"Magnificent Voyages" Exhibition / Rare Book Display 1996

"Magnificent Voyages"

Exhibition / Rare Book Display

{University of Wollongong Library, Heritage Week, 1996}

The United States Exploring Expedition 1839-40

The Austrian Novara Scientific Expedition 1858

The USS Vincennes at Disappointment Bay in early 1840.

Introduction

Magnificent Voyages features two recent acquisitions to the Library's Rare Books collection - Charles Wilkes' Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition 1838-42 (London, 1845, 5 vols. + atlas) and Karl Scherzer's Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara 1857-59 (London, 1861-3, 3 vols.). In both instances, members of the associated scientific contingents visited Illawarra in search of material for study and placement in American and European museum collections.

The Americans passed through Wollongong during December 1839 - January 1840, and the Austrians in November 1858. Geologists J.D. Dana and F. Hochstetter, artists Alfred T. Agate and Joseph Selleny, botanist Johannes Zelebor, and ethnographers Horatio Hale and Karl Scherzer, all made the journey to Illawarra during brief stopovers at Sydney. The results of their research is to found in numerous published monographs and scientific papers. Between 1844-74 twenty-four separate volumes (plus atlases) were prepared delineating the findings of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, whilst between 1861-77 twenty-one volumes appeared in Austria relating to the Novara expedition.

The Wilkes Narrative is a rare work of immense historical significance, recording as it does the findings of the United States' first round-the-world exploring expedition between 1838-42, whilst the visit of the Austrian Imperial Frigate Novara and its scientific contingent to Australia in 1858 is well known in Europe, though less so in this country. Scherzer's Narrative was the only English edition to appear, and the German language version (Reise..., Vienna, 1861-2) was reprinted a number of times.

Both expeditions are currently the subject of on-campus research. Drs. Brian Jones and Paul Carr of the Department of Geology have for a number of years been researching J.D. Dana's time in Australia, in collaboration with an American mineralogist. A book on this topic will appear shortly.

Catalogue of Works

The United States Exploring Expedition

1838-42

1 Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Wiley and Putnam, London. (Printed by C. Sherman, Philadelphia). 1845. Ferguson 4211. Opened at frontispiece and title page to volume 1.

2 Chart of the world shewing the tracks of the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1838, 39, 40, 41, & 42. Engraving, hand-coloured, in Wilkes, Narrative..., Atlas, 1845, plate 1.

3 H.J. Viola and C. Margolis (eds.), Magnificent Voyagers - The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1985.

4 Alfred T. Agate, Corroboree Dance, Wollongong 1840. Engraving, Narrative, vol.2, facing p.198. Witnessed by Expedition members on the evening of Saturday, 4 January 1840, and described in the Diary of the Rev. W.B. Clarke.

5 Charles Wilkes, Narrative, vol. 3. Royal octavo. Quarter calf binding with contemporary marbled boards bearing the label of the `Settle [Seattle] Literary Society. Instituted 1770'.

6 J.D. Dana, Basaltic columns, coast of Illawarra, New South Wales. Gold-leaf stamped cover-piece to Dana's The Geological Story Briefly Told. An Introduction to Geology for the General Reader and for Beginners in the Science, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., New York, 1875. Based on the original drawing by Dana (cat. no.11). Collection, P.F. Carr.

7 William Stanton, The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1975.

8 Charles Wilkes, U.S.S. Vincennes in Disappointment Bay, Antarctica, January 1840. Oil painting [copy]. Collection, Peabody Museum of Salem.

9 Thomas Sully, Captain Charles Wilkes (c.1844). Oil painting [copy], U.S. Naval Academy Museum.

10 Alfred T. Agate, Forest Illawarra N.S.W. Engraving, hand-coloured [copy], from the Narrative, vol.2, opposite p.258.

11 J.D. Dana, Basaltic columns, Kiama, coast of Illawarra, New South Wales (9 January 1840), pencil and sepia wash drawing, [photographic copy]. Collection, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University.

12 Daniel Huntington, Portrait of James Dwight Dana, oil painting [photographic copy]. Collection, Yale University Art Gallery.

13 J.D. Dana, District of Illawarra, N.S.W., [c.1839-40], pen and watercolour [photographic copy]. Collection, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University. Geological map compiled during 1839-40. Reproduced as an engraving in Dana, Geology, 1849, after p.448.

14 J.D. Dana, United States Exploring Expedition. Vol.X. Geology, C. Sherman, Philadelphia, 1849. Title page [copy].

15 Australian Fossils, lithographic plate [copy] from J.D. Dana, United States Exploring Expedition.... Vol. X. Geology. Atlas, C. Sherman, Philadelphia, 1849. Note item 9a Pecten illawarrensis.

16 Cathedral Rocks, Kiama. Contemporary photograph. Similar to Dana's sketch of 9 January 1840 (cat. no.16). View looking north along the coastline.

17 J.D. Dana, Basaltic rocks on seashore, 2 miles N. of Kiama, Illawarra [9 January 1840], pencil and sepia wash drawing [photographic copy]. Collection, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University.

18 William Branwhite Clarke [c.1860]. Photographic portrait [copy]. Clarke was a local geologist and Church of England minister who accompanied Dana on his Illawarra excursion.

19 W.B. Clarke Diary - entry for Thursday, 9 January 1840, including a sketch of Cathedral Rocks, Kiama, similar to that taken by J.D. Dana [copy]. Mitchell Library, Sydney, ML MSS139.

The Austrian Novara Scientific Expedition

1857-59

20 Karl Scherzer, Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, ..... in the years 1857, 1858 & 1859, Saunders, Otley & Co., London, 1861-3. 3 vols. Royal octavo, rebound in full cloth with original spines laid down. Volume 2.

21 Chart of the Track of the Austrian Imperial Frigate Novara on her Voyage Round the Globe in the years 1857, 1858 & 1859, in Scherzer, Narrative, vol. 1.

22 Joseph Selleny, Denizens of the Australian Forest. Engraving & text, in Scherzer, Narrative, vol. 3, p.1.

23 Joseph Selleny, The Novara at sea. Engraved frontispiece from the German edition of the Narrative. (K. Scherzer, Reise..., Vienna, 1861-2, 3 vols.).

24 Cajetan Felder, Rudolf Felder and Alois F. Rogenhofer, Reise .... Zoologischer Thiel. Lepidoptera, Atlas, Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna, 1864-75. Collection, Australian Museum.

25 Joseph Selleny, Mount Keira, near the Osborne Wallsend coal mine, 20 November 1858, watercolour, pencil on paper, 35.6 x 51.3cm. Inscribed "Australia / M. Keira, near Waldren husbands / coal mine / 20 Nov". Collection, Wollongong City Gallery.

26 Joseph Selleny, Mount Keira, Wollongong 1858, watercolour, pencil on paper, 35.5 x 51.1cm. Collection, Wollongong City Gallery.

27 Joseph Selleny, Thullinbah. J. Selleny, Wullongong, watercolour on paper, 35 x 21.5cm [photographic copy]. Private collection, Canada.

28 Joseph Selleny, Huranga. JS Wulongong. 21 Dec. 85, watercolour on paper, 35 x 21.5cm [photographic copy]. Private collection, Canada.

29 Joseph Selleny, Illawarra Aborigines. Engraving [copy], in Scherzer, Reise..., vol.2, p.33.

30 Joseph Selleny, Fairy Meadow Farm near Wollongong, pencil on paper, 35.5 x 51.5cm [copy]. Inscribed "19 Nov 58 / Fairy Meadow / Woolongong". Collection, Neue Gallerie, Graz, Austria.

31 Joseph Selleny, Broughton's Pass, Illawarra. Lithograph [copy], in Reise..., vol.2, facing p.26.

32 Photographic portrait of Joseph Selleny, Sydney 1858. [copy]. Emily Macarthur Album, National Library of Australia.

33 Joseph Selleny - Views taken during the Novara voyage: a. Chinese Temple at Singapore; b. Natives of Chile; c. Native Hut of Sikayana, Stewart's Island; d. Lagoon and forest at Manilla; e. The Bar at St Paul.

34 Photographic portraits and autograph signatures of Commodore Bernhard von Wüllestorf-Urbair, Karl Scherzer, Joseph Selleny and botanist Johannes Zelebor. Camden Park, 17 November 1858. [copy]. Emily Macarthur Album, National Library of Australia.

35 Report of Visit by Novara Scientists, Illawarra Mercury, Monday, 22 November 1858.

36 The Austrian frigate Novara taking on stores at Sydney in 1858 [copy of photograph]. Reproduced in L. Lind, Fair Winds to Australia - 200 Years of Sail on the Australia Station, Reed, Sydney, 1988, p.86.

37 Views on board the Novara 1857-9 [copies]: a. Interior (photograph); b. The Commodore's Cabin (engraving); c. Dr Hochstetter in his Cabin (pencil sketch).

38 Vertical cross-section of the frigate Novara, in Narrative, vol.1, facing p.7.

39 Alexander Kirchner, The frigate Novara 1857-9. Oil painting (copy). Collection, Herresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna.

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Acknowledgements

This Exhibition was mounted by the University Library Promotions Committee. Special thanks are also due to John Walsh, Assistant Director, Wollongong City Gallery, Ken Orchard, Faculty of Creative Arts, Jan Brazier, Australian Museum Library, John Shipp and Pam Epe.

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