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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 Second World War - Sir Winston Spencer Churchill

1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill.

A finely bound first edition set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II -
The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy. With numerous maps and plans, some folding.

Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.

Churchill's most famous work continuing on from his earlier history of the First World War, '
The World Crisis'. The two together form, in Churchill's opinion, a comprehensive history of a second Thirty Years War. 
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Price HK$ 22,000



The Second World War - Sir Winston Spencer Churchill

1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill.

A finely bound first edition set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II -
The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy. With numerous maps and plans, some folding.

Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.

Churchill's most famous work continuing on from his earlier history of the First World War, '
The World Crisis'. The two together form, in Churchill's opinion, a comprehensive history of a second Thirty Years War. 
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Price HK$ 19,000



The Second World War - Sir Winston Spencer Churchill

1948 to 1954 - Cassell and Co. Ltd., London - First Editions
‘I will leave judgements on this matter to history – but I will be one of the historians.’ - Winston Churchill.

A finely bound first edition set of Churchill’s complete six volume classic history on World War II -
The Gathering Storm, Their Finest Hour, The Grant Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, Closing the Ring and Triumph and Tragedy. With numerous maps and plans, some folding.

Not since Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars has there been a case of a great leader in war also being an able writer.

Churchill's most famous work continuing on from his earlier history of the First World War, '
The World Crisis'. The two together form, in Churchill's opinion, a comprehensive history of a second Thirty Years War. 
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Price HK$ 25,000



The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B. from His Lordship's Manuscripts - Rev. James Stanier Clarke, John McArthur

1809 - T. Cadell and W. Davies, London - First Edition
Two large and imperial contemporary bound volumes. The first edition of 'the fullest, and in many respects the best biography' of Nelson’ (DNB). Sumptuously produced by one of the best printers of the day.

Illustrated with four full page engraved plans of the ‘
Battle of the Nile’; ‘Copenhagen’; ‘Commencement of the Battle of Trafalgar’, ‘Close of the Battle of Trafalgar’, twelve full page engravings, four half page engravings, and one full page engraved elevation and plan of ‘Martello Tower Corsica’. Facsimiles and tables. 
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Price HK$ 30,000



The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook, with "The Death of Captain Cook" Plate - James Cook, John Hawkesworth, James King

1773 - Strahan, London - Second Edition, First Edition, Second Edition
A complete set of the best possible editions, superbly bound in full tree calf and with the additional ‘Death of Captain Cook’ drawn by the John Weber who witnessed the dispute and ensuing fight. Eight quarto volumes and the elephant folio volume of plates. Magnificently illustrated with two hundred and five engraved charts and plates, many of which are double page or larger.

There is no greater set of travel works, Cook was the first scientific navigator, these three voyages made great contributions to numerous fields of knowledge,, and did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than his predecessors had done together [Hill].

The first voyage is in its second and best edition, complete with the ‘
Directions for placing the cuts’ and the ‘Chart of the Straights of Magellan’, and with the new Preface containing Hawkesworth's virulent eight-page reply to Dalrymple's whining reviews of the first edition, and the whole volume revised by the voyage's astronomer William Wales.

The third voyage is in its second and best edition, with the printing by Hughs (rather than Strahan who printed the first edition) with the text itself entirely re-set. Isaac Smith presenting a set on behalf of Cook's widow in 1821 noted that '
I am desired by Mrs Cook to request your acceptance of the 4 books sent herewith being her Husbands last Voyage round the World, as a mark of her respect the letter press of the second edition being much superior to the first both in paper & letter press' (quoted by Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 85). King George III's copy of the official account, preserved in the British Library, is also an example of this second edition. This particular set with variant title pages, dated correctly, but without edition statement or vignette of Royal Society medal. 
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Price HK$ 430,000



Flying Colours. Including A Ship Of The Line - C. S. Forester

1938 - Michael Joseph Ltd. in conjunction with The Book Society Ltd., London - First Edition
One finely bound volume containing two classic Hornblower novels, in which Captain Horatio Hornblower commands his first ship of the line, HMS Sutherland. A Ship Of The Line and Flying Colours, are the second and third books in the Horatio Hornblower series. This is the first publication of Flying Colours which was released shortly afterwards as a stand alone title, making this the true first edition.

A Ship of the Line - May 1810, seventeen years deep into the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Horatio Hornblower is newly in command of his first ship of the line, the seventy-four-gun HMS Sutherland, which he deems ‘the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy List’. Moreover, she is 250 men short of a full crew, so Hornblower must enlist and train ‘poachers, bigamists, sheepstealers’, and other landlubbers. By the time the Sutherland reaches the blockaded Catalonian coast of Spain, the crew is capable of staging five astonishing solo raids against the French. But the grisly prospect of defeat and capture looms for both captain and crew as the Sutherland single-handedly takes on four French ships.

Flying Colours - Forced to surrender the Sutherland after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower now bides his time as a prisoner in a French fortress. Within days he and his first lieutenant, Bush, who was crippled in the last fight, are to be taken to Paris to be tried on trumped-up charges of violating the laws of war, and most probably executed as part of Napoleon's attempt to rally the war-weary empire behind him. Even if Hornblower escapes this fate and somehow finds his way back to England, he will face court-martial for his surrender of a British ship. As fears for his life and his reputation compete in his mind with worries about his pregnant wife and his possibly widowed lover, the indomitable captain impatiently awaits the chance to make his next move. 
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Price HK$ 5,000



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



 
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