Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Member of ANZAAB - Australia

Douglas Stewart Fine Books Pty. Ltd. is an antiquarian bookseller based in Melbourne, Australia. Our showroom is in High Street, Armadale, a precinct famous for its antique dealers, art galleries and bookshops. We buy and sell books both locally and around the world, working closely with clients to understand their collecting priorities and to source appropriate material. Our clients include libraries, galleries, museums, private collectors and fellow members of the trade. Since 2009 we have also exhibited regularly at leading international book fairs.

Douglas began buying and selling books in 1995, while still in high school. He is a member of the major international trade associations, and his business is conducted according to their high ethical standards. For many years Douglas has been a Board member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB); he is also a Mentor for the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.

Douglas is currently the President of ANZAAB.

Our stock at Douglas Stewart Fine Books is diverse: we have rare books across all fields, but our strengths are in travel and exploration – particularly of Australia and the Pacific – and Australian art. In addition to rare books, we deal in all types of heritage material, including photographs, manuscripts, maps and globes, and fine art. Every month we issue a new online catalogue of New Acquisitions, and recommend that you join our email list to be the first to see what’s available. Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding any works you see online – we are always happy to assist with your enquiries.

Last, but not least, we buy books – from important single items to entire libraries – and we’d be pleased to provide advice on the best way to sell your collection.

Highlights
GUTENBERG, Johannes (c. 1398 - 1468) A LEAF FROM THE GUTENBERG BIBLE
$220000
A LEAF FROM THE FIRST WESTERN BOOK PRINTED BY MOVABLE TYPE, THE GUTENBERG BIBLE. Folio 148 from Volume I, comprising the entire text of Chapter 3 of the Second Book of Samuel (II Samuel 3: 1-39), with the closing verses of Chapter 2 and opening verses of Chapter 4.
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Tomato Soup (1968)
$295000
WARHOL, Andy (1928-1987) Tomato Soup (1968). New York : Factory Additions, 1968. Screenprint in colours, on smooth wove paper, 813 x 476 mm (image), 891 x 588 mm (sheet), signed in black ballpoint pen on the reverse, stamp-numbered 33/250 (there were also 26 artist’s proofs lettered A-Z), from the series Campbell’s Soup I. The original icon of the pop art movement.
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Cary’s pocket globe agreeable to the latest discoveries 1791
$18500
CARY, John (c. 1754 - 1835) Cary’s pocket globe agreeable to the latest discoveries. [London : J. & W. Cary, c. 1791]. Terrestrial pocket globe, 3 1/2 inches in diameter, engraved gores over plaster and wooden sphere, two metal pins, housed in the original publisher’s shagreen case, interior map The world as known in Caesar’s time agreeable to D’Anville; and A table of latitudes & longitudes of places not given on this globe, bright original colour, metal eye hooks (one lacking), the case slightly contracted as commonly found, a very good example of a rare pocket globe.
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A natural history of the birds of New South Wales
$55000
LEWIN, John William (1770-1819) A natural history of the birds of New South Wales ... London : Henry H. Bohn, 1838. Folio, original publisher’s binding of quarter crushed morocco, spine lettered in gilt ‘Lewin’s Birds of New Holland’, green cloth covered boards, yellow endpapers, pp [iv], 26 etched plates with original gouache hand colouring, interleaved with accompanying letterpress text. A fine example, in original condition, of one of the rarest illustrated works of Australian natural history.
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A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world
$50000
VANCOUVER, George (1757-1798). London : printed for G.G. & J. Robinson and J. Edwards, London, 1798. Three volumes, quarto, and one atlas folio. A fine set. In terms of the history of European exploration of the southwest of the Australian continent, Vancouver’s voyage was highly significant.
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Spenser’s Faerie Queene
$16500
SPENSER, Edmund; [WALTER CRANE, illustrator] Spenser’s Faerie Queene. Edited by Thomas J. Wise. London : George Allen, 1894-97. Quarto, nineteen parts in original illustrated wrappers, illustrated by Crane throughout. The deluxe edition printed on Japanese vellum, limited to 28 copies of which 25 were for sale.Magnificently illustrated by Crane and a highpoint of Arts and Crafts publishing.
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A 14th century Ming Dynasty 1 kuan note : an example of the oldest extant paper currency
$16500
[China : c.1375]. Printed during the reign (1368-1398) of the first Ming emperor, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Ming Taizu), a paper note with the original cash value of a string of 1,000 copper coins, or 1 kuan.
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[COOK] Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Seereisen des berühmten Capitain Cook.
$250000
Reval [Tallinn, Estonia] ; und Leipzig : bey Albrecht und Compagnie, 1780. [Bound with] Briefe aus England ... Reval [= Tallinn, Estonia] & Leipzig, Albrecht und Compagnie, 1780. Two works in one volume. “Undoubtedly the first account of Cook’s death to be published in book form” (Beddie). An extremely rare German account of the death of Captain James Cook in Hawaii on 14 February 1779, published in Tallinn in Estonia, together with a letter concerning the 1775 Spanish voyage to the west coast of North America by Bodega y Quadra (1744-1794), also in German, with many references to Cook.
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