The Barber of Batavia
14th Mar 2026 - Blog
Some times when reading a travel account or diary you are brought up short. Here is the 12-year-old George Thomas
Sometimes you make a small find which gives you pleasure. In this case a very small find in an early New Zealand water colour by Gerald Butler Beere, no title, until we opened it up to restore it and found one on the back, and then a little gem emerged of Lake Waikare in the Waikato. If you have an eye for colonial water colours, you will recognise the palette with the characteristic blues and straw colours – did they all work with the same set of paints? You can see it and read about it here.
14th Mar 2026 - Blog
Some times when reading a travel account or diary you are brought up short. Here is the 12-year-old George Thomas
22nd Dec 2025 - Rare and Early Books
George Thomas Staunton was 12 years old when he accompanied his father Sir George Leonard Staunton and Lord Macartney (and