Antiquarian Book Auction Preview
Rachel Littlewood previews the exciting line up of antiquarian books, maps and other
items that are being offered online and in the salerooms in Exeter on Wednesday,
18th March 2020.
Voyage To the Pacific Ocean (BK23/309) by Captain James Cook is being offered in
our Books, Maps and Prints Auction starting on 18th March
2020 at our salerooms in Exeter, Devon.
The Antiquarian Book Auction on 18th March 2020 includes two important sets of Captain
Cook's Voyages, which were published near contemporaneously with the two Voyages.
One set covers Cook's second voyage being 'A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and
Round the World' (BK23/308) in 2 volumes, the third edition in quarto, published
in 1779 (the first edition being published in 1777). The pre-sale estimate for these
two volumes is £800-£1,200.
The other set deals with his third Voyage titled 'Voyage to the Pacific Ocean… Discoveries
in the Northern Hemisphere' (BK23/309), in three quarto volumes. This is the second
edition published in 1785 (the first edition being one year earlier). This set also
includes the large atlas folio volume with maps, plates and charts and is being
offered with an estimate of £4,000-£6,000.
The three great voyages of Captain Cook are among the most important travel books
ever published.
Also included in the travel and topography section of this auction is a rare copy
of William Bligh's 'A Voyage to the South Sea, undertaken by Command of his Majesty,
for the purpose of conveying the bread fruit tree to the West-Indies, in His Majesty’s
Ship the Bounty ...' (BK23/295). Bligh had been on Captain Cook's third voyage as
master of the Resolution. Complete with all the plates and charts, but with its
covers detached, it is the first edition of the official account of the Bounty expedition.
It provides a rare insight into one of the most remarkable incidents in British
Naval history.
The account was taken from Bligh's own diaries, edited and seen to press by James
Burney, under the direction of Sir John Banks. The estimate is £750-£1,000.
In the Natural History section of the sale, along with several other fine books
on various aspects of natural history is also entered a magnificent 36 volume first
edition set of Sowerby's English Botany (BK23/414). Published between 1790-1814,
this monumental work is lavishly illustrated with an incredible 2,592 original hand
coloured plates. For the purest, they are on beautiful uncut laid paper, the perfect
state for the serious collector and are expected to realise £800-£1,200.
Children's and Illustrated books and ephemera are well represented too. John Wallis
was one of the early makers of Jig-Saw puzzles. He worked with his son Edward in
Skinner Street, Snow Hill, publishing maps, prints, toys and dissecting children's
puzzles. In this sale, there is a rare piece of ephemera, being a single sheet printed
with the alphabet (BK23/47), in original hand colouring using vibrant watercolours.
Naïve in style, it depicts children at work and play. Bearing the imprint of Edward
Wallis, it is possible that this print was intended to be used in a pre-cut start
as a jigsaw puzzle. The pre-sale estimate is £60-£80.
There is always an interesting selection of individual antique maps in the antiquarian
book auctions and this sale is no exception with some fine early maps of Crete,
Speede maps of Devon, Buckinghamshire and an additional collection of eighteen uncoloured
Speed maps of various counties. However in this auction, of even more interest,
are four complete and scarce atlases. One of particular note is R Montgomery Martin's
Tallis' Illustrated Atlas (BK23/509), folio with 79 highly finished maps with vignette
views and decorative borders, circa 1860s, which is expected to realise between
£1,000 and £1,500.
And finally, we must not forget the Mughal paintings (BK23/455) consisting of a
56 page manuscript, illustrated with nine gouache paintings with bodycolour on paper,
heightened
with gold and white, decorated borders. The paintings would appear to be of scenes
from the court. Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting confined
to miniatures either as bool illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums.
It emerged from Persian miniature painting, itself partly of Chinese origin and
developed in the court of the Mughal Empire of the 16th to 18th Centuries. Bids
of £1,000-£1,500 are invited.
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Antiquarian Book Auction
Social Bookmarks
Please click the following links to flag this article to other people on the Internet.