Scientific Instruments, Specimens, Books and Collectables

Precognition and Human Survival – Drayton Thomas.

Published by the Psychic Press, High Holborn London. No date but we suspect late 1940’s.

We cannot find any earlier versions of this work by the late 19thC Reverend Drayton Thomas who penned a number of intriguing books through Fowler and Wells such as Human Magnetism and the simply put Brain and Mind.

Octavo, 115 pages, super deep red dust jacket over lime green cloth covered boards, titling on jacket repeated on boards. A very good if not better copy.

“If a man should die shall he live again”. We are told that the book is the outcome of thirty years extensive research into the study of trance mediumship with the gifted sensitive Mrs Osborne Leonard. No effort is spared to provide satisfactory evidence … of many kinds. A stenographer was employed … well the expense spared.

Drayton Thomas – Precognition Proven.

$40.00

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Researches in The Phenomena of Spiritualism – William Crookes FRS. [Additions Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] – 1926

Title continues – Together with a portion of his Presidential address given before the British Association, 1898; and An Appendix by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Published both Manchester – the Two Worlds Publishing Co and London – The Psychic Bookshop, Victoria Street in 1926.

Octavo, 144 pages plus index and publishers catalogue. Frontispiece image of Crookes, numerous illustrations throughout explaining the scientific goings on. Some foxing [spongy paper] and age marks to plain covers – but a scarce extremely interesting work by one of the greatest scientific minds of all time.

Impossible to summarise Crookes’ achievements as an experimental chemist and physicist. Pioneered modern spectroscopy through his invention of the Crookes tube, discovered the element Thallium, contributed to the filling out [reorganisation] of the Periodic Table re the inert gases. A wealthy man who had a great business brain and combined these talents to fund his own research. In later years a whole, very large, floor of his Kensington Residence was a series of private laboratories and scientific library. Received the Nobel Prize in 1907 and many others achieved theirs through his work.

So, Crookes was interested in forces and formed the concept of plasma being the fourth state of nature. His interest in spiritualism and spiritual forces was a serious matter – he was President of the relevant Society at one time. This book summarises earlier publications of his views and experiments – and includes a chapter from his friend and fellow spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on an “Independent Testimony as to the mediumship of Florence Cook”.

Crookes’ chapter headings are a useful guide … Spiritualism Viewed by the Light of Modern Science; Experimental Investigation of a New Force; Some Further Experiments on Psychic Force; Miss Florence Cooks Mediumship; Spirit-Forms; the Last of Katie King etc.

Sir William Crookes one of the worlds great experimental scientists and the Spirit Forces.

$70.00

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The Passenger Pigeon – by Joseph Quinn.

No date comb bound copied item published circa 1990, see below. This was its original form – self published by the author.

Subtitled “A Boys Story” but not a story for Boys, in fact a compilation of the writings of the author, many of them, published in Bird World … and all about the demise of the Passenger Pigeon.

We learn that the last pigeon a female was given the name of Martha, after George Washington’s wife … the second last Passenger Pigeon, her brother, named George … naturally. We like this unusual work not just for its obvious rarity but the love of the writer for his subject. The Boys story is a reference to him finding his childhood scribbles about the subject matter.

96 pages in all, some images from the magazine that have not copied too well. Cream card covers.

A total of 20 separate articles, all of some length, published variously between 1982 and 1987.

Inserted on posh faux vellum paper is a poem written by the author in honour of the sadly retired bird; rather well penned and definitely moving.

Joseph Quinn – his life’s work on the Passenger Pigeon all in one place.

$40.00

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The Voyage of the “Scotia” – Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration in the Antarctic Seas By R.N. Rudmose Brown, J.H.H. Pirie and R.C. Mossman

A facsimile of the rare first published by Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh in 1906. This edition by ANU, Canberra in 1978.

The original small quarto this octavo, 375 pages with numerous illustrations and a chart of the track of the Scotia; a map of Laurie Island South Orkneys and a large folding chart at the rear … Bathymetrical Survey of the South Atlantic Ocean and the Weddell Sea. A fine copy. The piper on the front is naturalist Burn Murdoch … the first person to play the bagpipes on the Antarctic … and also in the Arctic … quiet an achievement.

With an additional forward by Sir George Deacon which adds greatly to our understanding of the expedition leader William Spiers Bruce and his colleagues who were joint authors of this account

William Spiers Bruce (1867-1921) was born in Edinburgh and was Scotland’s greatest polar scientist and oceanographer. His greatest accomplishment is recorded in this account, leading the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-1904) to the South Orkney Islands and the Weddell Sea, where they conducted the first oceanographic explorations and discovered the northern part of the Caird Coast. They established the first permanent weather station in the Antarctic. Bruce would not write the popular account of the expedition so it fell to his three lieutenants to write this much admired work.

Bruce had previously been on the Dundee Whaling Expedition (1892) having given up medical studies to participate. In between he participated in Arctic Voyages to Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land. He wanted to joined Scott’s Discovery Expedition but it is said that he fell out with Markham and therefore organised his own Scottish expedition. He was a good friend of Mawson and provided gear towards Mawson’s later expedition.

The Scottish expedition, an early one with significant achievements, often overlooked.

$140.00

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Australian Eastern Shovelnose Ray – by Shaw & Nodder – 1791

Very early copper engraved hand coloured engraving of the Australian Eastern Shovelnose Ray (Aptychoterma Rostrata) which you can find along the coast from Newcastle in NSW to the Far North in Queensland, more prevalent around the Barrier Reef. Very good condition original 18thC colouring.

A medium sized ray with a long flattened triangular snout, wedge shaped disk and shark like tail. Sexually dimorphic dentition – the males have elongated carps on their anterior teeth that allow them to grip the female during mating … ouch.

George Shaw oversaw the Natural History Department at the British Museum. Nodder was a natural history artist and worked for Banks on his Florilegium.

Price unframed $90.00 or $190.00 framed in Voyager Natural History style.

Very early Australian Fish Engraving

$90.00

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Bronze Plaque Swedish Polar Explorer Otto Nordenskiöld by Austrian Artist Hugo Taglang – 1905

Produced to commemorate the Antarctic achievements of Swedish explorer Otto Nordenskiöld (1869-1928) who led a Heroic Era expedition to the Antarctic in 1901-1904. A fine image of the man decked out in heavy polar furs.

Nordenskiold arrived in the Antarctic in 1901 and wintered on Snow Hill Island. Unfortunately, their ship the ‘Antarctica” got trapped in ice and sank in 1903. His back up Larsen eventually met up with the stranded team but was unable to get them away. They were eventually rescued by the Uruguayan Navy. Despite all this their visit was hailed a scientific success as they explored and researched much of Graham Land.

Nordenskiöld was made Professor of Geography at Gothenburg University in 1905 the same year this commemorative was struck. He later went on to explore northern Greenland and in the 1920’s certain parts of South America. He was killed by a bus in Gothenburg crossing the road.

80mm by 57mm weighing 170gm. The artist medallist Hugo Taglang (1874-1944) was born in Vienna. An example of this item is shown in the National Maritime Museum Collection, London ID MEC 2149.

Otto Nordenskiöld an unusual Antarctic commemorative
.

$180.00

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Precognition and Human Survival – Drayton Thomas.

Researches in The Phenomena of Spiritualism – William Crookes FRS. [Additions Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] – 1926

The Passenger Pigeon – by Joseph Quinn.

The Voyage of the “Scotia” – Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration in the Antarctic Seas By R.N. Rudmose Brown, J.H.H. Pirie and R.C. Mossman

Australian Eastern Shovelnose Ray – by Shaw & Nodder – 1791

Bronze Plaque Swedish Polar Explorer Otto Nordenskiöld by Austrian Artist Hugo Taglang – 1905

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