Paris: Delaunay, c. 1810.
Peoples of the world, and their characters shown on their faces
Duodecimo, 25 engraved plates (all hand coloured); mottled pink wrappers. First edition of this fascinating French physiognomical study of the peoples of the world, which compares the facial structures and features of various European races... MoreSydney: Printed by H. Bull, Colonist Office, Sydney, September 1, 1836.
"Pipes &c to be conveyed by convict ship free of charge"
Four foolscap folded leaves, some wear, as usual, at folds. Scarce early prospectus, printed in Sydney, for "the lighting of this large, increasing, and opulent metropolis with Gas."... MoreSydney: James Waugh 1857-, 1858. Six issues, octavo, all but one in original printed wrappers. The Sydney Magazine published the proceedings of the Australian Horticultural and Agricultural Society, and the Philosophical Society of New South Wales. These six issues include a variety of articles; including viticulture, horticultural exhibitions and prizes... More
London: Charles Knight, 1832.
Babbage's most successful work
Small octavo, engraved title-page, original maroon cloth. Second edition of Charles Babbage's most successful work: there were four editions between 1832 and 1835 and the book was translated into at least six European languages. Babbage wrote this at the time he was... MoreLondon: Printed for H.D. Symonds and Curtis, 1805.
Banks on disease in corn
Octavo, six engraved plates in the first work, and one folding engraved plate by Bauer in the second work; contemporary half calf (restored). One of remarkably few works by Joseph Banks to have appeared in print. Despite... MoreLondon: printed for J. Harding, 1805.
Sir Joseph Banks in print
Octavo, 32 pp. including the half-title, with a folding plate; with the half-title in "Mackaness" morocco, with the Mackaness bookplate. One of remarkably few works published by Banks, but an apt demonstration of his wide range of scientific interest... MoreParis: Gravé par Tardieu, 1808.
French designs for South Australia.
Engraved chart; 580 x 850 mm. Impressive early chart of the South Australian coastline revealing French colonial ambitions for Australia, a result of the survey undertaken during the Baudin expedition in Australian waters during 1802. As the title "Terre Napoleon"... MoreLondon: Henry Colburn, 1839.
The Beagle voyage: first issue of the first edition
Four volumes, octavo, with four charts bound in and eight loose folding maps (two accompanying each volume in original endpaper sleeve), and a total of 44 engraved plates after Augustus Earle and Conrad Martens; an attractive set... MoreLa Haye and Paris: Pierre Aillaud, 1786.
Science in the wake of Pacific exploration
Octavo, [ii], 236 pp., uncut copy in original buntpapier wrappers. Curious and eclectic collection of essays on geography, astronomy, and recent voyage discoveries. The geographical sections are informed by the discoveries of Cook, la Pérouse and... MoreSydney: David Mason, printer, circa 1866.
Atmotic: pioneering steam driven airship in 1860s Sydney
Single printed sheet measuring 570 x 445 mm. in good condition, mounted. Rare Sydney broadside and a milestone in aviation history. This ephemeral large single sheet promotes the 'Atmotic Ship' – an early steam driven airship... MorePerth: Wm. Alfred Watson, Government Printer, 1902.
Incomprehensible suffering and despair
Folio, 62 pp., with a large folding lithographic map measuring 890 x 648 mm., fine in handsome quarter green polished calf with gilt lettering. Official account of the scientific expedition financed by the wealthy English traveller Albert Calvert, dispatched... MoreÀ Londres et se trouve à Paris: chez Née de la Rochelle, 1786.
The rare French edition of Samwell's account of Cook's death
Octavo, 56, (ii) pp and a final blank leaf; neo-classical vignette on title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces; a handsome copy (bound with another work -- see below)... MoreLondon: published by William Mackenzie, circa 1885.
Portrait of the great scientist as an old man
Steel engraving, 107 x 134 mm. within larger sheet, An engraved portrait of the legendary naturalist Charles Darwin. The engraving is taken from an image by the famous studio of Elliott & Fry, specialists... MoreSydney: Thomas Richards, 1859. Foolscap folio, 37 pp.; printed on blue paper; protected in recent brown buckram. A scarce Government paper on the "Defence of the Town and Harbour of Sydney". Motivated chiefly by the memory of the Crimean War, the paper was a telling contribution to the then current... More
London: J.D. Potter, 1861.
The chronometers of HMS Fly, by an officer on board
Octavo, xvi, 228 pp., including appendices and tables. New edition, revised and considerably expanded. The work includes important statistical tables from the north Australian survey conducted by HMS Fly under the command of Francis Blackwood between... MoreLondon: Bell and Daldy, 1867. Octavo, wood-engraved illustrations including frontispiece;original dark brown gilt-decorated cloth. Scarce and attractive children's book, based on the experiences of Harden S. Melville on the Fly, with frontispiece and 29 other illustrations by Melville (the "Griffin") from his original sketches. Melville sailed with Francis Blackwood on... More
London: J. Walthoe, 1726.
First history of medicine written by an Englishman
Two volumes, octavo, contemporary panelled calf. Attractive early mixed set of this first history of medicine written by an Englishman, comprising the third edition of the first volume and first edition of the second. Regarding nautical medicine, Friend... MoreLondon: various publishers, 1840-, 1855. Thick octavo, a contemporary collection of thirteen rare pamphlets, seven on the subject of gold, with in total five folding maps, each with original title-pages (one with drop-title only), several with owner's signature, and one with authorial inscription; a handsome volume in contemporary half vellum... More
London: John van Voorst, 1875.
Marvels of pond life in London tapwater
Large thick octavo, two volumes bound in handsome deep red half morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, the second volume with 48 engraved plates, some handcoloured. Splendidly bound copy of the third edition, a marvellous relic of Victorian popular... MoreLondon: Henry S. King, 1876.
Precursors to Darwin illuminated
Two volumes, octavo, with a total of 15 plates (including the folding frontispiece map), contemporary full polished calf, spine banded with green labels. Good summary of Darwinian evolutionary theory, and its historical precursors (namely Kant, Lamarck, Cuvier, Agassiz, Goethe, Oken and... MoreLondon: W. Innys, R. Manby, T. Woodward, 1763.
From men-of-war to the Drury Lane Theatre
Two volumes, octavo, five folding plates, contemporary speckled calf. First edition: Hales' ventilators became known as "ship's lungs", and were so appreciated by eighteenth-century sailors, and contributed so significantly to an improvement in seaboard conditions... MoreLondon: D. Henry, November, 1775.
Experimental marine chronometer
Octavo, 48 pp., disbound. Complete issue of the Gentleman's Magazine for November 1775 containing an interesting biographical article on John Hutchinson (1674-1737), a natural scientist who, in 1712, invented and built a novel chronometer for ascertaining longitude. The article reads 'Some time... MoreBabylone (Paris): n.p., 1760. Octavo, with four engraved plates by Cochin after Desfriches illustrating the second work "Mon Odyssée ou le Journal de Mon Retour de Saintonge"; contemporary mottled calf,spine gilt with red label. First edition: a marvellous utopian community in Africa, prefiguring the uses of photography, television and the..... More
Melbourne: Stillwell & Co., 1889.
"accurate knowledge, infinite painstaking, and sacred reverence for human life"
Octavo, 23 pp., some foxing, old fold, and manuscript postal address and postmarks (1889), where the pamphlet has been mailed from South Australia to New South Wales; in the original printed wrappers, rather spotted and... MoreLondon: Printed for Her Majesty's Commisioners, 1862.
Australian products on the world stage.
Three volumes, quarto, folding plan and steel engraved illustrations throughout; in original gilt decorated cloth. Official catalogue of the 1862 International Exhibition, a spectacle of vast proportions promoting the products and manufacturing of Britain and her colonies... More
![A Short Account of the Cause of the Disease in Corn, called by the Farmers the Blight, the Mildew, and the Rust [in] CURTIS: Practical Observations on the British Grasses. Sir Joseph BANKS, William CURTIS.](/pictures/thumb/2308889.jpg?v=1445314352)
![Détails nouveaux et circonstanciés sur la mort du Capitaine Cook, traduits de l'Anglois [bound with another unrelated work]. COOK: DEATH, David SAMWELL.](/pictures/thumb/4504728.jpg?v=1525756097)
![A Description of Ventilators: whereby Great Quantities of Fresh Air May with Ease be Conveyed into Mines, Goals [sic.], Hospitals, Work-Houses and Ships, In Exchange for their Noxious Air. Rev. Stephen HALES.](/pictures/thumb/3706038.jpg?v=1434432237)
