Highlights

By “Agricola”. Illustrated with maps and coloured plates, from original drawings made on the spot, by George French Angas. London : Smith, Elder, & Co., Cornwall, 1849. One of the rarest and most beautiful Australian colour plate books.

A nice set, published by Pierre Didot, Paris 1803, 3 Vols. 32mo. Buff leather spine, with Pink insert title and green volume with gilt letters, and various gilt decorations, boards marbled, endpapers marbled, edges yellow, owners ex libris Viet Valentin. Good-very good condition, silk bookmarks intact. Tom 1- II, 245pp lightly foxed, Tom III-IV 262pp edges lightly worn, interior bright with minimal marks, Tom V-VI 336pp light wear, inside bright.

A fascinating Japanese work based on the I Ching, showing how to tell fortunes by throwing sticks and reading the resulting hexagram.

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

An unusually fine example of a late Qing Dynasty cheats' handkerchief or sheet; an aid for passing the civil service exam under the [科舉] keju system in imperial China.

This first edition of “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, published by Heinemann in 1962, is a highly collectible item. The book is in good condition, bound in chocolate brown cloth with silver titles on the spine. The original, price-clipped magenta dust jacket, designed by Barry Trengrove, shows some spine fading, edge browning, and minor chipping but is now protected by a clear archival cover. Light flecking on all edges, with excellent condition text, makes this copy a valuable addition to any collection.

Turner, G.R. [George Reginald]. Young Man of Talent. London: Cassell and Company Limited, 1959. First Edition. 8vo. original blue boards gilt in dustwrapper priced 16/- net; pp. x, 290. A very good copy. The noted SF author's scarce first novel, based on his wartime experiences in New Guinea.

Limited edition, number 22 of 50 copies printed on japon for the Guild of Women Binders and finely bound in their workshop. The bookseller Frank Karslake established the bindery in 1898 as "a way of publicising and promoting the sale of books bound by women" (Tidcombe, p. 27).

REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN [REMBRANDT] (Leyden 1606-Amsterdam1669) ETCHING & DRYPOINT 1642 A young couple resting beside a stream, the man playing flute with an owl perched on his shoulder, the girl making a flower garland at left. Shepherds do more than their fair share of walking, but their lives also provide ample opportunity for relaxation. It represents an amorous situation and Rembrandt played a transparent game with ancient ambiguities and innuendos surrounding... Fourth state of four, without the face among the branches. Barstch 188, Hollstein Dutch 144, New Hollstein 211.

Gregory, Alfred. The Picture of Everest. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1954. First US. 4to. original cream boards gilt in dustwrapper; pp. unpaginated, with numerous colour photos. A very good copy. [Neate G62]. Flatsigned on title page by the author, 'Alfred Gregory', first ascensionist 'Ed Hillary', and his son, 'Peter Hillary', also a notable mountaineer. Alf Gregory (Greg)(1913-2010) was an accomplished mountaineer and keen amateur photographer who took on the role of stills camera as part of his climbing duties on the successful 1953 Everest expedition.

Eric Stewart was a self-taught artist. His paintings were inspired by books on indigenous culture including Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines by W. Ramsay Smith, 1930; Brown Men and Red Sand by Charles P. Mountford, 1948 and Aboriginal Myths and Legends by Roland Robinson, 1966.

Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. London: Oxford University Press, 1976. First Edition. 8vo. original black boards in dustwrapper; pp. xii, 224. A fine copy. In July 2017, the book was listed as the most influential science book of all time in a poll to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Royal Society science book prize, ahead of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of SpeciesIsaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica.