Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2008 Issue
A Summer Miscellany from Gert Jan Bestebreurtje
Author, sailor, and indomitable spirit Annie Brassey.
Annie Brassey had a much better go of it than the poor Hall sisters. She was a wealthy woman, with a successful husband who was elected to Parliament, and five fine children. She gladly assisted charities, in particular the St. John Ambulance Association, when not sailing on her yacht the Sunbeam. Sailing was her love, and she wrote books about her adventures at sea. Evidently, many people enjoyed vicariously living her adventures through her books, as they were very popular and reprinted many times. Item 29 is her A voyage in the 'Sunbeam' our home on the ocean for eleven months, an edition from 1879. Item 28 is the same work in French, from 1878. Each is priced at €150 (US $237). Lest you think everything in life was perfect for a wealthy lady, this was the 19th century, and medicine was not what it is today. On her final voyage in the Sunbeam, Annie came down with malaria, died and was buried at sea off the Australian coast.
Here is a man who also visited Australia, several times, with much better results. Item 45 is Reizen rondom de weereld... the 1774 first Dutch edition of Captain James Cook's first voyage (written by John Hawkesworth). Cook made numerous discoveries along the sixth continent during his three voyages, and while not suffering Annie Brassey's fate, was killed by natives in, of all places, Hawaii. No place was safe for vacations in those days. €1,250 ($1,976).
Who might you think wrote a book titled Afrikanische Wanderungen eines Naturforschers und Jagers? Probably not Teddy Roosevelt, but he is the author of this book published in 1910. It is the account of one of his big-game hunting trips to Africa, the first German edition. While Roosevelt wrote the book, we would imagine someone else converted his words to German. Item 181. €150 (US $237).
Gert Jan Bestebreurtje Rare Books may be reached at +31-(0)347-322548 or info@gertjanbestebreurtje.com. Their website is www.gertjanbestebreurtje.com.
