Songs of Central Australia
Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1971.
Quarto, liv, 775 pages plus a colour frontispiece; as ever, the pagination skips numbers 239 and 240.
Black binder's cloth with the title and author's name in gilt on the spine and front cover, and with 'A & R' at the foot of the spine; paper a little tanned (as usual); small creases to the top corner-tip of a handful of leaves (a trifling production flaw); essentially, in fine condition.
Inscribed and signed by Kathie Strehlow, the author's widowed second wife, on the title page, with the recipients adding the date (23 May 1983). '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). Although the original edition comprised 500 copies, this seminal work is utterly rare. This copy bound in black cloth is from a small remainder issue, produced from surplus sheets of the original edition. The sheets of all such copies we have handled have had some minor production flaw (such as the slight creases in this copy), explaining why they were not bound up with the rest of the edition. Circumstantial evidence leads us to believe that Kathie Strehlow herself organised the production and distribution of this later issue. This is further supported by the provenance of this copy, which was presented to the recipients by Kathie Strehlow at her home in suburban Adelaide. We have now sold at least five other copies of this issue (and we know of several others). Two of them were given to two different people on the same occasion by Kathie Strehlow at her home in the 1980s; another one was originally purchased from Liberty Bookshop in Adelaide in the late 1970s or early 1980s, from a quantity then on sale. Yet another copy contained a typed note with information we believe to be incorrect, but we quote it here for the record: 'Apparently, Kath Strehlow came across several unbound but sewn copies of TGH Strehlow's 1971 "magnum opus". She had these bound and sold them to the Arunta Bookshop in Alice Springs. I bought one of these from Mrs Harvey at the Arunta Bookshop in the mid 1980s. They are not facsimiles but original typescripts [sic], without accompanying maps'. The original edition contained a corrigenda slip (tipped in on the sectional title page to the introduction), and a map in an endpocket: this copy was issued without either of them.
Item #145608
Price (AUD):
$5,500.00