At an auction held by rare book dealer Mr Peter Arnold on March 24, an archive of material relating to one of the region's much overlooked 19th century artists, John Cotton, sold for $177,000 IBP to a dealer from Dunkeld in the heartland of Australian wool production in Victoria's Western District.
The lot fell for $150,000 hammer (which was equal to the top estimate) plus 19.8 per cent buyers premium on the first night of a two day sale at Ormond Hall in Prahran.
At an auction held by Leonard Joel a day later a painting of the Grampians by the Western District's most important beneficiary of the region's early wool production, the artist Eugene von Guerard, sold for $329,400 or three times its estimate.
It went to restorer Mr Aman Siddique but while its further geographical destination is less clear, the bidding showed admiration for the work's lush pastures which also commanded the attention of Louis Buvelot and Nicholas Chevalier.
Wool, and to a lesser extent wheat, was so important for the art market over many decades and into the 20th century that artists watched the weather and the elements with great trepidation until the harvest and cropping were over.
Dunkeld based Ms Roz Greenwood bought the Cotton lot for “a private client” she told Australian Art Sales Digest.
The final buyer was subject to a lot of speculation much of its based on the location of Ms Greenwood's shop.
It had not gone unnoticed that she has bid strongly on important colonial items before.
Her shop in Parker Street, Dunkeld is just down the street from the Imperial hotel much beloved of Dunkeld-raised Melbourne barrister Alan Myers who is said to have one of the finest collection of colonial Australian painting and has been a firm supporter of the National Gallery of Australia.
Institutions clearly missed out on a major heritage item in the Cotton lot which comprised 56 letters or 262 pages in all to the artist's brother in Devon by the artist richly illustrated with drawings ranging from natural history to early Aboriginal encounters.
William Collins' 1974 limited edition (850 copies) publication of this artist's chef d'ouevre Birds of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales 1843-1849 was published in 1974 and is one of the best bargains still to be found in second hand and rare bookshops at no more than around $250.
The book catalogues the ornithological artwork of 19th century Australian settler John Cotton, along with biographical information about him, reproductions of selected sketches and paintings, and extracts from his journals.
It has a biographical introduction by Cotton’s great-grand daughter, Maie Casey, who also sponsored the production of the book, and whose presence, by way of provenance has been noted in recent several recent publications including auction catalogues.
After migrating from England to Australia and establishing himself and his family on a sheep station on the Goulburn River, Cotton began to study, collect and sketch the birds there.
His plans to produce a book on Victorian birds ultimately came to nothing through historical circumstance and his own early death three days before his 48th birthday, with his journals and artwork unpublished, scattered among his descendants and lost to the world for over 120 years.
Lady Maie Casey heavily endorsed the artist and other authorities considered him better than Lewin as a bird painter.
Despite all this he remains relatively unknown.
The under bidder appeared to be Melbourne book dealer Mr Douglas Stewart who was more clearly seen to buy three other items.
The National Library of Australia confirmed it was the buyer of three items but does not comment on works it failed to buy.
However, the three items were purchased on its behalf by Douglas Stewart who was the underbidder on the Cotton.
So maybe there was, as expected, some institutional interest in the lot after all.
The lots the library secured were:
- The life and extraordinary adventures of (London pickpocket) George Barrington, now under sentence of transportation . . . London, for $11,000. This is particularly valued for its woodcut portrait on the title; uncut and tipped into nineteenth-century polished calf bound volume.
- An author's presentation copy of James Burney's A memoir on the voyage of D’Entrecasteaux in search of La Pérouse. London, 1820 for $5500.
- Ifvar Kraak's Correspondance historique et critique entre deux Suedois au sujet de la Bataille de Pultava & de ce qui s’est passé à Bender, à quoi l’on a joint un extrait de la découverte des Terres Australes;...in contemporary half calf if rubbed) binding for $6500.
This was from the only edition of this rare and obscure work, the second half of which is largely devoted to an account of the Pacific voyage of Jacob Roggeveen, 1721 with descriptions of the East Indies, ostensibly deriving from the testimony of the Dutchmen became the first Europeans to discover Easter Island and Samoa.
Not so curiously, perhaps, an item in the sale by the region's greatest painter (better than Buvelot and Chevalier) went unsold on the night.
This was a fine clean set of the plates of Eugene von Guerard's Australian Landscapes of 1867. The book and individual plates from it occasionally turn up at art auctions and were keenly bid at sales in the 1980s.
Australian Landscapes was sold after the auction for its lower estimate of $14,000 plus premium.
Many copies of this book were broken up and the plates sold for their decorative picture plate value when the colonial look in decoration was stronger.
They have suffered with that other great but earlier book of Views of Australia by John Lycett, a copy of which sold at the Arnold sale for only $28,000.
The copy of Lycett's Views in New South Wales went to Berrima dealer Mr Leo Berkelouw in the room for $30,000 plus premium.
Illustrated with some extraordinary graphic drawings including the hangings and mayhem that followed the shipwreck, a copy of the very rare Francois Pelsaert Account of the 1647 Mutiny off the Abrolhos Islands off Western Australia went to Sydney dealer Mr Tim McCormick for $62,000 or $73,160 against estimates of $35,000 to $45,000.
Different editions of the book have had some far more glamorous appearances in the saleroom in the early 2000s but the price now appears to have settled down.
The auction, the first Australian rare book sale of this size for three years, and one which would be commonly have been held every year previously, grossed $1.4 million IBP with about 80% sold by volume, 90% by value.
Of the 329 lots offered 267 sold under the hammer with another 11 have since sold at the reserve (including 96, which sold immediately afterwards).
The only high value casualty was a pictorial item, Lawrance's Rose's (1796-99) Roses the first significant book published on the flower which was expected to make $35,000 to $40,000 went unsold.
With 267 of the lots sold (plus 11 lots afterwards) the sale grossed $1.4 million BP with about 80% sold by volume, 90% by value.
The sale in Melbourne on Monday and Tuesday was not particularly well timed for Australiana collectors as it was rather close to the disposal on Thursday of the first of the consignments from UK rare book dealer Mr Franklin Brooke-Hitching by Sotheby's in London, Exploration & Discovery 1576-1939: The Library of Franklin Brooke-Hitching Part I although that sale lacked the same pictorial punch as far as Australia was concerned.
Three items of Australian interest were offered and all went to different male bidders in the room only one of which the Australian Art Sales Digest has been able to identify.
They included an untitled chart of Captain Cook's voyages with the first outlines of the Australian coast.
Cook has a big following around the world and a copy of the same map was purchased from Hordern House, Sydney by the Mitchell Library three years ago – ruling out a purchasing priority for an Australian institution.
Sotheby's copy of the map went to a gent, now said to be a representative of Daniel Crouch Rare Books, for £134,500 including BP against estimates of £70,000 to £100,000.
The consignment from a dealer who has had many Australian connections grossed £2.3 million and was 98 per cent sold by lot and by value – reflecting the condition and rarity of the offering.
