hordern house rare books
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manuscripts
·
paintings
Book Fair California February 2018
hordern house
rare books • manuscripts • paintings
LEVEL 2, 255 RILEY STREET HILLS • SURRY • SYDNEY • AUSTRALIA 77 VICTORIA STREET POINT NSW NSW 2011 •2010 AUSTRALIA • POTTS • SYDNEY TELEPHONE +61 9356 2 9356 4411 +61 2 9357 9357 3635 3635 • FAX TELEPHONE (+612) 4411 (+612) • FAX
www.hordern.com••books@hordern.com books@hordern.com www.hordern.com
All prices are in US dollars Images & condition reports are available at hordern.com Derek McDonnell derek@hordern.com Rachel Robarts rachel@hordern.com
Cover Detail from Webber, Views in the South seas (#21)
hordern house rare books
·
manuscripts
·
pa i n t i n g s
Book Fair California February 2018
LEVEL 2, 255 RILEY STREET · SURRY HILLS · SYDNEY NSW 2010 · AUSTRALIA
+61 2 9356 4411 · www.hordern.com · rare@hordern.com
1. ANSON, Admiral
Lord George.
Autograph letter, signed, to Lord Hardwicke…
Original manuscript, laid paper sheet measuring 235 x 185 mm., annotated to both faces; folded to letter size.London, Office of the Admiralty, 1762. Original manuscript letter signed by Admiral Anson
A
letter from Admiral George Anson as First Lord of the Admiralty to Lord Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor (and Anson’s father-in-law). Dated 5 March 1762, just three months before his death on 6 June, the letter - signed “Anson” and written from the Admiralty concerns the commission of a naval officer, Captain Stewart, held back by Anson until Northwicke can confirm that Stewart has satisfactorily answered “the Danish complaint”, the history of which is obscure. Provenance: Private collection (U.K.). US$1200 For full condition report and further images click anywhere on this page
2. ANSON, Admiral
Lord George.
Printed Admiralty order regarding venereal disease… Folio, 6 pages plus integral blank; folded to docket size with manuscript annotation “Admiralty New Instructions relating to Surgeons”.London, Office of the Admiralty 5 October, 1757. “The Risque of getting those Distempers”
A scarce and desirable relic of eighteenth-century naval life: an official printed order from the Admiralty concerning the treatment of venereal disease amongst seamen, signed by three Admirals including the famous privateer and Pacific voyager George Anson. The document concerns the treatment of the disease by navy surgeons, ordering that some15 shillings be deducted from the wages of each sailor to cover the cost incurred by the Navy. Gonorrhoea and syphilis were the bane of naval life, and this document laments both the spread of disease and seemingly impossible task of curbing the adventures of men during their time on shore: ‘Having taken into consideration the great charge upon the seamen and others serving in the fleet, for Cure of Venereal Distempers, and that the same does not answer the desired effect of punishing to such a Degree, as to prevent the Men from running the Risque of getting those Distempers…’. Provenance: Private collection (U.K.). US$760 For full condition report and further images click anywhere on this page
3. AUSTRALIAN
SQUADRON. ERSKINE, Commodore James E. Narrative of the Expedition of the Australian Squadron to the south-east coast of New Guinea…
Large square folio, with a folding map, three coloured lithograph plates, 33 original silver albumen photographs (283 x 212 mm) mounted on card with printed captions and borders, and two superb panoramas, one of them double-page (240 x 553 mm) and the other on four sheets (242 x, 1053 mm); original dark blue grained morocco binding, bevelled edges, spine banded and sides with multiple borders in gilt, front cover lettered in gilt, all edges gilded.Sydney, Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1885. The most magnificent photographic record of early contact
A striking copy of this very rare work. A sumptuous publication admired as much for its technical virtuosity as its beauty, the album has been called the first example of Australian photo-journalism: ‘the most magnificent example of an Australian work in this genre, the high point in relation to which all other examples can be considered’ (Holden, Photography in Colonial Australia). The photographs all date from the 1884 expedition, when Commodore Erskine proclaimed a British protectorate over the south coast of New Guinea. Although unattributed at the time, all the images were taken by the staff of the New South Wales Government Printing Office and are now recognised as having chiefly been the work of Augustine Dyer (18731923). The album is principally intended as a visual record, and bears testament to the importance of the Hood Lagoon in British and Australian ambitions, this sumptuous work includes six depictions of the region (effectively a sixth of the finished work). Provenance: A Paré, “Elgin”, Durban Rd., Wynberg [South Africa] (pencil inscription on front flyleaf ). US$50,000
Robert Holden, ‘Photography in colonial Australia: the mechanical eye and the illustrated book’, 79 and pp 24-31; Gael Newton, ‘Shades of Light: Photography and Australia 1839–1988’, pp. 57-9. Not in “The Truthful Lens”. See also Antje Lübcke blog post: ‘… superb photographs of very great interest’ (https://specialcollections.blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=5313); Charles Lyne, ‘New Guinea. An Account of the Establishment of the British Protectorate over the southern shores of New Guinea’ (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1885).
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4. [BEAGLE]
KING, Phillip Parker, Robert FITZROY and Charles DARWIN. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages…
Four volumes, octavo, with four charts bound in and eight loose folding maps (two accompanying each volume in original endpaper sleeve), and a total of 44 engraved plates after Augustus Earle and Conrad Martens; an attractive set in the original uniform publisher’s cloth; slipcase.London, Henry Colburn, 1839. The Beagle voyage: first issue of the first edition
First edition, comprising first issues in the original cloth bindings, of the full narrative of one of the greatest marine and scientific surveys of all time. The first published account of the voyages of the Beagle, this famous publication includes the full account written by Charles Darwin, the first major work published by him. As the greatest voyage of the intellect, as the voyage has been described, the Beagle voyage of 1831-36 perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the historical period of Enlightenment voyages as well as being one of its highest achievements, a voyage of discovery that would change scientific thinking and ultimately the understanding of man’s place in the universe. Provenance: Library of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. US$104,600 Ferguson, 2708; Freeman, 10; Hill, 607; Norman, 584.
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5. BLAND, William.
The Atmotic Ship…
Single printed sheet measuring 570 x 445 mm. in good condition, mounted. Sydney, David Mason printer, circa 1866. Atmotic: pioneering steam driven airship in 1860s Sydney
Rare Sydney broadside and a milestone in aviation history. This ephemeral large single sheet promotes the ‘Atmotic Ship’ – an early steam driven airship designed to carry passengers, the inspiration of Sydney surgeon and parliamentarian William Bland (1789-1868). The Atmotic ship was to be a self-propelled balloon fitted with a large deck capable of holding numerous passengers. It was to be driven by steam powered propellers and controlled with a simple steering apparatus. In this broadside, printed some15 years after Bland patented his invention, the airship is described and illustrated with four detailed plans. Various practical hazards and obstacles are broached, including the danger of the inflammable gas balloon exploding, and the alarming risk of lighting striking the vessel. Possible uses identified for the craft include astronomy, the delivery of long-distance post, and safe carriage of gold and gemstones, as well as exploring the interior of Australia and other inaccessible regions. US$3300
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6. BOUGAINVILLE, Louis
Voyage autour du Monde…
Antoine de.
Quarto, with twenty engraved charts, mostly folding, and three plates of boats; in a well-preserved contemporary French binding of cat’s-paw mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments between raised bands, brown leather label.Paris, chez Saillant & Nyon, 1771. First French voyage into the Pacific
The first French circumnavigation and the beginning of French exploration of the golden age, and of French involvement in the Pacific. This is the first edition of Bougainville’s narrative account of his great voyage; its publication created enormous interest in Europe and was largely responsible for building up the romantic vision of a South Sea paradise where Rousseau’s noble savage lived in a state of blissful innocence. Bougainville’s expedition passed through the Strait of Magellan in January 1768. After some time looking for the mythical “Davis Land”, said to be off the Chilean coast, they started on a direct route across the Pacific. They discovered the Tuamotus, sighted Tahiti in April, then visited Samoa, sailed through Melanesia, sighted the Great Barrier Reef, and passed through the Solomons and New Britain, to Batavia. Provenance: Private collection ( Japan). US$7000 Hill, 163; Kroepelien, 109; O’Reilly-Reitman, 283.
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7. BOUGAINVILLE, Louis
James MAGRA.
Antoine de and
Voyage autour du Monde [and] Journal d’un Voyage. Three volumes, octavo; contemporary French tortoiseshell calf, flat spines gilt in compartments with floral decoration, double labels.Neuchatel, de l’Imprimerie de la Société Typographique, 1772-1773. The two earliest works on Tahiti
The two earliest works on Tahiti brought together to form a complete work: the first French account of Cook’s first voyage and the revised edition of Bougainville’s narrative: a beautiful set in original French bindings. The two works in three volumes were published as a coherent set, and the three volumes here have clearly always formed a set. These are the second editions of two major books that had first appeared as separate publications in quarto size (Bougainville in French and Magra in English) just two years earlier. The two works are also significant as jointly providing one of the earliest continental sources for early knowledge of the eastern coast of Australia: the Magra text is obviously the more important in that respect, but it is often forgotten that Bougainville reached the Great Barrier Reef, and would probably have come ashore at Cooktown had the reef not prevented him. Provenance: Private collection ( Japan). US$5600 Beddie, 700; Kroepelien, 112/117; O’Reilly-Reitman, 290 & 364.
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8. BOURDE
DE VILLEHUET, Jacques, Chevalier de Sauseuil, translator. The manoeuverer, or skilful seaman‌
Quarto, with 13 engraved plates of naval tactics; a a few early annotations; contemporary marbled calf, flat spine gilt with anchor motif repeated in compartmemts; an early naval diagram in pencil on front free endpaper. London, S. Hooper, 1788. Naval manoeuvres in 1788
An important study of naval tactics and strategies: first English edition, first issue, identified by its dedication to Prince William Henry and a short errata; in a later issue the dedication is to the Duke of Clarence, the title Prince William Henry assumed later in 1788, and there is an additional leaf of errata. Copies of both issues are recorded at both the Bibliothèque Nationale and the National Maritime Museum. Provenance: Baron Alington of Crichel, Dorset, with armorial bookplate. US$2500 Adams and Waters, 248.
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9. BREITENBAUCH, Georg
August von.
Versuch einer Erdbeschreibung der sechs Welttheile…
Small thick octavo, eight folding maps with original outline handcolouring, early bookplate, mark on title-page and small library stamp on verso (Hälle); a very good copy, original half calf over marbled boards, spine banded and gilt.Leipzig, Johann Gottlob Heinrich Richter, 1793. The “Six Parts” of the World with interesting maps
First edition: an uncommon book with charming maps, hand-coloured in outline: this was the author’s copy of this study of the “six parts of the world”, an interesting attempt at demographic mapping, setting out to delineate not only the geography but also the peoples of the world, and to show the ways in which the different races and peoples developed and were connected. The work was reprinted in Lemgo in 1794: both editions are very scarce. Provenance: The Breitenbauch family copy, with armorial bookplate (legend reads “Zur Breitenbauchschen Bibliotheck”, surmounted by family coat-of-arms). US$6000 ADB, III, 290.
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10. BUSBY, James.
Manual of Plain Directions for Planting and Cultivating Vineyards, and for Making Wine, in New South Wales.
Small octavo, woodblock text illustrations, early owner’s manuscript notes; bound without the half-title in full calf, gilt. Sydney, R. Mansfield for the Executors of R. Howe, 1830. Their daily bottle: how to make wine in New South Wales
First edition of this influential book marking the beginnings of the Australian wine industry, of which the Scotsman Busby is generally considered to have been the founder. James Busby (1801-1871) was the most important single figure in the early history of Australian viticulture, and his property Kirkton on the Hunter River, which was taken over by Lindemans in 1914, was the country’s oldest continually producing vineyard until it was abandoned in 1924, but only after Busby’s hard-won vine-stocks had become the basis of chardonnay in Australia. Provenance: With manuscript notes by an unidentified early owner. US$8900 Ferguson, 1330.
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11. BUSBY, James.
A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, and the Art of Making Wine… Small quarto, with a folding table, some light browning; a fine copy, complete with the errata leaf, in contemporary polished half-calf over marbled boards, bumped, sympathetically rebacked, with most of the original spine laid down, lettered and decorated in gilt.Australia, R. Howe, Government Printer, 1825. The first book on Australian wine
Fine copy of the iconic work on Australian wine, in the preferred “quarto” format. Only very rarely seen on the market: this is the first book on Australian wine, the first book on wine to be published in Australia and the first book to carry the imprint “Australia” on the title page. This copy corresponds with the special issue in quarto format on thicker paper identified by the bibliographer Ferguson - though it has been convincingly argued that the difference between copies is not so much a question of issue as of the particular materials, especially paper, available to the publisher at the time. By 1825 the publishing industry in Sydney was mature but still slight of build, and certainly still subject to the vagaries of supply. Provenance: Private collection (Australia). US$15,500 Ferguson, 1004.
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12. CHURCH, John.
A Cabinet of Quadrupeds [Large Paper Copy] …
Two volumes, folio, 402 x 266 mm, with 84 engraved images, engraved and printed title-pages; contemporary green straight-grained morocco, ornately decorated in gilt and blind with complex borders and panels to sides and spines, stylish dark grey endpapers, all edges gilt.London, Darton and Harvey, 1794-1805. Superb Large Paper example in fine contemporary binding
A Large Paper copy, and much grander than the ordinary issue (about 400 mm as against 300-325 mm in height) with generous margins, this is a most imposing work in its two grand volumes. Originally issued in parts from 1794/5 this well-illustrated zoology has 84 copper-engraved images by James Tookey after designs by Julius Ibbetson. They vividly depict animals in their natural habitat, ranging from mice, guinea-pigs and squirrels to bears tigers and elephants, with delightful monkeys and various exotic species. At the time publication started in 1794 the Australian discoveries were still relatively recent. The description and image of the Flying Opossum are credited to White’s Journal and to Shaw’s Naturalist’s Miscellany and Church notes that ‘this animal has not long been added to the catalogue of quadrupeds’. The fine image of the “Kanguru” depicts the mob then successfully ‘living in the Royal Garden at Kew, where they breed, and appear quite naturalised…’. There is a quite extensive 4-page description of the animal, with the remark that ‘it is to the indefatigable ardour and enterprising spirit of Sir Joseph Banks that we are indebted for our first acquaintance with this most singular quadruped’. Provenance: Unidentified crest on all four sides of the bindings “C.G.”, with nine-point coronet of a viscount. US$4300 Freeman 702; Nissen, 886; Wood, p.290.
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13. [COOK:
DEATH] SAMWELL, David.
Détails nouveaux et circonstanciés sur la mort du Capitaine Cook, traduits de l’Anglois.
Octavo, 56, (ii) pp and a final blank leaf; neo-classical vignette on title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces; a handsome copy (accompanied by another work ) in a contemporary French binding of quarter calf over glazed paper boards, the spine with a gilt ornament and a simple red morocco label.À Londres et se trouve à Paris, chez Née de la Rochelle, 1786. No copy offered on the open market for fifty years
Exceptionally rare: one of the most difficult of all Cook-related pieces to acquire. We know of no copy of this edition offered for public sale in many decades: certainly, competition among collectors for the few copies of the alternative English edition to come onto the market has been intense. The book is missing from a number of important collections, both private and public. Samwell’s account of Cook’s death is also one of the earliest books on Hawaii, preceded only by the official account and the handful of unofficial accounts of Cook’s third voyage. Of all the early books on Hawaii, it ranks with Zimmermann’s narrative of the voyage and Shaw’s collection of tapa cloth as among the rarest and most significant. US$26,400 Beaglehole, III, ccix; Beddie, 1618; Forbes, ‘Hawaiian National Bibliography’,118; Hawaii Hundred, 6; Hill, 1521 (not this edition); Holmes, 62; Kahn, 2/34; Kroepelien, 1144; O’Reilly-Reitman, 453. (For the Charrière work: Michaud, Biographie Universelle, vol. 8).
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14. [COOK:
Mathieu.
EULOGY] BLANC GILLI,
Éloge du Capitaine Cook…
Octavo, 118 pp. (last blank), period-style red crushed morocco, spine gilt with raised bands.Paris, chez Morin, 1787. Cook admired in Enlightenment France
A very scarce, florid and rather entertaining elegy for Cook, published in Paris, which shows the very high regard in which Cook was held in Enlightenment France, as both navigator and scientist. Blanc-Gilli explicitly claims that Cook was as widely respected in France as in England, ‘a statement which is borne out by the fact that the centenary of his death was celebrated in Paris but not in London’ (Holmes). The elegy is a glowing narrative of Cook’s life and voyages enriched with a 24 page appendix (including notes on other voyagers to the South Seas, Cook’s importance to the history of astronomy, and references to contemporary philosophers such as Rousseau). US$6800 Beddie, 1959; Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 124; Kroepelien, 85; O’Reilly-Reitman, 454.
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15. [COOK:
EULOGY] GIANETTI, Michelangiolo. Elogio del Capitano Giacomo Cook…
Quarto, with titles in Italian and English facing, each with engraved vignette of the Royal Society Cook Medal, unpressed and unopened, a tall and handsome copy in black polished calf antique. Florence, Printed for Gaetano Cambiagi, Printer of his Royal Highness, 1785. This prodigy of nature
Rare, eccentric, but beautiful eulogy of Cook. This prose essay honouring the life and voyages of the navigator in florid style would have greatly embarrassed him. Describing his achievements in purple tones, ‘this prodigy of nature’ is lauded for his mapping of the St Lawrence, to which the author ascribes much of General Wolfe’s successes. Each of the three voyages of discovery is described in some detail, while Cook, like many sailors a non-swimmer, is given powers that he never possessed: ‘From his infancy he was accustomed to the useful practice of swimming, and could cleave the waves of the Ocean with the facility of its inhabitants’. Provenance: Private collection ( Japan). US$6700 Beddie, 1957; Holmes, 51; Kroepelien, 486; not in the catalogue of the Hill collection; O’ReillyReitman, 451.
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16. [COOK:
FIRST VOYAGE] HAWKESWORTH, John.
A New Voyage round the World, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771…
Two volumes, octavo, with two folding engravings and a folding map; modern binding of dark brown calf, New York, James Rivington, 1774. First American account, with engraving by Paul Revere
The important first American publication of Cook’s first voyage, issued in New York on the eve of the American Revolution by the Loyalist printer, James Rivington. The book is rare on the market, remarkably few copies having appeared for sale in modern times, most of them imperfect or in less than satisfactory condition. American books of this period tend to survive in small numbers, invariably in poor state: this copy is in good condition. The frontispiece to the first volume, a charming version of the visit to Ulietea with dancing and music laid on for the English voyagers, is based on the engraving published in Hawkesworth’s original account of the voyage in 1773; it was engraved by the American folk hero Paul Revere not long before the famous Midnight Ride, the event that ensured his leap to fame. Provenance: Private collection (U.S.A.). US$14,300 Beddie, 656; Brigham, Paul Revere, pp.76-78; Holmes, 9; Sabin, 30936; Wheat & Brun, Maps and Charts published in America before 1800, 1.
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17. [COOK:
FIRST VOYAGE] [MAGRA, James, attributed] A Journal of a Voyage round the World in His Majesty’s Ship Endeavour…
Quarto, with the 2 pp. dedication to Banks and Solander; half brown morocco, marbled sides and endpapers.London, Becket & De Hondt, 1771. Cook’s first voyage: first issue of the first narrative
First edition of the earliest published account of Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific: the rare first issue, with the leaf of dedication to ‘The Right Honourable Lords of the Admiralty, and to Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander’ inserted by the publisher to add authenticity, although it didn’t succeed in winning either gentleman’s favour. This was the first of a series of so-called “surreptitious accounts” of Cook’s various voyages to appear in print: the Admiralty found it practically impossible to enforce their ruling that no unofficial publications should pre-empt the official and lengthier accounts of the voyages, naturally much slower in the press. In this case, however, legal action was taken against the publisher for using an unauthorised dedication, forcing removal of the leaf during publication. ‘It is accordingly of the greatest rarity, and copies of the book containing the dedication are far more valuable than those without it…’ (Davidson). Provenance: Stamp of the “Northern Protector of Aboriginals” [Walter E. Roth] and private collection, Sydney. US$43,400 Beddie, 693; Davidson, ‘A Book Collector’s Notes’, pp. 53-4; Hill, 1066 (second issue); Hocken, p. 9; Holmes, 3; New Zealand National Bibliography, 3324; O’Reilly-Reitman, 362.
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18. [COOK:
Sydney.
FIRST VOYAGE] PARKINSON,
A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in his Majesty’s ship, the Endeavour.
Quarto, second enlarged edition, with a frontispiece portrait, two maps (one double-page), and 26 engraved plates with fine hand-colouring and with the uncoloured plates bound in duplicate; notably wide margins, contemporary binding of diced russia gilt, rebacked; Fothergill’s Explanatory remarks bound separately in modern calf, the two housed in a cloth slipcase; bookplate of an early owner.London, C. Dilly and J. Phillips, 1784. A highly unusual coloured Parkinson with the plates in duplicate
Best edition, and this a unique example, of one of the most significant of the Cook narratives: the artist’s account of Cook’s first voyage and the discovery of the east coast of Australia. The very rare special issue with its engraved plates coloured by hand is a famous and desirable rarity. This most unusual copy has all the plates present in both states, the rare coloured form alongside the more regular black-and-white printings. Only the second edition appeared in a coloured issue, and the second is also the best and most complete version of the book. Provenance: Armorial bookplate, with crest showing open dexter hand paleways, charged with an eye ppr. (motto “credunt quod vident”), associated by several libraries with the Earl of Minto and the Elliot family; private collection (Sydney). US$42,600 Beddie, 714; Du Rietz, 945; Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 82; Sabin, 58788.
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19. [COOK:
VOYAGE].
MEDAL] [COOK: THIRD
“Capt. James Cook: Courage and Perseverance”. Bronze medal, 37 mm.London, circa 1780.
Exceptionally rare Cook commemorative medal
Extremely rare: the “Courage and Perseverance” medal, struck soon after news of Cook’s death reached England. News of Cook’s death was first published in Büsching’s W...chentlichte Nachrichten (Berlin, 1780) in early January 1780, via the despatches sent back by Clerke and King from Kamchatka. The news quickly appeared in England, and the two “Pallas letters” remained the only source for information on the events at Kealakekua Bay almost until the return of Resolution and Discovery in September 1780. As a result, this medal belongs to the important phase after the news of Cook’s death had reached Europe, but before any detailed description of events was available. Provenance: Private collection (U.S.A.). US$13,400 Beddie, 2833, 2834, 2835; British Historical Medals, 218; C.W. Betts, American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary Medals, 555; Gullick, Australian medals and badges, Sydney, 1915, p.140; Klenman, Faces of Captain Cook, K3; Marquess of Milford Haven, ‘British and Foreign Naval Medals’, 375; Mira, James Cook, His Coins & Medals, pp.38-9; Nan Kivell & Spence, p. 79.
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20. [COOK:
John].
SECOND VOYAGE] [MARRA,
Journal of the Resolution’s Voyage, In 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775. Octavo, folding frontispiece map and five plates, leaf D 2 a cancel as usual; in later polished light tan calf.London, F. Newbery, 1775. The first account, and first landscape view, of the Antarctic
First edition, the earliest account of any Antarctic exploration. This is the first full account of Cook’s second voyage to have been published, a surreptitious narrative that preceded the official account by some eighteen months. The second voyage marked the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle, and John Marra’s book thus contains the earliest first-hand account of the Antarctic regions, while the engravings include the earliest Antarctic landscape. Thirty-eight pages of text deal with the Antarctic visit, and the main map shows the passage of Cook’s two ships to the high southern latitudes. Marra, a recidivist would-be deserter under Cook, would reappear in history as a First Fleeter, failing again in an attempt to desert when he went bush for three days in Port Jackson in 1789. Provenance: Private collection (Sydney). US$8500 Beaglehole, II, pp. cliii-clv; Beddie, 1270; Davidson, A Book Collector’s Notes, p. 60; Hill, 1087; Holmes, 16; Kroepelien, 809; O’Reilly-Reitman, 379; Rosove, 214.A1.a; Spence, 758.
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21. [COOK: THIRD
John.
VOYAGE] WEBBER,
Views in the South Seas…
Folio, title-page and 16 aquatint plates with fine original handcolouring, 15 leaves of descriptive text (one describing two plates); half calf, spine gilt with raised bands; a fine copy.London, Boydell, “1808” [but probably, 1819-1820]. The only colour-plate book relating to Cook’s voyages
The most beautiful English colour-plate book of the Pacific, the only colour-plate book relating to Cook’s voyages and the last of the great Cook publications. The sixteen coloured aquatints, after Webber’s drawings, and engraved by the artist himself, form one of the finest visual statements of the South Seas as a romantic Eden. John Webber was the official artist on Cook’s third and final voyage. This collection of his magnificent coloured views is certainly the most striking publication resulting from Cook’s expeditions. Views in the South Seas evolved over a number of years from the original series of twelve softground etchings produced between 1788 and 1792. The first issue of the final result was produced in 1808. Provenance: The Midlands Library, with stamp on title-page and another on a preliminary blank leaf; Private collection (Sydney). US$60,800 Beddie, 1872; Davidson, A Book Collector’s Notes, p. 67; Hill, 1837; Holmes, 79; Joppien & Smith, III, pp.192-6; Kroepelien, 1341; New Zealand National Bibliography, 5882a; O’Reilly-Reitman, 441.
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22. DIONYSIOS, Periegetes.
De situ orbis habitabilis…
Small quarto (192 x 141 mm.), 36 leaves; roman letter with woodcut historiated initials, title printed in red & black; a very good copy in blindstamped calf antique.Venice, Francesco Renner de Heilbronn, 1478. The earliest mention of China (here “Thina”) in world literature
A highly influential early geographical text, dating from the second century and surviving in manuscript through the Middle Ages to enjoy great popularity in the Renaissance. This Venice printing of 1478 is only the second appearance of the work which was first published in 1477; numerous further editions were to follow in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and today any fifteenth-century editions are notably rare. “De situ orbis habitabilis” gives an account of the known world and its seas, countries, and islands, with some ethnographical notes, and includes sections on both Asia and India. Its popularity during the Renaissance reflected a growing interest in geography as reports began to circulate of newly-discovered lands, as well as the fascination of the humanist scholars with newly-published ancient texts. The text remained influential for several centuries. Provenance: Private collection (Sydney). US$14,000 Hain, 6227; IGI, 3488; Klebs, 340.1; Lowendahl, ‘China Illustrata Nova’,1 (1477 edition); Sarton, ‘Introduction’, I, 258.
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23. DUHAUT-CILLY, Auguste.
Viaggio intorno al globo…
Two volumes, octavo, with four lithograph plates; a very good copy in quarter calf over old marbled boards.Turin, Tipografico Fontana, 1841. Important account of travels in California and Hawaii
First Italian edition of this important book for California and Hawaii. The French trader Duhaut-Cilly reached Yerba Buena in 1827, and in the next two years visited most of the missions, presidios, and pueblos of Alta California. No other traveller had visited so many of the Californian establishments, and his is the best contemporary account of the region. He also describes at some length his 1828 visit to the Hawaiian Islands, and includes a vocabulary of the Hawaiian language. Duhaut-Cilly’s work was one of the eighty books selected by the Zamorano Club in California for their famous exhibition of books important for the history of that state. Appropriately, this copy once belonged to the club and has their duplicate release note over the club’s bookplate in each volume. US$2500 Forbes, ‘Hawaiian National Bibliography’,1260; Hill, 500; Howes, D547; Judd, 57; Sabin, 21165.
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24. FALCONER, William.
The Shipwreck, A Poem.
Large octavo, with three steel-engraved plates and five finely engraved vignettes; a very large copy with wide margins in a splendid straightgrained red morocco binding (attributed to Edwards of Halifax) with elegant neoclassical gilt tooling.London, Printed for William Miller... by T. Bensley, 1804. “Largest Paper”, binding attributed to Edwards of Halifax
A splendid copy: an early hand has noted in ink “Largest Paper” at the start, probably indicating a special issue of this edition of William Falconer’s celebrated masterpiece. This superb copy is in a splendid contemporary binding that the book’s previous owner, the collector John HelyHutchinson, attributed to the famous Edwards of Halifax. Significantly, this copy was at an earlier time in the library of the bibliophile Frances Richardson Currer, and has her bookplate. Crowned the ‘head of all female book collectors in Europe’ by Thomas Dibdin, Currer’s estate at Eshton Hall near Skipton was close to the workshop of Edwards of Halifax and certainly this splendid binding has his characteristic skill and finesse. Provenance: Private collection (Sydney). US$2100 For full condition report and further images click anywhere on this page
25. GODILLOT, Alexis.
Album d’articles de voyages d’après les modèles de Messieurs Godillot Père et Fils...
Oblong portfolio of nine lithographed sheets (six vibrantly coloured by hand) preserved in the original delicate lithographed wrappers; each sheet measures 300 x 455 mm.Paris, Godillot Père et Fils, Rue St. Denis circa 1840-1850. Travelling in style, mid-nineteenth century
A beautiful catalogue of the articles a traveller might desire for voyaging elegantly and safely. The album features superb full page hand-coloured lithographs showcasing nearly one hundred accessories including bags, picnic baskets, apparel, wonderful old trunks, tents and hammocks, many of which are in surprisingly bold and modern designs. Alexis Godillot (1816-1893) was a contemporary of Louis Vuitton (1821-1892) and first achieved renown in Paris for his beautiful hand-made luggage in premises just a few blocks away from Vuitton’s. US$7000
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26. [GREENLAND
ARTIST.
INUIT] ANONYMOUS
Watercolour of a Greenlander hunting seals in a kayak.
Watercolour on laid paper, 193 x 185 mm, mounted.Unsigned, c.18001820. Beautiful depiction of traditional Inuit seal hunting
A very finely painted depiction of a traditional Greenlandic Inuit hunter after harp seals in his distinctive hunting kayak. The unsigned watercolour is of considerable quality and style, and depicts an Inuit pursuit with a level of detail whose accuracy modern historical sources now confirm. A very simplified version of this image was published in Orme’s collection of Foreign Field Sports (London, 1813) as “Greenland Seal Catching”, an aquatint engraved by M. Dubourg after John Heaviside Clark (1770-1863). The present drawing is of so much higher quality, and contains so much detail that could not have come from the Orme aquatint, that there seem to be just two possibilities: either the present drawing is an original from which the Orme print was derived, or both images derive from a common source. If the latter, there is no trace of such an image to be found today. Provenance: Private collection (Sydney). US$5000
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27. HAMILTON, George.
A Voyage Round the World in his Majesty’s Frigate Pandora.
Octavo, engraved frontispiece portrait of the author; an appealing copy in a good early tan calf binding, gilt banded spine with dark label.Berwick, W. Phorson, 1793. The arrest of the Bounty mutineers, and a wreck on the Great Barrier Reef
Rare first edition: the account of the doomed Pandora voyage to the Pacific in search of the Bounty mutineers, written by the ship’s surgeon, who survived shipwreck and a terrible open-boat voyage to safety. Hamilton writes in an easy, amusing fashion, and this is one of the most personal of eighteenth-century voyage accounts: it would certainly have entertained the contemporary reader, and helped set the tone for the many medical-voyagers who would publish their own books in the nineteenth century. Provenance: Private collection (Sydney). US$12,800 Ferguson, 151.
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28. [HAWAII:
CARICATURE] CRUIKSHANK, George.
A Favourite Poodle Hatching Poultry!!
Handcoloured engraving (240 x 340 mm.), mounted. London, J. Fairburn, June 1824. Kamehameha and Kamamalu an exotic tease for “Poodle” Byng
A wonderful and very rare British satirical print from the time of the royal visit to London by King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu in 1824. The print was published in June of the same year: that is, at the very moment when enthusiasm for the Hawaiian visitors was at its peak, and before their melancholy death from measles in July. Cruikshank depicts three of the Royal party bedecked in feathered outfits, which is all the more ironic given that British society was agog at their sophistication, ‘wearing coats by a London tailor, and stays and gowns by a Parisian modiste’ (Byron, Voyage of H.M.S. Blonde). Here each of the three is muttering gibberish, no doubt fondly imagined by Cruikshank to be a droll imitation of the Hawaiian language. US$7400
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29. [HAWAII]
GEAR, J.W.
Their Majesties King Rheo Rhio, Queen Tamehamalu, Madame Poki‌
Hand-coloured Lithograph, 270 x 340mm., title caption. London, 1824. Hawaiian Royalty at the opera
A rare and enchanting separately issued lithograph showing the Hawaiian royal family at the theatre, Royal Drury Lane, on 4 June 1824. The visit to England of the Hawaiian King and his young wife attracted much popular attention but sadly, a month after their visit to the theatre, both contracted measles, and the twenty-two year old Queen, Kamamalu (transcribed as Tamehamulu at the time) died on 8 July, 1824. The King succumbed shortly afterwards. Provenance: From the collection of John McPhee, art historian and connoisseur, Sydney. US$3900
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30. HAYTER, John.
The three Fuegians brought to England by Captn Fitz-Roy, 1831…
Lithograph on tinted paper, 240 x 350 mm (plate), mounted.London, J. Dickinson, 114 New Bond Street, Printed by W. Sharp August, 1831. Charles Darwin & the Yahgans from Tierra del Fuego
A rare and very striking group portrait: Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button and York Minster, the three Yahgan natives of Tierra del Fuego taken back to England by Robert FitzRoy in 1830 and returned on the Beagle’s second and most famous expedition in 1833. Jemmy Button, the centre figure in this group portrait by Hayter, became Darwin’s “particular friend” on the long voyage. Jemmy Button ‘was very Merry’, Darwin noted in his Journal, ‘and often laughed, and was remarkably sympathetic with anyone in pain: when the water was rough, I was often a little sea-sick, and he would used to come to me and say in a plaintive voice, “Poor, poor fellow!”‘. Provenance: Private collection (New South Wales). US$19,000 Matt Ridley, “The real origins of Darwin’s theory”, in The Spectator, 23 September 2009; Joseph Yannielli, “A Yahgan for the killing: murder, memory and Charles Darwin”, in The British Journal for the History of Science, 46 (3), 2013.
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31. KOTZEBUE, Otto
von.
Ontdekkingsreis in de Zuid-zee en naar de BeringsStraat… Three volumes, each with engraved title-page (the last hand-coloured), four hand-coloured plates and three folding plates, five folding maps, an excellent set in early twentieth-century vellum, decorated gilt and blind. Amsterdam, Johannes van der Hey, 1822. Dutch edition of Kotzebue
Fine set in vellum of the uncommon Dutch edition of the Kotzebue voyage to the Pacific, the second Russian scientific expedition. ‘A Dutch edition of the first Kotzebue voyage, translated by P.G. Witsen Geysbeek, with prefaces by the translator in volume I and II and footnotes throughout. The three hand-coloured portraits in volume II are “Tameamea, Konig der Sandwich-Eilanden” (p. 28), a version of the “red vest” portrait by Choris; “Rarick” (p.130); and “Kadu” (p. 230). A folding plate in volume II… depicts the heiau and Kamehameha’s residence at Kailua, Kona. The hand-coloured vignette on the volume III title is of the butterfly named for Kamehameha’ (Forbes). A fourth hand-coloured plate in the first volume depicts “Inwoners van Kotzebue-Sond.” Provenance: Private collection (Hawaii). US$4300 Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 551; Kroepelien, 672; O’Reilly-Reitman, 778a; Sabin, 38285.
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32. [LA
PEROUSE] DU VIVIER, Benjamin,
Commemorative medal for the departure of the La Pérouse expedition.
Bronze medal, 60 mm; obverse portrait of Louis XVI; reverse 10-line caption within laurel-wreath borders.Paris, Benjamin Duvivier, 1785. The rare La Pérouse voyage medal
An excellent example of the bronze version of the rare medal issued to commemorate the departure of the La Pérouse expedition. The medal was designed by the celebrated Benjamin Duvivier, chief engraver at the French mint until 1791. This is the scarcer of two versions of the medal, with an extended caption noting the departure of the expedition: another version was much simpler. Altogether100 medals, some of them silver, were carried on the voyage, as opposed to 600 examples of a simpler version with just the king’s bust portrait. How many more were issued for distribution in France is not known, but judging by present rarity it cannot have been a large number. US$5100 Milford Haven, ‘Medals of Foreign Countries’, France, 170; Nan Kivell & Spence, p.170.
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33. LAFITAU, Père
Joseph, SJ.
Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains…
Two volumes, quarto, with 42 engraved plates and a map; contemporary French sprinkled calf, rebacked.Paris, Saugrain and Hochereau, 1724. In the beginning all the World was America
First edition: pioneering anthropology based on direct observations made by Lafitau over six years in Canada, particularly of the Iroquois people. Lafitau’s study influenced, among others, Rousseau and Chateaubriand, and drew the vituperation of Voltaire. A Jesuit priest, Lafitau spent the years 1712-1718 in Canada, at least part of the time living among the Iroquois. ‘In his endeavour to prove American aborigines were of Tartar stock, he prepared an encyclopaedic work describing in great detail and accuracy their customs, religions, beliefs and social organisation’ (TPL). US$2800 De Backer/Sommervogel, IV, 1362; TPL, 158.
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34. MARTIN, John.
Histoire des naturels des Iles Tonga ou des Amis...
Two volumes, octavo; an uncut copy with good margins in contemporary French quarter crimson morocco gilt with matching crimson glazed boards, gilt crowned cipher at centre of each side.Paris, Gide [and] Nicolle, 1817. From the library of Empress Marie-Louise of France
From the library of Napoleon’s second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, later the Duchess of Parma, with her crowned monogram in gilt on the bindings which are in the Empress’s traditional crimson style. The famous library was dispersed in the 1930s and books with this remarkable provenance appear occasionally on the market. The library was strong in natural history, but also in voyage books: this is the first French edition of Martin’s important account of William Mariner’s four years in Tonga between 1806 and 1810, which provided the first really detailed account of life in the islands, although they had been discovered as far back as 1616 (by Schouten), with the first effective contact with Europeans dating from Cook’s voyages in 1773 and 1777. This French version was not recorded by Ferguson (although copies are now known to be held in the State Library of New South Wales and the National Library of Australia), and no copy appears in the catalogues of the Hill or the Kroepelien collections. It appeared in the same year as the first of a number of English editions. US$10,500 Forbes, “Hawaiian National Bibliography”, 468; Martin, “Catalogue d’ouvrages relatifs aux Iles Hawaii”, p.18; Judd, “Voyages to Hawaii before 1860”,117.
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35. NIGHTINGALE, Thomas
OCEANIC SKETCHES...
Large duodecimo, with an engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, a hand-coloured aquatint costume plate, and four sepia aquatint views; contemporary dark blue polished calf, sides bordered in gilt, spine gilt in compartments with green leather label, gilt edges, yellow endpapers; half-title and advertisements discarded by the binder.London, James Cochrane & Co.1835. Scarce Pacific travels, with fine aquatint views
First edition. This quite uncommon book is a narrative of the author’s travels in Chile and Peru, and at greater length subsequent travels in the Galapagos, Marquesas, Cook, Samoan and Society Islands. The botanical index, a descriptive list of the ferns collected by Nightingale in the Pacific islands, was compiled by the great botanist William Jackson Hooker, who at the time of this publication was Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow. Provenance: Hannah Haffenden(?), April 25th, 1873 (signature on lower free endpaper). US$2600 Abbey, Travel, 599; Hocken, p.57; O’Reilly-Reitman, 908; Sabin 55303; not in the catalogue of the Hill collection.
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36. PARKER, Mary
Ann.
A Voyage round the World‌
Octavo, pp.ii, 150; with the final leaf of advertisements, in a handsome binding by Morell of half tan morocco, spine gilt in compartments. London, Debrett, 1795. The first account of Australia by a woman
A fine copy of the first edition and now quite rare; one of the earliest unofficial eye-witness accounts of Australia, and the very first account of the colony by a woman. Leaving two children back in England, Mary Ann Parker arrived in Sydney just three years after the First Fleet, having made the long and dangerous sea voyage by choice. Her narrative makes clear that she relished the adventure, delighting in discovering new sights and meeting new people. Her husband, John Parker was the captain of the Gorgon, an eagerly awaited ship in the colony, sent out with stores following the loss of the store-ship Guardian, whose wreck the voyagers saw at Table Bay. She also carried Governor King back to Norfolk Island, as well as the Chaplain of the New South Wales Corps, Baines the surveyor and Burton the botanist. Provenance: The celebrated Australian collector Henry L. White of Belltrees, with his bookplate and shelfmark. US$14,600 Ferguson 229; Wantrup, 24.
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37. PELSAERT, Francois.
Ongeluckige Voyagie, Van’t Schip Batavia…
Small quarto, with six full-page plates comprising 15 separately engraved images: seventeenth-century vellum, spine faintly lettered in ink; preserved in a handsome calf bookform box.Amsterdam, Jan Jansz, 1647. The first Australian book, with the earliest images of Australia
A wonderful copy of an exceptional rarity: the very first views of Australia are the astonishing highlight of this, the first Australian book, the earliest record of any European landing on the Australian continent, and a famous tale of murder and mystery. This is one of only two copies of the first edition of 1647 that we know to be held outside institutions. Pelsaert’s account of the “unlucky voyage” and wreck of the VOC ship Batavia off the western Australian coastline in 1629 and its gruesome aftermath is the first published account of any voyage of Australian discovery. The book is justly famous not only for the remarkable tale but for the suite of engraved illustrations that accompany the text, with graphic reproductions of the wreck, the mutiny and slaughter on the islands, the trial and torture of the leaders and their execution on the mainland; they are the earliest published images of Australia. US$375,900 Landwehr, ‘VOC’, 406; Schilder, ‘Australia Unveiled’, p.111; Sharp, ‘Discovery of Australia’, p.59; Tiele, ‘Bibliography’, 235; Tiele, ‘Mémoire’, 850.
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38. [PORTLAND
SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY] WOOD, William and Charles B. FULLER.
A Circular to Sea Captains and other Seafaring Men. Octavo pamphlet, 12pp., original printed wrappers.Portland, Henry F. Perry & Co. for the museum, 1881.
An eloquent plea to seafarers to collect natural history specimens for the Portland Society of Natural History - which had twice lost their magnificent collections to fire. The pamphlet, printed fifteen years after the second fire, prompts mariners to collect ordinary animals and specimens in foreign lands (rather than holding out for extraordinary and marvellous creatures to appear). Hence ‘the most common things of those regions, and which are to be had without money or price, except the trouble of collecting and preserving them, are the desirable things…’. Nothing is too mundane, even the mud adhering to an anchor in a foreign port. The pamphlet concludes with some rudimentary advice about collecting specimens and preserving them for transport. US$190 For full condition report and further images click anywhere on this page
39. PTOLEMAEUS, Claudio.
Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino…
Three parts in one volume, quarto, with 69 double-page engraved maps, and several woodcut diagrams, early owner’s name at foot of title-page; contemporary limp vellum, titled in ink on the spine. Venice, heirs of Melchior Sessa, 1598-1599. The classical atlas with modern maps
Classic sixteenth-century edition of the great work of the classical geographer Ptolemy, updated with “modern” maps showing Renaissance discoveries and new geographical concepts. The atlas is notable for its detailed mapping of the Americas, but also for four maps which demonstrate in some detail contemporary perceptions of a southern continent, and which are notable for the enormous, if largely spurious, advances that had been made from the 1574 edition of the same work. US$10,700 Adams, P 2237; Alden, ‘European Americana’, 599/64; JCB, II, 376; Phillips, Atlases, 409; Sabin, 66507; Stevens, ‘Ptolemy’s Geography’, 56.
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40. RATTRAY, Alexander
[1830-1906]
“Cape Virginia: Straits of Magellan”.
Original watercolour over pen and pencil, 80 x 298 mm; signed, inscribed with title on verso; mounted.Straits of Magellan, aboard HMS Salamander [1867]. US$1600 For full condition report and further images click anywhere on this page
The Salamander under steam in the Straits of Magellan
Fine original watercolour views by Alexander Rattray (18301906), naval surgeon aboard HMS Salamander, of the ship making steam with sails furled off Cape Virgenes, the southeastern tip of continental Argentina — Ferdinand Magellan reached it on 21 October 1520 and discovered the strait, later named for him; and off Elizabeth Island — named and claimed for England by Francis Drake in 1578. It was one of the first English territorial claims in the New World, preceding Drake’s claim of New Albion in 1579 and Humphrey Gilbert’s claim of Newfoundland in 1583. Rattray depicts the Salamander on her way back to England from Australia where she had taken part in the foundation and subsequent supplying of the Somerset Mission, the short-lived settlement on Cape York, northeastern Australia.
41. RATTRAY, Alexander
[1830-1906]
“Royal Bay – Elizabeth Island: Straits of Magellan”.
Original watercolour over pen and pencil, 76 x 298 mm; signed, inscribed with title on verso; mounted.Straits of Magellan, aboard HMS Salamander [1867]. US$1600 For full condition report and further images click anywhere on this page
Provenance: With Martyn Gregory Gallery, London in 1993 (described in their catalogue 62, “Alexander Rattray 1830-1906, Naval Surgeon”). Bastock, John, Ships on the Australia Station, Frenchs Forest, 1988; Winfield, Rif & David Lyon, The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889, London, 2004. Online resources: www.navalhistory.net; www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=HMS%20Salamander%20 (1832; blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/2014/02/18/queensland-places-cape-york-hms-salamander/.
42. SARMIENTO
DE GAMBOA, Pedro.
Viage al estrecho de Magallanes… en los años de 1579 y 1580…
Small quarto, with three folding plates; a fine large copy, with ample margins, probably one of the large copies, printed on thicker paper, as noted by Sabin; contemporary vellum, with original ties and the title lettered in ink on spine.Madrid, Imprenta Real de la Gazeta, 1768. A Mendaña veteran maps the Straits of Magellan
First edition, a lovely tall copy bound in contemporary limp vellum, from the library of the Infantes in exile (see provenance). This is the first printing - from the manuscript in the Royal Library, Madrid - of this highly important sixteenth-century description of the Straits of Magellan and the first attempt to found a Spanish settlement on its shores. Provenance: Once owned by Antonio Pascual de Borbón (17551817), with his stamp, showing the letters ‘S.D.S.Y.D.A.’ enclosed within a crowned wreath, alongside the stamp used by the three Infantes, Fernando (later Ferdinand VII of Spain), Antonio and Francisco, while in exile during the Napoleonic occupation of Spain. US$14,300 Hill, 1526; James Ford Bell, S112; Medina BHC, 482; Palau, 302364; Sabin, 77094.
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43. SHELVOCKE, George.
A Voyage Round the World, by way of the Great South Sea.
Octavo, with a folding double-hemisphere world map and four fine engraved plates, two of them folding; contemporary panelled calf, well rebacked.London, J. Senex, 1726. The albatross that comes up in conversation
First edition of several of this thrilling account of a privateering expedition in the South Seas. Shelvocke’s very readable narrative, though chiefly intended to defend himself against charges of piracy and embezzlement, was a best-seller enjoyed for many years by the reading public. At William Wordsworth’s suggestion nearly seventy years after its first publication it was the immediate prompt and one of the chief sources for Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Provenance: Richard Shuttleworth Streatfeild (1805-1865, with armorial bookplate) US$5000 Borba de Moraes, p. 796; Cowan, pp. 581-2; Hill, 1557; The Fenwick Notes of William Wordsworth, ed. Jared Curtis, Bristol Classical Press, 1993, p.2.
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44. SIGNAL
BOOK.
Manuscript signal book…
Octavo, quarter morocco, 117 pp manuscript with hand colouring to 14 pages, original boards with modern rebacking, preserved in book form box. England, c.1800-1820. Officer’s personal flag-signal guide
A fine example of a rare type of naval manuscript: an officer’s personally-prepared guide to the naval flag signals in use at the turn of the18th century. The success of the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) lay in the vastly increased number of ships-of-the-line (with a capacity from 74 to120 guns) and frigates that had not only significant gun power but also the speed to evade enemy ships. The British fleet had increased from 500 ships in 1793 to 950 by 1805. For commanders to employ the larger squadrons effectively they needed individual captains to acknowledge and obey instructions promptly. Provenance: Private collection (Sydney). US$4800
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45. STEEL, David.
The Elements & Practice of Rigging & Seamanship. Two volumes, quarto, with an engraved frontispiece and 94 engraved plates, many of them folding; with two working volvelles (Vol. II after p.274); contemporary calf, flat spines decorated in gilt, double leather labels.London, Printed for David Steel, Union Row, Little Tower Hill, 1794.
Admiral Carnegie’s copy: the technology of 18th-century sailing
First edition of this classic compendium of the practice of sailing large ships: a precise record of sail practices prevalent at the close of the eighteenth century and thus an extraordinarily detailed record of the technology that fulfilled white settlement of Australia. A rare book in any case, this is an unusually good copy: most examples that we have seen have suffered from heavy use. This handsome copy has probably survived so well as it comes from the library of a naval nabob, William Carnegie, the seventh Earl of Northesk. Naval commander and hero, Carnegie was third in command at Trafalgar, commanding the Britannia in the great defeat of the French. His career culminated in his appointment as full admiral and Commander-in-chief Plymouth. Two pages of extensive neatly written notes on blank leaves at the start of the first volume record careful details of sail settings for two ships of the line, Le Tonnant and Magnificent. The former was likely the French warship captured by Nelson at the battle of Aboukir and subsequently transferred into the Royal Navy while Magnificent was the command of Carnegie’s brother-in-law William Henry Jervis. Provenance: William Carnegie, Earl of Northesk, with armorial bookplates. US$8900 Adams & Waters, 3275; Witt, p.29 (entry 20).
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46. SWIFT, Jonathan.
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver… Two volumes octavo, with the engraved portrait frontispiece of Gulliver (in the second state correct for this edition), 6 numbered engraved plates, the first two maps bound as additional frontispieces; nineteenth-century polished sprinkled calf by Rivière, spines ornately gilt, double labels, French fillet gilt borders to sides, marbled endpapers with gilt dentelles. London, Benjamin Motte, 1726. Gulliver in South Australia
One of the greatest of all works of English (and travel) literature: “Gulliver’s Travels has given Swift an immortality beyond Temporary Fame” (PMM). First edition, Teerink´s “B” or third issue. The first three printings have traditionally been thought of as different issues of a single first edition. Although they technically represent different editions Teerink still thought it ‘advisable to stick to the well established practice of calling the three 1726 editions first’, in part because both the printer and the author thought of them that way. They appeared in very short order, the first printing having sold out in a week. Provenance: The19th-century British bibliophile S. A. Thompson Yates, with his bookplate on front pastedowns. US$7400 Davidson, ‘A Book Collector’s Notes’, pp. 39-40; Printing and the Mind of Man, 185; Rothschild, 2108; Teerink, 291.
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47. [TAHITI]
DAVIES, John.
A Tahitian and English Dictionary…
Octavo, a very attractive copy in a contemporary binding of marbled sheep, flat spine decorated in gilt, red leather label.Tahiti, Printed at the London Missionary Society’s press, 1851. The first Tahitian-English dictionary
First edition: a beautifully produced book, printed by the missionaries in Tahiti. The first complete dictionary of the Tahitian language, this was the first such book of its kind to be printed in Tahiti, and was only the third dictionary printed in the Pacific (preceded only by Andrews’ Hawaiian Vocabulary, printed at Lahaina in 1836, and a Tongan dictionary of 1841). The first attempt at a Tahitian vocabulary by Guillaume de Humboldt had appeared in Berlin in 1843, appended to a larger work on the languages of the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti by Johann Carl Eduard Buschmann. US$3000 Kroepelien, 1016; O’Reilly-Reitman, 5761; Taylor, p.298.
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48. [TAHITI]
TAITBOUT, M.
Essai sur l’Isle d’Otahiti…
Octavo, with an engraved frontispiece view of Tahiti; a fine copy in contemporary speckled half calf.Avignon and Paris, Froulle, 1779. The earliest separate serious work on Tahiti
First edition: the very scarce and earliest separate serious work on Tahiti (predated only by the Omaibased fictions and the poetical satires on Joseph Banks); it is based for its facts on the reports of Wallis, Bougainville and Cook, and for its philosophy on Montesquieu and Rousseau. ‘Taitbout’s pamphlet is of interest, not for the originality of its ideas, but because it reveals how notions of geographical control deriving from Montesquieu and applied by the Forsters to the islanders of the Pacific, could provide a rational explanation for the soft primitivism with which Bougainville, Hawkesworth, Banks, Diderot, and others, had endowed the peoples of the Society Islands, and add point and fire to a revolutionary pamphlet…’ (Bernard Smith, European vision and the South Pacific, 1985, p. 87). US$3300 Barbier, II 234; Kroepelien, 1271; O’Reilly-Reitman, 9291.
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49. [TIBET]
PROPAGANDA FIDE.
Alphabetum Tangutanum sive Tibetanum [& 4 other works]… Five works in two volumes, octavo, with three folding tables; contemporary quarter blue calf.Rome, Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, 1773-1791. Rome looks East
An attractive collection of five of the language studies and alphabets printed for the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in Rome, which as well as fulfilling their evangelical function for the church also played an important role in the study and dissemination of non-Western languages. Each of the five works is a description of the components of a language and a specimen of typefaces to illustrate the expertise of the type foundry and their rich collections of characters. Some translations into the languages, usually religious in nature for missionary and teaching purposes, typically appear in the volumes. US$4800 Birrell and Garnett, 23,12,16; Cordier, Sinica, 2929; Lust, ‘Western Books on China’,1069; Updike, Printing Types, pp181-3.
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50. TOMBE, Charles-François.
Voyage aux Indes Orientales…
Two volumes, octavo, and small folio atlas containing 18 maps and plates, 11 of them folding; the text volumes in contemporary marbled calf, flat spines ornately panelled in gilt, with double labels; the atlas volume in a skilful modern binding to match.Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1810. The East Indies briefly French
Scarce first edition of this important work on Indian Ocean and East Indies territories under French control (in some cases for only a brief period) in 1810. A major in the French engineering corps in Batavia, Charles-François Tombe (1771-1849) had previously served against the British in the Indian Ocean under Admiral Linois. He spent more than two years in Mauritius, Reunion and Java and clearly acquired considerable knowledge of the peoples and customs along with their trading goods. The accompanying atlas consists of18 engraved plates; seven maps are followed by seven plates of people and objects after drawings by Tombe himself (four of these are fine costume plates) and three excellent folding views of Batavia and another of Timor, also by Tombe. The maps depict the Isle de France i.e. Mauritius, Sumatra, the defences of Batavia, Madura Strait in East Java, Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, Isle Bonaparte i.e. Reunion Island, and a plan of Colombo. Provenance: This fine set has a presentation inscription signed by Tombe with his rank of chef de bataillon (commandant) to his friend Jaussaud, then mayor of Forcalquier in Haute Provence (“Exemplaire offert par I’auteur a Mr Jaussaud maire de Forcalquier. Le chef de bataillon Ch. F. Tombe”). US$4400 Brunet VI, 20019; Mendelssohn II, 503; Monglond, VIII, 993-995 (calling for only17 plates); Ryckebusch, 7791; Toussaint & Adolphe, D 1518 (wrongly dated 1811).
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51. VANCOUVER, Captain
George.
A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world… in the Discovery sloop of war, and armed tender Chatham, under the command of Captain George Vancouver.
Complete set, three volumes, quarto, with 18 engraved plates of views, the folio atlas with 16 large plates of charts and views; handsomely bound in quarter calf with speckled papered boards and vellum tips, spines gilt in compartments, old crimson labels., G.G. and J. Robinson, 1798. Cook’s great apprentice in the Pacific
First edition of this great voyage, “one of the most important ever made” (Hill), with a splendid series of charts. Cook would have approved of the accuracy of Vancouver’s charting, which survived almost unchanged into modern times, and certainly Vancouver had learned the lessons of long voyages from his old captain, with only five men of a complement of180 being lost in over four years at sea. But it is also true that by 1794 Vancouver was subject to wild mood swings and erratic behaviour which led to him being feared and sometimes mocked by his men (in modern times it has been argued that he was suffering from some form of hypothyroidism, possibly Grave’s Disease). His health was ruined by the time they returned to England in 1795. Vancouver retired to Petersham to prepare this publication for the press, but in an eerie foreshadowing of the fate of his successor Flinders, died at age 40 while the account was nearing publication. Provenance: Joseph Robertson Raines (1802-1884), with armorial bookplates; private collection (Sydney). US$42,600 Ferguson, 281; Forbes, 298; Hill, 1753; Lada-Mocarski, 55; Australian Rare Books, 63a.
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First published in 2018 Hordern House Rare Books Level 2, 255 Riley Street Surry Hills Sydney, NSW 2010 Australia PO Box 588, Darlinghurst NSW 1300 Australia Hordern House Rare Books Pty. Ltd. ACN 050 963 669 www.hordern.com rare@hordern.com Telephone: +61 2 9356 4411
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