By-laws of the Zetland Lodge, No. 525, Hongkong -
1870 - Printed at the China Magazine Office, Hong Kong - Only Printing
Rare and near fine example.
Beginning with a list of the ‘Officers for the year, 1870’ which provides an interesting cross-section of Hong Kong figures:-
1. Francis Douglas (1833–1874) - Superintendent of Victoria Gaol (now part of Tai Kwun).
2. H. O'Hara who was the lead agent for the Tudor Company, ice traders, located on Ice House Street
3. Count Hans Kiaer, a Danish merchant, broker, and Swedish-Norwegian Consul. He is buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley.
4. John G. Hodgson, assistant accountant at HSBC.
5. Daniel Edmund Caldwell, established his own law firm, Caldwell & Co., which later became Caldwell & Wilkinson, and then Wilkinson & Grist, which remains one of Hong Kong's oldest law firms today.
6. Edmund Richard Holmes, Manager of the Hongkong Hotel, the city's first luxury hotel, located at the intersection of Pedder Street and Queen's Road Central.
7. John Fairbairn, who worked for Lane, Crawford & Co.
8. Charles Frederick Augustus Sangster, a prominent colonial civil servant, legal official, and Hong Kong’s first professional pipe organist, and organist and choirmaster at St. John's Cathedral, playing the colony's first major pipe organ. He also served as a Clerk of the Supreme Court and a Deputy Sheriff of the colony.
9. James Henry MacLehose, a prominent merchant, later opening the wine merchants MacEwen, Frickel & Co.
10. F. A. Quin, was Assistant Superintendent of Police when this was printed.
11. Robert Reed, was a cargo-boat inspector under the Harbour Master’s Office.
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Price HK$ 6,500
1870 - Printed at the China Magazine Office, Hong Kong - Only Printing
Rare and near fine example.Beginning with a list of the ‘Officers for the year, 1870’ which provides an interesting cross-section of Hong Kong figures:-
1. Francis Douglas (1833–1874) - Superintendent of Victoria Gaol (now part of Tai Kwun).
2. H. O'Hara who was the lead agent for the Tudor Company, ice traders, located on Ice House Street
3. Count Hans Kiaer, a Danish merchant, broker, and Swedish-Norwegian Consul. He is buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley.
4. John G. Hodgson, assistant accountant at HSBC.
5. Daniel Edmund Caldwell, established his own law firm, Caldwell & Co., which later became Caldwell & Wilkinson, and then Wilkinson & Grist, which remains one of Hong Kong's oldest law firms today.
6. Edmund Richard Holmes, Manager of the Hongkong Hotel, the city's first luxury hotel, located at the intersection of Pedder Street and Queen's Road Central.
7. John Fairbairn, who worked for Lane, Crawford & Co.
8. Charles Frederick Augustus Sangster, a prominent colonial civil servant, legal official, and Hong Kong’s first professional pipe organist, and organist and choirmaster at St. John's Cathedral, playing the colony's first major pipe organ. He also served as a Clerk of the Supreme Court and a Deputy Sheriff of the colony.
9. James Henry MacLehose, a prominent merchant, later opening the wine merchants MacEwen, Frickel & Co.
10. F. A. Quin, was Assistant Superintendent of Police when this was printed.
11. Robert Reed, was a cargo-boat inspector under the Harbour Master’s Office.
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Price HK$ 6,500
By-laws of the Zetland Lodge, No. 525, of Free and Accepted Masons, holding warrant under the United Grand Lodge of England. Revised and passed 1st November, A.L. 5866, A.D. 1866 -
1866 - Printed by A. Shortrede & Co., Hong Kong - Only Printing
A very fine example of this rare printing of the By-laws of Zetland Lodge.
Separated into three parts, being:-
1. ‘By-laws of the Zetland Lodge, No. 525. - Approved, H. Murray, District Grand Master.’
2. ‘The Rise and Purposes of Speculative Masonry, being an Address delivered to the Brethren of the Zetland Lodge, No. 525, Hongkong on the 14th September, A.L. 5866, A.D. 1866 by R. W. Brother Henry Murray, District Grand Master of British Freemasonry, and Grand Superintendent of English Royal Arch Masons, in China.’
3. ‘The Charges of a Free-Mason: Extracted from the Antient Records of Lodges Beyond the Sea, and those of England, Scotland and Ireland, for the use of Lodges, to be read at the Making of New Brethren, or when the Master shall order it.’
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Price HK$ 8,000
1866 - Printed by A. Shortrede & Co., Hong Kong - Only Printing
A very fine example of this rare printing of the By-laws of Zetland Lodge. Separated into three parts, being:-
1. ‘By-laws of the Zetland Lodge, No. 525. - Approved, H. Murray, District Grand Master.’
2. ‘The Rise and Purposes of Speculative Masonry, being an Address delivered to the Brethren of the Zetland Lodge, No. 525, Hongkong on the 14th September, A.L. 5866, A.D. 1866 by R. W. Brother Henry Murray, District Grand Master of British Freemasonry, and Grand Superintendent of English Royal Arch Masons, in China.’
3. ‘The Charges of a Free-Mason: Extracted from the Antient Records of Lodges Beyond the Sea, and those of England, Scotland and Ireland, for the use of Lodges, to be read at the Making of New Brethren, or when the Master shall order it.’
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Price HK$ 8,000
The Morals of Confucius -
Confucius
Circa 1760-80 - Printed for Randal Taylor, London - First Thus
A rare later 18th century reprint of this work and the first to include the folding frontispiece engraving of Confucius (often missing). First published in 1691 and scarce in any early edition, more so this edition with the engraving. In contemporary binding, and with decorations to title page, six headpieces, and three tailpieces.
Beginning with a ‘Preface’ introducing this translation and its sources, followed by ‘Part First’ titled ‘Of the Antiquity and Philosophy of the Chinese’, then ‘Part II’ which offers selected translations from the three books, and ends with 80 ‘Maxims’.
‘The great Chinese teacher Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) articulated a philosophy based on the concepts of ren (‘benevolence’ or ‘compassion’) and li (‘ritual’ or ‘propriety’). He hoped to create the ideal, superior man (junzi) and thereby facilitate a just society.
Confucius’s teachings were highly influential across China and large areas of east Asia for almost two millennia before this 1691 work offered English readers their first introduction to his philosophical approach. It provides an account of Confucius’s life and times, as well as 80 of his maxims.
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Price HK$ 16,000
Circa 1760-80 - Printed for Randal Taylor, London - First Thus
A rare later 18th century reprint of this work and the first to include the folding frontispiece engraving of Confucius (often missing). First published in 1691 and scarce in any early edition, more so this edition with the engraving. In contemporary binding, and with decorations to title page, six headpieces, and three tailpieces.Beginning with a ‘Preface’ introducing this translation and its sources, followed by ‘Part First’ titled ‘Of the Antiquity and Philosophy of the Chinese’, then ‘Part II’ which offers selected translations from the three books, and ends with 80 ‘Maxims’.
‘The great Chinese teacher Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) articulated a philosophy based on the concepts of ren (‘benevolence’ or ‘compassion’) and li (‘ritual’ or ‘propriety’). He hoped to create the ideal, superior man (junzi) and thereby facilitate a just society.
Confucius’s teachings were highly influential across China and large areas of east Asia for almost two millennia before this 1691 work offered English readers their first introduction to his philosophical approach. It provides an account of Confucius’s life and times, as well as 80 of his maxims.
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Price HK$ 16,000
Abrégé Historique des Principaux Traits de la Vie de Confucius, Célèbre Philosophe Chinois -
Isidore Stanislas Henri Helman (engraver), Pierre-Charles Levesque (translator), Jean-Denis Attiret (illustrator)
1786 - chez l'Auteur and M. Ponce, Paris - First Edition
A clean and unique example of this quarto, containing twenty four engraved illustrated plates, an engraved title page and twenty eight engraved plates of descriptive text in French taken from a larger work on Confucius (Pensées morales de Confucius 1782) by Pierre-Charles Levesque (who is referred to by Helman as Mr.l’Eveque).
Unique because it has exquisitely hand-written translations on contemporary sheets inserted after each illustrated plate. Most likely written by the former owner Jean Jeane Coney (born 1798).
‘Engraved by Helman [1743-1806] and drawn by Jean-Denis Attiret [1702-68], official painter to the workshop at Peking, copied from a set of Chinese miniatures which were sent by the Jesuit missionary Jean-Joseph-Pierre Amiot [1718-93] in Peking to Berlin, who was Louis XIV’s Minister of Art and the one in charge of France’s relations with China. The engravings illustrate the life and deeds of Confucius.’
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Price HK$ 25,000
1786 - chez l'Auteur and M. Ponce, Paris - First Edition
A clean and unique example of this quarto, containing twenty four engraved illustrated plates, an engraved title page and twenty eight engraved plates of descriptive text in French taken from a larger work on Confucius (Pensées morales de Confucius 1782) by Pierre-Charles Levesque (who is referred to by Helman as Mr.l’Eveque).Unique because it has exquisitely hand-written translations on contemporary sheets inserted after each illustrated plate. Most likely written by the former owner Jean Jeane Coney (born 1798).
‘Engraved by Helman [1743-1806] and drawn by Jean-Denis Attiret [1702-68], official painter to the workshop at Peking, copied from a set of Chinese miniatures which were sent by the Jesuit missionary Jean-Joseph-Pierre Amiot [1718-93] in Peking to Berlin, who was Louis XIV’s Minister of Art and the one in charge of France’s relations with China. The engravings illustrate the life and deeds of Confucius.’
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Price HK$ 25,000
Works -
Thomas Jefferson
1853-55 - John C. Riker, New York
‘I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man’
A superbly bound nine volume set of the first collected edition of the works of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, who voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades.
With folding facsimiles and tables. Published by the Order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original Manuscripts deposited in the department of state. With explanatory notes, tables of contents, and a copious index to the whole, by the editor H. A. Washington.
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Price HK$ 30,000
1853-55 - John C. Riker, New York
‘I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man’A superbly bound nine volume set of the first collected edition of the works of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, who voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades.
With folding facsimiles and tables. Published by the Order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original Manuscripts deposited in the department of state. With explanatory notes, tables of contents, and a copious index to the whole, by the editor H. A. Washington.
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Price HK$ 30,000
An Essay on the Principle of Population -
Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus
1826 - John Murray, London - Sixth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic text proposing a limit to global human population, an important and influential work on economics. ‘There can be no doubt that [Keynes’] importance for economists today rests mainly on Principles of Political Economy. It was because of the latter work that J. M. Keynes reinstated Malthus as a major figure in modern economic thought’ - (New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics).
In his Theory of Economic Analysis, Schumpeter, reviewing ‘Principles of Political Economy’, and Malthus’ presentation of the theory of demand and supply, comes to the conclusion that Malthus should ‘stand in the history of analysis not only as the author of a valid alternative to Ricardo's theory but as the sponsor (or rather as one of the sponsors) of the victorious one.’
‘If only Malthus, instead of Ricardo, had been the parent stem from which nineteenth-century economics proceeded, what a much wiser and richer place the world would be today’ - J. M. Keynes.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1826 - John Murray, London - Sixth Edition
A finely bound early edition of this classic text proposing a limit to global human population, an important and influential work on economics. ‘There can be no doubt that [Keynes’] importance for economists today rests mainly on Principles of Political Economy. It was because of the latter work that J. M. Keynes reinstated Malthus as a major figure in modern economic thought’ - (New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics). In his Theory of Economic Analysis, Schumpeter, reviewing ‘Principles of Political Economy’, and Malthus’ presentation of the theory of demand and supply, comes to the conclusion that Malthus should ‘stand in the history of analysis not only as the author of a valid alternative to Ricardo's theory but as the sponsor (or rather as one of the sponsors) of the victorious one.’
‘If only Malthus, instead of Ricardo, had been the parent stem from which nineteenth-century economics proceeded, what a much wiser and richer place the world would be today’ - J. M. Keynes.
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Price HK$ 8,000
Life and Writings of Thomas Paine -
Thomas Paine, Daniel Edwin Wheeler (editor)
1908 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Independence Edition of the Centenary Issue
‘These are the times that try men's souls’
Elegantly bound ten volume set of the de luxe independence edition, number 166 of just 500 hand-numbered sets signed by the editor Daniel Edwin Wheeler, published to celebrate the centenary of Paine's death.
Included are Paine’s ‘Common Sense’, ‘The American Crises’, ‘The Rights of Man’, and ‘The Age of Reason’, as well as essays, letters and speeches. Each volume with three photogravure or facsimile plates, as well as a frontispiece, title-pages printed in two colours, autographed limitation leaf to volume one.
‘On January 10, 1776, an obscure immigrant published a small pamphlet that ignited independence in America and shifted the political landscape of the patriot movement from reform within the British imperial system to independence from it. One hundred twenty thousand copies sold in the first three months in a nation of three million people, making Common Sense the best-selling printed work by a single author in American history up to that time. Never before had a personally written work appealed to all classes of colonists. Never before had a pamphlet been written in an inspiring style so accessible to the “common” folk of America.’ - Jack Miller Center.
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Price HK$ 35,000
1908 - Vincent Parke and Company, New York - Independence Edition of the Centenary Issue
‘These are the times that try men's souls’Elegantly bound ten volume set of the de luxe independence edition, number 166 of just 500 hand-numbered sets signed by the editor Daniel Edwin Wheeler, published to celebrate the centenary of Paine's death.
Included are Paine’s ‘Common Sense’, ‘The American Crises’, ‘The Rights of Man’, and ‘The Age of Reason’, as well as essays, letters and speeches. Each volume with three photogravure or facsimile plates, as well as a frontispiece, title-pages printed in two colours, autographed limitation leaf to volume one.
‘On January 10, 1776, an obscure immigrant published a small pamphlet that ignited independence in America and shifted the political landscape of the patriot movement from reform within the British imperial system to independence from it. One hundred twenty thousand copies sold in the first three months in a nation of three million people, making Common Sense the best-selling printed work by a single author in American history up to that time. Never before had a personally written work appealed to all classes of colonists. Never before had a pamphlet been written in an inspiring style so accessible to the “common” folk of America.’ - Jack Miller Center.
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Price HK$ 35,000
The Stones of Venice - The Foundations, The Sea-Stories; The Fall. With Illustrations drawn by the Author -
John Ruskin
1873-1874 - Smith, London - Signed Limited Edition
Illustrated with 53 mixed technique plates (including lithograph, mezzotint, aquatint and engraved, some tinted or hand-coloured), together with wood engraved illustrations and diagrams throughout the text.
‘Among the many strange things that have befallen Venice, she had the good fortune to become the object of passion to a man of splendid genius’ - Henry James on John Ruskin.
The book aroused considerable interest in Victorian Britain and beyond. The chapter "The Nature of Gothic" (from volume 2) was admired by William Morris, who published it separately in an edition which is in itself an example of Gothic revival. It inspired Marcel Proust; the narrator of the Recherche visits Venice with his mother in a state of enthusiasm for Ruskin
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Price HK$ 30,000
1873-1874 - Smith, London - Signed Limited Edition
Illustrated with 53 mixed technique plates (including lithograph, mezzotint, aquatint and engraved, some tinted or hand-coloured), together with wood engraved illustrations and diagrams throughout the text.‘Among the many strange things that have befallen Venice, she had the good fortune to become the object of passion to a man of splendid genius’ - Henry James on John Ruskin.
The book aroused considerable interest in Victorian Britain and beyond. The chapter "The Nature of Gothic" (from volume 2) was admired by William Morris, who published it separately in an edition which is in itself an example of Gothic revival. It inspired Marcel Proust; the narrator of the Recherche visits Venice with his mother in a state of enthusiasm for Ruskin
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Price HK$ 30,000