Natural History

BAKER, Richard T. and H.G. SMITH.
Woodfibres of some Australian Timbers...
Sydney, Alfred James Kent, 1924.

Oblong octavo, colour plates, a fine copy in original blue cloth.

Baker's series of books on Australia's natural resources were produced at the pinnacle of government printing in...

Australian: $285 (Approx. US $182, Euro €146) Quote ref.

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BANKS, Sir Joseph & Daniel SOLANDER.
Captain Cook’s Florilegium...
London, Lion and Unicorn Press [Royal College of Art], 1973.

Large folio, with 30 engravings; a fine copy, specially bound by Zaehnsdorf in black Nigerian goatskin and Japanese...

The botany of the Endeavour voyage: this magnificent printing by the Royal College of Art in London from...

Hill, 52.

Australian: $25,000 (Approx. US $16,005, Euro €12,790) Quote ref.

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BENNETT, Edward Turner.
The Tower Menagerie...
London, Robert Jennings, 1829.

Octavo, with 102 wood-engravings and vignettes; some slight wear but a good copy in green cloth.

First edition. The menagerie in the Tower of London had been established in the mid-thirteenth century at which time it...

Not in Ferguson; Wood, 239.

Australian: $2450 (Approx. US $1568, Euro €1253) Quote ref.

BENTHAM, George and Ferdinand VON MUELLER.
Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory.
London, Lovell Reed, 1863- 1878.

Seven volumes, octavo; original brown cloth, a fine crisp set.

A landmark work, central to any collection of Australian botany.

Both Joseph and William Hooker had actively...

Ferguson, 6941.

Australian: $4250 (Approx. US $2721, Euro €2174) Quote ref.

CHARSLEY, Fanny Anne.
The Wild Flowers around Melbourne.
London, Day & Son, 1867.

Folio, uncoloured lithograph title-page and 13 handcoloured lithograph plates; original blue cloth, upper cover titled...

A scarce and attractive book. This is an example of the first issue, with the title-page uncoloured. Charsley arrived...

Ferguson, 8106a; Nissen, BBI 347.

Australian: $4000 (Approx. US $2561, Euro €2046) Quote ref.

[COOK: FIRST VOYAGE] BROWN, Peter.
New Illustrations of Zoology...
London, B. White, 1776.

Quarto, with 50 handcoloured engraved plates with text in English and French; an excellent and very well-coloured copy,...

A superb colour-plate bird book, which includes the earliest published illustration of an Australian bird, the...

Anker, p. 72; Mengel, 388; Nissen, IVB 151; Nissen, SVB 73; Whittell, p. 81; Wood, p. 264; Zimmer, p. 101.

Australian: $17,500 (Approx. US $11,204, Euro €8953) Quote ref.

[COOK: GENERAL] WHITEHEAD, P.J.P.
Forty Drawings of Fishes made by the Artists who accompanied Cook.
London, British Museum, 1968.

Folio, 36 plates (some in colour); a very good copy in the original cloth, dustjacket decorated in gilt, some light...

First edition of this lavish work, reproducing fishes drawn on Cook's voyages by Webber, Parkinson, Forster and others....

Beddie, 553.

Australian: $585 (Approx. US $375, Euro €299) Quote ref.

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[COOK: SECOND VOYAGE] FORSTER, Johann Reinhold and Georg.
Beschreibungen der Gattungen von Planzen auf einer Reise nach den Inseln der Süd-See...
Stuttgart, Christoph Mantler, 1779.

Small quarto, with 18 etched plates, the plates each tipped to the fore-edge of the appropriate facing page; in fine...

First German edition of the Characteres Generum Plantarum (see catalogue number 79), detailing the Forsters'...

Beddie, 1386; Hunt, 649; Nissen, B645; O'Reilly-Reitman, 2471; Stafleu & Cowan, 1826.

Australian: $7400 (Approx. US $4737, Euro €3786) Quote ref.

COOPER, William.
A Portfolio of Australian Birds.
Sydney, A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1968.

Folio, colour plates throughout; a fine copy in original decorated cloth, with dustjacket.

Signed by the artist, William Cooper.

Ferguson, 14702.

Australian: $245 (Approx. US $157, Euro €125) Quote ref.

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CUVIER, Baron Georges.
Le Règne Animal distribute d’après son Organisation...
Paris, Deterville, 1817.

Four volumes, octavo, 15 engraved plates by C.-L. Laurillard (some foxing to the plates); a handsome set, with all four...

First edition of this germinal work of natural history.

Recognised as the father of comparative anatomy, Cuvier...

B.M. (Nat. Hist.) , I, 410; Dibner, 195; Fine Bird Books, p. 68; Nissen , 1013 (Zoology); Nissen , 213 (Ornithology); Norman, 567; Printing and the Mind of Man, 276; Wood, p. 307.

Australian: $9850 (Approx. US $6306, Euro €5039) Quote ref.