elcome to Bibliotreks.com. Here you will find offered for sale some of the finest available copies of rare and collectible books on travel, exploration, discovery, views and archaeology.

I founded Bibliotreks in 1999 out of a growing interest in certain rare books, particularly those written in the first person by the travelers, explorers and discoverers who brought back word of places previously unknown to the western world. It seemed to me then, as it does now, that history is fresh and new again when read through their eyes - certainly more so than through the dry, third-person compilations of editors who weren't there. The books themselves, as historical artifacts, become messengers from another time and place, bearing wondrous news of these discoveries. They deliver this news not only by their texts, but by their bindings, their illustrations, their physical condition and their provenance. Although my interests have since wandered into neighboring lands, I have never forgotten the sense of freshness and newness that such first-hand accounts bring.

Please take a moment of your time to browse through the descriptions and images of the books presented here. I particularly invite your attention to the latest of our ongoing series of featured items - a true first edition of Thomas Gainsborough's Collection of Prints, Illustrative of English Scenery, containing seventy-two engraved plates after sketches by Gainsborough, twenty-five of which are hand-tinted, and much scarcer than the later edition with sixty plates described by Abbey and Tooley. Who were the eighteenth-century connoisseurs, collectors and patrons of art who collaborated to publish Gainsborough's Collection of Prints, Illustrative of English Scenery, thereby preserving Gainsborough's reputation as "the father of modern landscape" (DNB)? Why was it that "Gainsborough painted portraits to live but . . . lived to paint landscapes" (Woodall, Gainsborough's Landscape Drawings)? You can find out here.

Finally, whether you seek to purchase our books, to sell yours or simply to share our interest in such books, we are always happy to hear from you.

Ted Charnley, Proprietor