THE FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA; or, A Plan for Exploring the Interior, and for Carrying on a Survey of the Whole Continent of Australia. By a Retired Officer of the Hon. East India Company's Service.
Illustrated with a Map of Australia, and Five Plates. Pp. xxiv+428+[2](Supplemental note, verso blank), 5 double page plates (4 being hand-coloured aquatints), large folding map at end, appendix; demy 8vo; modern half calf, the spine ruled in gilt around raised bands, with gilt lettered and decorated maroon leather title labels; marbled papered boards; new endpapers (retaining an earlier unidentified bookplate dated 1843), pencilled signature on verso of title page, scattered light foxing; Hurst, Chance and Co., London, 1830. First edition. F.1379; Wantrup 117a; Abbey Travel 11. 574. *This copy lacks the 16 page publisher's catalogue, which according to Wantrup was present only in the 'earliest issue.' A second edition, comprising unsold sheets of the first edition with a new title page and an updated preface, was published by Smith, Elder in 1836. (This firm took over the remaining stock some time after the initial publication, and by 1833 were advertising that 'only 250 copies of this expensively got up work' were printed [see Wantrup, page 193]). 'The supreme monument to the speculative geography of the 1820s and 1830s . . . His eccentric plan for the survey of the interior is a monument to the fascination exerted by the vast unknown interior on contemporary Europeans. He offers detailed and elaborate advice on the preparation and conduct of his proposed expedition, suggesting the importation of elephants and camels, the construction of special craft to navigate the inland sea and so on. As well, he devotes attention to other matters relating to the future of society in Australia. Everything from the planning of towns to the establishment of a bunyip aristocracy has a place on his broad canvas' [Wantrup, pages 192-3]. The map is an imaginative depiction of the Australian continent, including a large inland sea and 'the supposed entrance of 'The Great River'. The plates show scenes from Maslen's proposed exploring expedition, a plan for a township, and a design for an Australian flag. Item #135792
Price: $9,000.00