Observation Post. Six Years of War with the 2/11th Australian Army Field Regiment
West Essendon, 2/11th Australian Army Field Regiment Unit History Committee, 1989. Inscribed and signed by the author on the title page. More
Yet more temptation! There are 150 items to browse this time, so we’ll make this introduction mercifully brief.
A copy of the first book published in German in South Australia (Fritzsche’s Beleuchtung der in dem gedruckten Synodalausschreiben des Pastors Herrn August Kavel, 1847) may not be to everyone’s taste, but then again, we have only the one copy for sale (well, actually ...).
However, we do have fourteen J.M. Coetzee titles, all signed, including unique Booker Prize-winner presentation copies; some two dozen items of Indigenous Australian interest (including two very rare Captain Sweet photographs, among our wide selection of other rare photographica) … enough said!
West Essendon, 2/11th Australian Army Field Regiment Unit History Committee, 1989. Inscribed and signed by the author on the title page. More
Frenchs Forest, 2/18th Battalion (AIF) Associations, 1991. Initially sent to Malaya as garrison troops, by early 1942 the 2/18th found themselves defending Singapore against the Japanese, 'savaging a superior enemy force to such an extent that, for the one and only time in the campaign, the Japanese withdrew from battle'..... More
Adelaide, Rigby, 1952. More
Norwood, Peacock Publications, 2011 (reprint)/ 2006. Compiled from letters, diaries and manuscripts; the illustrations are predominantly portraits. The author advised us that the print run was 1000 copies. More
The gloss-paper prints are each approximately 150 × 200 mm. The three streetscapes have the title and studio credited in the negative. The first two items are slightly foxed, and there is a tiny hole in the sky in the first one; the gloss surface is lightly scuffed; overall, the..... More
The gloss-paper prints are each approximately 150 × 200 mm. All four photographs have the title credited in the negative. The gloss surface is lightly scuffed in all instances; overall, the condition is excellent. These photographs come from an incomplete and damaged loose-leaf album purchased at auction in Adelaide in..... More
Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 1956, 1960, 1958 and 1964 (all first - and only - editions). Charles Mountford was the leader of the expedition; he was also the author of the first volume, the editor of the second, and co-editor of the third with R.L. Specht (who edited the fourth..... More
London, John Murray, 1912 [first edition in English]. The first attainment of the South Pole, in competition with Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Renard 17; Rosove 9.A1. More
The negative is captioned 'Anzac Day 25-4-17'. Apart from trifling surface loss to a tiny section in the blank foreground, the item is in very good condition. The verso contains a short letter from an Australian serviceman (surname Baker) convalescing in Exeter ('23.5.17. 5 V.A. Hospital Exeter Engl.'). This Voluntary..... More
London, Charles Skilton, 1962 (facsimile edition)/ 1879. The second of three independent volumes of this classic bibliography of prohibited books, many of them of an erotic nature. One of only 395 copies. More
'The first Australia Day was held on 30 July 1915. Its objective was to raise funds for wounded Australian soldiers from the Gallipoli campaign.... During the First World War money was often raised for patriotic funds by setting aside a special "day" on which activities such as auctions, street collections..... More
Leipzig, Karl Baedeker, 1907 (third edition, revised and augmented). Provenance: Josiah Henry Symon, with his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown. Sir Josiah Henry Symon (1846-1934), lawyer, politician, and pre-eminent man of books, was knighted in January 1901 'for services to the cause of Federation' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'), but..... More
Melbourne, Mason, Firth and M'Cutcheon, 1871 [first edition]. The last twelve pages contain interesting period advertisements. More
Sydney, Associated Newspapers Limited, 1943. More
Adelaide, Rigby, 1979. The first book published on the Papunya painting movement by the man responsible for its development. It presents 'twenty-four of the best paintings by twenty artists who are recognised leaders'. This copy is inscribed and signed by the author ('Geoffrey Bardon AM. In appreciation. Respects to Milton..... More
Angaston, 'Barossa News' Limited (printed by Hussey and Gillingham, Adelaide), 1911. A very rare item of local history: we have handled only two other copies since 1976, and both were in worse condition than this one. The content is far more substantial than its title suggests; there are thirteen pages..... More
The sepia-toned high-gloss albumen paper photograph (image size 153 × 196 mm) is in excellent condition; the original card mount (253 × 303 mm) is stained in one margin, with minor loss to one corner and another margin. The photographer is not credited, but someone at a later date has..... More
Adelaide, F.W. Preece and Sons, 1925 [first edition]. Sometime Chief Medical Inspector and Chief Protector of Aborigines in the Northern Territory, and Special Aborigines' Commissioner for the Federal and State Governments, 'anthropologist, geologist, explorer and medical practitioner ... [This publication was] a positive contribution at a time when little detailed..... More
Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1924. Provenance: Dr George Mackaness, with his 'Bountiana' bookplate (featuring a design by Geoffrey Ingleton) on the front flyleaf. More
London, Warne, [circa 1930]. Muir 604 (Wally the Kangaroo): 'Simple story about toy animals with no reference to Australia'. More
London, The Walpole Press ('Printed for Subscribers Only'), 1899 [first thus]/ 1821. Number 412 of 1000 copies of the 'Fine Library Edition, illustrated with 25 plates'. There is a 'Nota Bene' preceding the list of plates, to the effect that Plates 10 and 17 to 24 'should not be carelessly..... More
Vancouver, UBC Press, 1993 (first Canadian edition)/ 1993. One of the Miegunyah Press series, first published by Melbourne University Press earlier the same year. 'Material originally collected in the 1940s now appears for the first time in this intricate study of an Aboriginal people who inhabited some of the richest..... More
Paris, Leon Willem, 1870 ('nouvelle edition')/ [circa 1616]. Printed for subscribers only, this copy comes from the issue on fine laid China paper. 'Cet ouvrage, imprimé à petit nombre aux frais & pour le compte des Souscripteurs n'a pas été mis en vente. MM. les Libraires-Souscripteurs sont prévenus qu'il leur..... More
London, A. & H. Bradlaugh Bonner, [circa 1900]. Bradlaugh and Besant were prosecuted for publishing Charles Knowleton's 'Fruits of Philosophy'. The preface states that 'its importance lies in the fact that it is condemned - says Lord Chief Justice Cockburn - because it advocates prudential restraint to population, while also..... More
London, Zwemmer Gallery, 1967. Number 176 of 300 copies numbered, dated (London, 1967) and signed by the artist. The technique of sfumato ('the use of carbon from a naked candle flame or from an oil lamp as an aid to painting') is discussed in the book in an article by..... More
[No publishing details given, other than 'Privately printed by the Burton Club' on the title page, but probably a 1970s American facsimile reprint of the Burton Society edition of 1900-1901, which was the first reprint of the first unexpurgated edition of 1885-1888]. Penzer's bibliography of Burton contains interesting details of..... More
Adelaide, RGSSA, 1927. The information 'more particularly relates to the Adelaide tribe'; from the previously unpublished manuscript of 1844, which was first published in Volume 27 (1927) of the Proceedings. More
London, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1947 [first thus]. The work was originally published in four individual volumes between 1933 and 1938; each book in this edition contains two complete volumes of the original edition. More
Incomplete personal reminiscences by John Matthew Clark (foolscap folio, 6 pages of manuscript offered with these poems) indicate he embarked in Sydney for South Africa in April 1900, disembarking at Bera on 17 May. The memoir ('Ridges & Valleys') starts out promisingly: lions v picketed-out horses, a 380-mile trek to..... More
London, The Golden Cockerel Press, 1934. Number 126 of only 300 copies signed by Enid Clay and Eric Gill. More
London, Secker & Warburg, 1990 (second impression)/ 1990. The title page is signed by the author, the first person to win the Booker Prize twice (in 1983 and 1999); he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. More
London, Harvill Secker, 2013 (first edition). 'This leather-bound edition ... signed by the author, is limited to 100 copies of which this is number 1'. More
London, Harvill Secker, 2007 (first edition). 'This leather-bound edition ... signed by the author, is limited to 100 copies of which this is number 1'. More
London, Secker & Warburg, 1999 (fourth impression)/ 1999. 'Each of the shortlisted authors receives ... a specially bound edition of their book' (from the Man Booker Prize website). This novel was awarded the 1999 Booker Prize; this copy has mounted on the pastedown a paper label with the printed heading..... More
Douglas, Isle of Man, Oak Tree Press, 2006 (first thus). The second volume in the Oak Tree Press First Chapter Series (first chapters from Booker Prize-winning novels; the series is 'dedicated to children living with HIV/AIDS'). The total edition comprised 350 copies: 300 in the standard edition, numbered 36 to..... More
Santiago, El Faro, 2015. The limited edition comprised 110 copies signed by the author (100 copies numbered 1-100 for sale, 10 copies numbered I-X not for sale). This is copy number IX, signed by both the author and the translator. More
Santiago, El Faro, 2015. The limited edition comprised 110 copies signed by the author (100 copies numbered 1-100 for sale, 10 copies numbered I-X not for sale). This is copy number VIII, signed by both the translator and the author, the first person to win the Booker Prize twice (in..... More
London, Rees & O'Neill, 2003. Published in an edition of only 87 copies ('75 copies, numbered 1-75, are bound in cloth; 12 copies, numbered I-XII, are bound in Nigerian goatskin. All copies are signed by the author'). This is copy number VI. Not only is the colophon signed, as stated..... More
London, Rees & O'Neill, 2003. Published in an edition of only 87 copies ('75 copies, numbered 1-75, are bound in cloth; 12 copies, numbered I-XII, are bound in Nigerian goatskin. All copies are signed by the author'). This is copy number V. Not only is the colophon signed, as stated..... More
Austin, Intermezzo Press, 2002. The text is the postscript to the author's novel, 'Elizabeth Costello', published in 2003. The title page is signed by the author. More
London, Secker & Warburg, 1983 (first edition). 'Each of the shortlisted authors receives ... a specially bound edition of their book' (from the Man Booker Prize website). This novel was awarded the 1983 Booker Prize; this copy has mounted on the front free endpaper a label with 'Booker McConnell Prize'..... More
London, Secker & Warburg, 2005 (first edition). 'This leather-bound edition ... signed by the author, is limited to 100 copies of which this is number 1.' The author was the first person to win the Booker Prize twice (in 1983 and 1999); he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature..... More
London, Harvill Secker, 2009 (second impression)/ 2009. 'Each of the shortlisted authors receives ... a specially bound edition of their book' (from the Man Booker Prize website). This novel was shortlisted for the 2009 Booker Prize; this copy has mounted on the flyleaf a paper label with the printed heading..... More
London, Faber and Faber, and Harvill Secker, 2013. 'One hundred and ten copies have been specially bound and signed by the authors. One hundred copies numbered 1-100 are for sale. Ten copies numbered i-x are reserved for the authors'; this is copy number iv. More
London, Faber and Faber, and Harvill Secker, 2013. 'One hundred and ten copies have been specially bound and signed by the authors. One hundred copies numbered 1-100 are for sale. Ten copies numbered i-x are reserved for the authors'; this is copy number iii. J.M. Coetzee was the first person..... More
Germany, Verlag Thomas Reche, 2012. In spite of the title, the book is in fact bilingual, the first half being 'The Farm' (an extract from the author's fictionalized 1997 memoir 'Boyhood') in English. One of 400 unnumbered copies signed in pencil at the rear by the author and the artist..... More
Brisbane, Queensland Printing and Publishing Co. (Hodgson and Paton), 1897. The artist James Swinton Diston (1857-1940) was born in Scotland and emigrated to Australia in 1886. 'Mr Diston is an artist of long-established reputation, a Member of the Council of the Art Society of New South Wales, his pictures having..... More