Into the Dead Heart. An Ornithological Trip through Central Australia... Reprinted from 'The Register'
Adelaide, W.K. Thomas and Co., Printers [for the Author], 1914 (first thus).
Sextodecimo, 154 pages plus 27 plates.
Original wrappers (with the full title page details repeated on the front cover) a little creased and very lightly chipped, with a few tiny edge tears expertly sealed; bottom edge of the title leaf very lightly chipped; corners of the first ten leaves lightly curled; a very good copy.
Provenance: with the later bookplate of the Wilmar Library (the personal library of the Adelaide collector Glen Ralph). The purpose of the expedition (of 1300 miles by camel) was ornithological research, resulting in many additions and corrections to former bird lists and greatly assisting Gregory Mathews in his monumental work, 'The Birds of Australia'. The round trip from Oodnadatta went north by a zig-zag route to the Finke, along the river to Hermannsburg, east to Alice Springs and the Castle Hill and Mount Ruby district, back to the Overland Telegraph Line near the Hugh River, returning to Oodnadatta by a different track. The account is also of considerable Indigenous interest. The 'Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia', Volume 38, 1914 published 'Scientific Notes on an Expedition into the Interior of Australia carried out by Captain S.A. White MBOU from July to October, 1913' (octavo, 68 pages plus 34 plates and a folding map). McLaren 16760 (described simply as a 'Visit to country between Oodnadatta and MacDonnell Ranges').
Item #110586
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