Product Categories
- Bookends
- Curiosities
- Fashion
-
Fiction
- 19th Century and Prior Classics
- 20th Century Classics
- Antiquarian
- Arthurian Legends - Malory etc
- Australian Rare
- Becke
- Biggles - Captain W.E. Johns
- Bronte Sisters
- Bruce
- Calder Erskine
- Carey Peter
- Chandler Raymond
- Childrens
- Christie Agatha
- Classics
- comedy and the like
- Conrad Joseph
- Crime of the Fictional Variety
- Deco Period Collectables
- Defoe Daniel
- Dinesen Isak (Blixen Karen)
- Du Maurier - George
- du Maurier Daphne
- Erotic and exotic
- Fantasy
- Faulkner William
- Fictional Travel and Exploration
- Film and Theatre
- Fine Bindings
- First Edition or First of Type
- Fitzgerald, F Scott
- Fleming, Ian (James Bond 007)
- Forester C. S.
- French Language
- French Language or translation from or about the French
- Gibbs
- Gordon Richard
- Greek etc
- Greene Graham
- Hardy Frank
- Hemingway Ernest
- Herbert Xavier
- Humour
- Huxley Aldous
- Idriess
- Illustrated Works
- Ion
- John (Rumpole)
- Le Carre John
- Lindsay Norman
- Louis
- Mary Grant
- May
- Mortimer
- Romance to Remember
- Spanish Classic or translation from Spanish
- Steinbeck John
- Stevenson Robert Louis
- Stow Randolph
- Swift Jonathan
- Tolkien J.R.R.
- Updike John
- Upfield Arthur
- Ustinov Peter
- Verne Jules
- Villiers Alan
- Wallace Edgar
- West Rebecca
- Wheatley Dennis
- White Patrick
- Williams Tennessee
- Wodeouse P.G.
- Latin
- Lawrence D.H.
- Charteris, Leslie - (The Saint)
- Lewis Sinclair
- Macleod
- Malouf David
- Maugham Somerset
- Monsarrat Nicholas
- Murdoch Iris
- Nobel Prize winning Authors
- O'Harris Pixie
- Pictorial Covers
- Poetry and Plays and Music Scores
- Private Press
- Rider Haggard H.
- Science Fiction
- Simenon Georges
- Southall Ivan
- Manuscripts
- Maps
- Medals
- Mortimer John (Rumploe)
-
Non-fiction
- Aboriginal
- Africa
- Agriculture
- Ancient History / Classics
- Antarctic, Arctic, Polar
- Anthropology
- Antiquarian
- Archaeology
- Architecture
- Art
- Arthurian Legends - Malory etc
- Asia
- Astronomy
- Australian Coastal Exploration and Maritime
- Australian Inland Exploration
- Australiana
- Aviation Including Airships
- Banking and Commerce
- Biography/ autobiography
- Books on books
- Bounty / Pitcairn
- Business
- Canada
- Cartography
- Chess, Cards, Boards Games etc
- Classical History
- Climate Change
- Convicts, transporation etc
- Cook, James
- Cookery and other delights
- Crime of the True Variety
- Cycling
- Dutch Exploration and other things Dutch
- Economics and Business Affairs
- Egypt
- Engineering
- English History
- Esoteric
- Espionage
- Exploration
- Fine Bindings
- Fishing
- French Language translations or about the French
- Heraldry
- Horology / watch and clock history
- Horses
- Idriess, Ion
- Ilustrated
- India
- Japan
- Law
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Literature (Go to Fiction)
- Maritime
- Medical, Medical History and Medical Science
- Middle East
- Military and Naval - pre 20th Century
- Mining and Geology
- Mountaineering
- Music
- Natural History
- Naval - Military
- Naval - Military - Pre-20th Century
- New South Wales
- New Zealand
- Norfolk Island
- North America
- Northern Territory
- Pacific Islands
- Papua New Guinea
- Politics
- Queensland
- Railways
- Religion
- Royal Geographical Society Journals and Similar Journals
- Science Fiction (See Literature)
- Science including Natural Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medical Sciences etc
- Scotland
- Shipwrecks
- South America
- South Australia
- Spiritualism , Mesmerism, Psychical Reseach
- Sport - Including Horse Racing, Cricket , Rugby, Game Sports etc
- Surveying
- Tasmania and Van Diemens Land
- Travel & Voyages
- United States of America
- Victoria
- War & Escape - 20th Century
- Western Australia
- Yachting
- Royal Geographical Society Journals
- Maritime
- Mining/Geology
- Prestige Items
-
Prints and Photographs and Bookplates
- Architecture
- Australian Botanicals
- Australian Views
- Birds including Australian Birds
- Book-Plates
- Botanicals
- Cigarette and Trade Cards
- Cricket
- Egyptian
- Erotic / Classical
- French Fashion
- Great Exploratory Voyages
- Medical
- Military and Military Uniform
- Natural History
- Photographs
- Rare Postage Stamps
- Rugby etc
- Sports - Racing
- Queensland
- Scientific Instruments, Specimens, Books and Collectables
- Tasmania
Sailor and Beachcomber – Safroni-Middleton – First Edition 1915
Short Description
“Confessions of a Life at Sea, In Australia and amid the Islands of the Pacific”. Published by Grant Richards, London a first edition 1915.
Thick octavo, 304 pages private library stamp at front and rear of Thomas Kinmore of Cork, Ireland. Nicely illustrated with 23 images from photographs. Pretty good condition.
An unusual book starting with “I run away to sea” but finds himself stranded in Brisbane and then off to the bush before leaving for the South Sea Islands. The usual chapter on cannibalism with much time spent in Samoa and Fiji, then Tahiti (and the usual chapter on morals) and the Marquesan Queens and back to Samoa before returning to Australia. Lost in the bush and on to the Gold Fields and Coolgardie. References to the Bounty and of course R.L.S. And quite a bit of violin playing – see his biography below.
Written in an interesting somewhat casual style but packed with observation if not sometimes a bit puffed up.
The author George Arnold Haynes Safroni-Middleton (1873-1950), also known as Count Safroni, was a British Composer, violinist, harpist, writer and astronomer. Born in Kent he studied violin with Pablo de Sarasate and later played with the orchestra at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney. He toured Australia and explored Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia (and also obviously the Pacific). He composed “Imperial Echoes” in 1913 which for many years was the theme of "Radio Newsreel" on the BBC. Quite an odd chap.
In Australian and (mainly) in the Pacific - entertaining