Item #106057 The Mines of South Australia, including also an Account of the Smelting Works in that Colony; together with a Brief Description of the Country, and Incidents of Travel in the Bush. J. B. AUSTIN.
The Mines of South Australia, including also an Account of the Smelting Works in that Colony; together with a Brief Description of the Country, and Incidents of Travel in the Bush

The Mines of South Australia, including also an Account of the Smelting Works in that Colony; together with a Brief Description of the Country, and Incidents of Travel in the Bush

Adelaide, Platts, Wigg, Dehane ... 1863.

Octavo, 109, i (advertisements) pages plus a large folding map ('Portion of South Australia showing the Principal Mines of the Colony, 1863', 635 x 420 mm).

Textured cloth with the title and author in gilt on the front cover; corners a little bumped; spine lightly sunned, with the head and foot slightly chipped, and with the cloth on the hinges splitting near the ends; tiny chip to the leading margin of one leaf (a paper flaw); an excellent copy with the contemporary ownership details of J. Taylor, 21 Albion Place, Clerkenwell EC London.

The author, a mine agent and broker in Adelaide at the time, states in his preface that 'About four months were occupied in visiting the Mines and collecting information, and during this time I travelled about 1,800 miles, chiefly on horseback'. 'First Edition of Three Thousand' is printed at the foot of the title page; the list of 173 subscribers accounts for 1200 copies. We have previously handled a copy in red wrappers, with 19 pages of advertisements and no map. Ferguson 6183 records only that version, noting that the map is 'loose'. Interestingly, traces of red wrapper are clearly visible on the inner margin of the title page, disabusing us of the notion that the version in wrappers was a later remainder issue. In our experience, both versions are rare, this cloth-bound one with the map particularly so.

Item #106057

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