Tasmania

Signed Manuscript Letter from Lord Hobart to Granville Penn (undated but likely 1803 the Year Hobart Tasmania Was Named After Him)

Robert Hobart (1760-1816) known as Lord Hobart and the Fourth Earl of Buckinghamshire. He was a British Tory and secretary of State for War and the Colonies between March 1801 and May 1804.

Hobart is named after him. In 1803 the first settlement was made as a penal colony at Risdon Cove on the eastern shores of the Derwent. In 1804 it was moved to a better site at Sullivan’s Cove and the town settlement named Hobart Town or Hobarton. The Voyager letter was written at or about that time as the subject matter was published in 1803.

The letter in a strong hand is addressed from Hobart to Granville Penn (1761-1844) (great-grandson of Admiral Sir William Penn) an author and scriptural geologist. Written on one age of 8vo with integral address leaf from the House of Commons.

The letter reads …

“The translation of Leibnitz’s memoir with the judicious & able observations you have made upon it demand my earliest acknowledgements & I shall put them into Mr Addington’s hands as a proof of your uncommon diligence, and ability to render that diligence of the most Essential Importance to the Public Service – most faithfully yours Hobart”

Rare and interesting letter signed by Hobart

Note “A summary account of Leibnitz’s memoir, addressed to Lewis the Fourteenth, recommending to that Monarch, the conquest of Egypt, as conducive to the establishing a supreme authority over the Governments of Europe – Granville Penn – printed by J Hatchard, London 1803” – Leibnitz the great scientist, mathematician and political strategist and rival of Isaac Newton.

$90.00

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By the Wind (The Voyage of the Bengairn) – Captain J Murray Lindsay

Published 1962 by Rigby, Adelaide. A first edition 238 pages with a good dust jacket. A very good copy of a hard to get and worthwhile book on proper sailing.

Surprisingly scarce and a very interesting book – the account of the brass-bound apprentice on the square-rigged Bengairn in 1915. The outward route South America across the roaring 40′s to Hobart then on the Seattle and back to Liverpool Round the Horn… and a nice Chapter on the way “the Great Highway” to Hobart.

In Hobart the young lad had a good time with the girls and was ever so close to leaving his ship … the lure of the sea prevailed.

Lots of adventure …. difficulties near the Auckland Islands, an encounter with a U-boat (it was 1915), shanghai-ing of sailors …

Special sailing from Lindsay from Apprentice to Captain

$30.00

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An Immigrant of 1824 [George Robinson - Tasmania] – N.J.B. Plomley

The immigrant in question is none other than George Augustus Robinson, who would become the conciliator of the Tasmanian Aborigines. A man who Brian Plomley would spend many years examining through his lengthy but hard to read diaries.

Softcover, published by the Hobart Historical Research Association in 1973. Mock parchment stiff wrappers. Title to front, 47 pages, illustrations from Robinson’s sketches, tables, graphs etc. A fine copy.

Deals with Robinson’s voyage to Australia on the Triton, a substantial vessel for her day, owned by the Australian Company. Robinson travelled steerage Pounds25 compared with the posh Cabin at Pounds65-75. Plomley acknowledges that Robinson’s onboard diaries are lacking in certain areas but makes a good fist of telling the story. All set in a broader discussion on the rate and mix of immigration in the period … with some dubious calculus employed to prove that the rate of change of growth remained constant (well really). The background to Robinson’s pre-emigration life are excellent, as are sections on the Triton with a good schematic of rigging, layout etc.

Excellent notes and references make the work whole.

Plomley on Robinson, on his way out .. a useful and interesting read.

$30.00

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King Island Elephant Seal (Le Phoque a trompe) – Vauthier -1820

A scarce hand coloured copper engraving of the Elephant Seal “Le Phoque a trompe” named by Peron.

The Baudin expedition saw many Southern Elephant Seals around the Islands of the Bass Strait including King Island. Unfortunately, unable to defend themselves they were killed for their oil and by 1827 they were all gone from that location.

Printed on sturdy paper, 25cm by 17 cm, good use of gum arabic to strengthen the colour and provide depth. Good plate mark … a super example.

Engraved by Barreau after Vauthier and published in Paris in 1820.

Price $90.00 unframed

Rare original hand coloured King Island Elephant Seal engraving

$90.00

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Bridge-Water – with Mount Direction Behind – Hobart, Tasmania -1840

An original lithograph from a drawing by Louis Le Breton (1818-1866) lithographed by Leon Jean Baptiste Sabatier published as part of the great “Atlas Pittoresque” to accompany “Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l’Oceanie sur les corvettes l’Astrolabe et la Zelee … sous commandement de M.J. Dumont d’Urville”.

A delightful view of Bridgewater looking across the river Derwent to the imposing Mount Direction

Lithographed on sturdy paper size 54.5cm by 34.5 cm. Very good clean condition. A scarce Hobart image.

Price $540.00 unframed – rare

Striking image of Mount Direction across the Derwent

$480.00

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Wooden Hookers of Hobart Town & Whalers out of Van Diemen’s Land [Two Works] – Harry O’May

Published by the author a fine copy of the second impression 1978.

Octavo, 137 pages plus 101 pages indices not paginated. Very clean superb dust jacket.

Harry O’May’s compilation of two books packed with historic detail about the Tasmanian early whalers – superb photographic record nowhere else seen.

One of the best Tasmanian Maritime

$40.00

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Signed Manuscript Letter from Lord Hobart to Granville Penn (undated but likely 1803 the Year Hobart Tasmania Was Named After Him)

By the Wind (The Voyage of the Bengairn) – Captain J Murray Lindsay

An Immigrant of 1824 [George Robinson - Tasmania] – N.J.B. Plomley

King Island Elephant Seal (Le Phoque a trompe) – Vauthier -1820

Bridge-Water – with Mount Direction Behind – Hobart, Tasmania -1840

Wooden Hookers of Hobart Town & Whalers out of Van Diemen’s Land [Two Works] – Harry O’May

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