The Indian Cookery Book: A Practical Handbook to the Kitchen in India -
By A Thirty-Five Years' Resident
1904 - Thacker, Calcutta - 1901 Reprint
Another popular work, by an anonymous author first published in the mid-1800’s with Thacker, Spink & Co., thinking it important enough to print a seventh edition in 1958! Scarce in early editions.
With over 500 recipes and notes, including a large section on curries. The publisher has separated each page with a blank sheet, presumably to add notes to.
The anonymous writer only provides the fact that they have been A Thirty-Five Years' Resident. We are unable to ascertain anything more, despite the numerous references to this work in modern books relating to British India.
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Price HK$ 1,900
1904 - Thacker, Calcutta - 1901 Reprint
Another popular work, by an anonymous author first published in the mid-1800’s with Thacker, Spink & Co., thinking it important enough to print a seventh edition in 1958! Scarce in early editions. With over 500 recipes and notes, including a large section on curries. The publisher has separated each page with a blank sheet, presumably to add notes to.
The anonymous writer only provides the fact that they have been A Thirty-Five Years' Resident. We are unable to ascertain anything more, despite the numerous references to this work in modern books relating to British India.
More details
Price HK$ 1,900
The Monkey Wrench Gang -
Edward Abbey
1975 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York - First Edition
‘Hell of a place to lose a cow,’ Smith thinks to himself while roaming through the canyonlands of southern Utah. ‘Hell of a place to lose your heart. Hell of a place... to lose. Period’.
‘Since the publication of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Mr. Abbey has become an underground cult hero.’ - New York Times
The inspirational and incendiary call to protect the American wilderness, by its prickliest and most outspoken environmentalist. A ‘comic extravaganza’ based on a group of misfits who join forces with a Vietnam vet on a rafting trip down the Colorado River, and together they wander off to wage war on the big yellow machines.
‘Ribald, outrageous and, in fact, scandalous.’ - Smithsonian
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Price HK$ 4,000
1975 - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York - First Edition
‘Hell of a place to lose a cow,’ Smith thinks to himself while roaming through the canyonlands of southern Utah. ‘Hell of a place to lose your heart. Hell of a place... to lose. Period’. ‘Since the publication of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Mr. Abbey has become an underground cult hero.’ - New York Times
The inspirational and incendiary call to protect the American wilderness, by its prickliest and most outspoken environmentalist. A ‘comic extravaganza’ based on a group of misfits who join forces with a Vietnam vet on a rafting trip down the Colorado River, and together they wander off to wage war on the big yellow machines.
‘Ribald, outrageous and, in fact, scandalous.’ - Smithsonian
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Price HK$ 4,000
RESERVED - La Divina Commedia -
Dante Alighieri, Henry F. Cary (translator), Sandro Boticelli (illustrator)
1928 - The Nonesuch Press, London - Limited edition of 1475 copies of which this is number 442.
‘Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, where the right of way was lost.’ - Hell.
‘To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now hoists her sails, as she leaves behind her a sea so cruel.’ - Purgatory.
‘In the heaven which most of His light I have been, and have seen things which he who descends from there above neither knows how nor has power to recount.’ - Paradise.
A gorgeous large limited edition of this medieval epic, combining Botticelli’s 42 sepia drawings (34 on double sheet, 8 on single sheet)with Dante’s Divina Commedia in both Italian and English. Showing only a modicum of the usual spine fading to which this vellum is notoriously prone, and in the original matching leather trimmed and felt lined slipcase.
Reportedly based on Dante’s experiences during his banishment from Florence, this reinterpretation of Christian themes had a seminal influence on philosophy, literature, and art, inspiring Chaucer, John Milton, Salvadore Dali, and T.S. Eliot, among many others.
‘Dante and Botticelli represented the Florence of two very different generations. No Renaissance artist contemplated the verities of Christianity with a depper faith. Botticelli’s drawings are so much more than a commentary on, or a two-dimensional summation of, the Divina Commedia. They are breathtakingly beautiful. And in realising his project, Botticelli refined his own mysticisim and thus anticipated the intense lyricism of his final years’ - Francis Russell on the 2001 Botticelli exhibition at the Royal Academy (Country Life).
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Price HK$ 19,000
1928 - The Nonesuch Press, London - Limited edition of 1475 copies of which this is number 442.
‘Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, where the right of way was lost.’ - Hell.‘To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now hoists her sails, as she leaves behind her a sea so cruel.’ - Purgatory.
‘In the heaven which most of His light I have been, and have seen things which he who descends from there above neither knows how nor has power to recount.’ - Paradise.
A gorgeous large limited edition of this medieval epic, combining Botticelli’s 42 sepia drawings (34 on double sheet, 8 on single sheet)with Dante’s Divina Commedia in both Italian and English. Showing only a modicum of the usual spine fading to which this vellum is notoriously prone, and in the original matching leather trimmed and felt lined slipcase.
Reportedly based on Dante’s experiences during his banishment from Florence, this reinterpretation of Christian themes had a seminal influence on philosophy, literature, and art, inspiring Chaucer, John Milton, Salvadore Dali, and T.S. Eliot, among many others.
‘Dante and Botticelli represented the Florence of two very different generations. No Renaissance artist contemplated the verities of Christianity with a depper faith. Botticelli’s drawings are so much more than a commentary on, or a two-dimensional summation of, the Divina Commedia. They are breathtakingly beautiful. And in realising his project, Botticelli refined his own mysticisim and thus anticipated the intense lyricism of his final years’ - Francis Russell on the 2001 Botticelli exhibition at the Royal Academy (Country Life).
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Price HK$ 19,000
China, in a Series of Views -
Thomas Allom, Rev. George Newenham Wright, Karl Gutzlaff
1843 Circa - Fisher, London - First Edition
Finely bound set of this monumental work, in near fine condition and with less than the usually encountered foxing to which the plates of this work are prone.
Four volumes bound in two, profusely illustrated with 124 engraved plates, and four additional engraved titles ‘China Illustrated’. Containing striking views of China, from the opium dens to the grand palaces, the coastal fishing villages to the Great Wall, with depictions of torture, trades people, etc. expertly engraved from 119 drawings by Allom, twenty two of which are from sketches by other artists, and five from Chinese artists.
The work begins with Gutzlaff’s 72 page ‘Life of Kang-He. Emperor of China’, after which the illustrations are enhanced by the detailed narrative of George Newenham Wright.
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Price HK$ 20,000
1843 Circa - Fisher, London - First Edition
Finely bound set of this monumental work, in near fine condition and with less than the usually encountered foxing to which the plates of this work are prone.Four volumes bound in two, profusely illustrated with 124 engraved plates, and four additional engraved titles ‘China Illustrated’. Containing striking views of China, from the opium dens to the grand palaces, the coastal fishing villages to the Great Wall, with depictions of torture, trades people, etc. expertly engraved from 119 drawings by Allom, twenty two of which are from sketches by other artists, and five from Chinese artists.
The work begins with Gutzlaff’s 72 page ‘Life of Kang-He. Emperor of China’, after which the illustrations are enhanced by the detailed narrative of George Newenham Wright.
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Price HK$ 20,000
The Works: Comprising Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. The Text based on Collation of the Early Editions by R.W. Chapman. With Notes, Indexes and Illustrations from Contemporary Sources -
Jane Austen
1926 - At the Clarendon Press, Oxford - Second Edition Thus
'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'
This elegantly bound five volume Oxford edition, illustrated throughout, contains all of Austen's famous novels, as well as extensive introductions, appendixes and addenda, including 'Miss Austen's English', 'Modes of Address', 'Carriages and Travel', 'The Topography of Bath', a biographical note on the author, and 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 16,000
1926 - At the Clarendon Press, Oxford - Second Edition Thus
'I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.'This elegantly bound five volume Oxford edition, illustrated throughout, contains all of Austen's famous novels, as well as extensive introductions, appendixes and addenda, including 'Miss Austen's English', 'Modes of Address', 'Carriages and Travel', 'The Topography of Bath', a biographical note on the author, and 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'.
‘Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.’
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Price HK$ 16,000
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens -
J. M. Barrie, Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
1912 - Hodder & Stoughton, London - First Thus : Best edition with Rackham’s Illustrations interspersed amongst the text.
In Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens, Peter, not wanting to grow up, spent his time amongst the enchanted birds, trees, animals, and magical folk of the park, he also meets and falls in love with a little girl named Maimie Mannering. Peter and Maimie were developed by Barrie into the slightly older Peter Pan and Wendy, for the play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up.
Finely bound by Bayntun-Rivière, and with 50 delightful illustrations by Rackham who 'seems to have dropped out of some cloud in Mr. Barrie’s fairyland, sent by a special providence to make pictures in tune to his genius' - Pall Mall Gazette.
‘The still air is filled with the ringing of hundreds of little fairy bells,
but the sweetest sound of all,
is the fluting of Peter Pan’s pipes as he calls to the spring to make haste,
because with the spring comes Wendy.'
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Price HK$ 18,000
1912 - Hodder & Stoughton, London - First Thus : Best edition with Rackham’s Illustrations interspersed amongst the text.
In Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens, Peter, not wanting to grow up, spent his time amongst the enchanted birds, trees, animals, and magical folk of the park, he also meets and falls in love with a little girl named Maimie Mannering. Peter and Maimie were developed by Barrie into the slightly older Peter Pan and Wendy, for the play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. Finely bound by Bayntun-Rivière, and with 50 delightful illustrations by Rackham who 'seems to have dropped out of some cloud in Mr. Barrie’s fairyland, sent by a special providence to make pictures in tune to his genius' - Pall Mall Gazette.
‘The still air is filled with the ringing of hundreds of little fairy bells,
but the sweetest sound of all,
is the fluting of Peter Pan’s pipes as he calls to the spring to make haste,
because with the spring comes Wendy.'
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Price HK$ 18,000
Quality Street: A Comedy in Four Acts -
J. M. Barrie, Hugh Thomson (illustrator)
1901 - Hodder & Stoughton, London - Number 542 of 1000 limited copies. First Edition Illustrated by Hugh Thomson
Large limited edition of J. M. Barrie’s play, in magnificently gilt decorated vellum binding. Illustrated throughout with line drawings and twenty-two mounted colour plates by Hugh Thomson. Number 542 of a limited edition of 1,000 vellum bound copies signed by the illustrator Hugh Thomson. Housed in later bespoke felt lined slipcase.
The premiere of Quality Street in 1902, two years before Peter Pan, was a big enough hit to inspire a line of chocolates which where advertised using its characters... Quality Street has inspired a number of films, one with Katherine Hepburn, and is still enacted on stage today, using modern parlance it would be referred to as a ‘RomCom’.
‘Valentine Brown is trying to persuade Phoebe Throssel that age is no barrier to their romance. She might regret the decade that has passed since he abruptly left to fight in the Napoleonic wars, leaving their love unrequited, but he’s having none of it. “Instead of growing older you shall grow younger,” he says, promising to heal the wounds of time.’
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Price HK$ 3,000
1901 - Hodder & Stoughton, London - Number 542 of 1000 limited copies. First Edition Illustrated by Hugh Thomson
Large limited edition of J. M. Barrie’s play, in magnificently gilt decorated vellum binding. Illustrated throughout with line drawings and twenty-two mounted colour plates by Hugh Thomson. Number 542 of a limited edition of 1,000 vellum bound copies signed by the illustrator Hugh Thomson. Housed in later bespoke felt lined slipcase.The premiere of Quality Street in 1902, two years before Peter Pan, was a big enough hit to inspire a line of chocolates which where advertised using its characters... Quality Street has inspired a number of films, one with Katherine Hepburn, and is still enacted on stage today, using modern parlance it would be referred to as a ‘RomCom’.
‘Valentine Brown is trying to persuade Phoebe Throssel that age is no barrier to their romance. She might regret the decade that has passed since he abruptly left to fight in the Napoleonic wars, leaving their love unrequited, but he’s having none of it. “Instead of growing older you shall grow younger,” he says, promising to heal the wounds of time.’
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Price HK$ 3,000
The three ‘Kai Lung’ collections - The Wallet of Kai Lung - Kai Lung's Golden Hours - and - Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat -
Ernest Bramah
1923 - Doran, New York - First American Editions (Wallet is the second edition, but first in the Nadejen dust jacket).
‘There are few situations in life that cannot be honourably settled, and without loss of time, either by suicide, a bag of gold, or by thrusting a despised antagonist over the edge of a precipice upon a dark night.’
Three volumes presenting the first three collections of stories featuring the inimitable protagonist Kai Lung, in which he must pit his wits against his arch nemesis Ming-Shu, escape the clutches of greedy bandits, and attempt to beguile them with seemingly unrelated parables with the help of his love Hwa-Mei, eventually becoming known as ‘an itinerant teller of all tales set in a China that never was’.
All presented in their wonderful dust jackets illustrated by Theodore Nadejen. Kai Lung's Golden Hours, also contains an enthusiastic introduction by Hilaire Belloc.
A seminal influence in the genre of speculative fiction, Bramah’s works have been compared with those of Jerome K. Jerome, and PG Wodehouse. His work went on to inspire writers such as Dorothy L Sayers, Jorge Luis Borges, and George Orwell, among many others.
‘It is a mark of insincerity of purpose to spend one's time in looking for the sacred Emperor in the low-class tea-shops’.
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Price HK$ 2,200
1923 - Doran, New York - First American Editions (Wallet is the second edition, but first in the Nadejen dust jacket).
‘There are few situations in life that cannot be honourably settled, and without loss of time, either by suicide, a bag of gold, or by thrusting a despised antagonist over the edge of a precipice upon a dark night.’Three volumes presenting the first three collections of stories featuring the inimitable protagonist Kai Lung, in which he must pit his wits against his arch nemesis Ming-Shu, escape the clutches of greedy bandits, and attempt to beguile them with seemingly unrelated parables with the help of his love Hwa-Mei, eventually becoming known as ‘an itinerant teller of all tales set in a China that never was’.
All presented in their wonderful dust jackets illustrated by Theodore Nadejen. Kai Lung's Golden Hours, also contains an enthusiastic introduction by Hilaire Belloc.
A seminal influence in the genre of speculative fiction, Bramah’s works have been compared with those of Jerome K. Jerome, and PG Wodehouse. His work went on to inspire writers such as Dorothy L Sayers, Jorge Luis Borges, and George Orwell, among many others.
‘It is a mark of insincerity of purpose to spend one's time in looking for the sacred Emperor in the low-class tea-shops’.
More details
Price HK$ 2,200