New South Wales

Patanela is Missing [Sinking off Sydney] – Paul Whittaker and Robert Read – 1993

Published by Bantam 1993, a first and only edition. Octavo paperback, 248 pages with maps and 16 pages of black and white plates. A very good copy.

The investigative account of Australia’s greatest sea mystery.

Patanela, a 19-metre schooner, vanished without trace approaching Sydney Harbour in November 1988. She was the sturdiest yachts afloat having completed Antarctic voyages and circumnavigated the globe. She was considered by those who sailed her, and by the man who built her, to be unsinkable. Constructed of steel with four watertight bulkheads, Patanela carried the latest safety and navigational equipment.

There are few who believe she faltered on that calm November night, within sight of the lights of Botany Bay. There was no mayday call, no distress flares sighted, no debris, and no bodies as evidence of her sinking.

Scarce account of one of Australia’s most curious sea mysteries.

$25.00

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Dalmorton Quartz Mining Co [NewSouth Wales] – Original Manuscript Record of Formation and Original Share Issue – 21st October 1872

Gold bearing Quartz had been found by loggers in Northern New South Wales on the rugged road in the mountainous regions between Glenn Innes and Grafton.

Directors John Edge Manning, Thomas Miller, John Henry Seamer (Alderman and Timber Merchant), Charles Dawn and George Harley put forward a Prospectus for the Dalmorton Quartz Mining Co to exploit the resource. This manuscript … broadsheet folded and written over effective 3 then sides records the structure of the issue in terms of capital and proposed calls on initially partly paid shares and bears the no of shares allocated and signature and address of the original subscribers who total 70 in number.

From nothing Dalmorton rapidly became a thriving centre with up to a thousand miners and a town of 13 pubs, a school, 2 butchers, 4 stores, police station, stables, jail, post office etc. Ten years later discovery of gold at Mount Morgan and at Kalgoorlie drew miners away and the area went into decline. The town of Dalmorton was fully abandoned by the 1970’s.

Current day unlisted public company Revolution Metals Limited has reopened a number of prospects in the area and appear to be doing rather well.

Original Australian Gold Mining Company Historical Document – 1872

$360.00

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Lightning Ridge – Ion Idriess – Signed Annotated First Edition.

Scarce as a first edition and a unique, personally signed, copy … a gift to close friend Mrs Francis Can Cleef of Chicago … annotated “With a cheerio from Australia; Ion L Idriess Oct 1940”

Apart from a couple of nicks to the dust jacket and the odd spot internally a very good if not better copy of a sought after Idriess account

Published by Angus and Robertson, a true first edition in October 1940, octavo 251 pages with illustrations. Not price clipped 6/-.

Based on his opal prospecting exploits at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales.

Signed Idriess First Edition.

$240.00

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The Birds of Australia in 3 Volumes [the S.A. White Facsimile] -Gregory Mathews

A numbered limited facsimile edition of the complete work in three volumes, reproduced faithfully without alteration or correction. Published in South Australia by State Publishing. The original published in 1910-1927 by Witherby & Co, London. Regarded as the last great bird plate book relating to Australia with the consequential accuracy in form and description.

Folio on quality paper so rather heavy. Printed by offset lithography and bound in half grey polished leather. Published in 1989 based on a set held in the S.A. White Collection. Fine condition.

Unpaginated but 182 pages each. A total of 105 full-page colour plates. 500 sets were produced. Getting hard to find and here sold at an attractive price.

Mathews and his Birds of Australia.

$370.00

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George Bass 1771-1803: His Discoveries, Romantic Life and Tragic Disappearance – Keith Bowden – First Edition 1952

A very good first edition of this well researched and written book on Bass.

Published by the Oxford University Press Melbourne in 1952. Octavo, 171 pages with illustrations and a fine dust jacket.

The author Keith Macrae Bowden was the author of the official Australian Dictionary of Biography re Bass and therefore holds a certain authority on the subject explorer.

After various introduction we have a family history and the first naval activity on HMS Shark and HMS Reliance. Off to Australia and the exploratory adventures on the Tom Thumb before a trip to South Africa. Time in Port Jackson and the discovery of coal before the “Discovery of the Bass Strait” and the final whale boat voyage. Plans for a fortune and his Pacific voyages and on to South America and his disputable fate.

Nice appendices on the Tom Thumb; Source of Information and a succinct listing of the subjects achievements.

George Bass a fairly full life

$50.00

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The Celebrated George Barrington: A Spurious Author; The Book Trade, And Botany Bay – Nathan Garvey

For collectors of early Australiana the confusion over the Barrington books is well known. There might be the occasional flight to Wantrup but the riddle will most likely still remain unresolved. Here we have it, the essential explanation and reference ..

Octavo, 327 pages nicely illustrated from early Barrington books. Published by Hordern House, Sydney 2008. A fine copy.

Traces the genesis of the Barrington books, with an excellent account of publishing in England in the period. Contains the authoritative bibliography with over eighty works referenced.

George Barrington and his early Australian books … resolved

$40.00

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Patanela is Missing [Sinking off Sydney] – Paul Whittaker and Robert Read – 1993

Dalmorton Quartz Mining Co [NewSouth Wales] – Original Manuscript Record of Formation and Original Share Issue – 21st October 1872

Lightning Ridge – Ion Idriess – Signed Annotated First Edition.

The Birds of Australia in 3 Volumes [the S.A. White Facsimile] -Gregory Mathews

George Bass 1771-1803: His Discoveries, Romantic Life and Tragic Disappearance – Keith Bowden – First Edition 1952

The Celebrated George Barrington: A Spurious Author; The Book Trade, And Botany Bay – Nathan Garvey

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