Catalogues

Hordern House Rare Books, Manuscripts & Paintings.

Specialities : Pacificana

Koapena, the formidable New Guinea chief of the Hood River region, south-east of Port Moresby, was painted in 1885 by the Russian scientist and artist Miklouho-Maclay. Koapena was known as "a great fighting chief, one of the finest men we have seen" (Lyne, "New Guinea", p. 114).

The portrait superbly illustrates the late-nineteenth-century relationship between Australia and New Guinea; furthermore it specifically illustrates the personal bond that existed between the enigmatic Russian explorer, artist and ethnographer Miklouho-Maclay and the British commander of the Australian Station, Sir James Erskine at the very time that Sir James had proclaimed New Guinea as a British Protectorate - a momentous event in the history of both countries.

This important painting has remained in the family of Commodore Erskine until recent times. For a full catalogue description click here:

https://www.hordern.com/pages/catalogue/587/koapena

To accompany this we have prepared an online catalogue of fifty items of ethnographic interest, which can be seen here:

https://www.hordern.com/pages/catalogue/588/ethnography

Please note that Hordern House catalogue prices are in Australian dollars (currently AUD$100.00 equals approximately US$65.00 / EUR 60.00/ GBP 53.00).

Hordern House Rare Books, Manuscripts & Paintings.

Specialities : Travel , Pacificana , Manuscripts

Announcing our new catalogue which includes:
The Arias Memorial, the single most important printed work on the enigmatic figure of Torres. Of signal importance for the history of Torres Strait and for the 1605-1607 voyage of Quirós and Torres, as originally described in the early seventeenth century. Its rediscovery and publication in 1773 have ensured its survival since a first publication in the 1630s. Extremely rare: this copy is the only one known to have been sold in many decades;

A fine original drawing from the Dumont d'Urville expedition of 1837-1840 showing the mouth of the Paiu river (today known as the Lawrence River) at Vanikoro one of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons, where the French established that the La Pérouse expeditioners ended their days. This is the original drawing for plate 97 in Dumont d'Urville's Atlas pittoresque du Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée (Paris, 1846).

Hordern House Rare Books, Manuscripts & Paintings.

Specialities : Australiana , Pacificana , Natural history

Hordern House Rare Books, Manuscripts & Paintings.

Specialities : Pacificana , Australiana

54 items

Peter Arnold Pty. Ltd.

Specialities : Old and rare books , Illustrated books , Australiana , Pacificana , Natural history , Art , Maps , Photography , History , Book Plates , Architecture , Archeology

Our forthcoming auction is one of the most varied we have offered. As usual, there is a strong showing of Australian and Pacific voyages and travels, including Flinders, Voyage to Terra Australis, 1814, with the large atlas; Phillip, Voyage to Botany Bay, 1789, in the coloured issue; two sets of the official accounts of Cook’s three voyages, 1773-84; and a singular copy of White, Voyage to New South Wales, 1790, with the
plates present both in coloured and plain state and with an unrecorded proof plate.
The maps are headed by the three very rare Flinders charts of 1801, for which his Observations on the coast of Van Diemen’s Land published in the same year, is a commentary ‘intended to accompany’ them.
The photographs include a magnificent pair of albums of views in New South Wales, circa 1880 to 1895, one containing 100 large photographs, the other 11 folding panoramas of Sydney. A number of other panoramic views, of various kinds, have also been consigned.
The natural history section derives chiefly from the collection of Dr. Louis Pigott of Brisbane, and includes, amongst some fine bird books, John Gould’s copy of Buller, History of the birds of New Zealand, 1873.
The highlight of the prints is the very rare view of Newcastle published by Absalom West, Sydney 1812.
We are also pleased to offer a group of finely illustrated architecture books, spanning four centuries.
We will also be accepting bids through Invaluable.

Gaston Renard Fine and Rare Books

Specialities : Australiana , Travel , Pacificana

Hordern House Rare Books, Manuscripts & Paintings.

Specialities : Natural history , Australiana , Pacificana

Gaston Renard Fine and Rare Books

Specialities : Pacificana , Anthropology

Asia Bookroom

Specialities : China , Japan , Southeast Asia , Pacificana , Ephemera , Antiquity

A selection of highlights from our stall at the 2018 Melbourne Rare Book Fair.

Hordern House Rare Books, Manuscripts & Paintings.

Specialities : Australiana , Atlases and maps , Botany , Travel , Pacificana

Our June catalogue embraces material relating to Australia and the Pacific from the earliest European conception of a southern land to the voyages of Cook, Flinders, La Perouse and Freycinet.