Travel & Voyages

From the Niger to the Nile – Lieutenant Boyd Alexander – First Edition – Two Volumes 1907

Published by Edward Arnold, London first and second impressions of the first edition of a two-volume set. Very nice condition in the original red cloth covered boards with gilt titling.

Large octavo, xvi, 358 pages and 420 pages with numerous illustrations and maps, three folding. A little fading to spines.

Heavy items which may require overseas postage supplement to our standard charge.

An uncommon set and fundamental exploration account particularly relating to the area around Lake Chad.

The expedition was originally designed to survey the northern parts of Nigeria and prove that Africa could be travelled west to east using the available natural waterways. Alexander was accompanied by his brother Claud, Captain G.B. Gosling, and a Portuguese explorer collector Jose Lopes. They set off in February 1904 from the mouth of the Niger travelling upriver to Lokoja. A survey was then completed of the Murchison Range. Claud died of typhoid. Alexander and Gosling continued on to explore Lake Chad, circling and charting the entire body. In June 1906 Gosling died of blackwater fever. Alexander pressed on with Lopes, and eventually reached the Nile later in 1906. Returning to England he received the highest award in exploration … The Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He completed these volumes partly in honour of his brother.

The story does not finish there. Alexander returned to Africa with Lopes in 1909, visiting his brother’s grave and continuing to Ouadai, east of Lake Chad and then on to Nyeri, in modern day Kenya where he was killed in a dispute with locals. His body was recovered by French soldiers, taken back, and buried next to his brother.

Boyd Alexander across Africa via Lake Chad with quite some difficulty.

$360.00

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The Worst Journey in the World 1910-1912 – Aspley Cherry-Garrard

A very good copy of the Polar classic here republished by the Folio Society, in 2012.

Quarto, 591 pages, illustrated throughout and with end paper maps. Protected by its original slipcase. Decorative boards etc. Weighty at 1.6kg so extra postage may be required.

Possibly the greatest heroic account of all time.

AC-G was only 24 when he participated in the Scott Terra Nova Expedition (1910-1913). He was knocked back twice by Scott until Edward Wilson persuaded Scott to take him as assistant zoologist. AC-G, Birdie Bowers and Wilson set off to Cape Crozier to get a fertilised Emperor Penguin’s egg. It was tough … on the way out they could only pull one of their two sleds at a time which meant they had to double back to fetch them individually (hence walking three times as far!). They arrived in a Blizzard and lost their tent before later recovering it. The journey back was maybe worse. AC-G shattered his teeth from shivering uncontrollably. George Bernard Shaw suggested the title for the book. AC-G knew T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and suggested that both their writings were an essential form of therapy.

One of the better Folio Society renditions

$160.00

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[Queensland] Thomas Welsby – The Collected Works – Two Volumes

Important two volume set constituting Welsby’s books on Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Stradbroke and Bribie Islands.

Published by Jacaranda Press, Brisbane in 1967/68. Large octavo, 397 pages and 427 pages with 54 plates, maps etc. Both volumes in very good condition with complete dust jackets.

Includes Schnappering in Early Moreton Bay [orig. 1905]; Discoverer’s of the Brisbane River [orig. 1913]; Memories of Amity (Stradbroke) [orig. 1922]; Sport and Pastime in Moreton Bay [orig. 1931 and Bribie the Basket Maker [orig 1937]. All very difficult to get in original form.

Born in Ipswich in 1858 worked first as a banker before becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly. He lived in New Farm and spent much of his leisure time on the Bay. A founding member of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, holding positions in numerous other organisations – he died in 1941.

The collective work of an important historic Queensland identity

$340.00

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In Amundsen’s Tracks on the Axel Heiberg Glacier – Wally Herbert

An extract from the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society – December 1963.

Pages 399-411 with large folding coloured map of the Queen Maud Range and the Axel Heiberg Glacier Region showing various exploratory tracks – Amundsen, Scott, Byrd Flight, Gould and Wally Herbert. Three nice images from photographs from the Herbert expedition.

Too much to say. First Walter [wally] Herbert possibly the greatest post heroic era polar explorer. Spent a whole 15 years of his life either North or South. First to make it truly by foot to the North Pole. Here he is part of the New Zealand GSAE expedition 1961-62.

At the time he wanted deeply to make the South pole but he was denied permission to push on the last 300km by “Head office”. While he was waiting for a verdict, he climbed Mt Fridjof Nansen from where he could further assess the route back down the Axel Heiberg Glacier – which he did with significant success and a full appreciation of Amundsen.

His report to the Society is most interesting. He starts by saying that he will not get into the long time debate as to whether Scoot hard a hard run and Amundsen got it easy on the way to the South Pole. He does point out that Amundsen did not select the obviously easier route i.e. Scott’s route was more direct and Amundsen’s route required 19,590 feet of climbing whilst Scott’s party only 11,470. Lots more of interest … Amundsen’s confusion re which mountain was which etc – same with Byrd.

The then President of the Society was non other than heroic era veteran Sir Raymond Priestley. Also present at the address was Philip Brocklehurst and John King Davies.

Priestly concludes the event with pointed comments that suggest he was, as you would expect, well and truly in the Scott camp and suggests that Wally may have had it easy on his glacial endeavour with a nice blanket of snow etc etc

Wally Herbert Polar Legend – In tracks of Amundsen – Reporting to Head Office

SO SORRY SOLD

$50.00

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Romantic Java – As it Was and Is – H.S. Banner FRGS – First Edition 1927

First edition of a super book dedicated to Java. The longer title assists.

“A description of the diversified peoples, the departed glories of and strange customs of a little known island, remarkable both for its arts, decorative and dramatic, and for its natural beauty and the richness of its resources.

Thick royal octavo, 282 pages. Printed on that tick spongy paper typical of Seeley of London, the publisher, so some foxing near the edges and page edges – not bad. Many period photographs relevant to the extensive travels. Bound in the crimson cloth covered boards with gilt decoration to front gilt title to spine. Has its rare dust jacket albeit chipped – done a very good job of preserving the boards which are super clean and crisp.

Travels take in Jocjakata, Surakarta, a view of Krakatau, Bhima, Bonan, Gambang Gangsa, Volcano Bromo in “full blast’, strange collection of “heads’ the Temple at Borobudhur etc etc

Well informed and written Banner was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London.

$160.00

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Frank Hurley Biography – From Snowdrift to Shellfire – David Millar

First edition published by David Ell Press, Sydney in 1984. Limited to quite a few 2,500 copies. Quarto, 160 pages, full of images from Hurley photographs as one would expect, maps etc. A very good if not fine copy.

A truly readable and enjoyable biography, deserves more praise than it gets.

Captain James Francis (Frank) Hurley (1885-1962) was a brave man. His Antarctic exploits are legendary – the photograph of “meteorologists braving the blizzard” representing the harsh reality of Antarctic life. His achievements during the bleakest days of the “South” expedition. Later, the BANZARE expeditions.

World War I and Flanders and Palestine where the photographic record is a reminder of the sacrifice and successes of war to maintain freedom for others.

Our favourite though goes to his images in Papua New Guinea – an exploit conceived in the coldest darkest days of polar life – how extreme.

Hurley best all round biography with striking images.

$40.00

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From the Niger to the Nile – Lieutenant Boyd Alexander – First Edition – Two Volumes 1907

The Worst Journey in the World 1910-1912 – Aspley Cherry-Garrard

[Queensland] Thomas Welsby – The Collected Works – Two Volumes

In Amundsen’s Tracks on the Axel Heiberg Glacier – Wally Herbert

Romantic Java – As it Was and Is – H.S. Banner FRGS – First Edition 1927

Frank Hurley Biography – From Snowdrift to Shellfire – David Millar

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