AE Monthly

<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

Article Archives Search

AE Reviews


Travel Books and Archives from Voyager Press - By Michael Stillman Travels from the Voyager Press. 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.
Travel Books and Archives from Voyager Press - By Michael Stillman Next we have The trial complete of Richard Parker, President of the Delegates for Mutiny on board the Sandwich and other H.M. Ships at the Nore in May 1797, by Job Silby, published in 1797. Parker had spent a decade in the Royal Navy when he was discharged in 1793 for insubordination. His deed must not have been that bad, as the Navy accepted him for reenlistment in 1797. Parker was in debt and needed the signing bonus. Conditions onboard navy ships at the time were deplorable and pay meager. On May 12, a mutiny broke out onboard the Sandwich (Parker's ship) at Nore, where the Thames meets the sea. It quickly spread to other ships. Parker was not involved in the mutiny, but was convinced to become its "President" as he was unusually intelligent and well-spoken for a sailor. The mutiny gained steam and blockaded London for a while, but as the mutineers' demands increased, the government became more menacing. Parker determined that they should set sail for France, but when the signal was given, no one followed. The mutiny fell apart, Parker was captured, court-martialed, and executed. $3,750. Speaking of the Royal Navy and their difficulty in finding sailors willing to endure squalid conditions, here is a broadside dated March 30, 1795, offering Twenty Guineas Bounty, for Volunteers for the Navy. Lewisham and Lee. The Navy was looking for "six able bodied land, or seamen" from these two parishes. The 20-guinea bounty was apparently the same amount Parker signed on for a couple of years later. The broadside ends with "God save the King," though it might more appropriately have proclaimed "God save these sailors." $2,250. The Voyager Press may be reached at 604-734-4700 or orders@voyager-press.com. Their website is found at www.voyager-press.com.

Travel Books and Archives from Voyager Press

- By Michael Stillman

Travels from the Voyager Press.

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.

Travel Books and Archives from Voyager Press

- By Michael Stillman

Next we have The trial complete of Richard Parker, President of the Delegates for Mutiny on board the Sandwich and other H.M. Ships at the Nore in May 1797, by Job Silby, published in 1797. Parker had spent a decade in the Royal Navy when he was discharged in 1793 for insubordination. His deed must not have been that bad, as the Navy accepted him for reenlistment in 1797. Parker was in debt and needed the signing bonus. Conditions onboard navy ships at the time were deplorable and pay meager. On May 12, a mutiny broke out onboard the Sandwich (Parker's ship) at Nore, where the Thames meets the sea. It quickly spread to other ships. Parker was not involved in the mutiny, but was convinced to become its "President" as he was unusually intelligent and well-spoken for a sailor. The mutiny gained steam and blockaded London for a while, but as the mutineers' demands increased, the government became more menacing. Parker determined that they should set sail for France, but when the signal was given, no one followed. The mutiny fell apart, Parker was captured, court-martialed, and executed. $3,750.

Speaking of the Royal Navy and their difficulty in finding sailors willing to endure squalid conditions, here is a broadside dated March 30, 1795, offering Twenty Guineas Bounty, for Volunteers for the Navy. Lewisham and Lee. The Navy was looking for "six able bodied land, or seamen" from these two parishes. The 20-guinea bounty was apparently the same amount Parker signed on for a couple of years later. The broadside ends with "God save the King," though it might more appropriately have proclaimed "God save these sailors." $2,250.

The Voyager Press may be reached at 604-734-4700 or orders@voyager-press.com. Their website is found at www.voyager-press.com.