London: L. Reeve & Co, c.1860.
Australian Christmas Bells
Hand coloured lithograph, 285 x 240mm, mounted and framed. Artist's proof with notes to the colourist. An artist's proof, beautifully hand-coloured with detailed notes for the colourist and addressed to the publishers of The Floral Magazine, Reeve and Company in Covent... More
London: Gresham Publishing Company, 1907.
For equine connoisseurs
Nine volumes, quarto, colour frontispieces and plates, folding tables; bright original decorated cloth with the bookplate of Henry White. A most attractive set in original art nouveau bindings of this complete guide to equine veterinary care, husbandry and pedigrees; profusely illustrated throughout... More
London: 1834-, 1835.
Charles Babbage's son at university before moving to Australia
Engraved Certificate, 265 x 366mm, fine. Decorative document certifying that Babbage diligently attended the lectures in the Senior Mathematical Class during the session of 1834-35, and was presented with the First Certificate. More
London: 1833-, 1834.
Charles Babbage's son at university before moving to Australia
Engraved Certificate, 265 x 366mm. Decorative document certifying that Benjamin Herschel Babbage (1815-1878; Charles Babbage's son) diligently attended the lectures in the Second Class of Mathematics (1st Division) during the session of 1833-34; as well as a First... 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... More
London: J. Cooke, 1787-1790. Original eighteenth century engraving, 120 x 175 mm. (image size). Engraving of Stubb's kangaroo, disbound from Bankes' New System of Geography. More
London? 1787.
Wool in England; preface probably by Joseph Banks
12mo, uncut, recent marbled wrappers. Rare: an intriguing pamphlet on the vexed question of the importation of wool into England, with a preface thought to have been contributed by Sir Joseph Banks. The West Countryman John Anstie had first mooted... More
London: W. Dickinson, 30 January 1774.
The classic portrait of Banks as a young man
Mezzotint portrait, 510 x 370 mm.; a very good impression, mounted and framed. In this fine mezzotint Joseph Banks " the father of Australia" is shown sitting confidently at his desk, surrounded by the accoutrements... More
Paris: 1807.
The cassowary
Handcoloured engraving, 160 x 230mm. A fine rendering of the Cassowary from the account of the Baudin voyage to Australia and the Pacific. The expedition's artist was Charles-Alexandre Lesueur who set out on Baudin's expedition as an assistant gunner, and it wasn't until mass desertions, including... More
Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1555.
Exotica, real and imaginary
Small octavo, fine printer's device on title, three maps including double-page plan of Mt. Sinai, finely executed woodblock illustrations; a most attractive copy in eighteenth-century sprinkled calf, spine gilt in panels with red label. One of the first explorer-naturalists: Pierre Belon's near-eastern... More
London: Robert Jennings, 1829.
Kangaroos in the Tower of London
Octavo, with 107 wood-engravings; finely bound in contemporary red morocco gilt decorated, edges fully gilt, early inked manuscript note on endpaper. First edition. The menagerie in the Tower of London had been established in the mid-thirteenth century at which time... More
Paris: Annales des Sciences Naturelles, December 1826.
Separately printed and important work on the platypus
12 pp., caption-title; tipped into a modern binding of quarter linen and boards. The renowned French zoologist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire on the platypus: an important study, read to the Académie des Sciences and set up..... More
London: Cadell and Davies, 1813.
Scotland's greatest lyric poet
Five volumes, with an arresting portrait frontispiece; uniformly bound in contemporary full green polished calf with gilt ornament including a lyre in gilt on front and back covers; a most endearing set. A beautifully bound set of the complete works. The... More
London: E.W. Janson, 1874. Quarto, with three lithograph plates; in original cloth-backed printed green boards. This study of the butterflies and moths of New Zealand, made as part of the scientific surveys during the voyage of the Erebus and Terror, was issued separately, but also formed part of the general... More
London: Darton and Harvey, 1794-1805.
Superb Large Paper example in fine contemporary binding
Two volumes, folio, 402 x 266 mm, with 84 engraved images, engraved and printed title-pages; contemporary green straight-grained morocco, ornately decorated in gilt and blind with complex borders and panels to sides and spines, stylish dark grey... More
London: 1845. Handcoloured zincograph print, mounted. Handcoloured print of the Australian species Oxylobium Ovalifoloium, from Swan River, Western Australia. Species closely related to another legumious plant of Australia; Oxylobium retusum, "a handsome greenhouse shrub, native of King George's Sound in New Holland, whence seeds were brought by Mr. J. Richardson... More
circa 1845. Handcoloured zincograph, with accompanying page of text attached; mounted, approx 270 x 210mm. The Labichea is an Australian plant found on the Western Coast and also parts of Sydney. From The Floral Cabinet or Magazine of Exotic Botany by Knowles & Westcott. More
London: circa 1840. Handcoloured zincograph; mounted, picture approx 200 x 260 mm. A handcoloured print taken from The Floral Cabinet by Knowles & Westcott of the Australian Veronica Formosa. Accompanying text attached. More
London: Fisher Son & Co, 1834. Engraving, 230 x 145mm (plate size). Fine portrait of the great botanist as a young man. Hooker was born at Norwich in 1785. Following his father's fascination with exotic plants, he showed a precocious interest in botany and in 1809, through the encouragement of... More
Paris: Deterville, 1817.
Cuvier's great zoology, including Australian insects from the Baudin voyage
Four volumes, octavo, 15 engraved plates by C.-L. Laurillard a handsome set, with all four half-titles, in contemporary quarter calf over mottled papered boards, gilt, double spine labels in red & green. First edition of this germinal... More
London: M. Clark for H. Faithorne, 1686-1688-, 1704.
With a description of Dampier's west Australian plants
Three volumes, folio; a handsome set in contemporary calf, banded spine gilt with double red morocco labels. A particularly handsome set: first edition, first issue, complete with the rare third volume published eighteen years... More
Padova: Tipografia e Fonderia, 1819-, 1820.
The continuing influence of French gardens and Malmaison
12 volumes, octavo, a fresh fine set in the original printed blue paper wrappers, some wear at spines and evidence of earlier tape repairs, early Milanese bookseller's advertisement to front, very good. A most appealing set... More![Voyage autour du monde… [A series of Botanique plates]. Louis Isidore DUPERREY.](/pictures/thumb/2011786.jpg?v=1430452981)
Paris: Arthus Bertrand, circa 1826.
Original plates from the Duperrey voyage
Three original parts, folio, containing a total of 29 plates, 6 of which are in original colouring; completely unbound as issued, original printed wrappers. A substantial series of botanical plates from the finely-illustrated Duperrey voyage, published in Paris between... More
Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1877-, 1878.
Monotremes by the great French scientific publisher
Four lithographed plates measuring 552 x 362 mm., one coloured; with accompanying text comprising two unopened quarto gatherings, both plates and text separately preserved in the publishers blue printed titling wrappers. Beautifully preserved monograph on the New Guinea... More
London: John Stockdale, 1789.
Fine depiction of the kookaburra
Original engraving, 260 x 190 mm. very good condition, mounted. Fine impression of the so-called "Great Brown Kings Fisher" or Laughing Kookaburra. This engraving is taken from Governor Phillip's Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay published by Stockdale in late... More