Curiosities

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

Updating cart…

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

Updating cart…

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

Updating cart…

Ventriloquism For Beginners – A Complete Set of Lessons in the Art of Voice Magic – Douglas Houlden

Published by Kaye & Ward, London revised in 1967. Large octavo, 63 pages with numerous sketches and photographs. A nice copy.

A super guide … a bit like playing the didge … practice makes perfect and here we have the techniques carefully explained. Advanced ventriloquism includes … the muffled voice, the distant voice, drinking (whilst talking) etc. After learning how to do the basic letters and covering up the B’s with G’s we have the most challenging “Labial Sounds”.

All without moving your lips …

$30.00

Updating cart…

Brisbane City Medal Celebrating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee 1897

Minted by Stokes and Sons, 31 mm diameter circa 14 gms weight. Reference Carlisle 1897/43

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee was celebrated with enthusiasm around the Commonwealth. This medal was issued by the Municipality of Brisbane to celebrate the event.

On the obverse we have Jugate busts of a young and older Queen Victoria, around Queen Victoria’s 60th Year of Reign *1837 to 1897* … mint name Stokes & Sons in tiny letter on the rim below the date.

The reverse has at its centre within a wide rim the Shield of the Municipality, quartered with top left … horses, sheep and bull; top right … farmer with plough, wheat sheaf and spade; bottom left early steam-ship and lighthouse; bottom right … sailing ship at Brisbane Port loading produce including bale of wool and barrels. Around the rim *Municipality of Brisbane* Incorporated 1859.

Collectable Victoriana Unique to Brisbane.

$40.00

Updating cart…

WWI Maritime and Travel Original Annotated Photograph Album – Over 180 Images

A most interesting collection spanning the years of WWI and shortly afterwards. Taken and compiled by a marine officer, over 180 original photographs, taken with some expertise, nicely presented in its original Morocco bound photograph album. The photographer has presented each photograph framing it within white borders and added very neatly in white a useful description.

The condition of the photographs is good overall, a few are faded or marked in some way from the passage of time, others are crisp and clean. A few have been removed or fallen out and few are loose inside …we have not studied where they could go … the album is robust and showing minor age wear, the whole package is very presentable and more or less complete. We wish we knew the photographer … he was clearly officer material on the Orontes and had a wife and child … we have included his image as the “thumbnail” … does anyone know who he was …?

The album can be split into two distinct periods. The first, before January 1919 being mainly onboard the HMT Orontes a vessel that plied the England – Australia route for the Orient line. With the outbreak of WWI, it became a troop carrier. The photographer appears to have also served on SS Derbyshire in a similar capacity. During this phase he took images of a number of famous vessels used in the war effort and numerous images of views, landmarks, architecture, and the people at various ports of call.

The second element post January 1919 is devoted to a circumnavigation on SS Cufic which head across the Atlantic to Nova Scotia, down to the Panama Canal and across the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, Durban, Cape Town, and Home.

Photographs of vessels include … RMS Mauretania; Kaiseren Auguste Victoria [surrendered in 1919 and used to bring American troops home]; HMS Renown [in New York Harbour with the Prince of Wales on board]; HMS Carpathia [of Titanic rescue fame and later torpedoed and sunk]; RMS Pannonia; SS Explorer; SS Demosthenes [used to carry Australian troops]; HMS Sydney [in Colombo Harbour just after the sinking of the German Cruiser Emden]; SS Derbyshire [Colombo – Rangoon Line]; HMT Osterley; SS Cufic and HMT Orontes.

Examples of the touring images include …

The Flatiron (previously Fuller) skyscraper – New York
Washington Arch – New York
Statue of Liberty – New York
Top of Woolworth Tower – New York
5th Avenue – New York
A Glimpse of Wall Street – New York
Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge – New York
Boston views
The Citadel Quebec
Main Street Gibraltar
A “Blimp” convoying
A Glimpse of the US army
Panama Canal scenes
On route to Calcutta
Homeward bound in the Bay of Biscay
Cinnamon Gardens Colombo
Cape St Vincent – Portugal [Incorrectly described Spanish]
Hindu Temple South India
Colombo Harbour
Ox waggon Rangoon Burma
On the Temple steps – India
Native of South India
Children of North India
Hindu dockworker
The Pagoda Calcutta
Burmese Shrine to the God Dagan
The Schegadon Pagodas Rangoon
The lake Rangoon
A Burmese girl off to the well
Anzac Day 1918 some fancy costumes
Sierra Leone West Africa
Leaving Table Bay HMS Britannia escorting
South African troops on board – the first bugle call – “Cookhouse!”
Scene in Native Quarter Durban
Australian sheep Hamilton Victoria
Sydney Zoo
Wellington New Zealand
Tahiti South Sea Islands
Main Street Papeete
Tahitian Friends
Papeete from Crows Nest
A Harbour view Tahiti
A big dam Panama Canal
Electric Mule Panama Canal
Leaving Liverpool Jan 18, 1919 – “Bon Voyage” [a self portrait]
The first port Louisbourg – Cape Breton Island [Nova Scotia]
Snow scene St John Nova Scotia
Lock gates and numerous others – Panama Canal
“Star of Holland” mid -Pacific [a US Tall Ship]
New Zealand including memorial to Robert Scott
Melbourne – picking up the Pilot
Quarantine procedures in Melbourne
A number in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane … and the way home via South Africa

Superb, interesting unique photographic record. Now over 100 years old.

$590.00

Updating cart…

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]

Ventriloquism For Beginners – A Complete Set of Lessons in the Art of Voice Magic – Douglas Houlden

Brisbane City Medal Celebrating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee 1897

WWI Maritime and Travel Original Annotated Photograph Album – Over 180 Images

Product Categories