Biography/ autobiography

The Convict King (Jorgen Jorgenson) – James Francis Hogan – Rare Walch of Hobart issue 1891.

Rather scarce and no wonder given the paper wrappers. The long title worth detailing

The Convict King being The Romantic Life and Adventures of Jorgen Jorgenson who was for a time Monarch of Iceland, helped to Discover Bass Strait, was at the Founding of Hobart etc etc. and Closed His Extraordinary Career in the Hobart Hospital in 1845.

Published by J Walch & Sons, Tasmania. No date but 1891. Authority Ferguson 104889.

Interestingly for a book published by the famous Hobart printing firm – this book was actually printed by Kelly of London and Kingston on Thames, England.

Octavo, 235 pages, with advertisements for other contemporary Walch publications in the ends and on the back cover. Splitting a bit down the spine edge, now repaired and secured with acid free archival Japan paper.

Published as part of Walch’s Series of Books on Old Van Diemen’s Land – No 3. A very good copy despite any deficiencies given its rarity and obvious vulnerability.

The story of Jorgen Jorgenson is a full and strange one – at first hid life appears surely a fiction … but no this man was out for adventure and mixed with many who were making their own mark on the World and its History.

The Convict King a scarce edition for sure.

$180.00

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The James of George Town – Signed Copy – Graeme Broxham

Subtitled .. A colonial Maritime, Mercantile and family Correspondence 1813-1857.

Soft cover published by the Navarine Press as one of the historic Roebuck Society publications – number 56. Limited to 500 copies and this one signed by the Editor compiler.

All up 64 pages, with numerous relevant illustrations, map at rear. A total of 72 correspondences follow a lengthy historical introduction.

Captain Joseph James first operated out of Sydney from 1811. He then became the first merchant of George Town, Van Diemens Land in the year 1820. He died penniless in 1844 but his son Captain William James rebuilt the family fortunes.

Early Tasmanian History from the letters of the seafaring James’s of George Town.

$25.00

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My Memoirs Laced with East Coast Tales of Van Diemens Land [Tasmania] – Edward Shaw.

A super memoir. Self published in the year 2000 by the author. Larger format softcover 137 pages. A very good near fine copy. Frontispiece facsimile map of 1825 by Souter. Images from original photographs and sketches throughout.

A bit of an old fashioned rendition about folks and what they got up to and who was related to who and did what. Having said that you cannot but get a warm feeling for Edward Shaw by the time you finish and the East Coast of Tasmania feels more like home as it should be.

East Coast of Tasmania and who was who and a beautiful place

$25.00

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Green Hills of Africa – Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway’s Green Hills was first published in 1936. This is a 1962 edition of the desirable Jonathan Cape format.

Octavo, 284 pages with the super decorative illustrations by Edward Shenton. Green cloth covered boards with “game’ gilt design to front. Top edge stained green as required of this edition. A few dust jacket light chips and age otherwise a very copy of a hard to find item.

A piece of non-fiction regarding Hemingway’s safari to Africa in December 1933 with his wife Pauline. First criticised by reviewers and then lauded as the best African safari book ever written … Hemingway never forgave them as he thought they had killed the book.

Set in Tanzania and up the Great Rift Valley. Hemingway describes the lure of the hunt, the landscape and beauty of the wilderness like never before. Intermingled with conversations and views on writers and his writing. It is in this book that he set Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain as the greatest piece of American literature … but not without qualification.

Carries a special appreciation for “J P” i.e. Jackson Philip who was Philip Hope Percival who was his guide. Percival was the inspiration behind the character Robert Wilson in his later short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

Green Hills of Africa – true Hemingway

$70.00

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Martin Cash – Life After Bushranging – Maree Ring

A unusual item, an extended pamphlet really all about Tasmania’s favourite bushranger Martin Cash. Not so much his goings on in his early days of bushranging (although there is a good snippet of that) but more about his time in New Zealand and then later on return to Hobart.

Written from a sympathetic viewpoint, as often the case with Cash. We are not sure quite why that is the case. For sure he is supposed to have had a soft spot for women and we guess in return women had and still have a soft spot for him.

However, and it’s a big however … when in NZ he seemed to spend most of his time forming and running brothels (yes plural). In fact in the end he was given the big tip off to leave the country … forcing his return to Tasmania. His illicit activities paid him well and he was able to purchase a smallholding up the back of New Town … he spent most of his leisure time in the pubs of Salamanca … well don’t we all.

Self published Hobart in 1993. Softcover, stitched, 41 pages with some useful and relevant illustrations. We like the unpretentious writing of the researcher author. A fine copy.

Martin Cash – the final story – and an interesting one too.

Postage will be reduced on this item on final billing.

$20.00

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A Convict Story – The Lost Lives of Lyra and William Sykes – “These few lines” – Graham Seal

Published by ABC Books, Sydney in 2006. This book took twenty year of research in England and Australia a narrative based around fragments of the separated lives of Lyra and William Sykes.

Living in northern England, William Sykes was a poacher and during such an escapade he got into an altercation and killed the gamekeeper. His penalty was transportation to the Swan River in Western Australia.

Octavo, 234 pages, nicely illustrated with images of letters exchanges, journals and places relevant to both Myra and William. Fine condition.

Interesting convict story well researched, written and presented.

$20.00

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The Convict King (Jorgen Jorgenson) – James Francis Hogan – Rare Walch of Hobart issue 1891.

The James of George Town – Signed Copy – Graeme Broxham

My Memoirs Laced with East Coast Tales of Van Diemens Land [Tasmania] – Edward Shaw.

Green Hills of Africa – Ernest Hemingway

Martin Cash – Life After Bushranging – Maree Ring

A Convict Story – The Lost Lives of Lyra and William Sykes – “These few lines” – Graham Seal

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