An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations -
Adam Smith
1802 - Printed for A. Strahan for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, London - Tenth edition
A fine three volume set in uncommon contemporary bindings, with the appendix to volume II and a detailed index to volume III.
First ‘published in the same year as the American Declaration of Independence it has been argued that the global effect of Smith’s work has exceeded that of American constitutionalists. And if the wealth of a nation or a people is the foundation of all else, then from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Peru, from the oil and gas fields of Russia to the United States itself, from Estonia to Australia, it can be claimed that the principles and economic dynamics at work in all these places come from a book by a scholar of Scotland published before the French Revolution, before the Industrial Revolution and eighty four years before Das Kapital by Karl Marx.’ - Melvyn Bragg – 12 Books That Changed the World.
Reputedly stolen by Gypsies at the age of three, Smith grew up to become one of the pillars of the Scottish Enlightenment, winning fame as a moral philosopher as well as an economist. In 'The Wealth of Nations,' Smith laid the intellectual foundations for a liberal free-market society, and in so doing revolutionised the understanding of how societies, governments, and markets interact. He always insisted, from 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' onwards, that the 'invisible hand of the market' would regulate capitalist impulses and channel excessive behaviour into productive and beneficent projects. 'The Wealth of Nations' further addresses questions of sovereignty of colonies, the origins of coinage, and the concept of credit, all of which would have a profound influence on the germinating United States of America, which declared independence in July 1776, the same year that Smith's work was first published.
More details
Price HK$ 20,000
1802 - Printed for A. Strahan for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, London - Tenth edition
A fine three volume set in uncommon contemporary bindings, with the appendix to volume II and a detailed index to volume III.First ‘published in the same year as the American Declaration of Independence it has been argued that the global effect of Smith’s work has exceeded that of American constitutionalists. And if the wealth of a nation or a people is the foundation of all else, then from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Peru, from the oil and gas fields of Russia to the United States itself, from Estonia to Australia, it can be claimed that the principles and economic dynamics at work in all these places come from a book by a scholar of Scotland published before the French Revolution, before the Industrial Revolution and eighty four years before Das Kapital by Karl Marx.’ - Melvyn Bragg – 12 Books That Changed the World.
Reputedly stolen by Gypsies at the age of three, Smith grew up to become one of the pillars of the Scottish Enlightenment, winning fame as a moral philosopher as well as an economist. In 'The Wealth of Nations,' Smith laid the intellectual foundations for a liberal free-market society, and in so doing revolutionised the understanding of how societies, governments, and markets interact. He always insisted, from 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' onwards, that the 'invisible hand of the market' would regulate capitalist impulses and channel excessive behaviour into productive and beneficent projects. 'The Wealth of Nations' further addresses questions of sovereignty of colonies, the origins of coinage, and the concept of credit, all of which would have a profound influence on the germinating United States of America, which declared independence in July 1776, the same year that Smith's work was first published.
More details
Price HK$ 20,000
Glibson -
George Tichenor
1933 - Farrar &, New York - First Edition
‘Meet Mr. Glibson, a boomtime banker, who’s glided through depression and still lives high, wide and handsome......
This is the story of how he became the great Blabit of banking. The most withering portrayal of financial boobery in high places, savage, ruthless, funny, wise and courageous.’
A kaleidoscopic view of many lives in the business turmoil leading up to and away from the crash of 1929. As Public Relations Counsel, later, banker, Glibson is successful because he stands for nothing and though he is unscrupulous and ambitious he is understandable and even likeable. The story is good reporting, good dialogue, sometimes honest and sometimes theatrical. Occasionally reminiscent of Dos Passos. A book for men, and may get a challenging sort of press. - An early review.
More details
Price HK$ 4,200
1933 - Farrar &, New York - First Edition
‘Meet Mr. Glibson, a boomtime banker, who’s glided through depression and still lives high, wide and handsome......This is the story of how he became the great Blabit of banking. The most withering portrayal of financial boobery in high places, savage, ruthless, funny, wise and courageous.’
A kaleidoscopic view of many lives in the business turmoil leading up to and away from the crash of 1929. As Public Relations Counsel, later, banker, Glibson is successful because he stands for nothing and though he is unscrupulous and ambitious he is understandable and even likeable. The story is good reporting, good dialogue, sometimes honest and sometimes theatrical. Occasionally reminiscent of Dos Passos. A book for men, and may get a challenging sort of press. - An early review.
More details
Price HK$ 4,200
The Crooked Samaritan - Inscribed -
Paul Trent (Pseud. of Edward Platt)
1933 - Ward, London and Melbourne - First Edition
Inscribed to the half title ‘To Llew. S. Jones, from his friend The Author, December 1933’ and signed ‘Paul Trent’ to the title page.
A fine signed and inscribed first edition of this courtroom drama in a very good example of the rare dust jacket.
Featuring Roger Welby, Barrister and gentleman romantic, who comes to the aid of his persecuted father, a lawyer who had been tempted away from his profession by the riches of the city and a life of financial schemes which finally proved his undoing. The author, Edward Platt was himself a solicitor.
Paul Trent was the pseudonym of Edward Platt (1872-1946), English solicitor, goalkeeper (made his debut for Gloucester AFC as a goalkeeper in 1889), and prolific novelist who wrote over 80 books under the pseudonyms of Paul Trent and Wilmot Kaye.
More details
Price HK$ 5,000
1933 - Ward, London and Melbourne - First Edition
Inscribed to the half title ‘To Llew. S. Jones, from his friend The Author, December 1933’ and signed ‘Paul Trent’ to the title page.A fine signed and inscribed first edition of this courtroom drama in a very good example of the rare dust jacket.
Featuring Roger Welby, Barrister and gentleman romantic, who comes to the aid of his persecuted father, a lawyer who had been tempted away from his profession by the riches of the city and a life of financial schemes which finally proved his undoing. The author, Edward Platt was himself a solicitor.
Paul Trent was the pseudonym of Edward Platt (1872-1946), English solicitor, goalkeeper (made his debut for Gloucester AFC as a goalkeeper in 1889), and prolific novelist who wrote over 80 books under the pseudonyms of Paul Trent and Wilmot Kaye.
More details
Price HK$ 5,000
Ten Thousand A-Year -
Samuel Warren
1889 - Little, Boston - Number 69 of a limited 200 copies
A fine and finely bound three volume set, the upper covers blocked in gilt with the crest, coat of arms and motto of ‘Tittlebat Titmouse Esq M.P. according to the description of Sir Gorgeous Tintack, Garter King at Arms.’ Volume I with sepia toned portrait frontispiece on vellum.
Samuel Warren (1807-77) was an English barrister, Member of Parliament for Midhurst, and author of a number of books both fiction and non-fiction.
‘Ten Thousand A-Year’ is his second novel, one of the most popular of the era and some consider the first to feature a lawyer as the main character. It concerns a firm of attorneys who discover that Tittlebat Titmouse, a poor draper's clerk, may have a claim to the large estate of Yatton. The attorneys commence an action which results in Titmouse displacing the unbelievably pious John Aubrey as the owner of the estate, and its annual income of £10,000. Titmouse revels in his new found wealth, until a new round of litigation is commenced which returns Aubrey to his place as squire of Yatton. Titmouse is disgraced, and ends his life in a lunatic asylum.
The narrator repeatedly tells the reader that the English legal system is close to perfection, but the actual workings of the law in ‘Ten Thousand a-Year’ paint a more negative picture. Dickens seems to have read Warren's fiction and non-fiction, and to have borrowed images and ideas." [ODNB].
In addition to Warren’s knowledge of the law, he was well versed on asylum and the welfare of the mentally ill, occupying the position of ‘Master in Lunacy’ [1859-77].
More details
Price HK$ 5,200
1889 - Little, Boston - Number 69 of a limited 200 copies
A fine and finely bound three volume set, the upper covers blocked in gilt with the crest, coat of arms and motto of ‘Tittlebat Titmouse Esq M.P. according to the description of Sir Gorgeous Tintack, Garter King at Arms.’ Volume I with sepia toned portrait frontispiece on vellum.Samuel Warren (1807-77) was an English barrister, Member of Parliament for Midhurst, and author of a number of books both fiction and non-fiction.
‘Ten Thousand A-Year’ is his second novel, one of the most popular of the era and some consider the first to feature a lawyer as the main character. It concerns a firm of attorneys who discover that Tittlebat Titmouse, a poor draper's clerk, may have a claim to the large estate of Yatton. The attorneys commence an action which results in Titmouse displacing the unbelievably pious John Aubrey as the owner of the estate, and its annual income of £10,000. Titmouse revels in his new found wealth, until a new round of litigation is commenced which returns Aubrey to his place as squire of Yatton. Titmouse is disgraced, and ends his life in a lunatic asylum.
The narrator repeatedly tells the reader that the English legal system is close to perfection, but the actual workings of the law in ‘Ten Thousand a-Year’ paint a more negative picture. Dickens seems to have read Warren's fiction and non-fiction, and to have borrowed images and ideas." [ODNB].
In addition to Warren’s knowledge of the law, he was well versed on asylum and the welfare of the mentally ill, occupying the position of ‘Master in Lunacy’ [1859-77].
More details
Price HK$ 5,200
Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo -
John Whitehead
1893 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this stunningly illustrated and unsurpassed large folio containing 32 lithographed plates, comprising 11 natural history plates, hand-coloured and heightened with gum arabic, and 21 tinted lithographed views and ethnographic subjects, and with map and an additional 21 woodcut illustrations in the text.
A detailed narrative of John Whitehead's (1860-1899) travels from October 1884 to August 1888 in Borneo, Java, Palawan and Balabac Islands, especially of his three efforts (the last one successful) to ascend Mount Kina Balu. He brought back examples of many new animals, including no fewer than forty-five new species of birds. The author's primary interest was ornithology, but he also provides much information on head-hunting, religion and custom of the peoples of the region. Besides visiting North Borneo he spent several months in Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the state of Malacca.
More details
Price HK$ 40,000
1893 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this stunningly illustrated and unsurpassed large folio containing 32 lithographed plates, comprising 11 natural history plates, hand-coloured and heightened with gum arabic, and 21 tinted lithographed views and ethnographic subjects, and with map and an additional 21 woodcut illustrations in the text.A detailed narrative of John Whitehead's (1860-1899) travels from October 1884 to August 1888 in Borneo, Java, Palawan and Balabac Islands, especially of his three efforts (the last one successful) to ascend Mount Kina Balu. He brought back examples of many new animals, including no fewer than forty-five new species of birds. The author's primary interest was ornithology, but he also provides much information on head-hunting, religion and custom of the peoples of the region. Besides visiting North Borneo he spent several months in Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the state of Malacca.
More details
Price HK$ 40,000