Rare book featuring great southern land goes to auction

A book published within 50 years of the printing revolution and featuring one of the earliest acknowledgements of the existence of Australia is to go under the hammer in Melbourne

The first illustrated edition of Saturnalia by Macrobius is expected to fetch $120,000.

The rare 1483 work showcases an acclaimed and detailed world map, which includes a great southern landmass labelled “Antipodum, nobis, incognita” or “the Antipodes unknown to us”.

As a representation of the scholar’s fifth century writings, the famous map is considered among the most influential of pre-Renaissance interpretations of the world as Macrobius’ views held favour during the intellectual development of the West, for nearly a millennium.

The depiction of the globe is split in two, with Europe and the balancing Antipodes surrounded by ocean at the edges. It is also the first known printed map showing the ocean’s currents.

Saturnalia is among a trove of rare books being brought to the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, with interest expected from some of Australia’s leading libraries, museums and private collectors.

Other highlights include a first edition of Francisco Javier de Viana’s account of Alejandro Malaspina’s voyage from California to Alaska.

Published in 1849, it offers an early glimpse of life in Port Jackson based on observations made during the Spanish visit only five years after the foundation of the colony.

An extremely rare first edition of Philip Parker King’s Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia will also be offered for sale.

The 1826 work charts the greater part of the continent’s west, north and northeast coasts, and contains important surveys taking in the Great Barrier Reef. Among the most sought-after rarities in Australian collecting, its asking price is $27,000.

The selection of 70 rare books also features early examples of convict literature including the first published account of Australia by a woman, A Voyage Round the World, in the Gorgon Man of War by Mary Ann Parker from 1795.

“The Melbourne Rare Book Fair is one of the only major rare book fairs in the southern hemisphere and we expect … to attract considerable interest among institutional collectors,” said bookseller Peter Harrington owner Pom Harrington.

“We have gathered some significant rarities of exceptional interest to this part of the world and it is fantastic to finally have the chance to show them in Australia.”

The fair is being held from July 27-29 at the University of Melbourne.