February 2015 Acquisitions

HORDERN HOUSE February 2015

acqs@hordern.com

ANSON, Lord George and other Admiralty signatories.

Impressment order to Captain Charles Windham…

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Printed sheet completed in manuscript, 395 x 235 mm., torn with slight loss at upper left, old folds; very good. London, Office of Admiralty, 10 December 1745.

With a particularly good example of Anson’s signature A rare example of one of the Admiralty-printed orders relating to impressment as promulgated in 1745. This particular example was made out to Captain Windham commanding HMS Duke, and is signed by Anson only a year after he returned from his circumnavigation, as well as his fellow Lords of the Admiralty George Grenville and Henry Legge, and Secretary to the Admiralty Thomas Corbett.

Windham was thus empowered to impress seamen for his own command and for others of His Majesty’s ships as needed. HMS Duke was a 17th-century ship, named Vanguard when first launched, rebuilt after sinking in 1703 and again rebuilt in 1739 as a 90-gun second rate, at which point the ship was renamed the Duke.

Anson had joined the Admiralty Board in December 1744, soon after his return from the circumnavigation and at the height of his fame. He subsequently served as First Lord of the Admiralty from June 1751 to November 1756, and again from June 1757 until his death.

$895

[ANSON] SAINT GEORGE, M. le Chevalier de.

Rélation exacte et circonstanciée du combat de l’escadre angloise commandée…

Printed bifolium, octavo; some wear and old folds but very good. Nantes, chez N. Verger, [1747].

Anson on the Centurion at Cape Finistere An intriguing and ephemeral French publication, telling of the surrender of a French convoy to Anson. It was published in Nantes and prints a letter sent from Plymouth by the Chevalier de Saint-George (a rather ironic name in the context), who was on the Invincible (no comment) and was the officer who surrendered his sword to Anson to cede the fleet.

In three concise pages the Chevalier describes the events when the French squadron under the command of de la Jonquière engaged Anson’s fleet near Cap Finistere.

The battle was of tremendous significance in the War of the Austrian Succession as it went a long way towards grounding the French fleet. The surrender of the French was taken by Anson himself, who was sailing on his old ship the Centurion, the same ship on which he had completed his circumnavigation three years earlier. The fourth page lists the ships involved, including three French East India Company vessels.

The publisher of this most uncommon work was the Nantes-based Nicolas Verger, who was long-established as a printer for the King, and who issued all manner of royal statutes and decrees in the first half of the eighteenth century. His involvement no doubt gave this a quasi-official status, and it is likely that it was printed as the first news of the disaster to reach France.

$775

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BACON, Francis.

The Works of Francis Bacon‌ in Ten Volumes.

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Ten volumes, octavo, engraved portrait frontispiece and folding table, prize-plate & bookplate, later gift inscription from Buxton to his son; early diced calf with the insignia of Trinity College Dublin to the boards. London, J. Johnson et al., 1803.

Belonging to the abolitionist Thomas Fowell Buxton A fine and most attractive set in original calf, presented as a school prize in 1806 to Thomas Fowell Buxton, the social reformer (and with his own engraved bookplate and later presentation inscription).

The set has a school prize plate from its original presentation to Buxton for his progress in the Third Class of Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1803 to 1807. It would be interesting to know whether the works of Bacon had any direct influence on Buxton’s career, but Buxton evidently cared for the set as he presented it to his eldest son and the Second Baronet, Edward North Buxton and his wife Catherine, on 12 December 1836.

$2650

BAUMGARTNER, Robert Julian.

Significant ALS on life in Bathurst with the 28th Regiment.

Four-page closely written letter, signed RJ Baumgartner, partially crossed, 250 x 200 mm., thin wove paper, old folds, address panel with red wax seal and various postal stamps and marks; very good. Bathurst, 25 March 1840.

The CO at Bathurst on local birds and the cost of living Lengthy letter sent from Bathurst by the then ranking officer of the NSW Corps in the region, Robert Baumgartner, to his brother. Amongst much of interest the letter is notable for the detailed discussion of local birds, including some of Baumgartner’s comments on speaking to the local Aboriginal tribes about an unusual specimen of Ibis which he believed had been driven into the area by the dry weather.

Robert Julian Baumgartner was born in Cambridgeshire on 17 March 1814, the third child and second son of an important local family of Swiss heritage. He was promoted Ensign in the 28th Regiment on 27 September 1833 and came with them to Australia. In February 1839 he was appointed Assistant Engineer and Superintendent of Ironed Gangs at Harper’s Hill, and went through a series of postings chiefly in Newcastle and Parramatta. Sometime in early 1840 (not long before the present letter was written in fact) he was posted to Bathurst where he served with some distinction and seems to have been well-liked.

In the long and interesting letter of around 1700 words, Baumgartner writes about the fate of some of his comrades (including one man invalided home insane), and at great length about the cost of living in the Colony: he is, in fact, rather badly in debt, and hopes his brother will help by borrowing for him in London, so as to avoid having to borrow in New South Wales, where he thinks he will be charged a ruinous 50% interest. His recounting of his difficulties is very full.

There is also an important passage on his attempts to collect rare specimens of local birds. At one point in the letter he mentions having sent home a great case of birds, and worries about how they will survive the long trip, while at another he comments that the birds he has had stuffed locally have not been very expertly done. No doubt the most significant part is his mention of an Ibis that his servant had managed to shoot for him, with his comment that he has “shown the bird to several natives who say they have never seen it before. It was evidently driven down by the dryness of the [season].” His insect collecting has been put rather on hold because he is anxious about the vast numbers of snakes around Bathurst.

The letter signs off with the other popular topic for a senior officer: horse racing, and he fills most of the last page with his notes on an upcoming race being staged in Bathurst (”You have no idea to what an extent racing is carried for so young a Colony”).

A letter that Baumgartner sent to the residents of Bathurst thanking them for their support and many kindnesses is in the Captain John Piper papers at SLNSW, but otherwise very little relating to this senior officer seems to have been discovered, marking the present detailed and candid letter out as a particularly interesting addition.

The letter has the post marks for Bathurst and Sydney, as well as notes on the ship

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letter and it’s arrival at Dover. The letter was sent to Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire (west of Cambridge), where Percy, his eldest brother, was a rather grand landowner. Percy was an alumnus of Caius Cambridge and was for many years a doctor in Cambridgeshire.

A working transcript is available.

$2850

BLAND, William.

The Atmotic Ship…

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Single printed sheet measuring 570 x 445 mm., split at folds with slight loss of text (now carefully repaired and backed upon linen), a few tape-marks, good condition overall. Sydney, David Mason, printer, circa 1866.

Pioneering airship design in nineteenth century Sydney.

Rare Sydney broadside promoting the ‘Atmotic Ship’ – an early steam driven airship designed to carry passengers.

The Atmotic ship was the inspiration of Sydney surgeon and parliamentarian William Bland (1789-1868), who began his long and varied career as a naval surgeon. A duel in Bombay brought Bland to Australia in chains; here he gained some prominence

as a vocal emancipist and effervescent member of the Sydney Town community.

Throughout his life, Bland championed civil freedoms and worked extensively in the interests of the poor and disadvantaged.

The Atmotic ship is essentially a self-propelled balloon fitted with a large deck capable of holding numerous passengers. It was to be driven by steam powered propellers and controlled with a simple steering apparatus. In this broadside, printed some 15 years after Bland patented his invention, the Atmotic ship is described and illustrated with four detailed plans. Various practical hazards and obstacles are broached, including the danger of the inflammable gas balloon exploding, and the alarming risk of lightning striking the vessel. On a more abstract plane, Bland discusses the possibility of ‘barbarous nations of the earth’ overwhelming the civilized world using fleets of Atmotic ships, but ultimately decides this risk is an acceptable price of progress.

Possible uses for the Atmotic ship include astronomy, delivery of long-distance post, safe carriage of gold and gemstones, as well as exploring the interior of Australia.

This broadside is rare, copies are held in three institutional collections including the State Library of New South Wales and the National Library.

$3800

COOK, Captain James.

A Chart of the Banks of Newfoundland…

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Engraved chart, 540 x 705 mm. with simple early handcolouring to the coastlines; very slight chipping to the margins, old central fold, a little browned but very good. London, printed for Robert Sayer and John Bennet, 53 Fleet Street, 1775.

James Cook proves his worth Attractive large-format map of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, derived from the survey work of James Cook, and with his name printed prominently in the cartouche.

It was the Newfoundland survey which ultimately led to Cook being appointed to the command of the Endeavour.

The need for a Newfoundland survey arose at the conclusion of the Seven Year’s War. French fisherman were allowed limited concessions for catching and curing cod from these rich waters, but to enforce the terms of the Paris treaty of 1763 new and accurate charts were needed. Cook was selected as master of the Greville in 1764, and the Newfoundland surveys occupied the next three years. During this time he observed and recorded a solar eclipse using a quadrant by London instrument maker John Bird, and prepared a paper read before the Royal Society in 1766. His work in the region ‘established for him a well-deserved reputation with the higher authorities’ (RearAdmiral H.P. Douglas, Cook as a Hydrographical Surveyor).

The publication of Cook’s survey work fell to Thomas Jeffreys, and this map was included in his American Atlas of 1775.

Phillips, p.591; Skelton ‘James Cook. Surveyor of Newfoundland.’.

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COOK, Captain James.

A General Chart of the Island of Newfoundland…

$1250

Engraved chart, 560 x 750 mm., a little rubbed and toned, very good condition. London, printed for Robert Sayer and John Bennet, 53 Fleet Street, 1775.

The great map of Newfoundland Attractive large-format map of the entire coast of Newfoundland, and a striking testament to Cook’s incredible skill as a cartographer: this map was used in a beautiful demonstration in the recent BBC series on Cook hosted by Vanessa Collingridge in which his map was overlaid with satellite photographs to show the fundamental accuracy of his work. His name, as well as that of Matthew Lane, is printed prominently in the cartouche. It was the Newfoundland survey which established Cook’s reputation as the pre-eminent naval hydrographer and ultimately led to his being appointed to the command of the Endeavour.

The publication of Cook’s survey work fell to Thomas Jeffreys, and this map was included in his American Atlas of 1775.

Phillips, p.591; Skelton ‘James Cook. Surveyor of Newfoundland.’.

$1500

CROSS, Joseph.

Chart of part of New South Wales with plans of the harbours…

Large hand-coloured engraved map, 990 x 640 mm., dissected and backed on linen as issued; folding into an early binding of half blue grained calf, marbled sides; in very good condition. London, Joseph Cross, Mar. 18th 1827, corrected to 1829.

With an inset depicting Port Phillip One of the great maps of New South Wales: this very fine and handsome map is notable for a series of important inset charts including Moreton Bay, Port Jackson, and Port Phillip. One of the most consulted of any of the Australian maps of this era, it is dedicated to John Oxley, then Surveyor General of New South Wales.

The map was evidently a publishing success, as Cross printed several different versions in the period. The first version of the map was issued in 1826 and is easily recogniseable as it features a series of vignette views. In 1827 the basic map was reused but this time the vignettes were replaced by inset maps, and over ensuing years this version of the map was subtly updated and re-issued: this is the 1829 issue “corrected”. Any issue is now of some rarity.

The inset charts show: Moreton Bay, Port Macquarie, Port Stephens, Port Hunter, Broken Bay, Port Jackson, Botany Bay, Jervis Bay, Twofold Bay, Western Port, and Port Phillip. There is also an inset depiction of the entire Australian coastline. The map also prints a very detailed picture of the state of inland exploration, notably including the relatively recent discoveries of Hume and Hovell.

The London publisher Cross was responsible for any number of important publications relating to Australia in the 1820s and 1830s, and was perhaps the most influential promoter of the colonies at that time.

Tooley, 357; Worms & Bayntun-Williams, ‘British Map Engravers’, pp. 171 (noting the 1827 issue).

$10,500

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DALRYMPLE, Sir John.

Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland… Volume Second.

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Quarto, engraved vignette on title-page; an attractive untrimmed copy in the original boards, spine rather worn but sound. London, W. Stahan and T. Cadell, 1788.

with an account of a little known South Seas plan An unusual survivor: Dalrymple’s “Memoirs” was originally published as a two-volume set in 1771-3, but this socalled “Volume Second” did not appear until 1788, and seems to be very rare indeed (only very occasionally do library catalogues list all three volumes of the work, and we can find no record of a three volume set being offered for sale: it would seem that this additional volume, as often happens in such cases, was not often reunited with the original work).

As a result, this single volume represents an unusual opportunity to complete Dalrymple’s work. This is of particular significance as this volume prints a fascinating and little known account of a 1779 plan for an “intended expedition into the South Seas” in two lengthy appendices in this volume. Sir John Dalrymple (1726-1810) had been the prime-mover in a plan discussed in Scotland and considered at the highest levels of government, to surprise the Spanish by rounding the Cape of Good Hope, before establishing a base in New Holland or New Zealand with which to harass Spanish ships, in the style of earlier privateers such as Anson.

Lord Germain, Secretary of State for America was initially enthusiastic, but the plan was eventually rejected in favour of a more overtly military plan, as proposed by William Fullarton (see Alan Frost, Arthur Phillip, p. 106). The most tantalising aspect of Dalrymple’s proposal was that he discussed and refined his plan in conversation with none other than Sir Joseph Banks.

Ferguson was clearly baffled by the bibliography of this book, not being aware of the London-published 1788 “second” volume, but noting a copy of the Dublin piracy of this volume only in the National Library of Australia (Ferguson, 31). He also recorded the existence of this complete 1790 edition via a copy in the British Museum noted by the early bibliographer Lowndes (Ferguson, 78, “not seen”). Exact details of which Australian libraries hold which edition are difficult to confirm, due both to the confused publishing history and the proliferation of electronic records.

$1250

DOYLE, John “H.B.” An extraordinary animal…

Lithograph measuring 447 x 305 mm., very slight foxing. London, T. McLean, 26 Haymarket, 26 March 1835.

“Neither an opossum nor a kangaroo…”

Rare political caricature of Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), often known as the “Liberator” or “Emancipator”.

The caricature is by John Doyle, a Dublin-born artist known by the pen-name “H.B.” In 1827 he began producing political cartoons using the new medium of lithography, and the 1830s was the heyday of his fame. He is now also remembered as the grandfather of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The caricature depicts a curious and frankly rather enigmatic creature, part kangaroo and part opossum (given that the first is an Australian and the second an American animal, is some broadly “new world” angle meant?). The smaller figures in the pouch are Whig MPs Lord John Russell (then leader of the Whigs in Commons), Thomas Spring Rice (an Anglo-Irish MP then on the brink of becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Henry George Grey (then Secretary of War). In the 1830s all three were considered reformers particularly as regards the colonies, emigration and religious freedom, and perhaps Doyle is suggesting that they were being co-opted to O’Connell’s plans.

$1350

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FERGUSON, J.A., et al.

The Howes and their Press.

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Tall quarto, 18 plates; fine, in the original dustjacket and card slipcase; no. 106 (of 120). Sydney, Sunnybrook Press, 1936.

Classic work on the famous Sydney printer A fine copy of this limited edition in striking original condition, complete with the card slipcase. The work was the first major study of the great Australian printer George Howe (1769-1821), who revolutionised printing in New South Wales, not least by founding the Sydney Gazette. This beautifully produced volume is signed by all of the main contributors: John Ferguson (the Australian bibliographer), Mrs A.G. Foster (a well-known writer on old Sydney), Henry M. Green (the expert on Australian literature and poetry) and the Mosman-based printer Ernest H. Shea.

$625

GULLY, Robert.

Journals Kept by Mr. Gully and Capt. Denham During a Captivity in China in the Year 1842.

Octavo, single lithographic plate reproducing the gaol calendar, a fine copy in late nineteenth century burgundy half morocco with gilt spine lettering; bookplate of James A. Garland. London, Chapman and Hall, 1844.

Aftermath of the first Opium War

Scarce account based on the journals of two British prisoners detained by the Chinese authorities following a shipwreck off Taiwan in 1842. Existing tensions during the early 1840s were exacerbated following the wreck of two British merchant traders in southern waters, the Ann and Nerbudda. The surviving crews were captured by Chinese authorities and marched to Tainan; after several months captivity many of the officers and supercargo were publically executed. This book prints the journal and secret correspondence between two survivors of the Ann, British citizen Robert Gully and Captain Denham. Gully, described in the preface as ‘a fine, gallant and excellenthearted young man’, had previously distinguished himself during the capture of Ningpo in 1841-1842. He shipped with the Ann to Macao, and although his status as an opium merchant remains ambiguous, this account vigorously defends the trade and prerogatives of British merchants in China while condemning the treatment of Gully and Denham at the hands of Chinese authorities.

From the library of James A. Garland (1870-1906), Wall Street financier and father of Charles Garland (who famously disbursed his considerable inheritance through philanthropic donations).

Cordier, 2371; Lowendahl, 988; Lust, 557.

$2200

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HAMILTON, George.

An Appeal for the Horse.

Small octavo, with six tinted lithographs of sketches by the author; fine in original purple cloth, bookplate. Adelaide, David Gall, 1866.

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“To all animals by kindness and consideration…”

Scarce first edition: an unusually charismatic book promoting the natural rights of the horse in Australia.

George Hamilton (1812-1883) was a pioneer grazier and amateur artist who later served as inspector of the South Australian mounted police. Hamilton arrived in Sydney in 1837 and overlanded sheep to rich pasture country in Victoria. He settled in South Australia in 1839 where he was an active participant in the local horse races, and a keen artist, exhibiting in Adelaide’s first two art exhibitions. In 1864 the Adelaide Advertiser praised his accurate renderings, proclaiming his equine sketches ‘have no equals in the colony’. Some of Hamilton’s work was used to illustrate famous inland exploration accounts published by John Eyre and George Grey. A very early South Australian lithographer, Hamilton owned his own small press.

In total Hamilton published three short booklets denouncing the poor treatment of horses in Australia. He was opposed to breaking in and other cruelties, contrasting conditions in Australia with the gentle treatment of horses in other cultures (notably Arabia). An Appeal for the Horse was well received and was re-issued in Melbourne some years later.

$4500

HOARE, Prince (attributed).

The Spoiled Child. A Farce.

Octavo booklet, portrait frontispiece, title, [iv], 22 pp., disbound; some foxing, old library stamp, but good. London, Simpkin and Marshall, 1822.

An English comedy with reference to Botany Bay First performed on the London stage around 1791 and popular for decades afterwards, The Spoiled Child is a farce of mistaken identity and duped lovers; one character is tricked into passage to New South Wales after leaving a repentant note announcing his intention of ‘instantly bidding adieu to my country for ever’. Then passes an absurd exchange between two characters named ‘Pickle’ and his son ‘Little Pickle’: Little Pickle: ‘Ay, I’m got into his hammock, and he’s got into mine, that’s all; he’s some leagues off at sea, by this time, the time serves, the wind is fair, and Botany Bay’s the word, my boy.

Pickle: Botany Bay! Well, I’ll instantly see if ‘tis true, and if it be, I’ll come back, just to blow your brains out, and so either be hanged or sent to Botany Bay after him.’

This edition is remarkable for its caustic preface; we are informed that this ‘utterly despicable’ play ‘so completely worthless as a literary composition’ has blighted the London stage for some thirty years. Although disgraced army man John Bickerstaff was advertised as the playwright for the opening nights, the true author of The Spoiled Child remains unknown to the writer of the preface. Indeed, Bickerstaff was forced to flee England ‘under circumstances of a very disgraceful nature’ after an unhappy liaison with a blackmailing soldier. Nonetheless we are reassured that ‘the real author, notwithstanding his literary imbecility, seems to have possessed some share of common-sense, and wisely kept himself concealed. The composition of such a thing, is an offence against good taste, which few men would avow themselves guilty of’.

$650

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HODGES, Charles Powell.

Oath administered to Chinese witnesses in Courts of Justice.

Document on laid paper with affixed slip of red paper, Chinese characters in English text in ink, 33 x 20.0 cms, old folds., circa 1860.

Rare Goldfields manuscript in Chinese & English Scarce: goldfields manuscript for Chinese miners called to provide testimony before a magistrate. The manuscript, in English and Chinese, was prepared by the important interpreter Charles Powell Hodges, and as the English translation attests, calls on any

Chinese witnesses to tell the truth in their testimony or else “the whole body of intelligent discerning spirits will oversee and punish you. But if you do so speak the truth the whole body of spirits will protect you, preserve you and you will obtain happiness without limit.”

Hodges (c. 1832-1905) is said to have been born in England and arrived in Victoria in 1853, although an obituary in The Age suggested he had actually been born in China.

Whatever the case he was fluent in a number of Chinese dialects, and played an important part as an intermediary, notably on the Victorian goldfields. In his later life he gave evidence to several government enquiries, and “was decorated with the Mandarin Orders of the ‘Orange Blossom’ and the ‘Crystal Button’ by the Chinese emperor in 1890” (Latrobe University resource, online).

$5500

[KELLY GANG].

Kelly Reward Board…

Folio, v pp. followed by the Minutes of Evidence (title and 11 pp.), spine protected with binder’s tape, very good. Melbourne, Robert S. Brain, 1881.

Aboriginal trackers acknowledged for Kelly gang capture An important Kelly Gang report by the Victorian Government. It is followed by the Minutes of Evidence comprising testimonies from George Vesey Allen, John McWhirter, Joseph Dalgarno Melvin and others.

After the gunfight and fire at Glenrowan a Board of Enquiry was established to determine the distribution of the £8,000 reward based upon the respective merit of the applicants. There was no shortage of claimants, and the report dismissed the claim of 24 people. The report includes a long list of recipients with their names, occupations and the sum to be paid. The list is headed by Superintendent Francis Hare who was awarded £800 for ‘The great energy he displayed, the risk he ran, and the serious, and unfortunately, permanent injury he has sustained…’

Six Aboriginal trackers are included in the list as being given £50 (Hero, Johnny, Jimmy, Jacky, Barny, Moses and Spider), but the Board felt the money should be held in trust as it would not be “desirable” to place such a sum of money in their hands.

$650

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KOTZEBUE, August von.

“La Peyrouse” [in] Almanach Dramatischer Spiele…

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Duodecimo, frontispiece and five hand-coloured plates, a little thumbed; a good copy in the original worn decorated orange paper boards, back board neatly renewed. Leipzig, P.G. Kummer, 1818.

Le Perouse as a beachcomber An uncommon collection of Kotzebue’s plays, including an important printing of his famous play “La Peyrouse” (pp. 221-288). Not only is this a rare edition of an important play, it is of particular significance because this is an illustrated edition, and one of the plates depicts the main character in his South Seas costume, marking the work as a rare opportunity to glimpse the staging of this important play.

The playwright August von Kotzebue (father of the famous Russian navigator) had been a lawyer in Weimar, before turning his hand to writing. He first published the play in 1798, and it had far-reaching success throughout Europe. It was a well-conceived if fanciful account of the lost French Pacific explorer, set on an “uninhabited island in the South Sea”, with a cast including La Pérouse, his wife Adelaide, and “Malvina, a young Savage”. As this 1818 edition attests, interest in the fate of La Pérouse was unabated; of course, the wreck would be discovered in the 1820s by Dillon the sandalwood trader.

This illustrated edition is apparently quite rare, and is not noticed in the bibliographies of Forbes nor McLaren.

Not in Forbes.

$1800

LA POPELINIERE, Henri-Lancelot Voisin de L’histoire des histoires, avec l’Idee de l’histoire accomplie…

Two parts in one volume with 8 pp. appendix (sometimes called three parts), early owner’s occasional marginalia including some notes to the title page, later owner’s name on front endpaper of one Lord Riberpre; a very attractive copy in seventeenth-century red morocco, gilt. Paris, Pierre Mettoyer pour Jean Houze, 1599.

The idea of “discovery” as fundamental to the history of the world First edition, rare, one of the first works on historiography in French.

La Popeliniere (circa 1541-1605) was one of the most innovative historians of his age.

His most interesting work was as a speculative geographer with a particular focus on French colonisation of the “unknown” or “australe” land. He was a foundation writer on the subject of French utopian settlement in the then only vaguely theorised southern hemisphere, and is even thought to have mounted the first genuine attempt to found such a colony, sailing from La Rochelle in May 1589 with three tiny ships. John Dunmore writes that they ‘got no further than Cap Blanc in West Africa, where dissensions and dispondency made him abandon the expedition and return to France.’ (French Explorers in the Pacific, I, p. 196). His two major works on the subject are Les Trois Mondes (1582) and L’Amiral de France (1584).

The present work was published in 1599 and seeks to understand the process and meaning of the writing of history in terms of his belief in “discovery” with, as a secondary thesis, a reimagining of modernity as superior to the classical era (contra much of Renaissance thought) precisely because so much of the known world was being revealed. As with all of his works, a recurrent theme is his painful awareness that the French were not making the same commitment to discovery as the Spanish and, more recently, the Dutch, and it has several observations on Mexico and the Americas, and the Indies, testament to his ongoing belief in the necessity for more voyages of exploration.

La Popeliniere’s sense of being marooned in France while other countries pressed on to make new discoveries was his idée fixe and, in 1604, already in his 60s, he was writing to friends to try and get an appointment with the VOC; it is interesting to speculate as to just what he would have made of the real New Holland given his lifelong interest in the Terre Australe.

$9600

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LHOTSKY, Johann.

Prospectus of the Australian Mine Exploring Company.

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Letterpress sheet measuring 330 x 210 mm., with manuscript notation in Lhotsk’y hand; folded to letter size with London address and Dover “India letter” postmark; moderately rubbed with a little browning, good condition overall. Sydney, Sydney Gazette Office, 1833.

Lhotsky spruiks for backers for mines in the Australian Alps; His Prospectus with manuscript notes.

Unrecorded: a prospectus printed for geologist and explorer Johann Lhotsky at the Sydney Gazette detailing his ambitious plan to strike inland from Twofold Bay (Eden) to reveal mining opportunities for coal and precious metals. This exploration was to come under the banner of a newly formed entity to be called the “‘Australian Mine Exploring Company”. This rare and possibly unique broadside dates from the very earliest phase of practical interest in Australian mining.

Indeed, any printed material relating to Lhotsky is extremely rare (his Sydney-printed Journey from Sydney to the Australian Alps is one of the rarest and valuable early Australian books).

Also printed as a formal notice in the Gazette itself, Lhotsky evidently had separate sheets printed for himself, presumably at his own expense. This is the only example we have discovered and was sent by Lhotsky personally to the London bankers Frederick Huth & Co. Lhotsky has added a handwritten note that he hopes Huth will manage subscriptions in London.

Johann Lhotsky was a botanist and doctor of medicine of Czech ancestry, best remembered as a pioneer explorer of the Australian Alps, and the first to traverse the Snowy River in 1834. He arrived in Sydney in 1832 and sought a government position which would allow him to conduct scientific work whilst collecting botanical and mineral specimens. However, Lhotsky’s abrupt manner and wilful nature led to clashes with the small anglophile scientific community residing in Sydney during the early 1830’s.

Information about the life and travels of this important explorer is scant, making this prospectus and its manuscript notation a significant addition to the small body of extant printed material.

Dated 19 July 1833, this prospectus predates Lhotsky’s travels in the Australian Alps, and outlines a scheme to fund the project through the sale of shares at £1 10s each.

In it, Lhotsky describes himself as “the first person in the colony who, by his lectures on mineralogy and geology, and by his travels and collections, has raised and excited the interests of our community upon these highly interesting and important sciences.”

The prospectus further outlines the plan and how the funds raised will be “employed in an extensive research of the country west of Twofold Bay, and the Australian Alps, a country where certainly the colony will be extended very soon, and where, according to the formation of the mountains, precious metals are to be expected.” Lhotsky goes on to refer to his earlier experience of such work in Brazil, and how a small party of four horses and five men (!), equipped with basic provisions and able to subsist on cured kangaroo and fish, would be sufficient to make the first survey.

A number of interesting contingencies are broached in the prospectus, for example, the fate of the mineral specimens collected should Lhotsky die in the wilderness is stipulated (the prospectus states a gloomy survival ratio for Australian explorers). Furthermore, the shares are to be revalued at £5 apiece if the mineral specimens indicate

lucrative prospects. Above all, Australian mining is presented as holding great potential - Lhotsky boldly claims that he has ‘thoroughly refuted the inveterate prejudice, that Australia is poor in mineralogical productions, that it is altogether deficient in precious metals’.

The exact fate of the prospectus is not clear, although it is worth pointing out that it was docketed as being received by Huth in London in early February 1834, a few weeks after Lhotsky had already departed for the Australian Alps on January 10.

$12,500

LOVELESS, George.

The Victims of Whiggery; Being A Statement of the Persecutions Experienced by the Dorchester Labourers; 20

Octavo, 32pp., a very good uncut copy in later polished half navy calf, a little worn at extremities; from the Ingleton collection, with bookplate. London, Effingham Wilson, circa, 1837.

Crucial publication in the history of trade unionism Third edition of Loveless’ important pamphlet on transportation to Van Diemen’s Land, itself a pivotal document in the history of trade unionism.

George Loveless (1797-1874) was a Dorchester labourer and Tolpuddle martyr. In the early 1830s he represented the Dorchester agricultural labourers in discussions with local farmers, who agreed to raise wages, however the deal went sour and Loveless and his colleagues formed the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers, a sort of trade union. While unionising itself was not illegal, it was ruled illegal to have members bound to the Society by ‘unlawful oaths’, legalese which led to the conviction of Loveless and five others in March 1834. Each was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia.

Loveless arrived in Van Diemen’s Land on 4 September of the same year. Initially assigned to work in irons on the roads, a meeting with Governor Arthur led to him being reassigned to work on the Governor’s farm. He was later employed by Major William de Gillern at Glen Ayr, near Richmond, who allowed him the privilege of reading his newspapers. Early in September 1836 Loveless was reading the London Dispatch where he learnt of the campaign to release the Dorchester labourers and the free pardons issued to them. Some months previously, Loveless had been persuaded to write to ask his wife to join him in the colony, when offered a free passage to England he refused to accept it until certain that she had not already sailed. He finally set sail for England on 29 January 1837, some time before his companions.

The last major section of this pamphlet is an excellent description of the system of transportation, with lengthy reflections on conditions aboard transports and the dangers of the voyage. Loveless finishes by concluding that ‘Van Dieman’s Land is a finelooking country’ even if it is not the ‘garden of Eden for emigrants that the deluded people of England imagine.’

Ferguson, 2302; Printing and the Mind of Man 305.

$4250

MACQUEEN, Thomas Potter.

Thoughts and Suggestions on the Present Condition of the Country.

Octavo, two works bound in one; very good in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, gilt, some wear to joints and spine. London, James Ridgway, 1830.

The right sort of settlers: more farmers, fewer murderers First edition of this uncommon work, advocating emigration to New South Wales. Macqueen at one point quotes Gregory Blaxland to the effect that “wine will shortly become a staple article of export.”

Thomas Potter Macqueen (1791-1854) read the Bigge report as a young man and saw great potential in the colony, acquiring a 10,000 acre grant called “Segenhoe” in the Hunter from Governor Bathurst in 1823, which was run by his agent Peter McIntyre. He developed the grant with a hand-chosen group of workers and machinery imported on two chartered ships in 1824, considered the first direct shipment of free emigrants to NSW. Macqueen also joined three others including Thomas Peel to take a large grant at the Swan River in return for carrying some 10,000 settlers to the region, but later withdrew. He was a member of the National Colonization Society, and published two works on the subject.

However, the present work, Thoughts and Suggestions of 1830, is less well known. It openly encourages emigration, starting from the premise that the increase of population in England makes full employment impossible there. Using his own experience employing convict labour on his estates in New South Wales, Macqueen proposes a radical improvement in employment practice involving free, non-convict, emigrants from the mother country. “What is principally required is a reciprocal system, by which the over-stocked parish of England could meet the under-stocked district of Australia, dividing the expenses of transmission, and ensuring the comfort and prosperity of the emigrant”.

[Bound with]: COPLESTON, Edward. An examination of the currency question, and of the project for altering the standard of value (London: John Murray, 1830; octavo, 63 pp.). First separate edition of a paper on financial reform originally published in the Quarterly Review, April 1822. [Kress C.807].

Ferguson, 1376b.

$1475

21

MANN, John F. Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47.

22

Slim octavo booklet, frontispiece, a very good copy in original printed wrappers; preserved in a full green polished calf bookform case with gilt lettering. Sydney, Turner & Henderson, 1888.

Leichhardt’s competence questioned First edition, first issue, and rare. A good copy of this work in its earlier state: ‘it is soughtafter and few collectors pass up the opportunity to acquire a copy’ (Australian Rare Books).

The frontispiece, depicting the gaunt figure of Leichhardt standing with his tent, was lithographed after a sketch by Mann, and has become one of the most famous depictions of the explorer.

Mann worked in the New South Wales Survey Department, and married the daughter of Sir Thomas Mitchell. An explorer and surveyor, he first planned an expedition in search of Leichhardt in 1846, but the latter’s unexpected return to Sydney made it redundant. Nonetheless, in October of the same year Mann joined Leichhardt as second-in-command for a second expedition which failed in its objectives, chiefly due to illness.

This account of Leichhardt’s second expedition was published after forty years had passed, in the centenary year 1888. The work is known for Mann’s attack on Leichhardt’s abilities: ‘whether he acted out of loyalty to the Mitchell family, or whether he was swayed by the contemporary anti-German sentiment has been, and will continue to be, hotly debated’ (Australian Rare Books).

This is one of the early issue copies noted by Ferguson as not including a four-page appendix. It has an appealing provenance, from the collection of Geoffrey Farmer with his bookplate and small notation that the book was purchased for $110 from the nowlegendary (and notoriously reclusive) Australian antiquarian bookseller James Dally in 1968. A further pencilled note informs us that this copy of Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt bears the signature of the South Australian pastoralist J. Bagot, the ‘1st white man to greet John Forrest in 1874 when F. returned from W.A.). It later became part of the library of Dr. Robert Edwards, AO.’ Australian Rare Books, 142a; Ferguson, 12226.

$2650

MARTENS, Conrad.

The Beacon, Exmouth.

Lithograph, 150 x 245 mm., trimmed and evidently removed from album; very good, circa 1830.

Martens before the Beagle

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Very rare: an example of the work being done by Conrad Martens before he sailed on the Beagle. Any art relating to this early part of his career is most uncommon.

Conrad Martens (1801-1878), perhaps the best known of all colonial artists, arrived in Sydney in 1835 after working his way around the world, including a year’s appointment as artist on the hydrographical survey voyage of the Beagle, during which his shipmate was Charles Darwin.

Martens had been born in London in 1801 but moved with his family to Exmouth in Devon in 1822. The view shows the temple by the shore at the Beacon, in the centre of Exmouth. This is thought to be the second earliest print after any work by Martens: the actual lithograph was drawn on stone “F. Martens”, thought to be Frederick Martens, a German-born engraver in aquatint and likely a relative of Conrad.

Michael Organ, who has made a study of Martens, records in his “Conrad Martens’ Prints” (online) that the Dixson library holds an impression of this view with the imprint “Printed by Engelmann, Graf, Coindet & Co.” which is not present on this example. Hordern House has never before handled a copy of this lithograph by Martens, an outstanding colonial artist.

Somers Cock, ‘Devon Topographical Prints’, 1091B.

$1150

ROBERTSON, Archibald.

Solandra Grandiflora…

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Aquatint printed in colour, 535 x 400 mm., trimmed to the plate, small edge tears, aged, laid down; a remarkable survival. London, Archd. Robertson, 1 May 1789.

No other copy known: a plant from the Duchess of Portland in 1789 Exceptionally rare, perhaps unique, separately-issued eighteenth-century colouredprint of a flower grown in the famous gardens of the Duchess of Portland at Bulstrode.

Despite Hordern House’s long interest in the botany of this era generally, and the circle of the Duchess of Portland particularly, we have never before handled a copy of this print, nor have we found any reference to it any of the standard bibliographies.

Indeed, a search of the great international collections such as the British Library, the British Museum natural history collection, and the Huntington, among others, has not unearthed any other copy.

Such separately-issued prints are among the rarest and least understood survivals from this important era of botanical study. They represent the attempt to disseminate the grandest and most beautiful specimens among like-minded enthusiasts in the era before the famous botanical magazines. It is particularly telling that this print has been produced using the daring French technique of colour printing à la poupée, which would have been a novelty at the time in England (as recently canvassed in the debates about the Alecto printing of Banks’ Florilegium in the 1980s).

The Solandra grandiflora is a native of central America and the Caribbean, named in honour of the Cook voyage veteran Daniel Solander in 1787: this print is a touching tribute, therefore, as Solander was closely associated with Bulstrode, working assiduously on the Duchess’s natural history collections (in fact, Solander was one of the first Europeans to study the plant, but published no scientific name).

One curiosity of the plate is the question as to which Duchess of Portland is being referred to. Given the dates, the third Duchess, Dorothy, is implied, but in every other sense her predecessor Margaret is more likely: Margaret Cavendish-Bentinck (17151785) was a great botanist and patron of natural history whose passionate devotion to her gardens was legendary even during this era of grand aristocratic botany, and brought her into contact with many of the significant figures of her day, including of course Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. The sale of her collection in 1786 at a 38-day auction was one of the great events of the era.

Studio artists would have worked at her gardens but it is often the case that little is known about their biographies, and in this regard Archibald Robertson is no exception. Two men of that name were working as artists in this era. The first was the Scot (1765-1835) who studied under Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West before emigrating to the United States in 1791, becoming famous as a portrait miniaturist. However, he can probably be discounted because the second man is a much better fit: that Archibald Robertson was a slightly older man (fl. 1765-1804), a print-seller, drawing master, engraver and publisher who was active in London from the mid-1760s and based in Savile Row around this time. On balance the latter is the more likely.

The print was advertised for sale as available from an independent print-seller for the genuinely substantial price of half a guinea to subscribers. See, for example, a notice in the London newspaper The World on 23 May 1789: “Very shortly will be published, A PRINT, Price Half-a-Guinea to Subscribers, and Fifteen Shillings Non-Subscribers, executed in a very peculiar manner, so as to give the most lively Representation in colours, of a beautiful Drawing in the possession of Her Grace the Dutchess [sic] of Portland, of the PLANT called SOLANDRA GRANDIFLORA, which blew most uncommonly fine in March last, at Bulstrode. Subscriptions taken in at Mr. Bradshaw’s, Printseller, Coventry-street, and nowhere else.” One last poignant note is the fact that Thomas Bradshaw was a print-seller who went bankrupt in 1793.

$6800

[ROBINSON] MISS MERRYHEART. The History of Robinson Crusoe.

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Large octavo, six large handcoloured woodcuts; a very good copy in the original green illustrated wrappers. New York, McLoughlin Bros., circa, 1870.

Uncommon illustrated New York edition Originally published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe remains one of the most best-loved English books, and has long been used by childrens’ book publishers. This American popular version of the story is beautifully illustrated with six large handcoloured woodcuts.

$650

ROSSILY, Vice-Admiral; Lieutenants RAOUL & GIORY. Plan hydrographique de la Baie de Cadiz levé en 1807, sous la direction du Vice-Amiral Rosily…

Engraved map measuring 700 x 1023 mm., blank margin slightly chipped, otherwise excellent condition. Paris, Dépôt Général de la Marine, 1811.

26

Peninsular War map of Cadiz (detail opposite) Very fine and large separately issued map of the city and harbour of Cadiz, prepared by the French during the Peninsular War. This map was issued by the Dépôt Général de la Marine, the French equivalent of the Admiralty, and is a masterpiece of its kind.

An island naval fortress, Cadiz was a crucial British bastion during the Peninsular War. Joseph Bonaparte, in overall command of French forces in Spain, overlooked its capture when the French were still winning victories against Spanish armies. This proved a major oversight because Cadiz made an admirable base and resupply point for British forces under Wellington. British supply ships could come and go at will.

When the French belatedly realised its strategic importance, they attempted to besiege the site with some 20,000 men but the British garrison held out without much difficulty against the French attackers who were under-supplied and short of food.

British reinforcements continued to arrive at Cadiz unimpeded by the French navy. In March 1811, the British under General Sir Thomas Graham actually sallied out from Cadiz and inflicted a heavy defeat on the French under Marshal Victor at Barrosa (hence the Barrosa Valley in South Australia). Cadiz never fell to the French despite a solid blockade and continued its valuable role as a resupply base until the end of hostilities in 1814.

$1750

[ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS] Descriptive Catalogue of the Osteological Series contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in England.

27

Two volumes, quarto, lengthy manuscript inscriptions to both title-pages to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, neat library stamps; a very good set, some scattered foxing, in the original blind-stamped boards, a few bumps. London, Taylor and Francis, 1853.

Important record of the bone collections of the RCS The 1853 edition of the catalogue of the anatomical collection of the Royal College of Surgeons, radically updating the number and variety of human skeletal remains.

No catalogue of the Hunterian collection was prepared before the surgeon’s death in October 1793, and in fact a work published in 1830/31 was the first coherent attempt to do so. Among much of interest (including morbid anatomy, anatomical specimens and preparations, and an enormous number of zoological specimens from around the world), the catalogue notably includes extensive work on “exotic” human specimens, which lists the skulls of Australian Aborigines and Pacific islanders. A remarkable inclusion is the “skeleton of Tera Poo, a native of the Island of Otaheite, or King George the Third’s Island, in the South Pacific Ocean”, said to have been a patient in the London Hospital who died of lung disease, and whose complete skeleton and fragments of whose tattooed skin were given to the Museum by Sir William Blizard in 1816.

This is the second publication of the RCS catalogue, radically revised and updated.

Where the 1830/31 catalogue listed for example eleven Australian skulls, by 1853 the collection included remains of 39 different individuals, with two complete and two partial skeletons, and 35 skulls or fragments of skulls. The more recently acquired remains also have much improved notes regarding their “provenance”, with skulls and bones having been sent to London by important Australian explorers and citizens including Captain Blackwood and Joseph Beete Jukes of HMS Fly, Phillip Parker King, Tasmanian pastoralist Ronald Gunn, Governor Sir George Grey, and the surgeon and naturalist George Bennett. The Hunterian material is also noted.

The catalogue also includes the Tahitian man, a man of the Sandwich Islands, a Fijian who died in Hobart, ten Maoris, a further four Pacific islanders, and three Patagonians collected by Fitzroy of the Beagle. A fuller listing is available.

$1600

SCILLA, Agostino.

De Corporibus Marinis…

Quarto, frontispiece and 30 engraved plates; a few leaves toned, otherwise fine in mid-nineteenth century half calf (some wear to extremities) with gilt lettering. Rome, Joannis Zempel, 1759.

Are fossils mere ‘tricks of nature’?

Early treatise on the formation of fossils from plants and animals that once lived, thereby rejecting existing notions that fossils were miraculously derived or mere ‘tricks of nature’. Most of the examples in the present work are marine, including ancient shark teeth and coral formations.

Agostino Scilla (1629-1700) was an established artist with a keen interest in geology and collecting. He applied a rigorous approach to his studies, rejecting the notion that fossils were ‘tricks of nature’ formed by plastic geological processes under the direction of God or ‘Nature’ (an ambiguous generative entity derived from classical philosophy). By showing that fossils were neither random nor miraculous Scilla established the possibility that life on earth was very old and subject to change. In this respect De Corporibus Marinis provided evidence against the biblical model of creation without openly challenging the religious conventions of the seventeenth-century (indeed, many of Scilla’s commissions as a professional artist came from the Church).

Scilla’s work was influential and widely disseminated: Liebniz met him in Rome in 1689, and was affected by his theories on the organic formation of fossil forms (although Liebniz never entirely departed from the ‘tricks of nature’ hypothesis). By the 1720s, belief in the organic origin of fossils had gained widespread acceptance amongst enlightenment intellectuals, and in this environment this lavish posthumous edition was published.

Scilla’s dual training as an artist led him to present much of his evidence visually, so his readers would be convinced by evidence rather than speculation and conjecture.

For instance, amongst the 30 plates the reader can compare fossilised teeth with those of living sharks, and other forms compared with living marine invertebrates.

$1925

28

SWIFT, Jonathan.

On poetry, a rapsody.

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Folio, 28 pp., three minute wormholes; completely unbound and uncut, stitched as issued, just fraying at spine; boxed. Dublin, reprinted at London, 1733.

“Geographers in Afric-maps…”

First edition, a fine unsophisticated copy of Swift’s own favourite among his poems.

The imprint’s mention of an earlier Dublin edition is baloney. A Dublin edition did actually appear the following year (the printers were arrested), as did a second London edition.

Swift’s witty and laconic description of the best way to develop a poetic style whilst simultaneously escaping the ire of “learn’d Commentators” recommends the dogged imitation of stale convention and fashion, preferably allied with the use of slander hidden behind pseudonyms and initials.

His metaphor is a classic of bathos: “So Geographers in Afric-Maps/ With SavagePictures fill their Gaps;/ And o’er uninhabitable Downs/ Place Elephants for want of Towns”.

When all else fails, he recommends becoming a critic, famously making the observation, that a flea “Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey,/ And these have smaller Fleas to bite ‘em,/ And so proceed ad infinitum”.

Foxon, S888; Hayward, 153; Rothschild, 2147; Teerink, 741.

$1950

[TRANSPORTATION: LINCOLNSHIRE ASSIZES] .

The Crown Sentences for the Lincolnshire Lent Assizes…

Small broadside measuring 373 x 115 mm., very good condition. Lincoln, S. Thorpe, printer, 1839.

Sixteen for transportation Ephemeral broadside printing results of the Lincolnshire assizes from the session of 9 March 1839, listing the crimes and sentences (including transportation to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land) of some 21 souls.

The late 1830s was a period of great social instability fuelled by industrialisation, economic change and the growth of large urban centres. Transportation peaked during this period, to the point that the economy and infrastructure of Van Diemen’s Land was almost pushed to collapse by the large convict influx.

Of the 21 men and women here listed, 16 were transported for various terms from seven years to life. A further four were acquitted altogether. The broadside reveals two life sentences - one Isaac Dickinson, a resident of Lincoln aged 22 years, was sentenced to transportation for life for highway robbery of a farmer for a sum exceeding £60; likewise John Baker, 23 years of age and living in Partney, for housebreaking.

$875

30

[WILLIAMS, JOHN: MISSIONARY CHAP BOOK] Tuahine & Vara…

31

Small chapbook (100 x 65 mm.), 8pp., engraved title-wrappers bound into modern wrappers. Bristol, Wright & Albright, Avon-Street, Bristol, 1839.

John Williams proselytises in Tahiti Scarce tiny-format chapbook, printed in Bristol. Tuahine was one of the first Tahitian converts to Christianity and later became a respected deacon of the church. Vara had been, in the words of the account, “a procurer of human sacrifices”, who became a devoted Christian in his old age.

This chapbook is based on the account of the famous John Williams in his Narrative (first published in 1837).

$525

32

[WILLIAMS, JOHN: MISSIONARY CHAP BOOK] The Drop of Blood…

Small chapbook (100 x 65 mm.), 8pp., engraved text-illustration, modern wrappers.

Bristol, Wright and Albright, Avon-Street, [1839].

A blind Chief, a drop of blood and a mountain of guilt A second chapbook recounting one of John Williams’ (1796-1839) many vigorous acts of conversion. The story is taken from his Narrative, published after news of Williams’ violent end in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) would just have reached England and such printings capitalised on the sensation and his popularity as a preacher. The irony of Williams’ wish “that my end might be like [the Blind Warrior’s]” would not have been lost on readers: during his final voyage he landed at Dillons Bay, Erromanga, in the New Hebrides, where he was killed and eaten by the natives.

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