Our acquisitions list for March has an interesting and varied selection of items, including: the very rare printed letters sent to sea captains in 1800 by the founders of the Admiralty Chart, asking for all new information to be forwarded and promising that contributors will have their names published; an eighteenth-century astronomical work from the library of great marine watchmaker John Harrison, inventor of the marine chronometer, with his signature and bookplate; a fine watercolour of ships among icebergs firmly attributed to George Tobin; four of the fundamental parliamentary acts relating to the establishment of New South Wales, 1784-1787, from the library of Bernard Gore Brett; an early letter by George Fitzroy about the AJC at Homebush; a racy letter from a young naval officer written after his day at the inaugural Perth Cup; an exceedingly rare Italian history of performances at La Scala in Milan, with notice of a ballet based on the death of Captain Cook; and a candid photograph of the crew of HMS Penguin, taken shortly after the vessel completed its survey of the Great Barrier Reef.

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Our acquisitions list for February 2010 previews material we will be showing at the Los Angeles International Antiquarian Book Fair 12-14 February. Included are a number of rarities relating to Cook’s voyages, among them the “Courage and Perseverance” medal struck soon after Cook’s death, Pringle’s Discourse of 1776 announcing Cook’s successes against scurvy, and Maskelyne’s Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris 1769, a copy of which was of great consequence to Cook’s first voyage. Manuscripts include “Foul weather Jack” Byron’s original order book kept by him during several of his commands (despite other myths this was the Byron for whom Captain Cook named Cape Byron and Byron Bay); while other printed books range from the fine Sir Thomas Phillipps copy of Argensola’s Conquista de las Islas Molucas 1609 in 18th century morocco to Sharp’s English Alphabet, For the Use of Foreigners 1786, the book written to teach English to the Tahitian Omai.

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Our November list features a particularly diverse selection, including a lovely set of William Ellis's surreptitious account of Cook's third voyage; an interesting early letter between two early Sydney traders, Robert Brooks and Ranulph Dacre; a law book from the library of Barron Field; a fascinating 1812 publication with 'Fragments for a future History of Botany Bay' including letters from Samuel Marsden and two letters from a failed entrepreneur in Port Phillip; a very rare Dublin edition of the suppressed account of the Anson voyage by Alexander Campbell; a handsome example of the silver medal struck in honour of Admiral Anson's achievements; and the uncommon coloured edition of Alfred J. North's catalogue of the nests and eggs of Australian birds in an extraordinary craft binding.

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This month's acquisitions list includes a selection of Pacific voyage books and prints drawn chiefly from the Robert and Mary Anne Parks collection. The list includes excellent copies of some of the standard reference works, including fine sets of Beaglehole's Journals of Captain James Cook; Commander David's Charts and Coastal Views of Captain Cook's Voyages; Joppien and Smith's wonderful Art of Captain Cook's Voyages; the rare deluxe large-paper edition of Wharton's journal of Cook's first voyage; as well as other works by Rolf du Rietz, Ray Parkin, and Raleigh Skelton. There are besides several real highlights, notably a fine copy of the Duff voyage account of Wilson and Morrison; a signed copy of Major's study of Early Voyages to Terra Australis; a particularly handsome set of the Vancouver voyage account; and a wonderful Dodd engraving of "The Spanish Insult to the British Flag at Nootka Sound", one of the finest eighteenth-century depictions of the northwest coast of America.

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A diverse and interesting list, including a remarkably early work on the platypus with a fine engraved plate of the skeleton of a specimen sent back to Europe; a lovely copy of the Polyhistor of 1538, with its suite of important maps by Sebastian Münster; an uncommon French edition of the voyages of Byron; a very rare presentation copy of a work by Gilbert Blane; a lovely copy of Josenhans' remarkable colour-plate view-book including scenes in the American Northwest and New Zealand; a very attractive copy of the only work published by Governor Macquarie; a handsome and early creamware jug decorated with 'A Map of the World from the Latest Discoveries'; and an attractive set of Frederick McCoy's important work of natural history, the Prodromus of the zoology of Victoria.

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Our July list features an interesting collection of natural history. Included is a very good copy of Busby's influential Australian wine-book, A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine; a lovely set of John Ray's Historia Plantarum Generalis, the first botanical text to include a description of the plants collected by William Dampier; a suite of manuscript material relating to John Gould's last works; two important monographs on kapa and tapa cloth by William T. Brigham and Paul Hambruch; Rothschild's beautifully illustrated monograph on the tree kangaroo of northern Australia and Papua New Guinea; and an excellent handcoloured copy of John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales.

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Our acquisitions list for June is a fine collection of Pacific Voyage Books from a Private Collection. The list includes a good set of James Burney's monumental Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, handsome copies of both the first and greatly expanded second edition of Sydney Parkinson's journal of the Endeavour voyage, John Webber's magnificent plate book of Views in the South Seas, the ten-volume Histoire du Voyage printing the full narrative of the 1837-40 voyage of Dumont-Durville, excellent copies of the voyage accounts of both La Perouse and d'Entrecasteaux, the latter in the original mottled green paper boards, and an autograph letter from Lord Sandwich, the patron of Captain Cook.

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Our acquisitions list for the month of May concentrates on that great 18th/19th century figure Sir Joseph Banks, long-term President of the Royal Society, a  towering figure in intellectual and scientific England, and a famous member of Cook's first voyage. Many at the time thought of it as his, not Cook's, expedition and it was often referred to it as "Banks' voyage". Closely involved in the discovery of the east coast of Australia and subsequently highly influential in the decision to make settlements there, he thoroughly deserves the informal title long awarded him of "Father of Australia".

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A fine selection of books from a gentleman's library. Highlights include Charles Chewings's Adelaide-published pamphlet on the source of the Finke River; a beautifully bound set of Georg Forster's account of Cook's second voyage; Edmund Fanning's rare Voyage Round the World of 1833; two rare works relating to the Australian expeditions of John Forrest; uncommon accounts of Leichhardt by Daniel Bunce and John F. Mann; a volume of Northern Territory reports prepared for Earl Kintore, Governor of South Australia; and a striking copy of Wallis's famous view book, the Historical Account of the Colony of New South Wales.

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Our first list for 2009 includes an interesting and very diverse selection. A highlight is the very good set of Sharp's important work of Hawaiian natural history, the Fauna Hawaiiensis; and there is also a very attractive first edition in English of the Langsdorff voyage account of Krusenstern's circumnavigation on the Neva. There is a handsome copy of both volumes of the seventeenth-century travel accounts of Pedro Cubero, who journeyed around the world in the 1670s; a very fine copy of Kittlitz's account of the Pacific voyage of Lütke, known for its natural history; and the wonderfully eccentric map books of Joachim Lelewel, a pioneer work on cartography that is rarely seen complete.

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Our October acquistions list takes the theme of Gold in Australia. The highlight is undoubtedly a fine 1855 watercolour of the Government Camp in Ballarat, painted by Captain Justin McCarthy, an officer of the 40th Regiment, just one year after the suppression of Eureka and one of the earliest extant images of this important site. There is a good copy of Gill’s Victoria Illustrated, a rare 1853 Danish handbook for emigrants, a contemporary manuscript cartoon of a nugget displayed in Melbourne (the image was later published in the Illustrated London News), and an excellent copy of J.C.F. Johnson’s To Mount Brown and Back in its original pictorial wrappers.

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An attractive list including a rarely seen map of Australian waters which shows two manuscript voyage tracks (of the Neptune and the Barque Eagle) in the 1830s and 1840s, a handsome prize medal for lithography awarded to Edward Gilks in 1854, William Dampier's Continuation of a Voyage in a beautiful contemporary binding, a suite of design documents for the missionary steamer Southern Cross which foundered off the east coast of New Zealand in 1860, and a particularly handsome copy of Smith and Sowerby's Exotic Botany

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The third Hordern House list in our new format. This diverse list includes the very rare 1693 Nouvelle geographie of Martiny with a significant note on "Terra Australis", Threlkeld's important compendium An Australian Language, a French surveying and topographical work said to be from Phillip Parker King's library, a friendly letter from Charles Duffy to Sir Henry Parkes, a fine set of the unusual "Anspach" edition of Cook's third voyage in German, and Westall's beautiful Views of Australian Scenery in its original decorative wrappers.

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The second Hordern House list in our new format, designed to suit screen or print alike. This eclectic list includes a splendid copy of Erasmus Darwin's eccentric Zoonomia, a French cartoon lampooning popular publishing and plagiarised voyage books from around 1800, a handsome copy of the first edition of Shillibeer's rare Narrative of the Briton's Voyage to Pitcairn's Island, and a fine Wegdwood portrait medallion of Dr John Fothergill, patron of Sydney Parkinson.

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Hordern House is delighted to present our latest acquisitions list, the first to be issued in our new format, which is designed to suit screen or print alike. This list of 24 rarities includes a wonderful pamphlet on fishes collected during the Beagle voyage, an exceptional copy of Kerguelen’s voyage in search of Terre Australe, and an almost unrecorded Arthur Rackham title with its original printed envelope, sent to South Australia around 1910.

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Longitude

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The First Published Accounts of Australia

A collection of foundation books of European discovery and settlement of Australia, with fine copies of First Fleet books including a coloured Phillip and both Watkin Tench's Narrative and Complete Account. Other noteworthy works include the official voyage accounts of Cook, Vancouver, and Flinders, the Minutes of the proceedings against the Bounty mutineers, and a set of the works of George Barrington in exceptional condition.

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Scurvy