Exploration

Trans-Himalaya: Discoveries and Adventures in Tibet – Two Vols – Sven Hedin – First Editions -1909

Published by MacMillan and Co, London first editions 1909. A third volume was added a few years later ….

Thick octavo volumes 436 pages and 441 pages with 388 illustrations from photographs and sketches by the author some in colour. Seven maps at end of Vol I and 3 colour fold out maps at end of Vol II. Top edge richly gilt. Original burgundy cloth covered boards with gilt decoration to front cover still bright. A little rubbed and a couple of areas of fading on the spine of Vol I and front board of Vol II. Other than that a very smart set very clean barely a mark inside and the maps free of damage.

Swedish explorer Sven Hedin (1865-1952), despite efforts to stop him, made his way “undercover” into Tibet and explored the southern and western regions. He claimed the discovery of major mountain systems and the sources of major rivers (Brahmaputra, Indus and Subtle) flowing east. He explored extensively around Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash and spent time in Shigatse where he interacted with Panchen Lama. A special Asian collectable.

Classic Travel account Sven Hedin in Tibet

$490.00

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The Big Game of Central and Western China – Harold Frank Wallace FRGS, RZS – First Edition 1913

Being an Account of a Journey from Shanghai to London Overland Across the Gobi Desert by Harold Frank Wallace.

A first edition published by John Murray, London in 1913. Royal octavo, 318 pages after preliminaries and including appendices and index.

Bound in original yellow cloth covered boards with decoration and facsimile signature of author to front. Top edge gilt. Some rubbing externally and a hint of glue in the front hinge. A very good copy with barely a mark internally. A sought after travel and hunting account written in a very readable style. Well illustrated with a frontispiece and 22 illustrations from drawings by the author (very talented) and thirty-eight illustrations from photographs.

In 1911 the author accompanied the experienced George Fenwick-Owen into the interior of China. Their primary objective was to secure a specimen of the Takin of which then little was known in the west, along with a collection of smaller animals for the British Museum. Their journey lasted precisely one year. The course of their journey had to be varied because of the outbreak of the Revolution. The book on the whole is well balanced towards a special travel account with excellent observations on the topography, the people, customs, manners, law etc the latter could not be more demonstrated by the sad image of the man caged for opium crimes.

Chapters include … the Call of the Red Gods; Shanghai; the Father of rivers [Yangste]; Hwa-Shan the Flower Mountain; Sian -Fu the Magnificent; Notes on caves and the Home of the Takin; Fensiang-Fu an inland town; Modern Rehoboam and His Capital; the Western Kanus; Rumours of war; On the Fringe of the Desert and Across the Desert. Animals sought include the aforementioned Takin … White-maned Serow; Roe deer; Wapiti; Przewalski’s Gazelle; Mongolian Gazelle etc.

The appendices make interesting reading with Field Measurements; Estimates of Expenses and Tables of Distances and Stages.

Central and Western China in 1911

$240.00

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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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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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Shackleton – His Antarctic Writings – Ralling – First edition 1983

Octavo, first edition 264 pages with endpaper maps and illustrations. A fine like new copy.

The editor Christopher Ralling wrote the script for the BBC series on the great man … as a result they published this superb book. With pertinent extracts from The Heart of the Antarctic and South and magnificently illustrated this makes a a special companion book for the Polar collector.

Shackleton well put together

$30.00

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Trans-Himalaya: Discoveries and Adventures in Tibet – Two Vols – Sven Hedin – First Editions -1909

The Big Game of Central and Western China – Harold Frank Wallace FRGS, RZS – First Edition 1913

The Journey of Burke and Wills – Max Colwell

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

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

Shackleton – His Antarctic Writings – Ralling – First edition 1983

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