The Australian Irrigation Colonies on the River Murray, in Victoria and South Australia
London, Chaffey Brothers, [1889 (third edition)]/ 1888.
Large folio (480 × 365 mm), xviii, 130 pages (including the flyleaves) with numerous illustrations and illustrated advertisements plus advertisements on the pastedowns.
Half red sheep (ruled in gilt) and red cloth lettered and decorated in gilt on the front cover, with a large advertisement for Pears' Soap in gilt on the rear cover; all edges gilt; leather a little rubbed, with minor wear to the corners and some discolouration and surface loss to the front top corner; cloth flecked and a little marked, with minor loss to silverfish; small stain to the top margin of eight consecutive leaves; scattered foxing throughout; a very good copy.
A self-promotional prospectus on a very grand scale, as befits the scheme itself. We have previously handled a copy of the 'standard' version of this edition: the contents were the same, but the book measured 395 × 285 mm, and was bound in gilt- and blind-decorated red bubble-grain cloth, complete with the Pears' Soap advertisement on the rear cover. This edition is something else again: it was possibly produced for presentation at the highest level. At the foot of page xvii there are some interesting notes about the illustrations, not least of which is that 'Our views of the River Murray are chiefly from drawings accurately made from nature by Mr J.M. Needham, of South Australia'. Ferguson 17976 records only the first edition. This revised and augmented edition includes as an appendix 'Progress Reports, 1888'; the latest date we noticed was on a quote from a journal dated 18 January 1889. Loosely inserted are eight pieces of printed ephemera relating to the Chaffey Brothers and the Australian Irrigation Colonies. They were published between 1887 and 1892, and include the 'Chaffey Brothers' Agreement' (an 1887 Victorian Legislative Assembly paper with a folding hand-coloured map), a lengthy prospectus from the agent for the sale of lands in the Colonies (eight pages foolscap folio, 1889), Directors' Progress Reports, and a large folding map of land sales 'now being dealt with, comprising 25000 acres including Town of Mildura'.
Item #112991
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