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Peter Arnold: John Alexander Collection - Australia before European Settlement and Natural History

Auction Reports


Auction Name	John Alexander Collection - Australia before European Settlement and Natural History	Total Sales (AUD)	1,211,478.40
Auction Date	July 19, 2025 - July 19, 2025	Low Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD)	680,900.00
Sale Number	#71925	High Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD)	902,200.00
Total Lots	168
Sold Lots	110	Low Estimate of All Lots (AUD)	1,253,650.00
% of Lots Sold	65.48%	High Estimate of All Lots (AUD)	1,635,800.00
Unsold Lots	58	Total Sales as a % of High Est.	74.06%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number	Author Name	Book Title	Year Published	Estimate	Actual Price
37	GOULD, John.	The birds of Australia and the adjacent islands.	1837-38.	AUD 80,000.00 - 100,000.00	AUD 101,600.00
58	LEWIN, John William.	A natural history of the birds of New South Wales. Collected, engraved and faithfully painted after nature.	1822	AUD 40,000.00 - 50,000.00	AUD 88,900.00
54	LABILLARDIERE, Jacques J.H.	Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen.	1804-06.	AUD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00	AUD 58,420.00
78	SMITH, James. Edward.	A specimen of the botany of New Holland. The figures by James Sowerby.	1793 [-95.	AUD 40,000.00 - 50,000.00	AUD 58,420.00
160	[WATTLE].	Watercolour drawing of the Sydney Golden Wattle (Acacia longifolia),		AUD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00	AUD 46,990.00
88	VENTENAT, Etienne Pierre.	Description des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivees dans le jardin de J.M. Cels.	1800-03.	AUD 20,000.00 - 25,000.00	AUD 45,720.00
15	CARBONI, Raffaello.	Sit nomen Domini benedictum. The Eureka Stockade: the consequence of some pirates wanting on quarter-deck a rebellion.	1855	AUD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00	AUD 43,180.00
149	SHACKLETON, Ernest.	The heart of the Antarctic. Being the story of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909.	1909	AUD 10,000.00 - 12,000.00	AUD 38,100.00
46	JUKES, Joseph Beete.	A sketch of the physical structure of Australia so far as it is present known.	1850	AUD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00	AUD 30,480.00
77	SHAW, George and NODDER, Frederick.	The naturalist's miscellany, or coloured figures of natural objects, drawn and described immediately from nature. Volume 1[- 11].	1789-1800.	AUD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 30,480.00
63	MATHEWS, Gregory M.	The birds of Australia.	1910-27.	AUD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00	AUD 27,940.00
70	PARKINSON, Sydney.	A journal of a voyage to the South Seas in His Majesty's Ship Endeavour .	1784	AUD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00	AUD 27,940.00
32	[FOIGNY, Gabriel de].	A new discovery of Terra Incognita Australis, or the southern world, by James Sadeur, a Frenchman, who, being cast there by a shipwrack, lived thirty-five years in that country, and gives a particular description of the manners, customs, religion, laws, s	1693	AUD 12,000.00 - 15,000.00	AUD 25,400.00
27	DIGGLES, Silvester.	Companion to Gould's handbook; or, a synopsis of the birds of Australia.	1877	AUD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00	AUD 24,130.00
141		THE PORT PHILLIP SEPARATION MERCHANTS' AND SETTLERS' ALMANAC, Diary and Directory for Melbourne and the District of Port Phillip. 1846	1845	AUD 5,000.00 - 6,000.00	AUD 24,130.00
57	LEWIN, John William.	A natural history of the lepidopterous insects of New South Wales, collected, engraved and faithfully painted after nature.	1822	AUD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00	AUD 20,955.00
4	[BOTANY BAY].	The London Chronicle.	1786-97.	AUD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 17,780.00
79	SMITH, James Edward.	Exotic botany: consisting of coloured figures, and scientific descriptions, of such new, beautiful, or rare plants as are worthy of cultivation in the gardens of Britain.	1804-[08.	AUD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00	AUD 17,780.00
145	ROTHSCHILD, Lionel Walter.	Extinct birds.	1907	AUD 8,000.00 - 10,000.00	AUD 17,780.00
161	WEST, Absalom, publisher.	View of part of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales. Taken from Dawes's Point.	1812 [but 1813.	AUD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 17,780.00
28	DUDLEY, Sir Robert.	Carta particolare della costa Australe scoperta dall' Olandesi.	1646	AUD 14,000.00 - 16,000.00	AUD 17,145.00
40	[HALL, Joseph].	The discovery of a new world, or a discovery of the South Indies hitherto unknowne.	1609	AUD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 17,145.00
33	FORSTER, George.	A voyage round the world in His Majesty's Britannic Sloop Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5.	1777	AUD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00	AUD 16,510.00
68	MURRAY, Amelia, Lady Hammond.	Album of delicate natural history watercolours on vellum, circa 1820		AUD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00	AUD 16,510.00
129	HOWE, George, compiler and printer.	New South Wales Pocket Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1816.	1815	AUD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00	AUD 16,510.00

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