To coincide with the Melbourne Rare Book Fair we are pleased to announce the latest in our series of Picture Book catalogues. It contains a fine miscellany, from Antarctic photography to scarce modern literature, classic texts of voyages and exploration to unique manuscript material.
Since the catalogue went to the printers we have been busy! New in stock are:
A singular copy of A Child's Garden of Verses, signed and inscribed by Robert Louis Stevenson, together with a signed letter; The Native Tribes of Central Australia signed by both Spencer and Gillen; private press material, including titles from the Cuala Press of W.B. Yeats and his sister Elizabeth; delightful publications from Lucien Pisarro's Eragny Press; D.H. Lawrence's privately printed Pansies (signed); and T.S. Eliot's Marina (also signed); superb examples of Indigenous portraiture.
To view these items (and much besides) visit us at Stand 31 at the Melbourne Rare Book Fair this coming weekend, 6–8 July 2018.
Download PDF of Picture Book 8![Item #110591 Airways [a picture book account of a journey from England to New York]. Airship R37](https://treloars.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/110591.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1536110396)
[London, circa 1920] (with 'Made in Germany' printed on the front cover). The ultimate fictitious voyage: the R37 was almost completed when production was cancelled in February 1921, and it was dismantled later that year. More
![Item #110163 Some Childrens' [sic] Songs by Marion Alsop & Dorothy McCrae. Designed by Edith...](https://treloars.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/110163_01.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1536742622)
Melbourne, George Robertson and Company (Printed in Scotland), [1910]. The cover title is 'Some Childrens' [sic] Songs by Marion Alsop. Words by Dorothy McCrae. Designed by Edith Alsop'. Dorothy Frances McCrae (1879-1937) was a daughter of George Gordon McCrae, 'poet and man of letters', and sister of the poet Hugh..... More
The prolific Australian cartoonist 'Armstrong' was active in many of the leading journals and newspapers from the 1920s to the late 1950s - 'The Bulletin', 'The Argus', 'The Sydney Sun', 'Smith's Weekly', 'Melbourne Punch', 'Aussie', 'The Herald', 'The Sun' - but he is perhaps best remembered for his output during..... More
A very large vintage blue-toned carbon print (visible image size 422 × 577 mm) on the original thick cardboard mount, recently matted, framed and glazed (external dimensions, an impressive 690 × 835 mm). The original printed label from the Fine Art Society, New Bond Street, London, is on the verso..... More
A less dramatic image of the same iceberg is contained in the extensive Hurley archive in the National Library of Australia. It is captioned 'Iceberg encountered by the "Discovery", 900 miles north of the Antarctic continent, ca. 1930' (PIC/3410 Album 285). Provenance: Sir Douglas Mawson; by descent. More
Offered with a vintage cabinet card photographic portrait of Bernhardt as 'The Lady of the Camellias' (circa 1881: image size 140 × 85 mm), and five ephemeral portraits (vintage trade cards and an early commemorative postage stamp). More
London, The Fanfrolico Press, 1928. Number 564 of 625 copies, with the publisher's quarter cloth and papered boards replaced with a stunning designer-binding by Ron Eadie. The accompanying images make short work of any written description we could provide. More
Deakin, Officina Brindabella [Brindabella Press], 1988. The fifteenth book of the Brindabella Press; the standard issue comprised 350 numbered copies signed by the author (Percival Serle's son). This copy is signed but unnumbered; instead, the words 'Exhibition binding' are inserted in pencil, almost certainly by Alec Bolton. Ron Eadie had..... More
Many of the photographs are large-format prints (on average 220 × 280 mm); apart from a little foxing to some of the mounts, the album and its contents are in excellent condition. The most appealing images are the dozen of Ceylon; 11 of them carry the blindstamp of the Colombo..... More
London, HMSO, 1889. British Parliamentary Paper C. 5679 of 1889. The highly detailed and impressive plates illustrate the sections on swine fever, anthrax, tubercular mammitis and actinomycosis bovis ('lumpy jaw'). Reading these reports suggests the rise of vegetarianism in Victorian England was not without good cause. This paper is contained..... More
London, Printed by W. and A. Strahan for G. Nicol and T. Cadell, 1784. Each volume contains the Ingleton bookplate and Ingleton Collection catalogue stamp and number (6362). 'Cook's third voyage was organized to seek the Northwest Passage and to return Omai to Tahiti. Officers of the crew included William..... More
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London, Hippolyte Bailliere, 1853. Ferguson 9339 (not quite accurate regarding the illustrations, plates and maps): 'Chapter XII [52 pages and the folding plate] deals with Melville Island and North Australia. There are also many references to the Australian aborigines in other parts of the work, with ethnological comparisons'. The list..... More
Scenes of or around field hospitals, in particular at Anzac Gully and Hotchkiss Gully, are a feature of ten of the photographs. 'Turkish Prisoners at work, Anzac' is another impressive image. South Australian-born Thomas Wolmer (or Woolmer) English (1894-1956) transferred to the 50th Battalion in March 1916 and survived the..... More
The watercolour on paper (135 × 227 mm) is unmounted; apart from a tiny light crease to one top corner, it is in fine condition. It is undated, but probably circa 1900. Harry Pelling Gill (1855-1916), art curator and teacher, was born in England; he trained and taught at the..... More
Adelaide, School of Design Art Club, 1894. Harry Pelling Gill (1855-1916), art curator and teacher, at the time Director for Technical Art. 'In 1892 he was appointed honorary curator of the art gallery and, following the resignation in December of Louis Tannert as master of the school of painting, Gill..... More
The watercolour on paper (140 × 225 mm) is mounted, once framed but now removed, with traces of an old mat visible on the margins of the artwork. The painting is in excellent condition, and it would be an ideal candidate for reframing. Harry Pelling Gill (1855-1916), art curator and..... More
London, Printed and published for The Tower Company Limited by 'Industries' Limited, 1890. The success of the Eiffel Tower (300 metres, 984 feet) at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1889 inspired the British to attempt to go one better. The first prize of 500 guineas was awarded to a...... More
Nuremburg, Johann Ziegers, 1683. An early and well-illustrated work on military architecture and fortifications, presumably very rare if the standard online resources are any indication. More
The illustrations, accompanying the poems 'The Intro', 'Doreen', and 'Hitched' in the book, are each drawn within a pencil border (approximately 130 × 100 mm) on larger sheets of paper. The title is written immediately below the image; at the foot of each sheet of paper the artist has written..... More
A vintage gelatin silver print (visible image size 237 × 509 mm), recently matted, framed and glazed (external dimensions 470 × 718 mm). Apart from a very light surface blemish in the right-hand section of the sky (not unlike a contrail), it is in excellent condition. Provenance: from the personal..... More
Maps of the four main islands of Japan and the Korean Peninsula are surrounded by borders of cherry blossom and bamboo, with scenes of Mt Fuji, a pagoda, and birds on the wing. Major cities are shown on the maps; Korea has Pyongyang, Seoul and Pusan, with '38° LINE' in..... More
A very large advertisement on thick card, recently mounted and matted (visible image size 508 × 778 mm); laid down on the card are six original gelatin silver photographs (all sepia-toned, each one approximately 165 × 230 mm). The photographs are in two rows of three, with captions underneath. The..... More
The pictures tell the story ... They are preserved behind glass in a contemporary wooden frame (probably 1920s). Size of images, 60 × 105 mm each; overall external dimensions, 165 × 345 mm. More
![Item #109735 'Milking Time' [Baker's Flat, near Kapunda, South Australia]. A vintage carbon print...](https://treloars.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/109735-00.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1536111484)
Signed and dated (1907) on the lower right of the image. We confidently locate this scene at Baker's Flat, 'an old Irish settlement the other side of the Kapunda copper mine. The houses were quaint thatched places where very aged Irish born people lived. Pigs, poultry and humans all had..... More
![Item #109749 'The Temple Steps, Kandy' [a vintage carbon print]. John KAUFFMANN](https://treloars.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/109749-00.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1536111484)
Signed on the lower right of the image, with the title in pencil on the original mount. Reproduced in NEWTON, Gael: 'John Kauffmann, Art Photographer' (NGA, 1996), page 37 (this print, which also appeared in the accompanying travelling exhibition, 'Soft but True'). Provenance: from the family of John Kauffmann, by..... More
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1954 (first edition). The fifth volume of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series. More
London, The Bodley Head, 1956 (first edition). The seventh and last volume of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series. More
Mount Coke, Wesleyan Mission Press (Printed for the Government of British Kaffraria), 1858. Both the front flyleaf and the title page carry the ownership signature of Sir Malcolm MacGregor, fourth Baronet MacGregor and a British naval commander stationed in New Zealand. The inscription is dated 19 December 1861 ('Auckland, New..... More
Brisbane, Flavelle, Roberts and Sankey, 1908. Flavelle's Gem Series Number 1. Sydney Skertchly (1850-1926) arrived in Brisbane in 1891 after a successful career as a geologist in places as varied as the Fenland and East Anglia, Egypt, California, Burma and China. In 1895-97 he was assistant government geologist in the..... More
London, Printed for Stanfield Parkinson, the Editor, 1773. An unauthorised account of Cook's first voyage by Sydney Parkinson, the young natural history draughtsman engaged by Joseph Banks. '[Parkinson] died at Batavia of dysentery 26th January, 1771, on the homeward voyage. His brother Stanfield, to anticipate Hawkesworth's account of the voyage..... More
'I can ... write to the Bishop of Norwich, who has a great respect for your Father, to ask his advice about it, and I am sure he will do all he can for you, consistently with his rules of duty.' Rear-Admiral Sir William Edward Parry, Arctic explorer, spent the..... More
London, John Stockdale, 1790 (second edition)/ 1789. The superior second edition, with the substantially expanded appendix, which includes 'The History of New Holland ... and a Discourse on Banishment' and its accompanying hand-coloured map. Ferguson 90; Wantrup 5 (and pages 74-80). More
London, John Stockdale, 1789 [first edition, later issue - see below]. First edition, later issue, with the name of the artist, Henry Webber, removed from the title page vignette, and the 'Wulpine Opossum' plate now showing 'Vulpine' (but with the early state of the 'Kangooroo' plate). Ferguson 47; Wantrup 5..... More
There are three of Mayaguana (in the Bahamas) dated 16 July (black ink and pencil, on wide strips of paper, 120 × 400 mm, torn from a ledger with columns and headings printed in red). One of them is recorded as being drawn from HMS 'Endymion'. A thinner strip (50..... More
The large image (overall dimensions 135 × 400 mm) is on its original mount, captioned as above in white ink below the image, with the Union Jack and the Australian flag hand-painted above the top corners. It is behind glass in its original acorn-and-oak-leaf wooden frame; there are a few..... 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
Brisbane, Flavelle, Roberts and Sankey, 1908. Flavelle's Gem Series Number 1. This copy is inscribed and signed to 'C.C. Brittlebank, with kind regards from Sydney B.J. Skertchly. Corinda, Qld. 6.3.08'. Sydney Skertchly (1850-1926) arrived in Brisbane in 1891 after a successful career as a geologist in places as varied as..... More
The sparse ledger entries date from 1817 to the mid-1850s. Although they are not without interest, they are routine, along the lines of '4 bushels of apples, 6 yards of cloth'. However, the many blank spaces remaining have been put to much better use. Most of the large volume (405..... More
Cairo, Imprimerie Nationale, June 1894. A very rare account of pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina in 1888 and 1891, by an Egyptian doctor sent at the behest of his government to report on sanitary conditions for pilgrims on the Hajj. The illustrations include reproductions of images by the two earliest..... More
Disderi obtained the rights to photograph the products and artworks at the Exposition as a distinguished daguerreotypist, but his lasting fame is that he took out the first patent for the carte de visite in 1854. Ironically, this inexpensive mass-produced paper photograph hastened the demise of these beautiful precursors. More
With its elegant bell and delicate twisted stem, this fine example, an impressive 450 mm tall, is possibly of French origin, and dates from the early nineteenth century. From the collection of Dr Milton Roxanas, whose essay 'The Glass Stethoscope' in 'The Medical Journal of Australia', Volume 195, December 2011..... More
Samuel Albert White (1870-1954) is well-known as an ornithologist and conservationist, but 'During the South African War he had two tours of duty and was temporarily promoted captain, a title he used thereafter' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). There are five studio portraits and one taken outdoors, with White astride a...... More
London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1892 (third edition)/ [November] 1891 (second edition)/ [September] 1891 [first edition]. These first extended prose works by Yeats were published together as Volume 10 in Unwin's Pseudonym Library. The first edition in cloth has always been rare, but later research suggests that the second and third..... More
London, T. Fisher Unwin, [November] 1891 (second edition)/ [September] 1891 [first edition]. These first extended prose works by Yeats were published together as Volume 10 in Unwin's Pseudonym Library. The first edition in cloth has always been rare, but later research suggests that the second and third editions are even..... More