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Sick Heart River -
John Buchan
1941 - Hodder Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Buchan’s last book, published posthumously.
The review in the April 1941 edition of Punch sums it up nicely:-
‘"If thou hast a woe, tell it not to the weakling, tell it to thy saddle-bow, and ride singing forth." John Buchan took this Proverb of Alfred as text for his book Sick Heart River (Hodder and Stoughton, 8/3) which is as good a sermon to lift the downhearted as has ever been given in the form of a novel. When Sir Edward Leithen, a former British Attorney-General, received his notice of death from a specialist, "his memory sprawled over places he had seen" and he decided to go to Quebec to make his soul and to "die standing". One journey led to another in quest of a famous French-Canadian who, in a mood of mental sickness, had suddenly left his wife and important office in New York; and was "wanted" by American people because of his genius over international affairs. The tale that follows of two white men, their half-breed guides and some "Hare Indians", their fight with and against Nature in a lonely place is soul-stirring in more than one way and makes as brave a book as the late Governor-General of Canada ever gave us.’
The fictional Sick Heart River is in the real region of the Nahanni River in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is in some of the most rugged terrain in Canada. The area was only just being mapped when Buchan, as Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, passed nearby during his voyage down the Mackenzie River in the summer of 1937. Having heard much about the mysterious South Nahanni, Buchan was fascinated by it and wanted to go there, but did not make it before he died in February, 1940. [Galbraith, 2001]
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Price HK$ 3,500
1941 - Hodder Stoughton Limited, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of Buchan’s last book, published posthumously. The review in the April 1941 edition of Punch sums it up nicely:-
‘"If thou hast a woe, tell it not to the weakling, tell it to thy saddle-bow, and ride singing forth." John Buchan took this Proverb of Alfred as text for his book Sick Heart River (Hodder and Stoughton, 8/3) which is as good a sermon to lift the downhearted as has ever been given in the form of a novel. When Sir Edward Leithen, a former British Attorney-General, received his notice of death from a specialist, "his memory sprawled over places he had seen" and he decided to go to Quebec to make his soul and to "die standing". One journey led to another in quest of a famous French-Canadian who, in a mood of mental sickness, had suddenly left his wife and important office in New York; and was "wanted" by American people because of his genius over international affairs. The tale that follows of two white men, their half-breed guides and some "Hare Indians", their fight with and against Nature in a lonely place is soul-stirring in more than one way and makes as brave a book as the late Governor-General of Canada ever gave us.’
The fictional Sick Heart River is in the real region of the Nahanni River in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is in some of the most rugged terrain in Canada. The area was only just being mapped when Buchan, as Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, passed nearby during his voyage down the Mackenzie River in the summer of 1937. Having heard much about the mysterious South Nahanni, Buchan was fascinated by it and wanted to go there, but did not make it before he died in February, 1940. [Galbraith, 2001]
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Price HK$ 3,500
Travels in Nubia -
John Lewis Burckhardt
1819 - John Murray, London - First Edition
Illustrated with an engraved portrait and three maps, two of which are folding.
Edited from Burckhardt's journals by Lieutenant Colonel William Martin Leake (1777-1860); he also wrote the biographical memoir which is prefaces the ‘Travels’. John Lewis Burckhardt of Kirshgarten (1784-1817) was a pioneering Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan.
In 1809 Burckhardt was commissioned by the African Association and their president, Sir Joseph Banks, to discover the source of the River Niger. Posing as a Muslim convert and going by the name of Sheikh Ibrahim he spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt This volume, first published posthumously in 1819, contains Burckhardt's account of his two visits to Nubia (modern Upper Egypt and Sudan) in 1813 and 1814. Burckhardt was the first western scholar to explore the Sudanese Nile valley, and one of the first western explorers successfully to cross the Nubian Desert. In this valuable volume, he describes in fascinating detail the many ancient ruins along the Nile and the logistics and hardships of his desert crossing. [CUP]
On his return to Cairo, Burckhardt, unable to set off for the Niger, compiled his journals into books which he sent to London for publication. He died in 1817 of dysentery and is buried in a Muslim cemetery under the name of Ibrahim ibn Abdallah.
In an article on Burckhardt published in 1973, Professor William Adams wrote of his first journey to Dongola in the Sudan, ‘I doubt if any ethnographer in history ever returned from a five-week field trip into totally unfamiliar country with a more balanced and comprehensive account’. [DEI].
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Price HK$ 9,000
1819 - John Murray, London - First Edition
Illustrated with an engraved portrait and three maps, two of which are folding.Edited from Burckhardt's journals by Lieutenant Colonel William Martin Leake (1777-1860); he also wrote the biographical memoir which is prefaces the ‘Travels’. John Lewis Burckhardt of Kirshgarten (1784-1817) was a pioneering Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan.
In 1809 Burckhardt was commissioned by the African Association and their president, Sir Joseph Banks, to discover the source of the River Niger. Posing as a Muslim convert and going by the name of Sheikh Ibrahim he spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt This volume, first published posthumously in 1819, contains Burckhardt's account of his two visits to Nubia (modern Upper Egypt and Sudan) in 1813 and 1814. Burckhardt was the first western scholar to explore the Sudanese Nile valley, and one of the first western explorers successfully to cross the Nubian Desert. In this valuable volume, he describes in fascinating detail the many ancient ruins along the Nile and the logistics and hardships of his desert crossing. [CUP]
On his return to Cairo, Burckhardt, unable to set off for the Niger, compiled his journals into books which he sent to London for publication. He died in 1817 of dysentery and is buried in a Muslim cemetery under the name of Ibrahim ibn Abdallah.
In an article on Burckhardt published in 1973, Professor William Adams wrote of his first journey to Dongola in the Sudan, ‘I doubt if any ethnographer in history ever returned from a five-week field trip into totally unfamiliar country with a more balanced and comprehensive account’. [DEI].
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Price HK$ 9,000
The Commentaries of Caesar, Translated into English. To which is prefixed a Discourse Concerning the Roman Art of War -
Caius Julius Caesar, William Duncan
1753 - J. &, London - First Edition
The magnificent folio edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, translated and with preliminary matter by William Duncan, with a superb array of 86 copper-engraved plates including six maps, most double-page.
These include the scarce fold-out "Bull" plate (The Ursus or Buffalo) and The Battle with Elephants. Together with numerous finely engraved battle plans, depictions of the various peoples conquered by Cæsar (Picts, Druids, Gauls, Germans, etc.), maps of the regions occupied, etc.
This is thought by many as the finest edition of Caesar's commentaries in English.
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Price HK$ 95,000
1753 - J. &, London - First Edition
The magnificent folio edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, translated and with preliminary matter by William Duncan, with a superb array of 86 copper-engraved plates including six maps, most double-page.These include the scarce fold-out "Bull" plate (The Ursus or Buffalo) and The Battle with Elephants. Together with numerous finely engraved battle plans, depictions of the various peoples conquered by Cæsar (Picts, Druids, Gauls, Germans, etc.), maps of the regions occupied, etc.
This is thought by many as the finest edition of Caesar's commentaries in English.
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Price HK$ 95,000
The Riddle of the Sands -
Erskine Childers
1903 - Smith, London - First Edition, First Impression
A crisp, clean and rare first edition, finely bound.
Written after Childers, an accomplished yachtsman, returned injured from action in South Africa. Highlighting the encroaching conflict with Germany, the novel was highly influential and is actually credited with the founding of British naval bases at Invergordon and Scapa Flow; newly regarded as strategically important after examination of the scenarios in Childers' text. Winston Churchill later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat.
Contentiously described as the first modern spy thriller, vying for the title with Kipling's 'Kim', published two years earlier.
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Price HK$ 21,000
1903 - Smith, London - First Edition, First Impression
A crisp, clean and rare first edition, finely bound.Written after Childers, an accomplished yachtsman, returned injured from action in South Africa. Highlighting the encroaching conflict with Germany, the novel was highly influential and is actually credited with the founding of British naval bases at Invergordon and Scapa Flow; newly regarded as strategically important after examination of the scenarios in Childers' text. Winston Churchill later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat.
Contentiously described as the first modern spy thriller, vying for the title with Kipling's 'Kim', published two years earlier.
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Price HK$ 21,000
Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania. -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1900 - Longmans, London - First English Edition
A clean, crisp copy in a beautiful recent leather binding.
Written when Churchill was 23 and first appearing in serial form in ‘Macmillan's Magazine’, Savrola was Churchill's only novel. It embodies his early personal philosophy on life, which was to govern his later military and political career.
‘For those who know of his later exploits, it provides an amazing foreshadowing of events in his own life. Though the plot is sometimes clumsy, there are flashes of poignancy in his prose that are deeply insightful for a man of his age.’
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Price HK$ 11,500
1900 - Longmans, London - First English Edition
A clean, crisp copy in a beautiful recent leather binding.Written when Churchill was 23 and first appearing in serial form in ‘Macmillan's Magazine’, Savrola was Churchill's only novel. It embodies his early personal philosophy on life, which was to govern his later military and political career.
‘For those who know of his later exploits, it provides an amazing foreshadowing of events in his own life. Though the plot is sometimes clumsy, there are flashes of poignancy in his prose that are deeply insightful for a man of his age.’
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Price HK$ 11,500
The World Crisis - 1911-14; 1915; 1916-18; The Aftermath; The Eastern Front -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1923 - 1931 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
As first lord of the admiralty and minister for war and air, Winston Churchill stood resolute at the centre of international affairs.
In this smartly bound six volume first edition set of his classic account, Churchill dramatically details how the tides of despair and triumph flowed and ebbed as the political and military leaders of the time navigated the dangerous currents of world conflict. Illustrated throughout with black and white plates and folding maps.
This comprehensive account of the Great War is both analytical, and on occasions a justification from the author for his part in the proceedings. It is claimed that Churchill considered the work "not history, but a contribution to history". Since its publication both biographers and historians have considered it Churchill's masterpiece, eclipsing his better-known account 'The Second World War'. Indeed, T. E. Lawrence regarded the second volume, '1915', as "far and away the best war-book I've yet read".
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Price HK$ 41,000
1923 - 1931 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
As first lord of the admiralty and minister for war and air, Winston Churchill stood resolute at the centre of international affairs.In this smartly bound six volume first edition set of his classic account, Churchill dramatically details how the tides of despair and triumph flowed and ebbed as the political and military leaders of the time navigated the dangerous currents of world conflict. Illustrated throughout with black and white plates and folding maps.
This comprehensive account of the Great War is both analytical, and on occasions a justification from the author for his part in the proceedings. It is claimed that Churchill considered the work "not history, but a contribution to history". Since its publication both biographers and historians have considered it Churchill's masterpiece, eclipsing his better-known account 'The Second World War'. Indeed, T. E. Lawrence regarded the second volume, '1915', as "far and away the best war-book I've yet read".
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Price HK$ 41,000
My Early Life: A Roving Commission -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Edition
Finely bound first edition, in the earliest state (with eleven Churchill books advertised on the half-title verso).
‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch, covering his years as a soldier and correspondent, it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years’, illustrated with 17 black and white photographs, a folding map, as well as in-text drawings.
With frontispiece portrait of Lady Randolph Churchill, together with several illustrations and maps.
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Price HK$ 13,000
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Edition
Finely bound first edition, in the earliest state (with eleven Churchill books advertised on the half-title verso).‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch, covering his years as a soldier and correspondent, it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years’, illustrated with 17 black and white photographs, a folding map, as well as in-text drawings.
With frontispiece portrait of Lady Randolph Churchill, together with several illustrations and maps.
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Price HK$ 13,000
My Early Life: A Roving Commission - together with - Thoughts and Adventures : Amid These Storms -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
Two finely bound first editions in custom made fleece-lined slipcase.
Representing Churchill's only autobiographical books, ‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years’, illustrated with 17 black and white photographs, a folding map, and additional in-text drawings.
In Thoughts and Adventures Churchill begins by asking what it would be like to live your life over again and ends by describing his love affair with painting. In between, he touches on subjects as diverse as spies, cartoons, submarines, elections, flying, and the future. Illustrated with black and white frontispiece and several in-text drawings.
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Price HK$ 21,000
1930 - Thornton Butterworth Limited, London - First Editions
Two finely bound first editions in custom made fleece-lined slipcase.Representing Churchill's only autobiographical books, ‘My Early Life’ is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. Written with a light-hearted touch it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years’, illustrated with 17 black and white photographs, a folding map, and additional in-text drawings.
In Thoughts and Adventures Churchill begins by asking what it would be like to live your life over again and ends by describing his love affair with painting. In between, he touches on subjects as diverse as spies, cartoons, submarines, elections, flying, and the future. Illustrated with black and white frontispiece and several in-text drawings.
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Price HK$ 21,000