FAIR | Melbourne 2026

  • A rare fourteenth-century medieval coffret for a book of hours.

    # 49386

    A rare fourteenth-century medieval coffret for a book of hours.

    [Catalonia, c.1345-1420]. Wooden coffret (or casket), 80 x 200 x 175 mm, covered with moulded and incised leather, metal mounts decorated with rosette details, three clasps, drop handles at either side, three hinges; lined with original tawed leather, stained pink; some portions of the leather with minor losses revealing the wooden structure beneath. This is …

    $40,000.00 AUD Read more
  • [L'Image du monde]. Sensuyt lymaige du monde.

    # 48913

    GAUTIER DE METZ (13th century)

    [L’Image du monde]. Sensuyt lymaige du monde.

    Contena[n]t en soy tout le mo[n]de mis en .iii. p[ar]ties/ cestassauoir/ asie: afriq[ue]/ et europe. Auec les pays. prouinces et citez et les merueilleuses et diuerses creatures q[ui] sont dedans co[n]tena[n]t en soy trois p[ar]ties co[n]e il ap[ar]t cy ap[re]s en la table de ca p[re]sent liure… [Paris : Alain Lotrian, circa 1520]. Small quarto (186 …

    $100,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Premier livre de l'histoire de la navigation aux Indes Orientales, par les Hollandois;

    # 49454

    LODEWIJCKSZ, Willem

    Premier livre de l’histoire de la navigation aux Indes Orientales, par les Hollandois;

    et des choses a eux advenues: ensemble les conditions, les meurs, & manieres de vivres des Nations, par eux abordees. Plus les Monnoyes, Espices, Drogues, & Marchandises, & le pris d’icelles … … Amstelredam [Amsterdam] : Cornille Nicolas [Cornelius Nicolaius], 1598. Folio, later full polished calf (sunned and lightly marked), spine with raised bands and …

    $25,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Diarivm vel descriptio laboriosissimi, & molestissimi itineris, facti à Gvilielmo Cornelii Schovtenio, Hornano, annis 1615. 1616. & 1617. Cum à parte Australi freti Magellanici, novum ductum, aut fretum, in Magnum Mare Australe detexit, totumq[ue] Orbem terrarum circumnavigavit. Quas Insulas, & regiones, & populos viderit, & quæ pericula subierit.

    # 16547

    SCHOUTEN, Willem Corneliszoon (c.1567-1625)

    Diarivm vel descriptio laboriosissimi, & molestissimi itineris, facti à Gvilielmo Cornelii Schovtenio, Hornano, annis 1615. 1616. & 1617. Cum à parte Australi freti Magellanici, novum ductum, aut fretum, in Magnum Mare Australe detexit, totumq[ue] Orbem terrarum circumnavigavit. Quas Insulas, & regiones, & populos viderit, & quæ pericula subierit.

    Amsterdami : apud Petrum Kærium, 1619. Second Latin edition. Small quarto, contemporary papered boards (rubbed); pp [8], 1-24, 17-71, nine folding maps and plates; title with large vignette of ships and a city and original owner’s annotation ‘This is in Dutch in ye. long booke pa : 145, 3 G.’; as in other copies, pages 14 and …

    $25,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Ongeluckige voyagie, van’t schip Batavia, nae de Oost-Indien.

    # 48371

    PELSAERT, Francois (c.1595-1630)

    Ongeluckige voyagie, van’t schip Batavia, nae de Oost-Indien.

    Amsterdam : Jan Jansz, 1647. First edition. Small quarto, papered boards; title-leaf, pp. 118, lacking final blank (as in most copies); six folding copperplates (plate V provided in expert facsimile); some very pale marginal water stains, tiny worm hole to margin of first few leaves; a clean and well preserved copy, housed in a calf …

    $165,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Relations de divers voyages curieux,

    # 48825

    THÉVENOT, Melchisédec (1620-1692)

    Relations de divers voyages curieux,

    qui n’ont point esté publiees, ou qui ont esté traduites d’Hacluyt, de Purchas, & d’autres Voyageurs Anglois, Hollandois, Portugais, Allemands, Espagnols; et de quelques Persans, Arabes & autres Orientaux. Enrichies de Figures de Plantes non décrites, d’Animaux inconnus à l’Europe, et de Cartes Geographiques de Pays dont on n’a point encore donné de Cartes. Paris : Jacques Langlois, …

    $62,500.00 AUD Read more
  • A Dictionary of the English Language :

    # 50228

    JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784)

    A Dictionary of the English Language :

    in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar. By Samuel Johnson, A. M. In two volumes. London : Printed by W. Strahan, for J. and P. Knapton ; T. …

    $35,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Midshipman William Harvey, sailor on all three voyages of Captain Cook : his watercolour portrait and snuff box.

    # 42458

    [HARVEY, William, 1752-1807]

    Midshipman William Harvey, sailor on all three voyages of Captain Cook : his watercolour portrait and snuff box.

    Watercolour on paper, 247 x 227 mm, in an early gilded wood and gesso frame, inscribed verso Midshipman Hardy [sic] of Ct. Cook’s Ship Discovery 1779. Exhibited: Endeavour voyage: the untold stories of Cook and the First Australians. National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2 June 2020 – 26 April 2021. Reference: Coates, Ian (editor). Endeavour voyage, the …

    $48,000.00 AUD Read more
  • The Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser. Vols I - II, 1803-1805.

    # 50655

    HOWE, George (1769-1821)

    The Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser. Vols I – II, 1803-1805.

    THE CRADLE OF PRINTING, PUBLISHING AND JOURNALISM IN AUSTRALIA : AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF EARLY ISSUES OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST NEWSPAPER, FROM ITS FIRST TWO YEARS OF PUBLICATION. Sydney : G. Howe, 1803-05. A total of 91 (ninety-one) issues, housed in two calf clamshell cases, silk-lined and with gilt lettering, custom made to the highest standard. Vol. …

    $325,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche

    # 49868

    BRODTMANN, Carl Joseph

    Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche

    / gezeichnet von Carl Joseph Brodtmann. [Lindau? : Brodtmann, 1816]. Heften 1-33, plus the three Supplement-Heften, bound in one volume, large folio (450 x 360 mm), contemporary half black morocco over marbled papered boards, gilt-lettered spine (a little worn at head and foot); with lithographed title-leaf, pp. [2 Systematisches Verzeichnis], 1-36 (explanatory text for Heften …

    $12,500.00 AUD Read more
  • À Madame L. de Freycinet.

    # 49674

    [FREYCINET, Rose de] MALLAC, Jacques

    À Madame L. de Freycinet.

    Île-de-France [Mauritius, Port-Louis] : Imprimerie de Mallac frères, 25 May 1818. Quarto (250 x 194 mm), 2 pp., letterpress, recto and verso of a single loose leaf; light horizontal fold, a fine example. This extremely rare and precious document – one of only three copies known – is a poetic tribute to the adventurer Rose …

    $35,000.00 AUD Read more
  • ­[REVERSE-GLASS BINDING]. Hommage aux dames.

    # 49624

    JANET, Pierre Claude Louis (1788 - 1840)

    ­[REVERSE-GLASS BINDING]. Hommage aux dames.

    Paris : Louis Janet, 1830. Duodecimo (121 x 78 mm), in a rare contemporary binding consisting of a hand-coloured engraved title image, tortoiseshell-pattern border and lower panel, the upper and lower panels presented under glass; gilt and gauffred cartonnage edging, gilt spine with floral pattern; green endpapers; pp. [28], [14 – including a folding calendar …

    $3,600.00 AUD Read more
  • Planisphère mobile.

    # 49136

    DESROYS, Ginot

    Planisphère mobile.

    Au moyen du quel on peut apprendre l’Astronomie seul et sans le secours des Mathématiques. Imité de l’Anglais par Melle. Ginot Desroys. Prix 4 f. Paris : chez Bachelier, 1847. Planisphere, 355 mm in diameter, comprising four die-cut discs (or volvelles) of engraved paper over card, pointer, central screw, and holes for suspension at the two …

    $3,500.00 AUD Read more
  • Robert O'Hara Burke, explorer : his official certificate of discharge from the Imperial Austrian Army, dated at Vienna, 15 June 1848.

    # 41481

    [BURKE, Robert O'Hara, 1821-1861]

    Robert O’Hara Burke, explorer : his official certificate of discharge from the Imperial Austrian Army, dated at Vienna, 15 June 1848.

    [Vienna : Imperial Austrian Army, 1848]. Lithograph printed certificate, 320 x 460 mm, Imperial Austrian double-headed eagle in upper margin; printed text and manuscript entries in German recording the voluntary resignation of Herr Oberlieutenant Robert O’Hara Burke from the Imperial Austrian army, in which he has served for a period of 17 months in the …

    $16,500.00 AUD Read more
  • Diario del teniente de navio D. Francisco Xavier de Viana, trabajado en el viage de las corbetas de S.M.C. “Descubierta” y “Atrevida” en los años de 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792 y 1793.

    # 49798

    VIANA, Francisco Javier de (1764-1820)

    Diario del teniente de navio D. Francisco Xavier de Viana, trabajado en el viage de las corbetas de S.M.C. “Descubierta” y “Atrevida” en los años de 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792 y 1793.

    [Also titled: Diario del viage explorador de las corbetas españolas “Descubierta” y “Atrevida”, en los años de 1789 á 1794]. Cerrito de la Victoria [Uruguay] : Imprenta del ejército, 1849. Octavo, quarter crushed morocco over marbled papered boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt (small expert restorations to head and foot of spine); marbled endpapers; …

    $32,000.00 AUD Read more
  • Portrait of Henry Daniel Skinner, painted just before his departure from England for Port Phillip in 1852; accompanied by his waistcoat (as worn in the portrait).

    # 47061

    HARDY, Thomas

    Portrait of Henry Daniel Skinner, painted just before his departure from England for Port Phillip in 1852; accompanied by his waistcoat (as worn in the portrait).

    Gouache and watercolour on paper, 24.0 x 20.5 cm (sight), signed by the artist l.r.; in fine condition, housed in a nineteenth-century bird’s-eye maple frame with original cover glass; [ACCOMPANIED BY] the embroidered silk waistcoat worn by Skinner in the portrait, approx. 50 x 40 cm (irregular), remarkably well preserved. Souvenirs of a young Englishman’s …

    $9,500.00 AUD Read more