Summa de Arithmetica by Luca Pacioli, is ‘The earliest printed book to treat algebra comprehensively, and the first to contain double-entry book-keeping’. Pacioli is revered as the “Father of Accounting” because of this foundation treatise.
Our second major catalogue of the year marks the 200th anniversary of Louis de Freycinet’s arrival in Western Australia. See item 21 for the wonderful Hydrographical Atlas from this voyage. This was Louis’ second visit, his first was as the cartographer-surveyor for the Baudin expedition, a fine account of which is included (see item 2), as well as the only...
First edition; one of the most attractive of all Australian botanical books and the first with illustrations taken from live specimens rather than dried plants or field sketches -- the species depicted having been grown from seeds in London nurseries.
This month we have featured a landmark in the development of Australian illustrated books: the album of early Colonial views by Joseph Lycett, Governor Macquarie’s convict-artist.
The highlight of our July exhibit at the at the Melbourne Rare Book Fair 6-8th July will be Mr Cust's "Sandridge Railway Jetty and Pier" . A small masterpiece: "Mr." Cust, an elusive artist whose first name is so far unknown, demonstrates with meticulous strokes an ability to conjure a sensation of intimacy and tranquility on the smallest scale. His...
A interesting 1860s keepsake album with historic watercolours including views of Glenelg and the Darling River. Belonging to Helene Simeon, the album has contributions by her husband-to-be John Chadwick Woore, then Commissioner of Lands in New South Wales. The pioneering names of Gooch and Finniss are included in a list of visitors and the contributions by Helene, her friends and...
Our featured item is a unique and magnificent (and at 18.5 kgs remarkably substantial) specially prepared photographic album in a superb and complex binding by the Government Bindery. The album showcases the virtues of New South Wales, and was presented by George Houston Reid as Premier of New South Wales to the Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier during the...
We have now been working for a year from our new Hordern House headquarters, and with our first major printed catalogue of the year have taken a moment to reflect on our antiquarian journey begun in 1985.
Moving into this intimate warehouse space in Sydney’s Surry Hills was a bold move for our company that had for thirty-two years been...
Our featured item is William Swainson’s Zoological Illustrations—a particularly attractive set of both the first and second series of this beautiful work of natural history. The importance of this work to Australian and Pacific natural history cannot be overestimated: several plates feature Australian specimens figured for the first time, while many of the illustrations are derived from the collections of...
Our featured item is a slim work of great beauty, John Richardson’s Icones Piscium: the first separately published work on Australian fishes, the plates after drawings by James Barker Emery, the first Lieutenant on the Beagle voyage during her survey of the Australian coast 1837-1841.
