Book Explorer - An Entirely New Concept in Publishing Historical Works

The first few titles in our series of Australian historical and exploration works to be published on CD-Rom are now available. These CD-Roms reproduce the original text, maps and illustrations of classic exploration and historical narratives in easy to use, indexed and searchable form. Unique and sophisticated software has been specially developed so as to make these works available at a new level of accessibility and affordability for the scholar, student and general reader alike. These electronic books include all the maps and illustrations of the original works, and in the case of White’s Journal, include, for the first time, reproductions of all 65 of the hand-coloured plates in the rare and beautiful deluxe issue of this important work.
An entirely new approach has been taken to the production of Book Explorer titles. Great care has been taken to reproduce the layout and flavour of the original books, whilst at the same time giving the user complete control over the type of font, font size, background and foreground colours, format and colour of dates mentioned in the text, highlight colours, etc. Tables are reproduced in full and may be zoomed for easy extraction of data. Maps and illustrations are shown alongside the text and may also be zoomed for inspection of detail. Pages closely follow the original publications making cross reference for the scholar and student particularly easy. The text, including tables, is fully searchable, and searches may be made in a variety of ways with different scope and including complex searches. Easy reference to dates, page headings and first lines, chapters, illustrations, previous search results, and personal bookmarks is available via unique drop-down boxes. Book Explorer may be run in either full screen or windowed mode and the resolution can be adjusted to suit, up to the maximum available on the user’s system.

Book Explorer is attractively presented in a slim elegant case, with gilt leather sleeve and a brief explanatory booklet. Comprehensive help files are available on-screen via the Help Menu, and context-sensitive help and Tool Tips are available for most user functions. An extensive list of additional titles is already in preparation.

Technical requirements: Book Explorer runs under Microsoft Windows (95, 98, NT, 2000, Me, and XP) on a PC and requires a minimum of Pentium II processor, with at least 64 mb RAM, 30 mb free disk space, at least 800 by 600 monitor (1024 by 768 preferred) and a CD-Rom drive for installation.

The following titles in the Australian Series are now available, prices shown are for Personal Licences (single user, single computer).

Prices for Site Licences (unlimited users, applicable to Libraries, Institutions, Companies, etc., and for networked use) and for Commercial Licences are available on request.

No. 1 – Explorations in Australia by John McDouall Stuart. –  $88.00

Stuart, John McDouall. Explorations in Australia. THE JOURNALS OF JOHN MCDOUALL STUART. During the Years 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, & 1862, when he fixed the centre of the continent and successfully crossed it from sea to sea. Edited from Mr. Stuart’s Manuscript by William Hardman, M.A., F.R.G.S., &c. With Maps, a Photographic Portrait of Mr. Stuart, and twelve Engravings drawn on wood by George French Angas, from Sketches taken during the different expeditions. Second Edition. London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 66, Brook Street, W. 1865. Pp. [ii], xxiv, 512; long folding col. map at end, mounted portrait as frontis., full-page map showing Stuart’s transcontinental (S.-N.) route & return; 12 plates by G. F. Angas, appendix, index. ***This work embodies the journals of all six of Stuart’s expeditions. The Appendix includes reports on the Birds (by John Gould), Freshwater Shells (by Arthur Adams and G. French Angas) and Plants (by Ferdinand Mueller) collected during Stuart’s explorations.

No. 2 – Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales by John White. –  $121.00

White, John; Esqre. Surgeon General to the Settlement. JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO NEW SOUTH WALES, with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London, Printed for J. Debrett, Piccadilly, M D C C X C. 4to, First Edition; engraved title, with View in Port Jackson drawn by White, verso blank, pp. [ii](dedication), [ii](Advertisement [by the editor], verso blank), [viii](List of Subscribers, last blank), [iv](List of Plates, last blank), 218(the Journal), [219]-300(last blank, Natural History appendix), [36](last blank, meteorological diary of the voyage); 65 full-page copper-engraved plates in very fine contemporary hand-colouring.

No. 3 – Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia by Sir T. L. Mitchell. –  $99.00

Mitchell, Lt. Col. Sir T. L.; Kt. D.C.L.; Surveyor-General of New South Wales. JOURNAL OF AN EXPEDITION INTO THE INTERIOR OF TROPICAL AUSTRALIA, in Search of a Route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster-Row. 1848. First Edition; pp. xvi, 438; 7 maps (5 folding), 12 plates (1 engraving, 1 b/w. lithograph & 10 tinted lithographs), 10 illusts. in text, appendix, systematic list of plants collected.

 

No. 4 – Two Expeditions into Southern Australia by Charles Sturt –  $99.00

Sturt, Capt. Charles; 39th Regt., F.L.S. and F.R.G.S. TWO EXPEDITIONS INTO THE INTERIOR OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA, during the Years 1828, 1829, 1830, and 1831: With Observations on the Soil, Climate and General Resources of the Colony of New South Wales. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65, Cornhill. 1833. 2 vols., First Edition; Vol. I, pp. viii, [ii](list of illusts., verso blank), [ix]-lxxx, 220(last blank); large folding map, 5 plates (2 hand-coloured), 6 appendices; Vol. II, pp. vi, 272(last blank); full-page map, 2 hand-coloured & 6 b/w. plates, 2 appendices. ***The first expedition was down the Macquarie River and into the Western Interior in 1828 and 1829, the second down the Murrrumbidgee and Murray Rivers in 1829-31. The four hand-coloured plates are of birds.

No. 5 – Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, by John Macgillivray –  $110.00

Macgillivray, John. NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. RATTLESNAKE, commanded by the late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. &c. during the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. To which is added the Account of Mr. E. B. Kennedy’s Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S., Naturalist to the Expedition. Published under the Sanction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. In two volumes. London: T. & W. Boone, 29, New Bond Street. 1852. First Edition; Vol. I, pp. xii, 402; 7 plates (5 tinted), 15 text illusts., 4 appendices (3 of physical measurements & 1 natural history); Vol. II, pp. iv, [ii](verso blank), 396(last blank); large folding map, 6 plates, 1 text illust., 6 appendices (3 on the native languages of Cape York, South-East New Guinea & the Louisiade Archipelago, and 3 on natural history). ***This was a very important voyage of exploration and scientific research in New Guinea and Australian waters, and included brief visits to Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart and New Zealand. The plates are from sketches by Thomas Henry Huxley, Assistant-Surgeon to the expedition, whose own diary of the voyage was later published in 1935. The account of Kennedy’s Expedition consists of the Narrative of William Carron, Statement by Jackey-Jackey, Dr. Vallack’s Statement, and Extracts from Mr. T. B. Simpson’s Log - Pp. 117-276 in Volume II.

 

No. 6 – Journal of an Overland Expedition, by Ludwig Leichhardt –  $99.00

Leichhardt, Dr. Ludwig. JOURNAL OF AN OVERLAND EXPEDITION IN AUSTRALIA, from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a Distance of Upwards of 3000 Miles, during the Years 1844-1845. London, T. & W. Boone, 1847. First Edition; pp. xx, 544; 1 folding & 6 full-page engraved mezzotint plates by Harden S. Melville, 7 wood-engravings in text, appendix. ***This, Leichhardt’s first expedition, was one of the longest inland journeys undertaken and covered over 3000 miles of valuable pasture country, previously completely unknown. Numerous geo­-graphical features were discovered and named and Leichhardt was to return a national hero. Sadly, after two further short expeditions, Leichhardt disappeared without trace after departing on his fourth expedition in 1848, and his fate has never been positively determined. This journal for his first expedition was edited and prepared for the press by Phillip Parker King.

 

No. 7 – Two Expeditions into New South Wales by John Oxley –  $99.00

Oxley, John. JOURNALS OF TWO EXPEDITIONS INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES, undertaken by Order of the British Government in the Years 1817-18. By John Oxley, Surveyor General of the Territory and Lieutenant of the Royal Navy. With Maps and Views of the Interior, or Newly Discovered Country. London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street. 1820. 4to, First Edition; pp. xvi(last Errata, unnumbered), 408; 3 folding maps, folding population table, folding temperature chart, 1 folding etching & 5 aquatints (2 coloured), appendix, index. ***The two coloured aquatints, engraved by R. Havell & Son, are of a native grave, drawn by G. H. Evans, and a Native Chief of Baturst by J. W. Lewin, artist of ‘The Birds of New South Wales’. Of the major explorations, this is by far the most difficult to obtain.

 

No. 8. — A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, by Watkin Tench - $55.00

Tench, Watkin. A NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION TO BOTANY BAY; with An Account of New South Wales, Its Productions, Inhabitants, &c. To which is subjoined, a List of the Civil and Military Establishments at Port Jackson. By Captain Watkin Tench, of the Marines. London: Printed for J. Debrett, Opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly. 1789. First Edition; pp. viii, [iv](Contents, last blank), 146. London; J. Debrett; 1789. ***Ferguson 48. This work, acknowledged as one of the more readable of the first fleet accounts, and the first to be published apart from the extremely rare anonymous accounts compiled from interviews with officers of the returned transports, immediately proved immensely popular; there were at least four editions in English (including a Dublin edition), two editions in French, and one in each of Dutch and German, all in the same year. All editions are rare, the first edition especially so. This electronic version includes also the valuable Postscript to the Third Edition updating details of the fledgling settlement to October 1st, 1788, a portrait of Tench, and bibliographical notes.

 

To purchase any of the above titles, or for more information, please contact:

Edition Renard
(a division of Gaston Renard Pty. Ltd.)
P.O. Box 1030, Ivanhoe, 3079, Victoria, Australia.
Telephone: +61 3 9459 5040 Fax: +61 3 9459 6787
Email: BookExplorer@GastonRenard.com.au