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The Knightly Quest – A Parody of Espionage Thrillers – (A Novella and Twelve Short Stories) – Tennessee Williams -1968

A first UK edition of this collection published by Secker and Warburg, London in 1968. A novella and twelve short stories. Three of the short stories had appeared in “One Arm” published in 1959 – see our copy.

Octavo, 253 pages, the novella “the Knightly Quest”, a parody of espionage thrillers comprises eighty odd pages. The short stories common with the earlier edition are .. The Poet; Chronicle of a Demise and Desire and the Black Masseur.

The new short stories are … Hard Candy; Rubio y Morena; The mattress by the Tomato Patch; The Vine; The Mysteries of the Joy Rio; Mama’s Old Stucco House; Man Bring This up Road; The Kingdom of Earth and “Grand”. The first two are variations on the same theme, with the same setting but with very different results … interesting idea.

The great Tennessee Williams -his shorter stories and one slightly longer

$40.00

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Byron’s Journal of His Circumnavigation 1764-1766 – Edited by Robert E. Gallagher

Another well produced book by the distinguished Hakluyt Society and in our view one of the better ones for its special illustrations and fold out maps.

John Byron of Wager fame (the poets Grandfather and Voyager hero) came in for some criticism regarding his circumnavigation of 1764-1776. The were some controversies and there were “secret instructions”.

Sent by the Admiralty in HMS Dolphin to search for Pepys’s Island and the Southern Continent and then up to the North Pacific to find the “other end” of the North West passage. He re-discovered the Falkland Islands (but was beaten by Bougainville) and when in the Pacific decided for his own reasons to go in a more direct route and hence all around the globe back to England..

His journal is at the mecca of all journals marine, the National Maritime Museum, London. And, here it is published with super supporting items by editor Robert Gallagher. Much about the giants of Patagonia.

Printed by the Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society in 1964. Octavo, 230 pages with, as mentioned, numerous illustrations and maps and charts many folding or multiple folding. A particularly good thoroughly clean copy.

John Byron first the Wager then the circumnavigation in the Dolphin; one of the great naval heroes of the 18th Century.

$50.00

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Atomic Energy for Military Purposes [the “official” book about the making of the first Atomic Bomb] – Henry Smyth – 1945

Full text of the Official Report … subtitled A General Account of the Scientific Research and Technical Development That Went into the Making of Atomic Bombs.

This is the new and enlarged edition, which includes statements by the British and Canadian Governments.

Not everyone’s cup of tea. For scientists particularly physicists and physical chemists a startlingly frank book about the Manhattan Project and what went on about, and into the making of, the first atomic weapon.

Published by the Princeton University Press in 1945, described as a fifth printing. Paper covered octavo, 308 (previously 264) pages, with photographs of the facilities and the first boom. The front covered has been repaired at the hinge, otherwise a pretty good copy.

The back history is well laid out, the fundamental science and the challenges. The simplicity of “critical mass” has always amazed Voyager. But it was the speed that CM is attained that was the key before all sorts of other leakages could take place in that extended micro-second. Typical of what can be achieved during wartime. The management (laboratory) structure … the heads of each, all famous scientists. Voyager hero, British Nobel Prize Winner, James “Neutron” Chadwick spent three years there and is recognised here as making a fundamental contribution.

Oppenheimer is the first name that comes to most. His organisational ability could not be questioned. The speed at which the first device was manufactured after the science was decided upon is nothing mor than remarkable. On the night of the first test they were delayed by a significant lightening storm … Oppenheimer went out into the darkness and at the first sight of stars declared the experiment on …

The First Atomic Bomb – the whole official story – like it or not … it makes interesting scientific and historical reading.

$50.00

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Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure [Recovered by Mike Hatcher] – Shipwreck in the Gaspar Straits 1822

Qing Dynasty decorated footed dish recovered by Mike Hatcher from the Tek Sing shipwreck. A very good clean example.

Niceley decorated and with peony and magnolia flowers and double lines at rim, simple decoration under rim. Strong colouring and no damage which is rare. 10.5 cm in diameter 2.5 cm high. Retains the auction reference sticker from the famous Nagel auction in Germany underneath.

A fine example of a Tek Sing shipwreck bowl

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The Tek Sing Shipwreck – Background

The Tek Sing (Chinese for “Bright Star”’) was a large Chinese Junk which sank in 1822 in the South China Sea at the Belvidere Shoals. She was 50 meters long, 10 metres wide and weighed a thousand tons. Manned by a crew of 200. The great loss of life has led to the Tek Sing being referred to as the “Titanic of the East”.

Sailing from the port of Amoy (now Xiamen), the Tek Sing was bound for Jakarta, with a cargo of porcelain goods and 1,600 Chinese immigrants. After a month of sailing, Captain Lo Tauko took a shortcut through the Gaspar Straits and ran aground on a reef and sank in 100 feet of water.

The next morning and English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl sailing from Indonesia to Borneo passed through the Gaspar Straits. He found debris from the sunken Chinese vessel and survivors. They managed to rescue 190 people.

In 1999, marine salvor Mike Hatcher discovered the wreck. His crew raised what has been described as the largest cache of Chinese porcelain ever recovered. It was auctioned by Nagel in Stuttgart, Germany the following year

$140.00

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Callaghan & Batman (Van Diemens’s Land 1825) – Edited by E.F. [Eustice FitzSymonds]

Number 476 of a limited edition of 500 copies published by the classy Sullivan’s Cove in 1978.

An unusual book in proportions (33cm x 19cm), 43 pages, with double page map at centre. Printed on thick wove paper. Dust jacket from a picture by Lycett. A very good copy.

Intriguing in content. Was the convict Eliza Callaghan hidden at Ben Lomond by John Batman in 1825? Contains police evidence as well as details of her trial at the Old Bailey and statements from the inquest after her murder at Geelong in 1852. A love story portrayed by contemporary documents and reports.

Tasmanian Mystery – a nice production

$40.00

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Shipwreck and Discovery of the Pelew Islands – First Edition 1788

An Account of the Pelew Islands situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean, composed from the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and some of his Officers who, in August 1783, were there Shipwrecked in the Antelope … George Keate – 1788

Published by G Nicol, Booksellers to His Majesty the King, Pall Mall, LonDon in 1788. Quarto, xxvii, 378 pages. Bound in half leather over marbled papered boards, spine in compartments with gilt titles, author, date [1788] and fouled anchors to compartments. Binding a little rubbed to edges but still strong and impressive, internally a little age and occasional foxing and the odd stain, overall a good to better copy complete and worthy in any collection.

Frontispiece and sixteen magnificent engravings 8 of which are folding. Frontispiece of Wilson and an important folding map of the islands and their relationship with The Philippines, also a three-fold plan or view of the islands.

Composed from the journals and communications of Captain Wilson and his Officers who in 1783 were shipwrecked in the Antelope a packet belonging to the Honourable East India Company. They hit a reef near one of the Palau (Pelew) Island, a previously unexplored group. The entire crew managed to get ashore safely, where they were well treated by the natives and eventually managed to build a small vessel from the wreck in which they reached Macao. They took Prince Lee Boo, one of King Adda Thulle’s sons, with them to England, where he made a very good impression. Unhappily despite of precautions he died of smallpox. Keate was the author of numerous books of poetry, history, and letter, and counted Captain Wilson as well as Voltaire amongst his friends.

First Edition 1788 – An important Account with an interesting, readable narrative and impressive plates and maps.

$790.00

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All products

The Knightly Quest – A Parody of Espionage Thrillers – (A Novella and Twelve Short Stories) – Tennessee Williams -1968

Byron’s Journal of His Circumnavigation 1764-1766 – Edited by Robert E. Gallagher

Atomic Energy for Military Purposes [the “official” book about the making of the first Atomic Bomb] – Henry Smyth – 1945

Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure [Recovered by Mike Hatcher] – Shipwreck in the Gaspar Straits 1822

Callaghan & Batman (Van Diemens’s Land 1825) – Edited by E.F. [Eustice FitzSymonds]

Shipwreck and Discovery of the Pelew Islands – First Edition 1788

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