Pacific Voyages and Early Australia from Hordern House
- by Michael Stillman
38 Pacific and Australian books.
We recently received the latest catalogue from Hordern House, and despite a thorough search, I can find no title, not even a number for it. There is no description either. It just proceeds directly to the 38 items offered. We shall do the same, except to note it primarily covers Pacific voyages, mostly real, a few imaginary, with most related in some way to their home base in Australia.
We start with some of the first books about Australia, though they weren't about Australia at all. They were about imaginary lands way down under, the great (but non-existent) southern continent, or Terra Australis. Item 17 is The Discovery of a New World... by Joseph Hall, the first edition, first issue, of the first book in English to imagine a society on the southern continent. It was published in 1609. At the time, it was believed there must be a massive, unknown continent emanating from the South Pole to balance all of the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Hall wryly observes that maps show this "unknowne Southern Continent," but if it is truly unknown, how can they display it on maps? "How long shall wee continue to bee ignorant in that which wee professe to have knowledge of?" Makes sense to me. So Hall went forth to describe it. It consists of four major regions, Tenterbelly – land of gluttons, Theevigen – land of thieves, Fooliana – land of snobs, and Sheelandt – land of women. In Tenterbelly, birds are too fat to fly. In Sheelandt (not so much a feminist ideal but a man's stereotype of women), all the women talk at the same time, but "none doth give ear, but each one yells as if she were horn-mad..." Priced at AU $44,500 (Australian dollars, or approximately $31,478 in U.S. dollars).
Australia was still essentially unknown when Gabriel de Foigny published A New Discovery of Terra Incognita Australis, or the Southern World... in 1693. That did not stop him from describing it, though his was more of Utopian society than that of Hall. It consisted of large hermaphrodites who lived in harmony with each other. Fortunately, the visitor himself is hermaphroditic, so he is accepted into the society. Interestingly, de Poigny, a Franciscan monk, was relieved of his duties for licentious behavior and fled to Protestant Geneva. His book is notable for being the first to use the term "Australia" to describe the land and "Australians" to describe its inhabitants. Item 13. AU $48,000 (US $33,973).
Of all the strange tales of the southern land, this one is the most bizarre: Le Relationi Universali... by Giovanni Botero, this edition being from 1622-23. It includes images of creatures to be found there, with no distinction between those based on reality and those on fantasy. Those based on fantasy are truly fantastic, requiring an imagination deeper than displayed in the martians and other space beings depicted in typical science fiction. These were not just people with big heads and big eyes. There is the winged being whose human-like face is where we expect the chest to be, with a serpentine head extending from the neck above. Another has developed a foot which is used to shade himself from the hot summer sun. Australians are an odd lot. Item 5. AU $55,000 (US $38,808).
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.
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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.