Non-fiction

The Journey of Burke and Wills – Max Colwell

Published by Paul Hamlyn, Sydney in 1971 a first edition. Quarto, 152 pages a very good if not fine copy.

A surprisingly good book on the Burke and Wills expedition. A large format heavily illustrated almost coffee table book style … but it’s the images and the nuances that make this book different and a good fill in regarding the personalities and interactions of all involved. We particularly like the letter written after Landell’s resignation … “sheer cowardice”

Burke and Wills another perspective

$30.00

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Triumph and Tribulation – H.W. (Bill) Tilman

Published by the Nautical Press a first edition 1977. Octavo, 153 pages, nicely illustrated and with charts.

Tilman heading north to the icy waters of Spitzbergen. He managed to sail right around the island of Vestspitzbergen coming within 600 miles of the North Pole. Then off to Greenland and Disko Bay. An extraordinary adventure well documented.

The author H.W. (Bill) Tilman (1898-1977) war hero, mountaineer and sailor extraordinaire. Major Tilman first served in the Royal Artillery on the Western Front gaining the Military Cross. Between the wars he grew coffee in East Africa and road bicycle 3,000 miles across Africa, climbed Kilimanjaro and the Mountains of the Moon. He turned to mountain climbing and more than once teamed up with Eric Shipton. In 1936 he conquered Nanda Devi which at that time was the highest mountain climbed. In WWII he re-joined the Royal Artillery in North Africa and the Middle East. He parachuted into Albania and worked by the resistance. Afterwards he was given a diplomatic position in Burma where he returned to climbing. On return to the UK with age coming on he took to sailing as a means of reaching unclimbed mountains. At the age of 80 he crewed on an expedition to climb in the Antarctic and lost his life at sea in the South Atlantic. The expedition vessel, a converted tug, leaving Rio but never making it to the Falkland Islands.

Tilman out in the cold again! Superb sailing in dangerous waters

$30.00

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Ice With Everything – H.W. (Bill) Tilman – First Edition 1974

Published by the Nautical Publishing Company, Lymington, Hampshire a first edition 1974. Octavo, 142 pages with good illustrations, charts and endpaper maps. Interesting Appendix … “the Author’s Boats and Voyages”. Very good if not fine condition

The record of three related voyages by hero and adventurer Bill Tilman. His ambition to make it into Scoresby Sound the world largest fjord on the east coast of Greenland. The fjord is bounded by Greenland’s highest mountain. He didn’t quite make it … but what was achieved was remarkable.

The author H.W. (Bill) Tilman (1898-1977) war hero, mountaineer and sailor extraordinaire. Major Tilman first served in the Royal Artillery on the Western Front gaining the Military Cross. Between the wars he grew coffee in East Africa and road bicycle 3,000 miles across Africa, climbed Kilimanjaro and the Mountains of the Moon. He turned to mountain climbing and more than once teamed up with Eric Shipton. In 1936 he conquered Nanda Devi which at that time was the highest mountain climbed. In WWII he re-joined the Royal Artillery in North Africa and the Middle East. He parachuted into Albania and worked by the resistance. Afterwards he was given a diplomatic position in Burma where he returned to climbing. On return to the UK with age coming on he took to sailing as a means of reaching unclimbed mountains. At the age of 80 he crewed on an expedition to climb in the Antarctic and lost his life at sea in the South Atlantic. The expedition vessel, a converted tug, leaving Rio but never making it to the Falkland Islands.

Tilman what an adventure what a life!

$30.00

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The Blind Horn’s Hate (Cape Horn & the Utmost South) – Richard Hough

Published by Hutchinson’s, London in 1971 a first edition. Octavo, 336 pages, packed with illustrations and charts and with endpaper maps. Vary good condition, top edge stained green as issued. Good dust jacket.

Richard Hough’s book does more than any other to educate the reader on maritime history and the geography of the complex channels of Tierra del Fuego. Drake, Magellan etc as you would expect but also Anson, Byron etc and the loss of the Wager and the mutinous circumstances following … a Voyager classic. And the Darwin and the fate of the natives.

The title references Rudyard Kipling’s … The Long Trail … “It’s north you may run to the rime-ringed sun, or south to the blind horn’s hate …”

Avoid the Horn and through the Channels

$25.00

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Two Yachts, Two Voyages (Across the Pacific) – Eric Hiscock – 1984

Published by Adlard Coles, London a first edition 1984. Certain parts had previously been published in specialist magazines. Octavo, 167 pages, illustrated and in fine condition.

Few wrote better modern day voyaging accounts than Hiscock.

At over 70 years old Eric Hiscock and his wife Susan crossed the Pacific from their home in New Zealand to the West Coast of Canada in the steel ketch Wanderer IV. They changed their boat for the return a smaller sloop-rigged yacht. Job 40 as it was known was transformed into Wanderer V. It was not plain sailing on the return and repairs and modifications were required along the way and she still had snags as she reached her final destination Pittwater, near Sydney.

Across the Pacific and back with a change of boats – always adventurous Hiscocks

$30.00

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The Convict Ship – Colin Browning M.D. R.N. – First US Edition 1855

Extended title …. The Convict Ship. A Narrative of the Results of Scriptural Instruction and Moral Discipline on Board the “Earl Grey”” [to Tasmanian].

This is the first US edition published by Robert Craighead, New York in 1855, having previously been published in London. Octavo, 263 pages, bound in original embossed slate blue cloth covered boards. Title to spine fairly faded and end papers aged with original owners name and gift inscription to front free end paper. The odd mark and crease internally but really rather clean and bright overall.

Colin Arrott Browning MD was appointed Surgeon on HMS earl Grey carrying 264 male prisoners to the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land in 1842. He had undertaken that position a number of times … in the Surrey (1831); the Arab (1834); the Elphinstone (1840). He was certainly a confident man and the book mainly deals with the subject of the longer title … scriptural instruction and discipline. Along with this are observations on prisoners and crew along the way … a storm is encountered and they reactive words of the loss of the Waterloo and all of the prisoners who sailed in her … which made them very nervous. On arrival in Hobart they are inspected by Sir John Franklin who is impressed by their condition and mental state … a positive for scriptural instruction. Testimonies follow which make for interesting reading.

Fundamental record of practices onboard convict ships bound for Van Diemen’s Land

$180.00

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The Journey of Burke and Wills – Max Colwell

Triumph and Tribulation – H.W. (Bill) Tilman

Ice With Everything – H.W. (Bill) Tilman – First Edition 1974

The Blind Horn’s Hate (Cape Horn & the Utmost South) – Richard Hough

Two Yachts, Two Voyages (Across the Pacific) – Eric Hiscock – 1984

The Convict Ship – Colin Browning M.D. R.N. – First US Edition 1855

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