A Treatise on Cyder-Making -
Hugh Stafford, Anonymous
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.
Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
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Price HK$ 42,000
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
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Price HK$ 42,000
Yachting - The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes -
Sir Edward Sullivan, Lord Brassey, C.E. Seth-Smith, G.L. Watson, R.T. Pritchett, Sir George Leach et al.
1894-5 - Longmans, London - First Editions
‘To some, I believe, Paradise means yachting, and for my own part, I think a 200-ton schooner, a ten -knot breeze, and a summer sea hard to beat’. - From the introduction by Sir Edward Sullivan.
A famous yachting work, covering the golden age of yachting, including chapters on: Ocean Cruising; The Evolution of the Modern Racing Yacht; Recollections of Schooner Racing; Fitting out a Fifty-Tonner to go Foreign; Some Famous Races; Yachting in America; Foreign and Colonial Yachting; and The America Cup Races.
Two volumes profusely illustrated with 57 full page plates and over 240 in-text illustrations plans and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 5,500
1894-5 - Longmans, London - First Editions
‘To some, I believe, Paradise means yachting, and for my own part, I think a 200-ton schooner, a ten -knot breeze, and a summer sea hard to beat’. - From the introduction by Sir Edward Sullivan. A famous yachting work, covering the golden age of yachting, including chapters on: Ocean Cruising; The Evolution of the Modern Racing Yacht; Recollections of Schooner Racing; Fitting out a Fifty-Tonner to go Foreign; Some Famous Races; Yachting in America; Foreign and Colonial Yachting; and The America Cup Races.
Two volumes profusely illustrated with 57 full page plates and over 240 in-text illustrations plans and diagrams.
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Price HK$ 5,500
The Lawson History of the America's Cup. A Record of Fifty Years -
Winfield. M. Thompson, Thomas W. Lawson
1902 - Privately Printed, Boston - First and Limited Edition
A handsomely bound volume, over 400 pages illustrated with eighty-nine full page plates of which sixteen are colour and two are maps outlined in colour.
Detailing the history of the America’s Cup from 1851 to 1902, it’s challenges, yachts, protests, characters and an appendix of press articles. There is nothing finer.
Privately printed for private distribution only, and limited to 3,000 copies most of which were presented to prominent members of the yachting community.
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Price HK$ 16,000
1902 - Privately Printed, Boston - First and Limited Edition
A handsomely bound volume, over 400 pages illustrated with eighty-nine full page plates of which sixteen are colour and two are maps outlined in colour.Detailing the history of the America’s Cup from 1851 to 1902, it’s challenges, yachts, protests, characters and an appendix of press articles. There is nothing finer.
Privately printed for private distribution only, and limited to 3,000 copies most of which were presented to prominent members of the yachting community.
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Price HK$ 16,000
Travers' Golf Book -
Jerome D. Travers
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first book by this golfing legend, illustrated with a colour frontispiece and 46 black and white photographic plates. A combination of autobiography and instructional.
‘Although he was of slight stature, Travers dominated golf in the decade before World War I with his stunning iron shots and expert putting. He won many tournaments because of his calm temperament, patience, and ability to make precise shots. He won the United States Amateur in 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913, and was runner-up in 1914. His victory in 1913 set a record for that tournament – not broken until Bobby Jones won it five times. He was among the first members of the Golf Hall of Fame established by the United States Golf Association’. [DAB]
‘Some of the words used to describe Jerry Travers have not been kind – cold, somber, ruthless – yet these were the qualities that made him the most feared golfer of his time. In a nine-year stretch from 1906-1915, Travers won four U.S. Amateurs, five Metropolitan Amateurs and a U.S. Open. Only Bob Jones won more amateur titles and Travers was one of only five amateurs to win the Open. And his battles with Walter Travis, in the words of Herbert Warren Wind, “formed the crucible in which a talented young golfer was made into the greatest match player of his decade”‘. [World Golf Hall of Fame]
And in 1915 at the age of 28, Travers ended his championship career.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first book by this golfing legend, illustrated with a colour frontispiece and 46 black and white photographic plates. A combination of autobiography and instructional.‘Although he was of slight stature, Travers dominated golf in the decade before World War I with his stunning iron shots and expert putting. He won many tournaments because of his calm temperament, patience, and ability to make precise shots. He won the United States Amateur in 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913, and was runner-up in 1914. His victory in 1913 set a record for that tournament – not broken until Bobby Jones won it five times. He was among the first members of the Golf Hall of Fame established by the United States Golf Association’. [DAB]
‘Some of the words used to describe Jerry Travers have not been kind – cold, somber, ruthless – yet these were the qualities that made him the most feared golfer of his time. In a nine-year stretch from 1906-1915, Travers won four U.S. Amateurs, five Metropolitan Amateurs and a U.S. Open. Only Bob Jones won more amateur titles and Travers was one of only five amateurs to win the Open. And his battles with Walter Travis, in the words of Herbert Warren Wind, “formed the crucible in which a talented young golfer was made into the greatest match player of his decade”‘. [World Golf Hall of Fame]
And in 1915 at the age of 28, Travers ended his championship career.
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Price HK$ 7,000
La Vigne - Voyage Autour des Vins de France -
Charles Albert Vicomte d'Arnoux Bertall
1878 - E. Plon et Cie., Paris - First Edition
A superb example of this richly illustrated wine book landmark, text in French, with numerous humorous anecdotes about winemakers, merchants, innkeepers... Housed in the publisher’s luxury full red morocco binding.
The author and illustrator ‘Bertall’ is the pseudonym of the designer, caricaturist and photographer Charles Albert Vicomte d'Arnoux (1820-1882), who provides 95 full page captioned illustrations and close to 400 in-text wood-engraved illustrations.
The a vast array of illustrations by ‘Bertall’ are combined with an interesting potpourri of French viniana. For example, wines are divided into three big categories: white wines, red wines and blue wines, matching the French national colours. The whites are generally luxury wines, from Chablis and Saumur to Champagne and Sauterne - wines of the rich. Red wines are for general use and for tasting, they make glad the heart and the mind, etc. Blue wines are the wines of the workers and of those who prefer not to work, wines warm in the gut but hard on the gullet, good for vitality in moderation, but bad when taken to excess [pages 23-24].
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Price HK$ 8,000
1878 - E. Plon et Cie., Paris - First Edition
A superb example of this richly illustrated wine book landmark, text in French, with numerous humorous anecdotes about winemakers, merchants, innkeepers... Housed in the publisher’s luxury full red morocco binding.The author and illustrator ‘Bertall’ is the pseudonym of the designer, caricaturist and photographer Charles Albert Vicomte d'Arnoux (1820-1882), who provides 95 full page captioned illustrations and close to 400 in-text wood-engraved illustrations.
The a vast array of illustrations by ‘Bertall’ are combined with an interesting potpourri of French viniana. For example, wines are divided into three big categories: white wines, red wines and blue wines, matching the French national colours. The whites are generally luxury wines, from Chablis and Saumur to Champagne and Sauterne - wines of the rich. Red wines are for general use and for tasting, they make glad the heart and the mind, etc. Blue wines are the wines of the workers and of those who prefer not to work, wines warm in the gut but hard on the gullet, good for vitality in moderation, but bad when taken to excess [pages 23-24].
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Price HK$ 8,000
A History of Champagne -
Henry Vizetelly
1882 - Vizetelly &, London - First Edition
A superb example of the finest work ever presented on Champagne. Tracing the history of champagne and it’s wine over 1,800 years. Strikingly illustrated with 350 engravings, including numerous illustrations from ancient manuscripts and 200 original sketches made under the author's supervision. With folding coloured lithograph map showing the vineyards of Champagne. In the publishers elegant gilt pictorial binding.
The first part of the book is historical, champagne from its origins, its progress in the 14th century, the 17th, 18th, the conflict between Burgundy and Champagne, champagne in England. The second part describes the various vineyards, viticulture, manufacturing, large establishments of Reims, d'Epernay, Pierry, Ay, Mareuil, Avize and Rilly. Part three talks about the other sparkling wines of France: Saumur, Vouvray, Sauterne, Bourgogne, Jura, Rhone, concluding with Facts and Notes Respecting Sparkling Wine. To the rear are advertisements from producers such as Moët et Chandon, Deutz & Geldermann, and Vizetelly's catalogue of other published works.
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Price HK$ 20,000
1882 - Vizetelly &, London - First Edition
A superb example of the finest work ever presented on Champagne. Tracing the history of champagne and it’s wine over 1,800 years. Strikingly illustrated with 350 engravings, including numerous illustrations from ancient manuscripts and 200 original sketches made under the author's supervision. With folding coloured lithograph map showing the vineyards of Champagne. In the publishers elegant gilt pictorial binding.The first part of the book is historical, champagne from its origins, its progress in the 14th century, the 17th, 18th, the conflict between Burgundy and Champagne, champagne in England. The second part describes the various vineyards, viticulture, manufacturing, large establishments of Reims, d'Epernay, Pierry, Ay, Mareuil, Avize and Rilly. Part three talks about the other sparkling wines of France: Saumur, Vouvray, Sauterne, Bourgogne, Jura, Rhone, concluding with Facts and Notes Respecting Sparkling Wine. To the rear are advertisements from producers such as Moët et Chandon, Deutz & Geldermann, and Vizetelly's catalogue of other published works.
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Price HK$ 20,000
The Ring of the Niblung -
Richard Wagner, Arthur Rackham (illustrator), Margaret Armour (translator)
1910 - William Heinemann, London - Edition de luxes, each one limited to 1, 150 copies signed by Rackham
A magnificent set of Rackham's dramatic interpretation of Wagner's libretti, in the large deluxe vellum bindings, each one numbered and signed by Rackham.
Wagner’s ‘Trilogy, with a Prelude’, his libretti for The Ring of Niblung cycle, stunningly illustrated by Arthur Rackham, featuring sixty-four beautiful tipped-in colour plates each with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-three black and white drawings across two volumes.
Translated from the German into English by Margaret Armour.
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Price HK$ 48,000
1910 - William Heinemann, London - Edition de luxes, each one limited to 1, 150 copies signed by Rackham
A magnificent set of Rackham's dramatic interpretation of Wagner's libretti, in the large deluxe vellum bindings, each one numbered and signed by Rackham.Wagner’s ‘Trilogy, with a Prelude’, his libretti for The Ring of Niblung cycle, stunningly illustrated by Arthur Rackham, featuring sixty-four beautiful tipped-in colour plates each with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-three black and white drawings across two volumes.
Translated from the German into English by Margaret Armour.
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Price HK$ 48,000
The Complete Angler or Contemplative Man's Recreation, Being a Discourse on Rivers, Fish-ponds, Fish, and Fishing -
Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton, Sir John Hawkins, J. E. Harting
1893 - Samuel Bagster and Sons, London - The Harting Edition. Tercentenary Edition. No. 300 of 350 copies.
‘Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries,
" Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ";
and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.’
A finely bound two volume set of the Harting Edition. With 54 illustrations and additional vignettes, and embellishments after John Linnell, G. E. Lodge, Huysman, Alexander, Wale, Samuel, and Percy Thomas, engraved by Audinet, Hayter, and Greig.
‘Edited from a Naturalist point of view’ by J. E. Harting, librarian of the Linnaen Society of London. The date of the founding of the Bagster publishing house was April 19,1794, and this profusely illustrated edition, limited to 350 numbered copies, was partly intended to commemorate the event. Included is an abridgement of the Lives of the Authors by Sir John Hawkins
‘It breathes the very spirit of innocence, purity, and simplicity of the heart. There are many choice old verses interspersed in it; it would sweeten a man's temper at any time to read it’ - Charles Lamb in his letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The most enduring distinction of the Complete Angler is the one cast off by its subtitle The Contemplative Man's Recreation with its graceful evocations of a life free from hurly-burly in the company of friends intent on physical and moral sustenance. The range of perspectives that Walton brings to bear on his rural descriptions embrace literature, poetry, music and anecdote.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1893 - Samuel Bagster and Sons, London - The Harting Edition. Tercentenary Edition. No. 300 of 350 copies.
‘Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, " Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ";
and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.’
A finely bound two volume set of the Harting Edition. With 54 illustrations and additional vignettes, and embellishments after John Linnell, G. E. Lodge, Huysman, Alexander, Wale, Samuel, and Percy Thomas, engraved by Audinet, Hayter, and Greig.
‘Edited from a Naturalist point of view’ by J. E. Harting, librarian of the Linnaen Society of London. The date of the founding of the Bagster publishing house was April 19,1794, and this profusely illustrated edition, limited to 350 numbered copies, was partly intended to commemorate the event. Included is an abridgement of the Lives of the Authors by Sir John Hawkins
‘It breathes the very spirit of innocence, purity, and simplicity of the heart. There are many choice old verses interspersed in it; it would sweeten a man's temper at any time to read it’ - Charles Lamb in his letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The most enduring distinction of the Complete Angler is the one cast off by its subtitle The Contemplative Man's Recreation with its graceful evocations of a life free from hurly-burly in the company of friends intent on physical and moral sustenance. The range of perspectives that Walton brings to bear on his rural descriptions embrace literature, poetry, music and anecdote.
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Price HK$ 10,000