Category: Featured

Arthur Upfield

Gary Gorton Crime Fiction Collection
Part One Sunday June 16, 12:00 PM

We have 48 Arthur Upfield items in this weeks catalogue.

Arthur William Upfield (1890-1964) born in England and arrived in Australia 1911(ADB). He served in the Australian Army and returned to Australia in 1921. Upfield was “employed patrolling the number one rabbit proof fence for three years until 1931”. (3pp. Lindsey) It is here he wrote his first two books before taking up writing full time.

Upfield’s Success: While he was read in Australia it was the American and European markets which gave his financial success. His books have been translated into 15 languages.  (2pp Bony at Home and Abroad : The Arthur Upfield Phenomenon by Carol Hetherington)
Portrait from the Bony and the Kelly Gang.

Bony: He wrote 34 books, 29 featuring part-Aboriginal detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte. Known by ‘Bony’ by his friends. (2pp Bony at Home and Abroad : The Arthur Upfield Phenomenon by Carol Hetherington). The third in the series is Wings of Diamantina.

Story number four in the Bony Series: Mr Jelly’s Business was set in Burracoppin which is where Upfield was headquartered while riding the number 1 rabbit proof fence. (144pp Lindsey)

Upfield’s work later took on many forms including: newspaper serials, radio series of ‘Man of Two Tribes’ by Australasian Radio Productions(1953) and a television series featuring Bony(1972). (2pp  Hetherington)

This copy of A Royal Abduction was inscribed to John K Ewers by Upfield on the title page.  Upfield “… had  very little intimate contact with other writers, except JK Ewers from their first contact in 1930.” (21pp Lindsey)

Want to see more Upfield books? Watch Paul show off some Upfield in dustwrappers.

References

Arthur Upfield: A Biography by Travis Lindsey. PhD. Murdoch University 2005. https://www.arthurupfield.com/attachments/TravisLindsey.pdf
Bony at Home and Abroad: The Arthur Upfield Phenomenon by Carol Hetherington.  University of Queensland. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:193209/UQ193209_OA.pdf
Arthur William Upfield. Australian Dictionary Biography. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/upfield-arthur-william-8900

When Sunday June 16, 12:00 PM
Where Timed auction
Viewing encouraged 10am – 4pm weekdays
At Sydney Rare Book Auctions Dalgety Square at C11/372-428 Wattle Street, Ultimo, NSW 2007
Bidding absentee, on Invaluable and on our website.

Magnificent May Books, Manuscripts and Prints

AB Paterson Unpublished Poem, Letters and Man from Snowy River signed first edition. Henry Lawson’s First book in first edition.

First edition Somerset Maugham in lovely dustwrapper. We have lots of other first editions in wonderful dustwrappers but too many to mention.

Early Australiana including Five Kelly Gang Reports from 1880-1883, Convict Transportation 1812-1813.

Public letter by Ion Idriess on the welfare of Indigenous people in the Kimberley, 1937. The letter is of great historical significance. Idriess describes his travels through the Kimberley and King Leopold ranges with the Mounted Police a few years earlier, when researching the book “Man Tracks”. What follows is an appeal to the Australian public on behalf of the indigenous peoples of Northern Australia, then dying in large numbers from leprosy, syphilis, yaws and other venereal diseases.

Other highlights include a 1706 Paraphrased Testament; a most attractive publication from 1864 on Maritime Hydraulics; Baldwin Spencer; Bradshaw; Charles Baudin Letter. There are too many to name the all.

Timed Auction 12noon Sunday 19th May 2024.
Viewing encouraged: Weekdays 10am-4pm
Bidding: On Invaluable, Our Website or email us with the details.