Songs of Central Australia
Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1971.
Quarto, liv, 775 pages plus a colour frontispiece, a large folding map (885 x 685 mm) in an endpocket, and a tipped-in corrigenda slip.
Original blind-decorated cloth; insignificant tiny marks to the top edge; front endpaper lightly foxed; loose map now inserted in a slightly larger endpocket mounted on the verso of the rear flyleaf (the original endpocket is retained), with some clear tape reinforcement to the head of the new endpocket; an excellent copy (internally fine) with the dustwrapper in excellent condition, with minimal surface chipping to the extremities (much less than often encountered), and with a little cockling to the rear panel caused when the original laminate was applied.
The detailed four-colour map of Aboriginal Central Australia is based on information from Strehlow's field note books, 1932-1969; an extensive index is printed on the verso. 'The first complete account of the poetic heritage of the aboriginal people of Central Australia; an analysis of aboriginal songs as fully-developed oral literature, and their evaluation as authoritative documents of aboriginal religion' (from the original prospectus). One of only 500 copies printed, THIS COPY IS SIGNED BY T.G.H. STREHLOW on the half-title, turning a regulation rarity into an absolute belter.
Item #106549
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