Category: Featured

Jen Marshall, Cataloguer

Date: 11th August 2022

Collecting can be a very personal pursuit. We each have a sense of what is beautiful and valuable. But sometimes, there are items that have universal appeal. Or in this case, there is a very compelling appeal to Australian audiences.

The posters I’ll introduce in this post arrived at Sydney Rare Book Auctions just a short time ago, and our founder and owner Paul Feain was immediately convinced of their value.

“The posters are rare and beautiful,” he said.

Paul passed the posters to me and I thought they were stunning, and they were immediately catalogued for the next Auction Firsts, History, Tourism and more 81, this Friday 12th of August, 2022.

And Ellie Aroney, cataloguer and auctioneer, also had an important view, since she is the expert in visual arts at Sydney Rare Book Auctions:

“Vivid as the day they were printed and unusual to see these in such good condition.”

So, they’re certainly worth a look…

There are two posters featuring the art of James Northfield. According to Culture Victoria, “Northfield was among the most highly regarded poster designers working in Australia in the early-to-mid 20th century”.

James Northfield specialised in lithographic prints, after extensive training and his use of colour and panoramas have endured and remain intrinsically attractive today. Michelle Hetherington has produced the most comprehensive record of his work in James Northfield and the art of selling Australia.

Please see: Lot 692: POSTER: JAMES NORTHFIELD, TASMANIA

And: Lot 689: POSTER: JAMES NORTHFIELD, TASMANIA

Both posters provide a lovely example of retro design and convey the notion of Tasmania as the ‘Sanatorium of the South’, a theme which has been consistently used in travel advertising for Tasmania. It continues even today with the “Come Down for Air” campaign.

In addition, there are two more prints, from the artists Harry Kelly and Max Angus.

Lot 691: POSTER: HARRY KELLY, TASMANIA

Harry Kelly designed at least five posters for the Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau, featuring landscapes and fishing. His most famous was Tamsmania, the Switzerland of the South.  He also created several wartime posters, including “We are fighting Tojo, not each other” which was to communicate the importance of preserving ammunition to civilian munition workers.

Lot 690: POSTER: MAX ANGUS, TASMANIA

Max Angus was prolific in his depiction of Tasmanian landscapes in watercolour.

“This island we live in has got so many wonderful subjects you’d never run out of it and you feel younger while you’re working,” he once said.

Back when these posters were produced, there was no television, so travel posters had an important role to play in selling destinations to travellers. The posters needed to convey a sense of magical experience and safety, in order to secure bookings from the desired audience. This is why the artwork remains so impactful today and these items will certainly create magical moments for their future owner.

Jen Marshall, Cataloguer

Date: 9th August 2022

In the past few weeks, I have come across two Charles Dickens first editions of the collations “Nicholas Nickleby” and “Martin Chuzzlewit”. They’ve been catalogued and prepared for sale in the Auction Firsts, History, Tourism and more 81,  this Friday 12th of August, 2022.

As many book collectors would know, Dickens was a pioneer of writing serialised novels in weekly or monthly instalments, with spectacular cliff-hanger endings to ensure his audience would buy every new issue.

“Nicholas Nickleby” was Dickens’ third novel and he was paid £150 for each instalment with a bonus of £1,500 at the conclusion. This was big money and was a result of the popularity of his first serialised novel “The Pickwick Papers”

“Nicholas Nickleby” ran from April 1838 to October 1839 in the serial format, with the first collation issued by publishers Chapman and Hall in October 1839.

To verify the book as a first edition, I checked the bibliography of John C. Eckel’s “First Editions of the Writings of Charles Dickens and their Values, A Bibliography”. Each page from the half title to the list of plates was matched to the record by Mr Eckel on page 58 of his book.

Mr Eckel explains the high number of copies produced in the first edition of “Nicholas Nickleby” make it less valuable to collectors. And the copy I held was not in pristine condition, with wear on the marble boards and the plates being acidic having been affected by the weather.

But there was one very interesting and rare feature in this book. On page 123, at line 17, there is a printing error. The word “sister” should read “visitor”.

Dickens himself identified the error in the proof and sent a letter to the printer Mr Hicks. Mr Eckel claims the fact the mistake made it into the early copies of the collation is “almost unexplainable”, and it was quickly corrected and is rarely seen.

In 1909, a copy with this error sold at Anderson’s N.Y. for the princely sum of $141, while other firsts without the error traded in the same year for $37.

See the listing here: Lot 552: DICKENS: NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 1ST EDITION

“Martin Chuzzlewit” was a story of English life and manners which commenced in January 1843. It was one of his least popular works in the serialised format, despite Dickens himself proclaiming to a friend it was one of his best works.

The sales were so poor, that following the publication of episode 7, the publishers Chapman and Hall tried to enforce a contractual clause that would reduce their instalment payments to Dickens from £250 to £50, which resulted in a nasty argument and Dickens didn’t work with Chapman and Hall for more than 10 years.

“Martin Chuzzlewit” is also notable since it’s the last of Dickens’s picaresque novels, where the hero is a loveable character from the lower classes who manages to use their wits to make their way through the world.

This first edition also has an error, one which can be found on the vignette title page in the illustration by Phiz. You might need a magnifying glass to see it clearly, but it is there… On the reward notice the text reads 100£, when of course it should be £100. Again, copies with this misprint are hard to find.

See the listing here: Lot 517: DICKENS FIRST ED MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT

While neither of these Charles Dickens first editions are the rarest, the finest, or even the most sought-after by collectors, they remain charming and culturally important and we hope they will bring enjoyment to their buyer. I certainly enjoyed holding them in my hands and having a sense of connection to an important author and a time that was so different to today.

And finally, for fans of Dickens, you may also be interested in the lots in the next auction:

Lot 520: NELSON WHITELOCKE CHARLES DICKENS ILLUSTRATIONS

Lot 328: CHARLES DICKENS