Highlights

A detailed map of the state of Victoria. At the time of printing, Victoria was a relatively new colony, established in 1851. The discovery of gold near Ballarat and Bendigo a few months later set off one of the largest gold rushes in history, as settlers poured in to seek their fortunes. The map reflects the colony’s source of population and wealth, showing how settlements cluster around the gold fields.

Author: CARLO DOLCI (signed lower right) Title: “AUSTRALIA E SUOI ABITANTI” [Australia and its Inhabitants] c.1890 Ink, pencil & watercolour on paper. Unusual manuscript map of Australia and Oceania executed by an Italian student in a school context. The chart is showing China, Borneo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. All places and islands accurately named. Australian continent, named “Nuova Olanda”, includes tracking of Leeuwin land, De Witt land, New South Wales and Van Diemen land as well as main Gulfs, Straits and Capes are accurately named.

Magnificent large unrecorded etching by John Barclay Godson of the Hippocratic Oath.

Early edition (1587) of the earliest printed map to focus solely on China, and the first to illustrate the Great Wall.

Possibly the only First Fleet letter still remaining in private hands. An extraordinary foundation item for British settlement in Australia.

An excellent copy of this great rarity, seldom found in any condition—let alone as pleasing as this.

Oil on canvas 76 x 76 cm Signed Painted at the start of the 2019/2020 Currowan State Forest, Black Summer bushfires

Brown, Robertus. Normibergae: Leonardi Schrag, 1827 second edition. Octavo, Contemporary half calf and marbled boards, all edges coloured, a few light spots, very scarce. The Prodromus is considered a masterpiece of botanical literature and "has a two-fold importance in the history of systematic botany. Its primary purpose was to record succinctly the plants of Australia collected by Robert Brown himself in 1802 and 1805 when naturalist on Flinders' voyage together with plants collected earlier by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Cook's first voyage (1768-71.)

Watercolour and gouache 31 x 42.5 cm Signed R. H. Shaw and dated indistinctly Provenance: Private collection until 2005 A later version of this painting titled South Australian Blacks in Full War Dress 1891 is in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia Shaw arrived in Australia from England c1858 and settled in Adelaide. He was the son of Captain George Reynolds Shaw. He was a watercolour and scene-painter, produced watercolour landscapes and sketches of Aborigines in South Australia.

19th century family bible published circa 1884. Impressively bound in boards that are heavily embossed with gilt. With colour chromo-lithographic plates, maps, steel engravings and text-illustrations. A fine example.

The 'New Naturalist' series has been continuously published since the first volume in 1945. Subjects are primarily British and most of the contributing authors are the leaders in their specialised fields. Apart from high quality texts, New Naturalists are distinguished by the original dustwrapper designs of Clifford and Rosemary Ellis, with the style being continued by other artists such as Robert Gilmour. Print runs are usually small and many volumes are highly collectable. New Naturalists can be best described as the 'modern firsts' of natural history book collecting.

Two seminal maps of the Pacific: the earliest map focused on Alaska, the Northwest and upper California, and “the first printed map of Australia” (Tooley). In the map of North America the west coast is reasonably well delineated, and de Jode has chosen to include the mythical Strait of Anian separating America from Asia. The existence of a body of water between the two continents had been suggested but not proved when the map was made. Despite the channel between the continents, the figures populating America are outside tents and domed buildings which are distinctly Asian in appearance.