Antiquities & Oddities

//Antiquities & Oddities
­
  • Sorry, this product is unavailable.
  • A tale set in 1336, of two brothers who are devoted to each other - until both become enamoured of the same lady. It comes down to a duel - which has far-reaching consequences over the ensuing years. First published in 1848.
  • Part Three  of the famous Flying Doctor adventure series. Dr. James is called to the north coast of Australia - into the pearling area.  He's involved in a medical crisis when he dons a diving suit to examine the foot of a diver which has been caught in a giant clam. There's more intrigue and adventure when  Dr. James  is drawn into the troubles of a man who has discovered how to produce cultured pearls in tropical waters and who is being threatened by competitors. Cover art by R.E. Hicks.
  • The hysterically funny inside story of the fictional Butterfield Administration of 30 days duration in 1909 as told by the 'First Lady', hostess of the Executive Mansion for that one month.  Among other things, she details her rise from genteel poverty in the Deep South to sudden wealth, her romances, glamour and travels; and then to love, marriage and the ultimate address - the White House!  Now a spry 94 years and a permanent 'guest' at the Boskey Dell Home for the Senile and Disturbed, Mrs Butterfield gives American political history a real shock treatment in this mock-memoir complete with photos.
  • A thrilling story of a strange caravan - a group of British colonists in the Raj travel in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant in 1867 - that penetrates the Terai, the immense forest that stretches across India at the foot of the mighty Himalayas. In this forest wild men, wilder beasts and even more adventures are encountered in the aftermath of the Sepoy rebellion.
  • From the Carpenter's World Travels series.  A fascinating look at life as it was here - in 1926! With 126 photographs and enticing chapter headings, such as: Life on the Sheep Station; The Three R's in Australia; Gold Diggings in Creek and Desert; Social Pests; Kangaroos and Danc9ng Birds and Mutton and Butter for London Tables. Illustrated with fabulous black and white photographs.
  • Philip Kimberley, top ranking British intelligence officer rocks the international spy community by defecting to Russia. However, not trusting his new colleagues, Kimberly leaves behind a hidden dossier exposing the KGB's spy network as insurance.  Years later, drunk and broken, Kimberly is given one last assignment by his KGB superiors - to undergo extensive surgical alteration and re-enter the UK to retrieve the dossier.  With news of Kimberley's death leaked to the media the defector slips back into the U.K. unrecognisable as his former self. With documents in hand Kimberley begins a dangerous game of intrigue that plays MI6 against the KGB with deadly results.  But then Kimberley's nemesis Admiral Scaith brings the former spy's daughter into the game, the rules suddenly change as the final pieces fall into place.
  • Here we go again!  This book is dedicated to all those who thought  rugby league was just an excuse for grown men to earn big money for having a good time. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty..and oh, what tales they tell of murder, mayhem and mystery on the Rugby League Express. Just who was the player found smuggling a suitcase full of baked beans into his motel room? And why did Phil Blake refuse to have a shower at Brookvale Oval? And yes, the one questio  all true-blue rugby league fans want answered - Who booby-trapped Terry Hill's undies? It's all here - and more - as we tell the tale of Fweddie's Fearsome Firecwacker, give the inside info on what happened to Sterlo's mouthguard before the Wigan Test in 1986 and report the first known case of elastic acid build-up. With cartoons by 'Boo' Bailey.
  • Humankind has developed three ways of recording its existence: History, folklore and  - yarn. History is what really happened; folklore is what people believe happened; and yarns don't care what really happened - they're the way of keeping it all interesting! Mike Hayes - winner of the World Yarn-Spinning Championships, 1991 - embarked on a personal crusade to collect and record as many contemporary Australian yarns as possible. And no-one can tell a yarn like an Aussie. Not for the politically correct or easily offended!

  • Book IV of The Courtney Chronicles. A holiday in Italy for Susan Courtney, the prospect of meeting new friends and the even more delightful prospect of meeting up with an old and very agreeable friend.  This friend from times past has come to a crossroads in his life - will he choose the upward path, or the downward?  Illustrated by John Harcourt Finnie.
  • The second volume of the Belle the Bushie stories by Pat Richardson includes those she read each Monday morning on 2SER-FM's new Horizons programme from August 1990 to January 1992. Mostly humorous, sometimes sad and even one or political commentaries, the tales cover Sydney and the bush, covering such topics such as AIDS, schixzophrenia, Country ARt shows, Women's Day Marches, the 'rellies', family Christmases and the Gulf War.
  • Millions enjoyed Ronnie Barker - whether he was being one of The Two Ronnies, up to tricks in Porridge or was in hot pursuit of the desirable Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in Open All Hours. He was also a great collector, particularly of the most enchanting and fascinating picture postcards, produced in different countries from the late nineteenth century onwards. His collection numbered over 50,000. This is one of two volumes - The Green Album and The Red Album, published simultaneously - which show his eye for the saucy, the humorous or the ingenious. But they also provide entertaining galleries of a popular art form which is now the subject of collectors' dreams. As he said, 'The great majority of the better cards are indeed little works of art in their own right and they cost but a penny each.'
  • Homer Smith, a black ex-GI, was a carefree and happy soul on the open road - until he met a group of refugee nuns with an unworkable dream...to build a chapel in the midst of the desert. Homer Smith set out,against impossible obstacles, to make that dream come true. Illustrated by Burt Silverman.
  • An English family moves to the New World of Australia. First published in 1864.
  • Set on the Isle of Man during the First World War, the novel relates the life of Mona Craine, a young woman who lives with her brother and their aging father. Mona's life is disrupted first by her brother being called up to fight in France, and then by the authorities agreeing to set up an internment camp for enemy aliens there at Knockaloe. Mona consents to live there still and supply food for them odious Germans against her wish and only for the sake of her ill father. However, her hard and unforgiving attitude towards the Germans begins to lessen when she meets the polite and well-spoken Oskar Heine. As they begin to fall in love, they also need to deal with the fierce hostility of the local community.Originally published as The Woman of Knockaloe.
  • Everybody knows Jones:  His house is better...his car is bigger... Whatever you may have, Jones has it better, bigger, smaller or the latest model or not at all - according to the latest fashion.  But how does Jones do it?  The only way to keep up with Jones is to get out of your pre-allotted pigeon-hole and BE Jones! A hilarious contemporary satire of life in the late 1950s on a topic that everyone still understands - envying thy neighbour! Illustrations by Norman Mansbridge.
  • Those interested in 8 mm, 9.5 mm or 16 mm - or those who may still even have one - will find this book of practical value, full of sound, expert advice and instruction on every aspect of this art. The principles of projection and the mechanics of the individual projector are discussed clearly and simply, step by step and the reader is introduced to methods to ensure a smooth running projection technique. Illustrated.
  • From the author of Goodbye Mr. Chips and Random Harvest.  As World War I comes to a close, George Boswell looks back on how his fate was inextricably tied to that of his sleepy English hometown As a young man, George Boswell knew he had greater prospects ahead than those offered by his native mill town in the north of England. A respected lawyer and civic leader, he possessed the skill and charisma to shine on the national stage. But ambition is not without a cost. When Boswell must choose between the promise of a bright future or staying behind for the people who have come to depend on him, his decision comes at a shocking price. story of a people pulled reluctantly toward modernity amid the farms and factories of Lancashire, and a celebration of the steadfast character of the common English village.
  • The story of a little French orphan who is spotted by a wealthy socialite playboy who offers, on a whim, to sponsor her care at the orphanage.  But she never sees him - all she has seen is his long shadow on the wall and she calls him 'Daddy Long-Legs'.  She writes him letters of gratitude; he never writes back, yet continues to sponsor her.  When she goes to college, they finally meet.  This book was made into a very popular film with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron.
  • A remarkable man, E. W. Cole, the self-styled "Professor", compiled this amazing picture book in 1879 and released it in a  welter of hilarious advertising in time for Christmas. He it was who invented Girl Land, Laziness Land, the fabulous steam-driven Whipping Machine For Naughty Boys, the Scolding Machine for Naughty Girls and a list of over 100 Names Suitable for Dollies and Babies. There's puzzles and games, wise words about people and places, funny words about travelling and husbands and wives.  Now wildly politically incorrect - and who cares?  It's Cole's Funny Picture Book, an Australian institution, looked for in stockings on Christmas Day for decades. There's plenty of gentleness, love, humour and morals. This facsimile edition has been carefully edited to resemble, as nearly as possible, the klast edition in  Cole's lifetime.  Illustrated.
  • Humour can arise at the oddest moments during the grimmest moments of Court trials. This is a miscellany of stories from the Courts and those who practice in them. The anecdotes which are all based on truth, have been oft-repeated in legal circles but this is the first time they have been published for all to enjoy. Legendary men of law - such as Clive Evatt Q.C. and Frank Galbally - make their appearance together with the paralysed (?) victim of a road accident, who was going to spend his insurance cheque on a trip to Lourdes and experience a 'miracle healing'; the illiterate forger who was sentenced to seven years prison; and the baffling case of the disappearance of 129 lawn mowers from a locked warehouse. Illustrated by Vane Lindesay.
  • Jerusha Abbott is the oldest orphan in the John Grier Home. When her future is discussed, one of the Trustees offers to finance her through college so that she can become a writer. The conditions: she must write to him once a month and tell him of her progress and she can only know him as Mr John Smith as he wishes his identity to remain a secret. Jerusha - now called Judy - names him Daddy-Long-Legs because her single glimpse of his shadow reminds her of a spider. Here are Judy's college days letters to 'Daddy-Long-Legs.' Cover art from  a photograph by Houston Rogers showing actress Jean Carson as Judy in the play Love from Judy based on the book.
  • Stories that are bizarre, unusual, odd, astonishing and often incredible together with all manner of things paranormal, and futurist. There's the woman who channeled Franz Liszt's symphonies from beyond the grave, the man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge, the infamous Spring-Heeled Jack, the Chinese Chess-Playing Automaton Hoax, the day the English Channel caught fire and hundreds more bite-size pieces of the weird and wonderful. Illustrated with colour and black and white photographs and illustrations.
  • This highland tale focuses on Alistair, a young American laird, and his cousin Don. When they fight over Norray, an actress who has bewitched both young gentlemen, Alistair is left battered. Aleac, an occasional poacher, finds the laird and brings him home to be nursed back to health. There, he meets Aleac's niece Margaret...and the action really begins.
  • An annual by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, full of stories, plays, poems. information about other lands and people, puxxles to do and general information on everything from car racing, radio station  operation and the wombat to 'farthing bundles', the world's smallest railway and the ancient art of spying. With contributions from Ruth Park. Muriel Holland, 'Melody Man' and contributions from the children of the Argonaut Club. With colour and black and white photos and sketches.
  • The true and truly unforgettable story of the Gilbreth clan as told by two of its members. In this endearing, amusing memoir, siblings Frank Jr. and Ernestine capture the hilarity and heart of growing up in an oversized family. Mother and Dad are world-renowned efficiency experts, helping factories fine-tune their assembly lines for maximum output at minimum cost. At home, the Gilbreths themselves have twelve kids and Dad can prove demonstrably - well, almost! - that efficiency principles can apply to family life as well as the workplace. Made into a film (1950) with Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy as Dad and Mum Gilbreth and remade in 2003. (See the original, it's funnier!)
  • Very scarce story collection for girls. In this volume: Poor Miss Robinson, Katharine Tynan; The Great Winter, R.D. Blackmore;  Twilight Wind, Thora Stowell; Marcia Of The Mill, Estrith Mansfield; Two Gardens (poem), Lilian Holmes; Sky-High, Margaret Lillie; Felicity's Revenge, E.L. Haverfield; The Shepherdess (poem), Alice Meynell; Concerning Theodosia, Christine Chaundler; The Mocking Fairy (poem), Walter de la Mare; Violeting, Miss Mitford; Signal No. 52, Brenda Girvin; Sheep And Lambs, Katharine Tynan; Eleanor's Valentine, Margaret Stuart Lane; Our Dutch Garden, Lilian Quiller Couch; Uncle Jasper, Winifred Letts
  • Sale!
    Houses under the Barrier Reef sea, a fish trap hundreds of miles wide across the Gulf of Carpentaria, power from our rugged, daunting Kimberley coast, sea-beef for the world's growing population...Pipe dream or reality? Dreamer - or prophet? First published in 1969, this is Idriess' lifetime of observation of the seas and shores north of Capricorn, magnified to a vision of the potential of Australia's tropical animal, plant and fish life, and of the earth's unrevealed and untapped wealth. Idriess saw the Continental Shelf as a vast reserve of food and riches that, with careful conservation, outlast the mineral rushes and exploitation of the land. He forecast what needed to be done to protect these resources and how to use them to advantage; he warned of the danger of creating a desert beneath the sea and of the devastation of the land resulting from thoughtless destruction of the Great Barrier Reef. Even as far back as 1969, Idriess saw the need for a demand for action on political, conservation and economic levels.