Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2017 Issue

Australian and Pacific Discovery from Hordern House

The latest from Hordern House.

The latest from Hordern House.

Hordern House has issued a new catalogue, and since it has no title, we will just say it is their latest. It is a thick catalogue though containing only 52 items. Obviously, each one is thoroughly described and illustrated. Most have ties to Hordern House's homeland of Australia, and go back to its early days, when discoveries were being made, transported prisoners arriving, and early settlers began making it their home. Travels are focused mostly on coastlines of Australia and nearby islands when this was the last continent (outside of Antarctica) to be seriously explored. Here are a few of the items you will find.

 

We begin with the oldest item in the catalogue, one that goes back to the beginning days of Australia. It is the rare 11th of 14 Memorials of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, a Portuguese seaman who sailed on behalf of Spain. He was searching for the land known as Terra Australis, a great southern continent many believed must exist. Its existence had been imagined going back to the days of Aristotle, the belief being there must be a huge southern continent to balance the greater known land masses in the northern hemisphere. There was a certain logic to the theory though, of course, it was wrong. Quiros had led an exploration of the southern Pacific in 1605-1606 and thought he had finally discovered the mythical southern continent. He named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, the extra "i" in "Australia" to make it sound like Austria, Spanish King Philip III's heritage. What he actually found was the island of Espiritu Santo, Quiros obviously not having sailed around it. Quiros returned home and began petitioning the King to finance another mission, this time to settle the southern continent. King Philip delayed and demurred, putting Quiros off again and again without ever saying "no." This is how there came to be 14 Memorials. In this 11th Memorial of 1611, Quiros notes that he had been waiting 50 months for an answer and continues to plead his case. Quiros was not regarded as a serious explorer by the Spanish, eventually being sent to Peru, but he died on that voyage, his dream unfulfilled. It would be for Cook and later explorers to find the smaller continent now known as Australia and realize there is no southern continent of the size once imagined. Item 42. Priced at AU $275,000 (Australian dollars, or approximately $208,330 U.S. dollars).

 

The lightly settled west coast of Australia was visited by the Dutch in the 17th century (they called it "New Holland"), but no attempt at settlement was made until the British came to the east coast in the 1780's. They colonized it to serve as a prison camp. Still, no one really understood the full boundaries of the continent until the voyages of Matthew Flinders, who performed the first circumnavigation of the continent on his third and final voyage. On his return home from that, Flinders was forced to stop at Mauritius, a French island, for repairs. France and England were at war, so the French governor would not allow him to leave for six years. Flinders used the time to write this detailed description of his journeys and discoveries. It was published in 1814 under the title A Voyage to Terra Australis... Flinders never got to see the three volume set as he died earlier that year, never fully recovering from his prolonged stay as a French guest. It was Flinders who recommended that the continent, partly known as New Holland, partly as New South Wales, be called "Australia." Item 24. AU $87,500 (US $66,275).

 

Next is a great rarity and one of the few early color plates books about Australia: An Account of the State of Agriculture & Grazing in New South Wales... This is James Atkinson's account of farming in Australia, published 1826. This is a copy of the special issue and contains the extra large folding map and colored panoramic view of Sydney, expensive additions (the book was sold both with and without the extras). The book is both a guide to farming in Australia and a description of practices being employed. As well, it is a very attractive book featuring fine aquatint illustrations and a folding frontispiece view of Sydney. Item 4. AU $38,500 (US $ 29,157).

 

Not all was as pastoral in early Australia as that book may make it look. Martha Bailey was an 11-year-old orphan in 1827. At that young age, she was indentured out as an apprentice/servant to James Shepherd of Kissing Point. Her term was seven years or until lawfully married (with the consent of the trustees of the orphanage). Item 6 is a printed leaf, blanks filled in with manuscript, boldly headed This Indenture, which sealed young Martha's fate for the next seven years. It is signed by the trustees of the Female Orphan School, some of the most notable clergymen of the time, along with Mr. Shepherd. Ms. Bailey hasn't signed, but she would have had little choice anyway. Item 6. AU $3,350 (US $2,537).

 

This book has no Australia connection other than it being about seafaring, and so much of early Australiana is based on voyages. It is an epic poem by seaman William Falconer, entitled The Shipwreck. It was originally published in 1762, though this is an 1804 large paper edition believed to have been bound by Edwards of Halifax. This tale of a shipwreck was semi-autobiographical for Falconer as it is based on the wreck of a merchant ship on which he was a crewman. He was one of but three survivors. In 1769, he was less fortunate, being lost in a shipwreck near the Cape of Good Hope. Item 23. AU $2,750 (US $2,084).

 

Hordern House may be reached at [+61] (02) 9356 4411 or books@hordern.com. Their website is found at www.hordern.com.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Taylor (Geo.) & Skinner (A.) Maps of the Roads of Ireland, Surveyed 1777. Lond. & Dublin 1778. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Messingham (Thos.) Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum seu Vitae et Acta Sanctorum Hibernia, Paris 1624. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus). The Haw Lantern, L. (Faber & Faber) 1987, First Edn., Signed and dated. €225 to €350.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Valencey (Lt. Col. Chas.) Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Vols. I-IV, 4 vols. Dublin 1786. €400 to €600.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Powerscourt (Viscount). A Description and History of Powerscourt, Lond. 1903. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Moryson (Fynes). An Itinerary ... Containing His Ten Yeeres Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohermerland, Sweitzerland…, Lond. (John Beale) 1617. €700 to €1,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: After Buffon, Birds of Europe, c. 1820. Approx. 120 fine hd. cold. plts., mor. backed boards. €125 to €250.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Dunlevy (Andrew). An Teagasg Criosduidhe De Reir Ceasda agus Freagartha... The Catechism or Christian Doctrine by Way of Question and Answer, Paris (James Guerin) 1742. €400 to €700.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: The Georgian Society Records of Eighteen-Century Domestic Architecture in Dublin, 5 vols. Complete, Dublin 1909-1913. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Scale (Bernard). An Hibernian Atlas or General Description of the Kingdom of Ireland, L. (Robert Sayer & John Bennet) 1776. €625 to €850.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Nichlson (Wm.) Illustrator. An Almanac of Twelve Sports, Lond. 1898. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) trans. The Light of the Leaves, 2 vols., Mexico (Imprenta de los Tropicos/Bunholt) 1999. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Fleming (Ian). Moonraker, L. (Jonathan Cape) 1955. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) & Egan (Felim) artist. Squarings, Twelve Poems, D. (Hieroglyph Editions Ltd.) 1991. €1,750 to €2,250.
  • Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen." in Harpen, 1822.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST THREE FAIRY TALE PAMPHLETS, WITH ALL INDICES AND TITLE PAGES. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: THE FIRST FAIRY TALES WITH A SIGNED CARTE DE VISITE OF ANDERSEN AS FRONTIS. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: KARL LAGERFELD. Original pastel and ink drawing in gold, red and black for Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (1992), "La cassette de l'Empereur."
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY OF THE SIXTH PAMPHLET FOR PETER KOCH. Eventyr, Fortalte For Børn, Second Series, Third Pamphlet. 1841. Publisher's wrappers, complete with all pre- and post-matter.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN RARE AUTOGRAPH QUOTATION SIGNED IN ENGLISH from "The Ugly Duckling," c.1860s.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HEINRICH LEFLER, ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR FOR ANDERSEN'S SNOW QUEEN, "Die Schneekönigin," 1910.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST EDITION OF ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES IN ENGLISH. Wonderful Stories for Children. London, 1846.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN ON MEETING CHARLES DICKENS. Autograph Letter Signed ("H.C. Andersen") in English to William Jerdan, July 20, 1847.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR EDGAR COLLIN. Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Raekke. 1861.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: DOLL HOUSE FURNITURE BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, DECORATED WITH FANTASTICAL CUT-OUTS, for the children of Jonna Stampe (née Drewsen), his godchildren.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR GEORG BRANDES. Dryaden. Et Eventyr fra Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867. 1868.
  • Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 962. Baird. United States Exploring Expedition. Philadelphia 1858.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 772. Edith Holland Norton. Brazilian Flowers. Coombe Croft 1893.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 8. Augustinus. De moribus ecclesie. Cologne 1480.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 17. Heures a lusaige de Noyon. Paris 1504.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 13. Schedel. Buch der Chronicken. Nürnberg 1493.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 957. Donovan. Insects of China. London 1798.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 123. A holy martyr. Tuscany, Florence, mid-14th century.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 438. Dante. La Divine Comédie. Paris 1963.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 602. Firdausi. Histoire de Minoutchehr. Paris 1919
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 994. Westwood. Oriental Entomology. London 1848.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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