Journals of two expeditions into the interior of New South Wales, undertaken by order of the British Government in the Years 1817-18.

London : John Murray, 1820. Quarto (275 x 220 mm), contemporary gilt-ruled half calf over marbled papered boards, spine in compartments with gilt decoration and lettering (expertly rebacked); original marbled endpapers; pp. xv; [i – errata], 408; with two folding engraved charts of the interior of New South Wales, two folding tables, folding etched plate (Field Plains from Mount Aymot), three aquatint plates (Arbuthnot’s Range from the West; Liverpool Plains, West Prospect from View Hill; Bathurst’s Falls); folding plan of Port Macquarie; and two hand-coloured aquatint plates (The grave of a native of Australia; A native chief of Bathurst); all of the uncoloured plates and charts have some degree of foxing, ranging from light to heavy; both coloured plates are in fine condition; the text pages are clean and crisp, with wide margins; a good example.

The first major text relating to the inland exploration of Australia.

John Oxley, as Surveyor General of New South Wales, led his first expedition in 1817. His attempt to trace the course of the Lachlan River was largely unsuccessful, as he encountered mostly marshland. During his second expedition of 1818, along the Macquarie River, Oxley discovered much suitable grazing land and ultimately the fine natural harbour of Port Macquarie.

Oxley’s Journal is ‘a finely printed and illustrated volume, designed to stand next to the earlier volumes of Philip, Hunter, Tench, Collins, White, Grant nd Flinders. It is embellished with a large folding engraved plate and four fine aquatints after sketches by Evans, one of which is hand-coloured, as well as a fine hand-coloured aquatint portrait of an Aboriginal Chief by John William Lewin, which is one of Lewin’s few known Aboriginal subjects… Oxley’s volume is the foundation work in the field of Australian inland exploration and the first detailed description of the interior of New South Wales. It cannot be too highly esteemed. It is a very scarce book, rapidly becoming rare. Clearly fundamental to a collection of inland exploration books, a copy of Oxley must also be considered essential even in a general collection of Australian books‘ (Wantrup).

Ferguson, 796; Greenway, 7402; Wantrup, 107.