Highlights

A Tale. Syd.1838. Or.cl with paper titling label. 152pp. uncut. First printing. A sensational gothic tale full of incident, lost heirs, secret births, with a melodramatic ending. The first novel printed on the Australian mainland and the first written by an Australian woman. Rare. F.Hobhill Cole bookplate. Contained in a folding cloth case.

ALBRECHT DÜRER (1471-1528) GERMAN SCHOOL 1496-1497 Woodcut The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand revels in displaying brutal methods of torture and execution. In this woodcut, Dürer portrays a popular medieval legend, telling the story of ten thousand Roman soldiers who converted to Christianity. The Persian king stands at the bottom left of the piece, overseeing the torture of Saint Acacius, who had encouraged the soldiers to convert. Note: 18th century impression Bartsch 117; Meder 218, Meder g/g 440mm x 307mm [sheet] Condition: Light foxing distributed on the sheet. Otherwise good.

Stockholm : Anders J. Nordström, 1783; Carl Deleen, 1802 – 1818. Octavo, three volumes, fine early nineteenth century Swedish half-calf over marbled boards, a fine set in early bindings from the period. The first edition of Sparrman’s account of Cook’s second voyage, a very rare complete set printed over a span of 35 years, including two samples of tapa cloth collected on the voyage in Tahiti and the Friendly Islands (Tonga).

"APTERIX AUSTRAL" Shaw and his "SKELETON" 1842 JEAN-CHARLES WERNER (painted by) (Paris 1798-1856) After LOUIS LE BRETON (Douarnenez 1818-1866) STIPPLE ENGRAVINGS Superb and very detailed pair of stipple engravings from Dumont d’Urville's "Voyage au pole Sud et dans l’Oceanie": An exquisite image of a brown Kiwi with two detail sketches of a feather, and his Skeleton depiction with two detail sketches of the crane and beak. Two superb images of New Zealand's national bird. Attractive contemporary hand colours. Sold as a pair.

REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN (1606-1669) Dutch School “The Flute-player” (het Uylenspiegeltje) 1642, ETCHING AND DRYPOINT Fourth state of four, without the face among the branches. Barstch 188, Hollstein Dutch 144, New Hollstein 211 Very good impression on fine 17th century laid paper. Trimmed outside the copperplate, 4mm margins on right, left and lower side, 2mm margin upper side. Upper left corner of the margin reinforced.

Sydney, Dawn Office, [1905]. First edition: pp96, 2pp adverts. 8vo, cloth. 8vo, original cloth with sl. rubbed gilt lettering. A fine copy. Inscribed `from the authoress July 1915', and with a photograph of Louisa mounted on the verso of the titlepage. Also tipped in is the typescript of a poem `Farewell'. The only book of poems by the mother of Henry Lawson. From 1888 to 1905 she was editor and manager of the `Dawn', a literary journal for women. She published Henry Lawson's first book in 1894, and also short stories of her own.

1807-1811 A very good set of the first edition of the Nicholas Baudin voyage of the exploration of Australia, written by Francois Peron (1775-1810). With the first printed map of the completed Australian coastline, published prior to Matthew Flinders.

​Sydney, Angus & Robertson, London, Y.J. Pentland, 1895. First edition, later issue : ppxiv, 184; 8vo, original blue green cloth, gilt lettering and gilt top edges. Light tanning to endpapers and edges, minimal wear to corners & marking to back board. A near fine copy of this iconic work. Identical to the first issue except for `Preface by Rolf Boldrewood' on the title page, and bound in blue green cloth instead of burgundy. See Jonathan Wantrup, Vol.11, pp.981-90. One of the two books which launched George Robertson as the first `real' Australian literary publisher.

LAWRENCE, D.H. Birds, Beasts and Flowers; Poems by D.H. Lawrence. London: Martin Secker, 1923. First U.K. Edition, First Printing. Octavo (23x14.5cm) : pp. (6) 7-207 (1, blank) : untrimmed leaves : plain e.p.s : t.e. dyed (black) : quarter cloth over yellow papered boards : paper label to spine : most of the scarce jacket present in two pieces. Preceded by the U.S. edition, the UK edition was limited to 1000 copies. [Roberts A27b.].

DICKENS, Charles A Tale of Two Cities; With illustrations by H.K. Browne London: Chapman and Hall, 1859. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo : pp. (6) viii (1, list of plates) (1, blank) (1) 2-254 : 16 plates by H.K. Browne (Phiz) including frontis and vignette title : pale green e.p.s : half leather over marbled boards : five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Slight rubbing to boards; plates with occasional closed tears to edges, not affecting images; historical expert cleaning to some leaves; contemporary ownership signature. An exceptionally clean copy, handsomely bound.

Stockton : Joshua Reeve, December 16, 1774. Manuscript, 3½ pages, [2] sheets, foolscap (260 x 230 mm), written in ink in a uniform, copperplate cursive; old folds (now fragile, one expertly repaired), each sheet with a few small perforations (not affecting legibility), some roughening to the edges and scattered spotting; signed at the foot Joshua Reeve scrpt. Stockton, Decemr. 16 1774. A very early copy of an important, informative letter by James Cook, which contains Cook’s impressions of the indigenous people of New Holland.

No Imprint (Peking?) n.d. (early 20th century) Oblong. Rice paper, bound in the Asian style. 12 leaves of plates, each leaf with two delicate hand-coloured illustrations describing local businesses, so 24 hand-coloured illustrations in total. Fine and rare.