Meteorological Observations at Bendigo. [Contained in] Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Victoria ... 1855. Volume 1. [The society was renamed the Royal Society of Victoria from Volume 5, 1860]

Melbourne, James J. Blundell & Co., 1855.

Octavo, pages 87-91 plus a tinted lithograph by the author (95 x 160 mm: 'Venus, Luna, Jupiter. Bendigo, Novr 4th 1853') [in a total of xii, 265, [3], xxv, [3] pages plus plates, including several hand-coloured folding geological charts and a fine double-page engraving of 'Birds of Victoria' comprising five cockatoos drawn and engraved by Redaway & Sons, accompanying an article by William Blandowski].

Original stiffened wrappers with the title page details repeated on the front cover (and the list of contents making its sole appearance on the outside of the rear cover); wrappers a little sunned, marked and foxed, with tiny pieces missing from the front corners and a small numbered label pasted to the head of the front cover; endpapers and the first and last few leaves slightly foxed, with occasional fingermarks; overall a very good copy.

The front flyleaf is signed in pencil 'R. Campbell / Septer 15th 1855'; Robert Campbell is one of the 132 subscribers whose names and addresses are printed in the volume. Becker's article, although short and prosaically titled, is most entertaining because of his observations on his meteorological observations. The 'climate of this country is healthy, but not so the men' comes at the end of an entire page devoted to various bad habits of the local miners; another half-page is spent describing first-hand the effects of hurricanes that plague the locality. Other contributors to this volume include William Blandowski, Clement Hodgkinson and Dr Ferdinand von Mueller (three articles each), and Dr E. Davy, Robert Brough Smyth and David Wilkie (two articles each). Two of von Mueller's articles relate to 'rare or hitherto undescribed Australian Plants, chiefly collected within the Boundaries of the Colony of Victoria' (37 pages in all).

Item #75892

Price (AUD): $500.00

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