Natural History Illustration from Rare Illustrated Books

Stuttgart: Ehlingen bei Stuttgart, 1898. Second Edition. Dr. von Ahles [1829 -1900] was a German professor in botany at Suttgart's Technical University from 1866 to 1896 when he became Rector of the University, retiring in 1899. Title translates as "Commonly distributed edible and noxious fungi with some microscopic enlargements and explanatory text for school and home use." Octavo, bound… Read more about this item

Paris: Noel aîné, 1827. A splendid collection of expressive coloured lithographs depicting the animals of the world. This attractive album includes the entire run of 41 consecutive separately-issued plates; at which point, despite the charm and quality of the scenes, the publisher seems to have closed the series, making this a rare collection, and all the more impressive given… Read more about this item

Tours: Alfred Mame et fils, 1893. The splendid first French edition, which puts the English edition of 1890 in the shade. It is scarce - and not recorded by Ferguson - although almost half of the book is devoted to the Australian section of the voyage. Lord and Lady Brassey made several cruises around the world in their yacht,… Read more about this item

Berlin: Carl Friedrich Amelang, 1821. A beautiful work for the education of the young. The fine large coloured plates in the atlas depict mammals (including the kangaroo), birds, amphibians, fish, and insects, as well as botany and minerals. The images were drawn from nature by Georg Bretzing, Ludwig Meyer, Muller and Weber, and engraved by Bretzing, Guimpel, Meno Haas,… Read more about this item

London: T. Nelson & Sons, 1937. A contribution based chiefly on a study of the Black-Headed Gull. "The Black-headed Gull owes its name to its hood. As the hood is brown, although it may seem black from a distance, the name is not happily chosen. It stresses, moreover, a feature that serves as identification mark in the breeding… Read more about this item

Denmark, 1880. Very good. Charming children's exercise book with engraved illustrated covers depicting a group of five kangaroos titled "Kaempekaenguru". This idyllic bushland scene, complete with a joey and its mother and two emus in the distance, comprises the entire rear cover of the booklet (a serene contrast to the front cover depicting a group of hyenas… Read more about this item

Houndsditch: Bishop & Co, 1830. First Edition. A delightful woodcut alphabet. Here are many favourites - the Fox, the Goose, and the Lamb - but where necessary, the publisher's evidently felt capable of stretching their young audience. Significantly, it includes a 'K' for Kangaroo, revealing how wide-spread and how quickly the appetite for exotic natural history from Australia and… Read more about this item

Paris: Martial Ardant freres, 1851. French natural history primer named after the great 18th century French naturalist, George-Louis Leclerc of Burgundy, later Compte de Buffon, listing man as the first animal to be examined (deemed the most interesting). Covers quadrupeds (mammals), birds, fish, insects and reptiles. With two pages dedicated to the kangaroo. Small octavo, bound in the original… Read more about this item

London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1878. Pattern book for interior designers: arresting album of plates depicting floral designs drawn from many sources, showcasing traditional patterns inspired by various sources such as medieval tapestry and Islamic mosque tiles alongside novel creations of the later nineteenth century. Frederick Hulme (1841-1909) was an artist and graphic designer who studied under Christopher… Read more about this item

Sydney: The Sunday Sun, 1946. Contains a variety of cartoons, including 'Bib and Bub' by May Gibbs (half page) and Bancks timeless Ginger Meggs (whole page). Eight page tabloid newspaper insert (305x380mm) printed in colour, a few marginal tears and chips but in remarkably good condition for an item of this age and nature (has not browned).

Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1921. Joyce Dennys. A collection of short nature tales that capture the spirit of the Australian bush. Deluxe edition with gilt-stamped spine and blue A&R device printed on endpapers. Home reviewed the new edition of Amy Mack's Bushland Stories in December 1921 and praised the 'entirely new illustrations in colour and black and white… Read more about this item

Paris: Henri Laurens, 1910. First Edition. Folio, full-page plates including four woodblocks in colour; marbled endpapers, contemporary cloth foxed, in lovely unmarked condition throughout. 'C'est sans doute par un effet de la mentalité particulière des Extrême-Orientaux que ~ le monde leur est apparu, non point comme un élément incomplet, soumis à leur orgueil par un créateur absolu, mais comme… Read more about this item

London: Cresset Press, 1928. Limited Edition. One of 550 numbered copies. 'The seventeenth century saw the production of many books of plant engravings, and of these the "Hortus Floridus [I]" of Crispin de Pass is generally acknowledged to be the masterpiece.' Preface, Eleanor Sinclair Rohde. Oblong octavo, etchings throughout; a very good copy in original morrocco-backed marbled boards,… Read more about this item

Sydney: The Sunday Sun, 1946. Contains a variety of cartoons, including 'Bib and Bub' by May Gibbs (half page) and Bancks timeless Ginger Meggs (whole page). Eight page tabloid newspaper insert (305x380mm) printed in colour, in excellent condition.

Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1922. 'Today these booklets are generally regarded as children's items, but in their day they were issued in individual envelopes and were intended to be used as enlarged greeting cards... their contribution to the Australian pictorial propaganda of the First World War was pervasive and amusing and remains perhaps the only such work to survive… Read more about this item

London: Paul Jerrard, 1852. First Edition. Mid-nineteenth century opulence: two elaborate Victorian plate books with plates of fruit and flowers complimenting verse, fully printed in gilt. Two folios in original cloth with large colour card onlay on front board and gilt floral motif on rear, 24 full-page chromolithographic plates each facing a matching gilt printed poem; cloth mildly browned… Read more about this item

London: Printed by the Ditchling Press for the Hand and Flower Press, 1949. First Edition. Being a book of common herbs with etchings by Betty Shaw Lawrence together with curious notes on their histories and uses for the furtherance of loveliness and love by Thomas Fassam. Edition of 260 numbered copies signed by Thomas Fassam. Small quarto, half brown… Read more about this item

Copenhagen: Rasmus Navers, 1930. Danish natural history primer featuring animals from Africa to Australia and beautifuly illustrated throughout with soft yet striking charcoal drawings. Folio, full-page black & white illustration throughout, 48 pages; light external wear yet still a fine copy.

Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1933. First Edition. OUTHWAITE, Ida Rentoul. Rare first edition with original dust jacket. Verse and illustration by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. A dramatic stylistic shift from her body of work up until this point, Ouhtwaite's "Bunch of Wild Flowers" follows in the tradition of Margaret Tarrant and Cicely Mary Baker's little books of poetry illustrated with… Read more about this item

Paris: Paul Dupont et L'Auteur, 1869. First Edition. The Crayfish: Manners, Reproduction, Education" by Pierre Carbonnier. Born in Bergerac in the Dordogne region of France in 1829, Pierre Carbonnier was a French scientist specialising in marine biology and exotic sea creatures. Carbonnier founded one the earliest aquariums in the world in Paris in 1850 and succeeded in… Read more about this item