The Second World War -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill.
Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II - The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy.
Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.
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Price HK$ 12,500
1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill. Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II - The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy.
Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.
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Price HK$ 12,500
Pinocchio -
C. Collodi, Maud and Miska Petersham (illustrators)
1932 - Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City - First Edition illustrated by the Petershams
A finely bound edition of Carlo Collodi’s tale of woodcarver Gepetto and his mischievous puppet Pinocchio who longs to become a real boy, and whose nose grows and grows every time he tells a lie.
Illustrated with four colour plates by Maud and Miska Petersham.
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Price HK$ 12,000
1932 - Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City - First Edition illustrated by the Petershams
A finely bound edition of Carlo Collodi’s tale of woodcarver Gepetto and his mischievous puppet Pinocchio who longs to become a real boy, and whose nose grows and grows every time he tells a lie.Illustrated with four colour plates by Maud and Miska Petersham.
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Price HK$ 12,000
The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook Round the World. -
Captain James Cook
1821 - Longman, London
A remarkable seven volume set of all of Cook’s three voyages. Illustrated with twenty five striking aquatint plates, including frontispieces in each volume, large folding map, and a table.
‘The famous accounts of Captain Cook’s three voyages form the basis for any collection of Pacific books. In three great voyages Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors had done together. He was really the first scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge’. [Hill]
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Price HK$ 75,000
1821 - Longman, London
A remarkable seven volume set of all of Cook’s three voyages. Illustrated with twenty five striking aquatint plates, including frontispieces in each volume, large folding map, and a table.‘The famous accounts of Captain Cook’s three voyages form the basis for any collection of Pacific books. In three great voyages Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors had done together. He was really the first scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge’. [Hill]
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Price HK$ 75,000
The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook, with "The Death of Captain Cook" Plate -
James Cook, John Hawkesworth, James King
1773 - Strahan, London - Second Edition, First Edition, Second Edition
A complete set of the best possible editions, superbly bound in full tree calf and with the additional ‘Death of Captain Cook’ drawn by the John Weber who witnessed the dispute and ensuing fight. Eight quarto volumes and the elephant folio volume of plates. Magnificently illustrated with two hundred and five engraved charts and plates, many of which are double page or larger.
There is no greater set of travel works, Cook was the first scientific navigator, these three voyages made great contributions to numerous fields of knowledge,, and did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than his predecessors had done together [Hill].
The first voyage is in its second and best edition, complete with the ‘Directions for placing the cuts’ and the ‘Chart of the Straights of Magellan’, and with the new Preface containing Hawkesworth's virulent eight-page reply to Dalrymple's whining reviews of the first edition, and the whole volume revised by the voyage's astronomer William Wales.
The third voyage is in its second and best edition, with the printing by Hughs (rather than Strahan who printed the first edition) with the text itself entirely re-set. Isaac Smith presenting a set on behalf of Cook's widow in 1821 noted that 'I am desired by Mrs Cook to request your acceptance of the 4 books sent herewith being her Husbands last Voyage round the World, as a mark of her respect the letter press of the second edition being much superior to the first both in paper & letter press' (quoted by Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 85). King George III's copy of the official account, preserved in the British Library, is also an example of this second edition. This particular set with variant title pages, dated correctly, but without edition statement or vignette of Royal Society medal.
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Price HK$ 430,000
1773 - Strahan, London - Second Edition, First Edition, Second Edition
A complete set of the best possible editions, superbly bound in full tree calf and with the additional ‘Death of Captain Cook’ drawn by the John Weber who witnessed the dispute and ensuing fight. Eight quarto volumes and the elephant folio volume of plates. Magnificently illustrated with two hundred and five engraved charts and plates, many of which are double page or larger.There is no greater set of travel works, Cook was the first scientific navigator, these three voyages made great contributions to numerous fields of knowledge,, and did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than his predecessors had done together [Hill].
The first voyage is in its second and best edition, complete with the ‘Directions for placing the cuts’ and the ‘Chart of the Straights of Magellan’, and with the new Preface containing Hawkesworth's virulent eight-page reply to Dalrymple's whining reviews of the first edition, and the whole volume revised by the voyage's astronomer William Wales.
The third voyage is in its second and best edition, with the printing by Hughs (rather than Strahan who printed the first edition) with the text itself entirely re-set. Isaac Smith presenting a set on behalf of Cook's widow in 1821 noted that 'I am desired by Mrs Cook to request your acceptance of the 4 books sent herewith being her Husbands last Voyage round the World, as a mark of her respect the letter press of the second edition being much superior to the first both in paper & letter press' (quoted by Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 85). King George III's copy of the official account, preserved in the British Library, is also an example of this second edition. This particular set with variant title pages, dated correctly, but without edition statement or vignette of Royal Society medal.
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Price HK$ 430,000
The Poetical Works -
William Cowper, H.S. Milford (editor)
1934 - Oxford University Press, London - Fourth Edition
‘Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more.’
A excellent copy – finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe – of the poetical works of William Cowper, including his poems ‘Epitaph on a Hare’ and ‘The Task’, together with his Olney Hymns and his translations from classical Latin and Greek verses. Edited and with a preface by H.S. Milford.
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Price HK$ 1,600
1934 - Oxford University Press, London - Fourth Edition
‘Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more.’
A excellent copy – finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe – of the poetical works of William Cowper, including his poems ‘Epitaph on a Hare’ and ‘The Task’, together with his Olney Hymns and his translations from classical Latin and Greek verses. Edited and with a preface by H.S. Milford.
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Price HK$ 1,600
Golf Between Two Wars -
Bernard Darwin
1944 - Chatto & Windus, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of Darwin’s recollections of the great golf and golfers, champions and championships, covering two of the most interesting decades in the history of the game. The 1920s and ‘30s were a time when, Darwin realised upon reflection, 'almost everything happened'. Illustrated with nineteen black and white photographs.
‘One of Mr. D’s most famous books’ – Joseph S. F. Murdoch, The Library of Golf.
Golf’s finest scribe, Bernard Darwin, whose grandfather was Charles Darwin, never trained as a journalist. He studied law at Cambridge, but was unhappy as a Barrister. "Once Darwin dipped his toe into golf writing, the reports he produced regularly for The Times of London over a 45 year period and his ruminative essays for the weekly Country Life possessed a quality that no one else has ever approached." – Herbert Warren Wind.
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Price HK$ 7,800
1944 - Chatto & Windus, London - First Edition
A finely bound first edition of Darwin’s recollections of the great golf and golfers, champions and championships, covering two of the most interesting decades in the history of the game. The 1920s and ‘30s were a time when, Darwin realised upon reflection, 'almost everything happened'. Illustrated with nineteen black and white photographs.‘One of Mr. D’s most famous books’ – Joseph S. F. Murdoch, The Library of Golf.
Golf’s finest scribe, Bernard Darwin, whose grandfather was Charles Darwin, never trained as a journalist. He studied law at Cambridge, but was unhappy as a Barrister. "Once Darwin dipped his toe into golf writing, the reports he produced regularly for The Times of London over a 45 year period and his ruminative essays for the weekly Country Life possessed a quality that no one else has ever approached." – Herbert Warren Wind.
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Price HK$ 7,800
The bibliographical Decameron -
Rev. T. F. Dibdin
1817 - Printed for the author by W. Bulmer and Co. Shakespeare Press, London - First Edition
A stunning contemporary bound example of Dibdin’s enthusiastic and richly illustrated three volume exploration of bibliographical history from illuminated manuscripts to book collectors and contemporary book auctions. In-text engravings, thirty five full page plates and two double page plates.
‘Perhaps the most lavish of all Dibdin's works. Its publication was a financial success and doubtless marks the high-water mark of the Dibdinian bibliomania’. (Jackson 40).
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Price HK$ 20,000
1817 - Printed for the author by W. Bulmer and Co. Shakespeare Press, London - First Edition
A stunning contemporary bound example of Dibdin’s enthusiastic and richly illustrated three volume exploration of bibliographical history from illuminated manuscripts to book collectors and contemporary book auctions. In-text engravings, thirty five full page plates and two double page plates.‘Perhaps the most lavish of all Dibdin's works. Its publication was a financial success and doubtless marks the high-water mark of the Dibdinian bibliomania’. (Jackson 40).
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Price HK$ 20,000
The Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Battle of Life; The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. -
Charles Dickens
1844 to 1848 - Chapman & Hall [or] Bradbury & Evans, London - Mixed first and early editions
A beautifully bound five volume set of Dickens’ Christmas Stories, fine copies housed in a custom made slipcase. With illustrated title pages, full plate and in-text illustrations throughout.
‘After the success attained with A Christmas Carol in 1843 Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining what he called "the Carol philosophy" to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. In typical Dickens fashion he drove his message home with a mixture of humor and good cheer’. - David Purdue.
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Price HK$ 35,000
1844 to 1848 - Chapman & Hall [or] Bradbury & Evans, London - Mixed first and early editions
A beautifully bound five volume set of Dickens’ Christmas Stories, fine copies housed in a custom made slipcase. With illustrated title pages, full plate and in-text illustrations throughout.‘After the success attained with A Christmas Carol in 1843 Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining what he called "the Carol philosophy" to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. In typical Dickens fashion he drove his message home with a mixture of humor and good cheer’. - David Purdue.
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Price HK$ 35,000