Exploration

Prints and Print Makers of Australia (1788-1850) – the Antipodes Observed – Cedric Flower.

This is the hard back version of the very good compilation of key prints and their makers in the years up to 1850. Published by MacMillan, Melbourne in 1975. Landscape quarto, 139 pages heavily illustrated, obviously! Pretty good condition in a complete protected dust jacket.

And what an extraordinary record they are … where would we be with only the narrative? Every State and subject is covered selecting the very best items.

The images that go with the story!

$40.00

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Isles of Illusion (Letters from the South Seas) – Edited by Bohun Lynch – First Edition 1925

First edition published by Small. Maynard and Co, Boston in 1923.

Octavo, 331 pages, browned because of nature of paper otherwise very clean internally. Gilt title to front board still bright and clean, spine somewhat sunned. A pretty good copy.

The author of the many emotional and illuminating letters was to remain anonymous and Lynch refers to him as Asterisk in the lengthy introduction. We learn there that the author, real name Robert James Fletcher (1877-1965), was an Oxford graduate and man of taste. The letters result from over seven years in the New Hebrides and it was tough for Fletcher.

J.G. Bonhun Lynch (1884-1928) has some success as a novelist. Based on the quality of the letters, English publisher Constable convinced Asterisk (Fletcher) to publish a novel which he did titled “Gone Native a Tale of the South Seas” … it was semi-autobiographical.

Fletcher wrote many letters before Gone Native

$50.00

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Early Observations of Marquesan Culture 1595-1813 – Edwin Ferdon

First published University of Arizona, 1993. Octavo, 184 pages in very good if not fine condition.

A scholarly work by Edwin Ferdon who as a young man was archaeologist on the Thor Heyerdahl 1955 expedition to Easter Island. The notes and bibliography make it extra useful for those that want to more broadly study the history of the Marquesas.

Ferdon was thorough

$40.00

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Captain Henry Byam Martin R.N. – Polynesian Journal

Published by the Peabody Museum in 1981, Octavo 192 pages beautifully illustrated. A very good copy in a complete dust jacket.

Captain Martin’s first command, H.M.S. Grampus with orders to sail for Hawaii to await further orders which were to sail for Tahiti the French planning to subjugate the island, which they did by “bloody force”.

The actual journal was in the bowels of the British Museum … it is characterised by in the moment observations and a sense of humour regarding the struggle between the French and the British and the oft hopeless position the islanders found themselves in.

The text of an important one time “lost” journal .

$40.00

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Sailor and Beachcomber – Safroni-Middleton – First Edition 1915

“Confessions of a Life at Sea, In Australia and amid the Islands of the Pacific”. Published by Grant Richards, London a first edition 1915.

Thick octavo, 304 pages private library stamp at front and rear of Thomas Kinmore of Cork, Ireland. Nicely illustrated with 23 images from photographs. Pretty good condition.

An unusual book starting with “I run away to sea” but finds himself stranded in Brisbane and then off to the bush before leaving for the South Sea Islands. The usual chapter on cannibalism with much time spent in Samoa and Fiji, then Tahiti (and the usual chapter on morals) and the Marquesan Queens and back to Samoa before returning to Australia. Lost in the bush and on to the Gold Fields and Coolgardie. References to the Bounty and of course R.L.S. And quite a bit of violin playing – see his biography below.

Written in an interesting somewhat casual style but packed with observation if not sometimes a bit puffed up.

The author George Arnold Haynes Safroni-Middleton (1873-1950), also known as Count Safroni, was a British Composer, violinist, harpist, writer and astronomer. Born in Kent he studied violin with Pablo de Sarasate and later played with the orchestra at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney. He toured Australia and explored Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia (and also obviously the Pacific). He composed “Imperial Echoes” in 1913 which for many years was the theme of “Radio Newsreel” on the BBC. Quite an odd chap.

In Australian and (mainly) in the Pacific – entertaining

$80.00

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Kamet Conquered (One of the Decisive Climbs in the History of Mountaineering) – Frank S. Smythe

This is the Uniform edition published by Hodder and Stoughton. London in 1947. First published in 1932. Thick octavo 371 pages with complete dust jacket. Some ageing on a couple of pages from a relevant inserted newspaper article … we have left it there as it adds to the interest. End paper maps, 36 photographic images and two maps in the text. A pretty good copy of an excellent account. Foreword by the formidable Francis Younghusband

In 1931 Frank Smythe and his team were the first to climb Kamet in the Himalayas in Northern India. It was the first of 70 plus peaks over 25,000 feet to be climbed. At this time the Tibetan authorities would not allow access to Everest. A brilliant mountaineer, Smythe gained a reputation as a special writer and packed his books with excellent photography. He died when only 49 after suffering food poisoning and malaria whilst in Delhi.

Kamet conquered at last … and not a bad place to smoke your pipe!

$50.00

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Prints and Print Makers of Australia (1788-1850) – the Antipodes Observed – Cedric Flower.

Isles of Illusion (Letters from the South Seas) – Edited by Bohun Lynch – First Edition 1925

Early Observations of Marquesan Culture 1595-1813 – Edwin Ferdon

Captain Henry Byam Martin R.N. – Polynesian Journal

Sailor and Beachcomber – Safroni-Middleton – First Edition 1915

Kamet Conquered (One of the Decisive Climbs in the History of Mountaineering) – Frank S. Smythe

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