Mining/Geology

Mining Smelting Railways of the Rosebery region [Western Tasmania] – Ian Stewart – 1984

We really admire the likes of Ian Stewart who put the effort in to gather, digest and present histories of the likes of Rosebery and its surrounding region at the very heart of geology and mining in Tasmania – so much potentially to be forgotten history.

Published in 194 as a second edition – we cannot find a first and only one other second for sale. Would have been produced in small numbers.

Sponsored by the EZ Mining Company. Larger format card covers, deign to front, staple bound, 70 pages. Acknowledgements inside back cover, map of the region including the railways and tram lines, many images from period photographs, very grainy images but forgive them for their relevance and rarity.

Whilst focused around Rosebery [our favourite continuing Tasmanian mine] we have good content on Dundas, Mt Williamsford and Zeehan and its before time smelter capacity [Originally German owned and taken at the outset of WWI]. The rapid development and demise of Dundas – the two foot rail gauge and the politics around the Emu Bay destination all add interest.

Rosebery Mining a fascinating history

$50.00

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Mining by W.D. & H.O. Wills – hard to find complete set of 50 cards circa 1912 issued by Wills of Bristol and London.

Very good condition, now protected in standard card wallets.

Seven cards represent Coal Mining featuring Miner Holing; Miner Drilling and Blasting; Electric Coal Cutters; Electric Train; Taking Coal to Pit Mouth by Pony; At the Bottom of the Shaft; Sorting and Cleaning Coal and the all important Mine Surveyor.

Cards specific to Australia include B.H.P. Silver Mine Mechanical Feed and a General View of the Mine … Mount Morgan Gold (with it interesting story) anD Digging and Washing Sapphires in Queensland.

The rest Of the world is represented including Asbestos at Thetford Canada; China Clay at St Austell Cornwall; Copper at the famous Rio Tinto Mine Spain; Diamonds at Kimberley; Tin at Perak Malaya; Turquoises from Nishapour, Persia; Rock salt in Cheshire; Rubies from Burma etc etc

Large 50 card Mining set over 100 years old.

$120.00

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Vacuum Pump with Dome – Griffin and Tatlock c 1930 – Super Example

A very good working example of a vacuum hand pump, complete with glass dome from notable maker Griffin and Tatlock [a design by John Griffin]

Nice oak handle, the brass pump body retains its original lacquer, valve moves freely and pumps seals nicely. The glass dome with bell top handle is ground for contact with the pump base plate [in operation this would be grease/ vaseline sealed. There is a small chip to the inside rim but not impinging on the “sealability” of the instrument.

Carries the Griffin and Tatlock branding plaque. We can date this to around 1930 as John Griffin and sons merged with the distinguished Scottish form Baird and Tatlock circa 1925.

Dimensions approx. – 40 cm long 30 cm high and 18 cm wide. Not really suitable for overseas and will require a postage supplement dependent on buyer location.

Rare complete and working a genuine sucker.

$440.00

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Fuller’s Spiral Slide Rule [Calculator] – Manufacturer W.F. Stanley, London

Invented by George Fuller, Professor of Engineering at Queens’s College Belfast, patented in 1878.

The rule consists of a logarithmic scale of numbers spiral wound in the form of a helix; the scale is 500 inches [circa 42 feet] in length having 7,250 divisions. This rule is therefore equivalent to a straight slide rule twice that length or c 84 feet. If you understand the principle – it’s the [lack of] length of a slide rule that inhibits accuracy. It can be held in one hand while performing calculations or fixed on the removable brass holder if more convenient. The mahogany box is true to the instrument and has felt covered fittings to protect it in transit. The original instruction booklet is still with the instrument.

The manufacturer was W.H. Stanley at one time the biggest instrument maker in the World. Stanley a Fellow of all the right Societies was an architect and had near 100 patents to his name.

This instrument is one of the last manufactured, which probably accounts for its pristine condition. We can date it to 1965 for two reasons. First, all instruments were numbered at the bottom of the B cursor, and this one is serial number 13111 and below that stamped 65 for 1965. Secondly, there is a magnificent paper published by the esteemed Oughtred Society [Look it up] which gives excellent background information on the instrument and provides a graph of the serial numbers and dates of a good sample from No 1 in 1884 to number 13688 in 1973 – so you can see that ours is placed right in the twilight zone.

We find it interesting that only 14,000 instruments were ever made over a period of 90 years. After a slowish start and an end tail-off the graph of units made is pretty steady with a bit of a jolt during WWI and WWII. Your guess is right it was killed pretty dead by Hewlett Packard.

We haven’t gone into full details of how the instrument is constructed and functions, but we do have information in our Research Section, and you can always look up the aforementioned “Oughtred” reference – best information going – forget Wiki.

In terms of size the box is 46 cm x 12 cm x 11 cm. The rule is 43 cm long 9 cm in diameter.. Total weight around 2 kgs.

A postage supplement may be required dependent on location of buyer.

Fullers system of spiral slide rule – top of the pile and an instrument of some beauty

$690.00

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A Strange Career – The Life and Adventures of J. G. Jebb [South America and Mexico] – 1895

John Gladwyn Jebb led as an adventurous life as could be possible. This book was compiled by his widow and carries the introduction of adventure writer H Rider Haggard.

Jebb’s adventures began as a military man in India. Soon he was conducting privately funded explorations into Central and Southern America. Involved in numerous business dealings… helped to start White Line … was in involved in armaments. He moved to the US and the Wild West … bear hunting, gold mining and a few conflicts with local bandits and native Americans. Off to Mexico to make his fortune gold mining (made it and lost it) and much of the later part of the books is about his times in Mexico.

Published by Blackwood, Edinburgh in 1895 octavo, 271 pages, frontispiece of the great man, illustrated by John Wallace. Pictorial boards nice but a little rubbed. Overall, still a particularly good copy of a rather hard to find book.

Inspiration for Rider Haggard – John Jebb Adventurer

$50.00

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Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania – 1885 [Including Johnston’s Coloured Geological Map of Tasmania]

Printed at the “Mercury” in 1886 a first published. An important journal containing a number of geological papers including Ore at Mt Bischoff by Baron Von Grodeck and some on coal measures. At the end we have Johnston’s Geological Table showing the proposed classification of stratified rock in Tasmania and his rather superb large, folding coloured sketch map of the General Geological Features of Tasmania.

Other papers that may be of interest include … an Eclipse on March 30^th 1885 by Biggs; Mosses by Bastow; Tasmanian Earth Tremors also by Biggs; Fossil Plants by the aforementioned Johnstone.

Original soft wrappers, clxi pages followed by 407 pages including a good index. A very solid edition to support the substantial content.

Scarce 1885 Journal with map often missing.

$120.00

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Mining Smelting Railways of the Rosebery region [Western Tasmania] – Ian Stewart – 1984

Mining by W.D. & H.O. Wills – hard to find complete set of 50 cards circa 1912 issued by Wills of Bristol and London.

Vacuum Pump with Dome – Griffin and Tatlock c 1930 – Super Example

Fuller’s Spiral Slide Rule [Calculator] – Manufacturer W.F. Stanley, London

A Strange Career – The Life and Adventures of J. G. Jebb [South America and Mexico] – 1895

Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania – 1885 [Including Johnston’s Coloured Geological Map of Tasmania]

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