Asia

Red Peak – Ascent of Pik Kommunizma

An unusual mountaineering event form start to finish written by the expedition second Malcolm Slesser seemingly without the authority of leader Sir John Hunt.

First American Edition, published by Coward McCann, New York in 1964. Octavo, 256 pages well illustrated from expedition photographs, charts , diagrams etc. A little ageing but still a very good copy.

The first British / Soviet joint expedition to climb in the Soviet Asia Pamir Mountains. And a venture not without drama. No native porters were taken. Things got tense between the groups, two Englishmen died during the ascent of a particularly rugged stage. Hunt and several others gave up and went home. Slesser elected to stay … the frankness with which he describes the flare-ups as they struggled to reach the 25,000 foot peak adds to the drama of this unique climb

Slesser writes frankly about the first British / Soviet joint mountaineering expedition.

$25.00

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Great White-Crested Cockatoo – Greene – 1884

Original wood cut engraving of a beautiful Cockatoo from Parrots in Captivity published in London in 1884. It inhabits the rainforests of the Moluccas . He is a relative of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. The male and female are almost identical.

Greene’s delightful work comprising wood-engraved plates printed by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by A.F. Lydon. The prints are hand finished with delicate highlighting in gum arabic that makes the breast feathers shimmer in a most unusual way.

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the great colour printers of the 19th century. He pioneered a system of wood block engraving from multiple blocks that resulted in vivid finely coloured works. Fawcett had an association of some 50 years with Francis Orpen Morris to produce many beautiful works on birds. Greene’s Parrots in Captivity is an authoritative and studious work. The engravings are the finest of all the illustrations of parrots from the period.

Price $90.00 unframed and matted as shown. Very good condition. Mat dimensions 37cm by 29cm … cream textured mat board with french gold line. Archival materials.
Nice Cockatoo from the Eastern Regions of Indonesia

$90.00

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The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (Scientific Expeditions to Everest) – October 1925

The Journal of the RGS in the familiar blue wrapper, 289-368 pages, folding coloured map plus period adverts. Complete and in excellent condition.

Lengthy report by Fellow of the Society N.E. Odell … observations on the Rocks and Glaciers of Mount Everest. Excellent photographs accompany this article along with the folding map by the author of the Geology of Everest from the expeditions of 1921 and 1924. All undertaken in an interesting period given the history of subsequent attempts on the summit of Everest.

Other reports of interest include The Movements of Indian Glaciers, which complements the above … and Lord Curzon’s Posthumous Work in India … and racial migration in the Balkans during 1912-1924 …

Everest explored – scientific expeditions

$90.00

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Javan Parrakeet – Fawcett and Greene – 1884

Original wood cut hand finished engraving of the multicoloured Bluebonnet Parrot from “Parrots in Captivity”, published in London 1884. Very good condition … bright clean colours not a mark on the paper.

The Javan Parakeet also known as the Red or Pink Breasted or Moustached Parakeet. Sadly, so beautiful that it is heavily traded on the bird black market still .. when will people learn that their rightful place is in their natural habitat not a cage.

Greene’s delightful work comprising wood-engraved plates printed by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by A.F. Lydon. The prints are hand finished with delicate highlighting in gum arabic to accentuate the bright colouring.

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the great colour printers of the 19th century. He pioneered a system of wood block engraving from multiple blocks that resulted in vivid finely coloured works. Fawcett had an association of some 50 years with Francis Orpen Morris to produce many beautiful works on birds. The engravings are the finest illustrations of parrots from the period.

Price matted in cream textured mat with French gilt line $140.00

A Javan Beauty

$140.00

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Hooded Racket-Tailed Magpie (Crypsirhina Cucullata) From Burma – John Gould – The Birds of Asia – 1860′s

Original hand-coloured lithograph produced on limestone from John Gould’s most impressive series “Birds of Asia” completed and published in London in the1860’s.

A striking bird found the in the lower jungles of Northern Burma. Threatened by clearing but currently still strong in numbers. Also known as the Hooded Crypsirhina and Hooded Treepie

First formally described by Thomas Jerden a British ornithologist in 1862. You can see form John Gould’s narrative that he was working from sketches provided by Jerden and unlikely to have an example of the bird.

The birds appear to be figured in natural size being roughly 30 cm long and two thirds of that being the remarkable tail… the accompanying narrative describes their colouring is some detail. The execution of the lithograph is excellent, it is very clean and the colouring still very bright and full and enhanced by the use of gum arabic which creates a sense of richness and depth

We all know about John Gould but maybe not so much about Jensen.

Thomas Caverhill Jenson (1811-1872) was a Scottish born surgeon in the East India Company and then the Military and spent most of his working life in India. He was a keen naturalist in a number of fields. Early on he sent birds back to Sir William Jardine in Scotland to be classified. They arrived moth eaten so from then on Jerden decided to complete that work himself. He became the leading authority in the broader region and sponsored by Lords Canning and Elgin produced The Birds of India in three volumes in the 1860’s. He was also an instigator of the broader work The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma.

Price $590.00 unframed … enquire if you wish

Unusual well executed Magpie from Burma

$390.00

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Riviere de Sourabaya – by Sigismond Himely – from the Voyage of La Favourite – 1835

An original aquatint by Sigismond Himely (1801-1872)) of the River Sourabaya, Java Indonesia .

Executed on India-laid paper being plate number 58 from “Voyage Autour du Monde par les Mers de l’Inde et de la Chine de la corvette de sa Majeste La Favorite execute pendant les annees 1830,1831,1832 sous le commandement de M. Laplace” published in Paris in 1835 under the direction of Louise Auguste de Sainson.

Plate size 28.8 x 38.2 cm. Included in the National Collection as part of the Rex Nan Kivell bequest NK685. Some minor ageing around the border a pretty clean image as can be seen from the scans

Price $140.00 unframed

Delicate image of the River Sourabaya, Java – 1835

$120.00

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Red Peak – Ascent of Pik Kommunizma

Great White-Crested Cockatoo – Greene – 1884

The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (Scientific Expeditions to Everest) – October 1925

Javan Parrakeet – Fawcett and Greene – 1884

Hooded Racket-Tailed Magpie (Crypsirhina Cucullata) From Burma – John Gould – The Birds of Asia – 1860′s

Riviere de Sourabaya – by Sigismond Himely – from the Voyage of La Favourite – 1835

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