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Le Condamne a Mort
Jean Genet
Fresnes: , 1942.First edition, first printing, of Genet’s first publication. Written while in prison for book theft and privately printed in 1942, Le Condamne a Mort [The Man Sentenced to Death], is a hallucinatory homoerotic homage to another prisoner, Maurice Pilorge, a beautiful young man guillotined for murder in 1939. Appearing in white and pink wrapper variants without priority, this copy in white, and containing numerous manuscript corrections by the author.
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The Littlewood Press
Katherine N. Simitian
Stoke-on-Trent: The Lytlewode Press, 2007.Being a monograph dealing with the development of an Australian private press featuring eighty-nine etchings printed in the atelier of The Press. A short history of the Littlewood Press from 1996 to 2007 featuring original etchings printed at the Press editioned from its published works and commissioned artists including Sir Lionel Lindsay, Norman Lindsay, Derham Groves, Allan Jordan, Trish Hart, Tony Irving, Pro Hart, Andrew Sibley, Caitlin Littlewood, Robbie Harmsworth, Peter Jones, Marc Severin, and Leslie Tarrant. Bound in stingray, likely the first Australian publication using this skin, the natural white star of the skin forming a decorative emblem to the spine. The idea for this book originated in 1996 when the publisher undertook to print ten additional copies of every etching printed at the press with the intention of creating a history volume at a later date. A number of the etchings are ex libris bookplates. One of the finest Australian art publications, limited to just 10 copies, signed and numbered by the author and the publisher, 5 of which are housed in Australian institutions. This copy is number 10 and includes the original prospectus, The History of The Littlewood Press, featuring an additional Trish Hart etching and signed by the publisher, Robert Littlewood. Issued with 81 of the 89 listed etchings, and with 4 of the Pro Hart etchings supplied twice, making for a total of 85 etchings and photographic portrait of the publisher. The plates not included as per the checklist are: 10. Trish Hart: Nesting Gull; 34. Tony Irving: The Old Kiosk [Black]; 37. Tony Irving: Home Alone [Black]; 39. Tony Irving: Ramsen Place; 40. Tony Irving: Drewery Lane; 42. Tony Irving: Hosier Lane; 43. Tony Irving: Waratah Place; 44. Tony Irving: China Town. The four Pro Hart plates that are included in duplicate are: 45. Singers at the Southern Cross Hotel; 46. Miner’s Kids; 47. Yabbie Picnic; 48. Gethsemane. The plates not included do not appear to have been removed, but as in true Private Press fashion, the difference in actual issue to the stated intention differing as per the whim, requirement, or temperament of the publisher.
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New York Nowhere: Meditations and Celebrations, Neurology Ward, The New York Hospital
Geoffrey Dutton; John Olsen
Melbourne: The Lytlewode Press, 1998.One of 30 deluxe copies from the total edition of 175 numbered copies signed by John Olsen and Robert Littlewood containing ten original signed etchings by John Olsen. The deluxe issue bound in brown kangaroo leather by Friedhelm Pohlmann also contains a tipped in sheet of original manuscript by the poet, ten original photographs of the artist and the poet signed by the publisher, five pieces of typescript correspondence hand signed by the publisher, 2 additional unsigned Olsen etchings, and an envelope containing a CD of Dutton reciting his poem. The recording of the CD made only weeks before Dutton’s death. New York Nowhere was Dutton’s last literary work, reflecting on the poet’s stroke and recovery in a New York hospital. Also included is the original prospectus and The Australian Magazine Dec 12-13, 1998 with the cover story on this work.
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Psychedelic Press (Complete Set, 40 Volumes)
Robert Dickens; Nikki Wyrd
London: Psychedelic Press, 2012-2023.A complete run of the psychedelic studies journal Psychedelic Press, early issues also titled psypressUK, and billed as an Anthology of Pharmacography. Comprising 40 issues published between 2012 and 2023 edited by Robert Dickins and Nikki Wyrd, together containing hundreds of papers on the history, literature, philosophy, and culture of psychoactive plants and substances. Features contributions by Andy Roberts, David Graham Scott, Reverend Nemu, Martin W. Ball, Nikita Petrov, Are Thoresen, David Nickels, Mike Crowley, Ben Sessa, Havelock Ellis, Julian Vayne, LiZ Elliot, Mike Jay, Roger Keen, Henrik Dahl, Thomas Hatsis, James W. Jesso, Ross Heaven, Peter Sjostedt-H, Stanislav Grof, Graham St John, James Oroc, Rick Strassman, and many others.
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The World of Homosexuals
Shakuntala Devi
New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1977.Considered the first published academic study of homosexuality in India, though in the introduction Devi states it is “the work of a lay person for lay people”. The World of Homosexuals begins with a lengthy interview with a closeted homosexual and ends with a strong call for decriminalisation of homosexuality, “nothing less than full and complete acceptance will serve–not tolerance and not sympathy. By our attitudes and our actions we must make it possible for homosexuals to come out of hiding, to live their lives secure in their right to be themselves.” Shakuntala Devi (1929-2013) was an Indian mental calculator and writer, popularly known as the ‘Human Computer’ for her Guinness World Record holding speed arithmetic skills. In a documentary Devi claimed that she wrote the book as a result of her marriage to a gay man, though this claim was later refuted by her daughter and son in law, stating that Devi likely just said it as a good selling point, and perhaps also as a petty swipe at her ex-husband. Regardless of intention or spin, the book is an important and scarce source of latter 20th century Indian LGBTQ+ perspectives and history.
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Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the English
[William Alexander]
London: John Murray, 1814.50 persons from across early 19th century English society are depicted in fine hand-coloured costume plates dated 1813, each accompanied by a detailed descriptive text. This copy in a signed Zaehnsdorf binding and with the bookplate of Ada Thatcher Huntzinger
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[ILLUMINATED] Poems by Carolyn Tebbetts
Carolyn Tebbetts; Elizabeth Mott Chesbrough?
: Elizabeth Mott Chesbrough?, 1910.Poems by Carolyn Tebbets and one by John Banister Tabb, in manuscript with ornate watercolour borders. An inscription on a front flyleaf notes: “Virginia Tebbetts June 19, 1910. With love of Elizabeth Mott Chesbrough” designating the likely artist as Elizabeth, though this is uncertain. An additional watercolour with a poem in french is laid in. Housed in decorative handmade cloth wrappers with an original drawing of a pelican standing under a tree by the waterside.
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[ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT] From the Bhagavdgita, Fechner, etc.
Ernest Yarrow Jones
[England]: Ernest Yarrow Jones, No date.12 pages of 20th century illuminated manuscript bound in hand painted wrappers by the English artist Ernest Yarrow Jones (1872-1951), as identified by a laid in note recording the booklet as a gift from the artist to Jessie [Gilbert]. The text comprises short extracts from the Bhagavdgita and Gustav Fechner’s On Life After Death illustrated with numerous detailed initials and miniature paintings.
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A Portfolio by Howard Chaykin Illustrating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet
Howard Chaykin
Denver: Middle Earth, 1977.Portfolio by American comic book artist Howard Chaykin, the first plate signed and numbered by him and with a COA signed by the publisher. Edition of 1,000 numbered copies.
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MykoLibri: Die Bibliothek der Pilzbucher (with Addenda, 2 Volumes)
Christian Volbracht
Hamburg: Christian Volbracht, 2006-2017.Detailed bibliography of mushroom books with thousands of bibliographic records of mycological literature from the 15th to the 20th century. One of the 750 standard edition, signed and numbered with Coprinus ink after the recipe by Pierre Bulliard. Includes the supplementary volume published in 2017 and the 8 page English translation of the introduction, glossary, and advice to the reader.
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Handbook of Australian Fungi
M. C. Cooke
London: Williams and Norgate for the Departments of Agriculture in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Hobarton, 1892.The first monograph on Australian fungi by English botanist and mycologist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke (1825-1914). Containing descriptions of 2079 species of macrofungi, microfungi, and slime moulds (or myxomycetes), of which 377 figures are illustrated across 36 plates. The samples which the handbook are based on were supplied by Ferdinand von Muller, Flora Martin, F. M. Bailey, Sven Berggren, and others, and shipped to Cooke in England. This distance limited the accuracy of the work, nevertheless, as the first volume devoted to the subject its historical import cannot be understated and remains a key work in any Australian mushroom collection.
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Wine and Wine Countries; A Record and Manual for Wine Merchants and Wine Consumers
Charles Tovey
London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1862.On wine and related beverages around the world, including a section on the burgeoning Australian winemaking trade. This copy with the bookplate of Australian winemaker Max Lake.
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A Research on the Pines of Australia
Richard T. Baker; Henry G. Smith
Sydney: Technological Museum, 1910.Technical Education Series, No. 16. Technological Museum, New South Wales.
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My Fourth Tour in Western Australia
Albert F. Calvert
London: William Heinemann, 1897.The first edition of Calvert’s fourth tour of Western Australia. An early travelogue with hundreds of illustrations by Walker Hodgson, from photographs, and with a folding colour map showing the gold field regions. FERGUSON 7823.
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A General Abridgment of Law and Equity (30 Volumes)
Charles Viner
London and Dublin: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, T. Payment, E. and R. Brooke, T. Whieldon and J. Butterworth; and L. White, 1791-1806.Alphabetically Digested Under Proper Titles; With Notes and References to the Whole. The Second Edition in 24 volumes with a considerably enlarged index, and with the 6 volume supplement, An Abridgment of the Modern Determinations in the Courts of Law and Equity .. By Several Gentlemen in the respective branches of the law (London: A. Strahan, 1799-1806). English jurist Charles Viner (1678-1756) devoted most of his life to the compilation of this work, being an extensive compendium of legal lore descended from Rolle’s Abridgment. “[T]he most voluminous production of any single individual in the whole bibliography of the Common Law. Whatever is to be found in the old Abridgments, or in all printed and several MS. Reports anterior to Geo. III., Mr. Viner has translated, abridged, remodelled, and introduced or referred to in his work.” (J. G. Marvin, Legal Bibliography, or a thesaurus of American, English, Irish and Scotch law books: together with some continental treatises)
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Queensland Law Gazette, Vol. 1, No. 1-4, 1930-31
L. Brown; W. Elson-Green; S. T. Halpin
Brisbane: Queensland Law Students’ Association, 1930-31.The first 4 numbers of the QLD Law Gazette being the entirety of volume 1, bound in 1 volume, with 3 page index at rear. Ownership stamp and signature of Rupert Beirne, Toowoomba, son of solicitor and first native-born Mayor of Toowomba, B. J. Beirne, and with a plate depicting Chief Justice Adrian Knox to the front pastedown
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The Law of Sinai, and Its Appointed Times
Moses Angel
London: William Tegg & Co., 1858.Headmaster of the Jewish Free School, London, Moses Angel was a significant figure in 19th century Anglo-Jewish religious and secular education, ‘The Law of Sinai, and Its Appointed Times’ aimed to promote better understanding between Jewish and Christian peoples. This copy with the bookplate of Australian rabbi Leib Aisack Falk, and the binder’s ticket of Westley’s & Co., London.
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The State of Religion and Education in New South Wales
William Westbrooke Burton
London: J. Cross and Simpkin and Marshall, 1840.This copy from the collection of Melbourne bibliophile Rollo Hammet, with his label, and the ownership signature of W. Champion Hackett. FERGUSON 2943.
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The Universal Family Bible: or a Complete Exposition and Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Containing the Sacred Text of the Old and New Testaments;
James Cookson
London: For the Author, and Sold by W. Nicoll, 1784.With the Apocyrypha at Large Illustrated with Notes and Observations, Theological, Critical, Moral, Historical, Practical, Chronological, and Explanatory. The first edition of the Rev. James Cookson’s folio Family Bible, illustrated with 30 engravings. At the time of publicatoin Cookson had recently become master of Churcher’s College, Petersfield. “He was of eccentric habits, and is said once to have announced in church, ‘I have forgotten my sermon, but I will read you a true account of the battle of Waterloo.’ In 1814 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.” (Dictionary of National Biography). This copy with the family ownership markings of the Robbins and then Gilbert families, the latter being a theatrical family, relatives to W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, then the Ripper, and finally McCarthy family, 1784-2010.
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Das Jahr der Seele
Stefan George; Ernest Briggs
Brisbane: Ernest Briggs, No date.Autograph transcription of German symbolist poet Stefan George’s 1897 work Das Jahr der Seele [The Year of the Soul] by Australian poet, broadcaster, and critic Ernest Briggs (1905-1967). The complete work has been copied in the original German, though the poem starting ‘Keins wie dein feines ohr’ has only been titled with a blank space left for the poem, and the final 9 poems from ‘Ob schwerer nebel in den waldern hangt’ to end have not been included, presumably only because Briggs ran out of room in the book. Penned during Briggs time at 4BK Brisbane sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s.