Hordern House
Rare Pacific Voyage Books: The Parsons Collection Part 1

Quarto, 128 pages, bound in saifu cloth with colour dustjacket. 138 items fully described and illustrated in colour throughout.

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Australian: $65 (Approx. US $59, Euro €45)
ISBN 9781875567461(pt. 1)

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THE PARSONS COLLECTION - RARE PACIFIC VOYAGE BOOKS FROM THE COLLECTION OF DAVID PARSONS. PART I: DAMPIER TO COOK. Sydney, Hordern House.
AUD$68. ISBN 1 87556746 1

Catalogues from leading book sellers often double as valuable reference works. The well known Sydney firm, Hordern House have issued a sumptuous hardbound catalogue of the "Parsons collection of Pacific Voyages" which falls into this category. David Parsons was born in England but has been a long time resident of the United States where he clearly thrived in actuarial practice. Now retired in Atlanta he has served on the Board of Governors of the John Carter Brown Library and is a member of the Grolier Club.
In a fascinating introduction to the catalogue, Parsons notes his collecting zeal emanated from the reading of the novels of Patrick O'Brien and a wish to acquire the detailed maritime background narratives. In time, his collecting of books on Pacific exploration expanded chronologically to include, for instance, the 1599 edition of Hakluyt's Principal Navigations. He similarly moved from English language texts to acquire material in other languages, such as the Russian version of Anson's circumnavigation voyage. The fact that he sought to acquire copies in the finest condition, or with significant associations, also adds to the value of this collection. Parsons notes that the decision to sell his collection does not reflect any loss of interest in the Pacific, but rather to give him the financial means to expand his other book collecting interests.

The first part of the catalogue includes 138 items, divided into five sections, each item being fully described bibliographically and illustrated. The sections cover Dampier to Swift; the Anson expedition; The South Pacific before Cook; The North Pacific before Cook; and finally, James Cook himself. The second part, to be published later in 2006, will continue the story of Pacific discovery and exploration from La Pérouse to Wilkes, the immediate post-Cook period to the middle of the nineteenth century.

The catalogues will undoubtedly become not only a reference tool for Pacific voyage collectors, booksellers, librarians and researchers but also a pricing benchmark. A few items are price on request, such as the exceptionally rare David Samwell account of Cook's death, published in London in 1786. Several items also inch towards the one hundred thousand Australian dollars figure, such as the "royal" French 1784 publication of the maps of Cook and his colleague Michael Lane arising from their survey of Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1760s.

Colin Steele From: Cook's Log, vol. 29, no. 1 (2006) ...It's the one chance those of us with more interest than income have to take advantage of the great collections of Cook material - specialized catalogues produced by auction houses and antiquarian booksellers. Book collectors come in all types, but there is a very small group that has the means and interest to develop specialized collections of rare and valuable books. When such collections are ultimately passed on to others, it is usually by one of two pathways: 1. donation to, or acquisition by, libraries; or 2. the sale of individual books to others through auctions or specialized antiquarian book dealers. While the great research libraries of the world offer amazing resources to those in search of information, they seldom produce non-scholarly listings of their specific collections that can be enjoyed by the casual collector. That's an area where the auction houses and booksellers have an edge. Even in the Internet age, high-end auction houses and booksellers often issue beautiful, well- researched catalogues that describe each individual book (often accompanied by high-quality colour images), document each item's history and significance, and cite other references where additional information can be obtained. One of the best such catalogues to come along in a great while was recently published by Hordern House, 77 Victoria Street, Potts Point, NSW 2011, Australia (http://hordem.com), a Sydney-based antiquarian bookseller with a long history of handling some of the "best of the best" when it comes to early publications related to Cook. The catalogue in question is the first of two volumes describing the collection of Pacific voyage books from the library of David Parsons of Atlanta, Georgia. According to Hordern House, David Parsons, one of the foremost collectors of voyage material, has assembled what is in many ways an ideal collection: exceptional copies of rare and important books. We are delighted to have been asked by him to catalogue and sell the Pacific voyage section of his library, the most valuable collection of Pacific voyage material to have been offered by a bookseller in modem times. The collection will be sold in two stages through fully illustrated catalogues. Part I covers the period from Dampier to Cook, the late seventeenth to the late eighteenth century. The second part will continue the story of Pacific discovery and exploration from La Perouse to Wilkes, the immediate post-Cook period to the middle of the nineteenth century. The catalogues will prove an invaluable reference for collectors, booksellers, librarians and researchers. This article is not intended to be an advertisement for Hordern House, and few of the members of the Captain Cook Society will be in a position to acquire items from the catalogue. However, most members will be able to acquire the catalogue itself, and with that single addition to their libraries they will come as close as they probably can to being able to enjoy and appreciate the wealth of early published material about Cook. The catalogue is stunning and is more likely to end up as a coffee table conversation piece than tucked away on a dusty bookshelf. It is hardbound with a colour dust jacket and measures approximately 8.75" by II". Its 128 pages detail 138 items, including full descriptions and colour illustrations. Sixty of those pages describe 68 separate items related to Cook. And with its price of AU$68 delivered worldwide, it's about as inexpensive an introduction to the richness of the Cook literature as one is likely to find. So if you want to have your own instant collection of the most significant works on Cook without spending many hundreds of thousands of dollars you should certainly consider getting the recent Hordern House catalogue of the Parsons Collection. Is there a downside to acquiring a copy the Hordern House's publication? Only that you'll probably feel the need to get the second instalment when it's released in 2006. Ron Ravneberg 5642 Moorgate Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43235-2506, USA E-mail: RRavneberg@aol.com