Biography/ autobiography

G.T.W.B. Boyes – Diaries and Letters (Vol 1 1820-1832) – edited by Peter Chapman

A very solid and sought after book. Published by the Melbourne University Press in 1985. Stand alone volume we cannot find anywhere Chapman producing a Vol 2.

A substantial work. Thick octavo, 687 pages, endpaper maps, illustrations from period artwork. Another super fine copy.

George Boyes was a veteran of the Peninsula War – he became auditor of Van Diemens Land in 1826 – the depth of his letters is remarkable and we see those early years through his words with immense clarity – his talents as an artist were superb with much of his work reproduced here

Boyes left a superb legacy

$90.00

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Hyacinthe de Bougainville’s Account of Port Jackson 1825 – The Governor’s Noble Guest – Marc Serge Riviere

Another beautiful production of the Miegunyah Press. Published in 1999, large octavo, 291 pages, nicely illustrated, super fine copy.

Baron Hyacinthe the son of the explorer Bougainville commanded an expedition in 1825 to Macau, Manilla and New South Wales in the Thetis and Esperance. This is a translation of his private diaries. He met Governor Brisbane and many explorer and notables … Hume, Blaxland, Oxley, Macarthur, Marsden and Piper.

It contains a bit of an expose as a result.

Hyacinthe had influence and knew people

$50.00

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Port Arthur – The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth – Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement.

A hard to find Tasmanian production. Published by the Tasmanian Historical Research Association in 1981.

Slightly larger octavo, 298 pages, illustrated and a super fine copy

Booth kept his almost daily diary for 23 years so there is so much about Port Arthur to make it the fundamental record of the goings on in the penal establishment.

Real diary makes for interesting reading

$60.00

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Marion Dufresne – An Officer of the Blue – South Sea Explorer 1724-1772 – Edward Duyker

The French Explorer who was the first to encounter Tasmanian Aborigines and was a precursor to the voyages of La Perouse, d’Entrecasteaux, Baudin and Dumont d’Urville.

This book is traces his life in incredible detail, as one would expect from author Duyker. Chronologies, references, bibliographies make this a first source.

Dufresne from start to finish

$70.00

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The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer – Weird and Tragic Shores – Chauncey Loomis 1972

The writer a Professor and arctic adventurer himself was well qualified to pen this thorough biography of the great and somewhat unusual American Polar explorer, Charles Francis Hall. His research included access to key papers at the Scott Polar Institute; the Stefansson Collection and unique documents held by descendants of Paul Fenimore Cooper.

Published by MacMillan, London in 1972 a first UK edition. Octavo, 367 pages, plus index etc. Illustrations from early images and a useful map. A very good copy.

Hall was a successful printer who out of the blue had a urge to become an explorer. His first venture was in the path of Eliza Kane to search for evidence of the lost Franklin expedition. He essentially set off by himself having tagged along on a whaling expedition. Fame a support followed and he was to go back several time before succumbing himself possibly like Franklin from food poisoning of sorts. He is said to be the first to live with the Eskimo and had good and bad vies on their approach to life.

Charles Francis Hall devoted a large part of and his life to Arctic exploration.

$40.00

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Sailing with Flinders: The Journal of Seaman Samuel Smith – Peter Monteath (Hardback version one of 200 Copies)

First edition, readily available as a softcover but rare as a hardback due to the tight limitation. Numbered 154 of 200 copies thus.

Published by the super Corkwood Press, Adelaide in 2002. Professor Peter Monteath [descendant of Gidley King] of Adelaide University a well published historian. This book marries well with his “Encountering Terra Australis” of which Voyager usually has a copy.

Fine condition, xiv, 86 pages, maps in text numerous other illustrations, notes and bibliography.

Monteath edits the extant journal and provided his sizeable introduction. Apart from Flinders writings this is the only journal kept during the Voyage of the Investigator 1801-1803 during which Flinders circumnavigated Australia proving undisputedly its island form and filling in many parts of the then “Unknown Coast”. The writer of the journal [It was more like an exercise book] , Samuel Smith, was from Manchester and joined Flinders’ crew below decks as low a rank as could be got. Nevertheless, Flinders had a small tightly bound crew and Smith’s account makes for good and full reading.

An important historical account one of the tightly held hardbacks.

$80.00

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G.T.W.B. Boyes – Diaries and Letters (Vol 1 1820-1832) – edited by Peter Chapman

Hyacinthe de Bougainville’s Account of Port Jackson 1825 – The Governor’s Noble Guest – Marc Serge Riviere

Port Arthur – The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth – Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement.

Marion Dufresne – An Officer of the Blue – South Sea Explorer 1724-1772 – Edward Duyker

The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer – Weird and Tragic Shores – Chauncey Loomis 1972

Sailing with Flinders: The Journal of Seaman Samuel Smith – Peter Monteath (Hardback version one of 200 Copies)

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