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The Major Novels and Short Stories -
Jerome K Jerome
1886-1908 - Various, Bristol and London - All first edition first issue except for Three Men in a Boat (Second Issue) and Tommy and Co. (cheap edition).
A beautiful Zaehnsdorf bound set in ten volumes, consisting of: On the Stage and Off. London; The Idle Thoughts of An Idle Fellow; Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog); Told After Supper; Diary of a Pilgrimage; Novel Notes; The Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel; Tea-Table Talk; and Tommy and Co.
obviously the set includes one of the funniest English books ever written, ‘Three Men in a Boat’, of which in the words of Jerome K. Jerome ‘other books may excel this in depth of thought and knowledge of human nature: other books may rival it in originality and size; but, for hopeless and incurable veracity, nothing yet discovered can surpass it’, which could sum up a number of the other works here.
Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) was born in Walsall, but moved to London with his family as a young boy. After leaving school at fourteen, he worked as a railway clerk, but spent much of his spare time acting with various theatre companies and reading in the library of the British Museum; his first novel, On the Stage – and Off was loosely based on his thespian experiences. His 1899 novel, Three Men in a Boat – a fictional though exaggerated account of an actual boat trip on the River Thames that Jerome took with two friends – became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, despite lacklustre critic reviews, selling a million copies in America alone, and bringing it’s author world wide fame.
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Price HK$ 15,000
1886-1908 - Various, Bristol and London - All first edition first issue except for Three Men in a Boat (Second Issue) and Tommy and Co. (cheap edition).
A beautiful Zaehnsdorf bound set in ten volumes, consisting of: On the Stage and Off. London; The Idle Thoughts of An Idle Fellow; Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog); Told After Supper; Diary of a Pilgrimage; Novel Notes; The Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel; Tea-Table Talk; and Tommy and Co.obviously the set includes one of the funniest English books ever written, ‘Three Men in a Boat’, of which in the words of Jerome K. Jerome ‘other books may excel this in depth of thought and knowledge of human nature: other books may rival it in originality and size; but, for hopeless and incurable veracity, nothing yet discovered can surpass it’, which could sum up a number of the other works here.
Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) was born in Walsall, but moved to London with his family as a young boy. After leaving school at fourteen, he worked as a railway clerk, but spent much of his spare time acting with various theatre companies and reading in the library of the British Museum; his first novel, On the Stage – and Off was loosely based on his thespian experiences. His 1899 novel, Three Men in a Boat – a fictional though exaggerated account of an actual boat trip on the River Thames that Jerome took with two friends – became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, despite lacklustre critic reviews, selling a million copies in America alone, and bringing it’s author world wide fame.
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Price HK$ 15,000
Transition - A Complete Run - Numbers 1-27. -
Eugene Jolas (editor)
1927 to 1938 - Transition Press, Paris - First Editions
A rare complete set of the most influential and important literary magazine between the wars. Edited by Eugene Jolas, contributors are a whose who of writers, poets and artists of this magnificent period, including but not limited to:-
James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Elliot Paul, Man Ray, Robert McAlmon, Dylan Thomas, André Gide, Joan Miró, Rainer Maria Rilke, Pablo Picasso, Paul Bowles, André Breton, William Carlos Williams,
Robert Graves, Franz Kafka, Piet Mondrian, Le Corbusier, Hart Crane, Max Ernst, Malcolm Cowley, Djuna Barnes, Harry Crosby, Archibald MacLeish, Constantin Brancusi, Cartier-Bresson, Louis Aragon, Kay Boyle, Juan Gris, and Aaron Copland, and as such, publishing for the first time some of the most linguistically and visually innovative art of the modern era.
Numbers 1-20 published between April 1927 and June 1930 by Transition with Shakespeare and Co., in Paris. Numbers 21-24 published between March 1932 and June 1936 by The Servire Press in The Hague. Volumes 25-27 published between fall 1936 and May 1938 by Transition in New York.
Included with the set is the Gertrude Stein’s ‘An Elucidation, printed in Transition, April 1927’ in original wrappers, and ‘Transition Pamphlet No 1’ (supplement to Transition no 23, 1934-35) containing the ‘Testimony against Gertrude Stein’.
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Price HK$ 45,000
1927 to 1938 - Transition Press, Paris - First Editions
A rare complete set of the most influential and important literary magazine between the wars. Edited by Eugene Jolas, contributors are a whose who of writers, poets and artists of this magnificent period, including but not limited to:-James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Elliot Paul, Man Ray, Robert McAlmon, Dylan Thomas, André Gide, Joan Miró, Rainer Maria Rilke, Pablo Picasso, Paul Bowles, André Breton, William Carlos Williams,
Robert Graves, Franz Kafka, Piet Mondrian, Le Corbusier, Hart Crane, Max Ernst, Malcolm Cowley, Djuna Barnes, Harry Crosby, Archibald MacLeish, Constantin Brancusi, Cartier-Bresson, Louis Aragon, Kay Boyle, Juan Gris, and Aaron Copland, and as such, publishing for the first time some of the most linguistically and visually innovative art of the modern era.
Numbers 1-20 published between April 1927 and June 1930 by Transition with Shakespeare and Co., in Paris. Numbers 21-24 published between March 1932 and June 1936 by The Servire Press in The Hague. Volumes 25-27 published between fall 1936 and May 1938 by Transition in New York.
Included with the set is the Gertrude Stein’s ‘An Elucidation, printed in Transition, April 1927’ in original wrappers, and ‘Transition Pamphlet No 1’ (supplement to Transition no 23, 1934-35) containing the ‘Testimony against Gertrude Stein’.
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Price HK$ 45,000
Memoirs of a Booklegger -
Jack Kahane
1939 - Michael Joseph Ltd., London - First Edition
Jack Kahane founded the Obelisk Press based in Paris, in France in 1929, he took advantage of the fact that books published in France in English were not subject to the kind of censorship practised in Britain at the time.
He published among others Henry Millers ‘Tropic of Capricorn’, which had explicit sexual passages and and could therefore not be published in the U.S. Other author’s included James Joyce, Anaïs Nin, and Lawrence Durrell.
Kahane passed away just before the outbreak of World War II, having just finished this book of his memoirs. His son took over the press which later became the Olympia Press continuing in a similar tradition, being the first to publish works such as Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ and Burrough’s ‘Naked Lunch’.
First edition in the original scarce and unclipped dust jacket, not a common book as most of the edition were destroyed when a German bomb hit the publisher's warehouse.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1939 - Michael Joseph Ltd., London - First Edition
Jack Kahane founded the Obelisk Press based in Paris, in France in 1929, he took advantage of the fact that books published in France in English were not subject to the kind of censorship practised in Britain at the time.He published among others Henry Millers ‘Tropic of Capricorn’, which had explicit sexual passages and and could therefore not be published in the U.S. Other author’s included James Joyce, Anaïs Nin, and Lawrence Durrell.
Kahane passed away just before the outbreak of World War II, having just finished this book of his memoirs. His son took over the press which later became the Olympia Press continuing in a similar tradition, being the first to publish works such as Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ and Burrough’s ‘Naked Lunch’.
First edition in the original scarce and unclipped dust jacket, not a common book as most of the edition were destroyed when a German bomb hit the publisher's warehouse.
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Price HK$ 4,500
The Dharma Bums -
Jack Kerouac
1958 - The Viking Press, New York - First Edition
‘Who were all these strange ghosts rooted to the silly little adventure of earth with me? And who was I?’
A fine first edition in bright dust jacket with far less than the usual rubbing to which this black jacket is prone. Kerouac’s chronicle of carefree wanderers learning to meditate Buddhist style, the story of Ray Smith – obviously Kerouac himself – who after a self-imposed discipline in the wilds of Sierra Madres, and sixty days of summer solitude on the mountain top lookout Desolation Peak, returns to the world with a new ‘vision of the freedom of eternity...’
‘Book ends with a great holy Blah! At last America has a new visionary poet. So let us talk of Angels.’ - Allen Ginsberg.
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Price HK$ 14,000
1958 - The Viking Press, New York - First Edition
‘Who were all these strange ghosts rooted to the silly little adventure of earth with me? And who was I?’ A fine first edition in bright dust jacket with far less than the usual rubbing to which this black jacket is prone. Kerouac’s chronicle of carefree wanderers learning to meditate Buddhist style, the story of Ray Smith – obviously Kerouac himself – who after a self-imposed discipline in the wilds of Sierra Madres, and sixty days of summer solitude on the mountain top lookout Desolation Peak, returns to the world with a new ‘vision of the freedom of eternity...’
‘Book ends with a great holy Blah! At last America has a new visionary poet. So let us talk of Angels.’ - Allen Ginsberg.
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Price HK$ 14,000
Vanity of Duluoz: An Adventurous Education, 1935-46 -
Jack Kerouac
1968 - Coward-McCann, New York - First Edition
‘All right, wifey, maybe I’m a big pain in the you know what, but after I’ve given you a recitation of the troubles I had to go through to make good in America between 1935 and more or less now, 1967, and although I also know everybody in the world’s had his own troubles you’ll understand that my particular form of anguish came from being too sensitive to all the lunkheads I had to deal with...’
A bright first edition of Kerouac’s final novel published during his lifetime, the autobiographical tale of his alter-ego Jack Duluoz, recounting his experiences at Columbia University on a football scholarship in the 1930s to his coming of age serving in the US navy during WWII. When Duluoz returns to New York after the war, he abandons his former plans, and embarks upon a riot of drugs, sex and writing, as the Beat movement begins.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1968 - Coward-McCann, New York - First Edition
‘All right, wifey, maybe I’m a big pain in the you know what, but after I’ve given you a recitation of the troubles I had to go through to make good in America between 1935 and more or less now, 1967, and although I also know everybody in the world’s had his own troubles you’ll understand that my particular form of anguish came from being too sensitive to all the lunkheads I had to deal with...’A bright first edition of Kerouac’s final novel published during his lifetime, the autobiographical tale of his alter-ego Jack Duluoz, recounting his experiences at Columbia University on a football scholarship in the 1930s to his coming of age serving in the US navy during WWII. When Duluoz returns to New York after the war, he abandons his former plans, and embarks upon a riot of drugs, sex and writing, as the Beat movement begins.
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Price HK$ 3,000
It will be Warmer When it Snows -
Arthur La Bern
1966 - W. H. Allen, London - First Edition
A rare first edition of this ‘absorbing and brutally penetrating novel about a bankrupt and his crumbling world’, set in London.
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Price HK$ 1,800
1966 - W. H. Allen, London - First Edition
A rare first edition of this ‘absorbing and brutally penetrating novel about a bankrupt and his crumbling world’, set in London.
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Price HK$ 1,800
The Karla Trilogy – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley’s People -
John le Carré
1974 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Editions
A finely bound first edition set of John le Carre’s acclaimed espionage trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People – featuring legendary master spy George Smiley pitted against his elusive Cold War rival, Karla.
As a secret service agent, Le Carre moved from MI5 to MI6, and was in Berlin when the wall was erected. His experiences inspired him to write a novel which became 'Call For The Dead'; 'When I first began writing, Ian Fleming was riding high and the picture of the spy was that of a character who could have affairs with women, drive a fast car, who used gadgetry and gimmickry to escape.' Le Carre's aim was to portray the intelligence world from a new view and he has earned a reputation for gritty, realistic, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage or simply human behaviour. His famous recurring character, George Smiley, is an ageing, diffident, shadow-like member of the British foreign service, and the antithesis of James Bond; this trilogy of Smiley books is the author's masterwork, a thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. 'Tinker Tailor...' was the basis for the Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Gary Oldman.
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Price HK$ 22,000
1974 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Editions
A finely bound first edition set of John le Carre’s acclaimed espionage trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People – featuring legendary master spy George Smiley pitted against his elusive Cold War rival, Karla.As a secret service agent, Le Carre moved from MI5 to MI6, and was in Berlin when the wall was erected. His experiences inspired him to write a novel which became 'Call For The Dead'; 'When I first began writing, Ian Fleming was riding high and the picture of the spy was that of a character who could have affairs with women, drive a fast car, who used gadgetry and gimmickry to escape.' Le Carre's aim was to portray the intelligence world from a new view and he has earned a reputation for gritty, realistic, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage or simply human behaviour. His famous recurring character, George Smiley, is an ageing, diffident, shadow-like member of the British foreign service, and the antithesis of James Bond; this trilogy of Smiley books is the author's masterwork, a thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. 'Tinker Tailor...' was the basis for the Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Gary Oldman.
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Price HK$ 22,000
The Karla Trilogy – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley’s People - Signed -
le Carré
1974 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Editions
A first edition set of John le Carré’s acclaimed espionage trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People – featuring legendary master spy George Smiley pitted against his elusive Cold War rival, Karla.
Smiley’s People signed by Le Carré.
First edition, first issue of The Honourable Schoolboy with maps of Hong Kong for endpapers, these were not included in the second issue.
As a secret service agent, Le Carré moved from MI5 to MI6, and was in Berlin when the wall was erected. His experiences inspired him to write a novel which became 'Call For The Dead'; 'When I first began writing, Ian Fleming was riding high and the picture of the spy was that of a character who could have affairs with women, drive a fast car, who used gadgetry and gimmickry to escape.' Le Carré’s aim was to portray the intelligence world from a new view and he has earned a reputation for gritty, realistic, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage or simply human behaviour. His famous recurring character, George Smiley, is an ageing, diffident, shadow-like member of the British foreign service, and the antithesis of James Bond; this trilogy of Smiley books is the author's masterwork, a thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. 'Tinker Tailor...' was the basis for the Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Gary Oldman.
‘Simply the world’s greatest fictional spymaster’ – Newsweek.
More details
Price HK$ 14,000
1974 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Editions
A first edition set of John le Carré’s acclaimed espionage trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People – featuring legendary master spy George Smiley pitted against his elusive Cold War rival, Karla.Smiley’s People signed by Le Carré.
First edition, first issue of The Honourable Schoolboy with maps of Hong Kong for endpapers, these were not included in the second issue.
As a secret service agent, Le Carré moved from MI5 to MI6, and was in Berlin when the wall was erected. His experiences inspired him to write a novel which became 'Call For The Dead'; 'When I first began writing, Ian Fleming was riding high and the picture of the spy was that of a character who could have affairs with women, drive a fast car, who used gadgetry and gimmickry to escape.' Le Carré’s aim was to portray the intelligence world from a new view and he has earned a reputation for gritty, realistic, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage or simply human behaviour. His famous recurring character, George Smiley, is an ageing, diffident, shadow-like member of the British foreign service, and the antithesis of James Bond; this trilogy of Smiley books is the author's masterwork, a thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain. 'Tinker Tailor...' was the basis for the Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Gary Oldman.
‘Simply the world’s greatest fictional spymaster’ – Newsweek.
More details
Price HK$ 14,000