90
319 317 318
317. [WILDE, Oscar]. the ballad of reading gaol by c.3.3. Leonard Smithers. 1899. [but later - any date up to 1907].
£128
8vo., original linen backed cinnamon cloth, lettered in gilt on spine. A little marking to cloth, bold ink name on front free endpaper, otherwise a very good copy.
pirate edition. the book was first published by smithers in 1898, who, after the death of Wilde in 1900, began bringing out unauthorized editions. this practise was continued until his own death in 1907. these editions are recognized through the omission of the publisher’s address on the title leaf.
‘A very useful And Well prepAred systemAtic Account’
318.WILKINSON, Edward Sheldon. shanghai birds. A study of bird life in shanghai and the surrounding districts. Shanghai: North- China Daily News & Herald Limited, 1929.
£395
8vo (261 x 172mm). original light green cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt, above a design of a tree branch with birds blocked in black, spine lettered and decorated in gilt; pp. [6 (half-title, verso blank, title, verso blank, foreword, verso blank)], xxi, [1 (blank)], 243, [1 (blank)]; colour- printed frontispiece and 22 colour-printed ornithological plates after henrik grönvold, one half-tone plate and one diagram in the text; minimal light marking, extremities lightly rubbed and bumped, otherwise a very good copy; provenance: a united states library (inkstamp on verso of title ‘received march 20, 1942 hartford, conn’, manuscript accession nos on upper pastedown, verso of title, traces or bookplates and/or labels on pastedowns and rear free endpaper) — gilbert hampden manley (1931- 2008, small inkstamp in black and name-seal in red ink on front free endpaper).
First edition. ‘A very useful and well prepared systematic account of local chinese birds’ (Wood), by e.s. Wilkinson, cbe (1883-1950). Wilkinson was a chartered Accountant based in shanghai and had been employed by the shanghai municipal council service, before becoming a senior partner of thomson and co. chartered Accountants, shanghai, and concurrently serving as secretary of the lester trust. Wilkinson also wrote a ‘country diary’ for the North-China Daily News, and was also the author of Shanghai Country Walks (shanghai: 1932) and The Shanghai Bird Year: a Calendar of Bird Life in the Country around Shanghai (shanghai: 1935).
this copy is from the library of the biological anthropologist gilbert manley, who was born in shanghai in 1931 and grew up in china, spending two-and-a-half years interned with his family in yangchow camp during the Japanese occupation. in 1950 he left china for britain to pursue his studies, graduating from the university of nottingham in 1956 with a first class honours degree in Zoology, which led to a dphil based on an ethological study of avian social behaviour at oxford university. following a series of fellowships and lectureships at the university of nottingham, the Zoological society of london, the smithsonian primatological survey in ceylon, and Queen elizabeth college and birkbeck college, university of london, manley was appointed lecturer in the department of Anthropology at the university of durham in 1974, where he remained until his retirement as senior lecturer in 1994.
Nissen, IVB 989; Ripley and Scribner p. 311; Wood p. 628. ‘one of the outstAnding Works on fiJi’
319. WILLIAMS, Thomas and James CALVERT. fiji and the fijians. by thomas Williams and James calvert, late missionaries in fiji. edited by george stringer rowe. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1859.
£250
8vo (232 x 146mm). original green pebble-grained cloth, upper board with blind-ruled borders, spine lettered in gilt, lemon-yellow endpapers; pp. [2 (title, verso blank)], x, 551, [3 (blank)]; colour-printed wood- engraved frontispiece and 2 colour-printed wood-engraved plates, all with tissue guards, one folding lithographic map by sarony, major and knapp, and 7 wood-engraved plates, wood-engraved illustrations in the text; extremities rubbed, neat repairs on lower hinge and endpapers, and spine- ends, some variable browning and spotting, and light marginal marking, otherwise a very good copy in the original cloth; provenance: myrtle and frank soday (archaeologists, bookplate on upper pastedown) — neat [?]pressmarks on front free endpaper..
First US edition. the work was first published in london in 1858, and comprises ‘fiji and the fijians’ by Williams (1815-1891), a study of the people, their history and customs, and the history of the fiji mission, of which both men were members, by calvert (1813-1892). the texts were edited for publication by rowe, and the work is an important early text on the islanders. As hill states, ‘reverend thomas Williams, of Adelaide, Australia, lived as a Wesleyan missionary in fiji for thirteen years. the preface to the first volume gives a few guidelines to the pronunciation of the fijian language. the book contains information of the origins of the natives, their warlike tendencies, industrial produce, manners, customs, religion, and language. rev. James calvert, considered the “father” of the fiji missions, worked there for seventeen years. the enormity of the task attempted and accomplished in fiji is a tribute to the persistent endeavors of the various missionary societies at work in the south seas’.
Cf. Hill p. 103 (1st ed.): ‘One of the outstanding works on Fiji’.
320. WILSON, Colin. the World of violence. Victor Gollancz. 1963.
£98
8vo., original cloth with dust wrapper. A fine copy. first edition signed by Wilson on the title-page. Wilson’s third novel.
321.WINCHESTER, Clarence (editor). shipping Wonders of the World. A saga of the sea in story and picture edited by clarence Winchester. consulting editors: A.c. hardy ... and frank c. bowen. The Amalgamated Press, [1936-37.]
£198
4to, original blue binding, upper board stamped in blind, spine lettered in gilt, speckled edges; illustrated throughout; a very good set.
first edition.
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