New Acquisitions
Here is our list of recent acquisitions for July, with 200+ items: books on travel and exploration; Australian historical and contemporary photography; printed ephemera and sheet music; Australian and international art; and a few curios!
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# 30833
PRESTON, Margaret (1875 - 1963)
Margaret Preston Recent Paintings 1929
Sydney : Art in Australia, 1929. Quarto, folding white buckram clamshell box with gilt-lettered title label (scuffed, lower joint split), original ribbon ties, containing the following elements: 1. A black card folio, inside which is a copy of the publication ‘Margaret Preston Recent Paintings 1929’ quarto, illustrated wrappers, pp. [42], printed in red and black, nine …
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# 31194
Unidentified Indian artist.
A group of nine Company School paintings on mica. India, circa 1860.
Gouache on mica sheets, in a uniform 103 x 70 mm format, with the original owner’s captions in pencil to the bottom margins of the versos; most of the delicate mica mounts have a small amount of damage at the edges, but the images of Indian types are well preserved. These paintings were carefully removed from …
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# 31396
TUTTLE, Hudson
[SPIRITUALISM] The Psychograph, or Dial Planchette, of Especial Use in the Home Circle.
[Berlin Heights, Ohio : Hudson Tuttle, probably between 1890 and 1910]. Circular wooden dial, diameter 200 mm, with two opposing brass fittings at its edge; the dial is mounted on a solid wooden base (not cardboard, as in other examples), diameter 280 mm; around the dial is a circular border of lacquered heavy paper stock …
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# 31423
[CRANWELL, Thomas, preparer & mounter]
Album of New Zealand pressed ferns in a presentation rimu wood binding
Auckland : [T. Cranwell, circa 1876]. Quarto, 280 x 220 mm, original rimu wood boards with incised decoration, upper board with ‘New Zealand Ferns’ carved in raised relief, expertly and sympathetically rebacked in green morocco, front pastedown with original seller’s label of ‘Holloway & Garlick, Cabinet makers, Drapers & Clothiers, City Hall Arcade, Queen & Lorne Streets, …
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# 30977
PÉLISSIER Alphonse
A Communard in exile : a small archive of unpublished poems and songs in manuscript, together with rare locally-printed ephemera. Isle of Pines, New Caledonia, 1875-1878.
French journalist and former soldier Alphonse Pélissier was condemned to death for his involvement in the Paris Commune of March-May, 1871. His sentence was commuted to deportation to the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia, where he arrived in November, 1872. During his political exile this unrepentant Communard collaborated as an editor on several issues …
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# 31263
CHEVALIER, Nicholas (St Petersburg, Russia 1828 - 1902 London, England)
Nicholas Chevalier, colonial artist : full signature on a confirmation note agreeing to the terms of purchase of a painting from the London fine art dealers J. & W. Vokins, 1884.
Manuscript in ink, 1 page, 175 x 115 mm, on the letterhead of J. & W. Vokins, Great Portland Street, London, dated 2 February 1884; the note sets out the terms of Chevalier’s purchase of a painting by Vicat Cole, Arundel, for £1050, with £100 to be paid as a deposit, and with interest to …
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# 22102
Concepción, Juan de la, 1724-1787
Historia general de Philipinas (partial set)
Conquistas espirituales y temporales de estos españoles dominios, establecimientos progresos, y decadencias. Comprehende los imperios, reinos y provincias de islas, y continentes con quienes hà havido communicacion, y comercio por inmediatas coincidencias. Con noticias universales geograficas, hidrograficas de historia natural de politica de costumbres y de religiones, en lo que deba interesarse tan universal titulo. Manila …
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# 31206
LUTHER, Martin (1483-1546)
[BINDING; BIBLE] Das Neue Testament unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi, verteutscht von D. Martin Luther. / Die Psalmen Davids.
Tübingen : bei Ludwig Friedrich Fues, 1815 (both works). Duodecimo (120 x 68 mm), original black, straight grain morocco over gilt-bordered boards (very lightly rubbed), upper board with a gilt metal heraldic onlay of a bear rampant (the arms of Berlin?), spine with raised bands ruled in gilt; all edges gilt; front pastedown, free-endpaper, first …
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# 31420
STEWART & CO.
[CIRCUS HISTORY] Unzie, the Circassian youth, with W. E. Jackson, “The New Zealand Tom Thumb”. Melbourne, October 1886.
Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format, 102 x 62 mm (mount); verso with imprint of ‘Stewart & Co., Photographers, Miniature & Portrait Painters, 217 & 219 Bourke St. East, Melbourne’; both the print and mount are in fine condition. In 1886, when this photograph was taken in Melbourne, Unzie – an albino man – was …
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# 31091
HARTSOOK, Fred (1876-1930)
Studio portrait of Sydney-born Australian silent film actress Louise Lovely, used as a promotional photograph during her time under contract to Fox Studios, Hollywood.
Los Angeles, California : Hartsook Studio, [circa 1920]. Gelatin silver print on heavy stock, 237 x 190 mm, photographer’s information in the negative bottom right ‘HARTSOOK Photo. L.A.-S.F.’; pin holes at each corner, a few spots of pale foxing near top edge, else fine condition (unframed); verso with later identifying caption in pencil. From the …
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# 30173
VANCOUVER, George (1757-1798)
A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world;
in which the coast of North-West America has been carefully examined and accurately surveyed. Undertaken by his Majesty’s command principally with a view to ascertain the existence of any navigable communication between the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans; and performed in the year 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, in the Discovery sloop …
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# 31362
GRIFFIN ADVERTISING COMPANY; ARBUCKLE, WADDELL PTY. LTD. (PRINTERS)
[WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY] Prospectus of “Australia Unlimited” and a few facts and figures showing the wisdom of immediate investment. (Two variant printer’s proofs).
Melbourne : Arbuckle, Waddell Pty. Ltd., printers, 20-22 McKillop Street, [circa 1930]. Two octavo-size bookets (185 x 112 mm) with variant covers, staple bound, both of [16] pages and with a generic text aimed at encouraging land investment in Melbourne; however, the pair are customised for different land agents – one for T. M. Burke …
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# 31360
ASHTON, Robert
Baby in the bush 1983
Photogravure, 200 x 295 mm (plate line); 380 x 500 mm (sheet), edition number 1 / 10 lower left, titled lower centre, signed lower right and dated 1987. Very light handling creases to the outer margins, not affecting the image. In 1983 the acclaimed Victorian photographer Robert Ashton documented the devastation Ash Wednesday’s bushfires wreaked …
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# 31406
ASHTON, Robert (Melbourne, 1950 - )
Specimens
Ambrotype, 415 x 335 mm (plate), framed (585 x 485 mm). A rare large format ambrotype taken by the accomplished photographer. Artist’s statement: Bush Theatre I have been photographing the bush around my home for over 40 years, always looking for new ways to engage with its arbitrary and indiscriminate manifestations. For this series of photographs I built an ultra large …
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# 31046
SHMITH, Athol (1914-1990)
The Pioneer
[1935]. Chloro-bromide print on heavy stock, 380 x 310 mm. Artist’s label verso: Athol L. Shmith, F.R.S.A., A.R.P.S., Modern Photography. The Warwick, / 75a Fitzroy Street / St. Kilda S2, / Melbourne. / Windsor 7141, with typed details Title: THE PIONEER / Process: CHLORO-BROMIDE. / Details: Studio Camera, S.S. Pan Film; Cooke Tele Lens, Vitava paper. …
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# 31045
SHMITH, Athol (1914-1990)
Untitled. [Man playing a vibraphone]
[Melbourne, circa 1935]. Chloro-bromide print on heavy stock, 380 x 305 mm. No label or inscription to verso. Condition: mild corner wear (top left corner with tiny tear), else fine. Note: Athol Shmith was himself an accomplished vibraphonist, and if not for his early success as a photographer would have pursued a career as a …