Our November catalogue includes an intimate letter by Admiral Sir George Seymour recounting his meeting with Emma, Dowager Queen of Hawaii on her visit to London in 1865.  (Also see our detailed study here on the superb lifetime portrait of him.)

Other highlights in the catalogue include a rare lithographed view by Conrad Martens, an original watercolour by Major James...

A highlight from this catalogue is an album assembled in the 1790s containing a deliberate selection of the groundbreaking earliest scientific and artistic work on the natural history of New South Wales from its first European settlement, which connects six figures each of individual importance to that remarkable story: George Shaw, James Edward Smith, F.P. Nodder, James Sowerby, Thomas Wilson...

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A selection  featuring a fine colonial view by George Halsted; two interesting sketches relating to Sydney's early defences; botanical engravings from James Smith's Specimen of the  Botany of New Holland, and a rare and remarkably large photographic panorama of the Sydney Royal Agricultural Show in 1897. 

A catalogue which takes as its theme the spirit of Enlightenment in terms of exploration and voyages. The great explosion of late eighteenth century voyages is represented by important works by many of the key figures, naturally enough focussing on Cook and La Pérouse, but with forays into all manner of works which reveal the scale of the ambition which...

Our catalogue foregrounds Solvyns' great colour plate study of Indian manners and costume, Arago's intimate study of a priest of Guam, together with an 18th Century table globe and a fine watercolour of the iconic Black Swan. Also included are Shaw's catalogue of Tapa: a highly unusual example with extra specimens, Samwell's Narrative of the Death of Cook as well...