Highlights

[signed with ephemera]. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1937. First Edition. 8vo. original cloth gilt; pp. xvi, 536, with illustrations. A very good copy. Inscribed to prev. owner on title page, by the author, 'For John W. Spalding, with the best wishes of the author:- George Mackaness. 19/9/63'.with a Christmas greeting card from Governor and Lady Wakehurst featuring a mounted reproduction of the portrait of Captain Arthur Phillip by F. Wheatley, and other related ephemera, loosely enclosed.

Phillip (Arthur) THE VOYAGE OF GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO BOTANY BAY, with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island; John Stockdale, London, 1789. First edition. *The first official account of the First Fleet, compiled by the publisher, from Phillip's journal and reports. 'The importance of Stockdale's Phillip must not be underestimated. It offers a full record of events both on land and on sea in the first months of the settlement..." [Wantrup, pages 63-4]. $12,500

Peter Trusler's paintings for the book Birds of Australian Gardens (Rigby, 1980), are revolutionary, and rank among the finest Australian natural history paintings ever done. In his Artist's Note (page 11) Peter says; 'Where possible I prefer to work from life. A number of the paintings are portraits of individual birds and all of the backgrounds and plants have been painted from actual specimens ... The paintings for the plates were executed with transparent watercolour and gouache. Item #6569

Potter, Beatrix, & others: CHANGING PICTURES: A Book of Transformation Pictures. Ernest Nister, London and E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, n.d.[1893]. First edition. One of three coloured illustrations on the upper board is an early (unattributed) picture by Beatrix Potter, of a rabbit opening a door to discover a Christmas basket of carrots and other vegetables. $1500

A grand edition of the works of Horace, set in a large typeface and with an elegant pictorial title-page engraved by Mellan after Nicolas Poussin. Poussin’s drawing was owned by George III and is in the Royal Collections today (Blunt, The French Drawings in the Collection of His Majesty The King at Windsor Castle, Oxford and London, 1945, 249).

Tench (Watkin) NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION TO BOTANY BAY; with An Account of New South Wales, Its Productions, Inhabitants, &c. To which is subjoined, a List of the Civil and Military Establishments at Port Jackson. By Captain Watkin Tench, of the Marines. Printed for J. Debrett, London, 1789. First Edition. 'The earliest authentic account of the colony' [Wantrup, page 54]; an eye-witness account of the settlement at Port Jackson, by one of the participants. $15,000

Nansen (Fridtjof) ESKIMO LIFE. Translated by William Archer. Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 1893. First edition. *In 1888 Nansen's team made the first successful crossing of Greenland's interior, spending several months living among the Inuit. The English translation includes revisions made by Nansen. The translator also 'requested and received Dr. Nansen's permission to suppress one or two especially nauseous details of Eskimo manners, which seemed to have no particular ethnological significance' [translator's preface]. $1,200

This charming astronomical manuscript by Henry Ferdinand Pelerin (c.1772-1825) epitomises the strong intellectual interest in natural sciences in the later Enlightenment. The intricate presentation of manuscript data, the expertise in illustration, and the intellectual rigour shown in the composition of this Album, display Pelerin’s advanced understanding of astronomy.

London : 1771 - 1784. A magnificent set of the official account of Cook’s voyages, finely illustrated with maps and plates. Finely bound by the venerable London firm of Morell in the late nineteenth century, this exceptional collection of the complete set of voyages of Cook is distinguished by its full, wide margins and rich, dark impressions.

The illuminated initial 'H' is in blues, pink and greens on a ground of burnished gold, with extensions into the margin of foliate scrolls in light & dark pink, greens, blues and finished with burnished gold bezants. The text is from "The Hours of the Cross" which marked the specific times of the day associated with the stages of Christ's Passion. Italy, c.1500, size of leaf c.80x60 mm. Very good/excellent condition.

Eliot (T. S.) FOUR QUARTETS. Pp. 54+[2](blank, colophon); narrow demy 8vo; qr. parchment with gilt rule, spine lettered in gilt, marbled papered boards; t.e.g., others uncut; within matching marbled papered slipcase, edges slightly rubbed; housed in a later custom made brown cloth wrap-around portfolio with ribbon pull and a matching brown cloth outer slipcase (a trifle marked) with gilt lettered black leather title label on spine; Faber & Faber, London, 1960. Edition limited to 290 numbered copies, signed by the author. $7500.00

Manuscript on vellum, with seal. 320x460mm, folded. In very good clean condition. *** For Gregson, a volatile political figure in VDL, one of the 'Patriotic Six' and (very briefly) Tasmania's second Premier, see ADB 1. The land was near Jericho, on the Jordan River, and the grant included the services of three transported convicts. Gregson was alleged to have bribed the surveyor G.W. Evans, with a piano, to swear that there was insufficient land adjacent to his first grant for an additional location, thus allowing him to take later grants in a more favourable location (this being one of them?)