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Biography/ autobiography

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  • Exchange of Letters between Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and the Maharaja of Gondal on the former’s appointment as the Governor of Bombay – 1923. Subsequently Wilson to become Governor of Queensland

    Exchange of Letters between Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and the Maharaja of Gondal on the former’s appointment as the Governor of Bombay – 1923. Subsequently Wilson to become Governor of Queensland

    An official exchange along with a corrected draft from the Maharaja so clearly from the files of his office.

    Military man and parliamentarian Leslie Orme Wilson (1876- 1955) was appointed Governor of Bombay (1923-1926). His formal advice to His Highness Sir Bhagwatsinhji Sagramji – Thakor Saheb of Gondal ((1865-1944) was sent dated 13 December 1923 on the rather striking elaborately bordered paper of the day and regime. It is framed with a “Friendly disposition”.

    The delightful response was not made until 5th February the following year and I have no doubt there may have been an underlying message despite the responses carefully crafted words “great pleasure to receive the assurance of the friendly disposition”. We also like the fact that the Maharaja’s similarly elaborate paper has retained far more gold over the years than his British counterpart.

    There relationship did in indeed prove friendly and Wilson was “sent on” to Brisbane to become it’s longest serving Governor from 1932 through the war years to 1946. He was the head honcho in the Queensland masons and did a lot of tress planting including sone of the nice ones down around the beginning of Coronation drive – have they survived the continuous development?

    An unusual and friendly piece of history with a Queensland connection

    $80.00

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  • The Convict King (Jorgen Jorgenson) – James Francis Hogan – Rare Walch of Hobart issue 1891.

    The Convict King (Jorgen Jorgenson) – James Francis Hogan – Rare Walch of Hobart issue 1891.

    Rather scarce and no wonder given the paper wrappers. The long title worth detailing

    The Convict King being The Romantic Life and Adventures of Jorgen Jorgenson who was for a time Monarch of Iceland, helped to Discover Bass Strait, was at the Founding of Hobart etc etc. and Closed His Extraordinary Career in the Hobart Hospital in 1845.

    Published by J Walch & Sons, Tasmania. No date but 1891. Authority Ferguson 104889.

    Interestingly for a book published by the famous Hobart printing firm – this book was actually printed by Kelly of London and Kingston on Thames, England.

    Octavo, 235 pages, with advertisements for other contemporary Walch publications in the ends and on the back cover. Splitting a bit down the spine edge, now repaired and secured with acid free archival Japan paper.

    Published as part of Walch’s Series of Books on Old Van Diemen’s Land – No 3. A very good copy despite any deficiencies given its rarity and obvious vulnerability.

    The story of Jorgen Jorgenson is a full and strange one – at first hid life appears surely a fiction … but no this man was out for adventure and mixed with many who were making their own mark on the World and its History.

    The Convict King a scarce edition for sure.

    $180.00

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  • The James of George Town – Signed Copy – Graeme Broxham

    The James of George Town – Signed Copy – Graeme Broxham

    Subtitled .. A colonial Maritime, Mercantile and family Correspondence 1813-1857.

    Soft cover published by the Navarine Press as one of the historic Roebuck Society publications – number 56. Limited to 500 copies and this one signed by the Editor compiler.

    All up 64 pages, with numerous relevant illustrations, map at rear. A total of 72 correspondences follow a lengthy historical introduction.

    Captain Joseph James first operated out of Sydney from 1811. He then became the first merchant of George Town, Van Diemens Land in the year 1820. He died penniless in 1844 but his son Captain William James rebuilt the family fortunes.

    Early Tasmanian History from the letters of the seafaring James’s of George Town.

    $25.00

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  • My Memoirs Laced with East Coast Tales of Van Diemens Land [Tasmania] – Edward Shaw.

    My Memoirs Laced with East Coast Tales of Van Diemens Land [Tasmania] – Edward Shaw.

    A super memoir. Self published in the year 2000 by the author. Larger format softcover 137 pages. A very good near fine copy. Frontispiece facsimile map of 1825 by Souter. Images from original photographs and sketches throughout.

    A bit of an old fashioned rendition about folks and what they got up to and who was related to who and did what. Having said that you cannot but get a warm feeling for Edward Shaw by the time you finish and the East Coast of Tasmania feels more like home as it should be.

    East Coast of Tasmania and who was who and a beautiful place

    $25.00

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  • Matthew Flinders Private Journal (1803-1814)

    Matthew Flinders Private Journal (1803-1814)

    Matthew Flinders Private Journal from 17 December 1803 at Isle of France to 10 July 1814 at London

    Published by the Friends of the State Library of South Australia, a first edition 2005.

    Edited and with an Introduction by Anthony J. Brown and Gillian Dooley. Foreword by Witgar Hitchcock. Preface by Paul Brunton.

    Large octavo, xxxiv, 566 pages, coloured frontispiece & 12 colour plates, 26 black and white illustrations, folding map (London, showing Flinders’ residences etc) & another in rear pocket (Flinders’ General Chart of Australia, or Terra Australia). Bound in blue cloth covered boards, gilt stamped on spine, blind decorations on boards. One of 850 copies. A substantial book in very good if not fine condition.

    After useful introductions we start with the last few days on the Cumberland and Flinders’ plans and expectation on arrival at Mauritius. Unfortunately, the Captain-General Decaen, was suspicious as to the motives of Flinders having arrived in such a “small” ship and carrying papers for the “Investigator”. Consequently, his incarceration began the next morning when he was taken to the Café Marengo which first appeared to be a jail but turned out to be a tavern. Three and a half months later he was transferred to the Maison Despaux and then finally on 25th August 1805 to Plaines Wilhems where he would stay until 19th March 1910 before being released. His journal continues through his journey back to England and the final period during which he was preparing and revising his monumental work for publication.

    Eight appendices are of further interest … Flinders’ Passport from the French Government; A record of his Interrogation; the Captain-General’s Report; Flinders’ letter regarding Thomy Pitot; Avis do Conseil d’Etat; Flinders’ Parole; Question relative to the Isle de France by Vice Admiral Bertie and Flinders’ Last illness and the final five months to July 1814 by Stephen Milazzo.

    Flinders’ own words and what a story they make

    $160.00

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  • Green Hills of Africa – Ernest Hemingway

    Green Hills of Africa – Ernest Hemingway

    Hemingway’s Green Hills was first published in 1936. This is a 1962 edition of the desirable Jonathan Cape format.

    Octavo, 284 pages with the super decorative illustrations by Edward Shenton. Green cloth covered boards with “game’ gilt design to front. Top edge stained green as required of this edition. A few dust jacket light chips and age otherwise a very copy of a hard to find item.

    A piece of non-fiction regarding Hemingway’s safari to Africa in December 1933 with his wife Pauline. First criticised by reviewers and then lauded as the best African safari book ever written … Hemingway never forgave them as he thought they had killed the book.

    Set in Tanzania and up the Great Rift Valley. Hemingway describes the lure of the hunt, the landscape and beauty of the wilderness like never before. Intermingled with conversations and views on writers and his writing. It is in this book that he set Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain as the greatest piece of American literature … but not without qualification.

    Carries a special appreciation for “J P” i.e. Jackson Philip who was Philip Hope Percival who was his guide. Percival was the inspiration behind the character Robert Wilson in his later short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

    Green Hills of Africa – true Hemingway

    $70.00

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