A number of fascinating books, illustrations and photographs that chart exploration and discovery will be offered in the Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History Including the Library of Colin and Joan Deacon auction in London on 15 May. Here, we look at lots in the sale that offer collectors important historic documents at three very different price points.
1. Voyage to the North Pole
William Edward Parry was an English explorer who was best known for his 19th century voyages in the arctic. This engraving depicts Parry’s final polar expedition, which was a failed attempt to journey overland to the North Pole, rather than seeking a north-west passage as in his previous voyages.
2. Captain Cook's Pioneering Vision
The famous accounts of Captain Cook’s three voyages form the basis for any collection of Pacific books. In three great voyages Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors had done together. He was the first scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge.
3. Egypt on Camera
"Frith's magnificent photographs of the pyramids, in particular, are ground-breaking and became the works for which he is now best known" (Imagining Paradise, Foster, Sheila J., Manfred Heiting & Rachel Stuhlman). The images depict: The Pyramids of Saqqara from the Northeast, The Second Pyramid from the South East, The Pyramids of Dahshur from the East, Cheops’ Pyramids at Giza from the South West, The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, and Pyramid at Dahshur from the Southwest. Using large-format field cameras and a mobile darkroommade from wicker, Frith was able to achieve some of the most iconic images of Egypt in history, with many locations being recorded photographically for the first time.
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