Melbourne Rare Book Fair

Les Amours de Psyche et de Cupidon

$5500

One of the most striking editions of Fontaine’s adaptation of the story of Cupid and Psyche with coloured stipple engravings by Bonnefoy, Mme Demonchy, and Colibert after Jean-Frederic Schall. This copy extra illustrated and finely bound by the Paris bookbinder Salvador David.

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Lucio Fontana

$150

Sainsburys Books

Scarce monograph on the Italian avant-garde, abstract artist.

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee | Dee Brown

$3900

Somerset House Books

An American bestseller in hard cover for over a year post publication, selling many millions of copies and was translated into seventeen languages, Brown became a celebrated author of both fiction and non-fiction until he died in 2002.

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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).

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI, "VEDUTA DEL ROMANO CAMPIDOGLIO CON SCALINATA CHE VA ALLA CHIESA D'ARACELI". From "Vedute di Roma".

$2750

Sartoni Antique Prints

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI (Mogliano Veneto 1720-Roma 1778) Italian school "VEDUTA DEL ROMANO CAMPIDOGLIO CON SCALINATA CHE VA ALLA CHIESA D'ARACELI" [THE CAPITOL AND THE STEPS OF S. MARIA IN ARACOELI] 1757 Etching DESCRIPTION: Original etching from the "Vedute di Roma". "Veduta del romano Campidoglio con Scalinata che va alla che va alla Chiesa d'Araceli". In this etching Piranesi captures with great power and theatricality one of the emblematic places of Rome: the Capitol, with its famous staircase. NOTE: Unidentified watermark. Hind 38, ii-iii/v.

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Bony Buys a Woman By Arthur Upfield (Signed)

$350

The Antique Bookshop & Curios

BONY BUYS A WOMAN By Arthur Upfield Lond. Heinemann. 1957. First Edition. Scarce. Inscribed & signed by Arthur Upfield

Astounding Science Fiction July 1940

$150

Sainsburys Books

In this issue: the first printing of Robert Heinlein's novelette, "Coventry" as well as L. Ron Hubbard's "The Idealist" (published under the psuedonym, Kurt von Rachen). Part of number of titles on early science fiction.

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Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

$5500

The Book Merchant Jenkins

First edition of the highly influential autobiographical account of De Quincey’s laudanum addiction. The foundation work of drug literature.

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中華書局印刷樣本. [Chung Hwa Book Company Printing Samples Book].

$1500

Asia Bookroom

Delightful sample catalogue from Chung Hwa Book Co. in Shanghai with 38 unpaginated leaves including introduction, awards, and samples demonstrating the types of printing and printed illustrations carried out by this printing company. Chinese card binding with silk ties, 21 x 28.4cm. Presented in blue cloth-covered case with toggles, 29.8 x 21.4cm. The first 2 leaves include the company's logo and a foreword introducing the company and its expansion in just a few short years, up until Minguo 5. Following this there are 7 pages of photographic illustrations of awards received by the company.

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AUSTEN, Jane - TEMPLE BOOK CLUB. Remarkable manuscript archive of a private subscribers’ library.

$62700

Peter Harrington

An intriguing collection of book lists, invoices, and receipts from the Temple Book Club, which operated between 1812 and 1819, a period during which first editions of works such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park were acquired at discounted rates and circulated among its members, a select group of barristers from one of London’s Inns of Court.

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"THREE ABORIGINAL CHILDREN", B. E. MINNS.

$330

Sartoni Antique Prints

BENJAMIN EDWIN MINNS (Dungog, 17 November 1863 – Taronga Zoo, 21 February 1937) "THREE ABORIGINAL CHILDREN" 1926 ETCHING & AQUATINT DESCRIPTION: Original etching by B.E. Minns depicting 3 indigenous Australian children sitting on their knees in the outdoor with an arrow and a boomerang at right. Signed by the artist in pencil lower right and on the plate. NOTE:Etching and aquatint on copperplate printed on cream laid paper Signed by the artist in pencil lower right and on the plate. SIZE: 124mm(H) x 173mm(L) [plate] 202mm(H) x 254mm(L) [sheet] CONDITION: In perfect condition.

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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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地球儀. [Globe].

$1850

Asia Bookroom

A charming Japanese late Meiji period globe mounted in a metal semi-meridian and wooden base. The globe measures 20cm in circumference, the wooden base measures 6cm in diameter, while the total height measures 15cm. Although the majority of landmasses and borders are relatively close to reality, European holdings in Africa have been loosely demarcated at best. Japan and her freshly-acquired territories in Taiwan and Sakhalin have been highlighted in red. Though Korea was not yet a formal possession of Japan, the peninsula has also been marked with a touch of red.

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CURIE, Marie. “Radio-Active Substances.”

$31400

Peter Harrington

First edition in English of Curie’s famous dissertation, rare in such excellent condition in the original parts. Serialized across 15 issues of The Chemical News, it was applauded by the examination committee for being the greatest scientific contribution ever made in a doctoral thesis. Later the same year, Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.

ONE OF TEN KNOWN BOOKS FROM SIR WALTER RALEGH'S PRISON LIBRARY IN THE TOWER OF LONDON. [RALEIGH (Walter).] VIGNIER (Nicolas, the younger). Theatre de L‘Antechrist.

$72000

Maggs Bros Ltd

First edition. Small Folio. 692, [14 (index/errata)] pp. Diagonal closed tear from a paper flaw in EEe2. Contemporary limp vellum, sewn on four tawed leather slips, the covers tooled in the centre with the armorial crest of Sir Walter Ralegh. [Saumur] 1610.

Alasdair Gray, Lanark

$750

Mount of Alex - Arapiles Mountain Books

Gray, Alasdair. Lanark. A Life in 4 Books. 1st thus ‘Definitive Edition’,1985. Edinburgh: Canongate. 8vo. Original black cloth gilt in dustjacket; pp. [viii (last blank)], 562 (last blank), illustrated and decorated throughout by the author. No. 747 of a limited edition of 1000 copies, numbered, signed and additionally inscribed by Alasdair Gray. A little sunning and spotting, a very good copy. The author’s first book, a novel written over a period of almost thirty years, combining realist and dystopian surrealist depictions of his home city of Glasgow. First assembled in one book in 1981.

Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Bolderwood (sic)

$3900

The Antique Bookshop & Curios

Robbery Under Arms By Rolf Bolderwood (sic) The rare first edition. 3 vols. London. 1888. Robbery Under Arms By Rolf Bolderwood (sic) The rare first edition. 3 vols. London. 1888.

The Birds of Australia

$750000

Douglas Stewart Fine Books

London : printed by Richard and John Taylor for the author, 1848. The first comprehensive survey of the birds of Australia, with hand-coloured illustrations and descriptions of 681 species, 328 of which were new to Western science and which Gould was the first to describe. The finest of all Australian colour plate books, and Gould’s ‘greatest achievement’ (Wantrup). Provenance: Sir Edward Charles Stirling (1848-1919), Director of the South Australian Museum 1895 - 1913

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

$250000

Maggs Bros Ltd

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).

Phantastica: Die Betaubenden und Erregenden Genussmittel

$800

The Book Merchant Jenkins

First edition of the psychedelic classic by German pharmacologist Louis Lewin (1850-1929). Set the standard for the classification of psychoactive drugs: Inebriantia (Inebriants such as alcohol or ether), Excitantia (Stimulants such as Khat or Amphetamine), Euphorica (Euphoriants and Narcotics such as Heroin), Hypnotica (Tranquilizers such as Kava), Phantastica (Hallucinogens or Entheogens such as Peyote or Ayahuasca). Later translated into French, Italian, and English, the 1931 English edition said to be Aldous Huxley’s introduction to drug literature.

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歌舞伎ミ二紙劇場. [Kabuki Miniature Paper Theatre].

$1500

Asia Bookroom

A delightful miniature paper theatre presented in a beautiful pictorial box (18 x 28cm). Contains a fold out stage, fifteen actors on stands (two extra stands also included), three double sided sheets of stage set illustrations, two sets of theatre curtain illustrations. This colourful kabuki miniature paper theatre was likely produced during the Meiji period. The set includes six different stage backdrops from famous kabuki programmes, including Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑). Players use the paper figures, such as Benkei from Kanjincho (勧進帳), to recreate iconic kabuki scenes.

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