Rare books
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The principal collection of some 30,000 titles includes books published before 1840 (1900 for Australian works), fine and limited editions, works vulnerable because of their size or format, and selected publications of anticipated long-term research and reference value.
For more information about this collection, see the Rare Books Collection homepage
For more information about this collection, see the Rare Books Collection homepage
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Item Open Access Clarissimi viri Hyginii Poeticon Astronomicon Opus utilissimum foeliciter incipit : De mundi et sphere ac utriusque ptiu declarations(Venetiis : Impressum est presens opusculu per Erhardu Ratdolt de Augustus, 1485, 1485) Hyginus.Item Open Access Speculum mundi, or, A glasse representing the face of the world : shewing both that it did begin, and must also end : the manner how, and time when, being largely examined : whereunto is joyned an Hexameron, or a serious discourse of the causes, continuance, and qualities of things in nature : occasioned as matter pertinent to the work done in the six dayes of the worlds creation.([Cambridge] : Printed by the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge, 1635, 1635) Swan, John, d. 1671.The Speculum mundi : or, A glasse representing the face of the world : shewing both that it did begin, and must also end : the whole of which may abe fitly called an hexameron or discourse of the clauses, continuance, and qualities of things in nature, occasioned as matter pertinent to the work done in the six dayes of the world's creation by English doctor and clergyman John Swan is an odd work of natural history within the framework of theology, attempting an encyclopaedic representation of scientific knowledge of the 17th century arranged according to the six days of the Creation. As such it embodies contemporary conflicts between science and scripture, superstition and belief: Swan criticises the ignorance that characterised spontaneously combusted swamp gases as walking spirits and rejects tales of many fantastic creatures but accepts the existence of fish with feet and mermaids among the 'strange fish' of the waters. The work, first published in 1635, went through four editions to 1670 (in some of which revisions Swan changed his mind on 'certain not insignificant matters') and was reprinted in 1698, but lost favour in the more exacting scientific critical climate of the eighteenth century.Item Open Access The herball, or Generall historie of plantes(London : Printed by Islip, Norton and Whitakers, 1636, 1636) Gerard, John, 1545-1612The herball, or Generall historie of plantes / Gathered by John Gerarde... ; Very much enlarged and amended by T. Johnson... Largely based on: Dodoens, Rembert. Cruydenboeck. The title page is engraved and signed: Io: Payne sculps:. "2nd ed. of revised Gerard," first published 1633 "A catalogue of the Brittish [i.e. Welsh] names of plants, sent me by Master Robert Dauyes of Guissaney in Flintshire": p.[31]-[32] at endItem Open Access A new orchard and garden, or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good for a rich orchard : particularly in the north, and generally for the whole common-wealth ... : with The country hous-wifes garden for herbs of common use ... : as also, the husbandry of bees, with their several uses and annoyances : all being the experience of forty and eight yeers labour ...(London : Printed by William Wilson for George Sawbridge ..., 1660., 1660) Lawson, William, fl. 1618.A new orchard and garden, or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good for a rich orchard : particularly in the north, and generally for the whole common-wealth ... : with The country hous-wifes garden for herbs of common use ... : as also, the husbandry of bees, with their several uses and annoyances : all being the experience of forty and eight yeers labour ... / by William Lawson ; whereunto is newly added the art of propagating plants, with the true ordering of all manner of fruits, in their gathering, carrying home, and preservation.Item Open Access Musaeum Regalis Societatis, or, A catalogue & description of the natural and artificial rarities belonging to the Royal Society, and preserved at Gresham Colledge(London : printed by W. Rawlins, for the author, 1681., 1681) Royal Society (Great Britain). Museum.Musaeum Regalis Societatis, or, A catalogue & description of the natural and artificial rarities belonging to the Royal Society, and preserved at Gresham Colledge / made by Nehemiah Grew ... ;Whereunto is subjoyned the Comparative anatomy of stomachs and guts / By the same author. Catalogue and description of the natural and artificial rarities belonging to the Royal Society and preserved at Gresham ColledgeItem Open Access Micrographia restaurata : or, the copper-plates of Dr. Hooke’s wonderful discoveries by the microscope, reprnted and fully explained : whereby the most valuable particulars in that celebrated author’s Micrographia are brought together in a narrow compass : and intermixed, occasionally, with many entertaining and instructive discoveries and observations in natural history(London : Printed for and sold by John Bowles, Printseller at the Black Horse in Cornhill. Sold also by R. Dodsley, in Pallmall, and John Cuff, Optician, in Fleetstreet, 1745) Hooke, RobertItem Open Access The book of nature, or, The history of insects : reduced to distinct classes, confirmed by particular instances ... / By John Swammerdam ... With the life of the author, by Herman Boerhaave ... Translated by Thomas Flloyd ... Revised and improved ... by John Hill.(London : Printed for C.G. Seyffert, 1758) Swammerdam, Jan, 1637-1680.Item Open Access [Letter from George Washington to W.V. Murray, 26th December, 1798](1798) Washington, George, 1732-1799.; Murray, William Vans, 1760-1803, (recipient)Letter from George Washington to William Vans Murray This letter was bequeathed to the Library by Sir Samuel Way (1836-1916), third Chancellor of the University, Chief Justice of South Australia and one of the Library's most generous benefactors. In July 1798 George Washington was nominated commander in chief of a provisional force being assembled to counter the threat of attack on the United States by France. At the time this letter was written William Vans Murray (1760-1803) was Minister Resident to the Batavian Republic (a French satellite state established in the Netherlands) and had acted as an intermediary between President John Adams and the French foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. The "Envoy Logan" referred to by Washington was George Logan (1753-1821), a gentleman farmer, medical graduate and former Quaker who had served as member of the Pennsylvania Assembly (1785-89, 1795-96). With the support of Republican leaders Logan undertook a private diplomatic mission to France in 1798. This move succeeded in securing trade concessions and the release of imprisoned American sailors, but it also angered Federalists at home. Logan's actions led to Congress passing the "Logan's Law" in 1799, enacted to make such unofficial policy missions illegal in the future.Item Open Access Exotic flora containing figures and descriptions of new rare and otherwise interesting exotic plants(Edinburgh, 1823) Hooker, Sir William JacksonItem Open Access A Statement of the principles and objects of a proposed national society for the cure and prevention of pauperism, by means of systematic colonization.(London : Published for the Provisional Committee by James Ridgway, 1830) Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, 1796-1862.; Gouger, Robert, 1802-1846.; National Colonization Society (Great Britain). Provisional Committee.Item Open Access Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe : exécuté par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont D’Urville, capitaine de vaisseau.(Paris : J. Tastu, 1830-1835., 1830) Dumont d’Urville, Jules-Sébastien-César, 1790-1842; Sainson, Louis Auguste de, 1801-1887; Lesson, A. (Adolphe), b. 1805; Quoy, Jean René Constant, 1790-1869; Gaimard, Paul, 1793-1858; Boisduval, Jean Baptiste Alphonse Chauffour de, 1799-1879; Richard, A. (Achille), 1794-1852Item Open Access The new British province of South Australia, or, A description of the country, illustrated by charts and views; with an account of the principles, objects, plan, and prospects of the colony.(London : Printed for C. Knight, 1834., 1834) Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, 1796-1862.Item Open Access Emigration fields : North America, the Cape, Australia, and New Zealand, describing these countries, and giving a comparative view of the advantages they present to British settlers(Edinburgh : A. and C. Black, 1839., 1839) Matthew, Patrick.Item Open Access Odontography, or,A treatise on the comparative anatomy of the teeth : their physiological relations,mode of development,and microscopic structure in the vertebrate animals(London : Bailliere, 1840-45, 1840) Owen, RichardItem Open Access Outline of a system of legislation, for securing protection to the Aboriginal inhabitants of all the countries colonized by Great Britain, extending to them political and social rights, ameliorating their condition, and promoting their civilization / drawn up at the request of the Committee of "The Aborigines Protection Society," ... by Standish Motte.(London : published by John Murray : Saunders and Otley : Hatchard and Son : Smith, Elder, and Co. : G. Fry : W. Houlston, 1840 (London : printed for the society, by J. Haddon), 1840) Motte, StandishItem Open Access The emigrant : a tale of Australia(Simmonds and Ward, 1847) Leigh, W. H.Item Open Access Letter to his father(1848) Selwyn, George AugustusFacsimile of letter with pen and ink drawings from George Augustus Selwyn, D.D., Bishop of New Zealand to his father. Tonga Tabu, Epiphany 1848, h M ship Dido at anchor.Item Open Access Geological reports, South Australian Government, 1851-1903 : [a collection of journal articles on South Australian geology(1851-1903, 1851)A collection of articles and reprints of articles on geology, chiefly relating to South Australia but also the Northern Territory and Central Australia, issued between 1851 and 1903 by the Government Printer, Adelaide; as collected and bound together by the University of Adelaide’s Department of Geology & GeophysicsItem Open Access The Australian colonies : together with notes of a voyage from Australia to Panama in the "Golden Age", descriptions of Tahiti and other islands in the Pacific and a tour through some of the States of America in 1854 / by H. Hussey(London : Blackburn & Burt ; Adelaide : E.S. Wigg, [1855], 1855) Hussey, Henry, 1825-1903.