BURKE AND WILLS
"ARGUS" The Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition... Melbourne, Wilson and Mackinnon, 1861
Octavo, pp. iv, 32 (double column); in good condition, bound without wrappers in modern morocco gilt.
Very scarce: one of the early impressions of this important pamphlet account of the expedition drawn from the original Melbourne Argus reports. It was reprinted many times between November 1861 and January 1862.
This is identified as an early issue, and probably the first, by the two misprints in the second column on page 25: "Fred. Mueller" for "Ferd."; "explanaions" for "explanations".
'The largest, the most expensive and the worst-led expedition yet seen in Australia, the Victorian Exploring Expedition became a symbol of inter-colonial rivalry. There can be little doubt that the prime objective of the expedition when it set out in August 1860 was to beat Stuart's South Australian expedition to the north coast at any cost. And a high cost it was...' (Wantrup).
Ferguson, 7702; Maria, 19; Wantrup, 163.
$A2500
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