Rare Book Hub - Rare Books, Book Auctions, Antiquarian Book Collecting

Auction Reports

Peter Arnold

Auction Info

Auction Name: John Alexander Collection - Australia before European Settlement and Natural History
Auction Date: 07/19/2025 - 07/19/2025
Sale Number: #71925
Total Lots: 168
Sold Lots: 110
Lots Sold: 65.48%
Unsold Lots: 58

Total Sales (AUD): 1,211,480.00
Low Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD): 680,900.00
High Estimate of Lots Sold (AUD): 902,200.00
Low Estimate of All Lots (AUD): 1,253,650.00
High Estimate of All Lots (AUD): 1,635,800.00
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
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
54	LABILLARDIERE, Jacques J.H.	Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen.	1804-06.	AUD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00	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
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
63	MATHEWS, Gregory M.	The birds of Australia.	1910-27.	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
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
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
4	[BOTANY BAY].	The London Chronicle.	1786-97.	AUD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00	AUD 17,780.00

View Full Auction Details

Back

Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
Sotheby's
Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
Available for Immediate Purchase

Sotheby’s: Ian Fleming. Casino Royale, London, 1953. First edition, first printing. $58,610.

Sotheby’s: A.A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard. Winnie The Pooh, United Kingdom, 1926. First UK edition. $17,580.

Sotheby’s: Ernest Hemingway. Three Stories And Ten Poems, [Paris], (1923). First edition of Hemingway’s first published book. $75,000.

Sotheby's
Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
Available for Immediate Purchase

Sotheby’s: L. Frank Baum. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, 1900. First edition. $27,500.

Sotheby’s: Man Ray. Photographs By Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, Hartford, 1934. $7,860.

Sotheby’s: Thomas Pennant. Zoologia Britannica, Augsburg, 1771. $49,125.