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Abbey's Road - Inscribed -
Edward Abbey, Jean Pruchnik (illustrator)
1979 - E. P. Dutton, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, illustrated by Jean Pruchnik, signed and inscribed ‘all the best! Edward Abbey Santa Fe 11/56/88’
‘In the spirit of Desert Solitaire and The Journey Home, Abbey's Road is a personal odyssey. Edward Abbey's explorations include the familiar territory of the Rio Grande in Texas and Canyonlands National Park and Lake Powell in Utah. He also takes us to such varied places as Scotland, the interior of Australia, and the Sierra Madre and Isla de la Sombra in Mexico.’
‘I've been along a few of Mr. Abbey's roads. He sees much more than I did. Indeed, reading him is often better than being there was.’ – John Leonard.
‘Abbey's the original fly in the ointment. Give him money and prizes. Don't let anything happen to him.’ – Thomas McGuane.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1979 - E. P. Dutton, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition, illustrated by Jean Pruchnik, signed and inscribed ‘all the best! Edward Abbey Santa Fe 11/56/88’‘In the spirit of Desert Solitaire and The Journey Home, Abbey's Road is a personal odyssey. Edward Abbey's explorations include the familiar territory of the Rio Grande in Texas and Canyonlands National Park and Lake Powell in Utah. He also takes us to such varied places as Scotland, the interior of Australia, and the Sierra Madre and Isla de la Sombra in Mexico.’
‘I've been along a few of Mr. Abbey's roads. He sees much more than I did. Indeed, reading him is often better than being there was.’ – John Leonard.
‘Abbey's the original fly in the ointment. Give him money and prizes. Don't let anything happen to him.’ – Thomas McGuane.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Man Who Turned Into a Stick. Three Related Plays - Inscribed -
Kōbō Abe
1975 - University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo - First Edition in English
Inscribed by Kōbō Abe in Japanese and signed in English. Translated by Donald Keene.
This work contains three plays written between 1957 and 1969, usually presented together and symbolising the different stages of life. The first, representing birth, is The Suitcase. The second, The Cliff of Time, represents life itself, or The Process and the third, The Man who Turned into a Stick, is death.
The Man Who Turned Into A Stick (棒になった男 – Bō ni natta otoko), is considered a primary example of magic realism in Japanese literature.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1975 - University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo - First Edition in English
Inscribed by Kōbō Abe in Japanese and signed in English. Translated by Donald Keene.This work contains three plays written between 1957 and 1969, usually presented together and symbolising the different stages of life. The first, representing birth, is The Suitcase. The second, The Cliff of Time, represents life itself, or The Process and the third, The Man who Turned into a Stick, is death.
The Man Who Turned Into A Stick (棒になった男 – Bō ni natta otoko), is considered a primary example of magic realism in Japanese literature.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography -
Henry Adams
1918 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York - First Trade Edition
A fine first trade edition of Henry Adams influential and Pulitzer-winning autobiography, that records the struggle of the Bostonian Henry Adams (1838–1918), in his later years, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth, whilst charting the great transformation in American life during the so-called Gilded Age.
First circulated privately in a run of 100 copies, and then published here posthumously and with an added preface by Henry Cabot Lodge. The Modern Library placed it first in a list of the top 100 English-language non-fiction books of the 20th century.
Housed in a bespoke leather clamshell case.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1918 - Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York - First Trade Edition
A fine first trade edition of Henry Adams influential and Pulitzer-winning autobiography, that records the struggle of the Bostonian Henry Adams (1838–1918), in his later years, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth, whilst charting the great transformation in American life during the so-called Gilded Age.First circulated privately in a run of 100 copies, and then published here posthumously and with an added preface by Henry Cabot Lodge. The Modern Library placed it first in a list of the top 100 English-language non-fiction books of the 20th century.
Housed in a bespoke leather clamshell case.
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Price HK$ 5,000
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men -
James Agee, Walker Evans
1941 - Houghton, Boston - First Edition
First edition of what is considered one of the most influential works on the great depression and collaborations between author and photographer, of all time. In a superior and thus scarce dust jacket without restoration or price clipping. Illustrated with 31 photographs by Walker Evans.
Eclipsed by Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’ and only selling 1,000 copies on publication, Agee’s ferocious portrait of life among American sharecroppers remains the true classic of the Great Depression. [The Guardian Newspaper, 2008]
‘In the summer of 1936, Agee and Evans set out on assignment for Fortune magazine to explore the daily lives of sharecroppers in the South. Their journey would prove an extraordinary collaboration and a watershed literary event. This unsparing record of place, of the people who shaped the land, and of the rhythm of their lives today stands as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.’
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Price HK$ 32,000
1941 - Houghton, Boston - First Edition
First edition of what is considered one of the most influential works on the great depression and collaborations between author and photographer, of all time. In a superior and thus scarce dust jacket without restoration or price clipping. Illustrated with 31 photographs by Walker Evans.Eclipsed by Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’ and only selling 1,000 copies on publication, Agee’s ferocious portrait of life among American sharecroppers remains the true classic of the Great Depression. [The Guardian Newspaper, 2008]
‘In the summer of 1936, Agee and Evans set out on assignment for Fortune magazine to explore the daily lives of sharecroppers in the South. Their journey would prove an extraordinary collaboration and a watershed literary event. This unsparing record of place, of the people who shaped the land, and of the rhythm of their lives today stands as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.’
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Price HK$ 32,000
Money. A Suicide Note - Signed -
Martin Amis
1978 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
'With money, double-dazzle New York is a crystal conservatory. Take money away, and you're naked and shielding your Johnson in a cataract of breaking glass.’
‘Martin Amis’s era-defining ode to excess unleashed one of literature’s greatest modern monsters in self-destructive antihero John Self’ - The Guardian [The 100 best novels]
First edition, signed by Martin Amis to the title page.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1978 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
'With money, double-dazzle New York is a crystal conservatory. Take money away, and you're naked and shielding your Johnson in a cataract of breaking glass.’‘Martin Amis’s era-defining ode to excess unleashed one of literature’s greatest modern monsters in self-destructive antihero John Self’ - The Guardian [The 100 best novels]
First edition, signed by Martin Amis to the title page.
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Price HK$ 10,000
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Inscribed -
Maya Angelou
1969 - Random House, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition signed and inscribed by Maya Angelou: ‘Joy! The caged bird sings of freedom.’
‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ marks the first volume in what would ultimately become a seven volume autobiography. It was written in the months following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968 - coincidentally, also Maya Angelou's birthday - at the suggestion of James Baldwin, as a way of working through her grief and depression over King's death. Baldwin would later call the resulting work "a Biblical study of life in the midst of death." Its themes of identity, racism, trauma, and literacy led to equal parts acclaim and criticism, with the book hailed as one of the greatest works of biography ever produced by an American author and one of the most frequently banned or challenged books in the United States.
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Price HK$ 30,000
1969 - Random House, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition signed and inscribed by Maya Angelou: ‘Joy! The caged bird sings of freedom.’‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ marks the first volume in what would ultimately become a seven volume autobiography. It was written in the months following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968 - coincidentally, also Maya Angelou's birthday - at the suggestion of James Baldwin, as a way of working through her grief and depression over King's death. Baldwin would later call the resulting work "a Biblical study of life in the midst of death." Its themes of identity, racism, trauma, and literacy led to equal parts acclaim and criticism, with the book hailed as one of the greatest works of biography ever produced by an American author and one of the most frequently banned or challenged books in the United States.
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Price HK$ 30,000
Le Paysan de Paris – The Peasant of Paris - Signed by Henri Cartier-Bresson -
Louis Aragon, Henri Cartier-Bresson
1994 - The Limited editions Club, New York - Number 89 of 300 copies.
‘I was seeking… a new kind of novel that would break all the traditional rules governing the writing of fiction… a novel that the critics would be obliged to approach empty-handed’ – Louis Aragon.
A large (32x42cm) beautiful and superbly produced limited edition folio of Louis Aragon’s outstanding Surrealist novel – in which he compares a poet’s love for his city to a peasant’s love for his land – illustrated and signed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of only 300 copies. With the text in English, translated by Simon Watson-Taylor.
Stunningly illustrated with seven original lithographs and a photogravure by Henri Cartier-Bresson. The lithographs were pulled by Bruce Porter at his Trestle Editions studio in New York. The photogravure was printed by Jon Goodman on French-made Arjo Wiggins stock.
Bound in silk and provided with a matching felt lined silk slipcase.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1994 - The Limited editions Club, New York - Number 89 of 300 copies.
‘I was seeking… a new kind of novel that would break all the traditional rules governing the writing of fiction… a novel that the critics would be obliged to approach empty-handed’ – Louis Aragon.A large (32x42cm) beautiful and superbly produced limited edition folio of Louis Aragon’s outstanding Surrealist novel – in which he compares a poet’s love for his city to a peasant’s love for his land – illustrated and signed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of only 300 copies. With the text in English, translated by Simon Watson-Taylor.
Stunningly illustrated with seven original lithographs and a photogravure by Henri Cartier-Bresson. The lithographs were pulled by Bruce Porter at his Trestle Editions studio in New York. The photogravure was printed by Jon Goodman on French-made Arjo Wiggins stock.
Bound in silk and provided with a matching felt lined silk slipcase.
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Price HK$ 9,000
Vermilion Sands -
J. G. Ballard
1973 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
First edition of this short story collection, all set in Vermilion Sands, 'a fully automated desert-resort designed to fulfil the most exotic whims of the idle rich, but now languishing in uneasy decay, populated only by forgotten movie queens, solitary impresarios and the remittance men of the artistic and literary world. It is a lair for beachcombers, hangers-on and malignant obsessions – a place where sensitive pigments paint portraits of their mistresses in a grotesque parody of art; where prima donna plants are programmed to sing operatic arias; where dial-a-poem computers have replaced poets; where psychosensitive houses are driven to murder by their owners' neuroses; and where love and lust, in the hands of jewel-eyed Jezebels, pall before the stronger pull of evil.'
'No one ever comes to Vermilion Sands now, and I suppose there are few people who have ever heard of it. But ten years ago, when Fay and I first went to live at 99 Stellavista, just before our marriage broke up, the colony was still remembered as the one-time playground of movie stars, delinquent heiresses and eccentric cosmopolites in those fabulous years before the Recess. Admittedly most of the abstract villas and fake palazzos were empty, their huge gardens overgrown, two-level swimming pools long drained, and the whole place was degenerating like an abandoned amusement park, but there was enough bizarre extravagance in the air to make one realize that the giants had only just departed’
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Price HK$ 15,000
1973 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
First edition of this short story collection, all set in Vermilion Sands, 'a fully automated desert-resort designed to fulfil the most exotic whims of the idle rich, but now languishing in uneasy decay, populated only by forgotten movie queens, solitary impresarios and the remittance men of the artistic and literary world. It is a lair for beachcombers, hangers-on and malignant obsessions – a place where sensitive pigments paint portraits of their mistresses in a grotesque parody of art; where prima donna plants are programmed to sing operatic arias; where dial-a-poem computers have replaced poets; where psychosensitive houses are driven to murder by their owners' neuroses; and where love and lust, in the hands of jewel-eyed Jezebels, pall before the stronger pull of evil.''No one ever comes to Vermilion Sands now, and I suppose there are few people who have ever heard of it. But ten years ago, when Fay and I first went to live at 99 Stellavista, just before our marriage broke up, the colony was still remembered as the one-time playground of movie stars, delinquent heiresses and eccentric cosmopolites in those fabulous years before the Recess. Admittedly most of the abstract villas and fake palazzos were empty, their huge gardens overgrown, two-level swimming pools long drained, and the whole place was degenerating like an abandoned amusement park, but there was enough bizarre extravagance in the air to make one realize that the giants had only just departed’
More details
Price HK$ 15,000