New South Wales Pocket Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord 1814;

Being the second after Bissextile, or Leap Year; and the fifty-fourth of the Reign of His Present Majesty King George the Third. Published under the Sanction and Patronage of His Excellency the Governor and Commander in Chief. Sydney : Compiled and Printed by G. Howe, Government Printer, [1813]. Duodecimo (168 x 108 mm), contemporary marbled cards with manuscript inscription to upper wrapper 1814, expertly recased; pp. [i]-iv, 1-135, [1 blank]; an expected amount of browning and some occasional foxing, pale water stain across the lower portion, a very good example.

One of the earliest books printed in Australia, compiled and printed by the first government printer, George Howe. Very rare.

In addition to its calendar, the almanac contains numerous other sections of interest, among them The Colonial Garden (pp. 21-33) – one of the earliest essays on Australian horticulture, which includes advice on the growing of crops for the kitchen as well as the cultivation of grapes; Arrival of Vessels at Port Jackson, and their Departure (pp. 34-52, which contains a number of contemporary pencil annotations relating to the Captains and cargo of the ships); lists of the colonial civil and military establishments (pp. 55-65); and Abridgement of Established General Orders and Colonial Regulations (pp. 67-135).

While the first New South Wales Pocket Almanack was published in 1806, and printed annually, examples prior to this issue of 1814 (printed 1813) are of such rarity, we can locate no example offered for sale in any record or related literature.

Ferguson, 588