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The Happy Island – Bengt Danielsson – First UK Edition 1952

A scarce book, the first UK edition published by George Allen & Unwin, London 1952 .. we also have the first US Edition. Octavo, 256 pages nicely illustrated with the authors photographs. Good to better condition with a chip lower dust jacket.

The author was part of the Kon-Tiki expedition. They were shipwrecked at Raroia which is a coral atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, to the east of Tahiti.

Danielsson and his wife returned there and spent a year and a half enjoying the relaxed lifestyle. A very funny account but there is tragedy in the death of a key character and the inevitable cyclone.

Perspective .. in 2012 the population of Raroia was 233, there is nowhere to stay so visitors are always invited to stay in the homes of maybe the friendliest people on earth!

Unusual Pacific account

$30.00

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Fiji and The Fijians (1835-1856) – G.C. Henderson

A first edition on Henderson’s book on Fiji and the Fijians a volume published to elucidate the Journal of Rev Thomas Williams who has spent the period !840-1853 as a Missionary in Fiji. Williams being regraded as the principal authority on the state if society among Fijians when European first came upon them.

Published by Angus and Robertson, Sydney in 1931.

Large octavo, 33 pages nicely illustrated throughout with images from early engravings, early photographs and charts. Very good condition and with the author’s “Compliments”’ stamp on the end paper ad his manuscript note “To dear old Jeff – from the Author”

A very useful Preface sets the scene and purpose for the book. The first chapter proper refers to the “Mitchellian Manuscripts” the Williams Journal and paper held at the Mitchell … and other primary materials held elsewhere including in the UK. Very good chapters on the Discovery of Fiji … the Duff, James cook and often overlooked Bellingshausen among them. The Bellingshausen journals had yet to be translated to English at the date of this book. The work then moves on to a description of the archipelago, centres of interest and the people. Mission work, medical practices and a chapter on Ono-I-Lau first visited by Calvert. Language and literature etc etc.

Well written account regarding an important historical period. A very good copy.

$120.00

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The Gladstone Colony [An Unwritten Chapter of Australian History] – J F Hogan – First Edition 1898

Published in London by T. Fisher Unwin 1898. Octavo, 279 pages. Original plum coloured with gilt lettering to front and spine and top edge gilt. A very good copy. From the library of writer historian Harold L Sheard with his distinctive bookplate at front.

Much about the goings on associated with the establishment of Gladstone.

Where we find it interesting is in July 1858 when gold is discovered on the Fitzroy River and then at Calliope. Mayhem ensues as it usually did and within a short time over 400 men were working diggings and making better than a good living – one man 100 Pounds worth in a fortnight 16,000 Pounds in today’s money. Inevitably followed soon after by a chapter titles “a host of disappointed diggers”!

The book on the establishment of Gladstone – and the gold rush.

$140.00

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Borzoi [Russian Wolfhound] Bookends by Paul Herzel Pompeian Bronze – c1920’s

A striking and stylish pair of Borzoi bookends by Pompeian Bronze. Emblematic of the Art Deco period the ancient Borzoi breed became prized for its exotic beauty and noble stature.

Pompeian Bronze operated out of premises in Brooklyn New York – they were very active in the 1920’s but went out of business sometime in the 1930’s.

Substantial practical bookends 20 cm high, 28 cm from nose to tail and weighing 3.8 kg. the pair. Unblemished and special. Marked by the maker on the base. A trifle aged … really pretty exceptional condition for approaching 100 years old.

The designer was Paul Herzel (1876–1956). The artist and sculptor was born in Silesia and emigrated with his family to the St Louis Missouri USA at the age of seven. His designs are well recognised and highly sought after

Quality 1920’s Designer Bookends

$590.00

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[Early Catalogue] – Dr Kirby’s Ready Remedies – 1872

Full title: Prices Current of Dr Kirby’s Ready Remedies being Selected Officinal Medicines prepared in the form of coated pills, pilules, granules, concentrated mixtures etc for Medical Practitioners by Messrs. Kirby & Company.

[Officinal is not a misspelling - it means a place where medicines are kept - from a Latin expression]

Brown paper cover catalogue, saddle stitched, 20 pages, Pictorial advertisement for Kirby’s Miniature Dispensary inside back cover, terms of trade to rear. Some marks and a stamp remnant [probably taxed] on cover, internally very clean.

Edmund Adolphus Kirby was a medical entrepreneur of the day. Author of “A formulation of selected remedies” and a pioneer in modern medicine preparation and dispensing.

The catalogue provides an interesting opening narrative on the methods and trends introduced by Kirby re the consistent preparation of medicines in pill and other form so that practitioners could ‘do away with” the mortar and pestle. His literally hundreds of standard formulations could be delivered swiftly by the use of the new parcel postage system.

Kirby patented a number of inventions including the adjustable medical couch and the “folding pattern portable medicine case’ suitable for “Saddle Practice”

Very scarce we cannot find a copy anywhere there should be including the Welcome Collection.

Scarce and interesting medical ephemera – early medical wholesaling

$80.00

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Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania – 1880

Printed at the “Mercury” Steam Press Office and published 1881.

Briefer than usual but full of papers presented by the most notable observers, natural scientists with an interest in the Society.

A new Helix fossil is found in the Kent Group by geologist R.M. Johnston – with engraved plate. Johnston also reports on a new fish species in the Derwent.

Notes on some Tasmanian plants by the distinguished baron F von Mueller.

Robert Etheridge jnr [now in London] reports on a Unionide found in the Launceston Tertiary Basin – with engraving.

And, reports from discoveries elsewhere – Algae from the New Hebrides and the Lichens of Queensland by expert F.M. Bailey.

Original soft wrappers, 64 pages of papers, followed by meteorological tables [in detail – a daily record presented twice monthly] and the annual reports and accounts, list of Fellows etc Very good condition.

istinguished contributors to a tight honed edition – 1880.

$60.00

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All products

The Happy Island – Bengt Danielsson – First UK Edition 1952

Fiji and The Fijians (1835-1856) – G.C. Henderson

The Gladstone Colony [An Unwritten Chapter of Australian History] – J F Hogan – First Edition 1898

Borzoi [Russian Wolfhound] Bookends by Paul Herzel Pompeian Bronze – c1920’s

[Early Catalogue] – Dr Kirby’s Ready Remedies – 1872

Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania – 1880

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