Prestige Items

Bliss – Peter Carey – First Edition 1981

A first edition of Peter Carey’s first novel Bliss published by the University of Queensland Press in 1981. Also published that year by Faber in London and Harper in the New York. Our preferred edition the thoughtful Queensland Press.

Slightly larger octavo, 336 pages, with the unusual silvered dust jacket, just a little age to the top edge otherwise a very good copy.

Peter Carey argued by many as Australia’s best modern era writer. Born in Bacchus Marsh in the 1940’s, living at various placed throughout Australia the New York, London etc. Married a number of times such relationships feeding his unusual story lines. Before becoming a literary success he worked for many years in the advertising industry writing pretty good copy.

Unsurprisingly the protagonist of Bliss was an advertising executive Harry Joy. Harry dies from a heart attack but is brought back to life … as a consequence his view of what went on and what was around him changed. Life was Hell actually and it took meeting Honey to fix that. Bliss was received with great acclaim and won the Miles Franklin Award.

Carey went on to win the Miles Franklin award three times and is one of only five authors to have won the Booker Prize twice.

A First Edition of Peter Carey’s First Novel – the scarce Queensland Edition

$80.00

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Lake Victoria to Khartoum with Rifle and Camera – Captain F.A. Dickinson [Introduction by Winston Churchill] – First Edition 1910.

A rare book and one of the rarest books in the Churchill cannon. If you have a first edition of Churchill’s “My African Journey” then you are lucky and you will appreciate that this book by the guide of that event would make the perfect companion.

Published by John Lane (Bodley Head), London, 1910.. in the days when you spoke to John Lane. Thick octavo, 334 pages after preliminaries and before publishers catalogue. Well over a hundred illustrations from photographs [not included in the pagination]. Bound in unusual orange/ red cloth covered boards, gilt titles and embellishment, decorative lines. The covers are quite well faded especially to the spine and the odd mark, this is common for this binding. Otherwise internally very clean indeed, just a couple of light spots on the title.

Churchill in his introduction lavishes praise on Ricketts as a guide and organiser. The party walked/ travelled the whole Uganda and more, some 1,500 miles. Churchill did some of it on bicycle. A lot of bagging went on along the way – all very jolly. Churchill took them to Khartoum and enlivened the conversation with his first hand account of encounters during his various African military skirmishes.

Churchill in Africa – mutual admiration – Ricketts

$390.00

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First Class Polo – Tactics & Match Play – Brigadier-General R. L. Ricketts.

For those that have always wanted to understand polo beyond the general idea of horses, a mallet and a bamboo ball (well plastic now) this is the book. Get ahead become an expert and make the right calls at these posh events.

A fine copy of a super scarce book outlining the secrets of good polo play. Second edition, effectively self-published through Gale & Polden of Aldershot [British Military town] and London et, 1938.

Octavo, 48 pages and IX full pages plates of tactics guaranteed to win the play.

Ricketts played for the Alwar team in India circa 1900 and they won trophy after trophy – see the image of the frontispiece. They won the Indian Polo association Championship for several years and the Delhi Durbar without a single defeat scoring 117 goals against only 15.

Ricketts describes the “merciless hitting of the ordinary easy ball by the Maharajah, and the advantages of the golf drive trajectory which he imparted to it etc”.

Rickett’s motivation for the book is the fact that the Americans had more recently dominated the sport and to win back the advantage a quicker harder form of polo must be played. Bit like Bazball if you get that ..

Ricketts on Polo everything you need to know to beat the Yankees

$90.00

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Sarangi – Indian Stringed Instrument

The sarangi is a short necked bowed stringed instrument with a skin covered resonator. Carved from a single piece of wood. The playing strings typically gut and the numerous sympathetic strings from steel. The instrument is played predominantly in Northern India and also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The sound it produces is very emotional and can resemble the human voice with special techniques such as gamaks (shakes) and meends (sliding movements).

Its origins could be Persian the derivation of the name suggests that.

The sarangi has a box like shape with three hollow chambers .. the names of which translate to stomach, chest and brain. This good example is around the usual size (slightly bigger) at 67cm. the lower chamber is covered in parchment. There is a bridge made from bone, earlier they would have been ivory. The bridge is strong as it supports the pressure from the numerous metal sympathetic strings.

Nor really suitable for Overseas postage and will require a postage supplement in Australia dependent on buyers location. We are careful to pack well and obtain the most cost effect mailing.

Expand your musical horizons with a Sarangi.

$440.00

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Australia – Magic Lantern Slide Set – c1905.

Produced by W. Butcher & sons, London (1870-1906) under the brand name Primus. Sold as a set of eight in cardboard box with Lantern Lecture Reading notes. Complete.

Standard magic lantern glass size 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch. All images square with rounded corners, original black mounting tape along edges. Very bright colouring, super condition apart from a crack in one slide.

The slides comprise

Government House Melbourne
Sydney Harbour – Well before the bridge and heavily treed.
Gold Mining Past and Present
Sheep Shearing
Richmond River [Northern NSW]
In the Bush
A Kangaroo Hunt
Australian Aborigines

There is much more about these images than observed at first glance.

The image of aborigines includes an inset of a proud Murray River Warrior which is clearly derived from a photograph taken in 1880 by Samuel White Sweet. Resplendent in a possum skin coat holding a fighting waddy and decorated malcarra (shield) and string bag the subject cuts a proud figure. Maggs are currently selling a collection including the photograph – eye watering $.

The kangaroo hunt is rather gruesome particularly the practice of cutting the tendon.

The gold mining slide is super albeit cracked with an inset image of the old time cradle against the powerful mechanised image of Ballarat mines.

The accompanying words are fairly comprehensive and interesting but of the period so anti C’s beware.

Australia as it was seen over 100 years ago.

$270.00

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The Hunter Sketchbook. Birds & Flowers of New South Wales drawn on The Spot in 1788 89 & 90 By Captain John Hunter of the First Fleet.

A really rather beautiful and slightly strangely titled work.

We say strangely titled because we do not have to read far about the original sketchbook, (once owned by the great Rex Nan Kivell and now housed in the Australian National Library) to find that the sketches include fishes and people … and of New South Wales and also Norfolk and Lord Howe islands. Peeking at the reproductions of the sketches we can also see a kangaroo and a dolphin. What is really surprising is the rarity now of some of the birds he drew e.g. the Swift Parrot and we wonder where he saw that bird …

Captain Hunter, to be Governor Hunter, known as a skilled sketch artist through the illustrations in his sought after First Fleet journal .. but these images take one’s understanding and admiration to a whole new level.

No expense spared production limited to 500 copies and with a further 50 sets of unbound plates. Edited by John Calaby with assistance. Published in 1989. Quarto, x, 252 pages with 100 full page colour plates and other illustrations in the lengthy introductions. Bound in quarter calf, raised bands to spine, separate green leather title label, exotic marble paper covered boards, original removable glassine protector, silk ribbon release from original open slip cover. A fine copy.

A special edition from a unique work of historical significance – an Australian National Treasure.

$190.00

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Bliss – Peter Carey – First Edition 1981

Lake Victoria to Khartoum with Rifle and Camera – Captain F.A. Dickinson [Introduction by Winston Churchill] – First Edition 1910.

First Class Polo – Tactics & Match Play – Brigadier-General R. L. Ricketts.

Sarangi – Indian Stringed Instrument

Australia – Magic Lantern Slide Set – c1905.

The Hunter Sketchbook. Birds & Flowers of New South Wales drawn on The Spot in 1788 89 & 90 By Captain John Hunter of the First Fleet.

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