[London], Gordon's Gin, [early 1930s]. An amusing and ingenious promotional gimmick from the great age of the cocktail. The smaller disc is printed to resemble a gramophone record. As it is rotated, the ingredients to 25 different cocktail recipes are displayed in small windows cut in the card. The text..... More

[Adelaide, 2/10th Battalion Association, 1958]. The author was also Chairman of the 2/10th Battalion AIF History Committee; his signature (E.F. Allchin) appears at the end of the acknowledgements section (page ix). Fellow-committeeman Hec Ellis, who contributed the chapter on sport, has also signed this page (appending the date 6 May..... More

London, Henry Teesdale & Co., March 1837. The map of 'Mexico and Guatimala' [sic] does not recognise the recently-declared Republic of Texas, but rather continues to show it as a province of Mexico, most likely due to Britain's friendly relations with Mexico. The map of the 'Colony of New South..... More

Adelaide, The Griffin Press ('A prestige publication of The Griffin Press, Adelaide. Distributed by the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, Melbourne'), 1966. The edition was limited to only 200 numbered copies signed by the artist. More

Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991. With the ownership signature of Sir Walter Crocker (17 March 1992), his frequent pencilled annotations and emphases, and his detailed notes on the rear endpaper. A number of relevant items are loosely inserted: the original prospectus; a note from Dr John Playford requesting a review;..... More

London, Selwyn & Blount, 1923 ('Limited Edition', first thus)/ 1919. 'One hundred copies have been issued of this book with seven hand-coloured woodcuts by Agatha Walker'; this is an unnumbered copy, possibly out of series. More

Adelaide, Gillingham & Co., 1934. With the ownership signature of Stanley Robert Mitchell (1881-1963), 'ethnologist, mineralogist, metallurgist and businessman ... In the 1930s and 1940s he belonged to a distinguished group of "amateur" ethnologists and collectors who gathered around Sir Baldwin Spencer. They collected massive numbers of Aboriginal implements and..... More

London, John Lane The Bodley Head Limited, 1925. The autobiography of the prominent Victorian-era artist, author and teacher Louise Jane Jopling (née Goode, later Rowe) (1843-1933), largely forgotten now - and this book is rare by any account. The blurb for a recent book by Dr Patricia De Montfort ('Louise..... More

The photographs are on their original card mounts; the photographers are not identified, but the verso of one card carries the purple and gilt ticket 'From Harris's Fancy Goods Establishment ... Auckland'. The subjects are identified in two instances: Patomia, an elderly man; and Wiremu Tamihana (William Thompson, circa 1805-1866)..... More

Adelaide, Mawson Institute, 1937 to 1976. Series A [Geographical Report, Geology, Hydrology & Magnetism] comprises 10 parts in 4 volumes. Series B [Biology including Fishes, Birds, Invertebrates & Plants] comprises 50 parts in 9 volumes. Volume 1 in Series A, published in 1963, is the lengthy 'Geographical Report based on..... More

London, John Murray, 1820. A lavish and important record of Oxley's expeditions to chart the Lachlan and Macquarie rivers, considered to be 'the foundation work in the field of Australian inland exploration and the first detailed description of the interior of New South Wales' (Wantrup: 'Australian Rare Books'). The aquatint..... More

Glasgow, James MacLehose and Sons, and New York, The Macmillan Company, 1898. Loosely inserted is a colour transparency relating to the eye. The book comes from the collection of the noted New Zealand photographic historian Hardwicke Knight, with his label to that effect on the front pastedown. His pencilled note..... More

It is undated, but it was written in Adelaide in November 1907 when Shackleton was on his way south; it was in reply to a 'kind note. I am interested to read of your connection with a man on Ross' Expedition'. The visit had lasting and significant consequences; a local..... More

London, T. and W. Boone, 1846. 'As the official account of the last major expedition of Australian discovery, [Stokes'] book is essential to a collection relating to coastal voyages. It is also of considerable interest to collectors of inland exploration journals, since Stokes and the crew of the "Beagle" undertook..... More

The first hospital in Port Augusta 'was built in 1873, with Dr William Markham as the first Medical Superintendent; he served the community until 1897' (Port Augusta City Council website). This testimonial was presented to Dr Markham prior to his departure on 'a well-earned holiday trip to the Old World..... More

Adelaide, Hussey and Gillingham, 1909. Not surprisingly, we have been unable to trace any other copies of this parochial in-house type specimen catalogue. The choice of text is instructive, with the largest number of words appearing in the smallest-available type (Pearl Roman, the second of the 621 individual fonts on..... More