Songs of Central Australia
Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1971.
Quarto, liv, 775 pages plus a colour frontispiece, a large folding map (885 × 685 mm) in an endpocket and a tipped-in corrigenda slip at page [xi].
Original blind-decorated brown cloth; light foxing to the top and leading edges, with minimal foxing to a few scattered leaves; text paper lightly tanned as ever; three-digit number written in black marker pen in the top corner of the front free endpaper; notwithstanding, this is a near-fine copy with the near-fine unclipped colour-pictorial dustwrapper, with a few tiny surface chips (almost invariably encountered) here expertly recoloured.
The detailed four-colour map of Aboriginal Central Australia is based on information from Strehlow's field note books, 1932-1969; an extensive index is printed on the verso. 'The first complete account of the poetic heritage of the aboriginal people of Central Australia; an analysis of aboriginal songs as fully-developed oral literature, and their evaluation as authoritative documents of aboriginal religion' (from the original prospectus). One of only 500 copies of the original release, perennially scarce and, more importantly, of perennial interest.
Item #144277
Price (AUD):
$9,000.00