Lok Man Rare books opens an enchanting window on the past.

For the Constant Reader iPads are awesome and Kindle a godsend. But so far only books come in rare collectibles which increase in monetary and aesthetic value.

If you love literature there is nothing quite like the aesthetic pleasure of holding, say, a leather-bound, hand-tooled first edition of Samuel Johnson’s epoch-making English Dictionary, or leafing through a copy of Friedrich Schiff’s silk-wrapped Maskee: a Shanghai Sketchbook,
a luscious Art Deco accordion folio of 21 hand-coloured 14-feet-long fold-out panels from the Thirties that depict the city at its most decadent. All are available at Lok Man Rare Books, a veritable temple to the glories of the word and obviously the perfect place to visit.

“Not many shops look after customers like we do or maintain the stock we do,” says owner Lorence Johnston. With a continually updated online catalogue covering everything from the 1958 print run of Doctor Zhivago to the original of Beatrice Potter’s Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher, the boast is literally worth the paper it’s written on.
Price quotations are private after interest has been expressed. Lok Man can also look for local books of cultural and historic significance.

…More stories like this are available in Quintessentially Asia.