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  • Robbins Island Saga [North-West Tasmania] – Pauline Buckby – Signed Annotated

    Robbins Island Saga [North-West Tasmania] – Pauline Buckby – Signed Annotated

    A fine copy of the comprehensive history of this fascinating island off the north-west of Tasmania.

    Authored by local historian Pauline Buckby with a forward that sets the scene by Kerry Pink.

    Signed by the author with thanks to Cyril Smith on publication. Cyril Smith, a maritime expert who along with shipwreck hero Jack Loney gets an acknowledgement.

    Softcover, perfect bound, 186 pages very nicely and profusely illustrated. Effectively self-published in 1988.

    Starts from the very beginning of settlement and the early whalers, then the Reids and the maritime Holyman’s … along the way a cheese factory and other ventures until after WWII when American Gene Hammond arrived and quite a story … the Hammond family still have the island and “cowboy” their prized Wagu cattle across the channel to the mainland, an activity that can be seen on video if you search hard enough. Good people.

    Robbins Island more than a wind farm.

     

    SO SORRY SOLD

     

    $40.00

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  • Manga Reva – The Forgotten Islands –  Signed by Author Robert Eskeridge – First Edition 1931

    Manga Reva – The Forgotten Islands – Signed by Author Robert Eskeridge – First Edition 1931

    A Voyager favourite and the book about Manga Reva the largest island within the Gambier Group.

    The Polynesian Gambier group are tiny with a total population of around 1,400 people mostly on Manga Reva. The total area is about 30 square km. At one time the islands supported several thousand but over logging ruined the islands position in Polynesian trade routed and they fell into decline before stabilising in the late 19th century. It is an important link to anyone wanting to travel to the Pitcairn Islands and also, unfortunately, has been affected by French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

    Published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1931, a first edition. Large octavo, 286 pages, original blue cloth covered binding. Good to better condition some evidence of a damp mark in against the spine, bar that very clean and readable.

    Signed by the author Robert Lee Eskeridge (1891-1975) a very talented American artist, and the book contains many illustrations based on his superb paintings, as well as his photographs. It is not clear how long he spent on the island but it was quite some years based on the relationships he formed and the depth of his observations.

    Unique book on Manga Reva – Signed by the author

    $70.00

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  • Seven Pillars of Wisdom  – a triumph – T.E. Lawrence (Of Arabia)  –  August 1935

    Seven Pillars of Wisdom – a triumph – T.E. Lawrence (Of Arabia) – August 1935

    Published by Jonathan Cape London 1935 – Seven Pillars of Wisdom a triumph – “The Sword also means Clean-ness + Death”. First trade edition second impression August after the July first.

    The Trade Edition preceded by the incomplete “Oxford” edition of 1922 (8 copies only were printed) and the very rare privately printed “Subscribers Edition” of 1927 (170 copies).

    Thick quarto, 672 pages, original brown cloth covered binding with gilt titles to spine and device to front. Carries the bookplate of Eric Ambrose on front paste down and his discrete personal label on the end papers. Eric Ambrose was a distinguished British architect and a Fellow of his Professional Body. A very good desirable copy

    Frontispiece portrait of a bust of Lawrence, 4 folding maps as called for, 2 facsimiles and a total of 54 illustrations – 46 of which are dramatic portraits of men who appear in the book. Albeit without the rare dust jacket this is the cleanest we have seen of this edition. The boards clean and unmarked and only the slightest bit of foxing limited to the rough cut paper edges.

    Lawrence “took pains to bring objects and artists together”. A classic book written by Lawrence after a very successful war leading

    the Arabs against the Turks, considered one of the most important books on war especially political and guerrilla warfare.

    Churchill called it “One of the greatest books ever written in the English language”

    Lawrence of Arabia’s great book. First trade great condition – 1935

    We simply have to give you some of Chapter 1 … “The everlasting battle stripped from us care of our own lives or of others’. We had ropes about our necks, on or heads prices which showed that the enemy intended hideous tortures for us if we were caught. Each day some of us passed; and the living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God’s stage: indeed, our taskmaster was merciless, merciless, so long as our bruised feet could stagger forward on the road. The weak envied those tired enough to die; for success looked so remote, and failure a near and certain, if sharp, release from toil. We lived always in the stretch or sag of nerves, either on the crest or in the trough of waves of feeling ..

    $260.00

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  • Antarctica – The NZ Party of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition – Helm and Miller – First Edition 1964

    Antarctica – The NZ Party of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition – Helm and Miller – First Edition 1964

    Published by the NZ Government in 1964 a first edition. Large octavo, 435 pages with numerous illustrations from photographs, charts and maps. A very good copy.

    It was not until 1958 that the Antarctic was successfully crossed from one side to the other led by British explorer Vivian Fuchs. Edmund Hillary led the NZ contingent and this book is a handsome record of that contribution.

    An essential Polar account – all the way across …. by adventure royalty.

    $40.00

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  • The Islands of the Pacific – from Old to New – James Alexander – First Edtion 1895

    The Islands of the Pacific – from Old to New – James Alexander – First Edtion 1895

    James Alexander was the son of Hawaiian missionary William P Alexander. Published by the American Tract Society, New York in 1895. A substantial work, octavo 503 pages and appendices. Illustrated throughout with nice pictorial covers in good condition.

    After three chapters of general introduction there are discrete chapters on The Society Islands, Austral Islands; Peal Islands; Hawaiian Islands; The Marquesas; Harvey Islands; Samoa; Micronesia; Tonga; New Zealand; Fiji; Melanesia; Pitcairn and Norfolk. An interesting chapter in retrospect on the “Future of the Pacific Ocean”.

    The appendices provide good information on the Ancient Polynesians, Languages, European Appropriations and a list of active Missionaries and where they were. The seventy illustrations include simple but useful maps, and images form early photographs albeit sometimes posed.

    Alexander covers some ground … and some ocean … in this well structured and full of content book.

    $70.00

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  • The Fate of Franklin – Roderic Owen

    The Fate of Franklin – Roderic Owen

    Title continues …The Life and Mysterious Death of the Most Heroic of the Arctic Explorers. May be the key summary work on this never finished story. The author a descendant of Sir John Franklin.

    First edition thick octavo published by Hutchinson of Australia in 1978. 471 pages, illustrated throughout with a number of maps and charts including end paper maps. A very good copy.

    Well constructed with a fair bit of early background including his term as Governor of Tasmania and the part played by Jane Franklin then and later to the very end. Set out in three sections … “The Man who Ate His Boots”; “the Whipping Boy and “ The Heart That Can Feel for Another”. Three journeys to find the North-West Passage … the final tragic attempt in the Erebus and Terror continues to mystify both fiction and non-fiction book writers and lovers.

    Franklin and his voyages to the Arctic in super detail

    $60.00

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