Government House, Sydney: 12 May, 1851.
"Busy preparing for the Homebush meeting"
Manuscript letter, 230 x 180 mm., laid paper folded to form four pages. Original letter concerning a race meeting at Homebush in 1851. Fitzroy thanks James Gibson, head agent for the Van Diemen's Land company, for sending four... More
At sea: 1835-1836.
Meeting "the Mary from New South Wales to Calcutta"
Journal kept by Captain J.T. Baldwin Madras Artillery during a voyage to India in the year 1835 [&] Original verses written on visiting home after a few years absence; Original verses on visiting Newgate after seven years Transportation;... More
Sydney: Bank of New South Wales, 1 January 1824.
Early share certificate from Australia's first bank
Printed share certificate on vellum; 22.5 x 105 mm, completed in manuscript in ink. For the first thirty years of the colony of NSW, there was no organised and regulated banking system, rather a.... More
Sydney: 30 June 1823.
200 acres in Methven
Large printed vellum leaf, completed in manuscript, approx. 290 x 257 mm., verso blank except for ms. docket title; original folds, with well-preserved ribbon and paper seal attached. Fine original land grant signed by the sixth governor, for 200 acres in Methven... More
Land & Estate Agency, George Street: Stephen & Stokes, Printers, 2 May, 1833.
Home for a publican and the beginnings of Burwood
112 x 174 mm, printed form completed in manuscript in brown ink; printed decorative device above printers' caption; completed" Webb £2.12.0" on verso, together with small sum workings... More
Sydney: 19 March 1795.
Rare and early Bill of Exchange signed by David Collins
Quarto, single leaf, 2pp., manuscript in ink on paper. An ephemeral example of the emerging New South Wales economy with a rare association. David Collins' own account of the new settlement (An Account of the English... More
London: c. 1771.
First Lord of the Admiralty to Cook's first editor
Quarto, autograph manuscript in ink; single page on a bifolium with address panel; on paper watermarked "LVG" An amusing letter from Lord Sandwich to John Hawkesworth, editor and ghostwriter of the official account of Cook's first voyage (An... More
Windsor Castle: 6 October 1782.
Cook's "meddlesome editor" to Joseph Banks about the third voyage engravings
Single page, quarto, numbered "201" at the top right-hand corner; inscribed in an early nineteenth century hand "To Sir Joseph Banks" A fine letter from the editor of Cook's third voyage to Sir Joseph... More
London, Victualling Office, 18 June 1777.
Rare document from Cook's third and last voyage
Manuscript in ink on official paper (watermark "GR" with a crown), written in ink on one side of a single sheet, 239 x 201 mm, small folio. Rare document relating to the provisioning of Cook's third... More
Sydney: 24 May, 1830.
Over-supply in the colonial market
ALs single sheet of laid paper, 250 x 440 mm., stamped "India Letter Deal" A colonial mercantile correspondence: Crombie Maclaren & Co write to advise Andrew Scott in Edinburgh of an over supply in the colony due to the previous large... More
Paris: 25 August 1814.
Senior officer of the d'Entrecasteaux voyage presents the official account
Manuscript letter, 227 x 183 mm., on a bifolium sheet, letter comprising first page with three blank pages, dated and signed by Rossel; folded to letter size, addressed with remnants of seal. A friendly letter from... More
London: 12 January 1801.
"Last night at Sir Joseph Banks's house…"
Single sheet of wove paper, 265 x 445 mm., watermarked "JW", folded to letter-size with holograph manuscript to three pages; traces of original folds, later refolded to docket-size and with manuscript description in another hand. A significant letter from... More
Sydney: date missing, but April, 1857.
The first Premier of New South Wales
Single leaf of wove paper, 268 x 208 mm. comprising the last page of a letter and address panel verso; blue NSW sixpence stamp and other postmarks. Sadly missing the first sheet, this is nonetheless a substantial... More
circa 1863.
Dumas on convicts, New Caledonia and Botany Bay
Six sheets of neatly written autograph manuscript on light blue paper, headed "Les Bagnes", each sheet measuring 276 x 215 mm., preserved in a neat modern slipcase. An important and revealing manuscript essay on prisons and convict transportation by the... More
no place: no date but circa 1832.
Dumont d'Urville presents his new work to a scientific opinion-maker
Single sheet of laid paper, 207 x 260 mm., folded vertically to form a letter, written in a small and neat hand to first page and addressed – but not stamped – to... More
Paris: c.1845.
Original descriptions of Tasmania by a member of the Dumont d'Urville expedition
Three manuscripts, variously 4pp., 1½pp and 2pp., folio (approx. 365 x 225 mm); loose leaves in custom-made morocco box lettered "Dumont d'Urville. Tasmanie: Voyage de l'Astrolabe. Manuscrit autographe" Rare and important original manuscript source for the... More
Paris: 25 March 1830.
A Baudin voyage veteran studies Dumont D'Urville
Letter signed on official letterhead of the "Ministère de la Marine", 310 x 200 mm. Intriguing letter which shows the workings of the inner circle of French grands voyages experts and veterans, explicitly thanking Bory de Saint-Vincent for the... More
Paris: 5 February 1838.
Duperrey, Krusenstern and Freycinet: a remarkable voyage correspondence
Small folio, 18 pp. manuscript, comprising 4 pp. letter to Freycinet and four transcribed letters totalling 14 pp. An exceptional archive of correspondence involving three major Pacific voyagers. Louis-Isidore Duperrey, who had returned from his world voyage in... More
London: 1931.
A symbol of common fellowship
Manuscript album measuring 188 x 138 mm., bound in full polished calf, spine gilt with raised bands, boards embossed and decorated in gilt, dentelles, edges gilt; silk endpapers. In 1915 a soldier's rest centre was opened at Poperinghe, Belgium. It was named Talbot... More
London & Maidstone: dated between 4 September 1879 & 23 December, 1880.
"with Mr Gould's compts. & thanks"
Four single sheets; including two printed receipts from Gould, 13.5 x 21 cm, both completed in manuscript, one with internal revenue stamp and signature of Gould, purchase order from Maidstone Museum, 12.5... More
Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1918.
Hunter Valley coal riches
Published quarto, bound manuscript, and other materials (full description below). An archive of material relating to the smouldering volcanic outcrop at Mount Wingen, prepared by local landholder and pastoralist William Edward Abbott (1844-1924) and his nephew John Henry Abbott (1874-1953). William... More
[Sydney or Scotland]: 21 August, 1829. Three-page ALS in a neat but unfinished hand, 228 x 185 mm., original red wax seal, stamp for the Sydney post office but not otherwise marked, very good. A charming and rather rare example of a woman writing from Sydney in the 1820s. The... More
On board: 21 April 1822.
Please send the latest volumes relating to French voyages
Single-page letter on single folded sheet, 255 x 195 mm., address panel, slightly torn where originally opened at red wax seal; very good. An intriguing letter sent from on board Hyacinthe de Bougainville's command the Thétis... More
Aboard the Artemise in Toulon: 10 April, 1836.
The commander aboard the Artémise
Single sheet folded to form 4 pp., small octavo, neat manuscript in ink on both sides of first leaf, second leaf blank except for filing note. Written by the Pacific explorer Laplace in Toulon aboard his second... More
[Paris]: 1822-1823.
The Comte de Lauraguais, old friend of Sir Joseph Banks, still dazzlingly witty at 90
Three autograph letters, 260 x 195 mm. Three interesting and witty letters written by an elderly Comte de Lauraguais, providing a revealing glimpse of the exalted scientific circles in which he still moved... More