The Diary and Letters of Mary Thomas (1836-1866). Being a Record of the Early Days of South Australia. Edited by Evan Kyffin Thomas
Adelaide, Thomas, 1925 (revised and enlarged third edition)/ 1915.
Octavo, xiv, 191 pages plus 9 plates.
An account of the Thomas family's journey to South Australia on the 'Africaine' in 1836, and the fascinating early years of colonization as described in Mary's letters to her brother in England. Her husband Robert was the first newspaper publisher in South Australia and important details of the practical difficulties involved in the printing business are included. Of more immediate and remarkable bibliographic interest is the fact that this is one of 300 unbound copies of the original 1925 edition discovered in the family attic in 1985; the entire cache has now been attractively bound in full reconstituted morocco. It is offered for sale with a fine copy of the first edition of a companion family volume: 'Maisie. Her Life in Her Letters from 1898 to 1902', edited by Joan Kyffin Willington (Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 1992; xii, 451 pages with numerous plates, in papered boards with the dustwrapper). This 'collectors' duo' comes in a cloth-bound slipcase and each book contains a numbered certificate of authenticity, signed by Joan Kyffin Willington, Maisie's granddaughter and Mary's great-great-granddaughter.
Item #73864
Price (AUD):
$135.00