Blog

October News

Thursday October 27, 2016

This month we have uploaded our Special catalogue of 45 items including 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 as maps by Brion de la...

July News

Tuesday July 19, 2016

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...

June News

Tuesday June 14, 2016
We have posted online our June list: a selection including a fine original drawing by Jacques Arago completed on the Freycinet Expedition; a charming 1838 drawing of the General Post Office, Sydney; together with fine printings byHoste, Frezier and Roggeveen; a small group of Utopian works, a maritime oil of the SS Governor Blackall and a land grant signed by Phillip Parker King with a site sketch by George Evans.

As usual, this list is intended as a....

May News

Tuesday May 17, 2016

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...

UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY & SHAKESPEARE 400

Friday April 22, 2016 - Saturday April 23, 2016

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.

April News and our cartography list

Wednesday April 13, 2016

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...

March News and our Convict list

Wednesday March 9, 2016

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...

California International Book Fair 12-14 February 2016

Tuesday February 9, 2016

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.


The prices in these catalogues are shown in US dollars (our overseas customers may...

December news & Nautical Medicine list

Friday December 4, 2015

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...