Australian Coastal Exploration and Maritime

Three 19thC Prepared Microscope Slides of Australian Diatomaceae by J.D. Moller

Three fascinating early microscope slides by preparer Johann Diedrich Moller (1844-1907). The most talented and famous preparer of diatom slides of all time.

Three slides carrying a relatively early version of his distinctive slide labels.

His makers label announcing – Gold Medal St Petersburg & Altona 1869 J.D. Moller Wedel in Holstein [Germany].

The slide subjects being Diatomaceae and further labelled.

Fossils – South Australia
Fossils – South Yarra
Aqua Marina – Carpentaria Gulf Australia.

Fine examples of historical significance, likely harvested during one of the scientific and surveying voyages of the second half of the 19thC.

Price $190.00 the group – if you would like an individual one they will be $80.00 each. Send us a message through our enquiry page.

Postage costs likely to be reduced on final billing.

A trifecta of rather unique 19thC slides top maker and Australian subjects.

$180.00

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The [Sir] Rex Nan Kivell Collection – Paradise Possessed

Some of us will have bought collectable Australiana with Rex Nan Kivell’s bookplate and wondered who was the man with the rather odd name.

And he was odd. Born in New Zealand in the late 1800’s as Reginald Nankivell he went off to Europe to WWI. After that he reinvented himself as Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell and developed a career as an upmarket London art dealer. He began collecting almost everything he could find concerning post settlement Australia and New Zealand. Paintings, photographs, manuscripts, key published accounts, objects of interest, government reports etc … Very oddly he never ever came to the Antipodes. His collection came to the attention of the Australian Government at the highest levels. Senior curators labelled it the most important collection yet formed in private hands and, more so, never to be surpassed in terms of its decorative and scholarly qualities. It was bought – it cost a knighthood.

Softcover, square form, perfect bound published by the National Library of Australia. Profusely illustrated in colour over 78 pages. Scholarly narrative shared among a number of relevant experts. Both super and surprising.

Rex Nan Kivell – Cannot be repeated.

$25.00

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Lure of the Southern Seas – The Voyages of Dumont D’Urville 1826-1840

Large perfect bound soft cover (30cm x 24cm) a good size for showing off the many illustrations from artwork created at the time and photographs of displays from the voyage collection held in France.

Published by the Historic Housed Trust of NSW in association of a exhibition held at the Sydney Museum in 2003.

Well researched and produced making an important contribution to works on the two voyages undertaken by Dumont D’Urvillle in the first half of the 19th Century.

Following and introductory chapter “Southern Discomfort” and excellent map, we gain an understanding of the man and what drove him. His voyage towards the Polar Ice; the Anthropology and “Harvest of Curiosities” and the more defined Natural History Catalogue. Some notes on the artists without whom the wonder could not have been so well revealed. Data back up in the form of routes and statistics of the Voyage are followed by the great man’s correspondence and of all things “his will” … references, bibliography.

Dumont D’Urville well presented historical account, some new information and special images.

$35.00

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Medal in Celebration of the Discovery of the Johnstone River, Queensland in 1873.

Produced in 1973 the celebrate the 100 year anniversary of George Elphinstone Dalrymple’s Discovery.

Cast in coppered bronze by K G Luke. 50 mm in diameter, weighing 48 gm, very good condition.

Nice design of the North and South Johnson combining and meandering down to the Pacific Ocean through heavily wooded hilly terrain. A very clear horizon, and in the sky above the explorers full name and commemorative dates the full commemorative details in a border around the edge. On the reverse a Floral and scroll design, presumably to take the engraved name of any recipient – here still blank.

The designer is associated with Sir Kenneth George Lake (1896-1971) who had a very successful business making all things requiring metal design … he was also an important identity in sports administration in Australian particularly the AFL.

George Elphinstone Dalrymple was a legendary explorer, pioneer and pastoralist in northern Queensland. See Robert Logan Jack’s Northmost Australia for a good account of his efforts. He named the Johnstone River in 1873 in honour of Robert Johnstone of the Native Police who had carried out his handy work in the region. Unusually, the river had already been named by Captain Moresby a year or two earlier … his name the Gladys did not stick, thankfully. The Johnstone is a spectacular part of Australia .. the rivers are subject to exceedingly high rainfall and make for the very best of white water rafting. The confluence of the North and South is about five kms west of the town of Innisafail. If you go there … watch out for salty crocodiles.

Very good uncirculated condition, strong relief.

Celebrating Northern Queensland Exploration

$80.00

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James Cook’s Second Voyage – A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Around the World – Fine Large Scale Facsimile in 2 Volumes

Facsimile of James Cook’s Second Voyage – Towards the South Pole – 2 Volumes

A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World Performed in His Majesty’s Ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the years 1772, 1773, 1774 and 1775. In which is included Captain Furneaux’s Narrative of his Proceedings in the Adventure during the Separation of the Ships: By James Cook Commander of the Resolution.

Illustrated with Maps and Charts, and a Variety of Portraits of Persons and Views of Places, Drawn during the Voyage by Mr. Hodges, and Engraved by the Most Eminent Master.

This is the account of Cook’s second voyage. The success of Cook’s first voyage led the Admiralty to send him on a second expedition to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible in search of any southern continents. Cook proved that there was no Terra Australis which supposedly lay between New Zealand and South America, but became convinced that there must be land beyond the ice fields. Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. Further visits were made to New Zealand, and on two great sweeps Cook made an astonishing series of discoveries and rediscoveries including Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tahiti and the Society Islands, Niue, the Tonga Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, and a number of smaller islands. Rounding Cape Horn, on the last part of the voyage, Cook discovered and charted South Georgia, after which he called at Cape Town. William Hodges was the artist with the expedition. This voyage produced a vast amount of information concerning the Pacific peoples and Islands, proved the value of the chronometer as an aid in finding longitude, and improved techniques for preventing scurvy.

Also, includes the account of Captain Furneaux in the Adventure during his time separated from the Endeavour.

Originally published by Strahan & Cadell, London in 1777. This edition in two volumes by the Libraries Board of South Australia in 1970.

Complete with facsimile images – portrait frontispiece (Basire’s engraving of Cook from the painting by William Hodges) and 63 plates, charts and portraits, many folding. Light beige canvas cloth covered boards, separate title labels to spine. Very clean internally, high quality paper. A super set.

The second Voyage of James Cook to seek out the Great Southern Land – and to do so much more.

$360.00

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The Russians in Hobart 1823 – Glynn Barratt

Published by the University of Tasmania in 22004, Glynn Barratt being an exert and author on Russian activity in and around Australia and the Pacific in the 19th Century.

Soft cover, perfect bound, 161 pages, illustrated. A fine copy.

Unusual, an most interesting, having a book focusing on Russian activity in isolation.

May 1823 two Russian ships the Kreise and Ladonga came up the Derwent and stayed for three weeks. Even then there was a curiosity about Russia and the Russians. They were well received, maybe more because of the money they could put into the economy than anything else. The officers mixed with the well heeled and dances and parties ensued. Both ships carried natural history scientists. The content here is based on reports of the voyage and later publications of a midshipman Dmitrii Zavalishin later on.

Whilst the book focuses on this expedition [the date is in the title], there is a fair amount of the previous voyage of Bellingshausen in the Vostok [the one where he had returned from the Antarctic]. After sighting Van Diemen’s Land he sailed on the Sydney. His second vessel Mirnyi was much slower and took more careful note of Tasmania …

Russian interest in Tasmania in the early 19th Century.

$30.00

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Three 19thC Prepared Microscope Slides of Australian Diatomaceae by J.D. Moller

The [Sir] Rex Nan Kivell Collection – Paradise Possessed

Lure of the Southern Seas – The Voyages of Dumont D’Urville 1826-1840

Medal in Celebration of the Discovery of the Johnstone River, Queensland in 1873.

James Cook’s Second Voyage – A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Around the World – Fine Large Scale Facsimile in 2 Volumes

The Russians in Hobart 1823 – Glynn Barratt

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