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  • Solo to Sydney [From London in a Single Engine Aircraft] – Francis Chichester.

    This edition published by Conway Maritime Press, Greenwich in 1982. Octavo, 208 pages, loads of illustrations, map, table of flight times / distance per sector. Very good condition, excuse the gift inscription front ends.

    This book was originally published in 1930 immediately after Chichester had flown solo from London to Sydney in a single engine aircraft.

    A thoroughly readable account and twenty-three sectors leads to a lot of adventure and colour along the way.

    Francis Chichester in the air before the sea …

    $30.00

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  • The Travels of Marco Polo – Manuel Komroff

    The Travels of Marco Polo – Manuel Komroff

    Our favourite edition of the Travels of Marco Polo edited and introduction by Manuel Komroff.

    Published by Garden City, New York, a first in this form 1930. Large royal octavo, xxxii, 370 pages including the index. Embossed black cloth covered boards with gilt titles and design to spine. Dust jacket complete but protected in unremovable protection. Top edge stained blue as required. Illustrated by Witold Gordon with 32 full page coloured designs. A little age and a few spots – still a very worthy copy.

    The work leans on two earlier translations by British orientalists. First, that of William Marsden (1754-1836) published in 1818 … importantly Komroff identifies a missing part of this work. Secondly, that of Yule (1820-1889) published by Murray in 1871 elements of which Komroff provides important revisions.

    After an excellent 32 page introduction the work follows the traditional plan … Prologue … Book I – Account of Regions Visited or Heard of On the Journey from the Lessor Armenia to the Court of the Great Khan at Shangtu; Book II – Account of the Great Kublai Khan, His Capital, Court and Government. Also, of Cities and Provenances Visited on Journeys Westward and Southward; Book III – Japan and Archipelago, Southern India, and the Coasts and Islands of the Indian Sea; Book IV – The Wars Among the Tartar Princes and Some Account of the Northern Countries. Index etc

    New York born, Manuel Komroff (1890-1974) was a multi-talented writer and translator. He spent time in Russia during the Russian Revolution. The illustrator, Witold Gordon (1885-1968) was born at Warsaw and after emigrating to New York became a recognised artist. At the time of this book he was commissioned to do the murals at the Radio City Music Hall and in 1939 completed a 6,000 square foot mural for the New York World Fair. The works in this book are considered his finest examples of his modernist aesthetic style.

    Marco Polo – The Best Travels – Nicely Illustrated.

    $90.00

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  • Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

    Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

    Qing Dynasty decorated dish recovered by Mike Hatcher from the Tek Sing shipwreck of 1822. Nice condition.

    Beautifully decorated with bands of lotus flower around a central spiral and set in alternate designs of lingzhi fungus and fruiting peach. Similar decorations to external rim, potters mark at bottom. Bright and clean. 15cm in diameter 6cm high, weighs 220gm. Retains Nagel auction sticker.

    Price $240.00

    Bright well decorated treasure from the Tek Sing
    ________________________

    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 Nagle in Stuttgart, Germany the following year

    $240.00

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  • The Life of John Ledyard the American Traveller; comprising Selections from His Journals and Correspondence. – Jared Sparks – First edition 1828

    The Life of John Ledyard the American Traveller; comprising Selections from His Journals and Correspondence. – Jared Sparks – First edition 1828

    First edition of this scarce work published by Henry Colburn, London in 1828.

    Octavo, 428 pages, bound in green cloth binding with gilt titles and library call no to spine. New ends but front free endpaper retained – manuscript ownership note George Stokes, Hean Castle – August 31, 1842. Despite the binding the interior is as clean and crisp, the odd spot but really very good if not better.

    America’s first true explorer who was with James Cook on his third fateful voyage to the Pacific, Northwest Coast of America, Alaska and Hawaii. Ledyard subsequently attempted to reach America by traversing Russia. He died whilst exploring the Nile.

    Ledyard did not publish during is foreshortened life. After his death, his journals and papers and other materials were collected by his relative Dr Isaac Ledyard. That was a far as he got, and it was down to Jared Sparks to edit and arrange the narrative for publication. Little is changed in the journals etc the words are those of the traveller explorer.

    Over fifty pages are devoted to Cook’s voyage. Of particular interest is that Ledyard was in the landing party with Cook at Kearakekua [Kealakekua] Bay, Hawaii “and was near his person’ when Cook was slain. His narrative of the events and his views on Cook’s approach to the encounter with the natives are unique. Many other interesting elements … such as organising a party to climb Hawaii’s highest mountain (near 14,000 feet) Mouna Roa … give a clue to the explorer he became.

    His travels in Siberia were extensive, completing some lengthy stretches by canoe … eventually politics and confusion came into play, and he was arrested by order of the Empress Catherine the Great. He survived … but not the Nile … the plans for which he part formulated with Joseph Banks in London. He died in Cairo after having taken too much vitriolic (sulphuric) acid seemingly to deal with heartburn!

    Ledyard’s Travels Important Cook Content and More

    $390.00

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  • Rare Large Sized Microscope Size – Lantern Fly – China

    Rare Large Sized Microscope Size – Lantern Fly – China

    No date or maker but this presentation was a specialty in the late Victorian / Edwardian era. Reference authority “Bracegirdle” shows a number of “outsized” examples but none quite like this.

    In modern terms known as the spotted lantern fly. The insect is on the move and a potential threat in Australia – modelling has shown that it could survive well in western and north-western Victoria. When we say a threat, it was endemic to China and Vietnam but moved into South Korea in 2006, Japan in 2009 and the USA in 2014 … so the move is on.

    Here the little blighter is beautifully preserved and presented in Canada Balsam … we know that CB was the mounters choice due its quality and the cursive narrative says so.

    A microscopical rarity outsized mount of the Spotted Lantern Fly.

    $180.00

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  • The Voyage of Jacob Le Maire and William Schouten 1615-1616: Mirror of Australian Navigation. Originally translated by Alexander Dalrymple – A Beautiful Book

    The Voyage of Jacob Le Maire and William Schouten 1615-1616: Mirror of Australian Navigation. Originally translated by Alexander Dalrymple – A Beautiful Book

    A special production published by Hordern House, Sydney 1999. Folio (30.5 x 20.2cm), quarter bound in quarter alum-tawed goat skin and quality marbled paper. Printed on Raleigh Oxford cream paper .. a fine copy as if new.

    One of 950 copies thus, 96 page facsimile of the original Dutch printing followed by 65 page facsimile of the original Dalrymple translation. Illustrated with 5 black and white and 7 colour illustrations and 3 colour maps on double pages. Frontispiece double hemisphere world map as published in Amsterdam in 1618..

    The objective of the voyage was further the lucrative trade in nutmeg and pepper by forging a new route to the East Indies via South America and the Pacific, influenced by the account of the voyage of de Quiros, the Portuguese navigator. In doing so it was hoped that the Great South Land would be encountered.

    Forward by Justus Veeneklaas and Introductory Essay by Edward Duyker.

    Rare Le maire – super production … quality book.

    $130.00

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