Highlights from our last offering for 2020 include an 1890s Yokohama Nursery Company catalogue with 142 superb handcoloured plates; Pastoral Homes of Australia (1931), the last volume – and possibly the scarcest – in the seven-volume series commenced in 1910; a selection of rare editions signed by J.M. Coetzee; and numerous ephemeral Boer War printings.
Photographs and autographs are also well-represented: among them are Indigenous Australian portraits; a significant collection of 44 vintage photographs (circa 1887-94) of indigenous life in the Bismarck Archipelago and German New Guinea by Richard Parkinson; a group photograph signed by Charles Kingsford Smith and the crew of the first trans-Pacific flight in 1928; items signed by Birdwood of Anzac, and a menu signed by 14 VC winners.
Season’s greetings and happy browsing!
Richard Parkinson (1844-1909) is usually considered to have been of German origin, although he was born in the Duchy of Schleswig when it was part of Denmark. Following Germany's establishment of its Pacific Island colonies in the late nineteenth century, Parkinson was officially recognized by the colonial authorities as being..... More
'The Pastoral Review', December 1931. Seven substantial quarto volumes in this rare and important series were published in Sydney between 1910 and 1931. The first four volumes were published by 'The Pastoralist's Review' between 1910 and 1914; the three volumes of the New Series were published by 'The Pastoral Review'..... More
London, George Harrap & Co., [circa 1920]/ 1909 [first thus]. A most attractive edition, with the text printed in an ornate calligraphic font, often set within variant decorative borders. More
This experimental image (102 × 76 mm) is mounted on plain card (121 × 190 mm); both are in fine condition. The card is warmly inscribed (we believe to Becquerel himself) by its maker, one Julius Hartmann of Michelstadt, Hesse. He refers to it as a 'Radiographie'. On the verso..... More
Phoenix, Falcon Press, 1982 (third printing)/ 1970. Number 233 of 250 copies; this copy is signed by the author on the title page. More
Haarlem, The Technical Publishing Company, 1957. E.M. Neuerburg has contributed a chapter on measurement. Volume V in the 'Ships and Marine Engines' series. More
Sydney, 'Photolithographed by Gibbs, Shallard & Co.', 1885. The front cover illustration contains 'The Principal Officers in the New South Wales Contingent to Egypt', and there are a further five pages of illustrations, and text on seven pages, relating to the war in Soudan, and in particular, the preparation and..... More
Adelaide, Sands and McDougall, 1884. These nineteenth century directories are increasingly difficult to find; many of them were not issued with maps, and those that were now rarely retain them. Although technically the twenty-first year of publication, this year was the first time it appeared under the Sands and McDougall..... More
Adelaide, Friends of the State Library of South Australia, 2001 [first thus]/ 1858 to 1863. Australian Parliamentary Editions Number 3. This is number 96 of 99 copies of the deluxe issue, from a total edition of 500 copies. 'This work republishes the five ... papers published soon after the end..... More
London, MacDonald and Evans, 1909. More
![Le Surréalisme, même. [Number] 1. [Together with Numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 (the complete set)]....](/pictures/thumb/120286_01.jpg?v=1606114745)
Paris, Librairie Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1957 to 1959. The complete run of this important French journal ('Surrealism, itself'). The print run and quality of the production went down as time passed, with the editions limited to 5030, 5030, unstated, 3530, and 1975 copies respectively (with our copy of the last one..... More
Melbourne, Printed by D.W. Paterson Co. Pty. Ltd., [1919] (this example was presented on 9 July 1919). 1886 Gunner Donald Davidson Smith enlisted in Melbourne on 14 August 1915, and he was initially attached to the 8th Light Horse. However, his service record indicates he ended up in the 42nd..... More
Adelaide, Hunkin, Ellis & King, Printers and Publishers, Pirie Street, [1929 (first edition, first impression)]. This is claimed - incorrectly - to be the first book by an Aboriginal Australian (see Michael Richards: 'People, Print and Paper. A Catalogue of a Travelling Exhibition celebrating the Books of Australia, 1788-1988', National..... More
Adelaide, Hunkin, Ellis & King, Printers and Publishers, Pirie Street, [1929 (first edition, later impression)]. This is claimed - incorrectly - to be the first book by an Aboriginal Australian (see Michael Richards: 'People, Print and Paper. A Catalogue of a Travelling Exhibition celebrating the Books of Australia, 1788-1988', National..... More
The Victoria Cross recipients who have signed this menu are: William Jackson VC; George J. 'Snowy' Howell VC MM; Rupert Theo Vance 'Mick' Moon VC; Robert Gee VC MC; Clifford William King Sadlier VC; John Carroll VC; Thomas Leslie 'Jack' Axford VC MM; William Donovan Joynt VC; Edward 'Ted' Kenna..... More
Adelaide, Harrison Weir, Government Printer, 1929. One of the Handbooks of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia series. More
HRH the Prince of Wales spent a week in Adelaide in mid-July 1920, during a three-month visit to Australia. The photograph shows him standing in front of Parliament House, Adelaide. He has inscribed the bottom corner 'Sincerely Yours | Edward P.' George Lionel Marchant (1882-1958) ran a successful studio in..... More
'Kureelpa', via Nambour, Queensland, 'Designed and Copyrighted throughout the United Kingdom and Australia by Wm. Smith', 1920. This deluxe souvenir consists of ten vignette illustrations (two from photographs) in decorative cartouches (a design of red, white and blue ribbons, and sprays of wattle). They show Allied artillery, aeroplanes, submarines, tanks..... More
Maitland, C.C. Neale, Printer, 'Maitland Watch', 1914. Weetulta is a small settlement on the Yorke Peninsula, between Moonta and Maitland; the population in 2016 was 74. The front cover is signed 'Dawson Morris'; he is presumably a member of the pioneering family featured in the booklet. More
New York, Russell and Russell, 1965 (facsimile edition)/ 1911. More
London, Lloyd's Register of Shipping, May 1932. Both items have the contemporary inkstamp of 'David K. Blair | Surveyor to Lloyd's Register | Wellington NZ'; the front cover of the main work is stamped on gilt 'Surveyor's Office, Wellington'. A year later, in June 1933, Blair gifted the book to..... More
Adelaide, E.S. Wigg & Son, 1888. Sir William Henry Bundey (1838-1909), for ten years Commodore of the South Australian Yacht Club, was a South Australian MP (Attorney-General, 1878-81), and later a Supreme Court judge. An uncommon book on an uncommon (Australian) topic. More
Camden, International Marine Publishing, 1981. The author 'discusses more than 100 of the best-known and most representative Rhodes yacht designs'. More
[New York], T.J. Maloney ('A U.S. Camera Book'), 1947. This copy is signed in ink by the photographer at the foot of the frontispiece. This is possibly one of a deluxe issue; the standard edition (unsigned) is bound in blue cloth with white lettering. More
Mystic, Mystic Seaport, 2015. Volume 2 has not yet been published. More
Hobart, Government of Tasmania/ Hobart Marine Board [and the] Hobart City Council, 1936. More
