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
[Paris]: 28 October, 1825.
Cashmere fantasies: Bory de Saint-Vincent still scheming
Five-page autograph letter, folded to letter-size 224 x 171 mm., the sixth page blank; neatly written with some original scratching-out and corrections; secured together at the left margin;. A long letter from Bory de Saint-Vincent to an unknown correspondent... 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 very significant letter... 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
Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire: 1879.
Eyre reminiscing in old age
4 pp., black bordered notepaper with crest. An attractive autograph letter from the explorer and governor of South Australia, Edward John Eyre, to 'Campbell' - evidently the pastoralist George Campbell.Eyre had first met George's father Robert Campbell as early as 1834... 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
Kronstadt: 26 November 1787 (old calendar; 7 December 1787 in the modern calendar).
Cancellation of the Russian voyage to New Holland
Single sheet of laid paper, 232 x 382 mm., folded to letter size, watermark "J. Honig & Zoonen", written in French in a neat and legible hand, signed "G... More
Paris, Rue St Roch, 5: 2 March, 1827.
Louis to Bory de Saint-Vincent in debtor's prison
Two-page autograph letter, on a single sheet of laid paper, folded to letter size 200 x 162 mm., neat autograph manuscript on two pages, the third blank and the fourth an address panel; remnants... More
Paris: 6 August, 1814.
Vielch of the Lys
One-page autograph letter, written on a single sheet, folded to letter-size 230 x 185 mm., written and signed to the first page, the fourth page an address panel, others blank. An interesting letter from Louis de Freycinet to Lieutenant de Vielch of... More
Paris: 26 July, 1839.
Louis on printing the narrative of the Uranie voyage
Two-page letter with address panel on the last page, folded to letter size 215 x 148 mm., postmarks for Paris and Rochefort; archive stamp, Louis de Freycinet completes his account of the Uranie voyage to Australia and... More