Waltzing Matilda

[HART]. LITTLEWOOD, Robert C.

# 94

A poem by Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson, etchings by Kevin Charles ‘Pro’ Hart. Stoke-on-Trent [U.K.]: The Lytlewode Press, 2007. Large folio bound in goatskin, gilt-lettering to spine, in a gilt-lettered and felt-lined clamshell box, 42pp. text, plus seven tipped-in original hand-coloured Pro Hart etchings, each signed by Pro Hart. This is the publisher’s special edition of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. It is limited to 25 copies plus hors d’commerce, and signed and numbered by Robert Littlewood. Robert Littlewood first published ‘Waltzing Matilda in 1995 while Pro Hart was still alive. The 1995 edition was limited to 100 copies, and contained a copy of the poem, plus seven signed Pro Hart etchings printed in the chine colle method. There was no additional text. This 2007 edition is a different and superior publication. The etchings are intaglio impressions on the rag paper, and then hand-coloured according to Pro Hart’s direction. It contains 20 pages of original research by Littlewood on the story of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and the social and political context of the story. The essay researches the powerful union movement, the shearers' strikes and the social circumstance of the squatters in regional New South Wales, discussing how these influenced Lawson’s writings and also the naive artworks of Pro Hart.

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