Highlights

Printing out paper print, 140 x 200 mm, numbered 374 in the negative; preserved as issued, mounted on the original green backing sheet, 230 x 190 mm, imprinted in black ink, upper centre: 'C. RUDD'S NEW VIEWS OF SYDNEY AND VICINITY.' Trove locates no copies of this photograph in Australian collections.

1948 (First US Edition). Charles Scribner's Sons , New York, United States Said to be one of the most significant novels to have ever come out of South Africa. " The book came out in 1948, some few months before The National Party took power and made apartheid law ... so the novel is a famous social protest against the structures in South African society that would later give rise to apartheid ", written by this strong Christian and Anglican outspoken critic of the South African government. Not quite as rare as the UK first edition, but it is a great addition to any library.

**BLAEU, Joan.** Grooten atlas, oft werelt-beschryving… Amsterdam, Joan Blaeu, 1664-1665. 9 vols. Imperial folio. With 8 letterpress titles, 1 half-title, 9 engraved titles with letterpress slips, an engraved frontispiece and 610 engraved maps, views and plans, mostly double-page, 7 folding; many with inset maps, plans and views. Also compass rose, nearly 100 woodcuts, 5 tailpieces and 58 decorated initials. Many plates contemporaneously coloured, some extensively heightened in gold. Contemporary gold-tooled vellum with fore-edge flaps, sewn on 6 vellum tapes, laced through the joints.

1962 Standardisation of Railway Gauge b/w Sydney & Melbourne. 14 Items collected by H. Kingsmill, NSW Railways Superintendent, to include Souvenirs, Ticket, Dinner Menus, Official Event Ephemera.

Navy blue cloth, upper board lettered in gilt 'Dedication of Tidbinbilla 64 metre antenna 13th April, 1973'; [12] b/w photographs and [1] colour photograph. A rare album of photographs commemorating the dedication of the NASA antenna at Tidbinbilla in the A.C.T. in April 1973. The album was privately prepared - likely in very limited numbers - and was presumably made for distribution to a small number of dignitaries and/or scientists connected with the occasion. Trove locates no other example; in fact, the album appears to be completely unrecorded. 

First UK edition: octavo; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles; 256pp. Mild wear; a little rolled; text block edges lightly toned; some light offset to the endpapers. Dustwrapper is a little rubbed and edgeworn; retailer’s bookplate to the lower panel; a small tear with associated creasing to the top of the upper panel (now repaired); protected by non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good.

1955. Michael Joseph , Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom Another of her books about gardening following from In Your Garden and In Your Garden Again. Renowned for many reasons Vita wrote large numbers of poetry collections and at least 13 books on various subjects. Important in the Bloomsbury literary group and bears a neat inscription on front end free paper from ‘V’. Very Good Condition - Note: Done in light red publishers cloth with gold title on a very firm spine, the corners are bumped but otherwise there is no major wear and tear seen.

Didion's second book & first collection of essays established her at the forefront of New Journalism. The book takes its title from a line in the Yeats poem "The Second Coming" and is also the title of an essay in the collection [labelled "...by far the best account of the hippies yet written..."] First UK Edition [Andre Deutsch, London, 1969]; xviii, 238 pages; red cloth, gold titling to spine, a near-fine copy; in unclipped, illustrated dustjacket

Grahame, Kenneth 1931. Methuen and Co., London, England Arguably one of the most famous of children's books, it was not until the 38th edition that the great illustrator Earnest Shepard was invited to produce his classic drawings of the different characters on the riverside and despite multiple other illustrators trying their hand, it is these pictures that have stood the test of time. Surprisingly scarce, this edition is quite difficult to track down and this particular example is very beautiful indeed.

Important c.17th hand coloured engraved world map on Mercator’s projection by Willem Blaeu, one of the finest and most beautiful examples of cartography produced during the Golden Age of Dutch mapmaking.

Sydney : Art in Australia, 1920. Quarto, quarter vellum over green cloth, ruled in gilt, title label to spine, pp [x], 52, ten tipped-in black and white plates with captioned tissue guards, internally clean, the original signed etching 'Colombine' tipped-in (this is copy number 10). The deluxe edition, limited to only 31 copies, of which 25 were for sale, issued with an original signed etching. A rare piece of Lindsayana.

The final edition (1601) of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum printed at the Plantin press, complete with the Parergon and the Nomenclator, in rich contemporary hand colour.

Sydney : Art in Australia, 1929. The most sought after of all Margaret Preston books, with a magnificent signed colour woodcut.

89 Newspapers in total, to include: Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, Bathurst Times, Cumberland Mercury, Echo, Forbes Times, Illustrated Sydney News, Western Examiner, Sydney Punch, Sydney Mail, Sydney Morning Herald, Town and Country Journal, Wagga Wagga advertiser, etc. Includes index.

1967 (First and limited edition). The Bodley Head Ltd , London, England An extra-fine and autographed copy of his famous book that encompasses twelve brief tales including that of the book title that inspired the famous 1963 Dirk Bogarde film of the same name. A rare and totally complete book for Greene devotees.

1971. Faber and Faber , London, United Kingdom A soft card covered Uncorrected Proof of one of her most famous poems. Very Good Condition - Note: The spine is in excellent condition with a simple flat stitched bind that remains very sound and there are no loose or absent pages nor are there any tears or blemishes other than that the edge browning continues throughout on the classical poor quality paper stock used in early proofs. No pen marks are present with no prior ownership name either.

London : printed by Richard and John Taylor for the author, 1848. Eight volumes, imperial folio, finely bound by Sotheran and Co. in full green crushed morocco over boards, a clean, vibrant set in a firm and solid binding, an exceptional work with 681 full-page hand-coloured lithographs. The finest of all Australian colour plate books, and Gould’s ‘greatest achievement’ (Wantrup).

LEY, Jan Hendrick Jarichs van der. Het gulden zeeghel des grooten zeevaerts… Leeuwarden, Abraham vanden Rade, 1615. Oblong 4to (16.5 x 22 cm). With an emblematic engraved device/navigational diagram on the title-page, 27 woodcut figures: 18 printed on integral leaves and the others on 3 folding plates. Further with a woodcut headpiece, tailpiece and decorated initials. 18th-century(?) half vellum, sewn on 3 cords, blue-green paper sides, with manuscript author and title in sloped capitals on spine.

1927. Nock & Kirby’s General Catalog. Sydney: Nock & Kirby Ltd., 1927. 160pp. plus covers; set and printed by The Harbour Newspaper & Publishing Co., Chalmers Street, Sydney. Substantial illustrated trade catalogue issued by the celebrated Sydney specialty hardware store at 188 George Street. A strong example of Australian interwar retail ephemera, with an especially attractive colour Art Deco cover promoting “Everything for the Home.” Nock & Kirby, established in 1894, developed into one of Sydney’s best-known hardware and household-goods retailers.

The second edition, and the preferred, of The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay, being one of the most important and detailed accounts of Australian colonial settlement.

London : John Stockdale, 1789. First edition. "Phillip's writing was like the man himself: honest, direct and unaffected ... It offers a full record of events both on land and on sea in the first months of the settlement, detailing the early expeditions of Philllip and the other officers into the interior around Botany Bay and Port Jackson ... The importance of Stockdale's Phillip must not be underestimated ... [it is] a key work and essential to any serious collection of Australian books." (Wantrup)

Max Dupain (Bookplate), c1938. Silver gelatin photo, 7.3 x 5.1cm. Slight silvering to edges. Rare, early photographic bookplate used by Dupain in only a few books in his own library. Provance: Max Dupain estate.

HONDIUS, Jodocus. [Terrestrial globe]. Antwerp, Joan Baptist Vrients [produced by Hondius in Amsterdam], “1601” [= ca. 1603?]. Diameter 21 cm. Overall height 50cm. The globe is assembled from 12 engraved gores hand-coloured in outline, some areas with full colour infill. A decorative cartouche set in North America crowned with the coat of arms of the Albert and Isabella Clara of Austria, signed below by Hondius and Vrients dedicating this globe to Albert and Isabella. One face of the walnut mount carved with the coat of arms of Albert and Isabella.

This novel caused a sensation when first published in the USSR in 1962. Internally there is no foxing original prior owner markings on front free endpaper, so the text is in very good condition and with no cracking of spine, the book remains in a very good original better state overall.

Eleven volumes bound in ten, octavo; hardcover, half-bound in brown morocco with marbled boards, gilt rules, spine titles and decorations in compartments between five raised bands and marbled endpapers, edges marbled, with decorated titles and 25 monochrome engraved plates. Minor wear; mild bumps and scuffs to the board edges and leather; some boards mildly rubbed; contemporary retailer’s bookplates to the first and last volumes. Very good.

First Edition Set, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 20 volumes. Founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society. Edited by Sir James Murray, sometime president of the Philological Society, with the assistance of many scholars and men of science. Published Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1888 - 1928 (First Volume Published 1888 and last in 1928). A combination of burgundy and red leather hardbound covers. Gilt cornering and lining on covers, and gilt lettering on spine. Very Good - Excellent Condition.

1948. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. London: The Grey Walls Press Ltd., 1948. First Grey Walls edition; 164pp. A significant English issue of Fitzgerald’s classic Jazz Age novel. This 1948 Grey Walls edition was the first printing of The Great Gatsby to be newly typeset in England; the earlier 1926 Chatto & Windus issue had been printed from American plates. Grey Walls Press was central to Fitzgerald’s post-war British revival, and this edition is recognised by booksellers as the first distinct English edition.

Illustrated by John Baily. Adelaide : Rigby Limited, 1963. First edition. Octavo, illustrated boards in illustrated dustjacket (not price-clipped, verso foxed, edge wear), contemporary bookseller’s label to front pastedown, pp. 52, illustrated, occasional foxing, a good copy. The classic Australian children’s novel about a boy and his pelican set in the Coorong region of South Australia. The 1976 film adaptation Storm Boy won both the Jury Prize and Best Film at the 1977 Australian Film Institute Awards.

SUSAN, Issachar ben Mordecai ibn. [in Hebrew:] Sefer Ibur shanim. Venice, Giovanni di Gara, [5]339 [= 1578/79]. Small 4to (19.5 x 15 cm). With the title set in a woodcut architectural arch with fruit garlands, 6 round woodcut calendrical or astrological diagrams, woodcut crown and olive branch ornaments, a vine leaf (Vervliet 38), and many letterpress tables. Set entirely in Hebrew type, the main text in semi-cursive (rabbinical) and the headings in meruba, each in at least 3 sizes. Contemporary limp sheepskin wrap-around cover, sewn on 2 leather, the sewing and most of the straps recent.

Sydney, Art in Australia, 1930. Quarto, 96pp., illustrations, advertisements, original pictorial wrappers. Fabulous period design including cover art by Adrian Feint, and Deco typography.

WIT, Frederick de. Atlas maior. Amsterdam, Johannes Covens & Cornelis Mortier, [ca. 1725]. Imperial folio (53 x 35.5 cm). With engraved title page and 76 double-page (8 larger folding) engraved maps, the title page and all maps and their decorations coloured by a contemporary hand. Half tanned sheepskin (ca. 1900), sewn on 6 recessed cords, gold-tooled spine with black morocco label, with the bookbinder's ticket of Cornelis Marinus Remigius (1868-1929) in Middelberg, successor to Cornelis Willem Dhuij (1822/23-1904). The edges decorated with blue paste, probably for the original binding.

[KEULEN, Gerard and Johannes van, and others]. [Composite sea atlas containing 56 detailed charts incl. 3 manuscript charts]. Amsterdam, [Johannes van Keulen and others, 1700-1753, engraved title page dated 1734]. Large folio. With an engraved allegorical title page, and 56 detailed sea charts, the whole expertly coloured by a contemporary hand. The atlas includes 22 large folding charts, including 3 manuscript charts, 27 double-page charts, 1 full-page chart, and 6 half-page charts, most of them with beautiful cartouches. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum, with green cloth closing ties.

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (Translated by N. Bethell and D. Burg ) 1968 (First UK Edition). The Bodley Head, London, England Considered by the author (1918-2008) to be his most important novel, 'Portraying the relationships of a group of people from a remarkable cross-section of contemporary Russian characters and attitudes' in the cancer ward of a provincial Soviet hospital.

First published in 1926, this is a famous poetry collection of the changing of the seasons with secondary subjects such as the British Yeoman, Cider making and wildflowers, etc., annotated at the edge of each subsequent page. Good Condition - Note: Internally, it is devoid of any extraneous markings or prior ownership identifiers. The book is largely free of foxing other than two strips of tanning on both fep's. Hardcover done in burgundy publisher's cloth with minor scuffing and corner bruising.

994 (First Edition Thus). Weidenfeld & Nicolson , London, England The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is at last published in panoramic, earth-shattering, hyper-hysterical format, illustrated in glorious technicolor, bringing alive horridly quivering Vogan monster flesh and vividly throbbing spacecraft by means of revolutionary digital graphic 'paintbox' technology. In short, a truly amazing book and interior design with spectacular endpapers.

Sydney, Frank C. Johnson, 1933. Quarto, 48pp. on laid paper, illustrations, neat modern inscription on half-title page, bright original coloured pictorial wrappers. First edition. Very scarce and ephemeral Frank Johnson publication in uncommonly good condition. Wills & Wep's Sydney of the early 1930s, flappers, six-o'clock closing, and the Harbour Bridge &c. Pidgeon's striking illustrations include his useful drinking map of Sydney 'With Wep Where it's Wet'.

[PORTOLAN CHART - Luis TEXEIRA]. [Portolan chart of the Mediterranean basin]. [Iberian peninsula, second half of the 16th century, before 1574?]. 96 x 61 cm. Manuscript nautical chart on a single sheet of vellum, centred on the Mediterranean basin.

GOOS, Pieter. West-Indische Paskaert … Amsterdam, Pieter Goos, [ca. 1660]. Printed on vellum (ca. 80 x 98 cm) from one large copperplate engraving, partly coloured by a contemporary hand.

Alice in Wonderland Calendar for 1911. London: Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd., 1911. Complete six-page hanging calendar illustrated in colour by Mabel Lucie Attwell, with original red cord and tassel. Each leaf features a different Alice-themed illustration with the 1911 calendar months. The cover shows Alice and the White Rabbit and is printed “From the Originals Painted by Mabel Lucie Attwell.” A scarce Edwardian Raphael Tuck children’s calendar, appealing to collectors of Alice, Attwell illustration and antique calendars.

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1976. First edition of the groundbreaking work by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins which posits a gene-centred basis for evolution, in essence the more genes that are shared between two individuals, the more likely it is they will cooperate together. Hugely popular at the time of publication and in print ever since, The Selfish Gene is seen as an extension of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Famously, it introduced the term meme for a unit of cultural evolution analogous to the gene.

Two slipcased volumes, quarto; hardcover and paperback; with illustrated boards and wrappers and decorative endpapers, with many colour illustrations. Number 96 of 1,200 copies: minor wear; signed and numbered by the artist in ink to the flyleaf. Dustwrapper, with folding poster on the verso. Near fine in a specially printed slipcase, with the additional catalogue material.

First edition: octavo; hardcover, full cloth with upper board titles; 285pp., with black-and-white chapter decorations. Minor wear; text block edges spotted and top edge dusted; offset and old tape stains to the endpapers; retailer’s ink stamp to the flyleaf. Dustwrapper is a bit buckled from having been wrapped too tightly; lightly sunned along the spine panel; now professionally protected by non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good.

1979 (First Edition Thus). Victor Gollancz Ltd , London, England These three volumes have been hailed as collectively three of the finest achievements of post-war science fiction. This is the first time that three great Dune novels have appeared in one volume. Worthy of a spot in anyone's library.

Japan : Nara period [764-770 CE]. Three-tier turned wooden pagoda made of hinoki (Japanese cypress), housed in the cavity of the pagoda is the original printed dhāraṇī, a fine, unrestored example. A rare example of the earliest printed text to have survived in Eastern or Western cultures that can be verifiably dated, pre-dating the movable type of Gutenberg by some seven centuries.

2006. Crown Publishers , New York Thoughts "On Reclaiming the American Dream" purchased at auction from Forum Auctions London, and written by Obama when he was the junior member for Illinois and not the President. Provenance is excellent and the book has been signed on the 31st October 2006 at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, following a Democrat rally in Pere Marquette Park.

1929 (First and Limited Edition). Methuen, London, England A collection of stories and essays. This is a signed limited edition of 250 copies, of which this is numbered 249, printed on India paper.

2 bound volumes, presenting The Anglo-Israelite Monthly Journal’s Vol. 1 - 4. Book 1: Volume I (March 1880 - February 1881, 194 pages), Volume II (March 1881 - February 1882, 236 pages + Index). Book 2: Volume III (March 1882 - February 1883, 240 Pages + Index), Volume IV (March 1883 - February 1884, 244 Pages), Volume V (March 1884 - February 1885, 240 Pages). Printed G & J Black, Edward St Brisbane. Rebound in cloth with new end-papers. A one page note from previous owner written in pencil. Very good to excellent condition.

[ZACUTO, Abraham Ben Samuel]. Ephemerides sive Almanach perpetuu[m]. (Colophon:) Venice, Petrus Liechtenstein, for Johannes Lucilius Santritter, October 1498. 4to. With a woodcut title page and numerous tables. 20th-century limp vellum, sewn on 2 thin vellum straps laced through the joints, with the manuscript name of the (wrong) author and year of publication on the spine. The work is housed in a modern marbled paper slipcase.

Large-format (Elephant Folio) Universal-International trade catalogue issued for the 1949 film programme. 27 total posters. Illustrated throughout with full-page promotional artwork for Australian productions, including Charles Chauvel’s Sons of Matthew, The Valley Is Ours (promoted as “The Murray Valley”), the Australian National Film Board’s Australian Diary series and Into the Straight (Horse Racing/ Melbourne Cup). A scarce piece of post-war Australian cinema-distribution ephemera, combining documentary, feature-film and studio promotional material.

BLAEU, Willem Jansz. Zeespiegel… Amsterdam, Willem Jansz. Blaeu, 1627. 3 parts in 1 volume, parts 2 and 3 consist of 6 books each. Folio. With 108 numbered engraved charts (1 folding, 104 double-page, 3 full-page), 2 half-page engraved charts, 2 volvelles, a woodcut vignette on the divisional title page of each part, and numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary overlapping vellum, sewn on 5 supports laced through the joints, with the manuscript title and shelfmark on the spine. The work is preserved in a gold-tooled half red morocco clamshell box.