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Voyage dans les Mers de l'Inde -
Guillaume Joseph Le Gentil de la Galaisiere
1779 - Imprimerie Royale, Paris - First Editions
‘Two monumental volumes... crammed with details on astronomy, navigation, and natural history... His descriptions of life in Manila, Pondicherry, and Madagascar are invaluable’ (Dunmore).
A stunning set In contemporary bindings and illustrated with twenty seven folding copper engravings showing two world maps, maps charts and plans of Eastern and Western Philippines, Bay of Manila, Philippine Harbours, Manilla, Madagascar and it’s coastline, Isle de France (Mauritius), Isle de Bourbon (Réunion), Quartier S. Denis on Réunion, Eastern and Western Straits of Malacca, and Pondicherry. Together with engraved plates of animals and plant life, the ruins of Pondicherry, pagodas, Indian deities, and charts of comets and constellations.
‘In addition to the scientific details for which the voyage was undertaken, the first volume treats of the manners, customs, and religion or the people of the Malabar Coast and of the astronomy of the Brahmins. The second volume contains elaborate accounts of the Philippine Islands, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Bourbon and their inhabitants, including views and charts of the Philippines. Le Gentil gives details of the Islands, their climate, volcanoes, fertility, fruits, birds, animals, peoples, language, history, and description of Manila, the government, ecclesiastical and civil, commerce, &c.’ (Edwards).
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Price HK$ 51,000
1779 - Imprimerie Royale, Paris - First Editions
‘Two monumental volumes... crammed with details on astronomy, navigation, and natural history... His descriptions of life in Manila, Pondicherry, and Madagascar are invaluable’ (Dunmore). A stunning set In contemporary bindings and illustrated with twenty seven folding copper engravings showing two world maps, maps charts and plans of Eastern and Western Philippines, Bay of Manila, Philippine Harbours, Manilla, Madagascar and it’s coastline, Isle de France (Mauritius), Isle de Bourbon (Réunion), Quartier S. Denis on Réunion, Eastern and Western Straits of Malacca, and Pondicherry. Together with engraved plates of animals and plant life, the ruins of Pondicherry, pagodas, Indian deities, and charts of comets and constellations.
‘In addition to the scientific details for which the voyage was undertaken, the first volume treats of the manners, customs, and religion or the people of the Malabar Coast and of the astronomy of the Brahmins. The second volume contains elaborate accounts of the Philippine Islands, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Bourbon and their inhabitants, including views and charts of the Philippines. Le Gentil gives details of the Islands, their climate, volcanoes, fertility, fruits, birds, animals, peoples, language, history, and description of Manila, the government, ecclesiastical and civil, commerce, &c.’ (Edwards).
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Price HK$ 51,000
Borneo and the Indian Archipelago. With Drawings of Costume and Scenery -
Frank S. Marryat
1848 - Longman, London - First Edition
A superbly illustrated work on Indonesia, and Rajah Brooke, with additional detail on Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
Illustrations include the marvellous illustrated title page, chromolithographed colour frontispiece, twenty tinted lithographic plates, and thirty-seven woodcuts. Many of Marryat’s expertly lithographed drawings represent the earliest ethnographical records of life in Borneo and the Indian Archipelago.
Frank Marryat served as a Midshipman on board the H.M.S. Samarang on a surveying expedition to the Indian Archipelago, 1843-1846, cut short in consequence, as Mr. Marryat infers, of the ill-conditioned behaviour and unpopularity of her captain, Sir Edward Belcher.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1848 - Longman, London - First Edition
A superbly illustrated work on Indonesia, and Rajah Brooke, with additional detail on Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. Illustrations include the marvellous illustrated title page, chromolithographed colour frontispiece, twenty tinted lithographic plates, and thirty-seven woodcuts. Many of Marryat’s expertly lithographed drawings represent the earliest ethnographical records of life in Borneo and the Indian Archipelago.
Frank Marryat served as a Midshipman on board the H.M.S. Samarang on a surveying expedition to the Indian Archipelago, 1843-1846, cut short in consequence, as Mr. Marryat infers, of the ill-conditioned behaviour and unpopularity of her captain, Sir Edward Belcher.
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Price HK$ 18,000
Antiquarian, Architectural, and Landscape Illustrations of the History of Java -
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
1844 - Henry G. Bohn, London - First Thus
Magnificent large quarto volume of illustrations with great provenance, formerly from the library of Admiral Sir James Gordon (1782-1869) who served as a Midshipman under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile, and went on to command ships during the later stages of the Napoleonic Wars. He eventually attained the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, and is considered to be one of the main inspirations for C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower, alongside Thomas Cochrane, George Cockburn and others.
This separate volume of topographical, archaeological, linguistic and anthropological plates was published in 1844 to accompany the 1830 second edition of Sir Stamford Raffles’ landmark work ‘The History of Java’, including twenty four additional plates not found in the first edition of 1817.
With 92 illustrated plates, including 10 fine hand-coloured aquatints and a very large folding map. No text. In the publisher’s original gilt and red cloth binding.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1844 - Henry G. Bohn, London - First Thus
Magnificent large quarto volume of illustrations with great provenance, formerly from the library of Admiral Sir James Gordon (1782-1869) who served as a Midshipman under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile, and went on to command ships during the later stages of the Napoleonic Wars. He eventually attained the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, and is considered to be one of the main inspirations for C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower, alongside Thomas Cochrane, George Cockburn and others.This separate volume of topographical, archaeological, linguistic and anthropological plates was published in 1844 to accompany the 1830 second edition of Sir Stamford Raffles’ landmark work ‘The History of Java’, including twenty four additional plates not found in the first edition of 1817.
With 92 illustrated plates, including 10 fine hand-coloured aquatints and a very large folding map. No text. In the publisher’s original gilt and red cloth binding.
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Price HK$ 18,000
Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula -
Walter William Skeat, Charles Otto Blagden
1906 - Macmillan &, London - First Edition
A large and comprehensive two volume ethnographic study on the manners, customs, religion, and language of the peoples of the Malay Peninsula.
Profusely illustrated. Skeats adds a bibliography of most of the early literature, consisting of mainly travelogues and reports by colonial administrators and a few scholarly journal articles.
‘Skeat went to much trouble to obtain a large and comprehensive collection of photographs for use as illustrations, which are an excellent record of aboriginal life in his time. He also wrote an Introduction entitled 'Environment', which is a first-rate description of the Malayan jungle and its flora and fauna as a habitat, and he also included a bibliography which, among other things, takes in the work of continental scholars of his day on Malayan aborigines.’ - [J.M. Gullick, The Skeat Collection, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford]
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Price HK$ 3,800
1906 - Macmillan &, London - First Edition
A large and comprehensive two volume ethnographic study on the manners, customs, religion, and language of the peoples of the Malay Peninsula.Profusely illustrated. Skeats adds a bibliography of most of the early literature, consisting of mainly travelogues and reports by colonial administrators and a few scholarly journal articles.
‘Skeat went to much trouble to obtain a large and comprehensive collection of photographs for use as illustrations, which are an excellent record of aboriginal life in his time. He also wrote an Introduction entitled 'Environment', which is a first-rate description of the Malayan jungle and its flora and fauna as a habitat, and he also included a bibliography which, among other things, takes in the work of continental scholars of his day on Malayan aborigines.’ - [J.M. Gullick, The Skeat Collection, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford]
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Price HK$ 3,800
An Authentic Account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China -
Sir George Staunton, Earl of Macartney, Sir Erasmus Gower
1797 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G, London - First Edition
A clean and exquisitely bound set of this cornerstone of China related travel literature, together with the magnificent Elephant Folio Atlas showing forty-four engraved maps and plates (mainly after Alexander), of which one is folding and six are double-page.
‘An account of the first British embassy to China, under Lord Macartney. Great Britain was anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations, but centuries of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency presented a formidable obstacle to the embassy, and the Chinese emperor effectually resisted Lord Macartney’s arguments and gifts. The visit of the British embassy nonetheless resulted in this remarkable account of Chinese manners and customs at the close of the eighteenth century’ - The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.
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Price HK$ 220,000
1797 - Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for G, London - First Edition
A clean and exquisitely bound set of this cornerstone of China related travel literature, together with the magnificent Elephant Folio Atlas showing forty-four engraved maps and plates (mainly after Alexander), of which one is folding and six are double-page.‘An account of the first British embassy to China, under Lord Macartney. Great Britain was anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations, but centuries of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency presented a formidable obstacle to the embassy, and the Chinese emperor effectually resisted Lord Macartney’s arguments and gifts. The visit of the British embassy nonetheless resulted in this remarkable account of Chinese manners and customs at the close of the eighteenth century’ - The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.
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Price HK$ 220,000
Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North Borneo -
John Whitehead
1893 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this stunningly illustrated and unsurpassed large folio containing 32 lithographed plates, comprising 11 natural history plates, hand-coloured and heightened with gum arabic, and 21 tinted lithographed views and ethnographic subjects, and with map and an additional 21 woodcut illustrations in the text.
A detailed narrative of John Whitehead's (1860-1899) travels from October 1884 to August 1888 in Borneo, Java, Palawan and Balabac Islands, especially of his three efforts (the last one successful) to ascend Mount Kina Balu. He brought back examples of many new animals, including no fewer than forty-five new species of birds. The author's primary interest was ornithology, but he also provides much information on head-hunting, religion and custom of the peoples of the region. Besides visiting North Borneo he spent several months in Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the state of Malacca.
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Price HK$ 40,000
1893 - Gurney and Jackson, London - First Edition
A beautiful copy of this stunningly illustrated and unsurpassed large folio containing 32 lithographed plates, comprising 11 natural history plates, hand-coloured and heightened with gum arabic, and 21 tinted lithographed views and ethnographic subjects, and with map and an additional 21 woodcut illustrations in the text.A detailed narrative of John Whitehead's (1860-1899) travels from October 1884 to August 1888 in Borneo, Java, Palawan and Balabac Islands, especially of his three efforts (the last one successful) to ascend Mount Kina Balu. He brought back examples of many new animals, including no fewer than forty-five new species of birds. The author's primary interest was ornithology, but he also provides much information on head-hunting, religion and custom of the peoples of the region. Besides visiting North Borneo he spent several months in Java and Palawan, and made an expedition into the state of Malacca.
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Price HK$ 40,000