THE TASMANIAN “PIRATED” PICKWICK

13. DICKENS, Charles.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

Octavo, lithographed frontispiece, additional lithographed title-page with vignette, and 18 lithograph plates (variants all in Craig’s “A” state), as usual without the half-title and two leaves of inserted terminal advertisements (issued in only a few copies); the plate at p. 95 with lower outer section (less than a quarter of the image) supplied in good facsimile); contemporary half calf. V.D. Land: Launceston, Henry Dowling, 1838 [-1839].

The famous Tasmanian Pickwick. Capitalising on the huge demand for the London printing of Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, the Launceston printer Henry Dowling decided to pirate the edition and release it in parts as they became available throughout 1838 and 1839. The story of its publication is dealt with at length by Clifford Craig, in The Van Diemen’s Land Edition of the Pickwick Papers (Hobart 1973), who describes the book as ‘one of the most coveted books sought after by the Australian collector’. It is a rarity in collections of Dickens in Europe and America.

The illustrations were offered for sale after the publication in parts was complete, and were used for finished volumes like this. They have generally been attributed to either Jack Briggs, who was a servant of the publisher, or Wainwright, the poisoner,a skilled artist. More recent research, however, hypothesises that they may have been carried out by the colonial artist Robert Hawker Dowling, the publisher’s brother.

The title-page is dated 1838 while the pictorial title-page is dated 1839.

The lithograph plates in this copy are all examples of the ‘A’ variants identified by Craig (five plates, at pp. 76, 117, 233, 265 and 334 or 337, are known in two distinct versions which he identified as ‘A’ or ‘B’). A contemporary advertisement sang the praises of this “product of colonial industry… The obstacles which the Publisher has had to contend with in the production in this Colony [of the lithograph illustrations] can only be estimated by those who are familiar with the lithographic art…”.

Bremer, 355; Craig (Engravers), pp. 127-132; Craig (The Van Diemen’s Land Edition of The Pickwick Papers), passim, and pp. 24-44 for the variant plates; Ferguson, 2473; Kerr, pp. 804-5 and 217-9.

$9850 [5000623 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

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Departure Of The Astrolabe

14. [DUMONT D’URVILLE] CHARLES X.

Medal for the departure of the first voyage of the Astrolabe.

Bronze medal, 50 mm, Paris, Depaulis, 1826.

Rare original medallion commemorating the departure on 25 April 1826 of the first voyage of the Astrolabe to the South Seas, under the command of Dumont d’Urville.

The Astrolabe (Duperrey’s old ship the Coquille renamed in honour of La Pérouse) was instructed to explore the principal island groups in the South Pacific, completing the work of the Duperrey voyage, on which the commander had been a naturalist. The expedition sailed via the Cape of Good Hope, through Bass Strait, stopped at Port Phillip, and arrived at Sydney on 1 December 1828. They later sailed via the northwest coast of Australia to Tasmania, from where they proceeded to Vanikoro in search of traces of La Pérouse.

The full inscription on the reverse reads: “S.A.R. Monseigneur Le Dauphin, Amiral de France. M. Le Cte Chabrol de Crouzol, Pair de France, Ministre de la Marine. M. Dumont D’Urville, Captaine de Fregate, commandant ‘‘Expedition”.

Marquess of Milford Haven, ‘British and Foreign Naval Medals’, 190.

$3600 [3903104 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

15. DUMONT D’URVILLE, Jules Sébastien César.

Autograph letter signed to Mr. Chauvin…

Single sheet of laid paper, 207 x 260 mm., folded vertically to form a letter, written in a small and neat hand to first page and addressed – but not stamped – to the last, old folds; excellent. N.P., N.D., but circa 1832.

A significant letter in which the great Pacific and Antarctic explorer Dumont d’Urville presents the first parts of his official account of his first voyage to the natural historian F.J. Chauvin of Caen, active in botanical studies in the mid-nineteenth century. Chauvin’s herbarium is still held at the Université de Caen, and he is remembered by several plants named in his honour.

In the letter, Dumont d’Urville sends Chauvin the “first two parts” of his voyage account, in the hope that they will be of interest. It may be that he was sending the first parts of the historical narrative of the voyage, first published in 1830, but given Chauvin’s botanical studies, it seems more likely that he was being sent the two parts of the Botanie volume, edited by Lesson & Richard (I. Essai d’une Flore de la Nouvelle Zelande. II. Sertum Astrolabianum, Paris, 1832-4).

Dumont d’Urville had sailed on the Astrolabe (Duperrey’s old ship the Coquille renamed in honour of La Pérouse) from Toulon in April 1826. He was instructed to explore the principal island groups in the South Pacific, completing the work of the Duperrey voyage, on which the commander himself had been a naturalist. Because of his great interest in natural history, huge amounts of scientific data and specimens were collected, described and illustrated in sumptuous folio atlases. The expedition stopped at the Cape of Good Hope, passed through Bass Strait visiting Port Phillip, and arrived at Sydney on 1 December 1828.

Extensive visits were made to both Sydney and Parramatta, where Dumont d’Urville visited Samuel Marsden; the expedition sailed for New Zealand in January 1827, explored Tasman Bay, found a pass between an island in Cook Strait and the northern shore of South Island (the island consequently named D’Urville and the strait French Strait) and worked up the coast of North Island, completing the ‘most comprehensive exploration of the islands since Cook’s death’. They made Tonga in April 1827, explored the Fiji Archipelago, New Britain and New Guinea. In November, after a stop at Amboina, they coasted along the north-west coast of Australia and reached Tasmania. In 1828 they continued to Vanikoro in search of traces of La Pérouse, and stopped at Guam in the Marianas, before returning via the Cape of Good Hope, reaching Marseille on 25 March 1829.

$2800 [4002623 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

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Iconic Portraits Of First Nations Inhabitants Of King George Sound Wa

16. [DUMONT D’URVILLE] SAINSON, M. de

Nlle. Hollande (Port du Roi Georges).

Two lithographs, one handcoloured, 340 x 540 mm (sheet). Paris, Tastu, 1833.

Rare: original lithographs, in both the coloured and uncoloured states, from the official account of the Dumont d’Urville expedition, Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe et la Zelee (1833).

Louis de Sainson, the topographical draughtsman travelling with the expedition, created a series of portraits depicting indigenous people he encountered in the places they visited. He made many detailed studies of the local inhabitants of King George’s Sound from 15 to 25 October 1826. King George’s Sound proved a perfect watering place for the expedition with an abundance of fresh water, firewood and a safe anchorage. These portraits aimed to document the physical appearances, dress, and customs of the indigenous populations they encountered. These artworks provide valuable historical and cultural insights into First Nations communities at the time of colonial settlement.

$2500 [5000876 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE DUYFKEN: ONE OF VERY FEW REFERENCES TO THE SHIP IN PRINT

17.

[DUYFKEN] HARMENSZ, Wolfert.

Journael, ofte dach-register vande Voyagie…

Oblong folio, 28 pp.; bound in full dark-brown oasis. Amsterdam, Jan Jansz, 1645.

First edition of one of the first Dutch voyages across the Indian Ocean, published as one of the separate pieces that were also combined to make up Commelin’s voyage collection Begin ende Voortgangh. This is one of remarkably few printed references to the Duyfken, the tiny ship of huge importance to Australian history.

Harmensz was in joint command of the third major voyage by the Dutch to the East-Indies, the so-called Moluccan Fleet of 1601-1603 which set out to establish a new Dutch presence in the East Indies. The five ships reached Bantam, Java, at the end of 1601 where they were confronted by a substantial Portuguese fleet of thirty ships under the command of Andrea Fortade de Mendoça. Harmensz’s conquest of the Portuguese fleet marked a turning point in the history of the region, bringing to a close the domination of the Portuguese and Spanish in the Spice Trade to Europe.

Of special interest to us today is that one of the five ships of Harmensz’s fleet was the Duyfken, then under the command of Willem Cornelisz Schouten. This was her first voyage; returning to Europe in 1603, she was quickly turned round and came back to the East Indies in the fleet of van der Hagen with Willem Janszoon as skipper. She was sent separately to the southeast, and early in 1606, sailing alone, she coasted Cape York Peninsula, making the first authenticated sighting of Australia by Europeans, as well as the first authenticated landing of Europeans on Australian soil. In 1607, she may have made a second voyage east to Australia.

The famous replica of the ship, launched in 1999, is now permanently in the collection of the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Landwehr, ‘VOC’, 250 (9); Tiele, ‘Bibliography’, 1206; Tiele, ‘Mémoire’, 162.

$8500 [4401830 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

With Four Good Maps Of East Asia

18. EARL, George Windsor.

The Eastern Seas, or Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago

Octavo, with four folding maps; a fine copy in full navy gilt morocco. London, William H. Allen and Co., 1837. A fine copy of this engaging account of travels in the East Indies, especially Java and the Malay Peninsula. The voyage that Earl describes started from Western Australia, and his appendix includes “Observations on the Unexplored Parts of North and North-Western Australia”. The most important section of the book is the long description of Singapore and discussion of its prospects.

Earl adds a 14-page article at the end, “Observations on the Unexplored Parts of North and Northwestern Australia”. Many years later he wrote the Handbook for Colonists in Tropical Australia (published Singapore 1862), a useful book in the settlement of the Northern Territory.

Cordier, Indosinica, 892-3; Ferguson, 2255.

Provenance: Geoffrey Ingleton (renowned Sydney collector, d.1998; with bookplate).

$2250 [5000841 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

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Rumours Of Cannibalism And Murder In The Frozen North

19. FRANKLIN, Sir John.

Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea

Two volumes, octavo, with four splendid folding maps; in contemporary navy blue half calf, marbled boards, edges and endpapers, spines ornately panelled in gilt with duble brown labels (lettered “Franklin’s Journey to the Copper Mine River”). London, John Murray, 1824.

A particularly fine set, in a most attractive contemporary binding, of the second, first octavo, edition: Sir John Franklin’s narrative of the 1819-1822 expedition to the polar north under his command. Assured of guides and ongoing supplies by the Hudson’s Bay Company, Franklin and his party of twenty men sought an overland route east of the Coppermine River. Using native canoes to traverse a vast landscape, relations among the men deteriorated as food and supplies dwindled. Cold, exposure and starvation took a harrowing toll as cannibalism and murder erupted amongst the voyagers. A total of nine men died.

This account was initially published in a lavishly illustrated quarto edition. This second edition in smaller format features four splendidly engraved maps. Franklin, who had served as a midshipman under Matthew Flinders in the Investigator during the circumnavigation of Australia in 1801-04, was later appointed as Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania from 1837 to 1843. His reputation as an Arctic explorer and his search for the North West Passage grew in the following years, and culminated in the loss of the Erebus and Terror on his final expedition in search of the passage in June 1847.

$2100 [5000768 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

PROOF ZOOLOGICAL ENGRAVING BEFORE SIGNIFICANT EDITING

20. [FREYCINET VOYAGE] PREVOST, A; engraved by Jean Louis-Denis COUTANT,

“Kanguroo à queue grèle:” Proof engraving (before substantial changes) for plate 10 in the Atlas Zoologie of the Freycinet account of the Uranie voyage. Black and white engraving, 320 x 238mm. [Paris], [Langlois], 1824 or earlier.

Very rare early proof for an engraving of a potoroo in the zoological Atlas of the Freycinet voyage account: the engraving as finally published would include a further taxonomical detail in the form of added detail of the animal’s skull, titled “Son crâne”, and the caption would be entirely changed, renaming the animal completely from Kangurus lepturus as shown here to Hypsiprymnus white. These are names given to different specimens of Gaimard’s Rat-Kangaroo collected by the Freycinet voyage zoologists Jean Rene Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard. We are not aware of the reasoning that led to this change of name, but such a substantial change from proof to finished engraving is noteworthy.

In the text of the Zoologie section Quoy and Gaimard equate the “petit kanguroo ou le kanguroo-rat des habitans du Port-Jackson” with those shown in the First Fleet accounts of Phillip (plate 47) and White (plate 60), and tell a sad story of the live specimen that they collected: “Notre individu a vécu quelques jours à bord de l’Uranie: il devint victime de la férocité d’un chien que nous avions pris aux îles des Papous, et qui l’étrangla au moment où il s’avançait vers lui en cherchant à le caresser…” [The dog ate our potoroo].

For the naming of different specimens collected of the potoroo, see Iredale and Troughton, p. 37, “Checklist of the mammals recorded from Australia”, in Australian Museum Memoir 6: 1–122, 1934.

$2600 [4505062 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at

FUSELI’S FIRST & BEST LECTURES; WILLIAM BLAKE’S ENGRAVING OF MICHELANGELO

21. FUSELI, Henry Lectures on Paintings…

Quarto, engraved vignette on title-page and a half-page portrait of Michelangelo engraved by William Blake on final page of text; contemprary half dark calf andmarbled boards. London, Printed for J. Johnson, St Paul’s Church-Yard, 1801.

Fuseli, the Swiss-born painter Johann Heinrich Füssli, was known for his insightful and influential lectures on art, which he delivered during his time as a professor at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. His first three lectures, delivered in March 1801, appear here (“Ancient Art”; “Art of the Moderns”; and “Inventions”); they are generally seen as the best of his twelve such lectures, especially for the concentration of the first two on the history rather than techniques of art. All twelve lectures at the Academy were published some decades later in “Lectures on Painting, by the Royal Academicians” (London, 1848).

This rare printing is valuable for the striking full-length portrait of Michelangelo, “Ancora imparo” [“still learning”], with the wall of the Colosseum in the background, engraved by William Blake after Fuseli, while the vignette on the title-page, a classical depiction of a woman with head bowed and legs crossed, engraved by Francis Legat after Fuseli, is characteristic of Fuseli’s sometimes mysteriously doom-laden vision.

Provenance: Archibald Michie, 1813-1899; Australian politician who arrived from London in Sydney in 1839, later moving to Melbourne where he ultimately became attorney general of Victoria (with his signature on the title-page and a number of intelligent notes in margins). With the London binder’s ticket of McDonald and Duthie, St Martin’s Lane. Later blind-stamp of “H.T. Dwight bookseller near Parliament Houses”: Dwight “the colonial Quaritch”, started his business in Bourke Street in 1857. It continued after his death until 1872.

$1825 [5000741 at hordern.com] see description and illustrations at