Item #123312 The Native Tribes of Central Australia. Walter Baldwin SPENCER, Francis James GILLEN.
The Native Tribes of Central Australia
The Native Tribes of Central Australia
The Native Tribes of Central Australia
The Native Tribes of Central Australia

The Native Tribes of Central Australia

London, Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1899.

Octavo, xx, 671 pages with 12 unnumbered line illustrations of churingas, a map and 130 illustrations (mainly after photographs) plus 2 folding maps, 3 folding charts, 4 folding chromolithographic plates and an erratum slip tipped in at page 1 (noting that on page 570, the tassel should be 'pubic' not 'public').

Olive-green gilt-pictorial buckram, all edges uncut; covers unevenly sunned, and a little flecked, marked, and rubbed, with minimal wear to a high spot on the rear joint; top edge a little dusty; minimal chipping to some uncut leading edges; one folding chart slightly creased; tiny pencil marks to about a dozen words in the glossary; minimal signs of use and age; an excellent copy.

The significance of the book in the history of anthropology worldwide needs only to be noted in passing. Provenance: the small name-plate of 'H.H. Dutton, Magdalen College, Oxford' is mounted on the front pastedown. The obituary of Henry Hampden Dutton (1879-1932) is worth repeating here: 'Mr Henry Hampden Dutton, a member of one of the oldest families in South Australia, was found dead in bed at his picturesque home, Anlaby Estate, yesterday morning. Mr Dutton, who was aged 53 years, had been in good health, complaining the previous night only of a slight cold. Before retiring he was jovial, and apparently well. He has left a widow, three sons - John, Richard and Geoffrey - and a daughter, Helen, who is in England with her mother. Mr Dutton was born at Adelaide on February 13, 1879, and was educated at St Peter's College, and afterwards at Lancing College, Sussex, and at Magdalen College, Oxford where be secured his BA degree and rowed in the University Eight in 1900. He travelled extensively in the Rocky Mountains, Newfoundland and Morocco. In 1908, with Mr Murray Aunger, he completed the first trip overland by motor car from Darwin to Adelaide [actually, it was from Adelaide to Darwin]. In 1905 he married Emily, daughter of Mr J.F. Martin, of the engineering works, Gawler. He offered himself for service during the war but was rejected because of an old leg injury. Anlaby, near Kapunda, has been described as an English estate in Australia, with an undisturbed family history, and all the homelike attributes that permanent occupancy, wealth and good taste can ensure. Established by a Dutton in the early days of South Australia, the estate was, from the first, designed to form a permanent family home. One generation of the Dutton family after another has added to its outward attractiveness and its inward comfort.The family had its origin in the English village of Dutton, in Cheshire. Frederick Hugh Hampden Dutton settled in Victoria in the thirties. Anlaby Estate was reduced in area when the Government purchased 47,000 acres for closer settlement purposes. Mr Dutton adopted the principle of the half-share system, and 50 farmers grow wheat on the estate under that arrangement. In 1914 all had their holdings offered to them, and 90 per cent agreed to purchase. Anlaby Estate has the appearance of a village, there being many farmers' cottages on it. Both Mr Dutton and his wife were enthusiastic collectors. Anlaby House being a treasury of valuable furniture, antiques, first editions, mezzotints, and original paintings' (the Adelaide 'Advertiser', 16 June 1932).

Item #123312

Sold