The Sea Horse and the Wanderer Ben Boyd in Australia Tapa dura - 1989

Melbourne University Press, 1988. Very good/Good. 8vo. 225 x 145mm, 254 pages. B/w photos, engravings, sketches. Book condition: Very good, clean blue boards, tight binding, no inscriptions. Jacket condition: Good, clean, bright, bit of fade to spine, not creased, not clipped. Comments: The strange story of Ben Boyd, a banker who founded the Royal Bank of Australia in the mid 19th C Australia. He bought grazing properties, became a spokesman for squatters, using the process himself in New South Wales and became one of the largest employers. He upset local labour markets by importing South Sea islanders to work on his properties. As a banker he helped to destroy a governor, became creditor of another and threatened the New Zealand government with bankruptcy. After a period of only seven years his financial empire collapsed and he effectively disappeared; so what became of this adventurer? This is what the book tries to solve. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Australia: Melbourne University Press. Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 1988. First Edition. Hardcover. 0522843557 . Very clean & tightly bound hardback book with no inscriptions, in a bright unclipped dustjacket. Appears little used. xii + 254 pages, illustrations on plates, notes, bibliography, index. Laid in are a Canberra Times review plus 2 postcards of the Wanderer .

Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988. xiv, 254pp, index, bibliography, notes, bw ills. Blue cloth in jacket. Small bookseller label on front pastedown, light foxing. Biography of colonial New South Wales businessman.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo.