South Australia Illustrated
London, Thomas M'Lean, 1847.
Imperial folio, [iv] (letterpress title dated 1847, and list of subscribers), iv (preface and 'General Remarks on the Aboriginal Inhabitants of South Australia') pages, plus a superb hand-coloured pictorial lithographed title page (dated 1846), lithographed dedication leaf, and 60 hand-coloured lithographs, each with accompanying descriptive letterpress (usually one leaf, occasionally more).
Contemporary (if not original) half morocco and cloth; all edges gilt; covers a little marked and very slightly worn; pictorial title shaved at two edges, and with some minor adhesion damage in the gutter; approximately 20 plates and leaves with minor edge tears (most sealed); long sealed tear to one early text leaf; Plate XXVI remargined and laid down, sealing a long tear; text leaves a little tanned and offset; some scattered foxing, marks, and other signs of age and handling; a few pencilled notes (mainly supplying modern spellings of place names); a very good copy overall.
'"South Australia Illustrated" is without question Angas's greatest and most accomplished work. His views of towns and scenery, of the Aborigines and of the flora and fauna offer an outstanding - if romantic - interpretation of the Australian landscape. It is a very scarce book ... and one which has always been held in the highest esteem and is in great demand. It must be considered one of the fundamental works in any collection of Australian plate books' (Wantrup, page 409). Provenance: Charles Glover (1870-1936), several times Lord Mayor of Adelaide and noted book collector, with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Wantrup 237.
Item #147086
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