Koapena
A superb portrait by the Russian scientist and artist Miklouho-Maclay, depicting the striking New Guinean man Koapena (or “Quapena”), a chief in the region of Hood Lagoon, south-east of Port Moresby.
Detailed Studies
Navigating Cook
We invite you to enjoy this catalogue, part of a collaborative exhibition between Hordern House and leading art dealers Michael Reid. The exhibition at Michael Reid Gallery features works by 15 significant artists who have charted the nations changing attitudes to the cause and effects of the navigator Captain James Cook's first contact in Australia and New Zealand. In this catalogue, and alongside this modern examination, Hordern House is exhibiting original antiquarian material including maps, books and pictures.
Meditations on the history of the book
'Whatever they may do, authors do not write books. Books are not written at all. They are manufactured by scribes and other artisans, by mechanics and other engineers, and by printing presses and other machines.'
So observed Roger Stoddard, the eminent book historian and former curator of Rare Books at Harvard, which is the starting point for a meditation on the history of the book by our colleague Anthony Payne, Hordern House's consultant in Europe. We are delighted to share it with you. Anthony's ongoing research project is a bibliographical study of the various travel books and other writings of Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616), and has been awarded a PhD for the first instalment of this.
Andrea Corsali & the Southern Cross
In 1515 Andrea Corsali, an Italian under the patronage of the Medici family, accompanied a Portuguese voyage down the African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope, en route to Cochin, India. On his return Corsali's letter to his patron describing the voyage was published. It included the earliest illustration of the stars of the Crux, the group of stars known today as the Southern Cross. The context of his remarkable discovery is explored here in an essay by Anne McCormick, prepared as a continuation of her study "The Book in the Renaissance" at the London Rare Book School, University of London, 2019.
Représentations des animaux...(1768)
Rare complete first edition of Johann Ridinger's great series of quadrupeds, in the original German with French translation. This is a classic of zoological illustration, its 127 large and beautifully coloured plates showing wild and domestic quadrupeds, with a few of the plates depicting two or more animals, sometimes from different species.
Sketches in New Zealand
One of the finest Pacific illustrated books of the nineteenth century. This is a beautiful copy of the rare coloured issue, complete in the original illustrated wrappers. The superb handcoloured lithographs are by the naval commander Richard Aldworth Oliver (1811-1889) who commanded the HMS Fly on survey voyages of New Zealand and Pacific waters between 1847 and 1851.
Sarah Stone
A previously unrecorded album of 40 watercolours by Sarah Stone of Leverian Museum fame. Besides a couple of single images this beautiful album is the only surviving example of Sarah Stone's work after her marriage. It is therefore one of the most significant finds to come to light in modern times by an artist with such fundamental and highly-researched connections to Cook and the European understanding of the Pacific.
Lycett
First edition of the great Australian plate book, Joseph Lycett's Views in Australia is one of the earliest and most important collections of antipodean landscapes.
This was a landmark in the development of Australian illustrated books: Lycett’s charming, highly-coloured views of New South Wales and Tasmania are justly famous today and the book as a whole provides a remarkable visual record of Macquarie’s Australia.
Papillons
A rare and astonishingly beautiful French Art Noveau design album based on the butterflies of the world, featuring species from China, India and Asia. Eugene Alain Séguy (1889-1985) was a leading French designer of the Art Noveau and Art Deco periods who produced eleven stunning design portfolios with a range of styles and inspirations
Flora Australasica
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.