Highlights
Each year our exhibitors bring extraordinarily rare, beautiful and unusual items for sale.
Here is a selection of the items offered in 2025 by our exhibitors. These may still be available for purchase. If interested, contact the respective exhibitor directlyCloser to the 2026 Fair, new highlights of what will be on offer in 2026 will be posted. Bookmark this page and visit again to see the 2026 highlights.
Grecian and Chinese Architecture Hardy Wilson
$900
Grecian & Chinese Architecture
By Hardy Wilson. 1937
No.93 of 100 copies.
50 tipped-in plates
![齊白石畫集. [Collection of 22 Watercolours].](https://rarebookfair.com/assets/catalogues/books@asiabookroom.com/china_highres-4.jpg)
齊白石畫集. [Collection of 22 Watercolours].
$1950
Biography of Qi Baishi (in Chinese) + 22 colour woodblock prints with manuscript titles and red artist's chop, 31.5 x 22.5 cms, traditional Chinese leporello/concertina binding, floral silk brocade boards with silk ties. A fine compilation of woodblock prints: flowers and animals, by the renowned artist Qi Baishi (1864-1957).
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An Austen family copy of the first edition in beautiful Regency binding. AUSTEN (Jane). Emma.
$100000
First edition. Three volumes. 12mo. Contemporary tree calf, single-rule gilt border, flat spines elaborately panelled in gilt. London, John Murray. 1816.
From the library of Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen (1829-1893), Jane Austen’s grand-nephew. It is uncommon to find Jane Austen titles in contemporary bindings and even more so with such intimate provenance.
“NOUVELLE-HOLLANDE; PORT-JACKSON: FAMILLE DE SAUVAGES EN VOfYAGE”; SEBASTIAN LEROY, 1824.
$950
“NOUVELLE-HOLLANDE; PORT-JACKSON: FAMILLE DE SAUVAGES EN VOYAGE.”
1824
SEBASTIAN LEROY [drawn by]
BOISSEAU & FORGET [engraved by]
Stipple engraving printed in colour, [finished by hand-watercolour]
DESCRIPTION:
Early and interesting depiction of indigenous Australians in Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, N.S.W.
An Aboriginal family in the foreground, walking past a camp in the background where another indigenous family is cooking an animal on an open fire.
NOTE:
Without number 102; From first edition of: “Voyage autour du Monde” by Louis Freycinet.
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CURIE, Marie. “Radio-Active Substances.”
$31400
First edition in English of Curie’s famous dissertation, rare in such excellent condition in the original parts. Serialized across 15 issues of The Chemical News, it was applauded by the examination committee for being the greatest scientific contribution ever made in a doctoral thesis. Later the same year, Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.
The avi-fauna of Australia : comprising Gould’s Birds of Australia and all other birds discovered in the Australian colonies since 1850
$35000
[Sydney?] : [G.J. Broinowski?], 1897. One of the rarest publications on Australian ornithology, one of only two known copies, the only one in private hands.
In addition to its obvious desirability as an Australian colour plate book of almost unprocurable rarity, The avi-fauna of Australia is also meaningful insight into the debt Broinowski felt to Gould, and the respect he afforded the scientific community who contributed to our collective understanding of Australian ornithology.
Provenance:
Quentin Keynes (1921 – 2003), explorer, filmmaker, and great-grandson of Charles Darwin.
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![中華書局印刷樣本. [Chung Hwa Book Company Printing Samples Book].](https://rarebookfair.com/assets/catalogues/books@asiabookroom.com/china_highres-5.jpg)
中華書局印刷樣本. [Chung Hwa Book Company Printing Samples Book].
$1500
Delightful sample catalogue from Chung Hwa Book Co. in Shanghai with 38 unpaginated leaves including introduction, awards, and samples demonstrating the types of printing and printed illustrations carried out by this printing company. Chinese card binding with silk ties, 21 x 28.4cm. Presented in blue cloth-covered case with toggles, 29.8 x 21.4cm. The first 2 leaves include the company's logo and a foreword introducing the company and its expansion in just a few short years, up until Minguo 5. Following this there are 7 pages of photographic illustrations of awards received by the company.
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Dickens (Charles) A TALE OF TWO CITIES.
$7500
With illustrations by H. K. Browne. Chapman & Hall, London, 1859. First edition in book form. Smith, Part I, 13, with all the internal flaws called for, but without the advertisement catalogue found 'in some copies'. *A Tale of Two Cities originally appeared in the weekly journal All the Year Round, from April 30 to November 26, 1859. It was also published in eight monthly parts (the last part being a double number), from June to December 1859. This was the final work illustrated by Browne for Dickens.
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Boyle (Roger, Earl of Orrey) A TREATISE OF THE ART OF WAR.
$4500
Printed by T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringham, London, 1677. First edition. Wing O499; ESTC R200. *The frontispiece portrait of a warlike Charles II astride a horse, with troops in military formation and a battle fleet in the background, was engraved by Abraham de Blois. Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery (1621-1679), was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician who held senior positions under the Commonwealth and later under Charles II. This work includes chapters on choosing, educating and disciplining soldiers, the ordering of garrisons, the marching and camping of an army, and battles.
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ZLATA' PRAHA, Viktor Oliva, Czech painter and illustrator.
$750
VIKTOR OLIVA
(Nové Stašecì, [Bohemia] 1861- Prague 1928)
Czech painter and illustrator
“ZLATA' PRAHA” c.1894
LITHOGRAPHY
Original colour lithograph advertising “Zlata' Praha” (Golden Prague), a Czech illustrated literary magazine founded by poet Vítězslav Hálek, published between 1864 to 1929.
An elegant woman dressed in red in a golden frame, wearing an eccentric hat and walking with a copy of "Zlata' Praha" under her left arm.
Published by Imprimerie Chaix (Atelier Chéret), Paris.
NOTE: Original colour lithograph printed on "Arches" paper.Blank at verso; before stamps (before publication)
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Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising
Three novels in the Dark is Rising quintet by Susan Cooper, a contemporary fantasy series set in England and Wales, which incorporates British mythology such as the Arthurian legends and Welsh folk heroes.
The Dark is Rising (2nd imp 1975, $275),
The Grey King (1st ed. 1975, $350) and,
Silver on the Tree (1st ed 1977, $150).
John Harris, Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca: or, A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. Consisting of above six hundred of the most authentic writers.
$17000
London, T. Woodward, et al., 1744 - 1748. Two volumes, thick folio, titles in black & red, complete with 61 maps, charts, and plates.
The second edition of Harris's great collection of travels, preferred for its new maps prepared by Emmanuel Bowen. The most notable is Bowen's version of the Thévenot Tasman map, "A Complete Map of the Southern Continent surveyed by Capt. Abel Tasman". This is the first English map of Australia (and the first map of Australia since Thévenot in 1663).
Purdey's The Guns and the Family
$400
History of the sporting shotgun and rifle maker firm, James Purdey & Sons. Limited to 250 copies, hand-bound in navy morocco, signed and numbered by the author and second generation proprietor, Richard Beaumont.
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Les Paradis Artificiels: Opium et Haschisch
$4000
First edition of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises, on the drug experiences of hashish and opium and their relationship with creative expression, being accounts from within the walls of Le Club des Haschischins and a translation and adaptation of Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.
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J.R.R. Tolkien
Various items of interest for the Tolkien fan, including an excellent set of The Lord Of The Rings [Second Edition, 1966]; all three De Luxe Editions of Tolkien works [LotR, The Hobbit, Poems & Stories]; and even a scale model of Gandalf from the Weta studio [New Zealand set creators for the epic movie franchise]!
The Man with the Golden Gun | Ian Fleming
$1995
First Edition, First Impression, Second State, so not the extremely rare first State example so avidly sought worldwide (with a golden gun on the front board). Still, a rare book in this near fine condition, nevertheless and will certainly appeal to specialist Fleming collectors as well as keen Bond devotees.
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Bib and Bub Painting Book. New Stories by May Gibbs
$1250
Oblong quarto (210 × 305 mm), [24] pages of black and white comic-strip artwork plus text on the covers.
A rare and charming 'colouring book', the last of May Gibbs' Bib and Bub titles.
Signed Lady Chatterley's Lover
$35000
Octavo : pp. [iv] [368]: original mulberry boards with black phoenix : white paper label on spine : untrimmed and unopened : SIGNED by the author at the limitation page : with scarce yellow dust jacket. [Roberts 42a]. No. 336 of 1000.
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Signed, First edition of The Book Bag
$1000
MAUGHAM, W.S.
The Book Bag
The Lungarno Series No.9. Florence: G. Oriolo, 1932. First Edition.
“Though I said that affection was the greatest enemy of love, I would never deny that it's a very good substitute.” — Maugham.
No. 29 of 725. Maugham's tale of the too-close relationship of a brother and sister has gained a reputation as one of Maugham's more unsettling works. With its themes of obsession, isolation and taboo relationships, it was first published by G. Orioli, a publisher unafraid to issue controversial works, albeit for a niche market.
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Chart of the N. and W. Parts of Bass’s Straits
$6750
Rare and important, early c.19th hand coloured engraved chart by Lieutenant James Grant who was given command of the Lady Nelson with the instructions to sail her to Sydney and hand her over to Matthew Flinders.
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![[HOOKER (Joseph Dalton), his copy] HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. Chart of the South Polar Sea.](https://rarebookfair.com/assets/catalogues/mark@maggs.com/259958_02.jpg)
[HOOKER (Joseph Dalton), his copy] HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. Chart of the South Polar Sea.
$25000
First edition, first issue. Measuring 632 by 842mm. A little toned with old folds with ms. annotations in blue and red ink, small ink stain to upper margin, a couple of small, closed tears. London, Hydrographic Office, published according to the Act of Parliament, and sold by R.B. Bate [price] 2s.6d, June, 1839.
An important copy of this rare map, owned by Joseph Dalton Hooker, assistant surgeon aboard HMS Erebus on James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition of 1839-43.
