This month we review our first catalogue from Voyager Press Rare Books & Manuscripts. Voyager Press is located in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and is headed up by Bernhard Lauser. Logically, for a firm named "Voyager," they specialize in travels and voyages. However, much of their material is not the typical travel account. They offer a mix of books on travels and explorations along with archive collections of various travelers, often consisting of letters, manuscripts, and other materials reflecting their journeys. This latest catalogue, prepared for and headed San Francisco Bookfair 2011, provides a good cross section of the material Voyager offers.
We will start with a book that solved one of the greatest mysteries of the era of exploration. In 1785, French Commodore Jean Francois de La Perouse set out on one of the most ambitious of explorations. His ships rounded Cape Horn that summer on the way to a journey that would cover most lands of the Pacific. He sailed up the South American coast, visited Easter Island and Hawaii, came back to Alaska and California, then headed west, visiting Russia, Japan, and China. Finally, he sailed into Botany Bay in Australia in 1788, met with the British there, and then headed east. He was never heard from again. Missions were sent to find his ships, but no trace was to be found.
Peter Dillon was a sailor who had worked on various trading vessels in his career. By 1826, he was placed in command of a vessel which was traveling to Fiji when he made a stop in the Santa Cruz Islands. There he found natives in possession of European objects, which he surmised must have come from La Perouse's ships. The natives told them they came from a wreck off of Vanikoro Island. Dillon managed to get the British in India to give him a research ship, which he took to Vanikoro. Dillon collected various artifacts and took them to France. He presented his findings to Barthelemy de Lesseps, the last living survivor of the La Perouse expedition (he had left it in Russia to bring La Perouse's notes back to France overland), who identified their source. Dillon's book (this is the first French edition from 1830) is entitled Voyage aux Iles de la mer du Sud en 1827 et 1828 et relation de la decouverte du sort de La Perouse. It is inscribed by the author to Marshal Etienne Alexandre MacDonald, who despite the Scottish name (his father came from Scotland), was French and was a major military leader during the Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Priced at $9,750.
Not all voyages are intended for discovery. Offered is the logbook kept by Royal Navy Sub-Lieutenant F. Papillon from 1869-70 on HMS Monarch. It was at this time that George Peabody made his final journey home, quite final as Mr. Peabody was deceased. George Peabody was born in South Danvers, Massachusetts (later renamed "Peabody" in his honor), but settled in Baltimore, where he went into business as a merchant and later a banker. He was enormously successful. In 1837 he moved to London, where he lived for the remainder of his life. There he specialized in currency transactions and selling American securities, notably in the new American railroads. Again he was most successful. Peabody determined to give his fortune to worthy causes, earning the reputation as the first great philanthropist. He was admired in both England and America, as he contributed liberally to both nations' causes. When he died in 1869, the Queen gave him the extraordinary honor of temporary burial in Westminster Abbey. However, Peabody's will provided that he be buried in his hometown, so Prime Minister Gladstone arranged for the Monarch, the newest and most impressive ship in the Royal Navy, to bring him home. President Grant ordered the U.S. Corvette Plymouth to guide them. Papillon's log indicates the ship was visited by various important persons on Peabody's way home, including General Sherman and Admiral Farragut. The Monarch log is offered together with Papillon's log for the HMS Sphinx in 1867-68. $1,750.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE Le Neptune Oriental
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSAS Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: CASSINI DE THURY Carte générale et particulière de la France.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: JOUY; GARNERAY Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LA PÉROUSE Voyage autour du monde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: LICENT Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY Panorama d’Athènes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PEETERS Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: PÉRON; FREYCINET Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: STACKELBERG La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
Gros & Delettrez, 7 November: VALENTINER Atlas des Sonnensystems.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
Forum Auctions Online Sale: The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper Ending 7th November, 2024
Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide ABAA Dealer
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
Freeman’s | Hindman Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana November 14
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14:The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.