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Annals of Cricket -
W. W. Read - For many years a Member of the Surrey County Team
1896 - Sampson Low, London - First Edition - One of 250 copies
A classic account of the early history of the game together with an autobiography of this prominent Victorian-era Surrey batsman Walter William Read, considered one of the greatest amateur cricketers of his era, second only to W.G. Grace in stature.
Read (1855-197) played in eighteen Tests for England, two as Captain of the winning eleven, and scored 338 against Oxford University in 1888, at the time the second highest first-class score ever made.
One of only 250 copies, illustrated throughout with a portrait frontispiece of Read at the crease and a further twenty-five black and white plates from early drawings and photographs.
W.G. Grace wrote of Read ‘For over twenty years [Read] was one of the most brilliant batsmen in England. The services he rendered to Surrey could scarcely be over-estimated. On scores of occasions his dashing and fearless batting snatched a victory or saved his county from defeat … His hitting was free and his scoring always rapid. Nevertheless his defence was remarkable, and though he seldom failed to punish a loose ball, he generally respected a good one. His favourite ball was a long hop to the off, which he stepped back to and hit with incredulous power in front of cover-point; he also was an expert with the ‘pull stroke’.’
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Price HK$ 2,800
1896 - Sampson Low, London - First Edition - One of 250 copies
A classic account of the early history of the game together with an autobiography of this prominent Victorian-era Surrey batsman Walter William Read, considered one of the greatest amateur cricketers of his era, second only to W.G. Grace in stature.Read (1855-197) played in eighteen Tests for England, two as Captain of the winning eleven, and scored 338 against Oxford University in 1888, at the time the second highest first-class score ever made.
One of only 250 copies, illustrated throughout with a portrait frontispiece of Read at the crease and a further twenty-five black and white plates from early drawings and photographs.
W.G. Grace wrote of Read ‘For over twenty years [Read] was one of the most brilliant batsmen in England. The services he rendered to Surrey could scarcely be over-estimated. On scores of occasions his dashing and fearless batting snatched a victory or saved his county from defeat … His hitting was free and his scoring always rapid. Nevertheless his defence was remarkable, and though he seldom failed to punish a loose ball, he generally respected a good one. His favourite ball was a long hop to the off, which he stepped back to and hit with incredulous power in front of cover-point; he also was an expert with the ‘pull stroke’.’
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Price HK$ 2,800
History of the British Turf. From The Earliest Times To The Present Day -
James Rice
1879 - Sampson Low, London - First Edition
An appropriately bound set, of this comprehensive work on the history of British horse racing, retaining the original gilt illustrated covers.
Race tracks, famous horses, famous races, peppered with anecdotes, betting, successful jockeys, owners, pedigrees, race tracks. Entertaining and comprehensive.
Penned by James Rice, a Barrister of Lincoln’s Inn, educated at Queens’ College Cambridge. Illustrated with frontispieces, a plan of Newmarket Heath, enhanced with tables listing winners, and a bibliography.
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Price HK$ 10,000
1879 - Sampson Low, London - First Edition
An appropriately bound set, of this comprehensive work on the history of British horse racing, retaining the original gilt illustrated covers.Race tracks, famous horses, famous races, peppered with anecdotes, betting, successful jockeys, owners, pedigrees, race tracks. Entertaining and comprehensive.
Penned by James Rice, a Barrister of Lincoln’s Inn, educated at Queens’ College Cambridge. Illustrated with frontispieces, a plan of Newmarket Heath, enhanced with tables listing winners, and a bibliography.
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Price HK$ 10,000
The Works -
Theodore Roosevelt, Hermann Hagedorn (editor), under the Auspices of The Roosevelt Memorial Association
1923-6 - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York - The National Edition
A finely bound twenty volume set of Roosevelt’s works. With additional notes to the beginning of each volume, sometimes biographical sometimes Roosevelt’s own notes.
The complete set of writings and essays including: The Rough Riders, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, The Winning of the West, African Game Trails, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, etc.
Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, and an orator. His prodigious literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and letters. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906, in his position as President of the United States of America and collaborator of various peace treaties.
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Price HK$ 36,000
1923-6 - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York - The National Edition
A finely bound twenty volume set of Roosevelt’s works. With additional notes to the beginning of each volume, sometimes biographical sometimes Roosevelt’s own notes.The complete set of writings and essays including: The Rough Riders, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, The Winning of the West, African Game Trails, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter, etc.
Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, and an orator. His prodigious literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and letters. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906, in his position as President of the United States of America and collaborator of various peace treaties.
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Price HK$ 36,000
An Ocean Cruise and Deep Water Regatta of the Pacific Yacht Club, July, 1884 -
J. Sanderson, Gideon Denny (illustrator)
1884 - H.S. Crocker &, San Francisco - First and Only Edition
Rare and superb large folio of this very detailed celebratory account of the first successful yacht race from San Francisco Bay to Santa Cruz and a subsequent regatta across Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz to Monterey and back, it also includes a history of the club, lists of the members and a description of the fleet.
The glory of the work lies in the eight magnificent coloured lithographic plates by Gideon Denny (1830-1866), a renowned marine artist based in San Francisco.
Denny's fine plates include five views of sailboats at sea during the races, one of the fleet anchored off Santa Cruz, one of the clubhouse and grounds of the Pacific Yacht Club at Sausalito, and one group portrait of the officers of the club.
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Price HK$ 25,000
1884 - H.S. Crocker &, San Francisco - First and Only Edition
Rare and superb large folio of this very detailed celebratory account of the first successful yacht race from San Francisco Bay to Santa Cruz and a subsequent regatta across Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz to Monterey and back, it also includes a history of the club, lists of the members and a description of the fleet.The glory of the work lies in the eight magnificent coloured lithographic plates by Gideon Denny (1830-1866), a renowned marine artist based in San Francisco.
Denny's fine plates include five views of sailboats at sea during the races, one of the fleet anchored off Santa Cruz, one of the clubhouse and grounds of the Pacific Yacht Club at Sausalito, and one group portrait of the officers of the club.
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Price HK$ 25,000
Sandow on Physical Training -
Eugen Sandow
1894 - Gale &, London - First Edition
A scarce and remarkably clean copy of the rare first edition in it’s original pictorial covers, by the ‘Father of Bodybuilding’, who still sits atop the Mr Olympia trophy. ‘Sandow The Magnificent’ also opened one of the first ‘health clubs’ in the world. He was friends with Conan-Doyle, Thomas Edison and King George V. A large volume richly illustrated from photographs, drawings and diagrams.
Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classical Greek and Roman sculpture was no accident, as he measured the statues in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique." He is seen as one of the first athletes to intentionally develop his musculature to predetermined dimensions. In Strength and How to Obtain It Sandow lays out specific prescriptions of weights and repetitions in order to achieve his ideal proportion.
Sandow was the promoter and judge at the first bodybuilding contest ever held, at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 14, 1901, and his importance was such that the trophy for Mr. Olympia is a statuette of Sandow, one could even say that Sandow was the inspiration for a later Governor of California.
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Price HK$ 9,000
1894 - Gale &, London - First Edition
A scarce and remarkably clean copy of the rare first edition in it’s original pictorial covers, by the ‘Father of Bodybuilding’, who still sits atop the Mr Olympia trophy. ‘Sandow The Magnificent’ also opened one of the first ‘health clubs’ in the world. He was friends with Conan-Doyle, Thomas Edison and King George V. A large volume richly illustrated from photographs, drawings and diagrams.Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classical Greek and Roman sculpture was no accident, as he measured the statues in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique." He is seen as one of the first athletes to intentionally develop his musculature to predetermined dimensions. In Strength and How to Obtain It Sandow lays out specific prescriptions of weights and repetitions in order to achieve his ideal proportion.
Sandow was the promoter and judge at the first bodybuilding contest ever held, at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 14, 1901, and his importance was such that the trophy for Mr. Olympia is a statuette of Sandow, one could even say that Sandow was the inspiration for a later Governor of California.
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Price HK$ 9,000
South - The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition 1914-1917 -
Shackleton
1919 - William Heinemann, London - First Edition, First Impression
A superior example of this legendary account of leadership. It was on this expedition that the marooned Shackleton made his famous voyage in a 22-foot boat with five companions through 800 miles of some of the stormiest seas in the world, finally reaching South Georgia and a Norwegian whaling station [Spence].
With 86 full page plates, and large folding map to the rear, many classic photographs existing only due to the stubbornness of Hurley, Shackleton’s photographer, in refusing to leave the plates behind to conserve energy and food.
The captivating narrative of Ernest Shackleton's famous “Endurance Expedition," and probably the most evocative narrative of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, telling of the survival of Shackleton and his crew under the most extreme circumstances.
"I think that though failure in the actual accomplishment must be recorded, there are chapters in this book of high adventure, strenuous days, lonely nights, unique experiences, and above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self- sacrifice on the part of my men which, even in these days that have witnessed the sacrifices of nations and regardless of self on the part of individuals, still will be of interest to readers who now turn gladly from the red horror of war and the strain of the last five years to read, perhaps with more understanding minds, the tale of the White Warfare of the South. The struggles, the disappointments, and the endurance of this small party of British, hidden away for nearly two years in the fastnesses of the Polar ice, striving to carry out the ordained task and ignorant of the crises through which the world was passing, make a story which is unique in the history of Antarctic exploration." — Ernest Shackleton
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Price HK$ 40,000
1919 - William Heinemann, London - First Edition, First Impression
A superior example of this legendary account of leadership. It was on this expedition that the marooned Shackleton made his famous voyage in a 22-foot boat with five companions through 800 miles of some of the stormiest seas in the world, finally reaching South Georgia and a Norwegian whaling station [Spence].With 86 full page plates, and large folding map to the rear, many classic photographs existing only due to the stubbornness of Hurley, Shackleton’s photographer, in refusing to leave the plates behind to conserve energy and food.
The captivating narrative of Ernest Shackleton's famous “Endurance Expedition," and probably the most evocative narrative of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, telling of the survival of Shackleton and his crew under the most extreme circumstances.
"I think that though failure in the actual accomplishment must be recorded, there are chapters in this book of high adventure, strenuous days, lonely nights, unique experiences, and above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self- sacrifice on the part of my men which, even in these days that have witnessed the sacrifices of nations and regardless of self on the part of individuals, still will be of interest to readers who now turn gladly from the red horror of war and the strain of the last five years to read, perhaps with more understanding minds, the tale of the White Warfare of the South. The struggles, the disappointments, and the endurance of this small party of British, hidden away for nearly two years in the fastnesses of the Polar ice, striving to carry out the ordained task and ignorant of the crises through which the world was passing, make a story which is unique in the history of Antarctic exploration." — Ernest Shackleton
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Price HK$ 40,000
Racing to Win. The Book of the Gurnays -
Fred Shaw, S. W. E. Bishop
1952 - Teddington All-British Racing Publishing Co., Middlesex - Second Edition
A nice clean copy of a scarce title on the world's greatest strain of racing pigeons, first published in 1949 and then expanded with added introductions shortly after Shaw’s death. Illustrated throughout with 31 full page black and white photographs.
‘His genius as a pigeon racer is equalled only by his genius as a writer, as this book will testify and as his contributions to the world’s leading pigeon journal, Pigeon Racing News and Gazette, have confirmed on numerous occasions. Here, between the covers of this literary masterpiece, reside both the story and the wisdom of one of the greatest pigeon fanciers the world has known, the incomparable Fred Shaw, of Lancashire.’ - S. W. E. Bishop.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1952 - Teddington All-British Racing Publishing Co., Middlesex - Second Edition
A nice clean copy of a scarce title on the world's greatest strain of racing pigeons, first published in 1949 and then expanded with added introductions shortly after Shaw’s death. Illustrated throughout with 31 full page black and white photographs.‘His genius as a pigeon racer is equalled only by his genius as a writer, as this book will testify and as his contributions to the world’s leading pigeon journal, Pigeon Racing News and Gazette, have confirmed on numerous occasions. Here, between the covers of this literary masterpiece, reside both the story and the wisdom of one of the greatest pigeon fanciers the world has known, the incomparable Fred Shaw, of Lancashire.’ - S. W. E. Bishop.
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Price HK$ 2,500
A Treatise on Cyder-Making -
Hugh Stafford, Anonymous
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.
Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
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Price HK$ 42,000
1753 - Printed for E. Cave, London - First Edition
Legendary and rare first edition of this anonymous work, all of which is generally but erroneously attributed to Hugh Stafford who contributed the sixteen page ‘Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit’ at the beginning.Covering the entire process from identifying and growing the best cider apples, collection, pressing, fermentation, racking, preserving and remedial action for a variety of issues ‘which are incident to Cyder’. With fold-out engraving of cider press (opp. p.32), in-text wood-cut diagrams to pages 43 and 68 (‘One side of the framed Press...’.) and wood-cut decorations to pages v, 47, and 61.
‘As Cyder therefore is generally allowed to be an wholesome drink, and as it is the natural product of our own country, he will surely be thought to contribute something towards the good of the public, who gives infallible directions for making it universally agreeable by varrying it so as to suit every palate, and by improving the flavour and the quality, both of the rough and the smooth, divesting it of its tendency to produce cholics, and giving it the sparkle of Champaign, without an eager and windy fermentation, and rendering it more spirituous than a small wine tho' less inflaming’. [Preface]
An influential work, Benjamin Franklin, who was partial to a drop himself, ordered three copies to be reprinted as pamphlets and distributed amongst the New England farmers after failing with their vineyards. It was plagiarised into various publications including encyclopaedias, cookbooks and later reference works related to cider.
More details
Price HK$ 42,000