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The Gentleman's Stable Directory or Modern System of Farriery -
William Taplin
1791 - G. G. J. and J. Robinsons, London - The Tenth Edition, Considerably Enlarged and Carefully Corrected.
Two volumes in fine contemporary bindings, volume I with an engraved portrait of Taplin. The second volume contains "Experimental Remarks upon Breeding, Breaking, Shoeing, Stabling, Exercise, and Rowelling. To which are added, particular Instructions for the General Management of Hunters and Road Horses; with Concluding Observations upon the present State of the Turf".
During the latter part of the eighteenth century there appears to have been a considerable demand for veterinary knowledge, and William Taplin (d.1807), part of a group of British surgeons who switched to become veterinarians, sailed on this tide into a fortune by selling medicine for horses by agencies all over the kingdom and advertising them by means of his books.
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Price HK$ 7,500
1791 - G. G. J. and J. Robinsons, London - The Tenth Edition, Considerably Enlarged and Carefully Corrected.
Two volumes in fine contemporary bindings, volume I with an engraved portrait of Taplin. The second volume contains "Experimental Remarks upon Breeding, Breaking, Shoeing, Stabling, Exercise, and Rowelling. To which are added, particular Instructions for the General Management of Hunters and Road Horses; with Concluding Observations upon the present State of the Turf".During the latter part of the eighteenth century there appears to have been a considerable demand for veterinary knowledge, and William Taplin (d.1807), part of a group of British surgeons who switched to become veterinarians, sailed on this tide into a fortune by selling medicine for horses by agencies all over the kingdom and advertising them by means of his books.
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Price HK$ 7,500
The Lawson History of the America's Cup. A Record of Fifty Years -
Winfield. M. Thompson, Thomas W. Lawson
1902 - Privately Printed, Boston - First and Limited Edition, of which this is number 1033
A handsomely bound example of this large and splendid work, over 400 pages illustrated with eighty-nine full page plates of which sixteen are colour and two are maps outlined in colour.
Detailing the history of the America’s Cup from 1851 to 1902, its challenges, yachts, protests, characters and an appendix of press articles. There is nothing finer.
Privately printed for private distribution only, and limited to 3,000 copies most of which were presented to prominent members of the yachting community and to rather special libraries this particular copy was presented to ‘The Cumberland Mills Library’ which was founded in 1879 and was based in Westbrook, Maine.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1902 - Privately Printed, Boston - First and Limited Edition, of which this is number 1033
A handsomely bound example of this large and splendid work, over 400 pages illustrated with eighty-nine full page plates of which sixteen are colour and two are maps outlined in colour.Detailing the history of the America’s Cup from 1851 to 1902, its challenges, yachts, protests, characters and an appendix of press articles. There is nothing finer.
Privately printed for private distribution only, and limited to 3,000 copies most of which were presented to prominent members of the yachting community and to rather special libraries this particular copy was presented to ‘The Cumberland Mills Library’ which was founded in 1879 and was based in Westbrook, Maine.
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Price HK$ 18,000
Travers' Golf Book -
Jerome D. Travers
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first book by this golfing legend, illustrated with a colour frontispiece and 46 black and white photographic plates. A combination of autobiography and instructional.
‘Although he was of slight stature, Travers dominated golf in the decade before World War I with his stunning iron shots and expert putting. He won many tournaments because of his calm temperament, patience, and ability to make precise shots. He won the United States Amateur in 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913, and was runner-up in 1914. His victory in 1913 set a record for that tournament – not broken until Bobby Jones won it five times. He was among the first members of the Golf Hall of Fame established by the United States Golf Association’. [DAB]
‘Some of the words used to describe Jerry Travers have not been kind – cold, somber, ruthless – yet these were the qualities that made him the most feared golfer of his time. In a nine-year stretch from 1906-1915, Travers won four U.S. Amateurs, five Metropolitan Amateurs and a U.S. Open. Only Bob Jones won more amateur titles and Travers was one of only five amateurs to win the Open. And his battles with Walter Travis, in the words of Herbert Warren Wind, “formed the crucible in which a talented young golfer was made into the greatest match player of his decade”‘. [World Golf Hall of Fame]
And in 1915 at the age of 28, Travers ended his championship career.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
A fine first edition of the first book by this golfing legend, illustrated with a colour frontispiece and 46 black and white photographic plates. A combination of autobiography and instructional.‘Although he was of slight stature, Travers dominated golf in the decade before World War I with his stunning iron shots and expert putting. He won many tournaments because of his calm temperament, patience, and ability to make precise shots. He won the United States Amateur in 1907, 1908, 1912, and 1913, and was runner-up in 1914. His victory in 1913 set a record for that tournament – not broken until Bobby Jones won it five times. He was among the first members of the Golf Hall of Fame established by the United States Golf Association’. [DAB]
‘Some of the words used to describe Jerry Travers have not been kind – cold, somber, ruthless – yet these were the qualities that made him the most feared golfer of his time. In a nine-year stretch from 1906-1915, Travers won four U.S. Amateurs, five Metropolitan Amateurs and a U.S. Open. Only Bob Jones won more amateur titles and Travers was one of only five amateurs to win the Open. And his battles with Walter Travis, in the words of Herbert Warren Wind, “formed the crucible in which a talented young golfer was made into the greatest match player of his decade”‘. [World Golf Hall of Fame]
And in 1915 at the age of 28, Travers ended his championship career.
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Price HK$ 7,000
Modern Cycles. A Practical Handbook on their Construction and Repair -
A. J. Wallis-Tayler
1897 - Crosby Lockwood and Son, London - First Edition
A fine and rare first edition of one of the earliest works on cycling to feature such technical details, including the machinery required to produce various bicycle designs.
Including a history of the cycle, and chapters on ‘Modern Safety Bycicles or Dicycles’ and ‘Modern Tricycles or Three-Wheeled Cycles’.
Profusely illustrated throughout with 304 in-text drawings and lithographs, and one folding plate to the rear.
The author, Alexander James Wallis-Tayler, was an engineer, who ran an inspection and technical drawing company with two offices in London, he was also a prolific author of engineering and design related works.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1897 - Crosby Lockwood and Son, London - First Edition
A fine and rare first edition of one of the earliest works on cycling to feature such technical details, including the machinery required to produce various bicycle designs. Including a history of the cycle, and chapters on ‘Modern Safety Bycicles or Dicycles’ and ‘Modern Tricycles or Three-Wheeled Cycles’.
Profusely illustrated throughout with 304 in-text drawings and lithographs, and one folding plate to the rear.
The author, Alexander James Wallis-Tayler, was an engineer, who ran an inspection and technical drawing company with two offices in London, he was also a prolific author of engineering and design related works.
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Complete Angler -
Izaak Walton, Charles Cotton, Edward Jesse (editor)
1861 - Henry G. Bohn, London - The Second Jesse Edition
A finely bound copy of one of the most profusely illustrated editions, the second to be edited by Edward Jesse. According to Oliver, ‘this edition has been criticized as having been somewhat too fully annotated and illustrated, but the illustrations, in our opinion, add as much to the charm of the book, as the notes do to its interest’.
‘Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries,
" Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ";
and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.’
The most enduring distinction of the Complete Angler is the one cast off by its subtitle The Contemplative Man's Recreation with its graceful evocations of a life free from hurly-burly in the company of friends intent on physical and moral sustenance. The range of perspectives that Walton brings to bear on his rural descriptions embrace literature, poetry, music and anecdote.
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Price HK$ 9,500
1861 - Henry G. Bohn, London - The Second Jesse Edition
A finely bound copy of one of the most profusely illustrated editions, the second to be edited by Edward Jesse. According to Oliver, ‘this edition has been criticized as having been somewhat too fully annotated and illustrated, but the illustrations, in our opinion, add as much to the charm of the book, as the notes do to its interest’.‘Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries,
" Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ";
and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.’
The most enduring distinction of the Complete Angler is the one cast off by its subtitle The Contemplative Man's Recreation with its graceful evocations of a life free from hurly-burly in the company of friends intent on physical and moral sustenance. The range of perspectives that Walton brings to bear on his rural descriptions embrace literature, poetry, music and anecdote.
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Price HK$ 9,500
Imperial Cricket -
P. F. Warner (editor)
1912 - The London & Counties Press Association Ltd, London - Subscriber’s Edition of 900
‘Hail CRICKET! Glorious, manly, British Game!
First of all Sports! be alike in Fame!’ – James Love, 1744.
And Huzzah! to that. Presenting a large, magnificent and obviously Imperial work (32x26x6cm), which covers the growth and development of Cricket throughout the Empire from Hong Kong and the Far East, Ceylon, India, British Malaya and Bermuda to South Africa, West Africa, India, Australia, Fiji, Egypt and the Sudan. Not only the history of Cricket in each area but with anecdotes and illustrations. In addition there are chapters on The History of Cricket; Cricket and the Royal Family, Oxford and Cambridge Cricket; I Zingari; and Free Foresters.
One of 900 copies of the Subscriber’s Edition, heavily illustrated with six full page photogravure plates, three full page colour plates and 93 black and white images.
Contributors include FS Ashley-Cooper, ACM Croome, Andrew Lang, Cecil Headlam and SP Foenander. With an extensive index compiled by Ashley-Cooper.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1912 - The London & Counties Press Association Ltd, London - Subscriber’s Edition of 900
‘Hail CRICKET! Glorious, manly, British Game!First of all Sports! be alike in Fame!’ – James Love, 1744.
And Huzzah! to that. Presenting a large, magnificent and obviously Imperial work (32x26x6cm), which covers the growth and development of Cricket throughout the Empire from Hong Kong and the Far East, Ceylon, India, British Malaya and Bermuda to South Africa, West Africa, India, Australia, Fiji, Egypt and the Sudan. Not only the history of Cricket in each area but with anecdotes and illustrations. In addition there are chapters on The History of Cricket; Cricket and the Royal Family, Oxford and Cambridge Cricket; I Zingari; and Free Foresters.
One of 900 copies of the Subscriber’s Edition, heavily illustrated with six full page photogravure plates, three full page colour plates and 93 black and white images.
Contributors include FS Ashley-Cooper, ACM Croome, Andrew Lang, Cecil Headlam and SP Foenander. With an extensive index compiled by Ashley-Cooper.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Education Of A Poker Player -
Herbert O. Yardley, Ian Fleming (introduction)
1959 - Jonathan Cape, London - First English Edition
The preferred first English edition of Yardley's masterwork of poker lore and advice, with a suitably acerbic introduction from Mr. Fleming, in fine sarcastic form. Fleming was drawn to Yardley not not only for his gaming and high living, but as an icon in U.S. intelligence. After reading the American edition of this book in 1957, Fleming was so taken with it, that he urged his publisher, Jonathan Cape, to issue the book in Britain. Cape agreed, but on the condition that Fleming pen an introduction
‘Assume the worst, believe no one, and make your move only when you are certain that you are unbeatable or have, at worst, exceptionally good odds in your favor.’ - “Yardley’s Law” as Al Alvarez describes it in Big Deal: Confessions of a Poker Player.
Both an autobiography and a poker-playing manual which seeks to expose the cynical reality behind the "American Dream". Yardley describes many poker games and characters who include railroad men, travelling salesmen, speculators, drunks and no-hopers. Described by gambling specialist Cult Jones as "probably the best poker book ever written"
‘The book’s importance in the history of poker literature is unquestioned.’ - Poker News.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1959 - Jonathan Cape, London - First English Edition
The preferred first English edition of Yardley's masterwork of poker lore and advice, with a suitably acerbic introduction from Mr. Fleming, in fine sarcastic form. Fleming was drawn to Yardley not not only for his gaming and high living, but as an icon in U.S. intelligence. After reading the American edition of this book in 1957, Fleming was so taken with it, that he urged his publisher, Jonathan Cape, to issue the book in Britain. Cape agreed, but on the condition that Fleming pen an introduction‘Assume the worst, believe no one, and make your move only when you are certain that you are unbeatable or have, at worst, exceptionally good odds in your favor.’ - “Yardley’s Law” as Al Alvarez describes it in Big Deal: Confessions of a Poker Player.
Both an autobiography and a poker-playing manual which seeks to expose the cynical reality behind the "American Dream". Yardley describes many poker games and characters who include railroad men, travelling salesmen, speculators, drunks and no-hopers. Described by gambling specialist Cult Jones as "probably the best poker book ever written"
‘The book’s importance in the history of poker literature is unquestioned.’ - Poker News.
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Price HK$ 4,500
The Laws of Piquet – Adopted by the Portland and Turf Clubs with a Treatise on the Game -
“Cavendish” [Pseud. Henry Jones]
1892 - Thomas De La Rue & Co., London - Eighth Edition
A charming little book of instructions and rules for Piquet, one of France’s most popular card games, courtesy of “Cavendish”.
Devised in the 16th century, Piquet is a ‘trick-taking’ card game for two players. Played with a 32-card deck, each game consists of six deals.
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Price HK$ 800
1892 - Thomas De La Rue & Co., London - Eighth Edition
A charming little book of instructions and rules for Piquet, one of France’s most popular card games, courtesy of “Cavendish”.Devised in the 16th century, Piquet is a ‘trick-taking’ card game for two players. Played with a 32-card deck, each game consists of six deals.
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Price HK$ 800