Natural History

The Eastern Archipelago – Adams – First Edition 1880

… A description of the Scenery, Animal and Vegetable Life, People, and Physical Wonders of the Islands in the Easter Sea.

Published by Nelson, London in 1880 a first edition. Octavo, 576 pages with 60 illustrations, many full page including a map. All page edges gilt with a beautiful decorated cover, a very good copy indeed.

With the success of Wallace’s Malay Archipelago there was heightened interest in the islands of the East Indies. Prolific writer William Henry Davenport Adams saw an opportunity and compiled this easily read informative book on the region. Takes in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor, Celebes, Sarawak, the Moluccas, New Guinea, Papua and the Philippines.

Special book on the East – striking covers

$120.00

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The Sea Lark – Thomas Helm – First Edition 1957

A first edition published by George Harrap, London in 1957. Octavo, 222 pages, with end paper maps and illustrations from photographs taken during the voyages. Still has the scarce dust jacket albeit a bit chipped and repaired to top of spine. Otherwise a pretty good clean copy.

Helm, ex US navy, set off with his mate, Ed Booth into the Caribbean and Central America in the 47 foot schooner Sea Lark. Adventures ensue and not just at sea hence the image of a jaguar on a sailing book.

Written in a an usual story telling style … makes it quiet a treat.

Caribbean sailing Adventures with variety

$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 $140.00 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

$140.00

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Choice Garden Flowers (With Twelve Beautiful Hand Coloured Plates) – James Andrews 1847

Full title … Choice Garden Flowers their Cultivation and General Treatment in All Seasons”

A first edition published by Houlston and Wright, London in 1847. Book not dated but some plates are. Scarce included in the Library at Kew.

Octavo, with twelve striking hand coloured lithographed plates of “Choice Flowers”’ including roses, acacia, rhododendron, crocus, petunia, ranunculus etc.

Original brown cloth covered boards with gilt device to front. A little loss to head of spine, all page pages gilt. A super copy for the delightful plates alone.

Andrews a Fellow of the Horticultural Society one of the great flower illustrators of his day. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1868. He also did portraits and a number are included in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Scarce well executed botanical collection

$290.00

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The Voyage of Charles Darwin – Rawlings

Compiled by Christopher Rawlings for the BBC the writings of Charles Darwin. Published in 1978 a first edition.

Octavo, 183 pages with charts and modern coloured photographic images to illustrate the work to the quality that befits the BBC. A very good if not fine copy.

Incredibly detailed and with a personal tone the letters are arranged … Development of My Life and Character; Setting Sail; Brazil; Argentina, Tierra del Fuego; Chile; The Galapagos Archipelago and the Traveller Returned … including FitzRoy’s temper and later opposition to The Origin of Species .. and the acquaintances of Lyell, Owen, Hooker and Huxley .. and Wallace of course with his extract from Darwin and the critical reception of the great book.

Darwin – a more personal account – through his letters

$30.00

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Sixth Archbold Expedition to New Guinea 1959 (Ascent of Mt Wilhelm) – Brass – Egloff’s Copy

Results of the Archbold Expeditions No 86. Summary of the Sixth Archbold Expedition to New Guinea (1959)

The Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Published 1964. Quarto, soft cover with standard blue wrapper, 215 pages plus illustrations from photographs at the end with a detailed folding map of the locations explored. Distinguished anthropologist Brain J Egloff’s copy. Very good condition.

Richard Archbold (1907-1976), American zoologist, was from a wealthy background. He attended Columbia University but never finished his formal training. Before WWII he funded three substantial expeditions to New Guinea. One of the members of his team was the Toowoomba born Leonard Brass (1900-1971) a brilliant botanist. After the War the expeditions resumed with three further expeditions completed in New Guinea under the leadership of Brass. This is the “Summary” of the Fourth Expedition – 1953. Before the War Brass had moved to Canada and then the USA where he became a citizen, working closely with Archbold. He was a curator of the Archbald Collection housed and the American Museum of Natural History.

Brian Egloff has had an inspiring career, assisting the National Museum of PNG, Port Arthur in Tasmania and the preservation and restoration of the Tam Ting Caves in Laos. He has published several interesting books … our choice being “The Bones of the Ancestors – The Ambum Stone” which centres on a 3,000-year-old New Guinea artefact that made its way to Australia.

In this the Sixth Expedition, Brass and his team are back on the mainland. Based out of Lae they took in some high ground including New Guinea’s highest peak, Mount Wilhelm 14,950 feet, to which they made the top. Mt Otto and Mt Michael .. and also to the Eddie Creek region and the Upper Markham Valley

Brass’s reports are written in a very readable style and whilst containing the scientific information expected (they collected another 50,000 specimens) his general narrative of the trekking and observations along the way are very enjoyable.

Fundamental New Guinea record – Sixth Archbold

$80.00

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The Eastern Archipelago – Adams – First Edition 1880

The Sea Lark – Thomas Helm – First Edition 1957

Great White-Crested Cockatoo – Greene – 1884

Choice Garden Flowers (With Twelve Beautiful Hand Coloured Plates) – James Andrews 1847

The Voyage of Charles Darwin – Rawlings

Sixth Archbold Expedition to New Guinea 1959 (Ascent of Mt Wilhelm) – Brass – Egloff’s Copy

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