Fiction

Tourmaline – Randolph Stow – First Edition 1963

A first edition of this Australian classic published by Macdonald, London in 1963.

Octavo, 224 pages. A very good copy in a slightly chipped dust jacket. Ownership signature on paste down. A few pages near the beginning exhibit a some show through of text from the other side … a little irritating … overcome with a relaxing cup of tea.

A derelict Australian gold rush town is the setting for Randolph Stow’s gripping drama.

The half title informs … “On the surface Tourmaline is the story of an illusion, of a lost township snatching at the chance of rebirth. At a deeper level it is a fable and man’s ever-present temptation to seek refuge from the world of his own reality”

And …who can go past the haunting Sydney Nolan dust jacket?

First Edition and Special

$70.00

Updating cart…

Joseph Conrad and the Barque Otago – Sir William Crowther – 1975

Bound notes by Sir William Crowther for the handing over of the restored companionway superstructure to the officers’ cuddy from the Otago [Joseph Conrad’s ship].

Very few would have been produced so a scarce as it is brief. Quarto in size, bound nicely in blue cloth covered boards with gilt titles. Original photograph of the glorious companionway affixed to front paste down. Title, Preface and five pages typescript one side only. Dated 21st March 1975, fine condition. Our image of the blue covers looks a little drab … that’s just our scanner …

The work represents a brief summary of association of the great writer Joseph Conrad, then Captain Conrad with the barque Otago. The State Library had acquired the structure recovered by Crowther, a great bibliophile and collector, a number of years earlier at Risden, Hobart when the boat was finally broken up. It lay in Crowther’s back garden for many years before being restored by Philip Fowler.

Whilst brief the article gives a nice potted history of Conrad’s early days and how he came to be in charge of the Otago. His novel The Shadow Line, from which Crowther quotes was written about his voyage to Singapore to pick up the Otago.

Sir William Crowther should not be confused with his Grandfather of the same name who committed some rather nasty acts regarding the bodies of aboriginal people. This Crowther whilst still perhaps confused by the right and wrong at least gave up the family collection of indigenous relics to the Museum and these have since been given some final respect.

Regarding this item .. well a unique work in the Conrad genre.

$50.00

Updating cart…

Lightship – Archie Binns – 1934 First Edition

First Edition published by Reynal and Hitchcock (part of the Burt publishing empire), New York in 1934.

A super example. Large octavo, 345 pages, blue cloth covered boards, top edge stained red as required. Striking art deco dust jacket in really good condition. Very clean inside … would make a great gift.

A very unusual novel centres on the lives of nine men who are the crew of a lightship. The crest and troughs of emotion are mimicked by the Ocean which provides a dramatic ending

One of a kind novel from the 1930’s

$60.00

Updating cart…

The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene – First Australian edition 1973.

Published by The Bodley Head in Australia, Sydney in 1973. A first Australian edition.

Octavo, 335 pages one of Greene’s more substantial novels. A couple of scuffs to dust jacket now protected like all our books in removable Brodart, name on end paper, really a very good copy.

Provincial Argentina, revolution in Paraguay and more than the usual array of unusual characters that inhabit a Greene novel.

Exciting Greene in South America

$40.00

Updating cart…

Floating Peril – E. Phillips Oppenheim – 1936 First edition.

First edition published by Blue Ribbon Books (Part of Burt) New York, 1926. The novel had been serialised in the New York Post the year before.

Octavo, 309 pages, dust jacket designed by Bip Pares shows a little edge ware but still shows this deco mystery magnificently. Under the jacket is a similarly embossed design on bright orange cloth covered boards. Super presentation.

A yachting mystery commencing in the Bay of Antibes. An international thriller with moral conflict

First edition Exotic thriller

$50.00

Updating cart…

The Realms of Gold [Greek Legends] – George Baker

Originally published in 1954 this is a fine copy of the 1960 reissue. Published by the University of London Press, octavo, 262 pages, illustrated with drawing in the classic style, end paper maps. Very good near find condition with a fine dust jacket.

Baker a published classicist retells Greek myths and legends in a very readable enjoyable style. Beginning with the quarrel that was to start the Trojan War. Then, the adventures of Perseus and the slaying of the Gorgon. Hercules freeing Athens and the terrible Minotaur. The Quest of the Golden Fleece with a capital “Q”. the wanderings of Odysseus …. To the settlement of the Trojan survivors in Italy and the foundation of Rome.

The Greek Legends – no Latin required …

$25.00

Updating cart…

Tourmaline – Randolph Stow – First Edition 1963

Joseph Conrad and the Barque Otago – Sir William Crowther – 1975

Lightship – Archie Binns – 1934 First Edition

The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene – First Australian edition 1973.

Floating Peril – E. Phillips Oppenheim – 1936 First edition.

The Realms of Gold [Greek Legends] – George Baker

Product Categories