Hordern House will be exhibiting at the ANZAAB Melbourne Rare Book Fair 22-24th July, the culmination of Rare Book Week. Our July list has been prepared with this in mind and has items of rare Australian interest including the Rev. Johnson’s Address, Carboni’s Eureka Stockade, Fairholme's suite of Australian views highlighting early white settlement on the Darling Downs, and a fine 1861 painting of the First School House at Dandenong; together with early printed books...
We have posted online our May list: a selection of 25 items ranging in interest from paintings and prints including Clara Allport’s watercolour of Manly and Joseph Smith’s magnificent image of the Waratah; the German edition of Flinders notable for the important map; a fine set of Cook and an early Italian edition of La Perouse with unrecorded plates; together with manuscript letters and an early edition of Thomas More’s Utopia and the scarce anonymous Politician’s Dictionary,of significance to...
Hordern House is pleased to be exhibiting at ANZAAB's pop-up fair in support of UNESCO's World Book & Copyright Day held each year on 23rd April. Join us from 11:00 am-4:00 pm in the Gallery Room at the State Library of New South Wales. The Library will also be alive with Shakespeare 400 celebrations as the 23rd April marks the 400th annivesary of his life.
read more about UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY & SHAKESPEARE 400
We have posted online our April occasional list: a selection of cartographic material from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. In addition to freestanding maps the list includes printed books that contain their charts as intended, as well as a separate section of historically significant atlases. The list concludes with some scarce books relating to the history of mapmaking, and a handful of recently published reference books.
As usual, this list is intended as a preview and more information on each...
We have posted online our March list: a selection focussed on transportation and the convict era. In addition to the early settlement accounts of Arthur Phillip and Watkin Tench, this catalogue includes a range of more unusual material such as the cover item: a wonderfully detailed satirical Gillray print; a needlework sampler referring to Botany Bay; and a late eighteenth-century chapbook. Of special interest are original documents that give an insight into the fate of convicts including a lengthy...
Michael Stillman's engaging review of our New World catalogue in Rare Book Monthly.
We have posted online versions of the two catalogues we are taking to the Pasadena Bookfair encompassing rare works on exploration from 1558-1889 here and fine illustrated books centred on the Northwest Coast of America here. The descriptions in these pdf catalogues are all clickable links which will take you to fuller descriptions, condition reports, and further images on our website.
read more about California International Book Fair 12-14 February 2016
As part of the forthcoming Rare Books Summer School, the State Library of New South Wales is hosting a series of excellent public lectures. More details may be found on their website (follow the link above).
Our December list includes a diverse selection of books and manuscripts relating to nautical medicine. Most material concerns the problem of scurvy in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and some publications arise from the experiences of James Cook at sea. They include Sir John Pringle’s famous Royal Society address of 1776 amongst other lesser known works. The reaction of French surgeons and naval authorities to English advances in the treatment of scurvy is amply...
Our November list highlights a few treasures relating to some remarkable colonial women: Mary Reibey's copy of the NSW Directory printed by Anne Howe; a fine rare drawing by Ann Piper; a study of Homebushby Louisa Ann Meredith; a manuscript letter by the grand voyager Rose de Freycinet; and a fine copy of Mary Ann Parker's Voyage round the world, containing the first commentary of life in Australia by a woman. In addition we have some fine caricatures of life...
...recently spotted guarding a nest! The joys of spring in Sydney. The preposterous glory of the sulphur-crested cockatoo fascinated early artists both amateur and professional. Compare this with an image from a remarkable compendium dating from the 1830s in our Website link.
