Voyages and More
From Hordern House
Hordern House's 2004 catalogue
By Michael Stillman
Hordern House, a major Australian bookseller, has issued its catalogue for 2004. While most of what Hordern House offers has an Australian connection, many items connect with other areas of the world. This is not surprising as much of the material pertains to exploratory voyages that visited many other lands as well. Americana collectors in particular will be pleased to find that there are many items that belong as much in their collections as in those of collectors of Australiana.
Here is an item that will lead us to that connection. Item 3 is a copy of George Barrington's A Voyage to New South Wales..., published in London in 1795. Barrington was a pickpocket who, after several opportunities to change his ways, was banished to the penal colony in Australia. However, he was smarter than most criminals of the day, and after helping stave off a mutiny on his transport, ended up supervising criminals in Australia. His rogue reputation helped him develop a following back in England, which made him the perfect name to author a book on Australia for the masses, who could not afford the official printings of travels to this unknown land. However, in reality, Barrington was not an author, and he probably had little if anything to do with the writing of this and other books attributed to him. His name was simply good advertising for inexpensive compilations of reports from others, much of which was inaccurate. Nevertheless, this became the prime source of information about Australia for many. Priced at Australian $7,500 (approximately $5,300 U.S. dollars).
That leads us to the Americana connection. Item 4 is the first American edition of the same Barrington title. This was published in Philadelphia in 1796, and is only the second book about Australia published in the United States (the first is unobtainable). AUD $6,400 (US $4,523).
George Vancouver led an expedition in the 1790s that made discoveries all the way from Australia to the west coast of America (it is for him that Vancouver city and Vancouver Island are named). He searched for and concluded there was no Northwest Passage to shorten the journey from Europe to the Pacific. He also did much surveying of the American coast from California to Alaska and negotiated settlements between England and Spain over that territory. Less well known, at least in America, is that Vancouver did much surveying of southwest Australia on his way to America's west coast. The book is A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean..., and this is a first edition published in 1798. Item 72. AUD $68,500 (US $48,414).
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Voyages and More
From Hordern House
Some of John Gould's Mammals of Australia.
Nathaniel Portlock and George Dixon, like George Vancouver, had served on Captain Cook's final voyage, and set out on their own expedition to America's west coast in 1785. Portlock was the commander while Dixon captained a second ship. They continued Cook's explorations, unsuccessfully sought a northwest passage, and were engaged in fur trading. After their return in 1788, both wrote books with nearly identical titles. This one is Dixon's version, entitled A Voyage Round the World; but more particularly to the North-West Coast of America: performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788... Item 23. AUD $6,000 (US $4,240).
Here is one more trip to America's west coast before we move on. Eugene Duflot de Mofras visited the Pacific coast on behalf of France in the early 1840s. The book is called Exploration du territoire de l'Oregon, des Californies et de la mer Vermeille... This rare book is considered one of the best accounts of this area shortly before the Americans would arrive in droves, either as settlers traversing the Oregon Trail, or as those seeking their fortunes in the California Gold Rush. The French were interested in learning more about the commercial potential of northern Mexico along with American, British, and Russian settlements farther up the coast. Item 24. AUD $48,500 (US $34,260).
As long as we're brushing up our French, here is Voyage dans L'Hemisphere Austral et Autour du Monde... This is the first French edition of Captain Cook's second voyage, and it is an exquisite five-volume set in a contemporary French binding. Cook's second voyage took place during 1772-1775 and it was the first time Europeans crossed the Antarctic Circle, searching for the legendary southern continent. This edition was printed in Paris in 1778. Item 11. AUD $9,500 (US $6,707).
Item 14 is an exceedingly rare book relating to Cook's second voyage. It is Resa till Goda Hopps-Uden... by Anders Sparrman. Sparrman was a Swedish naturalist who joined and exited the expedition from Cape Town. This is a three-volume set that was forty years in the making. Volume 1 was completed in 1783, five years after the voyage's conclusion, while 2 and 3 were published in 1802 and 1818. This is the Swedish edition. One in English was published in 1785, but naturally, this covered only volume 1. The remainder was not published in English until 1944. A full set, like this, is considered extremely rare. AU $58,750 (US $41,397).
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Voyages and More
From Hordern House
Image from John Latham's A General History of Birds.
John Gould was to Europe what Audubon was to America. He published books filled with beautiful drawings of birds. His "Birds of Australia" was published around the same time as the Octavo (and popular) edition of Audubon's "Birds of America," and like Audubon, he followed it with a lesser known book of mammals. In Gould's case, the book is called The Mammals of Australia, and it is one of the most attractive animal books you will find. Gould was so amazed by the mammals he saw in Australia that he went ahead with this book even though he had no anticipation of it being as financially rewarding as his bird books. Item 36. Price on request.
Item 28 is the first edition, including the large atlas, of Matthew Flinders' A Voyage to Terra Australis; undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803... Flinders was sent to map the entire coastline of Australia, and he completed the first circumnavigation of the continent. He established that Australia was just one large island, not split down the middle as had previously been believed. AUD $86,000 (US $60,641).
Item 46 is the "best" (complete) English edition of La Perouse's A Voyage Round the World, performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788... La Perouse had already explored much of the Pacific when he arrived in Australia in 1788. He visited with the English who were already settled at Botany Bay and then set sail for the remainder of his expedition. La Perouse was never heard from again. Despite many search parties, his disappearance remained a mystery for 40 years before wreckage was finally located. Fortunately, La Perouse had a habit of sending parts of his journal home with others at various stops, so his report survived. AUD $14,500 (US $10,226).
We will finish with some imaginary voyages. This book is by Gabriel de Foigny and is called A New Discovery of Terra Incognita Australis, or the Southern World by James Sadeur a French-man... This is the first English edition from 1693. There was no Sadeur, but there would be an Australia. Foigny's use of that name and his naming of the inhabitants as "Australians" is significant as this is believed to be the first use of that term in English. Sadeur "discovered" a Utopian society in Australia with little resemblance to what would be found when the continent was explored for real. Item 40. Price on request. If you want an even more fantastic imaginary Australia, there is Viages de Enrique Wanton a las Tierras Incognitas Australes from 1781-1785. This four-volume set, written by Zaccaria Seriman and translated into Spanish and expanded upon by Joaquin de Guzman y Manrique, describes the imaginary Mr. Wanton's trip to Australia. He discovers within the continent a society of monkeys living as fashionable Europeans, attending coffeehouses, balls, and the theater. Item 42. AUD $4,400 (US $3,104).
Hordern House may be found on the internet at www.hordern.com while their phone number is (61-2) 9356 4411.
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