Offered from a private Australian collection is this choice catalogue which includes a beautifully-bound copy of Lycett's Views in Australia; a handsome set of Cook's three voyage accounts with uniform contemporary provenance; a fine copy of Parkinson, uncut in the original boards; and First Fleet works by Collins, Hunter and Phillip. 

From William Beckford's copy of Alvares in French to Linschoten's Discours of Voyages, one of the great early illustrated travel books,from Moraleda Y Montrero's remarkable illustrated manuscript journal of Pacific coastal exploration, to rare Lima printings (the second and third printed at the first press in South America), this catalogue spans over three hundred years of exploration. It also includes Choris' most beautiful Pacific colour plate books and the limited edition of Garnier and Doudart de Lagree's work on the discovery of the Mekong.  

A selection of 45 items from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The early material includes excellent copies of such classics as the collections of Hakluyt (1600), Purchas (1626), Valentijn (1726) and Churchill (1732), as well as the desirable English edition of Linschoten (1598). Two highly important Southern Continent pieces are the extremely rare La Popelinière Les Trois Mondes (1582) and the Quiros Memorial La parte incógnita Austral (1612); some significant books on China include the first book in English on China (Gonzalez de Mendoza, 1588); the major French (1735) and English (1741) editions of Du Halde’s Description of the Empire of China, the first definitive work on the Chinese Empire; a superb presentation copy of Anson’s voyage (1748) that belonged to two English prime ministers; a strong section of 18th-century voyages includes major accounts of Cook’s voyages (including the published narratives by Parkinson, Forster, Zimmermann and Ellis, as well as the official accounts); in the 19th century we offer an exceptional complete set of the Baudin voyage account together with a fine set of the Freycinet voyage. Other highlights include a handsome pair of Cary globes, and a remarkable watercolour depicting a meeting three of the greatest polar explorers.

An important collection of printed and original manuscript and pictorial material relating to the two great French expeditions to Australia, the 1800 voyage under Captain Nicolas Baudin and the 1817 voyage of Captain Louis-Claude de Saulces de Freycinet. Louis de Freycinet is the figure who unites these two important voyages: he sailed with Baudin as a junior officer, quickly establishing himself as one of the great hydrographers, but also learning the demands of scientific exploration on the remote coastlines of Australia.