Melbourne Rare Book Fair

"THE GREAT COLORPLATE BOOK OF THE NORTH PACIFIC" (Forbes). CHORIS (Louis). Voyage Pittoresque autour du monde ...

$250000

First edition. Rare coloured issue. 105 lithographed plates, folding map & 2 further maps. Folio. Contemporary diced calf with gilt border, rebacked, lightly worn, some toning and spotting to plates & pale dampstaining to final six, repaired tear one plate. Paris,1822. “One of the very valuable and fundamental works on Alaska, California, and the Hawaiian islands” (Lada-Mocarski).

PSEUDO-ARISTOTLE. Aristotle’s Master-Piece.

$36600

Peter Harrington

Rare early edition of “the first sex manual written in English” (Norman), for centuries the most popular compendium on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. This copy has contemporary annotations by a husband and wife in the midst of conceiving and giving birth to their second child. Winifred and Francis Witham of South Normanton both inscribed the book in 1699, two years after their marriage.

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Purdey's The Guns and the Family

$400

Sainsburys Books

History of the sporting shotgun and rifle maker firm, James Purdey & Sons. Limited to 250 copies, hand-bound in navy morocco, signed and numbered by the author and second generation proprietor, Richard Beaumont.

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Les Fleurs du Mal

$15000

The Book Merchant Jenkins

From the collection of actor and bibliophile Barry Humphries, one of 12 deluxe edition copies on Japon Imperial of Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil illustrated by Lobel-Riche with original drawings, the plates in multiple states, and in a unique fine binding by Henri Blanchetiere.

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Andy Pollitt, Punk in the Gym

$250

Mount of Alex - Arapiles Mountain Books

Pollitt, Andy. Punk in the Gym. 1st edition. 2016. Sheffield: Vertebrate Publishing. 8vo. Original black cloth in dustjacket; pp. 318, with illustrations. No. 107 of a limited edition of 200 cloth-bound copies signed by the author. A fine copy. The life story of highly talented British climber, Andy Pollitt, and his relationship with Wolfgang Gullich’s 1984 test piece Punks in Gym, an exceedingly difficult rock climb at Mt Arapiles, in Western Victoria, at the time the hardest climb in the world. Publisher, Jon Barton, rates this book his personal favorite among the Vertebrate list.

Metabolism in Architecture

$350

Sainsburys Books

Details the 1960s Japanese architectural movement which envisioned cities as evolving organisms. Led by Tange, Kurokawa, Kikutake, and Maki, it championed modular, adaptable, and sustainable designs.

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Dickens (Charles) A TALE OF TWO CITIES.

$7500

Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller

With illustrations by H. K. Browne. Chapman & Hall, London, 1859. First edition in book form. Smith, Part I, 13, with all the internal flaws called for, but without the advertisement catalogue found 'in some copies'. *A Tale of Two Cities originally appeared in the weekly journal All the Year Round, from April 30 to November 26, 1859. It was also published in eight monthly parts (the last part being a double number), from June to December 1859. This was the final work illustrated by Browne for Dickens.

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AUSTEN, Jane; THOMSON, Hugh (illus.). Pride and Prejudice.

$15700

Peter Harrington

First fully illustrated edition, one of 250 large paper copies issued in Britain with the illustrations specially printed on China paper and laid down; a further 25 copies were released in the US. This fine Rivière binding displays the very highest standards of the bindery’s craftsmanship.

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Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising

Mount of Alex - Arapiles Mountain Books

Three novels in the Dark is Rising quintet by Susan Cooper, a contemporary fantasy series set in England and Wales, which incorporates British mythology such as the Arthurian legends and Welsh folk heroes. The Dark is Rising (2nd imp 1975, $275), The Grey King (1st ed. 1975, $350) and, Silver on the Tree (1st ed 1977, $150).

Studies of a Bullock and a Hoof by William Strutt (1825 - 1915)

$3500

Bridget McDonnell Gallery

Pencil on wash with measurements 29 x 22.7 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, North Wales, part of a collection of works by William Strutt and Alfred William Strutt sold at Sotheby's, Chester, March 1991: John Ness Barkes & Edward Barkes Probably a study for Black Thursday: A search for life through Cape Otway Forest on the memorable Feb 6th 1851. Plate 14, page 29, Victoria the Golden, Scenes, Sketches and Jottings from Nature by William Strutt, Melbourne, Victoria 1850-1862

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THE SECOND ENGLISH MIDWIFERY MANUAL. GUILLEMEAU (Jacques). Child-Birth or, the Happy Deliverie of Women.

$31000

Maggs Bros Ltd

First edition in English. Small 4to. 17 woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary limp vellum, title (twice) in early manuscript to the spine. London, by A. Hatfield, 1612. A very fine copy in contemporary vellum of one of the earliest English midwifery manuals.

ZLATA' PRAHA, Viktor Oliva, Czech painter and illustrator.

$750

Sartoni Antique Prints

VIKTOR OLIVA (Nové Stašecì, [Bohemia] 1861- Prague 1928) Czech painter and illustrator “ZLATA' PRAHA” c.1894 LITHOGRAPHY Original colour lithograph advertising “Zlata' Praha” (Golden Prague), a Czech illustrated literary magazine founded by poet Vítězslav Hálek, published between 1864 to 1929. An elegant woman dressed in red in a golden frame, wearing an eccentric hat and walking with a copy of "Zlata' Praha" under her left arm. Published by Imprimerie Chaix (Atelier Chéret), Paris. NOTE: Original colour lithograph printed on "Arches" paper.Blank at verso; before stamps (before publication)

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Nicholas II: TSAR NICHOLAS II SIGNED DOCUMENT.

$5000

Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller

TSAR NICHOLAS II SIGNED DOCUMENT IN RUSSIAN, APPOINTING ALEXEI NIKOLAEVICH KUROPATKIN A KNIGHT OF THE IMPERIAL ORDER OF ST. VLADIMIR, APOSTLE AND PRINCE 1ST CLASS. Single sheet folded to form 4 small quarto pages; copperplate, with autograph subscription 'in gratitude Nicholas'; dated 8 August, [St. Petersburg], 1916. *The document details Kuropatkin's fifty years of distinguished service.

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[Meiji Period Japanese Moveable Type].

$3500

Asia Bookroom

411 examples of Japanese wooden moveable type. The moveable type include kanji, hiragana, katakana and numbers both Japanese and Arabic. The pieces of wooden type shows some signs of use but overall a very good collection.

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Dante Alighieri: La Commedia. Comm. Jacopo della Lana.

$445000

INLIBRIS

"La prima edizione commentata della Divina Commedia" (Mambelli), published only five years after the editio princeps (Foligno 1472). An exceptionally large and crisp copy, completely unsophisticated in its first binding

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Hobart Town

$2450

Antique Print Map Room

Rare c.19th detailed hand coloured engraved panorama of Hobart published in 1879. From the original edition of the Australasian Sketcher.

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Rainer Knaust: Precious Objects

$350

Sainsburys Books

Exhibition catalogue. 44 wooden blocks housed in wooden case. Limited to 300 signed and numbered copies. Exhibited at the Municiple Gallery at the German Blade Museum, Sollingen, March 17 - April 28, 1996.

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Inheritors: a Novel by Brian Penton.

$850

Kenneth Hince Old & Fine Books

Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1936. Demy octavo, small bookseller's label on front pastedown, very good in original bright burgundy cloth lettered in gilt on spine with Norman Lindsay dustwrapper, few blemishes but in uncommonly good condition. First edition. Second volume of Penton's unfinished trilogy. Published as Giant's Stride in the UK. Very scarce with the fabulous Lindsay dustwrapper.

Typescript of Jack London's South Sea story, "Mauki"

$58000

Archives Fine Books

“Mauki” holds significant literary and historical importance for the South Pacific, particularly in its depiction of colonial labour practices and indigenous resistance during a period of intense imperial activity. Written in 1907 during London's cruise of the South Pacific in the Snark, "Mauki" was first published by Hampton's Magazine in December 1908 and was collected in South Sea Stories in 1911. This is the Hampton's setting copy and is one of only a handful of Jack London manuscripts to come onto the market in the past 50 years.

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Marlborough, His Life and Times [Presentation copy] [OFFERED WITH] A.L.S. from Clementine Churchill and additional Churchilliana

$25000

Archives Fine Books

Volume I INSCRIBED, "To Geoffrey Hale from Winston S. Churchill 1955" (on the recto of the frontispiece) : Volume II INSCRIBED, "From Winston S. Churchill 1955" (on first blank) : autograph letter SIGNED from Clementine Churchill to, "My dear Doctor Hale" expressing her gratitude, "for all you did for my sister, not only during her last illness, but also for many years." (Chartwell, 13 February, 1955) : two Christmas cards from Winston and Clementine Churchill (one with autograph note from Clementine), and an invitation and order of ceremony for the presentation to Churchill on his 80th.

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Poor Fellow My Country. By Xavier Herbert

$900

The Antique Bookshop & Curios

Poor Fellow My Country By Xavier Herbert First Signed Limited Edition No.14 of 50. Half leather One of 3 copies personally signed on the book and not on an affixed label.

16回オリンピックメルボルン大会. [Japanese Newspaper Scrap Book on Melbourne Olympics in 1956].

$550

Asia Bookroom

Scrapbook assembled by S. Tanaka in December 1965, 26 x 36.3cm, [38]pp, 4 hole string binding, hand-written title on front cover. This Japanese scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings from Japanese sources provides a detailed and engaging record of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, capturing the entire event from its earliest stages to its conclusion. The scrapbook begins with profiles of all Japanese athletes participating in the Games, followed by reports on the opening ceremony, individual sporting events, and the triumphs and disappointments experienced by Japan's competitors.

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