Looking Back. An Autobiographical Excursion
London, Chatto and Windus, 1934 (first thus)/ 1933 (in two volumes). More
The cover illustration to our latest catalogue – an image emblematic of the times? – is ‘The Blizzard’, one of seven vintage photographs by Frank Hurley from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 we have for sale. Other important photographic items are the Royal Photographic Society’s 1932 portfolio, Pictures from the Tyng Collection, containing six fine photogravures, including ‘Bewegungs Studie (Study of Movement)’ by Rudolf Koppitz; and Richards’ New South Wales in 1881 (1882), containing 24 high-quality autotypes produced in Australia (and very rare thus).
Private press and art books are well-represented: among them are The Lithographs of Chagall (five volumes, 1960-1984), complete with all 28 original lithographs as called for; Delteil’s 1923 volume of catalogues raisonné of etchings and lithographs of Camille Pissarro and Auguste Renoir, containing an original etching by each artist; Flaubert’s Hérodias, one of only 226 copies printed at the Eragny Press of Lucien and Esther Pissarro, with their illustrations; and a superb exemplar from the Ashendene Press, Ecclesiasticus (1932, one of 328 copies).
There are plenty of other items, selected as ever for being interesting, unusual, quirky, or in some cases, just plain expensive.
Keep well!
London, Chatto and Windus, 1934 (first thus)/ 1933 (in two volumes). More
London, Faber & Faber, 1961 (first thus)/ 1922. Number 102 of only 300 copies signed by T.S. Eliot. This attractive edition was 'printed in Dante type by Giovanni Mardersteig on the hand-press of the Officina Bodoni in Verona.... on paper made by Fratelli Magnani, Pescia'. Gallup A6d (giving the date..... More
London, Frederick Etchells & Hugh Macdonald, 1928. Number 499 of 580 copies; one of the Haslewood Books series. Eliot's contribution is quite short (one and a half pages). More
London, Printed at the Eragny Press for Hacon & Ricketts, 1901 [first thus]. One of only 226 copies (of which 200 were offered for sale), printed at the Eragny Press of Lucien and Esther Pissarro. The title vignette was designed and engraved by Lucien, and Esther engraved the other decorations..... More
London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1897. The inscription on the half-title reads: 'Presented to J.G. Le Brun by the Author Archibald Forsyth. Sydney 1 Feb 1901'. Archibald Forsyth (1826-1908), ropemaker and politician, was born in Scotland; in 1848 he migrated to Sydney. He worked variously as a cedar-getter, gold miner, and..... More
London, Medici Society (Volumes 1 and 2), 1929/ 1901 and 1929/ 1903; Leo Cooper (Volume 3), 1972/ 1939; and Frederick Warne (Volume 5), 1980/ 1961. Two other volumes have been published (Volume 4, 1914-1919, and Volume 6, 1945-1970). [4 items]. More
Milano [Milan], Tipografia di Gaetano Bozza, 1863. A curious medical pamphlet giving details details of the wounds sustained by Giuseppe Garibaldi at the Battle of Aspromonte (La Giornata dell'Aspromonte) on 29 August 1862. Among much purple prose advocating Italian unification and a short personal account of the battle (Ripari fought..... More
Paris, Didot Freres, 1853 to 1856. Charles Frederic Gerhardt (1816-1856), a French chemist known for his work on reforming the notation for chemical formulas (1843-1846) died suddenly two days short of his 40th birthday, 'having just completed checking the proofs for the final volume of his "Traité de chimie organique"..... More
Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, Limited, 1916 (third edition, revised)/ 1908 (second edition, revised)/ 1880. More
[Melbourne, Sands and McDougall, circa 1890 facsimile edition]/ 1857. Ferguson 15440c (a lengthy entry, not least establishing the approximate date); Wantrup 260c and page 334 ('In 1975 Gaston Renard recorded a previously unnoticed printed slip from the publisher tipped in at the front of a copy. This slip announced that..... More
Melbourne, Charlwood and Son, Booksellers, Stationers, and Printers, [July 1867]. Trove has enabled us to established beyond doubt the date of publication - Saturday 20 July 1867 - according to the advertisements in the 'Argus' on that and the previous day. Ferguson 9927 (noting a curious variant, with the four..... More
Melbourne, Sun Books, 1972 (first edition). Inscribed, signed and with sketched self-portraits by both poets on their respective title pages. Both authors were participants in Writers' Week at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in Adelaide in March 1972. The recipient, Ethel Payne, was the manager of the Co-op Bookshop, the..... More
Beverly Hills, Golden Dawn Publishing, 1999. More
Sydney, The Shepherd Press, 1947. Number 679 of 2000 copies (200 copies of a deluxe edition were also published). More
London, Robin Garton, 1977. The three original etchings by Robin Tanner (all signed in pencil) are 'Wren and Primroses' (a vignette on the title page), 'Full Moon', and 'The Old Road' (both full-page). There is a short chapter on 'The Australian School of Etching' (two pages of text plus 14..... More
London, Jonathan Cape, 1941 (first UK edition). More
[Adelaide], The Author, 1983. Audrey Peters is a 'grand-daughter of Onesimus Ebenezer Hewett'. More
London, The Studio, 1907 to 1911. Special issues of 'The Studio' : the Special Winter Number, 1907-08; the Special Winter Number, 1908-09; and the Special Spring Number, 1911. [3 items]. More
London, Folio Society, 1998 (third printing)/ 1996 (first thus), and 1998 (first thus). 'Translated by Robert Fagles. Introduction and Notes by Bernard Knox' (both volumes). [2 items]. More
Chipping Norton, Surrey Beatty, 1996. The book reviews the achievements and reassesses the significance of the expedition, with contributions from 'prehistorians, historians, anthropologists, biologists, ecologists, geologists, Aboriginal people and social commentators'. Not indicated, but limited to 1200 copies. More
London, Dulau, 1896. The set was withdrawn from the Public Library of New South Wales; the cancelled stamps are signed by Ida Emily Leeson (1885-1964), the second Mitchell Librarian (from 1932 until [officially] 1946). A pencilled note in each volume indicates the set entered the library on 16 March 1909..... More
Bundaberg, Corkwood Press, 1994 (facsimile edition)/ 1896. The purpose of this scientific expedition, sponsored by mining magnate and philanthropist William Austin Horn, and with Charles Winnecke as commander and surveyor, was to examine the MacDonnell Ranges on the not unreasonable premise that 'when the rest of the Continent was submerged..... More
Adelaide, Government Printer, 1896. South Australian Parliamentary Paper 19 of 1896: only 650 copies printed. Winnecke was the leader of the expedition, and in 'the natural order of things these [journals and maps] should have been published in connection with the scientific and other records of the Horn Expedition, as..... More
Leyden, Late E.J. Brill Ltd, and London, Luzac & Co, 1931 (first English-language edition, and first thus). Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) 'was a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages and Advisor on Native Affairs to the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia)' (Wikipedia). In 1884-85 the..... More
Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1957. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) 'was a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages and Advisor on Native Affairs to the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia)' (Wikipedia). Specifically, on the centenary of his birth, 'a collection of some of his master's writings, translated..... More
London, Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., [early 1940s]. Big game hunting in Africa. More
Kent Town, Wakefield Press, 2010 (revised edition)/ 2007. Originally published in association with the South Australian Museum to accompany an exhibition of the same name. More
London, Houlston and Wright, 1868 (fifth edition)/ 1831 (first thus). 'Flavius Josephus, original name Joseph Ben Matthias, (born AD 37/38, Jerusalem - died AD 100, Rome), Jewish priest, scholar, and historian ... Josephus' first work, "Bellum Judaicum" ("History of the Jewish War"), was written in seven books between AD 75..... More
London, Folio Society, 1998 (first thus). The preface is by Stephen James Joyce, with the introduction by Jacques Aubert. This edition is a facsimile reproduction of the 1926 second edition ('in which the type of the text was entirely reset and Joyce's corrections from the previous printings were absorbed'), with..... More
London, Chatto & Windus, 1955. More
Tanunda, The Author, 1981. More
Adelaide, A.B. James, Government Printer, 1969. An official presentation binding. Provenance: 'The Hon. D.N. Brookman, R.D.A., M.P.' is spelled out in Letraset on the front flyleaf. David Norman Brookman (1917-2000) 'was elected to the seat of Electoral district of Alexandra in the House of Assembly for the Liberal and Country..... More
Melbourne, Heinemann, 1968 (facsimile edition)/ 1881. The comprehensive official enquiry into the Kelly Gang. This 'Pioneer Facsimile Edition' was limited to 250 numbered copies (this is an unnumbered 'Production Sample Only'); even this facsimile is very scarce in our experience. More
Sydney, Law Book Company of Australasia Limited (and printed at The Hassell Press, Adelaide), 1925. The author's personal copy, extensively annotated on the printed text and the interleaves, with numerous newspaper review cuttings and original letters from distinguished members of the law fraternity mounted in the book. There are minor..... More
London, Macmillan and Co., 1887 (second edition, revised and enlarged)/ 1884. 'This edition has been carefully revised, and numerous sections have been almost entirely rewritten [and] an index has been added'. More
Sydney, Bay Books, 1983. A substantial study of the artist's extensive output of abstract sculpture and drawing. More
Adelaide, Government Printer, 1880. At the time of publication, the author was Chief Warden of the Goldfields of the Northern Territory. 'This pamphlet is published by permission of the Government of South Australia; but it is only proper to state that the recommendations herein made, especially with reference to the..... More
Rotterdam, 010 Publishers, 1995 (first European edition). Edited by Jennifer Sigler; photography by Hans Werlemann. 'This massive book is a novel about architecture. Conceived by Rem Koolhaus - author of "Delirious New York" - and Bruce Mau - designer of Zone - as a free-fall in the spaceof the typographic..... More
London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1852. More
London, J.H. Bohte, 1822 [third edition, being the first complete edition]/ 1808. The scarce third edition of this important early ornithological plate book, and the first edition to contain all 26 plates; the fourth edition was published in London in 1838. 'A collection of etched drawings of birds of New..... More
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1950 (first edition). More
Adelaide, W.K. Thomas & Co., 1922. John Lewis (1844-1923), 'explorer, bushman, drover, roughrider, pastoralist, business man, legislator, historian' (from the foreword by Ernest Whitington); with much on the Northern Territory in the 1860s-70s. His father James accompanied Charles Sturt in 1844-45; one of his sons was the industrialist Essington Lewis..... More
Melbourne, F.W. Cheshire, 1959. Number 274 of 300 copies (a further 50 copies were printed on hand-made paper with original wood-engravings printed by the artist). More
Adelaide, Webb & Son, 1936. Dornbusch 322; Fielding and O'Neill, page 226; Trigellis-Smith 211 (none of them noting that the first impression binding is lettered in gilt, the second in black). More
Derby, Henry Mozley, 1821. Provenance: the verso the front flyleaf is inscribed to 'Dr W Angove from [indecipherable] Jany 1911'. Dr William Thomas Angove (1854-1912) founded Angove Family Winemakers in Adelaide in 1886. More
[Adelaide], The Author, 1988. More
Adelaide, Friends of the State Library of S.A. in association with the Friends of Mawson at the S.A. Museum, 2010 [first thus]. One of only 450 copies in cloth, in the total edition of 999 copies (199 copies in half leather, 450 in cloth, 300 in card covers, and 50..... More
Sydney, David Ell Press, 1987. A comprehensive survey; with a foreword by Bernard Smith. More
Woodridge, McMillan Publications, 1989 and 1992. [2 items]. More
Adelaide, K.M. Stevenson, Government Printer, 1944. This extensively-illustrated souvenir befits 'the most important public work undertaken in South Australia. It is the last and greatest of the many fine water schemes carried out by the State to overcome the disabilities arising from the lack of natural water supplies' (introduction). More