Books

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good.
By our local, world renowned sensei, and martial art expert and exponant, Roald Knutsen, who was the sensei of our 30 year late colleague, senpei, Christopher Fox, who was both a nihonto and Iaido expert of 40 years, and a remarkable exponent of all his martial arts in his own right.

This book charts the evolution of Japanese pole-arms from the bronze spears of the Yayoi period right up to to the Meiji Restoration; deals with the history and development of each category of spear; besides the blades, the shafts & mounts are described in detail; outlines the schools of spear and sword fencing from the early 14th century; a very necessary addition to the library of anyone interested in arms and armour; fully illustrated. Japanese spear-weapons mainly comprise the naginata (similar to the European glaive) and types of yari (pike / halberd). Hoko are a hook weapon.

This is the first book in English to provide a fully illustrated guide to the use of polearms - ranging from the earliest halberds and spears reaching Japan from the Asian mainland to the sophisticated naginata, nagamaki and various forms of yari used by the Japanese samurai through the medieval period. While the sword remains the best known of Japanese weapons, it was the halberd (naginata) and then the yari that dominated the battlefields up to the early seventeenth century, and thereafter the yari became an important status symbol to many warrior families. Additionally, the authors focus on the actual method of use of these weapons, hitherto an almost unknown aspect in the West.  read more

Code: 25110

240.00 GBP

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From the Royal Artillery Regimental Library, then transferred to the Royal Artillery Mess in Shoeburyness

An absolute gem of reference work volume comparing two branches of the marines of both nations. Printed by Librairie De L. Hachette Et. Cie, in Paris, in French.

Former Regimental Library and Mess books of military reference and interest are very collectable indeed.

Tri-colour leather with gilt tooled lettering to the spine and gilt stamped compartments, marble and leather sides . A few scuffs to the leather spine, cloth boards lightly rubbed. Marbled endpapers, with a regimental bookplate of the Royal Artillery to the inside cover

7inches x 5 inches  read more

Code: 24426

125.00 GBP

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beautiful leather binding with gold tooling. bearing the ex libris label with family crest of its owner Cecil E Byas, reknown collector who died in 1938, and part of his collection was bequethed to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
Printed on handmade paper. The account by British Army major W E Frye of his travels around Europe in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo. As well as giving his opinions on the various European towns and cities he passes through, he vividly describes European culture in the early 19th Century, with detailed accounts of the Theatre, Opera and the Arts in France, Italy & Switzerland in particular. His experiences of post-Waterloo Europe left him with an generally positive view of Napoleon and the book gives an interesting insight into the contemporary opinions of the French leader and his effect on Continental Europe.  read more

Code: 23765

120.00 GBP

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Excellent condition for age overall.

Due to their intended use and frequent updates, original copies of these lists are rare surviving examples.

Acquired with the family’s Crimean War Land Transport sword (now sold) and their WW2 FS commando knife, 2nd Pattern {now sold} and WW2 combat helmet.

A List of Flag Officers and other Commissioned Officers of His Majesty's Fleet; with dates of their respective commissions.
Including, and bound within, book two, An Alphabetical List of the Post Captains, Commanders, and Lieutenants of His Majesty's Fleet with the dates of their respective commissions. The two books lists are within this single volume.


His Majesty's Fleet included a list of Flag Officers and commissioned officers, published by the Admiralty in London January 1818. This list, titled "A List of the Flag-Officers of His Majesty's Fleet...", was likely organized by rank and seniority, with dates of commission, and also included an alphabetically organized list by rank for easier reference. The list would have included several elderly officers who served in the 7 Years War, American Revolutionary War, and later in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,and War of 1812 published by the Admiralty Ist January 1818

Beautifully bound in red Morocco leather with gilt tooling embellishment throughout, naturally aged and most beautiful. Also it is an essential piece of original history, perfect for officer research of all currently still serving after the Napoleonic Wars

It served as an official record and was likely used for administrative purposes within the Admiralty.
Historical Significance:
The document is valuable for understanding the structure and personnel of the Royal Navy during specific periods, including those who served during major conflicts like the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars.
Rarity:
Due to their intended use and frequent updates, original copies of these lists are rare surviving examples.  read more

Code: 25880

495.00 GBP

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Alongside A Christmas Carol, the Old Curiosity Shop ranks as a true iconic tale of Victorian England, and ideal for the Christmas season.

Could one imagine anything better than settling down to read, or better still, to be read to, over a few cosy candle lit nights, a succession of Dicken’s short stories. These are the very first, original volumes, that were read at the very same time, in the very same same way, but some two centuries ago in Victorian England, and likely, dozens of times subsequently since by their various, most fortunate owners.

First edition of this collection of short stories. Large octavo, 3 volumes bound in red half morocco over marbled boards with gilt tooling to the spine in five compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, engraved frontispiece to each volume, illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne. In very good condition.

Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly serial that contained both short stories and two novels (The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge). Some of the short stories act as frame stories to the novels so the ordering of publication is important. Although Dickens' original artistic intent was to keep the short stories and the novels together, he himself cancelled Master Humphrey's Clock before 1848, and described in a preface to The Old Curiosity Shop that he wished the story to not be tied down to the miscellany it began within. Most later anthologies published the short stories and the novels separately. However, the short stories and the novels were published in 1840 in three bound volumes under the title Master Humphrey's Clock, which retains the full and correct ordering of texts as they originally appeared.

First edition in book form of what Gordon Ray describes as "the pinnacle of Dickensian Gothic". He goes on to note that Phiz (H. K. Browne) "is in excellent form" and that George Cattermole's "wonderful clutter of antiquarian or architectural detail is well suited to Dickens's chosen subjects".

Master Humphrey was a publishing experiment on Dickens's part, unique in his canon, of issuing two novels together: The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.

3 volumes, large octavo (256 x 173 mm). Contemporary red half morocco, marbled sides ruled in gilt, spines lettered, ruled, and tooled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, green silk bookmarkers.

Printed frontispieces and 194 woodcut illustrations, of which 154 are by Browne, 19 by Cattermole, and 1 by Daniel Maclise.

Covers rubbed, slight rubbing and wear to extremities, vol. I front joint split at foot but remains firm, light foxing to margins, small marks to a few pages, generally bright. A superb set.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eckel, p. 67 ff; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, 60; Smith I, 6.  read more

Code: 24092

1795.00 GBP

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Every year around this time we try our best to find a super original early post war edition of probably the very finest book of ingenious yet disturbing ghost stories ever written.
This year we have managed once more.

Montague Rhodes James, who used the publication name M.R. James, was a noted British mediaeval scholar & provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–18) & of Eton College (1918–36). He's best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal Gothic trappings of his predecessors, replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.
the stories contained are;
"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book"
"Lost Hearts"
"The Mezzotint"
"The Ash Tree"
"Number 13"
"Count Magnus"
"'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'"
"The Treasure of Abbot Thomas"
"A School Story"
"The Rose Garden"
"The Tractate Middoth"
"Casting the Runes"
"The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral"
"Martin's Close"
"Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance"
"The Residence at Whitminster"
"The Diary of Mr Poynter"
"An Episode of Cathedral History"
"The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance"
"Two Doctors"
"The Haunted Dolls' House"
"The Uncommon Prayer-Book"
"A Neighbour's Landmark"
"A View from a Hill"
"A Warning to the Curious"
"An Evening's Entertainment"
"Wailing Well"
"There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard"
"Rats"
"After Dark in the Playing Fields"
plus " Stories i have tried to write"

According to James, the story must "put the reader into the position of saying to himself, 'If I'm not very careful, something of this kind may happen to me!'" He also perfected the technique of narrating supernatural events through implication and suggestion, letting his reader fill in the blanks, and focusing on the mundane details of his settings and characters in order to throw the horrific and bizarre elements into greater relief. He summed up his approach in his foreword to the anthology Ghosts and Marvels: "Two ingredients most valuable in the concocting of a ghost story are, to me, the atmosphere and the nicely managed crescendo. ... Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage."

He also noted: "Another requisite, in my opinion, is that the ghost should be malevolent or odious: amiable and helpful apparitions are all very well in fairy tales or in local legends, but I have no use for them in a fictitious ghost story."

Despite his suggestion (in the essay "Stories I Have Tried to Write") that writers employ reticence in their work, many of James's tales depict scenes and images of savage and often disturbing violence. For example, in "Lost Hearts", pubescent children are taken in by a sinister dabbler in the occult who cuts their hearts from their still-living bodies. In a 1929 essay, James stated:

Reticence may be an elderly doctrine to preach, yet from the artistic point of view, I am sure it is a sound one. Reticence conduces to effect, blatancy ruins it, and there is much blatancy in a lot of recent stories. They drag in sex too, which is a fatal mistake; sex is tiresome enough in the novels; in a ghost story, or as the backbone of a ghost story, I have no patience with it. At the same time don't let us be mild and drab. Malevolence and terror, the glare of evil faces, 'the stony grin of unearthly malice', pursuing forms in darkness, and 'long-drawn, distant screams', are all in place, and so is a modicum of blood, shed with deliberation and carefully husbanded; the weltering and wallowing that I too often encounter merely recall the methods of M G Lewis.
The condition overall is good with commensurate wear for age, with its original paper slip cover, although the original slip cover does have a tear and a small section over the spine lacking. It bears the original 1949 owners name on the inner blank page.  read more

Code: 23812

495.00 GBP

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If you wanted a stunning set to enjoy or as an heirloom for future generations you would likely never see a better set of this type. Very good condition indeed, 17 beautiful volumes octavo, finest calf leather with marbled boards, five raised bands across each spine, with titles, in gilt on red leather with green leather title labels, and gilt decoratio. Marbled edges, with marbled end papers original illustrations, all contents clean and bright and bindings firm.
Charles Dickens
TWENTY-FOUR Works in Seventeen Volumes
COMPLETE
Sketches by Boz.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

The Adventures of Oliver Twist & A Tale of Two Cities.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

The Old Curiosity Shop.

Barnaby Rudge.

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.

Christmas Books & Hard Times. Including A Christmas Carol

Dombey and Son.

The Personal History of David Copperfield.

Bleak House.

Little Dorrit.

Great Expectations & The Uncommercial Traveller.

Our Mutual Friend.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood & Reprinted Pieces.

American Notes for General Circulation & Pictures from Italy & A Child's History of England.

Christmas Stories & Master Humphrey's Clock.  read more

Code: 25195

1250.00 GBP

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Sapper Cyril McNeile – Bull-Dog Drummond – First UK Edition 1920

A first edition, first printing published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1920. Rare first Bull-Dog Drummond novel.
Bull-dog Drummond (later Bulldog Drummond) was the first Bulldog Drummond novel, written by H. C. McNeile under the pen name Sapper. Following serialisation in Hutchinson's Story Magazine from September 1919 to July 1920 under the title "Bull-Dog Drummond, D.S.O., M.C.", the book was published in 1920. The book included a Prologue that was absent from the serialisation. In 1921 it was adapted into a play of the same title starring Gerald du Maurier. In 1929, the book was adapted into a film of the same name starring Ronald Coleman.

Plot
The novel begins with ex-British Army Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, DSO, MC, a wealthy former World War I officer of the Loamshire Regiment, dashing and strong, but not handsome, placing an advertisement in The Times stating his desire for an adventure. He receives a reply from a young woman, concerned about some business acquaintances of her father. It turns out that her father is being blackmailed by archvillain Carl Peterson who is attempting to organise a coup d'état to enable a pro-communist takeover of Britain. This is being done for financial gain as Peterson is being paid by wealthy foreigners who will profit from this.

Drummond is captured several times, and manages to escape several times, before eventually defeating Peterson and his henchmen, with the aid of ex-army friends.

Sapper was the pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile, whose father was Malcolm McNeile, a Captain in the Royal Navy and, at who was at the time, governor of the naval prison at Bodmin, the town where Herman was born.

McNeile was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He went to France in 1914 when World War I broke out and he saw action at both the First and the Second Battle of Ypres where he displayed considerable bravery, was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in dispatches.

His first known published work was a series of short war stories based on his own experiences, and published under the name 'Sapper' in the Daily Mail and in the magazine 'The War Illustrated'.

These stories were immediately successful and later sold over 200,000 copies within a year when subsequently republished in book-form. His realistic writing proved most popular at a time of great stress and Lord Northcliff, the owner of the Daily Mail who recognised his talent, was so impressed by that he attempted, but failed, to have McNeile released from the army so he could work as a war correspondent.

After the War was over, in 1919, McNeile resigned from the army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and became a full-time author, publishing his first novel, Mufti, in that year.

In 1922, he moved to Sussex and lived there for the rest of his life, having married Peggy Baird-Douglas with whom he had two sons.

He began the series for which he now best remembered, that of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond in 1920 and thereafter he wrote 10 novels featuring his eponymous hero. The public took to Drummond and McNeile had great financial success.

The first book was adapted for the stage and produced, to great success, at Wyndham's Theatre during the 1921-1922 season with Gerald du Maurier playing the main character. Films followed and the first talkie BullDog Drummond film in 1922 was reputed to have earned McNeile the vast sum of $750,000. There were 26 films made of his books.

As well as Drummond, he wrote about Ronald Standish but the majority of his work was short stories that were published in various popular monthly magazines and continued to earn him good money. Indeed, in addition to his novels, many of his books were short story collections.

He was reputedly an unremittingly hearty man, who even his good friend and collaborator Gerard Fairlie, who continued the Drummond series after McNeile's death with seven further books, described as "not everybody's cup of tea". He died on August 14, 1937 at his home in Pulborough, West Sussex.

His funeral, with full military honours, took place at Woking crematorium.

Sangorski & Sutcliffe is a firm of bookbinders established in London in 1901. It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers.

Sangorski & Sutcliffe was established by Francis Sangorski (1875–1912) and George Sutcliffe (1878–1943). They had met in 1896 at a bookbinding evening class taught by Douglas Cockerell at the London County Council's Central School of Arts and Crafts.

In 1898, Sangorski and Sutcliffe each won one of the ten annual craft scholarship awards, giving them £20 a year for three years to continue their training as apprentice bookbinders. They were employed at Cockerell's own bindery, and began to teach bookbinding at Camberwell College of Art. They were laid off in 1901 after a coal strike caused an economic slump, and they decided to set up on their own in a rented attic in Bloomsbury, starting on 1 October 1901. They soon moved to Vernon Place, and then, in 1905, to Southampton Row.

Sangorski's elder brother, Alberto Sangorski (1862–1932),1 worked for the firm. He became an accomplished calligrapher and illuminator, working for Rivière from 1910.

They quickly revived the art of jewelled bookbindings, decorating their sumptuous multi-colour leather book bindings with gold inlay and precious and semi-precious jewels. They were commissioned to create a most luxurious binding of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the front cover of which was adorned with three golden peacocks with jewelled tails and surrounded by heavily tooled and gilded vines, that was sent on the ill-fated RMS Titanic in 1912. The book, known as the Great Omar, sank with the ship and has not been recovered. Shortly afterwards, Sangorski drowned.

Sutcliffe continued the firm, which became recognised as one of the leading bookbinders in London. The bindery moved to Poland Street, and managed to survive through the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and post-war austerity. It also created miniature books for Queen Mary's Dolls' House

THE LANES ARMOURY, THE PREMIER HOME OF ORIGINAL AND AFFORDABLE ANCIENT ANTIQUITIES , MILITARY ARMOURY ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES IN BRITAIN  read more

Code: 25633

545.00 GBP

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