Curiosities

Riddle of the Titanic – Robon Gardiner & Dan Van der Vat

Published by Weidenfield and Nicolson, London in 1995 a first edition soft cover. 312 pages, nicely illustrated. A very good copy.

Regarded as one of the more thorough Titanic books, with much about the before and aftermath. Written in the context of the finding of the wreck ..

Questions remain unanswered … Why was the man at the helm when she hit the iceberg packed off to South Africa? … Why did her reluctant Chief Officer still feel uneasy about a ship on which he had never sailed before … and, Why did one of her stewards “wish the bally ship at the bottom of the sea”?

Titanic well researched and written …

$25.00

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Patanela is Missing [Sinking off Sydney] – Paul Whittaker and Robert Read – 1993

Published by Bantam 1993, a first and only edition. Octavo paperback, 248 pages with maps and 16 pages of black and white plates. A very good copy.

The investigative account of Australia’s greatest sea mystery.

Patanela, a 19-metre schooner, vanished without trace approaching Sydney Harbour in November 1988. She was the sturdiest yachts afloat having completed Antarctic voyages and circumnavigated the globe. She was considered by those who sailed her, and by the man who built her, to be unsinkable. Constructed of steel with four watertight bulkheads, Patanela carried the latest safety and navigational equipment.

There are few who believe she faltered on that calm November night, within sight of the lights of Botany Bay. There was no mayday call, no distress flares sighted, no debris, and no bodies as evidence of her sinking.

Scarce account of one of Australia’s most curious sea mysteries.

$25.00

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A Census of the Fossil Foraminifera of Australia – Howchin – 1893 – From Robart Logan Jack’s Library

A paper read at the Adelaide Meeting of the Australasian Association for the advancement of Science – September 1893.

Walter Howchin was an English born, Clarke Medal winning geologist who lectured at the Adelaide School of Mines. This paper presents in tabular form a complete list of the fossil foraminifera then know in Australia and is a mighty piece of work encapsulated in 24 page paper.

Original pink paper wrappers now reinforced at the hinge. Bound in Walter Howchin’s personal compliments slip … R. L. Jack Esq added in in manuscript by the receiver … also his name to front pink cover. Robert Logan jack being the distinguished explorer, geologist, author of the book on the history of Exploration in the Far North “Northmost Australia”. Logan Jack was to follow Daintree as the Queensland Appointed Geologist.

Interesting piece of scientific ephemera with Logan Jack ownership.

$40.00

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Royal Society of Tasmania – Papers & Proceedings – 1926 [the Dutch in Tasmania and Crowther]

Contains an important historical paper by Clive Lord on the planting of the Dutch Flag in Tasmania.

Geoffrey Ingleton’s copy … Ingleton Catalogue stamp no 14258 on rear cover.

Perfect bound in original paper covers, 196 pages with 11 plates and 22 figures within the text.

Contents further include inter alia … Isostatic Background of Tasmanian Physiography; the Constitutional Separation of Tasmania from New South Wales 1825; Oil Shales of Tasmania; Tasmanian Spiders; Tasmanian Cetacea; New and Little Known Tasmanian Lepidoptera; Notes on the Tasmanian Race (Crowther) etc etc. As well as the formalities … Annual Report etc.

The Dutch plant their flag and Crowther on the Tasmanian Aborigines

$60.00

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Military Uniforms of the British Empire Overseas – John Player & Sons Card series complete in rare album.

Album 26cm by 20cm 24 pages with a total of 50 cards, published in 1938. Some light foxing to cover and the odd mark inside, generally a very good set. The shading on the images is caused by the scanner and the paper not lying quite flat.

Uniforms from South Africa, Rhodesia, Canada, India and Burma, and Colonies, Protectorates etc. Some pretty fancy garb among them …. The narrative descriptions of the various regiments, battalions etc is very interesting … useful for those wanting a potted history.

A nice complete set with the attendant album narrative

$60.00

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The “Widow’s Cap” of the Australian Aborigines – R. Etheridge 1899

Separately published paper from the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1899. By Robert Etheridge Junior who was then Curator of the Australian Museum. Son of the superb engraver of geological specimens and exceptional geologist in his own right.

Side stitched in the original light blue wrappers, a little aged, internally very clean … a very nice copy of a little understood custom.

Mitchell was the first to notice the widow’s caps which he observed during his second expedition into the interior. Worn by widows in mourning and then later left at the graves of the deceased. The caps were formed from clay and the widow wore a net over her hair which left the unusual impression that can be seen in one of the images provided.

13 pages on narrative and six plates, printed on heavier stock from photographs of examples.

An authoritative paper on an important aboriginal custom

$25.00

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Riddle of the Titanic – Robon Gardiner & Dan Van der Vat

Patanela is Missing [Sinking off Sydney] – Paul Whittaker and Robert Read – 1993

A Census of the Fossil Foraminifera of Australia – Howchin – 1893 – From Robart Logan Jack’s Library

Royal Society of Tasmania – Papers & Proceedings – 1926 [the Dutch in Tasmania and Crowther]

Military Uniforms of the British Empire Overseas – John Player & Sons Card series complete in rare album.

The “Widow’s Cap” of the Australian Aborigines – R. Etheridge 1899

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