* The World described: or, a new and correct sett of maps by Herman Moll, 1708–1730. Moll’s famous atlas containing two world maps, and six maps of the Americas showing California as an island, and Moll’s celebrated map of North America “The Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye Continent of North America” sometimes referred to as the Beaver map. It includes insets of Thomas Nairne’s important and early map of South Carolina, the English, French and Indian settlements in the Carolinas and Charleston Harbor, and the inset of Niagara Falls with beavers at work. Beaver pelts were a significant part of a highly successful American fur trade. The industrious nature of beavers, moreover, symbolised the notion that control of the land – and the wealth that resulted – was brought about by hard work. £75,000 ($93,000)
* The English & Australian Cookery Book by An Australian Aristologist [Edward Abbott], 1864, first and only edition. Australia's first extant cookery book. A fascinating amalgam of content both original (and local) and gleaned from a wide range of English sources. Chapters on Australian fish and game (including kangaroo, emu, 'porcupine', wombat, black swan, mutton birds, wattle birds and other Australian native birds) sit alongside recipes for ortolan, turtle and other European delicacies. The chapter on drinks is particularly interesting, including many American cocktails derived from emigrant American bartenders plying their trade (making this a very early cocktail book) as well as local traditions such as 'Blow My Skull'. In late 1864 Abbott sent a copy of his book to Queen Victoria, asking her to sanction the distribution of 100 copies to soldiers' libraries. The Parkhurst Garrison Military Library was on the Isle of Wight and this is presumably one of the 100 copies. $16,000 AUD (US$19,800)
