Results 25 - 32 of 71 results

A Fan's Notes - Inscribed - Frederick Exley

1968 - Harper &, New York - First Edition
Inscribed ‘Read in good “mental health”’ by Exley to renowned New York professor and psychologist and psychoanalyst Avrum Ben-Avi, and then gifted by a Sarah P. I. to ABA ‘for helping me end my “journey on a davenport”’ which refers to Exley’s six months on the sofa at his mother’s house at the end of which he was consigned to a mental hospital.

Exley's cult classic, a fictional memoir based on the author's real struggle, complicated by alcohol abuse and mental illness, to avoid being a lifelong "loser." Son of a fabled high school athlete in Watertown, NY, but with no interest in athletics in a sports-rabid town, Exley's only joy was in watching, through an alcoholic haze, the NY Giants on television on Sunday afternoons at a local bar. A Giants' victory would seem to justify, for a few hours, his misshapen life. In between football games, drinking bouts, shock treatments and insulin therapy, Exley would venture out into the world to play at being a normal, successful, young man on-the-go only to find each attempt driving him toward insanity again bringing him to the conclusion he is not a hero but merely a fan.
 
More details

Price HK$ 4,500



Players and Slayers. With some Remarks and Reminiscences of Bernard Fanning - Inscribed and Annotated - Leo Fanning

1910 - Gordon &, Wellington - First Edition
A rare copy of this idiosyncratic collection of articles on New Zealand rugby, inscribed and annotated by the author.

Leo Fanning has not only inscribed this copy to the artist Maurice Poulton ‘
with good wishes 27 Aug 58’ but he also adds hand-written comments to ‘A Barmaid’s Monologue’ (page 135) to which he adds ‘a “fake” interview. Those were the days of young barmaids.’ and also his article ‘A Handy Man’s Lament’ (page 140) - ‘Another “fake” - The “local colour” for this splurge was got from a tramp across the South Island with Sid Jenkinson on February, 1899’’.

Bernard Fanning, who supplies the additional ‘
remarks and reminiscences’, was a Canterbury Lock, and All Black (1903 22-3 vs Australia, in Sydney). 
More details

Price HK$ 2,500



Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad - F. W. F. Fletcher

1911 - Macmillan &, London - First Edition
‘Fletcher introduces both the terrain and the history of the Nilgiris and Wynaad regions in India, then provides big game chapters on a species-by-species basis. Each of these chapters features not only the natural history of the animals, but also the author's experiences hunting them. Included are chapters devoted to elephant, tiger, leopards, bison, beer, tahr, ibex, sambur, and other deer species.

Fletcher switched from a .450 rifle to a .600 Jeffery: “
In cold blood the recoil from his rifle is somewhat severe; but in the excitement of shooting it is not noticeable.”’ - Czech.

Illustrated with 18 plates, and folding coloured map as frontispiece.
 
More details

Price HK$ 2,200



Architectura Navalis - bound with - Architectura Civilis, Nova & Antiqua - Josephum Furttenbach, Georg Andreas B

1629 - Johan Saurn, Ulm - First Editions
A stunning, clean and complete copy of Joseph Furttenbach’s famous treaty on shipbuilding, Architectura Navalis with double-page engraved title, title in red and black, twenty stunning double-page engraved plates showing boat design, and various types of boats many engaged in action with other boats and monsters of the sea. Furttenbach was a highly influential German architect, who attempted to cover all fields of architecture in his writings. Böckler corresponded with Furttenbach and his works on architecture were intended to contribute to the rebuilding of Germany after the devastation of the Thirty Years War, his Architectura Civilis, Nova & Antiqua presents a comparative treatment of the Orders [Architectural Styles] and is illustrated with forty engraved plates, woodcut printer’s device and red and black text to title page, woodcut head pieces, and initials.  
More details

Price HK$ 95,000



The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes - John Gerarde, Thomas Johnson

1633 - Printed by: Adam Islip, London - Second Edition, Enlarged and Amended
A superb and rare complete folio of Gerarde’s monumental work on the history of plants, the most circulated and influential botanical work of the 17th century. This is the first edition to be enlarged by Thomas Johnson.

Describing over 2,800 of plants, and profusely illustrated with engraved title page by John Payne and a new set of 2,766 woodblock illustrations by Plantin, which were commissioned for this new edition. Thomas Johnson added several hundred new plants to this enlarged and amended edition which he significantly revised and edited, correcting many errors in the original text by Gerarde of whom he notes that ‘
Our author here (as in many other places) knit knots somewhat intricate to loose.’ [1114]. Passages which Johnson substantially emended were marked with a dagger, and completely new ones with a double cross. Contributions by his friends John Parkinson, George Bowles, John Goodyear, and others are acknowledged by name. Many of the additions are based on Johnson’s own journeys. Another excellent addition by Johnson to Gerarde is a survey of the history of botany, the first such in English.

See page 1617 for two tups of ginger, which Johnson calls ‘True China’ and ‘Bastard China’ with details of how the Portuguese brought it back to Europe.
 
More details

Price HK$ 40,000



With Bat and Ball - George Giffen

1898 - Ward, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of George Giffen’s cricketing memoirs.

Giffen (1859-1927) was considered the greatest Australian all-rounder of his day, he played his first Test in 1881 when only 22 years old and went on to appear in 31, a huge amount for his era. In matches between Australia and England he made 1,238 runs, and took 103 wickets. He is also the first Australian to take 1,000 first-class wickets and score 10,000 runs.
 
More details

Price HK$ 2,500



Cricketing Reminiscences and Personal Recollections - W. G. Grace

1899 - James Bowden, London - First Edition
I should like to say that good batsmen are born, not made; but my long experience comes up before me, and tells me that it is not so.’

Profusely illustrations, with over eighty mostly photographic plates including one of the great beard himself, the first man ever to score 1,000 runs in one month, and this at the age of 46.

Grace was still playing Test cricket into his 50s, and on his 58th birthday, after scoring 74, he laid his bat down on the pavilion table and declared, ‘There. I shan’t play any more’.
 
More details

Price HK$ 2,000



Things that Happen. Published in the Interests of Good Health & Good Cheer. - Charles Grave & other Well-known Artists

1926 - WorthingtonFirst Edition
‘If you do miss the Boat race, the race for Worthington is worth winning!’

27 full page amusing advertisements and other cartoons for Worthington Beer. Covering many topics including golf, skiing, driving, football, swimming and rowing, and how they can be remedied with Worthington.

Note this is the scarce original edition, in tanned illustrated wrappers, not the facsimile edition produced by Bass Brewery in 1977.

[27x18.7 cm]
 
More details

Price HK$ 2,000



 
Results 25 - 32 of 71 results