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The Travels of Marco Polo – Manuel Komroff

Our favourite edition of the Travels of Marco Polo edited and introduction by Manuel Komroff.

Published by Garden City, New York, a first in this form 1930. Large royal octavo, xxxii, 370 pages including the index. Embossed black cloth covered boards with gilt titles and design to spine. Dust jacket complete but protected in unremovable protection. Top edge stained blue as required. Illustrated by Witold Gordon with 32 full page coloured designs. A little age and a few spots – still a very worthy copy.

The work leans on two earlier translations by British orientalists. First, that of William Marsden (1754-1836) published in 1818 … importantly Komroff identifies a missing part of this work. Secondly, that of Yule (1820-1889) published by Murray in 1871 elements of which Komroff provides important revisions.

After an excellent 32 page introduction the work follows the traditional plan … Prologue … Book I – Account of Regions Visited or Heard of On the Journey from the Lessor Armenia to the Court of the Great Khan at Shangtu; Book II – Account of the Great Kublai Khan, His Capital, Court and Government. Also, of Cities and Provenances Visited on Journeys Westward and Southward; Book III – Japan and Archipelago, Southern India, and the Coasts and Islands of the Indian Sea; Book IV – The Wars Among the Tartar Princes and Some Account of the Northern Countries. Index etc

New York born, Manuel Komroff (1890-1974) was a multi-talented writer and translator. He spent time in Russia during the Russian Revolution. The illustrator, Witold Gordon (1885-1968) was born at Warsaw and after emigrating to New York became a recognised artist. At the time of this book he was commissioned to do the murals at the Radio City Music Hall and in 1939 completed a 6,000 square foot mural for the New York World Fair. The works in this book are considered his finest examples of his modernist aesthetic style.

Marco Polo – The Best Travels – Nicely Illustrated.

$90.00

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Modern Cottage Architecture [By Various Architects] – Maurice Adams – First Edition 1904.

Published by Batsford, London in 1904, First Edition. Quarto, 29 pages after preliminaries followed by 50 full page plates of external views and floor layouts. Printed on thick heavy paper which makes the plates more manageable and has kept them in fine condition despite handling.

Editor Maurice Adams provides an introductory essay on “Cottage Building and Notes on the Subjects”. He was author of “Artists Homes” [nice idea] and “Old English Homes”

Not the book for a modernist or “Block” follower but a super book for those that salivate over unique English country home. Cottage not to be confused with a tiny house – some of these clearly in the Mansion category.

[Not so] Modern Cottage Architecture – wish we had one

$120.00

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Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

Qing Dynasty decorated dish recovered by Mike Hatcher from the Tek Sing shipwreck of 1822. Nice condition.

Beautifully decorated with bands of lotus flower around a central spiral and set in alternate designs of lingzhi fungus and fruiting peach. Similar decorations to external rim, potters mark at bottom. Bright and clean. 15cm in diameter 6cm high, weighs 220gm. Retains Nagel auction sticker.

Price $240.00

Bright well decorated treasure from the Tek Sing
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The Tek Sing Shipwreck – Background

The Tek Sing (Chinese for “Bright Star”’) was a large Chinese Junk which sank in 1822 in the South China Sea at the Belvidere Shoals. She was 50 meters long, 10 metres wide and weighed a thousand tons. Manned by a crew of 200. The great loss of life has led to the Tek Sing being referred to as the “Titanic of the East”.

Sailing from the port of Amoy (now Xiamen), the Tek Sing was bound for Jakarta, with a cargo of porcelain goods and 1,600 Chinese immigrants. After a month of sailing, Captain Lo Tauko took a shortcut through the Gaspar Straits and ran aground on a reef and sank in 100 feet of water.

The next morning and English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl sailing from Indonesia to Borneo passed through the Gaspar Straits. He found debris from the sunken Chinese vessel and survivors. They managed to rescue 190 people.

In 1999, marine salvor Mike Hatcher discovered the wreck. His crew raised what has been described as the largest cache of Chinese porcelain ever recovered. It was auctioned by Nagle in Stuttgart, Germany the following year

$240.00

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Daphnis et Chloe By Longus with aquarelles by G. P. Jornard – Surely the world’s prettiest book

Published on the Champs-Elysees, Paris in the 1920’s by Editions Nilsson.

This superb book contains six mounted watercolours (aquarelles) that match the quality of the watercolour adorning this beautiful onion skin paper front cover.

Small quarto, 154 pages. This book often found as effectively a soft cover – this copy hard bound, pretty basic half red cloth over brown papered boards, top edge gilt. Whilst we say basic it’s done a good job in protecting the aquarelles … the odd bit of spotting in the text. Overall, a very worthwhile copy.

A Greek pastoral novel written by Longus during the second century AD. Based on the island of Lesbos a young couple having been brought up adopted by a goat herder and a shepherd respectively having been abandoned at birth eventually find love. It was a difficult road but it ends well.

The artist was Germaine Paule Jounard, she was a highly respected artist of the period and completed many illustrations particularly for the frencg fashion industry at the time.

What better romantic gift than this

French 1920’s with beauty and style

$190.00

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Queensland Royal Geographical Society Journal – Diamond Jubilee Issue 1885-1945. Interesting Papua New Guinea content – Including the Kokoda Trail

The journal as published by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland). Octavo, soft wrappers, 113 pages after preliminaries, folding chart, images from period photographs, sketch map of Papua New Guinea etc. A very good copy bar innocent marks to the covers … pretty clean and bright inside.

After various historic introductions articles re “Queensland Pastures – Their Development and Improvement; Across Papua’s Mighty Delta by A.L. Ethell; Irrigation (Queensland); The Interior of Eastern Papua by Captain Vernon – which describes the immediately post war Kokoda with interesting observations

Nicely illustrated and with a fold out sketch map from Bootless Bay (near Port Moresby) to Buna showing a vertical cross section of the Kokoda track.

A special issue of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland) Journal with particular interest to New Guinea collectors and readers.

$60.00

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The Thinker Bookends by Armor Bronze New York – 1920’s

A solid and delightful pair of bookends by Armor Bronze who had a showroom on Fourth and then Fifth Avenue, New York during the 1920’s.

The company’s origins are not clear with some sources saying 1890’s – for sure they existed in 1910 as the National Metalizing Company changing their name to Armor Bronze circa 1920.

Collectors and Bibliophiles bookends based on “Le Penseur” by Rodin. Some age as expected, still in good to better condition. Stand 20cm high and weighing in at a hefty, book securing 3.0 kg the pair.

Heavy items may require a postage supplement if Overseas …

Period Thinker Bookends – Don’t think too long

$360.00

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All products

The Travels of Marco Polo – Manuel Komroff

Modern Cottage Architecture [By Various Architects] – Maurice Adams – First Edition 1904.

Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

Daphnis et Chloe By Longus with aquarelles by G. P. Jornard – Surely the world’s prettiest book

Queensland Royal Geographical Society Journal – Diamond Jubilee Issue 1885-1945. Interesting Papua New Guinea content – Including the Kokoda Trail

The Thinker Bookends by Armor Bronze New York – 1920’s

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