Scenes in the Bush of Australia. By A Squatter
[London, McLean & Co., 1847].
Two hand-coloured tinted lithographs, individually framed and glazed at a much later date (matted just inside the printed surface; visible image sizes 149 × 255 mm; external dimensions 383 × 474 mm).
Both items are in fine condition (but not examined out of the frames).
'Scenes in the Bush of Australia. By A Squatter' was originally published as 'an oblong quarto volume consisting of two fine lithographs within green titling-wrappers. [The wrappers (not present here) stated the work was 'Published for the benefit of the Famine Relief Fund of the Highlands of Scotland'.] The first plate, "The Squatter's First Home", is signed on the stone "ADL". The second, "An Exploring Party, Looking for a Sheep Run", is unsigned. The two lithographs were available either tinted or fully coloured by hand. The coloured issue is especially rare. Lang occupied a run at Terrinallum, near Mortlake in Victoria, between 1839 and 1845. He was a gifted amateur artist, as these plates show. The original sketch, dated 1845, from which the first plate was drawn is held in an Australian private collection. Lang himself appears in it, sitting before the cabin fire at night. A reconstruction of this scene was one of the highlights in the Victorian sesquicentenary exhibition mounted by the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Library of Victoria in 1985. Lang also appears in the second plate where he is seen sitting at a camp fire with a companion and a native boy. ... Running neck and neck with Prout's six small lithographs [in John Skinner Prout's 'Views of Melbourne and Geelong'], the "Scenes in the Bush of Australia" is one of the first two Victorian illustrated books; in its hand-coloured form it has a clear field as the first Victorian coloured plate book' (Wantrup, page 308). Ferguson 16102; Wantrup 234. [2 items].
Item #129584
Price (AUD):
$25,000.00