HordernHouse published a catalogue for the recent PasadenaBookfair2012. That was a long trip for the Australian bookseller, though not nearly as difficult a journey as many described in the books herein offered. Australia was always a far away land for the rest of the western world, so many of the books relating to that continent are travel accounts. In the days when distant travels equated to voyages in cramped, dangerous sailboats, these trips were always adventures. Not all of the travels described in these works were to Australia, and a few were overland (Marco Polo, John Mandeville), but nonetheless, Australia is a great place to look for accounts of voyages taken many years ago. Here are a few of the books that made the recent flight (not sail) to Pasadena, California.
We will start with a book that predates the great voyages, but it provided the first printed look, so to speak, at the world. It is the Etymologiae of St. Isidore of Seville. This is the first Italian edition of 1483. The first edition of 1472 offered the first printed map. It was a world map, such as there was at the time, and as primitive as they come. It contains a circle, representing the oceans. Inside the circle is a “T,” with Europe on one side, Africa, on the other, Asia at the top. The stem of the “T” is the Mediterranean Sea, the crossbar probably some combination of waterways such as the Nile. The book itself was an encyclopedia of knowledge from around the year 600, but was still highly regarded as a source of information at the time printing was invented. Item 29. Priced at $70,700.
It would be hard to imagine a more important set to a collection of voyages than the official accounts of the three voyages of Captain James Cook. Three times he left England for the Pacific waters, visiting Australia, the western coast of America, and numerous islands in between. It was Cook who determined there was no large continent surrounding the South Pole, long assumed to exist to balance the greater land masses in the northern hemisphere. Item 14 is a complete set of first editions, eight volumes and the folio atlas, from 1773-84. $76,500.
Here is a unique Cook-related item. It is the manuscript log book for the first journey of the ship MarquisRockingham. It recounts her maiden voyage in 1771. That name may not sound familiar, but that is because after this first voyage, the ship was renamed. It was given the name Adventure, and was one of the two ships to participate in Cook's second voyage. This was the trip that determined there was no massive southern continent. Item 15. $42,200.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
