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
London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1836 (second issue).
Octavo, xxiv, 428, [4] (blank) pages plus a large folding map and 5 hand-coloured aquatint plates.
Later half morocco and cloth (by Morell); spine lettered in gilt, and ruled in gilt in compartments; cloth a little flecked at the rear and along some edges; small, neat (and old) repair in cloth to a short tear near the stub of the map, with two short edge splits along folds expertly sealed; occasional foxing; minor signs of use and age; a very good copy.
A lavish work of speculative geography, including eccentric schemes for the exploration and settlement of the interior of Australia, with superb hand-coloured aquatint plates and a large map featuring the supposed inland sea. The second issue, comprising the unsold sheets of the original 1830 issue with a new title leaf and updated preliminaries. The combined print run was likely no more than 250 copies (Wantrup). See Ferguson 2145; Wantrup 117b.
Item #114099
Sold