Douglas Stewart Fine Books Pty Ltd

A LATE 18TH - EARLY 19TH CENTURY MANUSCRIPT CONTAINING 234 WATERCOLOUR DEPICTIONS OF MAMMALS OF THE WORLD. Natürliche Abbildungen der Saügenden, Vierfüßigen Thiere, geordnet und gemahlet von I.F.B. Klügman und gesamlet von P.F. Colye. I bis III Ordnung, Stralsund 1784. Small quarto (190 x 150 mm), full speckled calf; spine with raised bands and embossed title; later endpapers, 234 watercolours on individual leaves; each work numbered at upper right in red ink (bound in sequence from I – CCLV, thus several have been removed at some stage), some leaves loose. Many of the works are dated at lower right. The series, as stated on the title page, was commenced in 1784, and the latest date inscribed on any of the pages is 1813. The works appear to have been copied from existing publications of natural history and exploration. Each illustration has a manuscript caption, usually with scientific name. The sequence of categorisation of mammals has been deliberately chosen and the groupings are bound as follows: Examples of the human race from all known parts of the world – Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and the South Seas (including Australian Aborigines and a Maori woman after Parkinson), inhabitants of the New Hebrides and Tahiti (with a portrait of Omai), “extraordinary humans” such as albinos, giants, and the London Stachelschweinmensch (Porcupine Man); anthropological studies of skulls of different races; examples of other primates; lemurs; bats (including flying fox); sloths; anteaters (including echidna after Shaw & Nodder); armadillos; rhinoceri; elephants; seals; manatee; canines (domesticated and wild, including the Australian dingo); felines (domesticated and wild). The watercolours are in a fine state of preservation, uniformly clean and with vibrant colour, executed recto only. The manuscript was created by an obviously gifted amateur artist in Stralsund, a mediaeval trading port on the Baltic Sea, in the region formerly known as Pomerania. Although it has always had a German-speaking population and strong German civic and economic influence, Stralsund was actually under Swedish control from 1715-1807, when it was taken by Napoleon’s army. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it formally became part of Prussian Pomerania. This unique and extensive archive of watercolours is in a sense a wunderkammer of exotic specimens of natural history. Eighteenth century artworks depicting Australian Aborigines, whether copies or not, are very rarely offered for sale.

Lithograph measuring 670 x 495mm, framed. Signed by Brack and dated in pencil lower right, editioned lower left 10/25. Grishin catalogue: pr23. ‘In the process of simplification and through the use of a monochrome technique where “the meticulous execution make this lithograph almost indistinguishable from a drawing”, Brack has arrived at a stark and powerful statement’. -­‐ Sasha Grishin, The Art of John Brack, p.135, quoting Dr. Ursula Hoff. Collections: National Gallery of Australia (1/25)

Etching. 12 x 8 cm (plateline), old mount burn, signed and dated 'J.M. 1895' in image upper right, inscribed in pencil 'With J. Mather's comp[limen]ts to Mr. Grimwade - 7.95'.

Chromolithograph, 620 x 870 mm, laid down on acid free backing paper, a few very minor edge tears expertly repaired, loose manuscript label removed from verso: '23. Neuseeländer'. [Germany?] : s.n., [1880s]. A fine copy. This striking composition, well-preserved and retaining the subtle contrasts of its original palette of browns and greens, is highly reminiscent of the work of the German artist Gustav Mutzel, in particular his chromolithograph 'Eine Australierfamilie von Neu-Sudwales', [Berlin?] : s.n., [188-?], held in the collection of the National Library of Australia [nla.pic-an11009482]. The NLA chromolithograph by Mutzel has been heavily influenced by the tableau images of Aborigines of the Clarence River region of northern New South Wales, taken by the German-born photographer J.W. Lindt in Grafton in the early 1870s, as has indeed the chromolithograph we offer here. (See, in particular, Lindt's photograph taken in 1874, 'Portrait of an Aboriginal man and woman with hunting weapons posing with dead kangaroo', held in the collection of the State Library of Victoria [SLV H1486]). This present composition has, however, replaced the eerie sterility of Lindt's studio backdrop and props with the movement in the background scene of men carrying a canoe to the water's edge and the man on the right carrying the dead kangaroo. The man on the left is making fire and the woman at the centre is using a grinding stone. A woven bag hangs from the bound boughs behind them. In the foreground the artist has depicted an array of implements including a coolamon, shield, boomerang, woomera and barbed fishing spear. The label verso would seem to suggest that this chromolithograph was from a series of ethnological scenes printed in Germany - despite the clearly erroneous identification of the subjects as 'Neuseeländer'.

With three original woodcuts by Norman Lindsay. Sydney: Hand–press of J. Kirtley, 1923. Folio, quarter-lambskin over papered boards, dustjacket (a couple of small stains). A fine copy with three signed Norman Lindsay woodcuts. Limited to 210 copies, but not all were made up.

BURN, Henry (c. 1807 – 1884). # 799. Watercolour on paper, 250 x 395 mm, signed and dated lower left. Framed. Henry Burn was born in Birmingham, England in about 1807, and in the early part of his career exhibited at the Birmingham Society of Artists and at the Royal Academy. Burn sailed for Australia in late 1852, arriving in Melbourne on 30th January 1853. From the mid 1850s to the 1870s Burn painted across Melbourne, documenting the growth of the city and its rural surrounds which now form the inner suburbs. He often painted plein-air along the Yarra River, particularly the areas which today form the suburbs of South Yarra, Collingwood and Richmond. This scene of tranquility shows two small rowboats of fisherman in the act of landing a catch, while two other men bearing rods approach along the left bank. The river curls around a bend with a calm determination, with the occasional bended eucalyptus lining the shore, as Burns paints the Yarra River, life force of Melbourne, as providing nourishment to both man and nature. A fine and representative work by Henry Burn, of Melbourne’s river as a romantic idyll

Lithograph. 1905. 266 x 362mm (paper), printed in black, unsigned as issued, fine condition. Framed.

Lithograph on paper. 1973 21.5 x 24 cm (image) Edition: 75 Signed lower right Provenance: The Estate of the late Beryl Whiteley

EDWARDS, Mary (c 1894 - c 1988) # 1267 Handpainted silk. Measures 201 x 190 cm, with long silk tassels extending on all sides. Signed and dated 1926. An unique and vivid artwork from the art deco period in Sydney. Exhibited : 'Bush curiozities : flora and fauna in art and design'. An exhibition to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Shepparton Art Gallery's Collection. October, 1986. Catalogue number 138.

Circa 1840. Watercolour on card, measuring 150 x 180mm, signed in ink lower right, framed. Augusta Innes Withers (1792 – 1869) was one of the most accomplished natural history artists of her time. Her illustrations, which garnered much critical acclaim from contemporary critics, appeared in numerous publications, including Benjamin Maund’s Botanic Gardens (1826), The Botanist (1836 – 42), James Bateman's Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala (1837-41), the Illustrated Bouquet (1857-63) and the Transactions of the Royal Horticultural Society. She was appointed Flower Painter in Ordinary to Queen Adelaide in 1833 and was also a member of the Society of Lady Artists. This is a rare work of an Australian subject, a Red-Capped Robin, noteworthy for its fine detail and accuracy.

MACKENZIE, Kenneth. With an original etching and 13 illustrations by Norman Lindsay. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1937. Quarto, quarter-cloth over gilt-lettered textured boards (occasional foxing, one corner with a minor bump) in original purple box (one edge split, worn), 60pp., bookplates and newspaper clippings to front endpaper, tipped-in illustrations by Lindsay and vignettes. The frontispiece is an original etching signed by Lindsay. Limited to 225 copies signed by Mackenzie.

[LINDSAY]. McCRAE, Hugh. With pictures and decorations by Norman Lindsay. Sydney: John Sands Ltd, 1909. Folio, quarter-vellum and decorated papered boards (sunned and worn), 149pp. some foxing to the text, includes twenty-one full-page plates and numerous vignette illustrations. Limited to 130 copies, signed and numbered by McCrae, The plates include eight tipped-in original Norman Lindsay sepia-toned lithographs, each signed by the artist in the image. Presentation copy signed and inscribed by Hugh McCrae to Bertram Stevens (1872 – 1922), noted literary and art critic and editor of The Bulletin’s Red Page (1909-10) and later Art in Australia.

With 23 black and white drawings and 5 colour plates by Norman Lindsay. Sydney: The Shepherd Press, 1948. Quarto, gilt-lettered imitation leather, Lindsay illustrations throughout. The deluxe edition, limited to 100 copies, signed by Stewart and Lindsay. Bookplates to front pastedown. An excellent copy.

Four hand-painted silhouettes (each 95 x 60 mm) dating from around 1840, mounted within a glazed wooden frame (C.R. Tompkins of Hay Street, Perth, c 1910). The subjects are identified in period hand verso: (left to right) Robert Wallen (of Oatlands and "Harlech", Hawthorn, Melbourne); Alexander Wallen (of Oatlands); Samuel Wallen (of Drumboe Abbey, Ireland); Henry Wallen, F.R.C.S. (of Drumboe Abbey, Ireland). A typed label reads: "ROBERT WALLEN and relatives. Lived at Harlech, Hawthorn, when the suburb was described as a 'village containing a population of a few hundreds, scattered over a large area which comprised two parks and many spacious paddocks'.... " Robert Wallen (1831-93) emigrated to Australia from County Donegal, Ireland with his family in 1852. He became a highly successful stockbroker and financier, as well as a respected journalist with columns in the Age, Leader, Argus and Australasian. He was mayor of Hawthorn Borough in 1878-79. Wallen was also a keen patron of the arts. He was elected president of the Art Union of Victoria (1882) and remained active in that organisation, as either president or vice-president, until his death. From 1889-93 he was a trustee of the National Gallery, Museums, and Public Library of Victoria. He endowed the annual "Robert Wallen Prize" (five guineas) for students of painting at the National Gallery School. (One of the recipients of this prize was Jane Sutherland). He commissioned - for his private collection - the first sculpture in bronze made by Bertram MacKennal: "Lyric Poetry", or "Sappho" (1891) is now in the collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. Ex Richard Berry Collection, Melbourne; previously by descent.

BLACKMAN, Charles Circa 1962. Conte on paper, 282 x 385mm, titled and signed, with the Spaghetti Eater, Assisi, verso. Framed, with glass both sides. An ethereal Blackman on the front with an amusing image verso.