80166 Adelaide, Government Printer, 1864. Octavo, [vi], 46 pages. Original fawn wrappers (reprinting the full title page details); covers slightly marked, with the rear one a little creased and indented; head and foot of the spine slightly chipped; creases to the bottom margins of several leaves at the rear; a few minor marks to the text; a very good copy. Ferguson 18807. The preface, dated Penola, 8 September 1864, puts the item in perspective: 'I should wish to offer an excuse here for attempting to describe a country in which I have never been. I am acquainted with only one book written expressly on North Australia, and that is the work of Mr Earl. Had it been published in the Colony, I should never have presumed upon my present task; but it was scarce in Adelaide, and, under any circumstances, was perhaps a little too dear for general circulation ... My qualifications were, that in attempting a History of Australian Exploration, I had not only read and re-read, but copied and condensed, the accounts of every exploration yet made upon the north coast ... [and] I have consulted every work I could find in which North Australia has ever been mentioned'. There are eight chapters: Discovery and Exploration, Physical Geography, Mineralogical Features, The Rivers of the North Coast, Climate, Natural History (Aborigines - Zoology), Geology and Mineralogy, and Botany, plus concluding remarks. Nothing has been left to chance: 'The underclothes should not be changed too often, because it causes excessive perspiration'. $750.00AUD
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