Ephemera, Art, Photography, Maps, Posters and Books -18th October
The dissemination of human knowledge and culture emerges in spoken words and song; to folded papers and photography, painting and maps.
This auction has an outstanding variety of the items including a leaf from a handwritten antiphonal, incunable leaves from seminal works, books on ancient languages, art and religion. But we have not missed out on those ephemeral items like theatre programs and travel guides and maps which are often discarded, because those are just as important in documenting our existence.
In this modern world, we are constantly feed regurgitated information and sloppy images from computers which cannot fully understand the reasons and contexts for which these things are crafted. A degree of scepticism is needed when extra hands or people are added to images, or things are just made up.
And there is something in the objects which humans create that is ineffable. A different truth. The imperfection of Wabi-sabi or the warmth of a handmade object. With objects we keep, the marks we leave behind tell a different story. The proud signature of an artist or author, a birthday inscription or notes in the margins. Or the way the ephemeral object is folded and put in a pocket with rubbing on the corners. Or the careful mending on books which mean something more. These objects tell stories that get left behind in the digital. Human culture begins and ends with humans.
Highlights
Australian Culture
Lot 139 Aboriginal Art in Central Australia Dot and Circle
Lot 132 Emily Kame Kngwarreye Alhalkere Paintings From Utopia
Lot 231 Djanggawul Arnhem Land Aboriginal Religious Cult
Lot 232 Kunapipi A Study of an Australian Aboriginal Religious Cult
Western Culture
Lot 22 Incunable leaves x4 from between 1481 and 1493
Lot 21 Renaissance Manuscript Antiphonary Leaf c155
Lot 64 Religious Work published 1625
Lot 72 1743 Early Italian printed in Venice
The ephemeral
Lot 212 Australian Theatre Programmes
Lot #215 UK + Europe Maps & Guides
Lot 118 1947 Cabramatta Rugby League x4
In the moment
Lot 23 1890 Photographs of Sydney
Lot 126 10x Bruno Leti some Signed Limited
Lot 137 Bill Henson Oneiroi Limited edition
Expression
Lot 162 Norman Lindsay Paintings in Oil 1945
Lot 134 Brett Whiteley: A Sensual Line 1957-67
Youth
Lot 130 & 131 Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Illustrations
Lot 119 Australian Comics – Westerns 1950s & 1960s
Catalogue https://connect.invaluable.com/sydneybook/
Timed online only auction 12 midday Sunday 18th October
Online bidding on Invaluable or our website.
Viewing is encouraged & Questions welcomed
Before 5pm Sydney Time Friday 16th October
Where: Dalgety Square, C11/372-428 Wattle Street, Ultimo.
(Corner of MacArthur with the entrance on Wattle Street.)
We are opened between 10am and 4pm week days.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Premium fees on Invaluable have changed.
Buyer’s Premium is now 26% via the Sydney Rare Book Auctions website
