lamdha books -
catalogue of books on the Blue Mountains

39736 Adams, Peter & Lloyd, Alan The Street Wise A Portrait of the People of the Blue Mountains Lettuce Spray Productions, Katoomba, 2008. New quarto hardcover, 207 pp. Colour and monochrome plates. An essay in words and pictures of a disparate group of people living within the City of the Blue Mountains and intended as a journey into the heart of a community operating on the fringes of mainstream urban society. Click here to order $60

33759 Armitage, Audrey The Katoomba-Leura Story Rotary Club, Katoomba, 1998. New. Quarto hardcover in dustwrapper. Black and white plates. The history and personality of the two towns. Click here to order $34

12301 Baker, Margaret & Corringham, Robin Birds of the Blue Mountains Three Sisters Publications, 2002. Stapled paperback. New book. Colour plates. 56 species individually described with details on appearance, voice, breeding, identifying behaviour, food and distribution. Click here to order $12

12303 Baker, Margaret & Corringham, Robin Native Plants of the Blue Mountains Bower Bird/Three Sisters Publication, 2004. Paperback. New book. Colour plates. The major vegetation communities of the region: from the Eucalypt forests to the fragile plant assemblages of the cliff faces. Click here to order $20

58339 Barrett, Jim Cox's River Discovery, History and Development. Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009. Paperback, 117pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

60300 Barrett, Jim The First Bushwalker The Story of Fred Eden The author, 1995. Paperback, 90pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

42445 Barrett, Jim Kanangra Walls Discovery and History Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009. Paperback, 58pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

60301 Barrett, Jim The Kills of Kedumba The Story of a Blue Mountains Pioneering Family Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2008. Paperback, 54pp., b/w illustrations. New. Including a short history of the Kedumba Valley. Click here to order $15

58340 Barrett, Jim Kowmung River Discovery, History and Development Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009. Paperback, 86pp., b/w illustrations. Newm Click here to order $15

60299 Barrett, Jim Life in the Burragorang The author, 1995. Paperback, 122pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

57840 Barrett, Jim Narrow Neck and the Birth of Katoomba Author, 1996. Paperback, 64pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

42449 Barrett, Jim Place Names of the Blue Mountains and Burragorang Valley From Aboriginal and Convict Origins H H Stephenson, Armadale, 1994. Paperback. Minor wear, sunning; else very good. Click here to order $10

60298 Barrett, Jim Place Names of the Blue Mountains and Burragorang Valley . . . from Aboriginal and Convict Origins Neville Bush Holdings, Glenbrook, 2009. Paperback, 106pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

42446 Barrett, Jim Shack Country . . . and The Old Burragorang Guntawang Catholic Youth Centres, Emu Plains, 2009. Paperback, 80pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

42444 Barrett, Jim Yerranderie Story of a Ghost Town The author, 2005. Paperback, 72pp., b/w illustrations. New. Click here to order $15

35343 Brownscombe, Ross Blue Rivers A Narrative of Time in the Blue Mountains Forever Wild Press, Kingsdene, 1997. Paperback. New. The record of the author's solo raft trips down the five wild rivers of the Blue Mountains. Click here to order $15

10711 Brownscombe, Ross On Suspect Terrain Journals of Exploration in the Blue Mountains 1795-1820 Forever Wild Press, Brighton, 2004. New book. Small quarto paperback. A comprehensive study of early colonial exploration which includes the journals of all the explorers, such as Sir Joseph Banks' eccentric botanical collector George Caley and the French surveyor and map-maker Francis Barrallier, who first probed the sandstone ramparts of the Blue Mountains. Click here to order $65

42459 Cunningham, Chris The Blue Mountains Rediscovered Beyond the Myths of Early Australian Exploration Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1999 Small quarto paperback. Owner's name on prelim. Minor wear to card covers; else very good. A reconsideration of the exploration of the Blue Mountains, arguing that the currently accepted account is, in fact, the product of a tenacious myth fed by geographic misunderstanding and the needs of a social elite to take credit for national development. Click here to order $45

57521 Duvollet, Mindah A Place Called Weatherboard Old Wentworth Falls Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls, 2001. New stapled paperback. Black and white plates. Click here to order $10

33876 Hampshire, Carole Artists Observed: signed copy Blue Mountains Artists Close Up. UNSW, Sydney, 2007. Quarto paperback. Colour plates. New. Over a period of two years, photographer and writer Carole Hampshire met the sculptors, painters, photographers and potters of the Blue Mountains, some famous and others less so. The resultant book of interviews together with her portraits of the artists themselves, as well as photographs of their homes, studios and art works, is an insider's view of the creative process and the relationship between place and artist. Click here to order $50

58692 Horne, Julia The Pursuit of Wonder How Australia's Landscape was Explored, Nature Discovered and Tourism Unleashed. Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2005. Hardcover, square quarto, 351pp., colour & b&w illustrations. New. Remainder. Follows colonial tourists as they rolled up their sleeves, loosened their corsets, and set out in the pursuit of nature. The beginnings of environmental tourism together with the influence of European ideas of travel, nature and art on the perception of the Australian landscape. A chapter on the Blue Mountains and many other references. Click here to order $25

10968 Johnson, Dianne Sacred Waters The Story of the Blue Mountains Gully Traditional Owners. Halstead Press, Broadway, 2007. Hardcover, quarto, 237 pp. New book. Colour plates. The moving story of the Gundungurra people of the Burragorang Valley and the Darug people of the lower Hawkesbury, celebrating their survival in a changing world and their ongoing struggle to protect their sacred lands and waters. The emotions and impact of history are conveyed through the voices of those who lived through the loss of their traditional lands, and through their descendants. Their story can also be traced through the history of Sydney: from Governor Arthur Phillip's first meeting with the Gully people's direct ancestors at Pitt Town Bottoms in 1791, through to the diaspora of familiar surnames throughout Richmond, Blacktown and Parramatta. Click here to order $60

52848 Kala, Ilmar 'Mark' What's In a Name A Look at the Scientific Names of the Birds of the Blue Mountains. Blue Mountain Bird Observers, Springwood, 2008. Paperback, 85pp., b&w illustrations. New. Background and illustrative information on the Latin names. Click here to order $25

32488 Keats, Michael Day Walks in the Lower Grose River and Tributaries (with particular reference to the Engineers Track). The author, 2004. New. Paperback. Black and white plates. Click here to order $18

32487 Keats, Michael Day Walks in the Therabulat Country also known as the Wild Dog Mountains in the Greater Blue Mountains National Park The author, 2006. Paperback. New. Colour plates. The author has made particular cause with the region and here offers the fruits of his explorations: a guide to the walks, together with sections on the geology, flora and fauna, and history. Click here to order $30

38062 Keats, Michael & Fox, Brian The Passes of Narrow Neck Keats, Pymble, nd. (2008). New, paperback, colour illustrations, 126pp. The authors engaged in a series of walks to find, identify and record all the passes, each with its own challenges, each with its own beauty. Click here to order $28

56885 Keats, Michael and Fox, Brian The Upper Grose Valley Bushwalkers Business The author, 2010. New. Paperback. Colour plates. An 'off the beaten track' guide. Click here to order $47

32416 Lindsay, Norman (preface; commentary); Stewart, Douglas (foreword); Davis, Quinton F. (photography) Norman Linday's Ship Models Angus & Robertson, 1966. Hardcover quarto, 100pp., numerous monochrome illustrations. Foxed prelims, spotted page edges; decorated boards show some wear, slightly rubbed/discoloured at edges, corners bumped; dustwrapper sunned, upper edge creased/frayed. Very good in like dustwrapper (professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Norman Lindsay's models of sailing ships are kept at the artist's mountain retreat at Springwood, New South Wales, still generally unknown except to visitors. This book allows most of the models to be seen for what was (when the book was published) the first time. Norman Lindsday made models, in the intervals of painting, throughout his working life. They range from the war galley of the Greeks, with its rowers and fighting men complete, through Elizabethan times to the clippers of the nineteenth century, and on to the "Joseph Conrad" sailed by Alan Villiers. Click here to order $75

56604 Lord, S. and Daniel, G. (eds.) Bushwalks in the Sydney Region: Volume 1, edition 6 National Parks Association of NSW, 2007. New. Paperback. Maps. Includes a number of walks in the Blue Mountains National Park. Click here to order $27

56605 Lord, S. and Daniel, G. (eds) Bushwalks in the Sydney Region, volume 2, edition 4 National Parks Association of NSW, 2006. Paperback. New. Maps. Includes a number of walks in the Blue Mountains and Kanangra Boyd National Parks. Click here to order $27

9772 Low, John Blue Mountains Pictorial Memories Kingsclear Books, Sydney, 2005. Revised, enlarged edition. Oblong quarto paperback. New. Black and white photographs. Historical images of the environs, townships and residents. Click here to order $25

36749 Low, John & Smith, Jim The Prince of Whips The Life and Works of the Blue Mountains Pioneer Harry Peckman. Den Fenella Press, Wentworth Falls, 1993. Paperback, 112pp., b&w illustrations. New. Author's remaining copies. The 'whips' were the men who drove horse teams along the roads of the developing colonies. Peckman, 'Prince' of them, was witness to many of the changes that affected the mountains, whose beauty he celebrated in verse "tuned to the beat of his horses' hooves". Click here to order $5.5

10592 Macqueen, Andy Back from the Brink: Second Edition Blue Gum Forest and the Grose Wilderness The author, 1997. Quarto paperback. New. Black and white photographs. The forest stands as the Cradle of Conservation in New South Wales. This is its story from when it was first reserved in 1875 as a national spectacle, the threats to its existence and those who have preserved and been part of it. Click here to order $40

60032 Macqueen, Andy Frederick Robert D'Arcy colonial surveyor, explorer and artist, c1809-1875 The author, Wentworth Falls, 2010. New. Hardback. Illustrated boards. 265 pp. + index. Colour and b&w plates. Click here to order $45

11199 Macqueen, Andy Somewhat Perilous The journeys of Singleton, Parr, Howe, Myles & Blaxland in the Northern Blue Mountains Andy Macqueen, Wentworth Falls, 2004. Signed new book. Quarto paperback. Black and white plates. From 1817 to 1824 European explorers struggled to find ways from Windsor to the Hunter Valley. A full transcript of these explorers' journals and letters is included. Click here to order $30

36267 Myers, Francis (with illustrations by J.C. Hoyte) The Coastal Scenery, Harbours, Mountains, and Rivers, of New South Wales Thomas Richards, Government Printer, Sydney, 1886. Hardcover, large quarto, 77 pages. Foxing to endpapers and prelims. Scattered foxing throughout. Gilt-edged pages. Former owner's signature on front pastedown. Tear to lower end of front endpaper and upper end of title page at spine. Generally very good. Illustrated in black and white. Prepared specially for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. A very personal, and sometimes admittedly very purple, response to the landscape. The author, tellingly, perceives the inhibiting prejudices of the European conception of landscape and its inability to truly engage with a vastly different environment. Click here to order $320

58915 Pembroke, Michael Trees of History and Romance Essays from a Mount Wilson Garden. Bloomings Books, Melbourne, 2009. Hardcover, 266pp., illustrations. New. The author's subjects are the deciduous trees and conifers thriving in the cool-climate, basalt soil and altitude of Mount Wilson. He draws from history, literature, poetry, mythology, botany, and folklore to meditate upon a deeply felt connection with the land and its nature. Click here to order $35

33870 Powell, Greg Pathways to History Exploring the Blue Mountains. MacStyle Media, Sandringham, 1995. Paperback. New. The many different routes used by the early explorers in attempts to find a crossing are described. The directions are augmented by photographs and sketches. Click here to order $16

10594 Rotary Club of Blackheath Blackheath Today from Yesterday Rotary Club of Blackheath, Blackheath, 2005. New book. Hardcover. Small quarto, 640 pp. Black and white plates. The development of the township from the time of the crossing of the Blue Mountains to the present day. Emphasis has been placed on sourcing the primary historic records. Click here to order $65

57520 Silvey, Gwen The Healing Mountains Tuberculosis in the Blue Mountains, 1882-1959. Blue Mountains Historical Society, Wentworth Falls, 2009. New paperback. Black and white plates. Click here to order $15

42751 Smith, Jim Lindeman Pass: The Blue Mountains Mystery Track Three Sisters, Winmalee, 1990. Small quarto paperback. New. Black and white plates. Author's remaining copies. Between 1909 and 1911 a 6 km walking track was built at the base of the cliffs between Wentworth Falls and Leura. It was never opened and long lay neglected. The book tells the story of its rediscovery and restoration. Click here to order $5.50

10712 Stacker, Lorraine Pictorial History: Penrith & St Marys Kingsclear, Sydney, 2002. New book. Oblong paperback. Black and white plates. Early photographs of the environs, historical buildings and personages. Click here to order $25

57845 Steege, Joan Emu Plains and Thereabouts Nepean District Historical Society, 1988. Stapled oblong paperback, 63pp. Minor wear; scuffing to covers. Very good Click here to order $15

12247 Stickley, Christine The Old Charm of Penrith Christine Stickley, Penrith, 1984. Quarto hardback. Owner's name, minor wear; very good in moderately worn dustwrapper (professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film), a few small tears. Colour and black and white plates. A commemoration of the many important buildings in the township, some of which have fallen victim to the bulldozer, others of which linger on. Click here to order $35

42132 Stockton, Eugene & Merriman, John (eds.) Blue Mountains Dreaming The Aboriginal Heritage. Blue Mountains Education & Research Trust, Lawson, 2009. Quarto paperback. New. Colour and black and white plates. In 1788 the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had had no contact with Europeans: within 30 years their traditional way of life had been irrevocably changed. Of the generations of new Mountains dwellers who followed, few appreciated the Aboriginal heritage of the region, even though evidence of their presence was known from the Nepean River and the adjacent escarpment. Increasingly however, widespread discoveries of art sites, occupation sites, stone tools, axe-grinding grooves and stone arrangements, research into the journals and early writings of European explorers and settlers, and the compilation of oral histories, are providing a rich, if incomplete, account of the traditional lifestyles and environment of the Gundungurra and Darug people. This new edition gathers together new research and information about the original inhabitants of the Blue Mountains. It provides a fascinating account of histories, languages, legends and European contact. Click here to order $60

56419 Stuart, Veechi Blue Mountains Best Bushwalks: 2nd edition Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 2009. New book. Over 150 colour plates and maps. Graded walks with detailed directions. Information about Blue Mountains history and environment. Click here to order $30

41869 Taylor, G. J. The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba Grand Lady of the Mountains. The author, 2008. Stapled quarto paperback, 54 pp. New. Colour and black and white plates. Opened in 1882, the hotel symbolised the romantic era of elegant Victorian tourism. Click here to order $15

42628 Taylor, G. J. Newnes History of a Blue Mountains Oil-Shale Town. The author, nd. Quarto stapled paperback. New. Black and white photographs and maps. A history of the one time unique village and industrial complex which existed at Newnes from 1906 until 1940. Click here to order $12

42627 Taylor, G.J. The Glen Davis Story History of the Capertree Valley Shale Oil Project. The author, nd. Quarto stapled paperback. New. Black and white photographs. When the industrial site at Newnes was closed, much of the plant of equipment was transferred to the neighbouring Capertee Valley where, following the war years, a similar decline lead to the abandonment of the project. Click here to order $13

41388 Thomas, Martin The Artificial Horizon Imagining the Blue Mountains. Melbourne University, 2004. Small quarto paperback. New. Colour and black and white plates. Exploring the myths that form the meanings of the Blue Mountains, Thomas' book takes the reader on a journey through culture, landscape and mythology to probe the 'dreamwork of imperialism'. For both Aboriginal people and their colonisers, the rugged and dramatic landscape of the Mountains has stood as an intriguing riddle and a stimulus to the imagination. Click here to order $28

10973 Wiley, Rebecca Rebecca Wiley's Visit to Norman Lindsay at Springwood, May 1918 Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1986. Hardcover quarto, 130 pp. Illustrated with reproductions, photos. Dustjacket slightly turned at upper edge; otherwise very good. In 1918, Rebecca Wiley was sent by her employer, publisher George Robertson, to visit Norman Lindsay at his home at Springwood in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. On her return she excitedly described her observations and the conversations she had had with Lindsay. This is her account of the visit. Rediscovered after nearly seventy years and now published for the first time, this work gives a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of the most extraordinary and controversial figures in Australian art and literature. Click here to order $35

59898 Williams, Michael and Lang, Rebecca Australian Big Cats An Unnatural History of Panthers. Strange Nation Publishing, Hazelbrook, 2010. Small quarto paperback, 436 pp., black and white plates. New. A chapter on Blue Mountains sightings. Click here to order $35