Results 9 - 16 of 49 results

Boat Racing: or The Arts of Rowing and Training - Edwin Dampier Brickwood (Amateur Ex-Champion of The Thames)

1876 - Horace Cox, 346 Strand - New Edition
Fine example of ‘the earliest comprehensive work on the technique of rowing’, in the rare and improved second edition due to the addition of the wonderful albumen photograph of an elegantly calm Henley, it has also been expanded with alterations bringing it up to date with the addition of historical matter, the most important being the invention and acceptance of the sliding seat between the first edition of 1866 and this second edition of 1876.

Brickwood is insistent on a good balance of work, diet, sleep and cleanliness. Breakfast of mutton chops or rump steaks, to which can be added some cold chicken or hot grilled fowl, an egg or two, lettuce or watercress, brown bread, and two cups of tea, lunch includes a slice or two of bread and butter and a half a pint of good sound ale, perhaps with a chop, dinner, being the main meal of the day is too large to list here, but should include a pint and a half of sound beer in the summer months, with a couple of glasses of claret, sherry, or port wine to finish it all off with. A glass of warm port wine or cup of tea without milk or sugar but with a teaspoonful of brandy is recommended between heats on race day....
 
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Price HK$ 10,000



The Arts of Rowing and Training, with an appendix containing the laws of boat-racing, etc., by ‘Argonaut’. - Brickwood ‘Argonaut’

1866 - Horace Cox, 346 - First Edition
A near fine and rare first edition of ‘in all probability the earliest comprehensive work on the technique of rowing’. It was written to supply “the want of a concise, yet withal comprehensive, manual on boat-racing”. Only one previous writer, says the preface, had “been found willing to bequeath to his successors the results of his observation and the fruits of his experience; and even he, if I am not mistaken, excelled rather as a coxswain than as an oarsman”. The reference is probably to A. T. Shadwell.

The contents, which “
embody the precepts which have of late contributed to the repeated successes of the Oxford University crew”, are arranged in 2 parts. Part I, “Rowing”, includes chapters on boats and their fittings, the art of rowing, coaching, steering, sculling, examples of form and style, and the conduct of regattas. The chapters on coaching deplore the contemporary sacrifice of form to pace. The chapter on boats gives an interesting account of the development of outrigged boats and a table of dimensions and prices.

In Part II, “Training”, running before breakfast is condemned, meat should be “just done to a turn, as it is called, not blue or half raw”, and the author expresses his opinion that a limited amount of smoking should be permitted except in exceptional cases.’ No raw vegetables or green tea, but make sure to have a beer with lunch (p. 133-134).
 
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Price HK$ 11,000



1896 - Longmans, London and Bombay - Number 193 of 250 Large Paper Deluxe Edition
A handsome and thus rare first edition of this large and comprehensive work, an informative history and guide to the game of billiards. One of only 250 numbered large paper copies in the publisher’s deluxe binding.

Illustrated with eleven full page black and white plates by artist Lucien Davies, and numerous drawings and diagrams throughout the text.
 
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Price HK$ 2,800



Velocipedes, Bicycles and Tricycles - Tom Burgess

May 1869 - George Routledge and Sons, London - First Edition
First edition of one of the first books in English to be dedicated to the bicycle, with thirty six charming woodcut illustrations.

Whether velocipedes are only the 'toy of the hour,' or are destined to become a permanent adjunct to our civilization and every-day life or not, no one can doubt their extending popularity’.

‘A treasure trove of information with illustrations from the early inventions in 1819, right through to the so-called French, Parisian and American models available at the time. A summary of the scene in 1869 includes a report that the 52 miles from London to Brighton had been covered in 7½ hours on a bicycle, shaving two hours of the previous fastest time.’ –
Pelotome.

Chapters include ‘
Advantages of Velocipedes’, ‘Velocipedes of the Past’, ‘Velocipedes of the Day’, ‘Art of Velocipede Management’, ‘How to Manage a Bicycle’, ‘How to Construct a Bicycle’, ‘Velocipedum Variorium’ and ‘Progress of the Velocipede’. 
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Price HK$ 2,500



The Borders and Beyond - Abel Chapman

1924 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A bright copy of this informative work of field exploration and natural history in Northumberland and the Anglo-Scottish borderlands.

Hunter-naturalist Chapman includes chapters on the British red grouse, the wildfowl of the north east coast, a search for the ‘moorland nymph’, salmonology, seagulls, woodcocks and herons, ravens, and the otter, together with a commentary on ‘modern zoology’, and extensive particulars on the migrations and plumage-phases in certain waders, to which he gave the name ‘Globe-Spanners’.

Profusely illustrated throughout with seventeen wonderful colour illustrations (on fourteen plates) by W.H. Riddell, twenty one black and white plates, two folding maps, and 170 sketches by the author.
 
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Price HK$ 1,000



The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers

1903 - Smith, London - First Edition, First Impression
A crisp, clean and rare first edition, finely bound.

Written after Childers, an accomplished yachtsman, returned injured from action in South Africa. Highlighting the encroaching conflict with Germany, the novel was highly influential and is actually credited with the founding of British naval bases at Invergordon and Scapa Flow; newly regarded as strategically important after examination of the scenarios in Childers' text. Winston Churchill later gave the book the credit for persuading public opinion to fund vital measures against the German naval threat.

Contentiously described as the first modern spy thriller, vying for the title with Kipling's '
Kim', published two years earlier. 
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Price HK$ 21,000



The Cricket Match - with - The Test Match Surprise - Hugh De Selincourt, Jack Hobbs

1924 - The Readers Library Publishing Company Ltd., London - First Reader’s Library Edition, First Edition
Two Great Cricket Fictional Works, rare in their original dust jackets.

The Cricket Match’ - James Barrie (of Peter Pan) thought this ‘the best story about cricket or any other game that has ever been written’, and this novel of a cricket match played in the idyllic Sussex village of Tillingfold is still the best-known and best-loved cricket story ever written.

Test Match Surprise’ - A fictional account by Jack Hobbs, legendary England and Surrey batsman. 
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Price HK$ 2,200



Architectura Navalis - bound with - Architectura Civilis, Nova & Antiqua - Josephum Furttenbach, Georg Andreas Böckler [Boeckler]

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.  
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Price HK$ 95,000



 
Results 9 - 16 of 49 results