: The Music-Cure.
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Price HK$ 6,500
1931 - Constable and Co Ltd, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of the complete collection of George Bernard Shaw’s plays, Containing: Widowers' Houses: The Philanderer: Mrs. Warren's Profession: Arms and the Man: Candida: The Man of Destiny: You Never Can Tell: The Devil's Disciple: Cæsar and Cleopatra: Captain Brassbound's Conversion: Man and Superman: John Bull's Other Island: How He Lied to Her Husband: Major Barbara: The Doctor's Dilemma: Getting Married: The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet: Misalliance: The Dark Lady of the Sonnets: Fanny's First Play: Androcles and the Lion : Over- Ruled: Pygmalion: Heartbreak House: Great Catherine: O'Flaherty V.C.: The Inca of Perusalem: Augustus Does His Bit: Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress: Back to Methuselah: Saint Joan: The Apple Cart: Jitta's Atonement: the Admirable Bashville; or, Constancy Unrewarded: Press Cuttings: The Glimpse of Reality: Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction; or, The Fatal Gazo-Gene: The Fascinating Foundling: The Music-Cure.
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Price HK$ 6,500