Hordern House

ANONYMOUS The History of New Holland, from its First Discovery in 1616 to the Present Time.... London, John Stockdale 1787

Octavo, with two folding maps coloured in outline; contemporary tree calf, spine ornately panelled in gilt with neoclassical ornaments; very slight surface wear to spine and slight split to front joint; a fine copy.

A beautiful copy of a very important book, and a sometimes neglected First Fleet publication: this was the most widely read and one of the earliest descriptions of Australia, published to coincide with the departure from England of the First Fleet. The anonymous compiler discusses the fleet's imminent departure, listing the numbers and equipment of the fleet as well as the principal officers. There is also material in both preface and text about transportation, as well as an "Introductory Discourse" on the subject by William Eden which has often led to the misattribution of the whole book to him.

The "Eden", as it is often called, is written 'to present at one view a connected description of the whole country of New Holland. The book was clearly aimed at a public eager for information on the new colonial venture, and for details of Botany Bay itself, which is here described at length.

This is the form in which many of the participants in the First Fleet must have absorbed what little information existed about conditions in Australia. The maps show the continent, Botany Bay and most interestingly the "passage from England to Botany Bay in New Holland 1787", showing clearly the route that the fleet must take.
Ferguson, 24.

$A10000

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