Gatherings Of A Naturalist In Australasia

First Edition. 8vo., 8 lithograph plates; 7 hand-coloured, 1 tinted, pp. 456. Bound in modern green half morocco gilt by Walter Craven. Published by John van Voorst (London), 1860.

A manuscript correction to one word on p. 423, a little spotting and offsetting from the photographic portrait. Near fine.

A Presentation copy, inscribed by the Author to the front endpaper: "To Alice M. Vidler, with the kindest love of the author, Oct 22nd 1877". With a newspaper portrait of the Author beneath, and a photographic portrait of the same aged 88, pasted to frontispiece verso.

There is a further note tipped in at the end of the Book by the previous owner, with information regarding the purchase of the Book and Binder Information. The note reads as follows:

"This book was purchased by me for £2 from the house opposite Dove Cottage in Grasmere. About 1982. The house was being used as a ticket office – it perhaps still is – but occasionally, in those days, it used the upper rooms as a shop. The book was re-bound by Walter Craven of Worthing, Sussex. He died in Nov. 2011 aged 102 years."

This book is a practical and well-illustrated guide to the productions of Australia and an active attempt to protect certain species such as the emu and the echidna. As noted in the Preface: "The drawings, with a few exceptions, are from the accurate pencil of Mr G. F. Angas, well known for his correct delineations of subjects of natural history, and the author of three splendid works illustrative of the scenery and natives of New Zealand, South Australia and southern Africa."

George Bennett (1804-1893) is regarded as "the greatest of the physician-naturalists of Australia" (ADB). He was the Honorary Secretary of the Australian Museum, a fellow of London's Linnean Society, and a member of the Zoological Society. In 1890, towards the end of his life, he was awarded the Clarke Memorial Medal by the Royal Society Of New South Wales.

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