NOISY JAPANESE NEWCOMERS

 Little Darwin's resident arty owls looking with askance at latest odd  acquisitions  by a blog member , a  braying donkey and  a  cackling  chook , both   made  in  Japan . 

NEW YORK , NEW YORK

 Boxed, made in Canada   metal  souvenir , with ribbon ,  for  the  One World Observatory atop  New  York's  World  Trade  Centre with   a 360 degree  panoramic view of  the  city.  Found  in a mixed  batch  of   bits  and  pieces  in  Queenland, thought to have been obtained  long  before the attack on  the   Centre .

UNDER FIRE LITERARY OUTPUT , INCLUDING HUMOUR , FROM THE BLOODSOAKED TRENCHES

Deceased  estate  First  World  War  publications 

The  above  extraordinary  1916  publication ,170pp , minus covers , foxed , well  illustrated with photographs and  cartoons, was put together in a dug-out  overlooking  Anzac Cove,  Gallipoli, in  the  closing  weeks  of   l915.

It was meant to have been a New Year Magazine for the troops, but was delayed  by  the  evacuation .   The  missing  cover  was  as  follows .  

Several cover  designs were considered , four  others  included in the magazine  .

 

It contains lighthearted classified  advertisements , some  full  page , a  farcical  one   for  the  German  munitions  manufacturer, KRUPP.

The  magazine   bears  the trade imprint  of  the Townsville  booksellers and  newsagents  T. W. Willmett  and  Sons  Limited. 

 

The above  volume, 128pp plus covers  , is mainly pictorial , has many   drawings and some cartoons. A  full page  cartoon  shows  a Scottish soldier  and  an  Australian in  freezing  conditions on  the  battlefield . The Scot asks  the   Aussie - " Frozen Bill "-  what  he   is   going  to  do  after  the war  .The  reply : Spend two years  in  Central  Australia  thawing  out .   

NORTH QUEENSLAND RAMBLE

 

Abra.

ANTIQUE AND ART FAIR MELBOURNE

An interesting item  in  the  Douglas Stewart  Fine  Books , Melbourne ,  offerings  at  the  fair  which runs for four days from  April 18 in  the  Malvern  Town  Hall , is the  No.1 ,l932 , 96pp,  edition  of   Ink , produced  in   Sydney  by  the  Society of Women  Writers   of  New South  Wales ,containing  two  original  woodcuts  by   Margaret  Preston, $4400

It is described as  an  extraordinary gathering of women writers and artists who are listed on the vibrant cover, including May Gibbs, Katherine Susannah Prichard, M. Barnard Eldershaw, Mary Gilmore, Ethel Turner, Dulcie Deamer, Gladys Owen, Amy Mack, Margaret Preston, Thea Proctor, Zora Cross, Esther Paterson, Pixie O’Harris, Myra Morris, Ella Dwyer, and others, complemented by male compatriots including Kenneth Slessor, Unk White, Harry Julius, Will Mahoney, A. G. Stephens et al.

Provenance : Walter Stone, eminent bibliophile, with a signed letter to him from Helen Frizell, former literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, thanking him for lending her the book, noting ‘It was infinitely more interesting than Ink 2, I’m afraid’, along with a newspaper cutting from the paper on Oct. 5, 1977, where Frizell reviewed Ink No. 2, the second issue published by the Society 45 years after Ink No. 1

Another object of interest in the bookshop list , price reserved ,  is  the following  oval  portrait  miniature ,75 x 60mm , of  Robert, Lord  Hobart , 4th  Earl of Buckinghamshire (1760-1816) , painted  by  Henry Bone , enamel painter  to  the Prince of  Wales .

Early in his career he served in the British army during the American Revolutionary War. From 1784 he served as aide-de-camp to successive Lord Lieutenants of Ireland.

 He sat in both Irish and English Houses of Commons, from 1787 and 1788 respectively, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1793. He gained valuable experience in colonial service during the period he served as Governor of Madras between 1793-98. After his recall in 1798 he entered the House of Lords after inheriting the Hobart title from his uncle. From 1801 to 1804 Hobart served as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, displaying ‘a better grasp of the local or colonial conditions, and a more active spirit than did some of his successors'.

The bookshop outlines  his significant connection to Australian settler history. In 1803, under instructions from Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, the recent settlement in Van Diemen’s Land at Risdon Cove on the River Derwent had been named “Hobart” in honour of Lord Hobart, the incumbent Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. 

When the settlement was abandoned a short time later, David Collins, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (then under the jurisdiction of New South Wales) appropriated the name for the new settlement at Sullivan’s Cove, which he called “Hobart Town”. This name first appears in a General Order issued on 15 June, 1804. Hobart was proclaimed a city in 1842 and became the capital of the state of Tasmania at  Federation in 1901. 

TIME MACHINES

 Variety of odd timepieces . On the left , a P&O  shipping  keyring ; centre,  made in China Camry  paperweight ; on right , strange Singapore  made wristlet watch  featuring  the   late  Queen , the  dark hands  on  which  give  the impression that  a seagull  bombarded  Her  Majesty  and  was  flogged and deported  to  Van Diemen's  Land  as  a  result.  None of  the  watches  work-part of  Litle  Darwin's  bower  bird   collection . 

A TOUCH OF JURASSIC PARK

View  from  Rowes  Bay  lookout , Townsville. Dinosaur drinking, Magnetic  Island  in  background .