Search Results: Titles starting with B from Hordern House Rare Books

London: Boydell, 1808. Handcoloured aquatint, 330 x 455 mm. Fine view of the island of Cracatoa from Webber's magnificent series of views of the Pacific. This handcoloured aquatint is from the 1808 publication Views of the South Seas, and like other views by John Webber it is based on an original drawing by the artist made during Cook's third voyage to the Pacific. Between 1788 and 1792 Webber produced a series of sixteen views of places visited by Cook, etched and coloured by himself. These however were not published until after his death, in the large folio volume Views in the South Seas produced by Boydell & Co. in 1808 and issued from then until about 1820 with plates apparently printed as and when they were needed. .

London: The Author 1840-, 1869. Very good.. Hand-coloured lithograph (540 x 355 mm.), with letter-press text. The banded Honey-eater was bought to Gould's attention by Mr Benjamin Bynoe, Surgeon of the Beagle, who collected the specimen whilst on the northern coast. An interesting bird and further testament to Gould's statement that the northern coast of Australia possesses a fauna peculiar to itself. This is an original hand coloured lithographic plate from Gould's most famous work, Birds of Australia. Birds of Australia is a great tribute to Australia and was one of Gould's most successful projects. 'Only 250 copies have been printed, and the drawings have been effaced from stones; of these, 180 were subscribed for, the remaining seventy the author proposes to issue upon the original terms, with the exception, that five or more parts shall be delivered in the course of each year instead of four; the delivery to commence on the 1st of January 1849' (Prospectus). .

N.p. (Japan), 1854. In good original condition.. Stitch sewn booklet measuring 149 x 79 mm., with two fine coloured woodblock prints, one double-page; original stitched wrappers, original cloth folding case; now preserved in a quarter morocco box. Charming Japanese publication, with two fine coloured woodcuts, one a double-page view of a Dutch ship entering Nagasaki Bay, and the other depicting a Russian naval officer in full dress uniform. This slight volume was published as a description of the various voyages of foreign nations that arrived in Japan, from the earliest times up to the arrival of Perry at Uraga and Shimoda in 1854. One of the prints was used in the publication two years earlier of Manjiro Nakahama's famous Record of Drifting. Dutch traders operated in Nagasaki in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries: they were confined to the island of Deshima (Dejima), in the harbour. Only about two hundred by eighty metres, it had originally been set aside for the Portuguese as a… Read More

Paris: Henri Plon, 1871. A neat copy.. Duodecimo, quarter red-brown morocco. Early French edition of Chesney's electrifying tale of the German invasion of England. Its depiction of the humiliation of the English in battle, but also the crushing despair of life under German rule, positions this work as an important precursor to the dystopias of the twentieth century. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney (who founded the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College at Staines, later General Sir George Chesney and subsequently MP for Oxford) first published this short story in Blackwood's Magazine for May 1871. It quickly ran to many editions and commentaries on both sides of the Atlantic. Its basic premise is that following the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian war, the German armies take what was widely feared to be the inevitable step of invading, and quickly subduing, England. Published the same year as Chesney's original, and with a Preface which sketches out the early reception of the work, this early… Read More

1830. Very good.. Lithograph, 150 x 245 mm. Very rare indeed: an example of the work being done by Conrad Martens before he sailed on the Beagle. Any art relating to this early part of his career is most uncommon. Conrad Martens (1801-1878), perhaps the best known of all colonial artists, arrived in Sydney in 1835 after working his way around the world, including a year's appointment as artist on the hydrographical survey voyage of the Beagle, during which his shipmate was Charles Darwin. Martens had been born in London in 1801 but moved with his family to Exmouth in Devon in 1822. The view shows the temple by the shore at the Beacon, in the centre of Exmouth. This is thought to be the second earliest print after any work by Martens: the actual lithograph was drawn on stone by "F. Martens", thought to be Frederick Martens, a German-born engraver in aquatint and likely a relative of Conrad. Michael Organ, who has made a study of Martens, records in his "Conrad Martens' Prints" (online) that the… Read More

[Sydney]: S. Sedgefield (signed as lithographer), 1870. Very good.. Tinted lithograph, 192 x 340 mm., mounted. A charming separately issued lithograph showing Bear Island before it was joined to the mainland at La Perouse, Sydney and prior to the construction of a fort built in the 1880s to ward off the perceived threat of an attack on Sydney by Russian forces. The fort still stands today and is connected to the mainland by the original wooden bridge. Although Raworth uses the name Bear Island on this lithograph, it is generally called Bare Island, as described in Cook's journal in 1770. William Henry Raworth (c.1820-1905), who arrived in Sydney from England around 1867, produced several engravings of the Sydney area, as well as landscapes in watercolour. He was involved in a number of exhibitions including the second Annual Art Exhibition at the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1873. At this time one of his pictures sold for the substantial amount of 42 pounds to the Art Gallery of New South… Read More

Melbourne: E.W. Cole, Book Arcade, 1918. A nice fresh copy.. Octavo, frontispiece and illustrations, with six leaves illustrating Cole's medals bound in, publisher's advertisements; in original gilt lettered blue cloth. A benevolent plea to Australian readers for racial tolerance by eccentric Australian philanthropist and businessman Edward William Cole, owner of Cole's Book Arcade, a phenomenally successful bookstore located in the heart of Melbourne. Cole was born in humble circumstances in 1832 and owed his considerable success to a combination of hard work, goodwill and charitable deeds; he passed away in 1918, the same year that Better Side of the Chinese Character was published. The book is a confident attempt to dispel notions of racial degeneracy common at the time, especially those applied to Asian peoples; Cole had previously published White Australia Impossible in 1903 and remained critical of contemporary government policy that restricted immigration by race. This defence of Chinese… Read More

Sydney: Library of New South Wales, 1970. Octavo; a fine copy in original cloth with dustjacket. The second and by far best edition, much revised and greatly expanded: the standard bibliography of Captain Cook. .

Boston: Mills & Hicks, 1774. Full page woodcut to verso of title trimmed a little close affecting the caption, title-page loose; very good.. Duodecimo, 32 pp., original printed wrappers. Rare American Almanac with an important notice of "An Account of the Inhabitants of New Zealand, (embellished with an elegant Representation of a Warrior of that Nation, and two Natives of New-Holland, advancing to Combat)." A full-page of text discusses the Māori, their dress, carriage and conversation, comparing them to Tahitians. The image is closely based on Parkinson's "Two Natives of New Holland advancing to combat; New Zealand warrior in his proper dress & armour" which appeared in his Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas. Another American version of the plate had been included in the 1774 New York edition of the official account of Cook's first voyage, that plate famously engraved by the folk hero Paul Revere. This Almanac version would appear to be based on the Revere plate, and is one of the earliest… Read More

Book Club of California, 1934. Fine.. Small quarto; original cloth. One of 250 numbered copies. Olmsted, 82. .

Germany, 1500. Original sewn repairs in lower margin, a couple of original marginal creases; in fine original condition.. Bifolium on vellum, 458 x 318 mm. (each leaf), each leaf written in double columns of 32 lines, ruled with ink, dark brown ink with rubrics and brown ink initials, two with decorative penwork, capitals touched with red, full margins. original sewn repairs in lower margin, a couple of original marginal creases; in fine original condition. A handsome bifolium leaf from a large lectern manuscript. The decorative penwork initials, in one instance forming a human profile, are characteristic of the German style of this period. Large volumes, like the one from which these pages derive, were introduced by the Carolingians and eventually replaced the multi-volume sets required for the performance of religious observances: A proliferation of private chapels with minimal staff and a burgeoning quantity of regular observances, often paid for by the donations of the faithful, necessitated a… Read More

London: lithographed by the artist, 1860. Very good. Hand coloured lithograph, 285 x 240mm, mounted and framed; artist's proof with notes to the colourist. A lovely image of Christmas Bells, by the natural history artist W.G. Smith, lithographed by the artist and here in an unique proof version before letters, beautifully hand-coloured by him with detailed notes for the colourist. The proof is addressed to the publishers of The Floral Magazine, Reeve and Company in Covent Garden, and the image appeared in the first issue of gf the periodical published in 1861 (number 134 in the top right of the lithograph), printed by V. Brooks for the colour printing specialists Day and Son. Blandfordia Grandiflora (also known as flammea), now commonly known as the Christmas Bells, was named by the prodigious Robert Brown in 1810 from specimens collected in the Hunter River. As with many Australian natives, no sooner had specimens been sent to England than the demand from nurserymen for seed propagation ensued. In… Read More

Exeter: W.Spreat, 1848. Very good.. Handcoloured lithograph, 225 x 170 mm. A fine Australian view by Robert Marsh Westmacott (1801-1870) from his Sketches in Australia, a series of tinted lithographic plates of Sydney and Harbour areas, mountains and southern coastal regions of New South Wales, "drawn from nature". "The Blow Hole is situated in Illawarra, upon a rocky point of land running into the sea, this forms the south side of the Harbour of the Township of Kiama. The singular appearance the Blow Hole presents, is caused by the swell of the Pacific rushing into an apperture from the cliff, running a considerable distance inland; the entrance of the opening is on the both sides beautifully supported by basaltic columns. The great force with which the water enters, causes it to expend itself against the side of a basin or crater at the extremity; a magnificent column of white foam is thrown up, sometimes to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, causing a noise that may be heard several miles… Read More

Sydney: Absalom West, 1812. A very good impression laid down on Japanese tissue.. Engraving; paper size approx. 310 mm. x 450 mm.; printed lower right below image in black ink, 'Engraved by W. Presston [sic]'; printed lower left below image in black ink, 'Drawn by J. Eyre'; printed lower centre below image in black ink, 'Published Novr 30th 1812 by A. West Sydney'; printed, lower centre below image in black ink, 'BOTANY BAY HARBOUR, In New South Wales with a View of the HEADS./ taken from cooks Point/ Dedicated to his Excellency Lachlan Macquarie, Esq. Governor of New South Wales. &c. &c. &c.'; printed upper left above image in black ink, 'No.1'; mounted and expertly framed. This beautiful and very rare early Sydney view is the first separately published engraving to have been both drawn and engraved entirely in the colony. It is number one in the remarkable series of Sydney Views published by Absalom West from 1812 and was created after an original drawing by the colonial artist John Eyre and… Read More

Upsala & Leipzig: Magnus Swederus, 1779. Octavo, large map and chart and eleven plates (most folding), 13 plates in total; contemporary quarter roan and marbled boards. First German edition, preceded only by the very rare Swedish edition of 1777, and followed by London and Paris editions in the 1780s. This study, a major work on the geography, history, and culture of Iceland, was written and edited by Uno von Troil, who sailed with Banks and Solander on the voyage to Iceland, undertaken after Banks' precipitate withdrawal from Cook's second voyage. Von Troil's work is the only major work undertaken by any member of the voyage, and naturally includes any number of references to Sir Joseph Banks and his retinue. As an interesting aside, in the 22nd letter, a discussion on the pillars of basalt, there is a particular discussion of the island of Staffa, which is noted as belonging to none other than "Lauchlan MacQuarie": father of Governor Macquarie. It is also interesting to note that this German… Read More

London and New York: J. and F. Tallis, n.d., but, 1848. Fine set.. Eight volumes, large octavo, with numerous plates and maps, some hand-coloured; a very fine, bright set in the original red cloth, spines and front boards richly decorated in gilt. A set in particularly fine condition. First published in 1834 and extensively revised and extended over the next twenty years, Martin's comprehensive account of the British Colonies encapsulates the remarkable growth of the British Empire under Queen Victoria. A former Colonial Treasurer at Hong Kong, Martin's constantly revised and expanded book is "a work of extraordinary research, reference, and completeness" (Hocken), although it is perhaps now most notable for the fine series of highly decorative handcoloured Tallis maps that illustrate it. This set, complete in eight parts, is not recorded in Bagnall, Ferguson, or Hocken, although Ferguson's 4822a describes what we take to be a prospectus for this edition. .

London: W. Bulmer, 1819. A little dusted and some foxing, very good.. Quarto, 28pp., folding plate, uncut; in the original plain paper wrappers, manuscript '1819' in ink to front. Very rare original documentation, listing paintings by John Glover, of works exhibited at the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts (usually known as the British Institution), which had been founded in 1806 as a private club for connoisseurs, and to exhibit the works of both contemporaries and Old Masters. Admission cost a shilling. These exhibition catalogues are only very rarely offered for sale, and are scarce in libraries. An attractive inclusion in this issue is the folding engraved plate, which shows simple sketches of many of the eminent visitors to the exhibition. This particular catalogue dates from 1819, after Glover's fruitful sketching tours of the Lake District and Wales. As a result, it is not surprising to learn that he exhibited two large canvases here, the first his view of 'Tintern Abbey', much… Read More

London: Wm. S. Orr & Co and William Smith, 1849. Three volumes, quarto, profusely illustrated with full-page plates exquisitely hand-coloured; uniformly bound in half morocco richly gilt, all edges gilt, with the gilt arms of the Barons Sherborne. A remarkable collaboration and an exquisite work of Victorian natural history. As one of the pre-eminent entomologists of the Victorian period, John Obadiah Westwood (1805-1893) served as collaborator, editor, and consultant on many entomological publications. He was a prodigious author and researcher, publishing some four hundred scientific papers and some twenty books, as well as making numerous contributions to works by other authors. In 1833, he was one of the founding members of the Entomological Society and he became honorary life president in 1883, and a fellow of the Linnaean Society. It was for his study of Australian species that Anthony Musgrave, author of the Bibliography of Australian Entomology 1775-1930, named the period 1831-1861 "The… Read More

Paris: Puymaurin & Andrieu, 1817. Somewhat aged but authentic issued condition.. Bronze medal, 41 mm. Bronze example of the medal struck to commemorate the sailing of the Uranie for Australia and the Pacific in 1817 under Freycinet. The Uranie landed at Shark Bay on the West Coast of Australia, on 12 September 1818, where an observatory was set up. After visiting Timor and the Hawaiian Islands they reached Port Jackson in November 1818. They left on Boxing Day that year on a course for Cape Horn but on 13 February 1820 the ship was wrecked off the Falkland Islands. However all the crew and most of the records of the voyage and natural history specimens were saved and the voyage was completed on the Physicienne. The voyage was organised by the French government to make observations on geography, magnetism and meteorology, and became noteworthy for its natural history discoveries. This scientific bent is reflected in the detailed lettering on the obverse, which has the main caption 'Hemisphere… Read More

Paris: Andrieu & de Puymaurin, 1822. Extremely fine.. Bronze medal, 51 mm; Obverse: profile portrait of Louis XVIII; Reverse: "Hémisphère Austral. Physique Astronomie. La Corvette l'Uranie Mr. Ls. de Freycinet Commandt... S.A.R.M. Le Duc d'Angoulême, Amiral de France etc..." Bronze medal, 51 mm. An excellent example of the very uncommon bronzed copper medal commemorating the first voyage of Duperrey to the Pacific. A similar example of this bronze version is held in the Rex Nan Kivell collection of the National Library of Australia. Duperrey's voyage was one of the greatest of the French grands voyages to the Pacific. The expedition set out from Toulon on 11 August 1822, with the intention of collecting scientific data and specimens, but also instructed to report on the possibility of establishing a penal colony in Western Australia. Duperrey, who was thirty-five at the start of the voyage, had been on the crew of the previous major French Pacific voyage, that of Freycinet. He had as his… Read More